OHIO STATEWIDE FILES  OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List
***********************************************************************
USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons.
Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain
the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative
of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof
of this consent.  The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb 
Archives to store the file permanently for free access.

http://www.usgwarchives.net/
***********************************************************************

OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 21

Today's Topics:
#1 Fw: Abbott's History of Ohio - Cha ["Maggie Stewart" <maggieohio@colum]

Administrivia:
To unsubscribe from OH-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to

OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com <mailto:OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com>

that contains in the body of the message the command

unsubscribe

and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software
requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too.

______________________________
------------------------------

X-Message: #1
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 05:17:59 -0500
From: "Maggie Stewart" <maggieohio@columbus.rr.com <mailto:maggieohio@columbus.rr.com>>
To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com <mailto:OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID: <079401bf632f$a09698a0$0300a8c0@local.net <mailto:079401bf632f$a09698a0$0300a8c0@local.net>>
Subject: Fw: Abbott's History of Ohio - Chapter 37
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

----- Original Message -----
From: Kay L. Mason <kkmason@shianet.org <mailto:kkmason@shianet.org>>

Chapter XXXVII
Expulsion and Emigration of the Mormons.

Having spoken of the origin of Mormonism, in Ohio, and its expulsion from
the state, the reader will undoubtedly be interested in a brief narrative
of its subsequent career. There were doubtless, among the Mormons, deluded
persons, of sincere and worthy characters. But their conduct as a body was
such as to excite the intolerable disgust of the people of Missouri. No
respectable person wished to live near them; and their presence in the
County
of Jackson diminished the value of all surrounding property. The Mormons
were defiant in tone and action. They raised a large military force which
was thoroughly armed, and under perfect discipline. Sustained by this force
they declared that they were a law unto themselves, and seemed disposed to
bid defiance to the authority of the sparsely settled State.
To meet this state of things, and to prevent an outbreak of lawless
violence,
which was daily anticipated, the Governor marshaled a force of four thousand
militia, probably intending so to intimidate the Mormons as to compel them
to
leave the State. Indeed there had been already several pretty serious
disturbances.
In one conflict eight Missourians were wounded, and twenty-five Mormons were
killed and thirty wounded. The enraged Mormons burned the small towns of
Gallatin and Millport. They also ravaged the country in mid-winter, driving
the women and children from their homes and laying the farm houses in ashes.
General J. B. Clark was in command of the governmental force. The
feelings
of the community in reference to the Mormons may be inferred from the
following
extract, taken from a letter from General Clark to the governor:
"There is no crime," he wrote, "from treason down to petit larceny, but
these people, or a majority of them, have not been guilty of; all, too,
under
counsel of Joseph Smith, the prophet. They have committed treason, murder,
arson, burglary, robbery, larceny and perjury. They have societies, formed
under the most binding covenants and the most horrid oaths, to circumvent
the
laws and put them at defiance; and to plunder, burn, and murder, and divide
the spoils for the use of the church."
The governor issued an order which was unfortunately worded. "The
ringleaders
of this rebellion," he wrote, "should be made an example of. If it should
become necessary to the public peace, the Mormons 'should be extirminated,'
or expelled from the state."
No one can blame the inhabitants of Missouri for desiring to be rid of
such
neighbors. But the threat to "extirminate" sounds very savage in our country
and in this age. The people of Jackson County, to induce them to leave
peaceably, made them the extraordinary offer that they would purchase the
lands and improvements of the Mormons at a price to be fixed by three
disinterested
arbitrators, "with one hundred per cent. in addition."
They refused to leave. Four thousand of the militia were sent against
them. They were disarmed. Joe Smith and about forty leading Mormons were
made
prisoners. They were compelled to enter into a treaty, by which they agreed
to withdraw from the state. Five commissioners were appointed to sell their
property, pay their debts, and aid them in removing. The state appropriated
two thousand dollars for their relief. The citizens of the adjacent counties
also contributed liberally. Still, there was much suffering, as, in
midwinter,
these numerous families traversed nearly the whole breadth of Missouri, and
crossing the Mississippi River entered the State of Illinois.
The cry of persecution had preceded them, and the inhabitants of Illinois
received the fugitives very kindly. They established themselves in Hancock
County, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, and commenced with great
energy rearing a new city, which they called Nauvoo. Missionaries of the new
faith had been sent abroad in all directions. Converts were multiplied. They
flocked to Nauvoo. But a short time elapsed ere the new city contained
fifteen
thousand inhabitants. Smith had a new revelation. The faithful were enjoined
"to bring gold and precious materials for the building of a temple for the
worship of God and a house for the dwelling-place of his prophet."
Ere long it was estimated that, by the labors of missionaries in this
country and in Europe, the Mormons numbered one hundred and fifty thousand.
Nauvoo assumed a very thriving aspect. A military band was organized,
consisting
of four thousand men, well-armed and disciplined. And now Joe Smith had a
new revelation, not only authorizing the "saints" to take more than one
wife,
but enjoining it as a duty that each should take several maidens to wife,
and thus lead them to heaven.
This step shocked quite a number of the simple-minded victims of this
strange fanaticism, and led them to withdraw. But more were lured to join
them
by the license, and converts were multiplied more rapidly than ever. Joe
Smith was accused of attempting to seduce the wife of Dr. Foster. The
injured
husband published affidavits clearly proving the charge. A warrant from a
neighboring magistrate was secured for the arrest of the culprit. Joe Smith
summoned his armed band and drove the sheriff from the city. The majesty of
law being thus insulted, caused great excitement in the community around.
The militia was ordered out to enforce the laws. There was every prospect of
civil war. The governor repaired to Nauvoo.
Joe Smith knew that the whole military power of the United States was
pledged for the maintenance of law, and that in such a conflict he must be
crushed. Joe and his brother Hyrum surrendered to the governor, under the
warrant, upon pledge of safety from personal violence. They were both taken
to the county jail at Carthage, where they were held on the charge of
treason.
Popular excitement and indignation were intense. A guard was placed around
the
jail to protect the prisoners from an exasperated committee. The cry was
loud for the destruction of Nauvoo, and the expulsion of all of its
inhabitants.
At six o'clock on the evening of the 27th of November, 1844, two hundred
men in disguise approached the jail, thrust the guard aside, broke open the
doors, and shot the two Smiths. Joe's last words were, as the bullets
pierced
his body, "O Lord my God." The governor was deeply aggrieved by this
violation
of the public faith. He issued a manifesto, in which he said:
"I desire to make a brief true statement of the recent disgraceful affair
at Carthage in regard to the Smiths. They have been assassinated in jail.
By whom it is not known, but it will be ascertained. I pledged myself for
their safety. Upon the assurance of that pledge they surrendered themselves
as prisoners. The Mormons surrendered the public arms in their possession,
and the Nauvoo legion submitted to the command of Captain Singleton, of
Brown County, deputed for that purpose by me. All these things were required
to satisfy the old citizens of Hancock that the Mormons were peaceably
disposed,
and to allay jealousy and excitement in their minds. It appears, however,
that the compliance of the Mormons with every requisition made upon them
failed of that purpose. The pledge of security to the Smiths was not given
upon my individual responsibility. Before I gave it I obtained a pledge of
honor, by a unanimous vote from the officers and men under my command, to
sustain me in performing it. It the assassination of the Smiths was
committed
by any portion of these, they have added treachery to murder, and have done
all they could to disgrace the state and sully the public honor.
"On the morning of the day the deed was committed, we had proposed to
march the army under my command into Nauvoo. I had, however, discovered the
evening before that nothing but the utter destruction of the city would
satisfy
a portion of the troops, and that, if we marched into the city, pretexts
would
not be wanting for commencing hostilities. The Mormons had done every thing
required, or which ought to have been required of them. Offensive
operations,
on our part, would have been as unjust and disgraceful as they would have
been
impolitic, in the present critical season of the year, the harvest and the
crops.
"For these reasons I decided, in a council of officers, to disband the
army, except three companies, two of which were reserved as a guard for the
jail. With the other company I reserved as a guard for the jail. With the
other company I marched into Nauvoo to address the inhabitants there, and
tell them what they might expect in case they designed or imprudently
provoked
a war. I performed this duty, as I think, plainly and emphatically, and then
set out to return to Carthage. When I had marched about three miles a
messenger
informed me of the occurrences at Carthage. I hastened on to that place. The
guard, it is said, did their duty, but were overpowered."
The news of the prophet's death created the wildest excitement at Nauvoo.
In their organization a man by the name of Brigham Young was president of a
band called The Twelve Apostles. The Twelve chose Brigham as the successor
of Joe Smith, to be the head of the church. Sidney Rigdon rebelled,
demanding
the position for himself. Brigham arrested him, declared him to be an
