On 31 March 1845 Young wrote a letter to Illinois governor Thomas Ford seeking his advice on how the Latter-day Saints should organize themselves in Nauvoo following the revocation of the city charter. Young noted that Ford, in a special message to the Illinois legislature in December 1844, had warned about the possible consequences of the repeal of the charter. The charter’s revocation as well as the disbanding of the Nauvoo Legion, Young wrote, had left the Latter-day Saints “destitute of every inducement we had as a people to build up a great city on the faith of the state, & help to spread her fame & honor among the nations; and bring their gold & silver into her Treasury.” Young asked Ford’s advice on a number of subjects: “the best policy of the citizens reletive to a town; the policy of the Legion reletive to military duty; and our policy as a people should unprincipled mobocrats again attempt to pour out our life blood upon the Ground.” Young also solicited the governor’s views “respecting ‘the Great We[s]tern Measure’ or the Emegration of the Saints to some point remote from the States.” (Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, to Thomas Ford, Springfield, IL, 31 Mar. 1845, draft, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.