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.
with four hundred mounted men, to be raised within your Division. I have received by Esqr, & Wiley C. Williams Esqr one of my aids, information of the most appalling character, which changes entirely the face of things & places the Mormons in the attitude of an avowed defiance of the Laws & of having made war upon the people of the . Your orders are therefore to hasten your operations & endeavor to reach in with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies & must be exterminated or driven from the if necessary for the public peace. Their outrageous <outrages> are beyond all description, If you can increase your force you are authorized to do so, to any extent you may think necessary. I have just issued orders to Major General Wollock of Marion county, to raise five hundred men & to march them to the northern part of & their to unite with of — who has been ordered with five hundred men to proceed to the same point for the purpose of interceptingtheretreat of the Mormons to the north. They have been directed to communicate with you by express. You can also communicate with them if you find it necessary. Instead therefore, of proceeding as at first directed, to reinstate the citizens of in their houses you will proceed immediately to & their operate against the Mormons. of has been ordered to have four hundred of his Brigade in readiness to join you at . The whole force will be placed under your command.
Signed
Governor & Commander in Chief
In the mean time & both of (who had five years previously assisted in driving about twelve hundred Mormon citizens from that , besides burning two hundred & three houses & assisted in murdering several & plundering the rest) raised forces to the amount of several thousand men & appeared before the city of in battle array. A few of the Militia then paraded in front of the , which causes the cowardly assailants to come to a halt at about a mile distant in full view of the . A messenger arrived from them & demanded three persons before they massacred the rest & laid the in ashes. The names of the persons demanded were . & his wife. They gave no information who this army were, nor by what authority they came; neither had we at that time any knowledge of the ’s order, nor any of these movements, the mail having <been> designedly stopped by our enemies for three weeks previously. We had Supposed on [p. 82]