V. CHRONOLOGICAL ABSTRACT OF MORMON HISTORY.
1801. June 1. Birth of Mr. Brigham Young, at Wittingham, Vermont, U. S. In this year Mr. Heber C. Kimball also was born (June 14th).
1805. Dec. 23. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., son of Mr. Joseph Smith, sen., generally called “Old Father Smith,” and Lucy Mack, known as “Mother Smith,” born at Sharon, Windsor Co., Vermont.
1812. A book called the “Manuscript Found” was presented to Mr. Patterson, a bookseller at Pittsburgh, Penn., by Mr. Solomon Spalding or Spaulding, of Crawford, Penn.; born in Ashford Co., and a graduate of Dartmouth College. The author died, the bookseller followed him in 1826, and the book fell into the hands of a printer’s compositor, Sidney Rigdon, one of the earliest Mormon converts. Anti-Mormons identify parts of the “Book of Mormon” with the “Manuscript Found.” The Saints deny the existence of a Patterson, and assert that Mr. Spaulding’s book was a mere historical and idolatrous romance concerning the Ten Lost Tribes, altogether different from their Biblion. They trace the calumny to a certain Doctor (so called because a seventh son) Philastus Hurlbert or Hurlbut, an apostate excommunicated for gross immorality, and bound over in $500 to keep the peace, after threatening to murder Mr. Joseph Smith, jun.; and they observe that in those early days their Prophet was too unlearned a man to adapt or to alter a manuscript.
1814. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., powerfully awakened by the preaching of Mr. Lane, an earnest Methodist minister.
1815. Mr. and Mrs. Smith removed with their family—Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia, Joseph, Samuel, Ephraim, William, and Catharine, from Vermont to New York. They first lived at Palmyra, Wayne Co., for ten years, and then passed on to Manchester, Ontario Co., the site of the Hill Cumorah, where they tarried eleven or twelve years.
1820. Many religious revivals in Western New York. Mr. Joseph Smith becomes partial to Methodism (J. Hyde, chap. viii.). Early in the spring of the year occurred Mr. Joseph Smith, jun.’s first or preparatory vision announcing his ministry.
1823. Sept. 20. Second vision; the Angel of the Lord revealed in rather a solemn way to Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., the existence of the Gold Plates, which, according to anti-Mormons, he and his brother Hyrum had been employed in forging and fabricating for some years. On the next day (22d) Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., opened the place where the Plates were deposited and saw them.
1825. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., was employed by a person called Stroude to dig for him, near Hartwich, Oswego City, N. Y. Money-diggers were then common in that part of the state, seeking the buried treasures of Captain Kidd, the buccaneer. Near Hartwich, between the years 1818-1832, lived Mrs. Spaulding, and Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., stole the “Manuscript Found” from a trunk full of papers (J. H).
1827. Jan. 18. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., married Miss Emma Hale, daughter of Isaac Hale, of South Bainbridge, Chenango Co., N. Y. This person afterward became the Cyria Electa, or Elect Lady, and ended by apostatizing and marrying a Gentile.
Sept. 22. The Golden Plates which the angel announced were taken up from the Hill Cumorah with a mighty display of celestial machinery, and the Breastplate and the Urim and Thummim were found. According to Gentiles, the latter was a “peep-stone stolen from Willard Chase.”
1828. February. Martin Harris, a farmer from whom Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., had borrowed $50 to defray expenses of printing the “Book of Mormon,” submitted a transcript of the characters to Professor Anthon and Dr. Mitchell of New York. The former pronounced them to be a “singular scroll,” and “evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar given by Humboldt.”
July. Translation of the “Book of Mormon” suspended in consequence of Martin Harris stealing (116-118?) pages of the manuscript, which were never replaced. For this reason he was not enrolled among the glorious first six converts to Mormonism.
1829. April 16. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., saw O. Cowdery the first time. Translation of the “Book of Mormon” resumed, O. Cowdery acting as secretary.
May 15. John the Baptist ordained into the Aaronic priesthood Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and O. Cowdery, his amanuensis, who forthwith baptized each other.
June or July. The Plates of the “Book of Mormon” were shown by the Angel of God to the three earthly witnesses—Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris.
1830. The “Book of Mormon” was translated and published, and this year is No. 1 of the Mormon Æra.
April 6. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized at Manchester, N. Y. It began with six members or elders being ordained, viz., Mr. Joseph Smith, sen., Mr. Hyrum Smith, Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., Mr. Samuel Smith, Mr. Oliver Cowdery, and Mr. Joseph Knight. The Sacrament was administered, and hands were laid on for the gift of the Holy Ghost on this first occasion in the Church.
April 11. Oliver Cowdery preached the first public discourse on this dispensation, and the principles of the Gospel as revealed to Mr. Joseph Smith, jun. During this month the first miracle was performed by the power of God in Colesville, Broome Co., N. Y.
June 1. First Conference of the Church at Fayette, Seneca Co., N. Y. During this month Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., was twice arrested on false pretenses, tried, and acquitted; while his wife, by special revelation, was entitled “Elect Lady” and “Daughter of God.”
August. Parley P. Pratt and Sidney Rigdon were converted.
Sept. 19. O. Pratt baptized.
October. The first missionaries to the Lamanites were appointed.
