The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo

by B. H. Roberts

Joseph, when arriving at Dixon a prisoner, dispatched William Clayton with a message to his brother Hyrum telling what had befallen him, and requesting that assistance be at once sent to him. Clayton boarded the steamer Amaranth, at Rock Island, and arrived in Nauvoo about two o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, the twenty-fifth of June. Meeting was in progress when Hyrum stepped into the stand and interrupted the proceedings, by announcing that he wanted to meet with the brethren at the Masonic Hall.

The quiet of the Sabbath was immediately changed into excitement, and the brethren rushed to the hall in such numbers that not one-fourth could gain admittance, so the meeting was adjourned to the green, where a hollow square was formed about Hyrum, who related the story Clayton had told him respecting the capture of his brother, and called for volunteers to go to his assistance, and see that he had his rights. Immediately three hundred offered their services and from them a company was selected such as was needed; and before sunset, one hundred and seventy-five men were in the saddle under command of Generals Wilson Law and C. C. Rich, en route for Peoria.

Before the company left Nauvoo Elder Wilford Woodruff opened a barrel of gunpowder and invited every man that was going to the assistance of the Prophet to fill his flask or powder horn. The company was well armed and well mounted, and presented rather a formidable appearance.

Besides sending out this company to find and protect his brother, Hyrum sent about seventy-five men on the steamer Maid of Iowa, a small steamboat purchased by the people of Nauvoo some months before, and placed under the command of Captain Dan Jones.

The company was to go down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois river, thence up that stream as far as Peoria; for it was expected that Joseph was being conveyed to Ottawa, and it was feared by Hyrum that an attempt would be made when the party approached the Illinois river to convey Joseph to one of the crafts plying between Peoria and St. Louis and so take him to Missouri. Hence this company on the Maid of Iowa was instructed to take the course mentioned, and to examine the steamboats they met, and if they learned that the Prophet was a prisoner on any one of them, they were to render whatever assistance might be within their power.

The command under Brothers Law and Rich divided and subdivided in going through the country, and on the twenty-seventh a small company under the command of Captain Thomas Grover met Stephen Markham, whom Joseph had dispatched to find the brethren that he suspected had been sent from Nauvoo to his assistance; Markham had instructions to meet the Prophet with any company of brethren he might find at Monmouth.

Near Monmouth, and before the arrival of the main body of Joseph's friends, Reynolds and Wilson planned a scheme of going into that town, raising a mob and taking the Prophet by force into Missouri. The plot failed, however, as it was overheard by P. W. Conover, and Sheriff Campbell took both Wilson and Reynolds into his immediate custody. These men had a strong dislike of going to Nauvoo, as they feared they would never leave the place alive. But the Prophet pledged his word that no harm should befall them. As the friends of Joseph kept dropping in singly, or in squads, the fear of his enemies increased. Reynolds made special inquiries as to whether "Jem Flack" was in the company, and on being answered in the affirmative, he exclaimed, as he turned deathly pale, "I am a dead man!" for he had given Flack a deadly provocation. When Flack rode up, however, the Prophet called him up to him and strictly charged him that whatever insult he had received from Reynolds, not to injure a hair of his head, since he had given his word of honor that he should not be injured; and Flack agreed to let him alone.

Before noon of the thirtieth, Joseph's company, which now numbered about one hundred and forty, approached Nauvoo. Word had previously been sent in as to the probable time of his arrival, and the people prepared to give him a royal reception.

Hyrum Smith and Emma, accompanied by the brass band and a long train of carriages, met the Prophet's company a mile and a half north of the city, and received him. The enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds. The Prophet met his brother and wife with a fond embrace; from the latter, only a few days before, he had been torn away in the most arbitrary and cruel manner, and their reunion was a joy indeed.

Joseph now mounted his favorite horse, "Old Charley," and with Emma riding proudly at his side, and surrounded by his body guard, he led the procession into the city, amid the enthusiastic cheers of the people, the firing of musketry and cannon, and the lively strains of the band. At the gate of the Mansion stood the Prophet's mother, with tears of joy rolling down her aged cheeks, to welcome her son, whom she had seen so many times in the hands of his enemies. Here, too, his children flocked about him and welcomed him with unreserved, childish delight.