Source: Lyman Omer Littlefield, Reminiscences of Latter-day Saints

Lyman Littlefield Reminiscences (1888), p.116

August 8, [1839] Elders John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff started on a mission to England.

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August 29, [1839] Elders Parley P. Pratt and Hyrum Clark started on a mission to England.

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September 18, [1839] Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball left on a mission to England, leaving their families in sickness.

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September 21, [1839] Elders George A. Smith, R. Hedlock and Theodore Turley left for England on a mission.

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At a general conference held October 5, [1839] William Marks was appointed president of that stake, E. Partridge, bishop of the upper ward, and V. Knight, bishop of the lower ward. George W. Harris, Samuel Bent, Henry G. Sherwood, David Fullmer, Alpheus Cutler, William Huntington, Thomas Grover, Newel Knight, Charles C. Rich, David Dort, Seymour Brunson and Lewis D. Wilson were chosen members of the high council.

Lyman Littlefield Reminiscences (1888), p.116

October 29, [1839] Joseph Smith, accompanied by Sidney Rigdon, Elias Higbee and O. P. Rockwell started for Washington, to lay the grievances of the Saints before Congress. He presented claims against Missouri from 491 individuals for about $1,381,000. To all this he was answered by President Van Buren that his cause was just but he (Van Buren) could do nothing for him.

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1840.

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September 15, [1840] the governor of Missouri made a demand on Governor Carlin, of Illinois, for Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Caleb Baldwin and Alanson Brown, as fugitives from justice.

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1841.

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January 24, [1841] Hyrum Smith received the office of patriarch of the Church, in place of Joseph Smith, Senior, deceased. William Law was appointed one of the first presidents, instead of Hyrum Smith.

Lyman Littlefield Reminiscences (1888), p.117

January 30, [1841] at a meeting held in Nauvoo, Joseph Smith was elected sole trustee for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the office to be vested in the First Presidency of the Church continually.

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February 1, [1841] the first election took place for members of the city council of Nauvoo. John C. Bennett was elected mayor; William Marks, Samuel H. Smith, Daniel H. Wells and Newel K. Whitney, aldermen; Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Charles C. Rich, John F. Barnett, Wilson Law, Don Carlos Smith, John P. Green, and Vinson Knight, councilors.

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February 4, [1841] the city council elected Henry G. Sherwood, marshal; James Sloan, recorder; Robert Thompson, treasurer; James Robinson, assessor; Austin Cowles, supervisor of streets.

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February 4, [1841] the Nauvoo legion, originally consisting of six companies, was organized with Joseph Smith as lieutenant-general.

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April 6, [1841] the cornerstones of the Nauvoo Temple were laid. A general conference that continued until the 11th was commenced in Nauvoo.

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May 24, [1841] the first presidency in Nauvoo called upon all scattered Saints to gather to Hancock County, Illinois, and Lee County, Iowa. All stakes outside of these two counties were discontinued.

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June 5, [1841] Joseph Smith was arrested on a requisition from the state of Missouri, tried on the 9th, and liberated on the 10th on a writ of habeas corpus, at Monmouth, Warren County, Illinois.

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July 1, [1841] Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor arrived at Nauvoo from their mission to England.

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The above items are brief but expressive of events which might be enlarged upon with advantage to the reader; but as the limit of this book is small and much other matter is to be presented, these will do without enlargement. We cannot but rejoice, however, that the Saints have been blessed with so goodly and delightsome a location connected with such cheering prospects. The Hebrew word Nauvoo, which interpreted means delightful, furnished the most appropriate name for the city; for the location in its entirety, in point of scenic beauty, is seldom surpassed. But for a time the place was very unhealthy. In fact, the people who had attempted to make successful settlements there previous to the coming of the Saints, were compelled to abandon the place for this cause. But after the land had been extensively plowed and the lower places drained, it became probably as healthy as any portion of the surrounding country.

