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Requisition from Henry G. Sherwood, 8 December 1843
Source Note
Source Note
, , Hancock Co., IL, Requisition, to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 8 Dec. 1843; handwriting of and ; signature of ; one page; JS Office Papers, CHL. Includes docket.
Single leaf measuring 11–11¼ × 8 inches (28–29 × 20 cm). The leaf was unevenly cut along all four edges, and the bottom right corner of the recto was torn. The requisition was inscribed on the recto by ; the verso is blank except for a docket. The document was folded in half twice horizontally and docketed by , who corrected the text and made a copy of it at or near the time of its creation. then signed the requisition.
The requisition was likely docketed on or near 8 December 1843 by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844. The requisition was presumably kept among city records. In 1845 the city of Nauvoo was disincorporated. Many if not most of the city records were listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (now CHL) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley. The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904. In 2012 the document was cataloged as part of the JS Office Papers at the CHL. The document’s likely inclusion with other city records listed in church inventories and its later inclusion in the JS Office Papers suggest continuous institutional custody since 1845.
Footnotes
- [1]
See Henry G. Sherwood to JS, Requisition, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Dec. 1843, copy, JS Office Papers, CHL.
- [2]
Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
- [3]
“An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Illinois General Assembly. Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
- [4]
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
- [5]
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
- [6]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Office Papers, 1835–1845, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 8 December 1843, the , Illinois, city marshal, , signed a requisition to JS as mayor, asking him to issue an order calling out the in the aftermath of the kidnappings of and . Sometime between eleven o’clock that morning and four o’clock that afternoon, JS issued an order instructing Sherwood to defend Nauvoo residents from being “ki[d]napped or arrested and forcibly carried away from said City” and to uphold city ordinances—especially those involving . The order advised Sherwood to call out a portion of the Nauvoo Legion if necessary. Sherwood responded by signing the featured requisition asking JS to issue an order to Major General authorizing him to call out a suitable portion of the legion.
, clerk of the mayor’s court and one of JS’s scribes, inscribed JS’s order to and the requisition from . , another of JS’s clerks, reviewed Phelps’s draft of Sherwood’s requisition and made some corrections. Bullock then made a copy of the corrected document. Sherwood signed both apparently operable versions of the requisition. Phelps’s original draft of the requisition with Bullock’s added corrections is featured here.
In response to this requisition, JS issued orders to Major General , authorizing him to call out the legion to support ’s efforts to defend the .
Footnotes
- [1]
For more information on the Avery kidnappings, see “Part 5: December 1843.”
- [2]
- [3]
Nauvoo’s city charter stated that the Nauvoo Legion was “at the disposal of the Mayor in executing the laws and ordinances of the City Corporation, and the laws of the State.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)
- [4]
- [5]
Henry G. Sherwood to JS, Requisition, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Dec. 1843, copy, JS Office Papers, CHL. In December 1843, Bullock docketed and copied many of JS’s letters as well as municipal and legal documents so that copies could be forwarded to Illinois governor Thomas Ford. (See, for example, Affidavit from Daniel Avery, 28 Dec. 1843; Amos Chase, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 19 Dec. 1843, copy; and Philander Avery, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 20 Dec. 1843, copy, JS Office Papers, CHL.)
- [6]
City of )
Dec 8th. 1843)
Sir: your order to have the ordinance of this fully carried into effect to will be duly attend<ed> to, but in order so to do, it will be necessary for you as Mayor <of> the to issue orders to Major General , for a suit[able] portion of the to be in readiness to compel obedience to said ordinances if necessary.
Respectfully &c
City Marshal
Joseph Smith)
Mayor) [1/2 page blank] [p. [1]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
Insertion in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.
Insertion in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.
- [1]
JS’s order instructed Sherwood to “call for a suitable portion of the Nauvoo Legion to be in complete readiness to compel obedience to the ordinances of said city” if he judged “that the peace and safety of this city required it.” (Mayor’s Order to Henry G. Sherwood, 8 Dec. 1843.)
Signature of Henry G. Sherwood.