SPALDING STUDIES LIBRARY -- SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
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New Light on Mormonism
1: Contents | 2. Chapters 1-7 | 3. Chapters: 8 9 10 11 12 | 4. Chapters 13-16 |
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The Prophet's prospects at once brightened when Dr. Galland, a notorious character, presented a part of a large tract of land to him in Carthage County, with a view of making a market for the remainder. Immediately Joseph had a "revelation" that this was the "centre spot," and he commanded the Saints to assemble here to build a city, a temple, etc. The city, the angel told him, was to be called "Nauvoo," which he said, means "the Beautiful." It is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, forty miles above Quincy, Ill., and twenty miles west of Burlington, Iowa, at a bend of the river, on rising ground, commanding a magnificent view of the "Father of Waters" for many miles. The land given to Joseph was divided into lots and sold to the Mormons, by which he realized over one million of dollars. The Saints from all quarters responded to the call to hasten to the new city, and it immediately grew into importance. Fifteen years before Smith had been known as a common vagrant; now he was known as a mayor, a pontiff, and as a very rich man, the legislature having granted the city a charter with extraordinary privileges, including the authorization of a military body, afterward known as the "Nauvoo Legion," of which he was the lieutenant-general -- a corps to which all the male Mormons capable of bearing arms belonged. Nauvoo became the capital of the world to the Mormons, and attracted general attention. This new "everlasting residence" of the Saints was changed from a desert into an abode of plenty and luxury. Gardens sprang up as if by magic, plethoric with the most beautiful flowers of the New and the Old World, whose seeds had been brought from distant lands as souvenirs to the new "Zion;" broad streets were laid out, houses erected, and the busy hum of industries was heard in the marts of Commerce. Steamboats unloaded their stores, and passengers came and departed for fresh supplies of merchandise; fields waved with golden harvests, and cattle dotted the neighboring hills. The new settlement was increased by horse-thieves, house-breakers, robbers, and people of the most disreputable character, who joined the community to cloak their villainous deeds in mystery. Speculators, too, came and bought property with the hope of remuneration. Some of these people were baptized, but being unwilling to pay full tithes, were " ousted " from the ranks, which were again quickly filled. An intelligent officer of the United States Army, who visited Nauvoo in the height of its prosperity, gives an account of the city and its institutions as he saw them at this time: "Yesterday," he says, "was a great day among the Mormons. Their legion, to the number of two thousand men, were paraded by Generals Smith, Bennett, and others, and certainly made a very fine appearance. The evolutions of the troops directed by Major-General Bennett would do credit to any body of armed militia. "What does all this mean? Why this exact discipline of the Mormon corps? Do they intend to conquer Missouri, Illinois, or Mexico? "Before many years this legion will be fifty thousand strong -- a fearful host, and still augmenting, filled with religious enthusiasm, and led on by ambitious and talented officers, and what may not be effected by them? These Mormons are accumulating like a snow-ball rolling down an inclined plane, which in the end becomes an avalanche. They have appointed Captain Bennett, late of the United States Army, their inspector-general, and he is commissioned as such by Governor Curtin [sic]. This gentleman is skilled in gunnery, fortification, ordnance and military engineering generally and I am told he is now under pay from the tithings of this warlike people I have seen his plans for fortifying Nauvoo, which are equal to any of Tartan's. "Only a part of their officers are Mormons, but they act with a common interest, and those who are not Mormons when they come here soon become so, from interest or conviction. The Smiths are not without talent, and are said to be brave as lions. Joseph, the chief, is a noble-looking fellow -- a Mahomet, every inch of him. "The Postmaster, Sidney Rigdon, is a lawyer, philosopher, and Saint. Their other generals are men of talent, and some of them men of learning. They are all unquestionably ambitions, and the tendency of their religious creed is to annihilate all other creeds ; you may therefore see that the time will come when this gathering host of religious fanatics will make the country shake to its centre. A Western empire is certain; ecclesiastical history presents no parallel to this people, inasmuch as they are establishing their religion on a learned footing. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, is president of their university. "The military parade astonished me and filled me with fears for futureconsequences. The Mormons, it is true, are now peaceable; but the lion is asleep -- take care, don't arouse him. "This place has been settled only three years. It is well laid out, and seems to be well governed. The adjoining country is beautiful -- a rolling prairie; Nauvoo contains ten thousand people, and in and near this city are thirty thousand of these warlike fanatics, an incorporated army, to whom the arms of the State have been loaned; and of this army a company has been selected to build the Mormon Temple, the site of which has been selected. I am told that all the converts of Mormonism, here and elsewhere, at this time number one hundred and fifty thousand." From this statement it is obvious that the Saints were again prosperous some three years after their expulsion from Missouri. Not only was the site of the temple chosen, but a hotel was built, where certain of the leaders were to be entertained, "free of expense, forever." Conferences were held semi-annually and missionaries were appointed to Palestine, Africa, and Europe, and to each Congressional district in the United States. The best educated, the most inquiring and restive ones, were sent on these errands in order to give them a chance to let off the steam of discontent. They were sent with all the promptness of military orders, with a three days' notice for an absence of three years from home and family, which were cared for by the presidency and bishops. Three hundred missionaries were appointed at one of these conferences. Previous to starting they received orders from Joseph, who preached a rousing sermon to them that stimulated their pride of conquering difficulties without scrip or purse; the main point was that "spiritual wifehood" was to be most pointedly denied; and that they should teach that one man was to live with one woman "in chaste fidelity." He told them to buckle on the armor, "to confound the wise and unwise," etc., thus enlisting their pride, which was the sure way to make full Mormons of the wavering. At this time (1842) the Mormons boasted of having a hundred thousand in the faith throughout the States, and their vote was a balancing power. They would go in a body in all political questions. The Prophet commenced to agitate the question of a restitution of the property the Saints had lost in Missouri. He visited Washington, had an interview with President Van Buren who said to him; "Sir, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." In view of the approaching Presidential election of 1844, letters on the subject of the Mormons' alleged wrongs were addressed to prominent candidates, which elicited answers not at all agreeable to the Saints. In 1843 the Prophet wrote to Henry Clay, who was supposed to have a good chance to be elected to the Presidency, to know what course he would pursue toward the Mormons if he were successful. The correspondence was characteristic of both parties. Smith's letter was to the following effect: "NAUVOO ILL., November 4, 1843. "HON. HENRY CLAY:"DEAR SIR: As we understand you are a candidate for the Presidency of the next election, and as the Latter Day Saints (sometimes called Mormons), who now constitute a numerous class in the school politic of this vast Republic, who have been robbed of an immense amount of property and endured nameless sufferings by the State of Missouri, and from her borders have been driven by force of arms, contrary to our natural covenants, and as in vain we have sought redress by all constitutional, legal, and honorable means in her courts, her executive councils, and her legislative halls, and as we petitioned Congress to take cognizance of our sufferings without effect, we have judged it wisdom to address this communication to you and solicit an immediate, specific, and candid reply to what your rule of action relative to us will be as a people, should fortune favor your accession to the chief Magistracy. "Most respectfully, sir, your friend, and the friend of peace and good order and Congressional rights, "JOSEPH SMITH." Mr. Clay responded as follows: "DEAR SIR: I have received your letter in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ, of the Latter-Day Saints, inquiring what would be my rule of action to you as a people should I be elected, etc. Should I be a candidate, I can enter into no engagements, make no promises, give no pledges to any particular. portion of the people of the United States. I have viewed with lively interest the progress of the Latter-Day Saints. I have sympathized in their sufferings, under injustice, as it appeared to me. I think, in common with all other religious communities, they ought to enjoy the security and protection of the Constitution and the laws. I am, with great respect, "Your friend, "HENRY CLAY." Mr. Clay's reply was very unsatisfactory to the Prophet, who wrote him a second letter which received a still more unsatisfactory reply. He wrote an angry rejoinder, calling Mr. Clay "a blackleg in politics." The letter shows the shrewdness and talent of the man. The following is an extract from it: "The renowned Secretary of State, the ignoble duelist, the gambling Senator and Whig candidate for the Presidency, Henry Clay, the wise Kentucky lawyer, advises the Latter-Day Saints to go to Oregon, to obtain justice, and set up a government of their own. Why? Great God, to transport two hundred thousand people through a vast prairie over the Rocky Mountains to Oregon -- a