December. Sidney Rigdon visited the Prophet.
1831. January. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., set out for Kirtland, the birthplace of Sidney Rigdon.
Feb. 1. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., arrived at Kirtland, Ohio, the first of his many Hegiras.
Feb. 9. God commanded the elders to go forth in pairs and preach.
March 8. John Whitmer was appointed Church recorder and historian by revelation.
June 6. The Melchizedek, or Superior Priesthood, was first conferred upon the elders.
June 10-19. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and sundry Saints transferred themselves from Kirtland, Ohio, to Jackson County, Missouri, where they arrived in the middle of July. The Land of Zion was dedicated and consecrated for the gathering of the Saints, and the first log was laid in Kaw township, twelve miles west of Independence, Missouri.
Aug. 2-3. Site for the temple of New Zion dedicated, a little west of Independence.
Aug. 4. First Conference of the Church in the land of Zion held.
Aug. 9. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., returned from Independence to Kirtland, and, arriving about the end of the month (27th?), established the fatal “Kirtland Safety Society Bank.”
1832. March 25. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and Sidney Rigdon were tarred and feathered by a mob for attempting to establish communism and dishonorable dealing, forgery, and swindling (J. H.).
March 26. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., acknowledged the President of the High Priesthood at a General Council of the Church; visited his flock in Missouri.
April 2. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., left Ohio for Missouri, and arrived at Independence on the 24th.
April 14. Mr. Brigham Young, converted by Elder Samuel Smith, and baptized by Eleazar Millard, in this year went to Kirtland, Ohio, and became a devoted follower of the Prophet.
May 1. At an Œcumenical Council held at Independence, Mo., it was decided to print the “Book of Doctrines and Covenants.”
May 6. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., left Missouri for Kirtland, where he arrived in June.
June. The first Mormon periodical, the “Evening and Morning Star,” was published by the Church, under the superintendence of Mr. W. W. Phelps, at Independence, Mo., where the Saints numbered 1200 souls.
Nov. 6. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun.’s, son Joseph born at Kirtland, Ohio.
In this year Mr. Heber C. Kimball was baptized.
1833. Jan. 22. Gift of tongues conferred.
Feb. 2. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., finished his inspired retranslation of the New Testament.
March 18. The Quorum of Three High Priests, viz., Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., Sidney Rigdon, a Campbellite or reformed Baptist preacher, and Frederick G. Williams, an early convert, was organized as a Presidency of the Church in Kirtland, and forthwith proceeded to have visions of the Savior, of concourses of angels, etc., etc.
July 2. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., finished the translation of the Bible.
July 20. A mob of Missourians in Jackson City tore down the new newspaper office, tarred, feathered, and whipped the Saints. Thereupon, three days afterward, the Saints agreed with their persecutors to leave Jackson Co., and laid the corner-stone of the Lord’s House in Kirtland.
Sept. 11. A printing-press was established at Kirtland for the publication of the “Latter-Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate,” Bishop Partridge being at the head of the Church in Zion.
Oct. 8. Elders W. W. Phelps and O. Hyde presented to the governors of Missouri a petition from the Saints of Jackson City praying for redress.
Oct. 31. Ten Mormon houses destroyed by the populace in Jackson Co.
Two of a mob were killed by the Saints. “This was the first blood shed, and the Mormons shed it” (J. H.). Until Nov. 4, the persecutions continued till the Saints evacuated Jackson Co., and fled to Clay Co.
December. Persecutions raged against the Saints in Van Buren Co., Mo.
Dec. 18. Mr. Joseph Smith, sen., was ordained Patriarch.
Dec. 27. The mob permitted Messrs. Davis and Kelley to carry the establishment of the “Evening and Morning Star” to Liberty, Clay Co., Mo., where they began to publish the “Missouri Enquirer.”
1834. Feb. 17. A First Presidency of Three and a High Council of Twelve were first organized.
Feb. 20. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., began to raise a small army for carrying out his dreams of physical conquest and temporal sovereignty (J. H.); also to defend himself against the Missourian mob.
May 3. At a Conference of Elders in Kirtland, the body ecclesiastic was first named “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.” The body of Zelph, the Lamanite, was dug up by Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., in Illinois.
May 5. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., marched on Missouri with 150 Mormons(?). In other words, left Kirtland for Missouri with a company for the redemption of Zion.
June 19. The cholera broke out in “Zion’s camp” soon after its arrival in Missouri, and a terrible storm scattered the mob.
June 23. The camp, after suffering from cholera, arrived at Liberty, Clay Co., Missouri.
June 29 (or Nov. 29?). Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and Oliver Cowdery first make a “Conditional Covenant with the Lord” that they would pay tithing. This was its first introduction among the Latter-Day Saints.
July 9. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., left Clay Co. and returned to Kirtland, where he arrived about the end of the month.
1835. Feb. 14. A Quorum of Twelve Apostles was organized, among whom were Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. The former, being then thirty-four years old, was appointed the head of the Apostolic College, and, receiving the gift of tongues, was sent on a missionary tour toward the east.
Feb. 21. First meeting of the Twelve Apostles.
Feb. 28. The organization of the Quorum of Seventies began.
May 3. The Twelve left Kirtland on their first mission.
