Footnotes
This serialized history drew on the journals herein beginning with the 4 July 1855 issue of the Deseret News and with the 3 January 1857 issue of the LDS Millennial Star.
The labels on the spines of the four volumes read respectively as follows: “Joseph Smith’s Journal—1842–3 by Willard Richards” (book 1); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843” (book 2); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843–4” (book 3); and “W. Richards’ Journal 1844 Vol. 4” (book 4). Richards kept JS’s journal in the front of book 4, and after JS’s death Richards kept his own journal in the back of the volume.
“Schedule of Church Records, Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]; “Contents of the Historian and Recorder’s Office G. S. L. City July 1858,” 2; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]–[12], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 7.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.
Footnotes
Historical Introduction to JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842.
Source Note to JS, Journal, 1835–1836; Source Note to JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.
See Appendix 3.
In their affidavit about the Avery kidnappings, Richards and Lewis reported that “two men have been Kidnapped recently by the Missourians in connection with some of the lawless inhabitants of the County of Hancock, and that rumors are now affloat, that it is the intention of said lawless persons in connection with the aforesaid Missourians to kidnap some of the citizens of this City.” (Willard Richards and Philip Lewis, Affidavit, Hancock Co., IL, 8 Dec. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL.)
Referencing the affidavit he had just taken from Richards and Lewis and the rumored threats that “some of the citizens of Nauvoo, will be ki[d]napped or arrested and forcibly carried away from said City without being allowed the benefit of the writ of Hab[e]as Corpus,” JS ordered Nauvoo marshal Henry G. Sherwood to “take the necessary measures to have the rights of the citizens of this city held sacred, and the ordinances of said city duly carried into full force and effect.” JS also informed Sherwood that, if he thought it necessary, he could “call for a suitable portion of the Nauvoo Legion to be in complete readiness to compel obedience to the ordinances of said city.” (JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Henry G. Sherwood, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Dec. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL.)
JS, lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion.
Having received JS’s order to uphold the ordinances of Nauvoo, Henry G. Sherwood wrote JS that “in order so to do, it will be necessary for you as Mayor of the city to issue orders to Major General W[ilson] Law, for a suit[able] portion of the Nauvoo Legion to be in readiness.” Pursuant to Sherwood’s request, JS directed Law to “hold in readiness, such portions of the said Nauvoo Legion . . . as may be necessary to compel obedience to the ordinances of said city, and secure the peace of the citizens, and call them out, if occasion require, without further notice.” (Henry G. Sherwood, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Dec. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL; Order, JS to Wilson Law, 8 Dec. 1843, JS Collection, CHL.)
This ordinance stated that anyone attempting to arrest JS or others for their activities in Missouri in the 1830s “shall be subject to be arrested by any officer of the city, with or without process, and tried by the Municipal Court, upon testimony, and if found guilty sentenced to imprisonment in the City Prison for life, which convict or convicts can only be pardoned by the Governor with the consent of the Mayor of said City.” Referencing attempts to extradite JS to Missouri in 1841, 1842, and 1843, the council justified the ordinance on the grounds that JS had been “three times arrested and three times acquitted upon Writs founded upon supposed crimes or charges preferred by the State of Missouri” and that “there appears to be a determined resolution by the State of Missouri to continue these unjust, illegal, and murderous demands for the body of General Joseph Smith.” The ordinance received broad support at a meeting of Nauvoo citizens the following day. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Dec. 1843, 191–192; “An Extra Ordinance,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 9 Dec. 1843, [1]; Woodruff, Journal, 9 Dec. 1843.)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
JS originally proposed that the United States Congress be petitioned for money to build a canal around the Des Moines rapids. As an addition or alternative to a canal, JS also proposed asking for funds to build a dam to divert water into Nauvoo. This ordinance authorized JS “and his successors for the term of perpetual succession” to erect a dam and other structures in the Mississippi River that would direct enough water into Nauvoo “to propel mills and Machinery, from any point within the limits” of the city, as well as create a usable “Harbor or Basin for Steam Boats and other Water Craft.” These municipal plans were not carried out. (JS, Journal, 23 Nov. 1843; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Dec. 1843, 192–193.)
John Taylor, Orson Spencer, and Orson Pratt were appointed as the committee to draft the memorial according to JS’s suggestion. The memorial was further discussed on 16 December and accepted on 21 December 1843. (Minutes, 8 Dec. 1843, 23–24, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; JS, Journal, 16 and 21 Dec. 1843.)