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Our homes there began to put on an air of comfort and assume that attractiveness and thrift that has always attended the efforts of our people wherever they have been permitted to dwell in peace for a few months or years. The Saints flocked there from the surrounding stakes, and on the 16th of February, 1841, the ship Echo sailed from Liverpool with 109 Saints, under the direction of Daniel Browett; and on March 17th, of the same year, the ship Ulster sailed from that port with 45 Saints, under the direction of Thomas Smith and William Moss. These emigrants united their efforts in enhancing the interests of the new settlement. The city and suburban districts grew in prosperity, in numbers and prominence. Plundered as they had been, and poor as they were at the beginning, their prosperity was so great that they soon were placed upon an equal footing with the older inhabitants of the country who had dwelt in that region for many years. The Lord blessed them because they helped themselves by their habits of industry and economy. In this relation the Historical Record says:

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"A foundation had been laid for a temple in the city of Nauvoo. A charter had been obtained for the city, conferring liberal powers upon the city council. A university and manufacturing association were duly incorporated, and a legion chartered. The university was organized and put in operation in general departments. The manufacturers' association commenced the erection of large buildings for the manufacture of pottery. Thousands of people flocked in from every part of the United States and the British Isles. Streets were opened, and hundreds of fine buildings erected. A company was incorporated for the purpose of building an extensive hotel with a capital of $200,000; a considerable amount of the stock was sold, and the basement story of the building, with 240 feet front, was finished. An extensive printing establishment, stereotype foundry and bookbindery was put in active operation, two Masonic lodges established, and a large and commodious masonic temple built. Several flourishing villages of the Saints were established in different parts of Hancock and neighboring counties, as well as in Iowa. In the meantime, Joseph Duncan, an aspiring party leader, anxious to become governor of Illinois took the stump at Edwardsville, and from that place visited different parts of the state, rousing all the vile passions and religious prejudices that could exist against the Saints, promising that if he could be elected governor of Illinois, he would exterminate the 'Mormons.' This formed an extensive anti-'Mormon' party who, although unsuccessful in the election which elevated Thomas Ford to the executive chair, continued its operations."

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Our enemies did not relish this prosperity. They could not understand how it was that a people, made poor by the plundering hordes of the western counties of Missouri, could in so short a period become so comfortable, possess such large estates of landed wealth, and make such advances in mercantile, mechanical, manufacturing, agricultural and educational interests. They could not trace in all this the hand of Jehovah, who possesses the power to lift up and pull down at His pleasure. But the Saints could discern the overruling hand of Jehovah and trace His benign providences in all these successes. Our enemies went so far as to charge dishonesty against us. That was their only subterfuge for solving the enigma of our advancement, and this was far from having a truthful foundation; however it became a weapon which was vigorously brandished by fanatical zealots and political harpies. If our people could have been let alone a few years they would not only have become wealthy themselves, but would have enriched the population of all the adjacent country and made that portion of the state the most attractive within its borders. But this they could not do. Their jealousy became so intensified that they rapidly grew quarrelsome and vicious in their demeanor towards us. Joseph began to be harassed with vexatious lawsuits and some of the settlements were menaced by mobs. Law and order was trampled under foot of men and our fields by the hoofs of the invading cavalry. Neither could Missouri rest in peace and be content to withhold her persecutive and bloody hand. The hundreds of our people who had fallen beneath the sway of their despotism were not enough victims. Their executive sent to us writs and demands for our principal men, again to place them in prison, load them down with chains and consummate the original purpose of many in that state, that of shedding their blood.

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On the 6th of May, 1842, an attempt was made to assassinate ex-governor L. W. Boggs, by some party unknown at his residence in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. His injuries, however, did not prove fatal. Boggs made affidavit that he had reason to believe that the assault upon him was made by O. P. Rockwell as principal and Joseph Smith as accessory before the fact. He applied to Thomas Reynolds, governor of Missouri, to make a demand on the governor of Illinois to deliver Joseph Smith up to an authorized agent of Missouri to be dealt with according to the laws of that state for the crime charged. Governor Carlin, of Illinois, accordingly issued a warrant for the arrest of O. P. Rockwell as principal and Joseph Smith as accessory to the shooting of Boggs. The papers for their arrest were placed in the hands of the deputy sheriff of Adams County, who at once came to Nauvoo, and, on August 8, 1852, made the arrests. A writ of habeas corpus was applied for and granted by the municipal court of Nauvoo. But the sheriff refused to comply, claiming that that tribunal had no legal jurisdiction in the case. Leaving the prisoners in the care of the city marshal--but failing to leave the original writ without which they could not be held--the sheriff returned to Quincy and the brethren were, under the circumstances, allowed their liberty to go where they pleased. When the sheriff returned on the 10th, he was unable to find the whereabouts of the prisoners, relative to which the following extract contains interesting particulars:

Lyman Littlefield Reminiscences (1888), p.122

"Joseph crossed the river and stayed at his Uncle John's house for a few days in the settlement called Zarahemla; but on the night of the eleventh of August, he met by appointment, his brother Hyrum, Rockwell, his wife Emma, and several other friends at the south point of the island, that we have already described as being midway between Montrose and Nauvoo.