July. The rolls of Egyptian papyrus, which contained the writings of Abraham and Joseph in Egypt,[244] were obtained in the early part of this month.
[244] “Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit” is well proved by the Mormon attempts to decipher hieroglyphics. M. Remy has given, with the assistance of M. Théodule Devéria, a terrible blow to the Book of Abraham in the seventeenth note at the end of his second volume.
Aug. 17. At a General Assembly at Kirtland, the “Book of Doctrines and Covenants” was accepted as a rule of faith and practice, including the “Lectures on Faith” delivered by Sidney Rigdon.
1836. Jan. 4. A Hebrew professorship established at Kirtland.
Jan. 21. The authorities of the Church in Kirtland met in the Temple school-room, and anointed and blessed one another, when visions of heaven were opened to many.
March 24-27. The House of the Lord in Kirtland, costing $40,000, was dedicated.
April 3. In the House of the Lord, the Savior, Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared to Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and O. Cowdery, and delivered the keys of the several priesthoods, and unlimited power in things temporal and spiritual.
May. The Mormons were requested by the citizens to remove from Clay Co., Mo., to Carroll, Davies, and Caldwell Counties, and founded the city of “Far West” in Caldwell Co.
1837. June 12. Messrs. H. C. Kimball and O. Hyde, and on the 13th W. Richards, set out to convert England (returned in July, 1838). This was the first organized foreign mission.
July 20. Elders H. C. Kimball, O. Hyde, W. Richards, J. Goodson, T. Russell, and Priest J. Fielding, leaving Kirtland on June 13, sailed from New York in the ship “Garrick” (July 1), and landed at Liverpool. Three days afterward Preston had the honor of first hearing the preaching of the Gospel as revealed to Mr. Joseph Smith, jun. The first baptism by divine authority was performed by immersion in the River Ribble (July 30), and the first confirmation of members took place at Walkerford Chaidgey (Aug. 4).
July 27. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., was prosecuted with a vexatious lawsuit at Painesville, Ohio.
Sept. 27. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., left Kirtland to establish gathering-places and visit the Saints in Missouri, and arrived in Far West about the last of October or the first of November.
Dec. 10. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., arrived in Kirtland from Missouri.
Dec. 25. The first Conference of Mormons in England was held in the Cock-pit, Preston. An extensive apostasy befell during this month in Kirtland, Ohio; and the “Safety Society Bank” failed, to the great scandal of Mormondom.
1838. Jan. 12. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and Sidney Rigdon fled from Kirtland to escape mob violence, and arrived at Far West on March 14.
April 12 and 13. Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, the three witnesses to the “Book of Mormon” (others say O. Cowdery, D. Whitmer, and L. E. Johnson), charged with lying, theft, counterfeiting, and defaming the Prophet’s character, were cut off from the Church (J. H.). Orson Hyde, Thos. B. Marsh, W. W. Phelps, and others apostatized, accused the Prophet of being accessory to several thefts and murders, and of meditating a tyranny over that part of Missouri, and eventually over the whole republic (J. H.).
April 20. Elders H. C. Kimball and O. Hyde sailed from Liverpool on their return home.
July 4. Sidney Rigdon, in an anniversary discourse called “Sidney’s Last Sermon,” threatened Gentiles and apostates with violence; the “Danite Band,” according to anti-Mormons, was at once organized.
July 6. The Saints were again persecuted; 565 Saints left Kirtland for Missouri, and Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., was carried before Judge King.
Aug. 6. Troubles in Gallatin Co. occasioned by elections. The Mormons say that persecutions of the Saints commenced in Davies Co., Mo.
Aug. and Sept. Emeutes between the mob and the Mormons: the latter seized sixty to eighty stand of arms at Richmond, and fired on the militia, mistaking them for the mob. The militia, after losing several of their number, returned the fire, killing Mr. D. W. Patten (J. H.).
Sept. 7. Mr. Joseph Smith, jr., was tried before Judge King, of Davies Co.
Sept. 25. The Saints, attempting political rule in Davies Co., were attacked by the citizen mob, who murmured at being placed under Mormon rule (J. H.), and forced the intruders to vacate. Mr. Brigham Young fled for his life to Quincy, Ill.
Oct. 1. After a battle in Carroll Co., Mo., the Saints agreed to evacuate the town of De Witt, Carroll Co. (Oct. 11).
Oct. 25. At the battle of Crooked River, D. W. Patten, alias Captain Fearnot, the head of the Danites, was killed (Mormon Calendar).
Oct. 27. General Lilburn W. Boggs, of Missouri, issued his “extermination order” to General J. B. Clark.
Oct. 30. The militia (mob), to revenge the death of their comrades, slaughtered sixteen Mormons and two boys at Haun’s Mills.
Oct. 31. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and others, were betrayed by J. M. Hinckle.
Nov. 1. General J. B. Clark, with a military force, surrounded Far West, and took prisoners (by stratagem) Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., Mr. Hyrum Smith, and forty others, who were placed in jail, tried by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot—a catastrophe prevented by General Doniphan. The Saints gave up their arms, and Far West was plundered by the mob.
Nov. 2. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and his fellow-prisoners left Far West for Independence.
Nov. 4. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and his fellow-prisoners were kindly received at Independence.