distance of nearly two thousand miles -- would cost more than four millions; or should they go around Cape Horn in ships to California, the cost would be more than twenty millions; and all this to save the United States from inheriting the disgrace of Missouri for murdering and robbing the Saints with impunity. Benton and Van Buren, who make no secret to say, if they get into power they will carry out (Governor) Boggs's exterminating plan to rid the country of the Latter-Day Saints, are Then Smith set forth his "views on government," advocated a national hank, denounced punishment for desertion in the army and navy, would pardon every convict in the penitentiaries, curtail government offices and pay, reduce the number of representatives, and would harmonize everything by declaring all men free to try "honesty and care" in their dealings, and become a brotherhood. Joseph was put in nomination for the Presidency, and the Mormons have always declared that if he had lived until the next election he would have obtained that office. He was called "The Lion of the Lord" at this time, from his bold spirit and great bravery and power among his followers. A daughter of Joseph's at this time said to a young woman just arrived at Nauvoo: "If we all do as father directs us, we shall be able to conquer the whole world. The President of the United States will be glad to black father's boots when the thousand years of our reign upon earth commences, and that time will come before long." THE MORMON TEMPLE AT NAUVOO. On April 6th, 1841, the foundation of the remarkable building at Nauvoo, called the Mormon Temple, was laid by General Joseph Smith, who appeared for the purpose at the head of his legion, surrounded by a numerous staff. Soon after the city of Nauvoo had been laid out the selection was made for this crowning triumph of the wealth and perseverance of the Saints, on the brow of a bluff overlooking the lower town on the river and a wide stretch of country on either side.The design of the temple, Smith said, was given to him by the angel "Maroni," who explained all the details of the building to him. This "Maroni" was the angel who gave him (as he said) the precious box containing the golden plates. However, he employed a Gentile architect, who drafted it by dictation. All time Saints were called upon to contribute to its erection by time and money. The building, which was of white limestone and wrought in superior style, was in the centre of a four-acre lot. It was one hundred and twenty-eight feet long by eighty-three feet in width, and sixty feet in height. There were two stories in the clear and two in the recesses over the arches, making four tiers of windows -- two Gothic and two round. the two lofty stories had two pulpits, one at each end, to accommodate the Melchisedec and Aaronic priesthood, graded into four rising seats: the first for the president of the elders and his two counsellors; the second for the president of the high-priesthood and his two counsellors; the third for the Melchisedec priesthood and his two counsellors; and the fourth for the president of the whole church (Smith) and his two counsellors, there was a carved marble font standing or resting on twelve life-sized oxen in marble in the basement, for the "baptism of the living," "for health, for the remission of sin, and for the salvation of the dead." The temple bad a single tower one hundred feet in height on the side toward the river. On the front of the building was this inscription: "The House of the Lord, built by the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. Holiness to the Lord." This structure resembled no other church edifice, but was remarkably unique and graceful in its proportions, particularly the front of it, with its six fluted columns, its carved Corinthian caps, and broad piazza. The walls were of massive thickness; the architectural ornaments of the interior were "holy emblems," and the spire was crowned, or tipped, with a gilt angel and his "gospel trump." P. T. Barnum, it is said, had this gilt angel in his New York museum for years after the destruction of the temple. It was the intention of the Mormons to inclose this beautiful temple with a wall ten feet in height and six in thickness. The other buildings in Nauvoo were the Seventies' Hall, Masonic Temple, and Concert Hall, and the large hotel which the Prophet said was to be the "Mission House of the world," and where he would entertain "emperors, kings, and queens," from the Old World, who would come to him to inquire of the new faith. There was no licensed place to sell liquors, and drunkenness was almost unknown. Order and thrift were the rule in this growing, prosperous town. Loafers or idle people were in disrepute. If a stranger entered Nauvoo, his habits and calling were at once a matter of watchfulness; and if he was found to be lazy and without employment he was at once "whittled" out of town by the deacons. This whittling process seems to have been a method by which the suspected person was followed by certain officials, who surrounded him or his abode, and in unison whittled at sticks carried for the purpose. At first it might seem to the doomed one a matter of accident, but its continuance from day to day was too much for human