A prominent resident of Quincy, Flood had served as a clerk and representative in the Illinois state legislature and was reappointed in 1843 as the registrar of the land office in Quincy. At this time he was also the colonel commanding the Quincy Riflemen. (Emmerson, Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 617, 618, 620; “Appointments by the President,” New World [New York City], 11 Feb. 1843, 6:186; Record of the Proceedings of the Quincy Riflemen, 1843–1844, vol. 1, p. 58, 28 June 1844, in Records, Reports, vols. 1–2, & Roster on Loose Papers, 1843–1847, microfilm, 1,863,526, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Asbury, Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, 42–43.)

Emmerson, Louis L., ed. Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 1919–1920. Springfield, IL: Illinois State Journal Co., 1919.

New World. New York City. 1840–1845.

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Asbury, Henry. Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, Containing Historical Events, Anecdotes, Matters concerning Old Settlers and Old Times, Etc. Quincy, IL: D. Wilcox and Sons, 1882.

Hugh Reid later wrote that shortly before these arrests, JS, Hyrum, and their companions had “voluntarily surrendered themselves” to Bettisworth on the charge of committing a riot during the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press. James Woods, however, wrote that the arrests for treason were made at the same time JS and the others surrendered themselves on the riot charge.a Bettisworth was the original arresting officer in the riot case.b Spencer and Norton had testified before Hancock County justice of the peace Robert Smith that on about 19 June, JS and Hyrum “commit[ted] the crime of treason against the government and people of the State of Illinois.” Robert Smith had issued the writs for JS’s and Hyrum’s arrests on 24 June.c According to a letter JS wrote to Emma Smith later on 25 June, he and Hyrum were “arrested for Treason because we called out the Nauvoo Legion”—a probable reference to when JS placed Nauvoo under martial law on 18 June.d According to Thomas Ford’s later account, “the overt act of treason charged against them consisted in the alleged levying of war against the State by declaring martial law in Nauvoo, and in ordering out the legion to resist the posse comitatus.”e JS and Hyrum were held without bail because Illinois law stated that “no Justice of the peace shall admit to bail any person or persons charged with treason.”f

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.

Illinois governor Thomas Ford.

Carthage Greys, the Illinois militia unit based at Carthage.

According to Thomas Ford, JS and Hyrum were shown to the McDonough troops “at the urgent request of the troops themselves, to gratify their curiosity in beholding persons who had made themselves so notorious in the county.” (Ford, History of Illinois, 343.)

Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

According to the compilers of JS’s history, during this conversation, Thomas Ford “again pledged the faith of the State that he [JS] and his friends should be protected from violence.” (JS History, vol. F-1, 156, underlining in original.)