by Dean Hughes
Will did believe the purpose of the paper was to invite mobs from the county to attack the Saints, but he wondered what would come of destroying the press. He could only imagine what Thomas Sharp would have to say about that.
There were dozens of men who had already dismounted their horses. They were gathering around the front of the Mansion House. More men were coming all the time. It seemed a huge number of people to carry out the order. Will thought maybe the men would be worried about what might be coming next, but they were rejoicing, slapping one another on the back, joking about “ol’ William Law” being “shut up for good.”
After a time, Joseph Smith stepped from the house, and a cheer went up. He stood on the front steps and waited for the men to quiet. He didn’t seem nearly so joyous as the men were. He thanked them, however, and he told them that the only purpose of the Nauvoo Expositor was to spread libel and slander and incite indignation among the other citizens of the county. The paper, he said, was a nuisance that couldn’t be tolerated. “I care not how many newspapers there are in this city,” he told them, “if they would print the truth but would submit to no libel or slander.”
There was a shout of agreement, and then Joseph wished them well. He waved to everyone and stepped back into the house. The men continued to talk among themselves. There was something exciting about all this, and Will began to feel it himself. Maybe this time the Saints were strong enough that they could stand up and defend themselves. He had been telling himself for a long time that he needed to calm his spirit and avoid his tendency to fight back when pressured, but Joseph had sanctioned this action, and it sounded right. Others would make of it what they wanted, but he felt certain that “nuisance” was the right name for the rag of a paper that had been published. If Warsaw wanted to get up a mob, maybe they would find out what the Nauvoo Legion boys would do about that.
He glanced across Water Street and saw that a group of young boys had gathered. He saw one of the boys pretend to shoot a rifle and then say something to his friends, who all laughed. This all must have seemed a great game to them: playing at war. Will suddenly saw the other side of all this. He thought of Liz and his two little boys, and he wondered, could a war, fought here in Nauvoo, be good for anyone? Was that what God wanted the Saints to engage in?
Will spotted Brother Rich walking across Main Street to his horse. He followed and caught up with him. “General Rich,” he said, “I worked at my farm all day and haven’t heard anything. Will the Legion be called up?”
Brother Rich looked solemn. “I would think so,” he said. “We’ll know in the next few days. I wouldn’t go out to work on any outlying farms right now. Mobs will attack there first and then move on into the city. These boys of ours think they’re in for some good sport, but they won’t be so haughty once it all starts.”
Any excitement Will had felt before was entirely gone now.
“At very least, we’ll soon be setting up guard stations. So be ready. The Escort Brigade will guard the Prophet.”
Will nodded, said he would be ready, but all the way home he tried to think what words he should choose to inform Liz what was happening.
• • •
Liz was glad that Will didn’t go back to the farm on Tuesday morning. She could tell that he was troubled. He had been very careful the night before as he had told her about the things he had heard and seen. He didn’t question the Prophet’s decision, but she knew he was wondering whether the destruction of the press hadn’t gone too far—and would bring on the wrath of everyone who hated the Saints.
But nothing happened. Twice that day, and twice again on Wednesday, Will sought out William Clayton at his office to learn what new developments might be at hand. He came home with little to report. Late on Wednesday Brother Clayton had received a copy of that day’s Warsaw Signal and had let Will read it. When Will came back home, he told Liz, “Tom Sharp has gone mad, I think. He said that every man would have to make his own comment about what we did to the Expositor, but he said they ought to do it ‘with powder and ball.’”
“What’s he saying, that they should kill Joseph?”
“Not just him. He said that what we call the Missouri persecutions should be called ‘Missouri justice.’ So you don’t have to guess what he thinks they ought to do.”
Liz felt weak. Will seemed to see that. He came to her and took her in his arms. “Things are different this time,” he said. “The Saints had no army in Missouri. The old citizens are calling for meetings in Warsaw and in Carthage, but they don’t want to take on the Legion. Joseph already wrote to Governor Ford and explained why the press had to be destroyed. Ford may not agree with Joseph, but Brother Clayton thinks he might send state troops to intervene—to stop a war before it gets started.”
“But we can’t keep living this way—surrounded by people who hate us.”
“No, we can’t. But if some of our people migrate to other parts of the land and we stop adding to our numbers here in Nauvoo, things could calm down in time.”
Liz could always tell when Will was trying to ease her mind. The truth was, he wasn’t confident about anything he was saying.
• • •
On Sunday morning, rain was falling. Will said he wanted to walk over to the grove and see whether Joseph would have something to say, but he didn’t think it would be a good idea to take Jacob and Daniel out into the storm. Liz agreed, so Will walked to the east grove by himself.
