The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo

by B. H. Roberts

Footnotes

[1]. Missouri Persecutions, Chapter XLVII.

CHAPTER XIV.

FOUNDING A CITY.

MEANTIME Commerce had become Nauvoo. The city of Nauvoo was incorporated by act of the legislature of Illinois, on the fourteenth of December, 1840. The charter granted on that date described the boundaries of the city, but gave to the citizens—whom it erected a body corporate and politic—the right to extend the area of the city whenever any tract of land adjoining should have been laid out into town lots and recorded according to law. The city council was to consist of a mayor, four aldermen and nine councilors to be elected by the qualified voters of the city. The first Monday in February was appointed for the first election of officers.

The charter granted to the citizens of Nauvoo the most plenary powers in the management of their local affairs. Indeed, about the only limit placed upon their powers was, that they do nothing inconsistent with the constitution of the United States, and the State constitution of Illinois. But inside of those lines they were all powerful to make and execute such ordinances as in the wisdom of the city council were necessary for the peace, good order, and general welfare of the city. It afterwards became a question in the State as to whether or not powers too great had not been granted the city government—but of that I shall have occasion to speak further on.

The leading men of the State appeared not only willing but anxious to grant the privileges of this city government to the Saints. S. H. Little, of the upper house of the State legislature, especially stood by the Saints, and pleaded for their rights; together with Messrs. Snyder, Ralston, Moore, Ross and Stapp; while Mr. John F. Charles, the representative to the lower house from the district in which Nauvoo was located, manfully discharged his duties to the Nauvoo portion of his constituents, by using all his energy to secure them their city government.

An incident connecting Abraham Lincoln with the passage of this charter may not be without interest. The State of Illinois was at that time divided into two political parties, Whigs and Democrats. Both parties were friendly to the Saints, who considered themselves equally bound to both parties for acts of kindness. Lincoln was a Whig, and in the November election his name was on the State electoral ticket as a Whig candidate for the State legislature. But many of the people of Nauvoo, wishing to divide their vote, and to show a kindness to the Democrats, erased the name of Lincoln, and substituted that of Ralston, a Democrat. It was with no ill feeling, however, towards Mr. Lincoln that this was done, and when the vote was called on the final passage of the Nauvoo charter, he had the magnanimity to vote for it; and congratulated John C. Bennett on his success in securing its enactment.

The Saints rejoiced in the prospects of liberty secured to them by their city government, and of it Joseph said:

I concocted it for the salvation of The Church, and on principles so broad, that every honest man might dwell secure under its protecting influences, without distinction of sect or party.

An inspection of the charter will bear out this opinion of it, for while it was "concocted for the salvation of The Church," it by no means secured that salvation by trespassing upon the rights of others, but by recognizing the rights of the Saints to be equal to the rights of other citizens. Nor was it intended that Nauvoo should be an exclusive city for people of the Mormon faith; on the contrary, all worthy people were invited to come and assist to build it up and partake of its liberty and anticipated prosperity. An official proclamation, issued over the signatures of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith, who then constituted the First Presidency of The Church, contains the following passage:

We wish it likewise to be distinctly understood, that we claim no privileges but what we feel cheerfully disposed to share with our fellow-citizens of every denomination, and every sentiment of religion; and therefore say, that so far from being restricted to our own faith, let all those who desire to locate in this place (Nauvoo) or the vicinity, come, and we will hail them as citizens and friends, and shall feel it not only a duty, but a privilege to reciprocate the kindness we have received from the benevolent and kind-hearted citizens of the State of Illinois.

And as an earnest of the intention, so far as the Saints were concerned, of carrying out in practice these liberal sentiments and extending equal rights to people of all religious persuasions, among the first acts of the city council was the passage of the following ordinance, introduced by Joseph Smith:

SECTION I. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Nauvoo that the Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Latter-day Saints, Quakers, Episcopalians, Universalists, Unitarians, Mohammedans, and all other religious sects and denominations, whatever, shall have free toleration and equal privileges in this city; and should any person be guilty of ridiculing and abusing, or otherwise deprecating another, in consequence of his religion, or of disturbing or interrupting any religious meeting within the limits of this city, he shall, on conviction before the mayor or municipal court, be considered a disturber of the public peace, and fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding six months, or both, at the discretion of said mayor and court.