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It has been rumored that the governor of Iowa had also issued a warrant for the arrest of Joseph and Rockwell, whereupon it was decided that it would be better for them to remain on the Illinois side of the river. Subsequent events, however, proved that this rumor was a false one. Joseph was rowed up the river by a Brother Dunham to a point near the home of a Brother Derby. Rockwell had been set ashore and he proceeded to the same point on foot, where he built a fire on the bank of the river that Dunham might know where to land. At Derby's the Prophet remained in hiding for some time, and Rockwell went east, remaining for several months in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

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From his place of concealment, Joseph directed the movements of the people at Nauvoo, and managed his own business through faithful agents, who met with him occasionally. Emma spent considerable of her time with him, and beguiled the loneliness of those weary hours of inactivity, that he whose very life in the synonym for intense activity, had to endure.

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During those days of exile, one gets a glimpse of the Prophet's private life and character, that in part explains the mystery of his power and influence over his friends and his people--it was his unbounded love for them. Speaking of the meeting with his friends in the night at the island, in the account he gives of it in the Book of the Law of the Lord, he says:

Lyman Littlefield Reminiscences (1888), p.123

'How glorious were my feelings when I met that faithful and friendly band on the night of the eleventh [of August], on the island, at the mouth of the slough between Zarahemla and Nauvoo. With what unspeakable delight, and what transports of joy swelled my bosom, when I took by the hand on that night my beloved Emma-she that was my wife, even the wife of my youth, the choice of my heart. Many were the vibrations of my mind when I contemplated for a moment the many scenes we had been called to pass through, the fatigues and the toils, the sorrows and sufferings, and the joys and the consolations, from time to time, which had strewed our paths and crowned our board. Oh, what a commingling of thoughts filled my mind for the moment!--And again she is here, even in the seventh trouble--undaunted, firm, and unwavering--unchangeable, affectionate Emma!'

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Of his brother Hyrum on the same occasion he says:

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'There was brother Hyrum, who next took me by the hand--a natural brother. Thought I to myself, brother Hyrum, what a faithful heart you have got! Oh, may the Eternal Jehovah crown eternal blessings upon your head, as a reward for the care you have had for my soul! Oh, how many are the sorrows we have shared together! And again we find ourselves shackled by the unrelenting hand of oppression. Hyrum, thy name shall be written in the Book of the Law of the Lord, for those who come after to look upon, that they made pattern after thy works.'

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So he goes on to call the faithful by their names and record their deeds of love manifested towards himself, and pronounces his blessings upon them. As one of old said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren"--surely Joseph Smith possessed that witness--he loved his brethren better than his life!

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Some of the brethren proposed that Joseph go up to the pine woods of Wisconsin, where a number of the brethren were engaged in getting out timber for the temple and Nauvoo House, until the excitement shall subside in Illinois. Of this proposition, Joseph said in a letter to Emma:

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'My mind will eternally revolt at every suggestion of that kind. My safety is with you if you want to have it so. If I go to the pine country, you shall go along with me, and the children; and if you and the children go not with me, I don't go. I do not wish to exile myself for the sake of my own life. I would rather fight it out. It is for your sakes therefore that I would do such a thing.'

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This plan, however, was abandoned.

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It appears that Joseph had resolved to submit no longer to the injustice he had suffered from the hands of the people of Missouri. It was rumored that the officers on leaving Nauvoo, breathed out threats of returning with sufficient force to search every house in the city and vicinity; and Ford, the agent of Missouri, threatened to bring a mob against the Mormons, if necessary, to arrest the Prophet. Hearing these rumors, Joseph exchanged several letters with Wilson Law, who had been recently elected major-general of the legion, vice John C. Bennett cashiered, in which he admonished him to have all things in readiness to protect the people in their rights, and not for one moment to submit to the outrages that were threatened.

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'You will see therefore,' said he, in a letter written on the fourteenth of August, to Law, 'that the peace of the city of Nauvoo is kept, let who will endeavor to disturb it. You will also see that whenever any mob force, or violence is used on any citizen thereof, or that belongeth thereunto, you will see that the force or violence is immediately dispersed, and brought to punishment, or meet it, and contest at the point of the sword, with firm, undaunted and unyielding valor; and let them know that the spirit of old seventy-six, and George Washington yet lives, and is contained in the bosoms and blood of the children of the fathers thereof. If there are any threats in the city, let legal steps be taken against them; and let no man, woman or child be intimidated, nor suffer it to be done. Nevertheless, as I said in the first place, we will take every measure that lays in our power, and make every sacrifice that God or man could require at our hands, to preserve the peace and safety of the people without collision.'