emissary
of the devil, excommunicated him, and "delivered him over to the buffetings
of Satan in the name of the Lord."
For a short time the Mormons had a respite from trouble. A very imposing
temple was reared at Nauvoo, one hundred and twenty-eight feet long by
eighty-eight feet wide. It was very substantially built, and of pleasing
architecture. The Mormon Times and Seasons says:
"Our temple, when finished, will show more wealth, more art, more
science,
more revelation, more splendor and more God, than all the rest of the
world."
The calm in the outside community after the assassination of the Smiths
was but a lull in the tempest. It was extensively believed that Nauvoo was a
vast depository of stolen goods, and that in the seclusion of its harems
every loathsome vice was permitted. A convention was held of delegates from
the surrounding counties. The resolution was adopted that the Mormons must
leave the state. Brigham Young saw that it was impossible to oppose the
popular fury. Immediated preparations were made to emigrate beyond the
boundaries of the United States into the territory of Mexico. Brigham Young
displayed consummated skill in the arrangements to remove a community of
fifteen thousand souls many hundred miles, over an almost pathless
wilderness,
to a new home which they were to hew out for themselves.
The first band of about two thousand crossed the Mississippi on the ice
in February, 1846. The Nauvoo Times and Seasons says:
"To see such a large body of men, women and children compelled by the
inefficiency of the law to leave a great city in the month of February, for
the sake of the enjoyment of pure religion, fills the soul with
astonishment,
and gives the world a sample of fidelity and faith brilliant as the sun,
forcible as a tempest, and enduring as eternity.'
The journey before them, as their heavily-laden wagons were slowly drawn
by mules and oxen, occupied nearly three months. Colonel Thomas I. Kane,
brother of Dr. Elisha Kane, who became so illustrious by his polar tour,
witnessed this emigration. He writes:
"There were, along three hundred miles of the road, over two thousand
emigrating wagons, besides a large number of nondescript turn-outs, the
motley
make-shifts of poverty, from the unsuitably heavy cart that lumbered along
mysteriously, with its sick driver hidden under its counterpane cover, to
the
crazy two-wheeled trundle, such as our poor empty employ for the conveyance
of their slop-barrels; this pulled along perhaps by a littl dry, drugged
heifer, and rigged up only to drag some such light weigh as a baby, a sack
of meal, or a pack of clothes and bedding."
It was necessary on this long journey over the prairies occassionally to
go into camp for a few days to give rest to the women, the children and the
sick, and to replenish the strength of the weary cattle. This advance-guard
laid out for those who were to follow a road through the Indian Territory
twelve hundred miles in length. Over all the small streams they constructed
substantial bridges. At the larger rivers they established permanent
ferries.
Here and there on the route they erected what they called tabernacle camps,
where all conveniences were held in store for the sick and the weary. Mr.
Kane gives the following pleasing description of one of these temporary
settlements:
"The summer camps of the Mormons formed an interesting spectacle. They
were gay with bright white canvas and alive with the busy stir of swarming
occupants. In the clear blue morning air the smoke streamed up from more
than
a thousand cooking fires. Countless roads and by-paths checkered all manner
of geometric figures on the hill-sides. On the slope herd-boys were seen,
lazily watching immense herds of cattle, sheep, horses, cows, and oxen.
Along
the creeks where the tents were sometimes pitched, women in great force
would
be washing and rinsing all manner of white muslins, red flannels, and
parti-colored calicoes, and covering acres of grass-plat with their
variously
hued garments. Groups of merry children were playing among the tents.
"The romantic devotional observances of the Mormons, and their admirable
concert of purpose and action, met the eye at once. After these the stranger
was most struck, perhaps, by the strict order of march, the unconfused
closing
up to meet attacks, the skillful securing of the cattle upon the halt, the
system with which the watches were set at night to guard them, with other
similar circumstances, indicative of a high state of discipline.
"Every ten of their wagons was under the care of a captain. This captain
of ten obeyed a captain of fifty, who, in turn, obeyed his captain of a
hundred, or directly what they call a member of the High Council of the
Churuch. All these were responsible and determined men, approved of by the
people for their courage, discretion, and experience. So well recognized
were
the results of this organization, that bands of hostile Indians have passed
by comparatively small parties of Mormons to attack much larger, but less
compact, bodies of other emigrants.
"The most striking feature, however, of the Mormon emigration was
undoubtedly
their formation of the tabernacle camps and temporary stakes or settlements,
which renewed in the sleeping solitudes everywhere along their road the
cheering signs of intelligent and hopeful life.
"I will make this remark plainer by describing to you one of those camps,
with the daily routine of its inhabitants. I select at random, for my
purpose,
