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Editorial Note

On 27 June 1844 Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, the respective president and patriarch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were murdered in Carthage, Illinois. News and information traveled slowly at the time. With Brigham Young and several other apostles in the eastern United States, the tragic news did not reach them until around 9 July when Wilford Woodruff and Heber C. Kimball obtained copies of a Boston Daily Times article “containing the solumn & awful information.”[1] Accounts from Illinois poured in confirming the report.[2] After Woodruff received letters verifying the deaths, he wrote from Boston to Young in Peterborough on 16 July to inform him of the “death of the Prophets.”[3] By 16 July there was no longer a question; Young and the apostles knew the Smith brothers had died. Though not referenced in this journal, Young was “at brother Bement’s house in Peterboro,” where he “heard a letter read which brother Livingston had received from Mr. Joseph Powers, of Nauvoo, giving particulars of the murder of Joseph and Hyrum.”

Undated print of Hyrum Smith and Joseph Smith with a drawing of the Nauvoo Temple between them in the background. Library of Congress, Washington, DC, LC-DIG-pga-11052.

Young felt immediate despair. He had never felt so distressed. “I felt as tho my head wo[ul]^d crack,” he would later say when describing the intensity of his feelings. He was particularly concerned about the priesthood and keys of authority. According to his later history, Young immediately questioned “whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth,” but after pondering it a short time, the apostolic leader declared that “the keys of the kingdom are right here with the Church.”[4] As quick as a clap, Young slapped his knee and felt his anguish dissipate. Though still grieving the loss of his friend, Young had understood that “the death of one or a dozen could not destroy the priesthood, nor hinder the work of the Lord from spreading throughout all nations.”[5] Young knew he needed to return to Nauvoo to mourn with the Saints.

Brigham Young departed for Boston that night and arrived there the next day and met Woodruff and Kimball. That day, 17 July, Woodruff and Young went to the home of a “Sister Voice,” likely Ruth Vose Sayers, at 57 Temple Street, where they mourned the “Prophet and Patriarch of the Church.”[6] On 18 July, Young, Kimball, Woodruff, and Orson Hyde held a meeting in Boston’s Boylston Hall to preach about the Carthage murders. According to Woodruff’s account, Young arose and “said he felt disposed to add his testimony. Be of good cheer. The testament is not in force while the Testator liveth. When he died it was in force. So it is with Joseph. On the day of Pentecost their was but 120 of the Saints, but at that time their were added 3,000 souls. When God sends a man to do a work all the devils in hell cannot kill him until he gets through his work. So with Joseph. He prepared all things gave the keys to men on the earth and said I may be soon taken from you.”[7]

A page from Brigham Young's third personal journal with the notation of "having heard of Bro J & H Smiths deth." Courtesy of the Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Young remained in the Boston area for nearly a week awaiting the arrival of Lyman Wight.[8] While he waited, he preached to the Saints, prepared to travel back to Nauvoo, and visited with his daughter Vilate. Young also counseled together with the other apostles then in Boston. They decided to write to Sidney Rigdon to inform him and John E. Page to return to Nauvoo immediately, where they would grieve together “and hold a council.” Though Young and the others in Boston could have met Rigdon and Page in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where those men had been, they determined to meet in Nauvoo and go “by the lakes” because they “deemed it safer and quicker to go that way.”[9]

Wight arrived in Boston on 23 July; the following day Wight, Young, and Kimball departed for Nauvoo. Traveling via steamboat and railroad, these companions met Wilford Woodruff, Orson Hyde, and Orson Pratt at Schenectady, New York, on 24 July. The six apostles took the rail cars to Buffalo, where they then boarded a steamer bound for Cleveland, Ohio, before heading to Detroit, Michigan. At Fairport Harbor, Ohio, Elder Hyde left the party to visit his family in Kirtland.[10] From Detroit, the party of now five apostles (Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, and Lyman Wight) “took the propeller Herc[u]les for Chicago.” Young’s travel notes end with information about the steamship Hercules and its captain. Woodruff added that they enjoyed “good state rooms and was Comfortable. We spoke of our families free-quently and the death of Joseph and Hiram. We felt anxious to get home.” They landed in Chicago at 8:00 p.m. the evening of 1 August, found accommodations for the night, and left for Galena by stage the following morning.[11]

Print dramatizing the murder of Joesph Smith. Created 1891. Library of Congress, Washington, DC, LC-DIG-pga-06780.