endurance, and the undesirable stranger departed, to the satisfaction of his tormentors. The first really traceable indication. of the purpose of the Prophet to introduce polygamy was in 1841-42, and then it was so furtively done that the thousands that then believed, and still believe, in the mission of Joseph Smith, as set forth by himself, deny that he ever taught such a doctrine. It was brought before the residents of Nauvoo by a quarrel between Major-General Bennett, of the Nauvoo Legion, who (after he had left the Saints) published a book called "Mormonism Exposed," and related his "teaching the Mormon sisters the doctrine of affinity at the command of the Prophet." There had been. whispers of polygamy among the leaders of Mormonism at Kirtland, and more than whispers of its existence among them in Missouri -- Sidney Rigdon, it is said, having suggested it to Smith, who at first was scandalized at the thought of its introduction among his followers, but easily adopted its practice, and had a "revelation" allowing the higher officers of the church to have "as many wives as they could support." Smith's wife, Emma, the "Lady Elect," made a violent opposition at first to this law, and the consolation given to her was "that a Prophet must obey the Lord, and he would be obedient to the heavenly vision." It is not now denied that polygamy existed at Nauvoo at first secretly and afterward openly; but everything that could be done was done to mislead the public as to the veritable teachings of the Mormon leaders concerning marriage, from the quarrel of Bennett, in 1842, until the open announcement of the revelation by Brigham Young at Salt Lake City in 1852. The missionaries were commanded to prevaricate, and even positively deny, that the Mormon Church was other than monogamic. The sons of the Prophet have denied that their father believed in or practised polygamy; but there is overwhelming proof that Joseph Smith had doubtful relations with many "sisters," and was, as he said, a "law unto himself." Many Mormons who personally knew the Prophet have affirmed that Joseph said it was necessary to have a "revelation" on the subject of marriage "to allay the storm that was brewing among the married women and to satisfy the young women whom it was desirable to convert." Mrs. Smith denounced the "revelation," and talked openly of a separation from the Prophet on that account, but was "softened down" by being told that the angel commanded her "to cleave unto Joseph," and afterward signed a certificate from "persons of families," declaring that they knew of no rule, or system of marriage, save that written by Oliver Cowdrey on marriage, and that Bennett's "secret-wife system is a creature of his own making." An author writes: "The most forcible arguments that have yet been adduced on Mormon polygamy are furnished by the pens of the three sons of Joseph Smith at the head of a memorial to Congress protesting against Brigham Young's church founded by their father -- to wit: 'If this doctrine had been presented to the Mormons with the "first principles" taught by the elders, not one in ten thousand would have accepted it.'" According to another author: "Few of the Mormon women have ever accepted polygamy from the assent of their judgment, having first been led to consider it by their elders or leaders, as a true doctrine, and afterward having been afraid to question it, their fears counselling submission. Many of them have never been able to give it a careful consideration." Intestine quarrels on this subject of polygamy and other causes brought on a crisis in affairs at Nauvoo, in 1844. The people in the neighborhood were jealous of the rapidly-growing and flourishing city; they complained that their property disappeared mysteriously, and that law cases tied in Nauvoo courts were always decided against them. No Mormon, they affirmed, was brought to justice. It was widely reported that the Mormons desired to rule the State, and intended to set all laws at defiance. A number of talented and influential persons who had become residents of Nauvoo, finding themselves deluded as the sanctity of the Prophet and in the advancement of their temporal affairs, deserted his standard, denouncing him for licentiousness, drunkenness, and boastful tyranny. Smith justified his inebriation by the assertion that it was necessary for him to be seen in that condition to prevent his followers from worshipping him as a God. Women accused him of attempted seduction, and he replied that he made such attempts ''to learn if they were virtuous." The Prophet's newspaper, the Wasp, lashed these dissenters with the bitterest sarcasm and hatred, to which they replied in the Expositor, one number of which was entirely devoted to a relation of the horrible immoralities of Joseph Smith and his intimate associates. A city council was called, and eleven members of the twelve voted the Expositor a nuisance. Mrs. Foster, wife of Dr. Foster, the editor of this organ, was one of the women who had denounced the Prophet as having made improper proposals to her, and it was said that she wrote the first paper calling attention to the iniquities of the Saints in respect to "spiritual wifery" William Law was the associate editor of the Expositor. Smith and his