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Letter from Mason Brayman, 29 July 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Sangamon Co., IL, to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 29 July 1843; handwriting and signature presumably of ; seven pages; JS Materials, CCLA. Includes endorsement and redactions.
Two bifolia, each measuring 12¼ × 7⅝ inches (31 × 19 cm). Both bifolia have an oval embossment of a bird in the upper left corner of the recto of each page. The tops of the first seven pages are paginated. The document was folded in half twice horizontally and has undergone conservation. Cellophane tape was used to repair separation along a fold of the final leaf; the tape was later removed.
The letter was endorsed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. Due to the letter’s contents, including the governor’s intentions regarding any future efforts by to have him extradited, JS likely retained the document in his possession. After his death, the letter likely remained in the Smith family’s possession until it was transferred on an unknown date to the custody of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Cole et al., Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions, 22; Edelman, “Brief History of Tape,” 45–46.

    Cole, David J., Eve Browning, and Fred E.H. Schroeder. Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.

    Edelman, Jonathan. “A Brief History of Tape.” Ambidextrous 5 (Falling in 2006): 45–46.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

Historical Introduction

On 29 July 1843, , a lawyer from , Illinois, wrote a letter to JS in , Illinois, to convey governor ’s position regarding the recent attempt to extradite JS to . In early June 1843, a grand jury in , Missouri, indicted JS for treason. Missouri governor subsequently issued a requisition demanding that Illinois extradite JS to stand trial. In compliance with the extradition demand, Ford issued an arrest warrant for JS on 17 June. Ford then dispatched Constable of , Illinois, to apprehend JS. On 23 June, near , Illinois, Wilson arrested JS and transferred custody of him to , Missouri, sheriff , the agent authorized to transport JS to Missouri for trial, who had accompanied Wilson during the arrest.
After a series of legal maneuvers, JS, his attorneys, the two lawmen, and a few others departed . Their stated destination was , Illinois, to appear before a judge authorized to hear writs of and review the legality of JS’s detention. However, JS and his attorneys decided instead to appear before the Municipal Court on a writ of habeas corpus. After hearing of JS’s arrest, small parties of the left and began intercepting the traveling party to ensure that JS was not transported to without due process. The whole party proceeded to Nauvoo, where on 30 June 1843 the court issued JS the writ and the following day discharged him, citing a “want of substance in the warrant upon which he was arrested as well as upon the merits of said Case.” complained to that the legion had used excessive force to rescue JS and help him resist arrest, and he asked Ford to dispatch a militia force to execute the warrant and to assist in returning JS to Missouri.
Hearing rumors of what occurred in , asked to represent him in an investigation to ascertain the accuracy of the rumors. The governor also wanted Brayman “to assure all parties of the disposition of the executive to see the laws peaceably submitted to by all citizens of the state.” Brayman arrived in Nauvoo on 7 July. He met with JS and his family and with other Nauvoo residents. He requested and received substantial documentation, including affidavits, concerning the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from as well as JS’s arrest. More than a week later, Brayman presented to Ford a report of his investigation, which satisfied Ford that neither JS nor the Latter-day Saints “were guilty of any violence, or disorderly, or unlawful conduct whatever.” Brayman then wrote to JS to relieve him of any unnecessary anxiety.
wrote this confidential letter to JS, updating him on the submission of the investigative report and on the feelings and disposition of the governor. Brayman also reported that the warrant had been returned to (thus rendering it null and void) and that Ford did not intend to call out the state militia to help enforce the arrest warrant, issue a new writ based on ’s requisition, or answer any further requisitions from Missouri based on the same indictment. Brayman insisted that there was no intentional delay or political motivation on Ford’s part in any of these matters to secure the future votes of the Saints.
wrote that he intended to send the letter via a private courier, a “Mr. Backinstos,” either Circuit Court clerk or Hancock County sheriff . The letter bears no signs of being addressed or postmarked, indicating that it was hand delivered in , where it arrived by 1 August 1843. ’s 1 August entry in JS’s journal notes that news arrived in “a private communication from Mr Braman.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes, 1 July 1843, Extradition of JS for Treason (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843), JS Collection, CHL; see also “Part 4: June–July 1843”; Ford, History of Illinois, 315–316; Docket Entry, ca. 1 July 1843, Extradition of JS for Treason (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843), Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 55–56; Affidavit, 24 June 1843; and Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 30 June 1843.

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

  2. [2]

    Clayton, Journal, 2 July 1843; Shepherd Patrick et al., Affidavit, [Nauvoo, IL], 2 July 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL; Joseph H. Reynolds, St. Louis, MO, 10 July 1843, Letter to the Editor, Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald, 10 July 1843, [2].

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald. St Louis, MO. 1843–1844.

  3. [3]

    Thomas Ford, Springfield, IL, to Mason Brayman, 3 July 1843, Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 7 July 1843.

  5. [5]

    Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 240, 283.

    Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 1 Aug. 1843. The last page of the letter bears the inscription “Springfield July 29— /[18]43 | Communicatin | from | M. Brayman | Received Augt 1.—” in the handwriting of Willard Richards. This may be a contemporaneous endorsement noting the date of reception. However, the inscription was written on the letter where dockets were normally written, and it is possible that its date was retrospectively based on JS’s journal entry for 1 August 1843. It is also possible that the inscription is a contemporaneous docket with a date based on the personal knowledge of Richards, who was JS’s secretary.

Page 2

official act of his administration has been performed with so much pain and reluctance. He is a man of integrity and firmness as well as of a kind disposition and a cool judgment, and while he will not suffer a single citizen of to suffer wrong, he will enforce the laws with a firm hand, and suffer none to violate them with impunity.
On my return from , I found absent on public business at Rock Island, from whence he did not return for a week after I arrived. I presented him a detailed report of my investigations, in which the fact is fully established, that neither you or your people were guilty of any violence, or disorderly, or unlawful conduct whatever; but that throughout the whole of the unpleasant scene connected with your arrest, and the ill treatment which you received, your and their conduct, was that of peaceful, law-abiding and good citizens. He is perfectly satisfied on that point.
You will recollect that when I left , we all had the impression that , the agent of , still had the writ in his possession, and it was feared that he would still make it the pretext of another attempt to seize you. But on mentioning it to on my return, he replied that we laboured under a mistake— that the writ was returned to him, and remained in his possession. This writ, then, is in [p. 2]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Mason Brayman, 29 July 1843
ID #
2802
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:500–507
Handwriting on This Page
  • Mason Brayman

Footnotes

  1. [3]

    Rock Island, Illinois, was located approximately one hundred miles upriver from Nauvoo on the Mississippi River just south of Davenport, Iowa Territory.

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