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16–23 July 1844 • Tuesday–Tuesday

tusday 16 Started for Boston having heard of Bro J[oseph] & H[yrum] Smiths deth[12] - Came to Lowel[l] Stad all night - wensday 17 came to Boston found Br [Heber C.] Kimball & [Wilford] Woodruff[13] staed in Boston[14] till Br [Lyman] Wight Came in on tusday 23[15] in company with G[eorge]. J[oshua]. Adams[16]

24 July–1 August 1844 • Wednesday–Thursday of the following week

on wensday 24 Brs [Heber C.] Kimb[al]l [Lyman] Wight & myself started for home - we had a good meeting on sunday Br H[eber]. C. Kimball prea[ched] in the morning I prea[ched] in the evening had a meeting tusday evening with the Church ordained 32 to the office of Elders left the Bretherin in good feelings - Sister [Augusta Adams] Cobb & Vilate [Young] came to Boston[17] monday Vilate staed till tusday to visit me - we arived in Albany at 6 p.m.[18] took the cars for Utica got to schenactada [Schenectady] found Brs [Wilford] Woodruff O[rson] Hyde & O[rson] Pratt & Sister R[uth Vose] Sayers.[19] Came on to Buffalo arived there thursday evening [July 25] at 9 o.c. P.m found Brs W[illia]m Hyde and W[ilia]m Pratt.[20] took the put up a[t] Huffs [Hotel] 83 Main St Buffalo took Steam Boat Buffalo friday morning 26 Br. [Orson] Hyde left us at Fairport[21] we arived in Detr[o]yt Saterday evening [27 July] a bout 10 o.c. p.m put up at the Rail road Hotel[22] on sunday morn [28 July] at 10 am took the Propeller*[23]

Jerman Silver 66 1/2 cents per M 5. c. do. discount Salnixon[24] 3 3 Pence per M

* Steam Ship Harcules[25] at Macanaugh [Mackinac Island] at 12 on tusday 30 [July 1844][26] - August the first[27] Capt F[red]. S. Whe[e]ler[28] Clark A H. Gardner

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Editorial Note

On the morning of 2 August, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, and Lyman Wight left Chicago by stage for the 160-mile journey to Galena, Illinois.[29] Traveling day and night over very rough roads, the five apostles arrived in Galena about 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, 4 August. In Woodruff’s words, “almost exhausted with fatigue,” they stopped for the day to rest. That night, perhaps foreshadowing what was to come, Elder Kimball dreamed that he was preaching to a large congregation, telling the people that the “Prophet Joseph Smith had laid the foundation for a great work and it was now for us [the Quorum of the Twelve] to build upon it.”[30] From Galena, the apostles took a steamboat, the St. Croix, for “a pleasant sail” down the Mississippi River and arrived in Nauvoo at 8:00 p.m. on 6 August to grieve, rally the church, and continue Smith’s “great work.” Young and the other apostles were “hailed with Joy by all the Citizens [they] met.”[31] Many Nauvoo Saints had awaited their arrival, eagerly anticipating that the apostles would set the church in order.