Nov. 12. Mr. Joseph Smith and 52 others were tried at Richmond, Ray Co., Mo., and, after a narrow escape from being shot by the militia, were handed to the civil authorities, placed in close confinement in Liberty jail, and released.
December. The Saints withdrew into Illinois.
1839. Feb. 14 and March 26. Mr. Brigham Young and others fled from Far West to Illinois, and attempted to relay the foundations of the Temple at the New Jerusalem, twelve miles west of Independence, Jackson Co., Missouri.
April 6. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and his fellow-prisoners were removed for trial from Richmond to Gallatin, Davies Co.
April 9. The trial of the prisoners commenced before Judge King.
April 15. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and his companions left Davies for Boone Co., and on the way escaped from their jailor-guards.
April 18-22. The Saints evacuated Far West, and arrived with Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., at Quincy, Illinois.
April 26. Mr. Brigham Young privily laid the foundation of a Temple at Independence (M. Remy). A Conference was held at the Temple Lot, in Far West, in fulfillment of a revelation given July 8th, 1838. (Appendix to “Compendium of Faith and Doctrines,” etc.)
May 9. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., visited Commerce, Hancock Co., Illinois, at the invitation of Dr. Isaac Galland, of whom he obtained, gratis, a large tract of land to induce the Mormons to immigrate, and upon the receipt of revelation called his people around him, and sold them the town lots (J. H.).
June 11. The first house was built by the Saints at Commerce, a new “State of Zion,” afterward called Nauvoo—the beautiful site—which presently contained 15,000 souls.
June 27. Orson Hyde, the Apostle, returned to the Church.
July 4. P. P. Pratt and Morris Phelps escaped from the jail in Columbia, Boone Co., Missouri.
Aug. 29. Elders P. P. Pratt and O. Pratt set out on their first mission to England, followed on Sept. 18 by Elders Brigham Young and H. C. Kimball, and on Sept. 20, 21, by Elders G. A. Smith, R. Hedlock, and T. Turley: O. Hyde, though previously appointed by revelation, did not accompany them (J. H.). The result was a body of 769 converts.
Oct. 29. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., S. Rigdon, E. Higbee, and O. P. Rockwell, the chief of the Danites, set out from Nauvoo as delegates from the Church to the general government, and arrived on. the 28th of November at Washington, D. C., seeking to obtain redress from Congress for their losses in Missouri.
1840. March 4. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., returned from Washington to Nauvoo.
March 9. Elders Young, Kimball, P. P. Pratt, O. Pratt, Smith, and Hedlock sailed from New York for England.
April 6. The English mission from New York landed at Liverpool.
April 15. Elder O. Hyde set out from Nauvoo on a mission to Jerusalem.
April 21. Commerce was finally named Nauvoo.
May 27. The first number of the “Latter-Day Saints’ Millennial Star” was published at Manchester.
June 6. The first company of emigrating Saints sailed from Liverpool, and reached New York in July 20. About the 1st of June appeared the first English edition of the “Latter-Day Saints’ Hymn Book.”
Aug. 7. The first regular company of 200 emigrants, conducted by Elders Theodore Turley, a returning missionary, and William Clayton, an early English convert, sailed from Liverpool to New York.
Sept. 14. Mr. Joseph Smith, sen., died at Nauvoo.
Oct. 3. The Mormons began to build their Temple, and petitioned the Legislature of Illinois for the incorporation of Nauvoo.
Dec. 16. The municipal charter of the city of Nauvoo became law.
1841. January. The first English edition of the “Book of Mormon” was published.
Feb. 4. The Nauvoo Corporation Act, passed in the preceding winter, began to be in force. The Nauvoo Legion was organized by Mr. Joseph Smith, who made himself its lieutenant general.
April 6. The corner-stone of the House of the Lord in Nauvoo was laid. A second mission, composed of Elders B. Young, H. C. Kimball, O. Pratt, W. Woodruff, J. Taylor, G. A. Smith, and W. Richards left New York on April 2d, and landed at Liverpool on May 20.
June 5. Mr. Joseph Smith was arrested under a requisition from the Governor of the State of Missouri, was tried at Monmouth, Illinois, on the 9th, and was acquitted on the next day.
July 1. Messrs. Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball returned from England.
Nov. 8. The baptismal font in Nauvoo Temple was dedicated.
1842. March 1. “Book of Abraham” translated and published in “Times and Seasons.”
May 6. Attempt to assassinate Lieutenant Governor Boggs, attributed to O. P. Rockwell.
May 19. Mr. Joseph Smith made Mayor of Nauvoo.
Aug. 6. Mr. Joseph Smith prophesied that the Saints would be driven to the Rocky Mountains.
Aug. 8. Mr. Joseph Smith arrested a second time under circumstances similar to those of the first.
Dec. 7. Mr. O. Hyde returned from his mission to Palestine.
Dec. 26. Mr. Joseph Smith, charged with assassination, was arrested a third time under a requisition from the Governor of the State of Missouri.
In this year polygamy began to be whispered about Nauvoo (J. H.).
1843. Jan. 5. Mr. Joseph Smith acquitted at Springville.
Jan. 20. Mr. O. Pratt received back into the Church.