After a hymn and prayer, Joseph stood in the steady rain and thanked the people for coming. Will expected him to instruct the members on how to respond to the threats they were facing. But he didn’t do that. He kept his tall hat on as protection from the rain, and he shouted his words loudly enough to be heard above the noise of the spatter in the surrounding trees. He said that he would take for his text Revelation 1, verse 6, which referred to “God and his Father.” The “apostates,” as he called the dissenters, had accused him of teaching “the plurality of Gods,” but anyone who read the Bible carefully must know that it was full of references to multiple Gods. He pointed out that he had been teaching for a long time that God and Jesus Christ were separate beings, not one God. As he continued to describe Bible references to God and Christ being separate and Paul’s mention of multiple Gods, Will had to smile. Joseph wasn’t there to talk about the battles that might be ahead. He was preaching the gospel as it had been taught to him by the Spirit. That mattered most to him.
If Christ was a God, and he had a Father, he asked, why couldn’t God the Father have a father? The fact was, for mortals on this earth, there was only one “God the Father” to worship, so it didn’t matter if there were other Gods in other places. He wasn’t blaspheming against God; he was opening up a greater truth. He refused to apologize for teaching something that was different from what most Christians taught. “I never heard of a man being damned for believing too much,” he said, “but they are damned for unbelief.”
The rain was gradually coming harder. Joseph said he could talk for three or four hours on this subject, but because of the downpour, he would have to close the meeting. By afternoon, however, the rains had abated, and at a four o’clock session Joseph stood up again. This time, as he often did in afternoon sessions, he dealt with some practical matters. Most important, he ordered Major General Charles Rich to hold the Nauvoo Legion “in readiness to suppress all illegal violence in the city.”
At the close of the meeting, Will felt that the Sabbath had been a fitting escape from the rancor he had heard in recent days, but he wondered what lay ahead. He had told Liz that the ragtag troops from Carthage and Warsaw could never drive the Saints away, but what he hadn’t told her was that the dissidents had filed suit against Joseph for the destruction of their press, and Governor Ford was demanding that Joseph appear in court—in Carthage, not Nauvoo—to answer the charges. He had written Joseph that if necessary he would call out thousands of troops from
all around the state. He could not, he argued, allow Joseph to take the law into his own hands and destroy private property without facing his accusers. Joseph and the city council, he said, may have had a legal argument for what they had done, but it was unlawful for Joseph to be exonerated by the Nauvoo Municipal Court.
The governor’s position had plenty of merit, and Joseph Smith might ordinarily have been willing to comply, but what Joseph believed, and Will assumed was true, was that if he gave himself up and went to Carthage, he would never return.
• • •
Will decided not to work at his farm on Monday morning. He was worried that his crops had been washed out again by the storm on Sunday, but there was nothing to be done until the soil dried again. Even more, he found himself unable to give much thought to his work. Will talked to William Clayton on Monday afternoon and learned that Joseph had sent out representatives to all the communities in the area. These agents would try to explain the city council’s actions against the Expositor and reassure leaders that peace could still be worked out. The reports coming back, however, were frightening. In Yelrome—the Morley settlement—there had already been burnt farmhouses. Joseph had told the Mormons there not to leave for now, but it seemed unlikely they could withstand the persecutions of Levi Williams, the lay minister from Green Plains, with his band of vigilantes.
Brother Clayton told Will that Joseph had declared martial law and thought that the Legion would be called up in the morning. That turned out to be right. The Legion assembled, in uniform, at the parade ground near Main Street on the flats. Will was at the forefront with the Escort Brigade. At about eleven o’clock Joseph Smith arrived on Old Charley, and then he led the Legion as it marched to the Mansion House.
Porter Rockwell had been building a barbershop and inn just across the street, south of the Mansion House. Only the foundation and first floor of Porter’s building were in place, but it made an ideal platform where Joseph could address the Legion. Will’s brigade stayed toward the back of the crowd with their horses. Will was still mounted on Socks when he saw Joseph, along with other high-ranking officers, climb a ladder to the platform. Joseph was wearing his full uniform, even his plumed hat. He appeared resolute and more solemn than usual. The soldiers lined up in the intersection of Water and Main and up and down both of those streets. They stood in formation in their battalions and companies, and Will thought they appeared a powerful force.
Before Joseph spoke, William Phelps read the declaration that Thomas Sharp had made in the Warsaw Signal, calling for citizens to arm themselves and drive Joe and Hyrum Smith and all their “infernal devils” from the county. Many had already read these words or spread them around verbally, but Will could see the resentment, even anger, in the faces of the men when they heard the entire editorial. Still, they remained silent in their military discipline.
Joseph projected his voice over the large assemblage, but he sounded reasonable, not angry. He explained that the purpose of some men in the county was to exterminate the Mormons because of their religion. He called upon the men to defend the Constitution of the United States and to defend their wives and children, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. He told the soldiers to arm themselves with whatever weapons they could find and be ready to protect their city. Gradually his voice had grown more forceful, faster in cadence. Finally, he shouted, “Will you all stand by me to the death, and sustain at the peril of your lives, the laws of our country?”
“Aye!” the mass of men shouted back.
He repeated the question twice more and received the same loud response each time.
He pleaded with the soldiers to defend their families, but never to spill innocent blood. Then he concluded by raising his sword in the air and shouting, “I call God and angels to witness that I have unsheathed my sword with a firm and unalterable determination that this people shall have their legal rights and be protected from mob violence, or my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water.”