The five apostles’ trip to Nauvoo took them longer than expected. Sidney Rigdon, who had been serving as a counselor in the First Presidency at the time Joseph Smith was killed, arrived in Nauvoo from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 3 August.[32] Rigdon wasted no time in making public proclamations of his claim to lead the church. On 4 August, the day after his arrival in the City of Joseph, Rigdon preached to a “large congregation” of thousands of Saints, at which time, according to Willard Richards, he “delivered a message from the Lord that the church must choose a guardian.” Rigdon claimed that he held the “keys of this dispensation” and would preserve the church as Joseph “had begun it.”[33] In that same meeting Nauvoo stake president William Marks unexpectedly announced that on Thursday morning, 8 August, Rigdon would hold a “special meeting” for the Saints to consider his assertion of leadership. The following day, however, 5 August, Rigdon told John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt, George A. Smith, and Willard Richards (apostles who were already in Nauvoo before the return of those from the East) that he actually “did not expect the people to choose a guardian on thursday,” but that they should rather have a “prayer meeting” in which they could “warm up each others hearts” and have an “interchange of thought & feeling.”[34] These apostles pleaded with Rigdon to hold off on meeting with the Saints until Brigham Young and his apostolic travel companions arrived home from their eastern missions.

The question of rightful authority to lead the church had certainly been on the minds of the Saints in Nauvoo. They “felt like sheep without a shepherd,” and Sidney Rigdon’s early August declarations affirming his leadership brought a vital question urgently to the fore.[35] When Young and the other apostles arrived on 6 August to greet their families, friends, and the Saints, they could not postpone addressing the matter of succession. On 7 August the nine members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles now in Nauvoo met together at John Taylor’s home, and later that day they “met in Council at the Seventies Hall, viz the Twelve, High Council, and High Priest &c.,” where they heard Rigdon “tell his Story and message which he had to us and the Church.” Rigdon reported that he had been appointed in a vision “to offer himself to lead the Church” on the grounds that he had served as “spokesman” for Joseph Smith during his life.[36] Wilford Woodruff noted that Rigdon’s speech was “a long Story it was a kind of second Class vision.”[37]

Brigham Young spoke following Rigdon. He “showed the brethren the errors and follies which brother Rigdon manifested on the occasion.” Young further articulated that when it came to leading the church, “their could not be any one before the Twelve.”[38] He asserted that the Quorum of the Twelve had the keys to continue the Lord’s work. Young said, “One thing I must know, and that is what God says about it. I have the keys and the means of obtaining the mind of God on the subject. . . . Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship, which he himself held before he was taken away, and no man or set of men can get between Joseph and the Twelve in this world or the world to come. How often has Joseph said to the Twelve, I have laid the foundation; and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the kingdom rests.”[39] As president of the Twelve, Young understood the authority of the quorum to lead the church, and he intended to assert that authority with a pledge that the apostles would build on the prophetic foundation established by Smith. That 7 August meeting ended with an agreement that the Saints and the quorums of the priesthood would assemble on 13 August for a special conference to discuss and settle the question of succession.[40]

Whatever the agreement or vote, the next day, 8 August, William Marks and Sidney Rigdon co-opted the process by repurposing the prayer meeting being held that morning. Parley P. Pratt alerted Brigham Young, who rushed to the meeting. Alarmed at what he heard, Young felt “a spirit to hurry buisness, to get a Trustee & Trust and a Presede[n]cy over the church Priastood or no Priesthood right or rong.” Rather than wait for the special conference on 13 August, Young proposed that the assembly take place in the grove near the temple that afternoon to determine who should lead the church—Sidney Rigdon, who was putting himself forward to be the church’s “guardian,” or the Twelve.[41] Brigham Young’s 8 August 1844 journal entry provides his perspective on that afternoon meeting and Rigdon’s claims, as do a number of subsequent entries leading to Rigdon’s eventual excommunication from the church on 8 September.

