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Military Order to Wilson Law, 18 December 1843–A

Source Note

JS as mayor, Military Order, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Hancock Co., IL, 18 Dec. 1843. Featured version copied [18 Dec. 1843]; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL. Includes docket.
Single leaf measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The leaf was torn along the left side of the recto, possibly from a bifolium. Before this copy of the military order is a copy of a prior petition from to JS; both were inscribed on the recto in the handwriting of . The document was later trifolded and docketed for filing.
The leaf was docketed, noting the presence of both copied documents, 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. The Church Historical Department (now CHL) published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. Between 1974 and 1984, 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. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992. This group of records was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, and its cataloging was finalized in 2017. The document’s early docket and its inclusion in the JS Collection (Supplement) suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Petition from Aaron Johnson, 18 Dec. 1843.

  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–.

  3. [3]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 18 December 1843, in , Illinois, JS issued an order to , major general of the , instructing him to detach members of the legion to help enforce an arrest warrant. Ten days earlier, JS had ordered Law to mobilize a portion of the legion to be held in readiness to defend the city. However, since that time, JS had apparently not issued any further orders for the mobilized troops. On 18 December, testimony given during a hearing before Justice of the Peace implicated , a leader in the Anti-Mormon Party, in the kidnapping of member , and Johnson accordingly issued a warrant for Williams’s arrest. Johnson gave the warrant to that afternoon. Stout soon left Nauvoo to serve the warrant, but at ten o’clock that night word reached Nauvoo that Williams was assembling a mob to resist any arrests. Johnson petitioned JS to supply one hundred Nauvoo Legion members to help enforce laws. Straightaway, JS granted Johnson’s petition and issued an order to Law instructing him to detach one hundred men under Johnson’s direction. JS’s scribe made a copy of the order that night before midnight on the same sheet as his copy of Johnson’s petition.
Acting on JS’s order, immediately sent one hundred men under the command of to reinforce . That night, the men traveled to southern but stopped within two miles of ’s location when they “were informd that a body of men had collected around him armd with rifles.” The posse decided to return to , where JS instructed them that “it was best not to [go] down again at present but let the mob abide there for a public disgrace, and when the mob had dispersd then our men could go down & bring Colonel Williams without trouble.”
JS’s original order is not extant. ’s copy is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Military Order to Wilson Law, 8 Dec. 1843; see also Mayor’s Order to Henry G. Sherwood, 8 Dec. 1843; and Requisition from Henry G. Sherwood, 8 Dec. 1843.

  2. [2]

    “Kidnapping,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 20 Dec. 1843, [2]–[3]; JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1843; Docket Entry, 18 Dec. 1843, State of Illinois v. Levi Williams [J.P. Ct. 1843], Robinson and Johnson, Docket Book, 179; Petition from Aaron Johnson, 18 Dec. 1843.

    Robinson, Ebenezer, and Aaron Johnson. Docket Book, ca. 1842–1845. In Chicago Historical Society, Collection of Mormon Materials, 1836–1886. Microfilm. CHL.

  3. [3]

    See JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1843.

  4. [4]

    Richards, Journal, 18 Dec. 1843; see also Petition from Aaron Johnson, 18 Dec. 1843.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1843.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 19 Dec. 1843.

  7. [7]

    Clayton, Journal, 19 Dec. 1843. According to William W. Phelps, JS believed that it was “most advisable to let Col Levi Williams and his Mob flourish till indictments could be made at the Circuit Court of Hancock County.” (William W. Phelps, Nauvoo, IL, to Thomas Ford, Springfield, IL, 30 Dec. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL.)

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

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Military Order to Wilson Law, 18 December 1843–A
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

[See Petition from Aaron Johnson, 18 Dec. 1843.]
 
<​Copy—​>
City of , Dec 18, 1843.
, you will detach 100 men under the discretion <​direction​> of , a Justice of the Peace for the purpose of assisting the Constable in excuting the Law of the in taking who is charged with Kidnapping .—
Yours
Jos[e]ph Smith,
Mayor
Maj. Gen. , Commanding, . [1/4 page blank] [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Military Order to Wilson Law, 18 December 1843–A
ID #
12496
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:398–401
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    William Clayton reported that “about 120 men” were sent to arrest Levi Williams, but this total likely included men who originally accompanied Hosea Stout to serve the warrant. (Clayton, Journal, 19 Dec. 1843.)

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

  2. [2]

    According to JS’s journal, Johnson gave the arrest warrant to Hosea Stout, who was not a constable. However, Illinois law allowed justices of the peace to grant a specific individual the authority to serve a warrant, even if he lacked a legal office, by naming him in the warrant. (JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1843; An Act to Regulate the Apprehension of Offenders, and for Other Purposes [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1839], p. 240, sec. 8.)

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  3. [3]

    The Nauvoo city charter authorized the mayor to call out the legion to enforce city ordinances and state laws. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

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