The mob forces by this time had nearly reached Mulholland street, but now they recoiled from the rapid firing of the reinforcements and beat a retreat to the house of a Mr. Carmichael, but a short distance from Squire Wells' house. Here they waited until wagons came from their camp, and putting their dead and wounded into them, returned to where they were encamped in the morning. The number of killed and wounded of the mob has never been ascertained, as the facts were kept concealed. The intrepid Anderson and his equally brave son, a lad not more than fifteen years of age fell in the engagement; and one Morris was killed while crossing a field by a cannon ball.
Negotiations were now renewed, and the citizens of Nauvoo, seeing that the State authorities rendered them no assistance, but permitted even their own authority to be braved by a lawless mob, and knowing that they would eventually be overpowered, accepted the following terms of settlement, in order to stop the further effusion of blood:—
1. The city of Nauvoo will surrender. The force of Colonel Brockman to enter and take possession of the city tomorrow, the seventeenth of September, at three o'clock p. m.
2. The arms to be delivered to the Quincy committee, to be returned on the crossing of the river.
3. The Quincy committee pledge themselves to use their influence for the protection of persons and property from all violence, and the officers of the camp and the men pledge themselves to protect all persons and property from violence.
4. The sick and helpless to be protected and treated with humanity.
5. The Mormon population of the city to leave the State or disperse as soon as they can cross the river.
6. Five men, including the Trustees of The Church, and five clerks, with their families (Wm. Pickett not one of the number) to be permitted to remain in the city, for the disposition of property, free from all molestation and personal violence.
7. Hostilities to cease immediately, and ten men of the Quincy committee to enter the city, in the execution of their duty as soon as they think proper.
These terms of capitulation were signed on the part of the citizens of Nauvoo, by Almon W. Babbitt, Joseph L. Heywood and John S. Fullmer; and on the part of the mob by Thomas S. Brockman and John Carlin; and by Andrew Johnson on behalf of the Quincy committee.
The rest of my story is soon told. There was a hasty flight of the "Mormon" population and a number of the new citizens who had assisted in the defense of Nauvoo. They left their homes without being able to carry with them anything for their comfort. The sick, aged and infirm, together with the youth, without regard to sex or condition, shared the same fate; they had to lie out on the Mississippi bottoms where many perished through exposure, and beyond all doubt, all would have famished from hunger, had not their camp been filled with innumerable flocks of quail, so tame that women and children caught hundreds of them in their hands, and thus was the cry of hunger relieved, by what would generally be regarded as a miraculous occurrence.[[6]]
Brockman and his forces entered the city, and once in, he insolently violated every condition of the treaty of surrender. But lest I should be charged with inaccuracy—for such events as I am recording seem almost too much to believe—I quote from the report made by Mr. Brayman to Governor Ford. Mr. Brayman had acted as the Governor's agent, for some time, in a secret capacity from the commencement of the difficulties at Nauvoo, and the following abstract is from an elaborate report he gives of the final struggle for the defense of the city. Moreover, the fact that I have never seen this matter reproduced in any of our books encourages me to insert it here:
The force of General Brockman marched into the city at three o'clock. From fifteen hundred to two thousand men marched in procession, through the city, and encamped on the south side, near the river. The march was conducted without the least disorder or trespass upon persons or property. The streets were deserted—the obnoxious persons had left the city, leaving but little to provoke the resentment of the victors. But a few Mormons remained in the city, and these were hastening their preparations for crossing the river as soon as possible. On my return from Carthage to the city, about noon, I learned that the Quincy committee had closed its labors at sunrise and had left for home, leaving a sub-committee to complete the reception and delivery of the arms of those Mormons who had not yet departed.
I also learned that in addition to the duty General Brockman had assumed, under the treaty, of superintending the removal of the Mormons from the State, he had issued an order for the expulsion from the State, of all who had borne arms in defense of the city against his force, and all who were in any manner identified with the Mormons.
It could scarcely be believed that such an order in such palpable and gross violation of the unanimous pledge which had been signed by the officers, agreed to by the whole force, and endorsed by the Quincy committee, had been given. But on applying to General Brockman, I learned that such an order had been given, and would be executed. This order was rigorously enforced throughout the day, with many circumstances of the utmost cruelty and injustice. Bands of armed men traversed the city, entering the houses of citizens, robbing them of arms, throwing their household goods out of doors, insulting them, and threatening their lives. Many were seized and marched to the camp, and after military examination, set across the river, for the crime of sympathizing with the Mormons, or the still more heinous offense of fighting in the defense of the city, under command of officers commissioned by YOU, [Governor Ford], and instructed to make that defense. It is, indeed, painfully true, that many citizens of this State, have been driven from it by an armed force, because impelled by our encouragement, and a sense of duty, they have bravely defended their homes and homes of their neighbors from the assaults of a force assembled for unlawful purposes.
In the face of the pledge given to protect persons and property from all violence, (excepting of course Mormon persons and property), it may be estimated that nearly one half of the new citizens of Nauvoo have been forced from their homes and dare not return. Thus far, these citizens have appealed in vain for protection and redress.
It remains yet to be seen whether there is efficacy in the law, power in the executive arm, or potency in public opinion sufficient to right their grievous wrongs. It is disgraceful to the character of the State, and a humiliation not to be borne, to permit a military leader, acting without a shadow of lawful authority, but in violation of law and right, not only to thwart the will of the executive, but to impose upon citizens the penalty of banishment, for acting under it.[[7]]
Was this arch traitor, Brockman, hung for his treason against the State? No; nor even tried or questioned, neither he nor his followers. Perhaps it was thought that an investigation might reveal the fact to the world that many high officials, and chief among them the governor of the State, had been engaged in an unlawful conspiracy to drive from Illinois an innocent community, whose rights they had not the moral courage to defend against the fierce attacks of lawless mobs, whose hands were crimson in the blood of innocence; and who repeatedly trampled the honor and dignity of the State under their feet.
After a time the most of the new citizens returned to the homes they had purchased for little or nothing from the now exiled founders of the beautiful city. But Nauvoo never prospered under its new masters. Out of sympathy for those who had redeemed it from a wilderness, and some portions of it from a swamp, its fields and gardens refused to yield in their strength to the industry of other hands. Its decline was as rapid and disastrous as its rise had been sudden and glorious.
A French communistic society had purchased considerable property in the deserted city, and into their hands passed the splendid temple the Saints at such sacrifice had erected. Externally, the building had been completed in the spring of 1846, even to the gilding of the angel and the trumpet at the top of the spire. During the winter of 1845-6 various rooms of the temple were dedicated for ordinance work, and there hundreds of the faithful Saints received their endowments—the sacred mysteries of the faith. The main court of worship was also prepared; and on the evening of April 30th, 1846, the building was privately dedicated, Joseph Young, the senior president of the First Council of Seventy, offering the dedicatory prayer. On the first of May, 1846, under the direction of Apostles Orson Hyde and Wilford Woodruff, the edifice was publicly dedicated, according to the order of the Holy Priesthood, revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith.