Footnotes
Historical Introduction to Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 12 Dec. 1843, 24; Nauvoo Second Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843; Nauvoo Third Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; see also “Joseph Smith Documents from August through December 1843.”
The ordinance authorized JS as mayor to select the forty officers. One of the policemen, James Pace, later stated that he was “chosen a Policeman by Joseph Smith” directly. (Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B; Pace, Autobiographical Sketch, 4.)
Pace, James. Autobiographical Sketch, ca. 1861. James Pace, Papers, 1846–1861. CHL.
Dunham, Account Book, [91]–[93]. Stout noted on a June 1844 list of Nauvoo policemen that “the regular police . . . were mostly officers in the Legion.” (Thomas Bullock, Record of Events, 26 June 1844, [1], Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)
Dunham, Jonathan. Account Book, 1825–1844. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387 fd 5.
Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.
Other military offices listed in 1844 records and in JS’s history included ensigns, sergeants, corporals, musicians, pioneers, and privates. (Mitrani, Rise of the Chicago Police Department, 2–3; Dunham, Account Book, [91]–[93].)
Mitrani, Sam. The Rise of the Chicago Police Department: Class and Conflict, 1850–1894. The Working Class in American History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013.
Dunham, Jonathan. Account Book, 1825–1844. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387 fd 5.
As brigadier general in the Nauvoo Legion, Rich twice mobilized Stout’s regiment, on 9 and 19 December 1843, in response to orders from JS. On 18 December, Stout—though not a constable or any other legal officer—was chosen to attempt to arrest Levi Williams for his role in the Avery kidnappings. Dunham and Stout apparently led an attempt on 20–21 December to kidnap or otherwise interfere with witnesses in Iowa Territory planning to testify against Daniel Avery in Clark County, Missouri. (Notice, Wasp, 21 May 1842, [3]; Historical Introduction to Military Order to Wilson Law, 8 Dec. 1843; Charles C. Rich to Hosea Stout, Order, Nauvoo, IL, 9 Dec. 1843; Theodore Turley to George W. Crouse, Order, Nauvoo, IL, [19] Dec. 1843, in Order Book, 1843–1844, 13, 14–15, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL; Historical Introduction to Petition from Aaron Johnson, 18 Dec. 1843; Historical Introduction to Military Order to Wilson Law, 18 Dec. 1843–A; JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1843; Charles Shumway, Report, ca. 1843, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; Jackson, Narrative, 15–19; see also Historical Introduction to Military Order to Wilson Law, 18 Dec. 1843–B.)
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
Jackson, Joseph H. A Narrative of the Adventures and Experience of Joseph H. Jackson, in Nauvoo. Disclosing the Depths of Mormon Villainy. Warsaw, IL: By the author, 1844.
Historical Introduction to Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B; Nauvoo Second Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843; Nauvoo Third Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
See Historical Introduction to Complaint, 18 Dec. 1843; and Clayton, Journal, 19 Dec. 1843.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Many of the police officers believed it was their duty to “guard the city and especially Br Joseph Smith,” and at least some of them favorably compared their organization to the Danites, a vigilante force that was created in 1838 to defend the church and the First Presidency. (Haight, Journal, [21]; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 Jan. 1844, 34–36; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 215–216; Jackson, Narrative, 16, 22; LeSueur, 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, 37–47.)
Haight, Isaac Chauncey. Journal, 1852–1862. Photocopy. CHL. MS 1384.
Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, MO: Sun Publishing Company, 1882.
Jackson, Joseph H. A Narrative of the Adventures and Experience of Joseph H. Jackson, in Nauvoo. Disclosing the Depths of Mormon Villainy. Warsaw, IL: By the author, 1844.
LeSueur, Stephen C. The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987.
Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 and 5 Jan. 1844, 32–40. In his journal, Law stated that he was told he was “suspected of being a Brutus, and consequently narrowly watched, and should any misconceive my motives my life would be jeopardized.” (Law, Diary, 2 Jan. 1844, in Cook, William Law, 38.)
Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.
Law, Diary, 2 Jan. 1844, in Cook, William Law, 38; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 and 5 Jan. 1844, 32–40; JS, Journal, 3–5 Jan. 1844.
Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.
The undated petition, signed by Benjamin Warrington and fifty-six other men, requested that the city extend Mulholland Street, an important central street that passed by the temple block, “as far East as the Corporation line and by so doing benefit those whose land it intersects.” As early as December 1841, JS attempted to get the city to extend Mulholland Street to the city’s eastern boundary, but after an investigation the city determined not to extend the street beyond Daniel H. Wells’s farm—presumably because Wells objected to having a street built on his land. In August 1843, the Hancock County recorder formally recorded a sizable addition of forty-two blocks that Warrington had surveyed just east of Wells’s farm. This action represented significant development for the eastern portion of the city. The petition from Warrington and others sought to provide greater access to the rest of the city for this new development. Many prominent business owners and residents in this part of the city signed the petition, including Wells. (Benjamin Warrington et al. to the Nauvoo City Council, Petition, [Dec. 1843], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 18 Dec. 1841 and 12 Feb. 1842, 37, 53; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 12 Feb. 1842, 10–11; Book of Assessment, Third Ward [Alphabetical], 1842, p. 23, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, p. 55, “Warrington’s Addition to Nauvoo,” 16 Aug. 1843, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Loomis was the proprietor of the Masonic Hall Hotel, located on the northwest corner of Main and Sidney streets in Nauvoo—just a block away from JS’s Nauvoo Mansion. Loomis’s 28 December 1843 petition requested that the city council grant him “a Licence to retail Spirits” to help offset the costs of his “heavy rent.” (Reuben H. Loomis to the Mayor and the Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Dec. 1843; Book of Assessment, Fourth Ward, 1843, p. [11], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–C.)
Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting was on 13 January 1844. However, the council met in special sessions three times before this date, on 3, 5, and 10 January 1844, to deal with controversies growing out of JS’s remarks at the 29 December 1843 meeting as well as some of the ordinances passed in December 1843. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3, 5, 10, and 13 Jan. 1844, 32–41.)