May 6. Lieutenant Governor L. W. Boggs (under Governor D. Dunklin), of Missouri (who had offended the Mormons by driving them from the state in 1838), was shot in the mouth through an open window—an act generally attributed to O. P. Rockwell, Chief of the Danites, “with the connivance and under the instructions of Joseph Smith” (J. H.). In this year Mr. Joseph Smith became Mayor of Nauvoo, vice J. C. Bennett, “cut off for imitating Smith in his spiritual wifedom” (J. H.). Anti-Mormons declare that in 1843 polygamy was enjoined a second time, but not practiced till 1852.
June 23. Mr. Joseph Smith again arrested, and released on July 2.
July 12. Revelation enjoining polygamy received.
Aug. 30. General J. A. Bennett baptized.
Nov. 4. Mr. Joseph Smith sent his letters to the candidates for the Presidency of the United States.
Nov. 28. Mr. Joseph Smith addresses a memorial to Congress respecting the transactions at Missouri.
1844. Feb. 7. Mr. Joseph Smith issued his address as candidate for the Presidency of the United States.
May 17. Mr. Joseph Smith was carried in triumph through the streets of Nauvoo.
May 4. Francis M. Higbee, expelled for disobedience from the Church, prosecuted Mr. Joseph Smith for slander, and arrested him under a capias: the defendant then sued out a habeas corpus before the Municipal Court of Nauvoo, of which he was mayor.
May 6. Dr. R. D. Foster and Mr. William Law, having libeled, in the “Expositor” paper, Mr. Joseph Smith, accusing him of having taken to spiritual wife Mrs. Foster, were punished by the marshal and municipal officers, who, with a posse, broke the press as a nuisance, and burned the types. The libelers fled, and took out a warrant against Mr. Joseph Smith and others, who resisted and repelled the officer in charge, whereupon the militia was ordered out.
June 13. The Gentiles armed against the Mormons.
June 17. Mr. Joseph Smith arrested and released.
June 24. Governor Ford, of Illinois, persuaded the Smiths, under the pledge of his word, and the faith and honor of the state, to yield up their arms, and sent them prisoners under the charge of sixty militia-men, the Carthage Grays, a highly hostile body, commanded by Captain Smith, to Carthage, the capital of Hancock Co., eighteen to twenty miles from Nauvoo, where 5000 Mormons were in arms.
June 25. The prisoners were arrested by the constable on a charge of treason.
June 26. The governor again pledged himself for the personal safety of his prisoners.
June 27 (Thursday). A body of 200 armed Missourians, with their faces painted and blackened, broke into Carthage jail, and at 5 P.M. murdered, in a most cowardly and brutal manner, Mr. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, and desperately wounded Mr. John Taylor; Dr. Willard Richards alone escaping.
Aug. 15. The Twelve Apostles, with Mr. Brigham Young at the head, assumed the Presidency of the Church, and addressed an Encyclical to “all the Saints in the world.”
Oct. 7. Mr. Brigham Young, the President of the Twelve Apostles, came from Boston, and succeeded to the Presidency of the Church, defeating Sidney Rigdon, who was forthwith cut off, and delivered over to the buffetings of Satan.
Nov. 17. Mr. David Smith, son of the Prophet, born at the Nauvoo Mansion.
1845. The Mormon leaders determined to abandon Nauvoo.
May. The capstone of the Mormon Temple was laid, and endowments began.
Sept. 11. Twenty-nine Mormon houses burnt by the Gentiles.
Sept. 24. The charter of Nauvoo was repealed by the State Legislature. The authorities of the Church made a treaty with the mob to evacuate the “Beautiful City” on the following spring. Several places were proposed: Vancouver’s Island by Mr. John Taylor, Texas by Mr. Lyman Wight, California by others; at last they chose some valley in the Rocky Mountains (J. H.).
1846. January. Baptism for the dead was administered in the Mississippi River; on the 20th a band of Mormon pioneers left Nauvoo, and “located” at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
February. The first Mormon exodus began with this month; 2000 souls crossed the frozen Mississippi en route for Council Bluffs.
April 24. The exiled Saints arrived at Garden Grove, Iowa Territory.
May 1. Dedication of the Temple at Nauvoo.
May 16. The pioneer camp of the Saints arrived at Mount Pisgah, Iowa Territory.
June-July. The Mormon battalion (500 men), on being called for by the general government, set out for the Mexican campaign. “Mr. Brigham Young sells a company of his brethren for $20,000” (J. H.). “You shall have your battalion at once, if it has to be a class of our elders,” said Mr. Brigham Young (Captain H. Stansbury).
Sept. 10-13. After three days of fighting the few surviving Saints were expelled from Nauvoo in a “cruel, cowardly, and brutal manner.”
Sept. 16. The trustees of the Church in Nauvoo made a treaty with the mob for the surrender of their city, and its immediate evacuation by the remnant of the Saints. Toward the end of this year and the beginning of the next, the Quorum of Three was reorganized at a special conference, held at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Mr. Brigham Young nominating his coadjutors. The “Twelve” delivered themselves of an epistle to the Saints, urging them to recommence the gathering.
1847. April 14. The pioneer band, 143 men, headed by Mr. Brigham Young, and driving seventy wagons, left winter quarters, Omaha Nation, on the west bank of the Missouri River, and followed Colonel Frémont’s trail over the Rocky Mountains.