The second section made it the duty of all municipal officers to notice and report any violation of the law—and in fact, of any other law of the city—to the mayor; and the municipal officers were authorized to arrest all violators of this law, either with or without process; so that the fullest religious liberty was secured to all sects, and all religions, and to people of no religion at all if any such there should be. Under such an ordinance, people could worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences, without fear of molestation from any one; but they were restrained from interfering with the religion or mode of worship of their fellows—they were told, in a manner, that their liberties ended where those of other people commenced.

On the first of February, 1841, the first election for members of the city council took place, as provided by the city charter. John C. Bennett was chosen mayor; William Marks, Samuel H. Smith, D. H. Wells, and N. K. Whitney, aldermen; Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Chas. C. Rich, John T. Barnett, Wilson Law, Don C. Smith, J. P. Greene and Vinson Knight, councilors. On the third of the month the city council was organized, by appointing the following officers: marshal, H. G. Sherwood; recorder, James Sloan; treasurer, R. B. Thompson; assessor, James Robinson; supervisor of streets, Austin Cowles.

Mayor Bennett, the same day, delivered his inaugural address. After making several recommendations to the council relative to the establishment of an educational institution, a militia, the enactment of a temperance ordinance, and other measures affecting the manufacturing and commercial interests of the city; and further recommending that the protecting aegis of the corporation be thrown around every moral and religious institution of the day, which was in any way calculated to ennoble or ameliorate the condition of the citizens, he concluded his speech in these words:

As the chief magistrate of your city, I am determined to execute all State laws, and city ordinances passed in pursuance of law, to the very letter, should it require the strong arm of military power to enable me to do so. As an officer, I know no man; the peaceful, unoffending citizen shall be protected in the full exercise of all his civil, political and religious rights, and the guilty violator of the law shall be punished without respect to persons.

The first act of the city council, after its organization, was to express its gratitude for its privileges and powers conferred upon the city by its charter. For this purpose the following resolution was introduced by Joseph Smith, and adopted:

Resolved, by the city council of the city of Nauvoo, that the unfeigned thanks of this community be respectfully tendered to the governor, council of revision, and legislature of the State of Illinois, as a feeble testimonial of their respect and esteem of noble, high-minded, and patriotic statesmen; and as an evidence of gratitude for the signal powers recently conferred—and that the citizens of Quincy be held in everlasting remembrance for their unparalleled liberality and marked kindness to our people, when in their greatest state of suffering and want.

The next move was to pass a temperance ordinance, which practically made Nauvoo a prohibition city—that is, so far as prohibitory ordinances prohibit.

CHAPTER XV.

THE NAUVOO LEGION.

THE Nauvoo charter proper really contained two other charters, viz: One for the establishment of a university within the limits of the city "for the teaching of the arts and sciences, and learned professions," and another for the organization of an independent military body to be called the "Nauvoo Legion."

An ordinance was passed on the third of February, in relation to the university, appointing a chancellor and board of regents. A site for a building was selected, and plans of the structure were drawn, but that was as far as the matter went, as the city had no funds with which to proceed with the work of construction.

An ordinance was also passed on the above date authorizing the organization of the Nauvoo Legion. The original provision in the Nauvoo charter establishing this military body provided that the city council might organize the inhabitants of the city, subject to military duty under the laws of the State, into an independent body of militia; and a subsequent amendment to the charter extended the privilege of joining the Legion to any citizen of Hancock County, who might by voluntary enrollment desire to do so; and in that event he was to have all the privileges to be enjoyed by members of that organization. The charter provided that the officers of the Legion should be commissioned by the governor; and that the members thereof be required to perform the same amount of military duty as the regular militia of the State; they were to be at the disposal of the mayor in executing the laws and ordinances of the city, and the laws of the State; and also at the disposal of the governor for the public defense, and the execution of the laws of the State and of the United States; and were entitled to their proportion of the public arms; but were exempt from all military duty not specified in these provisions.

The commissioned officers of the Legion were constituted its court-martial, which was its law-making department; but no law inconsistent with either the Constitution of the United States or the State of Illinois was to be enacted by this court. The privilege of organizing the citizens of Nauvoo, and as many of the citizens of Hancock County as might desire to unite with them, into an independent military body, was highly gratifying to the people of Nauvoo, but more especially so to Joseph Smith, who, in speaking of it, in a proclamation to the Saints scattered abroad, said:

The Nauvoo Legion embraces all our military power, and will enable us to perform our military duty by ourselves, and thus afford us the power and privileges of avoiding one of the most fruitful sources of strife, oppression and collision with the world. It will enable us to show our attachment to the State and Nation, as a people, whenever the public service requires our aid, thus proving ourselves obedient to the paramount laws of the land, and ready at all times to sustain and execute them.

