Skip to main content

Proclamation, 18 June 1844

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Proclamation, 18 June 1844

Source Note

JS as mayor, Proclamation, , Hancock Co., IL, 18 June 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 18 June 1844]; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL. Includes dockets, redactions, use marks, and notation.
Bifolium measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). The first leaf and the recto of the second leaf are ruled with twenty-seven printed horizontal lines. The document was later folded for filing.
The proclamation was docketed and redacted by , who served as a clerk for JS in 1844. It was also docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The proclamation was possibly listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. The graphite notation “A.J” was added to the document by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The Church Historical Department (now CHL) published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. However, the department’s staff continued to locate documents authored by or directed to JS in uncataloged church financial records and in name and subject files. The department also acquired additional JS documents from donors, collectors, and dealers. These newly located and acquired documents were kept together in a supplement to the JS Collection that was closed to further acquisitions in 1984 and was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844. The document’s early dockets and redactions, its possible listing in the circa 1904 inventory, its notation, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection (Supplement) suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. See JS History, vol. F-1, 133; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, pp. 213–214; Source Note for Ordinance, 10 June 1844; and Source Note for Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 10 June 1844.

  2. Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [4], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL. This inventory lists two undated letters to the city marshal under the year 1844. One of these could be referring to the proclamation featured here, which McEwan’s redaction indicates was directed to the city marshal. JS, however, wrote to John P. Greene, the city marshal, on more than two occasions in 1844.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  5. See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992 and its cataloging was finalized in 2017.

Historical Introduction

On 18 June 1844, JS, as mayor of , Illinois, issued a proclamation declaring martial law in Nauvoo and restricting the movement of people and property into and out of the city. Fearing that a mob was preparing to attack Nauvoo, JS had sent out several orders on the evening of 17 June. The first instructed city marshal to keep the peace in Nauvoo using the city’s police and the . A second directed acting major general to muster the legion to assist Greene in keeping the peace.
The looming conflict led many people to flee . observed that “hundreds have left the city since the fuss commenced.” In particular, she noted that “most of the merchants on the hill have left.” On the morning of 18 June, , the captain of the steamboat Osprey, expressed his concern to JS that the number of people leaving Nauvoo that day would suggest “that they were afraid of being attacked and prove injurious.” He then recommended that “in order to preserve peace and good order . . . it would be better to use his [JS’s] endeavors to retain those in the City until the excitement Should abate.” The gathered that same morning at 9:00 at the and later that day marched to the . There, in the early afternoon, JS addressed the legion from a wooden platform across the street and declared martial law in the city.
Following this address, JS issued a written proclamation that repeated his verbal declaration of martial law. This proclamation also instructed the and city police to prevent people and property from moving into or out of the city without a pass. , a member of the Nauvoo Legion who was “on duty . . . the whole time while the City was under Martial law,” witnessed how JS’s proclamation was implemented. He observed that all the roads “to and from the City were guarded & every suspicious looking person going to or from was made to give an account of himself, & this for our safety.” Despite these restrictions, many individuals received passes to leave or enter in the days following JS’s declaration.
The original proclamation is not extant. The featured document is a copy of the proclamation made by .

Footnotes

  1. See Historical Introduction to Mayor’s Order to John P. Greene, 17 June 1844; JS, Journal, 17 June 1844; Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” 17 June 1844; and Military Order to Albert P. Rockwood, 17 June 1844.

  2. Mayor’s Order to John P. Greene, 17 June 1844.

  3. Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 17 June 1844.

  4. Vilate Murray Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Heber C. Kimball, Baltimore, MD, 9, 11, and 24 June 1844, [3], Kimball Family Correspondence, CHL.

    Kimball Family Correspondence, 1838–1871. CHL. MS 6241.

  5. JS, Journal, 17 June 1844; George Anderson, Certificate, 23 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.

  6. There is some discrepancy regarding when JS declared martial law. Willard Richards recorded that it was around 2:00 p.m., but Samuel W. Richards, a member of the Nauvoo Legion, stated that he was dismissed at 2:00, which suggests that the declaration happened before then. Following JS’s declaration, William W. Phelps “read the preamble and resolutions of the mob” contained in the 14 June Warsaw Signal extra, and JS then spoke to the legion a second time. (JS, Journal, 18 June 1844; Richards, Reminiscences and Journal, 18 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844; Discourse, 18 June 1844.)

    Richards, Samuel W. Reminiscences and Journal, ca. 1843–1845. Samuel W. Richards, Papers, 1839–1909. CHL. MS 1841.

  7. John S. Fullmer, Preston, England, to George A. Smith, [Utah Territory], 27 Nov. 1854, [1], Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; John S. Fullmer, [Carthage], IL, to “Uncle John,” 27 Sept. 1844, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 202; “Passes,” 18–22 June 1844, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL; “Postscript,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 19 June 1844, [2]; Affidavits, 19–22 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

    Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  8. A redaction made by John McEwan to Phelps’s copy of the proclamation indicates that the proclamation was directed to Nauvoo’s city marshal, John P. Greene. It is possible that the original proclamation was delivered to Greene.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Proclamation, 18 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

Go to next page 2
Mayor’s office)
City of )
June 18, 1844.)
Pro[c]lamation.
From <​the​> news papers <​that [are?]​> around us and the current reports as brought in from the surro[u]nding country I have good reason to fear that a mob is organizing to come upon this and plunder and destroy <​said ​> as well as murder the citizens, and by virtue of the authority vested in [me?] as mayor, and to preser[v]e the and lives of the citizens, I do hereby declare the said within the limits of its incorporation, under martial law: The officers therefore of the , the police, as well as all others will strictly see that no persons or property pass in or out of the without due orders
Joseph Smith
Mayor
By )
Clerk) [p. [1]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [1]

Go to next page 2

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Proclamation, 18 June 1844
ID #
1420
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. TEXT: Double underlined.

  2. An affidavit published in the Warsaw Signal reported that on 19 June 1844, a guard posted “near the Corporation line” of Nauvoo prevented one man from leaving the city until he obtained a pass. (“Postscript,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 19 June 1844, [2].)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

Go to page