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8 August 1844 • Thursday

August the 8^th 1844

this day is long to be rememberd by me. it is the first time I have met with the Church at Nauvoo sence Brs Joseph and Hyram was kild[42] - and the aucasion on which the church was <Cauld> somwhat painful to me, Br Rigdon had Com from Pitsburge[43] to see the Brotherin and find out if they would sustain him as the Leador of the saints, I perseved [perceived] a spirit to hurry buisness, to get a Trustee & Trust[44] and a Presede[n]cy over the church Priastood or no Priesthood right or rong & this grevied my hart, Now Joseph is gon it seamd as though menny wanted to draw off a party and be leders.[45] but this cannot be. the church must be one or they <are> not the Lords;[46] the saints looked as though they had lost - a frend that was able and willing to councel them in all thing[s]: in this time of sorrow my hart was fild with compostion [compassion], after Br Rigdon had made a long spech to the saints (I should think 5 thousand)[47] I arose and spocke to the people, my hart was swolen with composion [compassion] toards them and by the power of the Holy Gost even the spirit of the Prophets I was enabled to comfort the harts of the Saints.[48] in the afternoon a corden [according] to my request the pe<o>ple assembld by thousands[49] I lade before them the order of the church and the Power of the Preasthood,[50] after a long and laboras [laborious] talk of a bout two ours in the open air with the wind blowing,[51] the church was of one hart and one mind they wanted the twelve to lead the church as Br Joseph had dun in his day. Br Rigdon was cauld upon to make som remarks but refused to due so[52] I cauld upon the church to expres their wishes by vote[53] if they wanted Br Rigdon for their Presedent[54] on which moshen [motion] Br Rigdon objected and wanted the vote cauld to see if the church wanted the twelve to Preside and it was don, and the Church with one hart and voice liftid up their hands for the Twelve to Preside.[55] in this meeting the Quorams was organised the high councel high Preast Seventes Elders. &c. &c--[56]

9–11 August 1844 • Friday–Sunday

friday 9 had a councel with the 12 had a good councel. we aunited [anointed][57] Brs Newel K. Whitney and G[e]orge Miller as trustees for the Church in Hancock Co[58] on Saterday 10 Continued our councels to trancact buisness for the Church[59] Sunday the 11 Br Luman [Lyman] Wight Preached and set the Bretherin in a grate fevor [to] leve here and goe with Br L. Wight into the wilderness.[60] we continued our councels from day to day to regulate the Buisness of the Church. I found that Br [James] Emmet[t] was rasing a company to goe away in to the wilderness or some whare elce[61]

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Editorial Note

When the assembled church members voted in support of the Twelve’s leadership at the 8 August 1844 meeting, Brigham Young, as the president of the Twelve Apostles, became the de facto leader of the church, with all the attendant administrative responsibilities that implied. The day following this public vote, Young and the Twelve met, in the words of Heber C. Kimball, “in order to setle the maters of the church.” Thus began a period of quorum leadership, with available members of the Twelve meeting together frequently to oversee church matters spiritual and practical. Brigham led the quorum, and the quorum collectively led the church. At the October 1844 conference, church members voted and sustained Young as the president of the Twelve and the collective leadership of the apostles over the church.[62] As president of the Twelve and with no reorganized First Presidency (even though the Twelve met frequently and presided as a quorum), Young was the person ultimately responsible for the day-to-day operation of the church and its affairs.

These new duties kept Young tethered to Nauvoo and its immediate surroundings. During the seven days between his mid-August journal entries, he kept busy with meetings, planning, and administrative matters. Of these activities, Young wrote, “We continued our councels from day to day to regulate the Buisness of the Church.”[63] Young and other church leaders indeed met on many occasions between 11 and 18 August to discuss and conduct church business.