July 23. Messrs. O. Pratt, W. Woodruff, and a few others arrived at the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
July 24. Mr. Brigham Young and the main body entered the valley on this day, which became a solemn anniversary in the Church. The Mormons proceeded to lay the foundations of the city.
Oct. 31. Mr. Brigham Young returned to Council Bluffs.
1848. Feb. 20. The emigration from England reopened after a suspension of two years.
May. Mr. Brigham Young (whose appointment had been confirmed by a General Conference held at Kanesville, Iowa) left winter quarters the second time, and, followed by Mr. H. C. Kimball and the mass of the Saints, reached the Promised Land in September.
September. Some Mormons who had started from New York for San Francisco, expecting to find the Church in California or Vancouver’s Island, arrived in Great Salt Lake City from the West.
Nov. 10. The Temple in Nauvoo burnt.
1849. March 5. At a convention held in Great Salt Lake City the Constitution of the State of Deserét was drafted, and the Legislature was elected under its provisions.
July 2. Delegates sent to Washington petitioned for admission into the Union as a free, sovereign, and independent state.
August. Captain Stansbury and Lieutenant Gunnison, Topographical Engineers, by order of the federal government, surveyed Great Salt Lake Valley.
Sept. 9. A bill organizing Utah Territory was signed by President Fillmore. The Perpetual Emigration Fund was organized. Five Yutas were killed in battle by Captain John Scott and his Mormons.
1850. April 5. The Assembly met, and Utah Territory was duly organized.
May 27. The walls of the Temple at Nauvoo were blown down by a hurricane.
June 14. The first missionaries to Scandinavia landed in Copenhagen, Denmark.
June 15. The first number of the “Deserét News” appeared under the editorship of Dr. Willard Richards.
Aug. 12. The first baptisms in Denmark by legal authority in this Dispensation took place.
Sept. 9. The “Act” for organizing the Territory of Utah became a law. Mr. Brigham Young was appointed Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Utah Territory by President Fillmore, who signed the act. The judges, Brocchus, Day, and Brandeburg, and Mr. Secretary Harris, arrived at Great Salt Lake City.
Sept. 22. Judge Brocchus insulted the people, and, accompanied by the other federal officers, fled from the Territory.
Oct. 13. The first company of Perpetual Emigration Fund emigrants arrived in Great Salt Lake City from the United States.
Dec. 7. The first branch of the Church in France was organized at Paris.
In 1850 was the Indian War. Mr. Higbee was the first white settler slain, and many of the Yutas were killed.
1851. Jan. 9. Great Salt Lake City was incorporated.
Feb. 3. Mr. Brigham Young sworn in as Governor of Utah.
April 5. Legislature of Provisional State of Deserét dissolved. The Legislative Assembly was elected under the Territorial Bill. A memorial signed by 13,000 names was forwarded to her Britannic majesty’s government, proposing for a relief by emigration of a portion of the poorer subjects to colonize Oregon or Vancouver’s Island, the latter being about the dimensions of England.
April 7. The Tabernacle was built, and at a General Conference in Great Salt Lake City it was voted to build a Temple.
Sept. 22. Opening of the Legislature of Utah Territory. Great trouble with the government of the United States fomented by the federal officials’ march. The Legislature forbade by ordinances the sale of arms, ammunition, and spirituous liquors to the Indians.
Dec. 13. Parovan City, on Centre Creek, Iron Co., Utah Territory, founded.
1852. June. Fifteen Frenchmen baptized in Paris.
Aug. 29. The revelation on the celestial law of marriage, alias polygamy (bearing date 1843), was published by Mr. Brigham Young.
Sept. 3. The first company of Perpetual Emigration Fund converts from Europe reached Great Salt Lake City.
Dec. 13. The Legislative Assembly of Utah Territory met for the first time. The judges and the Secretary of State appointed by President Pierce came to hand.
1853. Jan. 17. The Deserét Iron Company was chartered by the Legislature of Utah Territory.
Jan. 25. The missionary elders O. Spencer and J. Houtz arrived in Berlin, Prussia, and were banished on the 2d of February.
Feb. 14. Temple Block was consecrated, ground was broken for the foundation of the Temple, and the excavations began.
March 7. The first missionaries to Gibraltar arrived there.
April 6. Corner-stone of the new Temple laid with religious rites.
In the summer (July) and autumn of this year were serious Indian troubles. At 6 A.M., Oct. 26th, Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison and eight men of his party, including the botanist, M. Creutzfeldt, were massacred on the border of Sevier River, twenty miles north of Lake Sevier.
Nov. 1. The first number of the “Journal of Discourses” was published in England. This year Keokuk was made the outfitting place for emigrants.
1854. January. New alphabet adopted by the University of Deserét.
April 7. Mr. J. M. Grant was appointed to the First Presidency, vice W. Richards, deceased on March 11th.
May 23. The patriarch John Smith died, and was succeeded by another John Smith, son of Hyrum Smith, and nephew of the Prophet.
June 28. John Smith, son of Hyrum Smith, was appointed Patriarch over the Church.
August. Colonel Steptoe, commanding about 1000 federal troops, arrived at Great Salt Lake City.