followers attacked the building where it was printed, destroying the presses and all its contents. Foster and Law fled to Carthage, the county seat, got out warrants against Smith and his brother Hyrum and sixteen of their intimates. A constable who served these warrants was driven out of Nauvoo. This act fired the smouldering hatred of the Illinoisians into terrible activity, and a dark day was lowering over the fate of the Saints. The country authorities called out the militia to enforce the law. The charter of Nauvoo had been so cunningly devised that the State authorities were almost excluded from jurisdiction within its limits. The Mormons hastily armed themselves, and a civil war seemed impending when Governor Ford asked the two Smiths -- Joseph and Hyrum -- to surrender themselves and take their trial, as the best method of satisfying the existing turbulent parties. In return, the Smiths sent two men to confer with him, and secretly crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa to watch the course of events, keeping up a correspondence with the council, which, finding their own people incensed by the desertion of their president, military commander, etc., begged the Smiths to obey the summons of the governor, they (the members of the council) and all their friends feeling sure of an acquittal on trial. Following this advice, they returned to Nauvoo and started for Carthage, but were met by an officer with an order to disband the legion and deliver up the State arms. The Smiths accompanied this officer, who had some troops with him, and the order was duly executed. The two brothers were then conducted to Carthage, with Dr. Richards, John Taylor, and others, were indicted for treason, and lodged in jail. The dissenting Mormons and all who had suffered injustice and loss of property from the Smiths now swore dire vengeance against the prisoners; but the governor, after discharging the troops, went to Nauvoo and addressed the people, advising them to submit to the laws and conduct themselves as good citizens, promising justice to all parties. On the 27th of June, 1844, lie started to return to Carthage, when he met a messenger who informed him that a horrible massacre of the Smiths had been committed by an infuriated mob. The governor, fearing a retaliation from the Mormons on the inhabitants of Carthage, advised them to evacuate Nauvoo, and placed General Deming, with the few troops that could be raised, and himself retired to Quincy to await events. It appears that while the governor was absent from Carthage, and the troops were disbanded, a number of excited and bloodthirsty individuals took matters into their own hands, decided to administer justice after their own fashion, and attacked the jail very early in the morning, breaking down the door of the room where the prisoners were confined. The Smiths were very brave, and defended themselves as long as their ammunition held out, firing their revolvers in rapid succession. Hyrum was shot first, and then Joseph threw open the window, and in the act of heaping out was killed by the bullets fired by the mob, saying, as he fell, "O Lord, my God !" Taylor was wounded, and Dr. Richards, in the confusion, managed to escape. This John Taylor, at present at the head of the Mormon Church at Utah, is the one mentioned as being in jail at Carthage with the Smiths, and who came so near sharing their fate. The murder of their Prophet exasperated the Mormons at Nauvoo, and they determined on a "war to the knife" with all who had participated in that tragedy. The more sagacious ones, however, perceived that it would be unwise to pursue such a course, and began very skillfully to prevent the entire ruin of their future hopes. They addressed the infuriated citizens, with clubs in their hands, while a great drum was meanwhile beating to arms. It was a fearful struggle. Revenge was deep, and curses were poured out on the Gentiles, and "the time to fight" most of them supposed had arrived; but the leaders made delays, and surrendered their arms. They talked of a new organization and new leaders, and so the day passed, and wrath was kept for a more propitious season. The following morning the people collected in Temple Square. The apostles promised "the vengeance of heaven" on their enemies when the time was ripe for the vials of wrath to be poured on them, by patience, fire, and sword. Next, the funeral pageant was of absorbing interest, for the mourning was sore, sad, and deep over "the beloved patriarch and the adored Prophet Joseph." They were called " martyrs for their faith and triumphant in glory." The bodies of the Smiths were buried in the cellar of Joseph's house, although the ceremony of burying their empty coffins was performed at the grave. Joseph Smith's death by the violence of his enemies was opportune for the support of the system he sought to establish, as he had arrived at a point where the least delay would have made its waves overflow and engulf him. He had lived long enough for his fame, and died when he could be called a martyr. It has been said of him that "he could begin but not conduct a revolution." He had become too impatient to manage a multitude, and save for his death at the time, and in this violent manner, the internal