Five of the Twelve and several others met for a prayer meeting at Young’s home the afternoon of 11 August, for example, “to pray for deliverance from the Mob.” On 12 August nine of the apostles (absent William Smith, Orson Hyde, and John E. Page) met at 10:00 a.m. and voted to make Amasa Lyman, who was present at the meeting, “one of the Apostles.” They also voted to organize the “continent of America” into districts, each of which would be presided over by a high priest of the church. After a brief adjournment, the group met again that afternoon and agreed to send Wilford Woodruff and his family to preside over the church “and printing establishment” in the British Isles, and to put Brigham Young in charge of organizing the immigration of converts from there to the United States. They also voted that Lyman Wight “with his company,” accompanied by George Miller and Lucien Woodworth, should “carry out the instructions he has received from Joseph—& procure a location” for a settlement outside Nauvoo.[64] On 14 August the Twelve met in the afternoon in the Seventies Hall with the Nauvoo House committee, the temple committee, and the temple stone cutters “in order to create a unity of feelings and action and an equality of pay.”[65] The Twelve and others met at Young’s home again on 15 August, when they “resolved to bear of[f] the Kingdom of God in all the world” in the face of whatever opposition they might encounter. Finally, among other meetings, Young also counseled with William Clayton to discuss the church’s property held in Joseph Smith’s name as trustee-in-trust for the church, and on 17 August he met with Woodruff to discuss his upcoming mission to England.[66]

To better carry on the business of the church, Young oversaw several significant reorganizations in the days right after the vote. Most pressing, perhaps, was the need to replace Joseph Smith as the trustee-in-trust for the church—a need met by appointing bishops Newel K. Whitney and George Miller to the position on 9 August. This freed Young from being bogged down with heavy business details as his predecessor had been. Instead, Young focused on other priorities, including, most importantly, the temple and keeping its construction on pace. He had committed to carrying out “all the measures of Joseph,” and so the temple and the spiritual work to take place therein remained paramount. Young addressed the Saints in Nauvoo on 18 August, encouraging them to unite and complete the temple. He pushed that project along as quickly as time and resources allowed, and by 23 September 1844, workers were able to lay the first capital on top of the temple wall; more followed, and by the end of the next year Young began administering spiritual ordinances therein.[67]

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18 August 1844 • Sunday

on Sunday the 18 I Preached to the Saints in the morning I had good liberty and by the help of the lord I was enable to satisfy the Bretherin and unite them together so they so that they will finish the Temple[68]

19 August 1844 • Monday

on monday 19 the twelve had a councel[69] herd a letter from J[ame]s. A[rlington]. Bennet[70] - Br Wilford Woodruff is going to England to take charge of all the Churches Printing and emegration Buisness. Br H[iram]. Clark goes with him[71]

25 August 1844 • Sunday

Sunday 25 went to the stand[72] Br Woodruff Preached[73] I spoke to the saints 3/4 of an our had a good meeting gave much inst[r]uction to the saints and liberty to Baptize the saints for there dead relitives[74] Brs [Orson] Hyde P[arley]. P. Pratt [Reynolds] Cahoon and [William W.] Phelps Bore testamona[75]

26 August 1844 • Monday

26 Baptised G[e]orge [P.] stiles the Lawyer - had a confrence with the officers of the Leg[i]on[76]

27 August 1844 • Tuesday

27 met with the officers of the Leg[i]on[77] the councel desided that they wou[ld] carrey out all Josephs vues in all things there was 6 of the twelve was present[78] the Brethe[r]in felt sperietet [spirited] on the subjected

a list of the States[79]

W. W. Phelps Mariland

4 in [New] York State

1 Connectticut

1 Dea[l]ware

2 Virginnia

2 Ohio

1 Alabama

1 Missispi

2 Pensyvania

2 North Carolina

1 South Carolina

2 Georga

2 Tennisee

1 Jersey 2 1 Jersey

1 Lewisaney

1 Arkensaw

1 Missouri

2 Indiana Willard Snow

1 Maine

1 New Brunswick

1 New Hapshier

1 Vermaunt

1 Mishagan

1 Wis Conson

2 Contuckey

1 Rodiland

1 Lower Canaday

1 Upper Canaday

1 Texces Lucian Woodworth

28 August 1844 • Wednesday

August 28 the 1844 Brother Wilford Woodruff in company with Br Hyram [Hiram] Clark and D[an]. Jones Started this day for England they went off in good spirits,[80] they took their wifes[81] with them

