Docket Entry, 1–circa 6 July 1843 [Extradition of JS for Treason]
Source Note
Docket Entry, [, Hancock Co., IL, 1–ca. 6 July 1843], Extradition of JS for Treason (Nauvoo, IL, Municipal Court 1843); Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 55–87, 116–150; handwriting of and ; CHL.
consultation as he was only a private individual; however he said <that> he was always willing to do all the good he could & would obey every law of the land & then leave the event with God. They immediately started with , to go down into the camp As they were going down about half way to the camp, they met with a phalanx of men with a wing to the right & to the left & a four pounder in the centre. They supposed he was coming with this strong force to guard them into the camp in Safety; but to their surprise, when they came up to he ordered his men to surround them & stepped up to the & said, “These are the prisoners I agreed to deliver up” drew his & said gentlemen you are my prisoners, and about that time the main army were on their march to meet them. They came up in two divisions & opened to the right & left & my brother & his friends were marched down through their lines, with a strong guard in front & the cannon in the rear, to the camp amidst the whoopings, hollowings <howlings>, yellings & shoutings of the army which was so horrid & terrific that it frightened the inhabitants of the . It is impossible to describe the feelings of horror & distress of the people. After being thus betrayed they were placed under a strong guard of thirty men armed cap-a-pie which they relieved every two hours. There they were compelled to lay on the cold ground that night & were told in plain language, that they need never to expect their liberties again. So far for their honors pledged. However this was as much as could be expected from a mob under the garb of military & executive authority in the state of . On the next day, the soldiers were permitted to patrol the Streets to abuse & insult the people at their leisure & enter into houses & pillage them & ravish them women, taking away every gun & every other kind of arms or military implements: and about twelve o’Clock on that day came to my house with an armed force, opened the door & called me out of doors & delivered me up as a prisoner unto that force. They surrounded me & commanded me to march into the camp. I told them I could not go: my family were sick, & I was sick myself, & could not leave home, They said they did not care for that— I must & should go. I asked when they would permit me to return. They made me no answer but forced me along with the point of the bayonetts into the Camp, & put me under the same guard with my brother Joseph— and within about half an hour afterwards, was also brought & placed under the same guard.— There we were compelled to stay all that night & lie on the ground but along sometime in the same night came to me & told me that he had been pleading my case before the Court Martial but he was afraid he should not succeed. He said there was, a [p. 69]