The city ordinance provided that the Legion should be divided into two cohorts, the horse troops to constitute the first cohort, and the infantry the second. The commander-in-chief of the Legion was to be known as the lieutenant-general, who was also made the reviewing officer and president of the court-martial and Legion. His staff was to consist of two principal aides-de-camp with the rank of colonel of cavalry; and a guard of twelve aides-de-camp with the rank of captain of infantry; and a drill officer, with the rank of colonel of dragoons, to be the chief officer of the guard.

The second officer was a major-general, to act as the secretary of the court-martial and Legion. His staff consisted of an adjutant; surgeon-in-chief, a cornet, quartermaster, paymaster, commissary, and chaplain; all to hold the rank of colonel of cavalry; besides these, there were to be in his staff, a surgeon for each cohort, quartermaster sergeant, sergeant-major, and a chief musician—with the rank of captain of light infantry; and two musicians with the rank of captain of infantry. Besides these officers there were created by the ordinance an adjutant and inspector-general; and a brigadier-general to command each cohort. The staff of each brigadier-general consisted of an aide-de-camp with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and when not otherwise in service, these brigadiers had access to the staff of the major-general.

The ordinance organizing this body of militia provided that the court-martial should adopt for the Legion, so far as practicable, the discipline, drill, uniform, rules and regulations of the United States army. And a law passed by the court-martial shortly after its organization, required all male citizens within the limits of Nauvoo, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, excepting such as were exempted from service under the laws of the United States, to perform military duty under the penalty of being fined for absence from general parades, as follows: generals, twenty-five dollars; colonels, twenty dollars; captains, fifteen dollars; lieutenants, ten dollars; and musicians and privates, five dollars. For absence from company parades—of course without good reason for the absence—the fines were fixed at these rates: commissioned officers, five dollars; non-commissioned officers, three dollars; and musicians and privates, two dollars.

The first election of officers of the Legion took place on the fourth of February, 1841; and resulted in Joseph Smith being unanimously chosen lieutenant-general; John C. Bennett, major-general; Wilson Law, brigadier-general of the first cohort; and Don Carlos Smith, brigadier-general of the second cohort. The staffs of the respective generals were chosen from the leading citizens of Nauvoo, some of whom were not members of the Mormon Church. There were but six companies at the time the Legion was organized, in February, 1841, but in September following, the number of men had increased to one thousand four hundred and ninety; and at the time of the Prophet Joseph's death, some three years later, the Legion numbered about five thousand.

With such strict regulations, accompanied by a natural enthusiasm for military display, and drilled by competent military officers, it is not to be wondered at if the Legion became the best body of militia in the State of Illinois. It excited the jealousy and envy of the rest of the militia in the surrounding counties, and all the laudable efforts of the Legion to become an efficient body of militia, with a view of assisting in the execution of the State and National laws, if occasion should require, were construed by their enemies to mean a preparation for rebellion, and the establishment and spread of the Mormon religion by conquests of the sword, as, it is alleged, Mohammed established his religion. Thus the forming of an independent body of militia, enabling the Saints to perform their military duty by themselves, which the Prophet fondly hoped would remove "one of the most fruitful sources of strife, oppression and collision with the world," and which he further hoped would give the Saints, as a people, an opportunity of showing their attachment to the State and Nation, whenever the public service required their aid—by the misrepresentation of their enemies, was made one of the principal rocks of offense, and was used to excite the apprehensions and prejudices of the good people of Illinois.

The people of the United States have always been jealous of military power, and hence have been careful in forming their political institutions to subordinate the military to the civil authority, except in times of actual war; and, therefore, notwithstanding the very good intentions of the Saints at Nauvoo, it was a very easy matter for their enemies to excite the prejudice and awaken the fears of the people of Illinois by pointing to the existence of this elaborate and efficient military organization with its frequent musters and parades, and captained by a great religious leader, whom, notwithstanding his virtues and the uprightness of his intentions—they had come to regard as a wild, religious fanatic, prepared to go to what lengths they knew not in the promulgation of his religion. Hence that which was to be a bulwark to the city, and a protection to the Saints, was transformed by their enemies into an occasion of offense, and an excuse for assailing them.

CHAPTER XVI.

RECONSTRUCTION OF QUORUMS—THE NAUVOO HOUSE AND THE TEMPLE.