29 August 1844 • Thursday

29 we ware in councel this day[82] it is our fast day with the Saints their is 16 present we have had a good meeting I came home with Br E[dwin] D. Wo[o]lley. I lade hands on a good menny at the stand[83]

30 August 1844 • Friday

30 a company of twenty of the Bretherin Came down to Father Mikesells[84] to get Peaches and more came after words Br H[eber]. C. Kimball J[ohn]. Taylor orson Hyde G[eorge] A Smith Amasa Lymond [Lyman] Father John Smith was is with us Father Mikesal [Mikesell] famely are glad to see us, we have a good day

31 August 1844 • Saturday

31 took my wife[85] and Unice[86] went on to the hill found Br Greene[87] verry sick cauld on Br Joseph Young [and] Lambs Clarkes came home about 1 o c P.M attended cortmarshel at the seventis hall the cort marshel elected me for their Leutenant Jeneral and Charles C. Rich for their Major Jeneral it was don with out a decenting voice[88] in the evening at 6. o.c. we had a school meeting chose 3 trustees[89]

1 September 1844 • Sunday

Sept 1th 1844 I went to the meeting ground in the fore noon B[rother] S[idney]. Rigdon Preached his descorce was compelecated [complicated] and some what scattered he said he had all things shone to him from this time to the winding up sene or the grate Battle of gog and may gog,[90] there was grate things to take place but he did not tel what the saints should due to save themselves[91]

at 1/2 past 2 P.M. I met with the high Preast Quoram I spoke to some le<n>gth to the Bretherin Br Kimball Spoke, then went to the high Seventes hall spok to the Bretherin in that place conserning there organization. Feremose [Feramorz] Little[92] (here)

2 September 1844 • Monday

2 monday went on to the hill got my bugga ficks [buggy fixed] at Br Pecks took tea with Br Joseph young Saw Br J[ohn]. P. Greene he was sick Br Willard Richards a sick man[93] in the evening went to Br H[eber]. C. Kimballs, saw Sister [Rebecca Swain] Williams and seald hir to hir husben F[rederick]. G. W[illiams]. Br H[eber]. C. Kimball stod as procksey [proxy][94]

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Editorial Note

The following journal entry for 3 September 1844 documents the beginnings of a process that culminated a few days later with the ecclesiastical trial and excommunication of Sidney Rigdon, who claimed to have the “Power and authority” over the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to lead the church following Joseph Smith’s death. Brigham Young and Orson Hyde visited Rigdon because Young had heard Rigdon and others “were ordaining some to be prophets Seers & Revelators & some to Kings and Priests,” and he wanted to “see if it was really the case that such conduct was going on.” The men met together that afternoon and evening, during which time Rigdon admitted to meeting and ordaining others, then claimed that he held “keys and authority above any man, or set of men in this church, even the Twelve.”[95] After much discussion, the three men agreed to meet later in the evening with other members of the Twelve Apostles to continue the dialogue.

Eight of the Twelve, along with Bishop Newel K. Whitney and “several others,” were present for this second meeting with Rigdon on 3 September. Parley P. Pratt said that Rigdon told them “a good deal more” of the revelation he had received in Pittsburgh appointing him to be Joseph Smith’s successor. Rigdon continued to defend the ordinations he had made, claiming that “he had authority and Keys over any one else.” He also spoke of a “bloody battle” he would participate in, “the particulars of which had been revealed to him,” after which he would be standing atop the church. After one of Rigdon’s “new prophets” who was present told Pratt that he now regarded Rigdon as his “prophet, seer and revelator,” Brigham Young and others told him that “the matter must be settled before he [Rigdon] went away to Pittsburgh either one way or the other.”[96]