Sept. 9. At the instance of Colonel Steptoe, who refused to resign his military commission, Mr. Brigham Young was reappointed governor, and held the office until 1857. Even the Gentiles memorialized in his favor.
1855. Jan. 29. Walchor, alias Wakara, alias Walker, chief of the Yuta Indians, died (was secretly put to death and buried by Jordan, Mr. Chandless).
May 5. Endowment House in Great Salt Lake City consecrated.
May 11. Treaty of peace concluded with the Yuta Indians.
May. Colonel Steptoe, after a stay of six months, marched with the United States cavalry to California.
August (July?). Judge Drummond, Surveyor General Burr, and other United States officials, arrived at Great Salt Lake City.
In the fall of this year one third of the crops was destroyed by drought and grasshoppers.
October. A branch of the Church was organized in Dresden (15th); Elder O. Spencer died on the 29th. The First Presidency of the Church proposed in a general epistle that Saints emigrating by the Perpetual Emigration Fund should cross the Prairies and Rocky Mountains with hand-carts.
Dec. 10. The local Legislature met for the first time at Fillmore, the Territorial capital, and passed a bill authorizing an election of delegates to a Territorial Convention for the purpose of forming a State Constitution, and to petition Congress for the admission of Utah into the Union. They also passed a bill authorizing a census.
Most of the Mormons became polygamists (J. H.).
1856. March 17. A convention of delegates met in Great Salt Lake City, and adopted a State Constitution, sending Messrs. John Taylor and George A. Smith, apostles, both as delegates to Washington, with a view to obtaining admission into the Union as a state. No answer was returned. During the very severe winter and spring half the stock perished by frost, and grain became very scarce.
May. Judge W. W. Drummond left Great Salt Lake City, after having forwarded false charges of rebellion, burning the library, and destroying the archives: these reports caused all the troubles with the United States.
The practice of tithe-paying was introduced among the Saints in Europe. Iowa City was made the outfit point for the Plains.
June. Lucy Mack, the Prophet’s mother, died.
Sept. 26. The first hand-cart train crossed the Plains, and arrived at Great Salt Lake City.
1857. (The winter of Mormon discontent.) March. Judge Drummond reported calumnies against the Mormons.
April. Surveyor General Burr and other United States officials left Utah Territory and returned to the United States.
The Territorial Legislature petitioned Congress to send better officers, or to permit the Mormons to appoint bonâ fide citizens and residents.
Mail communication with the States—the “Y Express” established by Mr. Brigham Young—was cut off, to keep the Mormons ignorant of the steps taken against them, and this continued for nearly a year. The Press in the United States generally opined that the Mormons were to be “wiped out.”
May 14. Apostle Parley P. Pratt killed by Hector M‘Lean in Kansas.
June 29. Brigadier General W. S. Harney, commanding Fort Leavenworth, was ordered to take charge of the army of Utah. He was removed after declaring that he would “hang Brigham first and try him afterward,” and was succeeded first by Colonel Alexander, and afterward by General Johnston.
Sept. 3, 4. Indians aided by white men massacred 115 to 120 emigrants at Mountain Meadow.
In this month 1400 men, artillery and liners of the 5th and 10th regiments, appeared upon the Sweetwater, followed by 1000 more, making the whole force amount to 2400 men, a kind of posse comitatus to enforce obedience to the federal laws.
Sept. 15. Mr. Brigham Young issued the remarkable document subjoined.[245] General Wells was ordered to occupy the passes in the Wasach Mountains, and 2016 Mormons prepared to defend their hearths and homes against the violence of the United States. Captain Van Vliet arrived at Great Salt Lake City.
Proclamation by the Governor, proclaiming Martial Law in the Territory of Utah.
“Citizens of Utah,—We are invaded by a hostile force, who are evidently assailing us to accomplish our overthrow and destruction.
“For the last twenty-five years we have trusted officials of the government, from constables and justices to judges, governors, and presidents, only to be scorned, held in derision, insulted, and betrayed. Our houses have been plundered and then burned, our fields laid waste, our principal men butchered while under the pledged faith of the government for their safety, and our families driven from their homes to find that shelter in the barren wilderness, and that protection among hostile savages, which were denied them in the boasted abodes of Christianity and civilization.
“The Constitution of our common country guarantees unto us all that we do now or have ever claimed.
“If the constitutional rights which pertain unto us as American citizens were extended to Utah, according to the spirit and meaning thereof, and fairly and impartially administered, it is all that we could ask—all that we have ever asked.
“Our opponents have availed themselves of prejudice existing against us because of our religious faith to send out a formidable host to accomplish our destruction. We have had no privilege, no opportunity of defending ourselves from the false, foul, and unjust aspersions against us before the nation. The government has not condescended to cause an investigating committee or other person to be sent to inquire into and ascertain the truth, as is customary in such cases.
“We know those aspersions to be false, but that avails us nothing. We are condemned unheard, and forced to an issue with an armed mercenary mob, which has been sent against us at the instigation of anonymous letter-writers ashamed to father the base, slanderous falsehoods which they have given to the public; of corrupt officials, who have brought false accusations against us to screen themselves in their own infamy; and of hireling priests and howling editors, who prostitute the truth for filthy lucre’s sake.