In the meantime important changes in The Church organization were pending. An important revelation was received on the nineteenth of January, 1841,^[[1]] which provided for filling the vacancies in the several quorums and a reconfirmation of all the authorities of the Church. Hyrum Smith, who had stood in the position of counselor to his brother Joseph, since the apostasy of F. G. Williams and his expulsion from The Church, on the seventh of November, 1837—was appointed to succeed his father as Patriarch to The Church; to hold the sealing blessings of The Church, even the Holy Spirit of promise, whereby the Saints are sealed up unto the day of redemption, that they may not fall, notwithstanding the day of temptation that might come upon them. He was also appointed a prophet, seer, and revelator, as well as Joseph with whom he was to act in concert, and from whom he was to receive counsel. The Prophet was to show unto him the keys whereby he might ask and receive, "and be crowned with the same blessing and glory and honor and priesthood, and gifts of the priesthood that once were put upon him that was my servant Oliver Cowdery."

Joseph Smith was given, as the presiding Elder of The Church, to be a translator, a revelator, a seer and prophet. Sidney Rigdon was admonished of his neglect of duty, and of his lack of faith; he was told, however, if he would repent of his sins, and stand in his place and calling, he might continue to act as counselor to Joseph, and the Lord promised to heal him, and make him powerful in testimony. The reason for this admonition, as one may judge from the spirit of it, was that he to whom it was given had become sour in his feelings toward the work of God. His ardor was cooling, and his zeal, which at times had been inordinate, seemed now to be oozing out of his disposition.

William Law, whom, it will be remembered, Joseph first met when en route for Washington—Law then leading a small company of Saints to Nauvoo from Canada—was appointed to fill the vacancy in the First Presidency made by the appointment of Hyrum Smith to the office of Patriarch. And such blessings and spiritual powers were pronounced upon him by the Lord, as seldom falls to the lot of man. On condition of his faithfulness he was to have power to have the sick, cast out devils, be delivered from those who administered unto him poison, and the serpent that might lay hold upon his heel; "And what if I will," said the Lord, "that he should raise the dead, let him not hold his voice."

Brigham Young was appointed the president of the Twelve Apostles, and liberty was given to appoint another man to fill the vacancy made in the quorum through the death of David W. Patten, who was killed by the mob, at the battle of Crooked River, in Missouri. The High Council for Nauvoo was named, and a presidency given to the High Priests; the seven presidents of the Seventies were appointed; and all the quorums of the Priesthood both in the Melchisedek and Aaronic divisions were set in order, so far as the appointment of presidents was concerned.

Besides setting the Priesthood in order, the Lord in this revelation required that a house should be built to His name; "a house worthy of all acceptation; that the weary traveler may find health and safety while he contemplates the word of the Lord;" and the Prophet Joseph and his family were to have a right of permanent residence in it. It was to be known as the "Nauvoo House," and built unto the name of the Lord. The possession of individual stock was to range from fifty dollars to fifteen thousand dollars; no person being allowed to put in less than fifty, nor more than fifteen thousand. And it was specially provided that none but those who believed in the Book of Mormon and the revelations of God were to be permitted to hold stock in the house.

In addition to this commandment to build the Nauvoo House, the Lord told the Saints that there was not a place found on the earth to which He might come and restore that which was lost, or which he had taken away, even the fullness of the Priesthood; nor was there a baptismal font upon the earth where the Saints might be baptized for the dead.

The doctrine of baptism for the dead had been made known to the Saints some time previous to this, and the ordinance had been performed in the Mississippi and other convenient places; but this is an ordinance of God's house, and cannot be acceptable to Him when performed elsewhere, only in the days of the poverty of His people. And as more prosperous times had dawned upon The Church, the Saints were required to build a temple to the name of the Most High; and they were further told that they were granted sufficient time to build a temple, and if they failed to build it at the expiration of that appointed time, they should be rejected as a Church together with their dead. To show to The Church the importance of erecting this temple, the Lord reminded them how He had commanded Moses to build a tabernacle, that the children of Israel could bear with them into the wilderness, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hidden from before the foundation of the world. Therefore said the Lord—

Let this house be built unto my name that I may reveal mine ordinances therein, unto my people. For I design to reveal unto my Church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fullness of times; and I will show unto my servant Joseph all things pertaining to this house, and the Priesthood thereof. * * * And ye shall build it on the place where you have contemplated building it, for that is the spot which I have chosen for you to build it.

The location which the Saints had contemplated as the site for the temple was on a bold eminence overlooking the river, the landscape on the Iowa side, and all the surrounding country for miles around. It was not only by far the noblest site in Nauvoo for a temple, but ideal in its fitness.