After talking with Rigdon until midnight, Brigham Young and others went to Willard Richards’s home to counsel together. There they decided to disfellowship Rigdon and “deemed it necessary to demand his license, and say to him he could not hold it any longer, unless he retracted from his present course and repent of his wickedness.” Parley P. Pratt later told church members that Rigdon was disfellowshipped for “ordaining men to unheard of offices, in an illegal manner—and the proceedings of their secret meetings.”[97] Pratt’s assertion that Rigdon performed illegal ordinances explains the Twelve’s perspective that Rigdon was in violation of revelation and common practice when it came to ordinations. According to a Joseph Smith revelation, “Again I say unto you, that it shall not be given to any one to go forth to preach my gospel, or to build up my church, except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church.”[98] While Rigdon may have claimed authority, Young and the Twelve, as the leaders of the church, did not recognize his authority.

The Twelve sent Orson Hyde, Amasa Lyman, and Parley P. Pratt as a committee to revoke Rigdon’s priesthood license. Rigdon refused to give the committee his license, telling them that “he did not get them from us,” an allusion to Rigdon’s disregard for the authority of the Twelve. Rigdon then told Hyde that because they had demanded his license, he would “write the history of this people since they came to Nauvoo of all th[e]ir iniquity and midnight abominations” and “publish it in the public prints.” According to Parley P. Pratt, Rigdon also told the committee that “it had been revealed unto him that the twelve would do what you have done this evening” and that he had “been sitting laughing at it to see it fulfilled.” As Hyde recounted the following year, the committee also told Rigdon that the “meeting on the next Sabbath [8 September] would be resolved into a conference of the whole church, together with its authorities, either to confirm or reject our present action upon his case,” and that inasmuch as he refused to give up his license, they would be “under the necessity” of publishing a notice on his case in the Nauvoo Neighbor.[99] Thousands of Latter-day Saints and others gathered around the temple stand in Nauvoo on 8 September to witness the ecclesiastical trial of Sidney Rigdon.

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3 September 1844 •Tuesday

tusday 3 had an intervue with Br [Sidney] Rigdon he said he had Power and authority above the twelve did not concider him self bound to thir councel[100] in the evening the twelve had a councel with him again he was far from being or feeling an in trist [interest] with the twelve[101] after a long conversation Br Rigdons licence was demanded[102] he would not give them up said the church had not ben led for a long time by the Lord, and he should come out tell all a bout the secrits of the Church[103]

4 September 1844 •Wednesday

4 Br Alexa[n]der Hunt Paid in $25.60 for the temple[104] had a day of rest[105]

5 September 1844 •Thursday

5 Br [William] Marks Came to see me about P[r]es [Sidney] Rigdon and his revelations in the afternoon went to the prayer meeting and exposed the fals prophets[106]

Sister <Sariah> [Sarah] Rockwell came with 5 pare of gloves for the temple. 1 do [ditto] mittens $525

6 September 1844 • Friday

6 Br Kimball and my self visited the sick till 2 o.c P.M.[107] Brs A[masa]. Lyman[,] C. Pa d irt ge[108] [Carolyn Ely Partridge][109]- had a councel in the evening with the officers of the Lagon [Legion]

[110] 6 Br Alonzo W. Whitney stated to Br H[eber]. C. Kimball <and my self>[111] that he was in a meeting last weak at Lenard Sobes [Leonard Soby’s] there he heard S. Rigdon <some say> say that the 12 ware in the Bogas buisness[112] and there was [w]rits out for them at Carthege.

they [said] Sidney Rigdon and his party must send cirten [certain] men to the Branches to turn the saints to him & then he could lead them to S[idney]. R[igdon]. said he should goe to Pitsburgh and publish all the wickedness & history of Nauvoo let it rest on the Living or the dead insinuating that Joseph & Hyram was rong Sameul James read a chapter [and] made the aplecation that Joseph was decived and left to have falce revelations. Some said thire was no use to pay enny thing more on the temple namely Crouse[113] Hunter[114] twist[115] & Richar[ds][116] Rigdon asscented to it all and gave them som instricton [instruction]

