In his letter to JS, Ford stated, “If it Should become necessary to have witnesses in the trials, I will See that Such persons Shall be duly Summoned.” In November 1838 Judge Austin A. King presided over a court of inquiry at Richmond, Missouri, to determine whether there was probable cause to send the case of JS and sixty-three other Latter-day Saint men to a grand jury on the charge of treason against the state of Missouri for their participation in the 1838 conflict known as the “Mormon War.” JS and his fellow prisoners later reported that they submitted the names of dozens of potential defense witnesses. However, only seven ultimately testified, in part because of alleged intimidation by court officials. (Letter from Thomas Ford, 22 June 1844; Historical Introduction to State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason; Minutes and Testimonies, Richmond, MO, 12–29 Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence”; “Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo, Illinois,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 12 July 1843, [2].)

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

JS used this phrase in a 1 January 1844 letter to Ford, stating, “A burnt child dreads the fire, and when my old friends, men women and children look to me in the hour of danger for protection, and the wives and children of kidnaped men beg with tears for Justice and protection I am bound by my oath of office and by all laws human and divine to grant it.” A 12 June editorial in the Nauvoo Neighbor similarly used this phrase, stating, “‘A burnt child dreads the fire:’ the church as a body and individually has suffered till ‘forbearance has ceased to be a virtue.’” (Letter to Thomas Ford, 1 Jan. 1844; “Retributive Justice,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 12 June 1844, [2].)

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

This may refer to Patrick Calhoun and John C. Calhoun Jr., two sons of United States secretary of state John C. Calhoun. The two arrived in Nauvoo on 22 June and, “being anxious to see the Prophet, begged the Captain of the boat to wait two or three hours for us.” They arrived at the Nauvoo Mansion shortly after JS had received Ford’s letter, and after convincing JS that they were not “spies sent by the Governor,” they met with JS in the drawing room, where he provided the two with “a full description of his difficulties, and also an exposition of his faith.” (Cannon, “John C. Calhoun, Jr., Meets the Prophet Joseph Smith,” 773–774, 777, 779; John Taylor, Statement, 23 Aug. 1856, 25, Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, CHL; Welch, “Joseph Smith’s Iowa Quest for Legal Assistance,” 122.)

Cannon, Brian Q. “John C. Calhoun, Jr., Meets the Prophet Joseph Smith Shortly before the Departure for Carthage.” BYU Studies 33, no. 4 (1993): 772–780.

Welch, John W. “Joseph Smith’s Iowa Quest for Legal Assistance: His Letters to Edward Johnstone and Others on Sunday, June 23, 1844.” BYU Studies 57, no. 3 (2018): 111–142.

Following the abatement of the Nauvoo Expositor, rumors spread indicating that militia from Missouri would join militia members from Carthage and Warsaw, Illinois, in an attack upon Nauvoo. For instance, on 18 June, Cyrus Canfield and Gilbert Belnap testified that they had heard that “about one hundred persons had already arrived from Missouri, and were expecting a many more from that State” along with “Guns and Ammunition and Provisions from St. Louis in order to prosecute their attack upon Nauvoo.” On 20 June, James Guyman, who was not a member of the church, stated that he had been told that “Missouri had offered to send over two thousand men to come over to assist” in apprehending JS. When Guyman questioned the legality of Missouri militia operating in Illinois, he was told that the Hancock County constables had summoned them for that purpose. (Cyrus Canfield and Gilbert Belnap, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 18 June 1844; James Guyman, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 20 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.)

During a mass meeting in Carthage on 13 June, those assembled passed a resolution that declared, “We hold ourselves at all times in readiness to co-operate with our fellow citizens in this State, Missouri and Iowa, to exterminate, utterly exterminate, the wicked and abominable Mormon Leaders, the authors of our troubles.” The group further resolved “that the time, in our opinion has arrived, when the adherents of Smith, as a Body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements, into Nauvoo. That the Prophet and his miscreant adherents, should then be demanded at their hands, and if not surrendered, a war of extermination should be waged, to the entire destruction” of the Saints. (Warsaw [IL] Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1].)

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

On 17 June, owing to reports that a mob was “preparing to make an attack” upon Nauvoo, JS issued an order as lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion to acting major general Jonathan Dunham to hold the legion “in readiness to assist . . . in keeping the peace, and doing whatever may be ne[c]essary to preserve the dignity of the State and city.” Several Latter-day Saints gave affidavits between 16 and 21 June testifying of various threats made against the Saints throughout Hancock County, most of which were made following the abatement of the Nauvoo Expositor. (Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 17 June 1844; Minutes, 21 June 1844; see also Mayor’s Order to John P. Greene, 17 June 1844.)

See Genesis 4:10; and Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 105, 274, 538–539 [2 Nephi 26:3; Alma 20:18; Ether 8:22, 24].