a large camp on the delta between the Nebraska and Missouri. The camp
remained
pitched here for nearly two months, during which period I resided in it. It
was situated upon some finely rounded hills, which encircled a favorite cool
spring. On each of these a square was marked out. The wagons, as they
arrived,
took their positions along its four sides, in double rows, so as to leave a
roomy street or passage-way between them. The tents were disposed also in
rows at intervals between the wagons. The cattle were folded in high-fenced
yards outside. The quadrangle inside was left vacant for the sake of
ventilation;
and the streets, covered in with leafy arbor work and kept scrupulously
clean, formed a shaded cloister walk. This was the place of exercise for
slowly-recovering invalids, the dayhome of the infants, and the evening
promenade of all.
"Every day closed as every day begun, with an invocation of the Divine
favor, without which, indeed, no Mormon seemed to dare to lay him down to
rest. With the first shining of the stars laughter and loud talking were
hushed. The neighbor went his way. You heard the last hymn sung, and then
the thousand-voice murmur of prayer was heard, like babbling water falling
down the hills."
A few of the Mormons were left behind at Nauvoo. A Missouri mob,
impatient
at their delay, fiercely attacked them and drove them in penury into the
wilderness. The question arises, were these Mormons thus cruelly persecuted
simply on account of their religion? Joe Smith left Palmyra because his
reputation was so bad there, where he was known, that he could get no
foothold.
At Kirtland, he was compelled to run away to escape arrest and imprisonment
as a felon, for swindling operations. In Missouri, they bade defiance to the
laws of the state, and all the lewd fellows of the baser sort, from far and
wide, flocked to their town, for the license which their religion afforded.
Nauvoo became a pest house, which no healthy community could endure. Colonel
Kane, who regarded the Mormons with the most friendly feelings, gives the
following very emphatic testimony respecting the character of the community
collected at Nauvoo:
"When the persecution triumphed there, and no alternative remained for
the
steadfast in the faith but flight out of Egypt into the wilderness, all
their
fair-weather friends forsook them. Priests and elders, scribes and preachers
deserted by whole councils at a time; each talented knave, of whose craft
they
had been the victims, finding his own pretext for abandoning them without
surrendering the money-bag of which he was the holder.
"One of these, for instance, bore with him so considerable a congregation
that he was able to found quite a thriving community in Northern Wisconsin,
which I believe he afterwards transplanted entire to an island in one of
the lakes. Other speculative heresiarchs folded for themselves credulous
sheep
all through the western country. One Rigdon held a cure for them in
Pennsylvania.
"Quite recently an abandoned clergyman who, shortly before the exode was
excommunicated for improper conduct, had presented a memorial to Congress,
in which he charges the Mormons with very much more than he himself appears
to be guilty of."
The war with Mexico brought Utah, to which territory the Mormons had
emigrated, within the enlarged boundaries of the United States. There were
sincere and good men among the Mormons beyond all question. Brigham Young
was
a man of undoubted ability and great sagacity, but with an exceedingly
coarse
and vulgar mind. Upon the arrival of the Mormons to their place of
designation,
upon the borders of the Great Salt Lake, he issued a proclamation to all the
world, from which we make the following extract:
"The Kingdom of God consists in correct principles, and it mattereth not
what a man's religious faith is, whether he be a Presbyterian, a Methodist,
a Baptist, a Latter Day Saint, a Mormon, a Campbellite, a Catholic, an
Episcopalian, a Mohammedan, or even a Pagan, or anything else. If he will
bow the knee, and with the tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, and will
support good and wholesome laws for the regulation of society, we hail him
as a brother, and will stand by him as he stands by us in these things; for
every man's faith is a matter between his own soul and his God alone.
"But if he shall deny the Jesus, if he shall curse God, if he shall
indulge
in drunkenness, debauchery and crime, if he shall lie and swear, and steal,
if he shall take the name of the great God in vain, and commit all manner of
abominations, he shall have no place in our midst; for we have long sought
to find a people that will work righteousness, that will distribute justice
equally, that will acknowledge God in all their ways, that will regard those
sacred laws and ordinances which are recorded in that sacred book called the
Bible, which we verily believd, and which we proclaim to all the earth."
The Mormons, in their various settlements in Utah, have numbered perhaps
thirty thousand. They have made the extravagant claim that they could count
in this country and Europe more then two hundred thousand converts to the
Mormon faith. But the extraordinary delusion is now manifestly on the wane.
The community is fast crumbling. The flood of emigration now sweeping with
ever-increasing flow across the plains will doubtless ere long obliterate
every vestige of the Mormon faith.

--------------------------------
End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #21
******************************************