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 The charter of Nauvoo was repealed by the State Legislature.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).