convulsions in the faith might have extinguished Mormonism. One version of the return of the Smith brothers from Iowa to surrender themselves to the authorities at Carthage is, that they had started ''to seek out a new home" in some isolated place in the Rocky Mountains for the people, of which Joseph saw the necessity, when a letter from his wife, Emma, overtook him, persuading him to come back; and in obeying it he made the fatal mistake which cost his life. It is now believed on good authority that it was " this specious letter" of his wife's, rather than the governor's wish, which induced him to act against his better judgment, and flee from the Gentiles. She wrote to him reproachfully for his cowardice, denounced him as an impostor, and asked him to give proof of his mission by facing the enemies of the church. It was the Missourians -- who had never forgiven the Mormons -- who were mainly instrumental in inciting the mob at Carthage to murder the Smiths. Even their enemies acknowledged that they died manfully. Joseph was heroic in a sense rarely allied to meanness; yet every act of his life and all the circumstances of his death attest the cheat; still he was of no ignoble order. A few months before the Prophet's death Professor Turner, of Jacksonville, Ill., saw him at Nauvoo, and thus described his personal appearance: "He is a curious mixture of the clown and the knave; his hands are large and awkward, and he wears a massive gold ring on one of his fingers. He has a downcast look, and nothing of that straightforward appearance that characterizes the honest man. His language is uncouth and ungrammatical." But this description of the Prophet's appearance is contradicted by other testimony, quite as reliable; and whatever he may have been from the commencement of his pretended mission to time of his death, the mass of Mormons have been satisfied with him. His personal beauty and magnetism, it is said, controlled those who were about him. He made them believe he could work miracles, cast out devils; that angels visited him; that he had revelations, trances, and was the chosen Prophet of the "Latter-Day Saints." In one year he had thirty-seven revelations, which he said were from Jesus Christ. He began all his addresses with "thus saith the Lord." The New Jerusalem was ever in his mind and conversation; but where it was to be he did not discover. His associations were such as made him acquainted with the weak side of humanity, and he early saw that numbers were more convincing to the masses than intellectual attainments in point of religious influence. His "mission" grew with his years and his success, and he had far more power over the destinies of Mormonism than the "Book of Mormon" itself. During His life he had an unquestioned influence over his wife Emma; she assisted him in every way to delude the credulous and unscrupulous; but a few years after his death she published a statement in the Quincy (Ill.) Whig to the effect that she had no belief in Smith's prophetic capacity, and considered his pretended revelations as the emanations of a diseased mind. The following extract, from a criticism of books on Mormonism, is pertinent to the foregoing chapter. Author. unknown. Date, January, 1880: This ridiculous proposition to establish a Territorial Government within the bounds of a State has underlying it a desperate expedient to save Joe's neck from the halter which it richly deserved. Orrin Porter Rockwell, church murderer, then new to the business, but now the retired hero of a hundred murders, had been sent by Joe over to Missouri to assassinate Governor Boggs. "Port," as he is affectionately called at Salt Lake, shot the governor in the head, but, as he was comparatively inexperienced, did not kill him, On the 5th of June preceding the date of this petition, an indictment against Joe and Port was found in Missouri, and on the 7th Governor Ford issued a warrant for Joe's arrest, and surrendered him to a Missouri officer. He was rescued by the Mormons, taken on a writ of habeas corpus before the Nauvoo Municipal Court (!), and, of course, discharged. Governor Ford had been urged to call out the militia to aid in Joe's rendition, and in the petition it is proposed that the Mayor of Nauvoo (Joe) shall have the power "to call to his aid a sufficient number of United States forces, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion, to repel the invasion of mobs, keep the public peace, and protect the innocent from the unhallowed ravages of lawless bandit that escape justice on the Western frontier; and also to preserve the power and dignity of the Union. And be it further ordained that the officers of the United States Army are hereby required to obey the requisitions of this ordinance." Joe did not get his Territorial Government, but the Illinois election was about to take place, and having three thousand votes to trade on, he was allowed to run at large a few months longer, until he was killed. If he had been taken over to Missouri, and given a fair trial, he might have saved his life by going to State's prison. "Port" was tried, but being advised in better season than Mr. Pickwick, proved "an alibi," and is still an ornament to Salt Lake society and a shining light in the Mormon Church. |