“The issue which has been thus forced upon us compels us to resort to the great first law of self-preservation, and stand in our own defense—a right guaranteed unto us by the genius of the institutions of our country, and upon which the government is based.
“Our duty to ourselves, to our families, requires us not to tamely submit to be driven and slain without an attempt to preserve ourselves. Our duty to our country, our holy religion, our God, to freedom and liberty, requires that we should not quietly stand still and see those fetters forging around which are calculated to enslave and bring us in subjection to an unlawful military despotism, such as can only emanate [in a country of constitutional law] from usurpation, tyranny, and oppression.
“Therefore I, Brigham Young, Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Utah, in the name of the people of the United States in the Territory of Utah,
“1st. Forbid all armed forces, of every description, from coming into this Territory under any pretense whatever.
“2d. That all the forces in said Territory hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment’s notice, to repel any and all such invasion.
“3d. Martial law is hereby declared to exist in this Territory from and after the publication of this proclamation; and no person shall be allowed to pass or repass into, or through, or from this Territory without a permit from the proper officer.
(L.S.)
“Given under my hand and seal at Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, this fifteenth day of September, A.D. eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-second. Brigham Young.”
Oct. 5-6. The Mormons, who were “spoiling for a fight,” burned, without the orders of their governor, two provision trains, one of fifty-one and the other of twenty-three wagons, causing great want and violent exasperation in the army of Utah.
November. Army of Utah encamped near Green River.
Nov. 21. Proclamation of Mr. Cumming, the new governor.
Dec. 15. Mr. Brigham Young’s message to the Legislature of Utah.
1858. Jan. 16. Address of citizens of Great Salt Lake City sent to President Buchanan.
February. Colonel Kane reached Great Salt Lake City.
April 5. Governor A. Cumming appointed to Utah Territory after the thankless offer had been refused by sixteen or seventeen political persons; left Camp Scott, near Fort Bridger, and on the 12th of April entered Great Salt Lake City. The “rebellion in Utah” found to be a pure invention.
Mr. Brigham Young, followed by 25,000 souls, marched to Provo, with their stock, flocks, and chattels, even their furniture.
April 15. Governor Cumming officially reported a respectful reception, and the illumination of Echo Kanyon; also that the records of the United States Courts, then in charge of a Mormon, Mr. W. H. Hooper, Secretary pro tem., the Territorial Library, in charge of Mr. W. C. Staines, and other public property, were all unimpaired, the contrary report having constituted the causa belli.
April 24. Governor Cumming issued a proclamation that he would assume effective protection of all persons illegally restrained of their liberty in Utah. Few availed themselves of his offer. The Indian agent, Dr. T. Garland Hurt, was accused of having incited the Uinta Indians to acts of hostility against the Mormons—a standing charge and counter charge in the United States.
May 21. The governor made a requisition that “no hinderance may be hereafter presented to the commercial, postal, or social communications throughout the Territory.”
May 29. The “Peace Commissioners” from Washington, ex-Governor Lazarus W. Powell, of Kentucky, and Major Ben M‘Culloch, of Texas, the celebrated Indian fighter, arrived at Great Salt Lake City (where they staid till June 2), and after proclaiming a general amnesty and free pardon, obtained permission for the army of Utah to enter the Territory, and to encamp at a place not nearer than forty miles from New Zion.
June 12. Mr. Brigham Young treated with the Peace Commissioners.
June 14. The President’s pardon “for all treasons and seditions” was proclaimed by the governor, and accepted by the citizens.
June 26. The federal troops, having left Camp Scott, passed through the deserted City of the Saints, led by Lieutenant Colonel Cooke, who rode, according to Mormon report, with head uncovered; they remained for two days encamped on the Jordan, outside the settlement, and then moved twelve to fifteen miles westward for wood and grass.
1859. The Legislature sat at Great Salt Lake City.
Judge Charles S. Sinclair attempted to break faith by misinterpreting the amnesty, and nearly caused collision between the federal troops and the Mormons.
The Hon. John Cradlebaugh, ex-officio judge of the Second Judicial District Court, Utah Territory, quartered a company of 110 men in the court-house and public buildings of Provo, thereby causing disturbances; Governor Cumming protested against the proceeding.
The Deserét currency plates were seized at Mr. Brigham Young’s house.
Jan. 2. Religious service, interrupted by the war, again performed in the Tabernacle.
Feb. 28. Troubles between the citizens at Rush Valley and the federal troops under General A. J. Johnston, commanding the Department of Utah.
March 25. Mr. Howard Spencer, nephew of Mr. Daniel Spencer, was severely wounded by First Sergeant Ralph Pike, Company I of the 10th Regiment.
Aug. 10. Sergeant Pike, summoned for trial to Great Salt Lake City, was shot in the street, it is supposed by Mr. H. Spencer.
In this month the citizens of Carson Valley declared themselves independent of Utah Territory.
1860. Mr. Forney, Indian Superintendent, Utah Territory, and highly hostile to the Mormons, was removed.
Troubles with the troops. Mr. Heneage, a Mormon citizen, was flogged at a cart’s tail by two federal officers under a little mistake.
June 20. Major Ormsby (militia) and his force destroyed by the Indians near Honey Lake.
1861. The federal troops evacuated the Land of the Saints.