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To these sentiments there was a willing response of acquiescence on the part of the major-general, and he pledged himself to faithfully carry out Joseph's orders, provided the emergency for doing so should arise. After a little, however, the excitement began to subside; and as Joseph's hiding place at Derby's was discovered by a young man who suddenly came upon Joseph and his kind host while they were walking out in the woods for a little exercise, the Prophet moved quietly into the city, staying first at the house of one friend a day or two, and then removing to that of another.

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In the meantime the situation was plainly placed before Carlin; and the course that Joseph had taken fully vindicated by letters written to him by Emma, his wife, who displayed no mean ability in the correspondence she opened up with the governor, which so nearly concerned the peace of her family. She directed the attention of the governor to the fact that Joseph had not been in the state of Missouri for some three or four years--that if her husband had been accessory before the fact, to the assault upon ex-governor Boggs, the crime if committed at all--which she stoutly averred was not the case--was done in Illinois, and there was no law to drag a man from a state where the crime was committed into a state where it had not been committed for trial, and as her husband had not been in the state of Missouri for several years previous to the assault on Boggs, he could not have fled from the justice of that state, and therefore ought not to be given up under the fugitive-from-justice law."--B. H. Roberts, in Contributor.

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Joseph was finally arraigned before Judge Pope at Springfield. The question of jurisdiction was brought before the court.

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"The matter in hand," said Judge Pope, "presents a case arising under the second section of article IV of the Constitution of the United States, and an act of Congress of February 12, 1793, to carry it into effect. The Constitution says: 'The judicial power shall extend to all cases in the law or equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made and which shall be made under their authority.'

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'Therefore, on that line of reasoning,' continues Mr. Roberts, 'the judge concluded the court had jurisdiction. As to the second objection--the right of the court to enquire into facts behind the writ--the judge held it unnecessary to decide that point as Smith was entitled to his discharge, for defect in the affidavit on which the demand for his surrender to Missouri was made. To justify the demand for his arrest the affidavit should have shown "First that Smith committed a crime; second that he committed it in Missouri. And it must also appear 'that Smith had fled from Missouri.'" None of these things the affidavit of Boggs did, and the judge held that it was defective for those reasons and added:

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'The court can alone regard the facts set forth in the affidavit of Boggs as having any legal existence. The mis-recitals and over statements in the requisition and warrant are not supported by oath and cannot be received as evidence to deprive a citizen of his liberty, and transport him to a foreign state for trial. For these reasons, Smith must be discharged.'

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And Joseph had scored another victory over his old enemies of Missouri."--Ibid

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Still another demand was made for Joseph Smith by the governor of Missouri and his arrest took place near Dixon, Lee County, Iowa, June 23, 1843. The officers making the arrest were Joseph H. Reynolds, sheriff of Jackson County, Missouri, and the other was constable Harmon T. Wilson of Carthage, Illinois. He was most shamefully treated by them. They attempted to run him into Missouri without giving him any chance to obtain legal or other aid. But they failed in this as Joseph found an opportunity to procure assistance from two lawyers at Dixon through whose aid a writ of habeas corpus was obtained and made returnable before the nearest tribunal in the Fifth Judicial district authorized to hear and determine such writs. Joseph informed the lawyers that the nearest tribunal possessing such jurisdiction was the municipal court of the city of Nauvoo. This was found to be correct. A writ was sued out against Reynolds and Wilson, Joseph claiming $10,000 damages. The sheriff in charge took Reynolds and Wilson also into custody, and the company began to travel in the direction of Nauvoo.

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Immediately after Joseph's arrest, William Clayton had been dispatched to Nauvoo, and Hyrum Smith, upon learning the condition of his brother, forthwith obtained over three hundred volunteers who immediately started in various directions through the state, they not knowing what direction Joseph might be compelled to travel. Also the steamboat Maid of Iowa, with Elder John Taylor and others on board, steamed down the Mississippi and up the Illinois River to Peru, then back to Nauvoo, to have an eye on steamboats and detect, if possible, any move that might be made to take Joseph to Missouri by such conveyance.