He hesitated after that, and when he spoke again, his voice had softened. “You are good people; therefore I love you with all my heart.” He ended by saying, “You have stood by me in the hour of trouble, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation.”
Will was heartsick. Joseph was ready to die—all the men were—for the sake of the truth, for the sake of Zion. But how had everything come to this? How could these good people have possibly generated so much hatred in the hearts of their neighbors?
The troops were dispersed around the city after that, placed at entering points to the city or assigned to guard strategic buildings. Will and the Escort Brigade stayed at the Mansion House, and they stood guard in shifts, around the clock. Will saw the comings and goings of Joseph and those leaders who were still in town, but most of the Apostles were still out campaigning for Joseph’s nomination for the presidency.
Will continued to speak with his friend William Clayton when he could. He learned that Joseph had been exchanging letters with Governor Ford. The governor had promised Joseph protection if he gave himself up in Carthage, but Joseph doubted the governor could make that guarantee. On Friday, Governor Ford came to Nauvoo, and John Taylor met to negotiate with him. The outcome was that the Legion was disbanded and a promise was made that armies being organized in Warsaw and Carthage would also be controlled by state forces. Will learned the next day, however, that Joseph, unable to believe that Governor Ford could keep him safe, had left with Hyrum and crossed the river to Montrose in the Iowa Territory. It was Warren Baugh who had heard the news, and he was not happy. “Here we are on the verge of war,” he told Will, “and Joseph runs away to save himself. I don’t understand it.”
“Or is he trying to save us?” Will responded, rather forcefully.
“That’s what some is sayin’, but he told us he’d spill his blood to fight for us, and then he hides out. It don’t seem right to me.”
Will heard the same accusation from others that Sunday morning, but by afternoon reports circulated that Joseph was already back in the city. And later that day Will was called to the Mansion House again. Joseph had agreed to give himself up after all. Eighteen men had been indicted for the destruction of the press. Joseph and Hyrum, along with the others so accused, would be riding to Carthage Monday morning, June 24, and a small escort of Mormons would ride with him. The governor had changed his mind and was now offering no state posse for his protection, but Joseph had become convinced he had to go, had to answer the charges, and he would take along his own protection.
Will spent Sunday night back at home, but he returned to the Mansion House early in the morning to make the trip with Joseph.
• • •
Liz watched Will ride away that morning, and then she went back into her house, knelt, and prayed. She wanted the faith to trust that all would be well, but she had seen something in Will’s eyes she didn’t like. He had promised her that he was in no danger, that she need not worry, but he was not really sure of that, and she knew it. She didn’t know whether he was scared for himself, for her and their little boys, or for Joseph. She doubted that he knew. What she did learn was that he had asked two men from the Escort Brigade—since only a few had been chosen to ride to Carthage—to stay near her home and look out for her. She didn’t think that a battle was imminent, with Joseph agreeing to give himself up, but that made her wonder whether he had felt a need to have someone there for her, should he not return himself.
She wondered even more when at midmorning Nelly showed up just to see how Liz was doing. “How did you know that Will was gone?” Liz asked.
“He told me. When he came back from the Mansion House last night, he stopped here first. He asked me to watch out for you a little.”
“Why, Nelly? Does he expect to get himself killed?” The idea that he would speak to Nelly irritated her. Why would Will never admit to her how much danger he was actually facing?
“Oh, no. He said nothing of the kind. He only said you might worry, and it might be nice if I kept you company a little.”
Liz was holding little Daniel, who was almost four months old. She had fed him, and now he was asleep. But she liked having him close to her. Jacob came to her and leaned against her legs. Liz knew she shouldn’t have asked Nelly about Will dying. Jacob didn’t really understand death, but he must have heard the concern in her voice.
“There’s nothing you can do for me, Nelly,” Liz said. “Now I just have to wait. And I do that best when I keep busy.”
“I know. But a little talk don’t hurt. An’ maybe I kin help you with whatever it is that you need to do taday.”
Liz wanted to tell her no, to tell her that she was only going to make her nervous, but Nelly meant well. So Liz said, “All right. That would be nice,” and Nelly stayed much of the day.
• • •
It was a sizeable party that rode north on Main Street and then climbed the bluff toward the temple. The entire city council had been indicted, along with Joseph and Hyrum. Willard Richards, Dan Jones, and Henry Sherwood were not accused, but they had joined the group to support Joseph. James Woods, an attorney from Burlington, Iowa Territory, was also with them, as were others, like Will, who were there to escort and defend the group. As they crested the bluff, Will saw Joseph turn his horse and look back at the city below. Hyrum was next to him on Sam, his white horse, and the two gazed out over the river valley and spoke for a time. They finally rode on, and John Benton came up alongside Will. “What were they saying back there?” Will asked.
“Joseph said, ‘This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens.’ I heard him say it, clear as anything, and exactly in them words. But he also said that the people didn’t know what trials were ahead for them.”