Twist or Soby said me we must not come out against Joseph at once or pull on that string to hard you know the feelings of the People and the man of sin spoken of[117] is the twelve[118]

7 September 1844 • Saturday

[119] 7 I seald Br John P. Greene [to] my sister Rhodia [Rhoda] Young and to Mary Eliza Nelson,[120] as he was dying

[121] Br John Mc Gewin[122] came to my house to Bord or live with me

the names of my staff[123]

4 adicamps [aide-de-camp]

Isaac Morley first

Jefferson Hunt 2

2 Secreterry

12 garde[124]

1 Alfus [Alpheus] Cutler

Ronalds Choon [Reynolds Cahoon]

James Allread [Allred]

Thomas Grover

John Butler

Gorge Cremer [George Creymour]

Abraham C Hodge

Shedrick [Shadrach] Roundy

Cornaious [Cornelius] P. Lott

[Lewis] Dunbar Wilson

Henery [Henry] G. Sherwood

Sameul [Samuel] H Smith

1 Chaplen

Drill master genaral

Commander of the S[t]aff

―――――――― ◊ ――――――――

Editorial Note

A month earlier the church had voted to sustain Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as the rightful leaders of the church. By doing so the church refused the claims of Sidney Rigdon to succeed Joseph Smith as the president of the church. Rigdon continued to believe himself the proper leader of the church and worked privately to persuade others of his authority. On 3 September the Twelve demanded Rigdon’s priesthood license for his secret ordination of new church leaders without the authority to do so. On 8 September some seven thousand people—church leaders, members, and others—gathered at the temple stand in Nauvoo to observe the ecclesiastical trial of Sidney Rigdon for his recent activities and claims to leadership and authority. The meeting lasted at least five hours. According to George A. Smith, Rigdon was charged with “ordaining unheard of offices & holding secret meetings and in them attempting to Lead away the saints to the Allegeny Mtns and threatning to Pubblish an Exposure of the Church and Declaring it had Not Been Led by the Lord for A Long time.”[125] Hyde later added that Rigdon had attempted “to divide the church of God”; to ordain “prophets, priests, and kings, contrary to any known usage in the church”; and to “organize a great army to fight the Gentiles.”[126]

Witnesses in the trial recounted the previous month’s events. As the trial began, Brigham Young reported his and the Twelve’s conversations with Rigdon on 3 September and then told the assembled Saints that the charges against Rigdon were that he “has not conducted himself like a man of God, he has not conducted like a prophet of God, nor a councillor to the first president since he came here.” Parley P. Pratt narrated the circumstances surrounding the prayer meeting Rigdon had called for on 8 August, the church vote that day, the ordinations Rigdon had made, and the revelation Rigdon claimed to have received in Pittsburgh, and then charged him with “false revelations & visions <&> in telling lies in the name of the Lord.” Young, Pratt, Orson Hyde, Amasa Lyman, John Taylor, William W. Phelps, and Heber C. Kimball all provided testimony sustaining the charges, while Nauvoo stake president William Marks spoke in Rigdon’s defense, saying that he did not know that Rigdon “was guilty of any crimes.”[127] Young, Pratt, Phelps, Taylor, and Hyde all gave rebuttals to Marks’s defense of Rigdon.

Young then called on bishop Newel K. Whitney and the Nauvoo high council, who were trying the case, for their decision. According to the earliest account of the trial, Whitney said that he felt “to sustain the twelve in taking fellowship from him [Rigdon],” and asked the members of the high council to stand up if they agreed with his decision. According to the published minutes, the vote was “unanimous in the affirmative.” Hyde, however, objected with the “motion,” saying it was “not explicit enough,” which prompted Phelps to motion “that Elder Sidney Rigdon be cut off from the church, and delivered over to the buffetings of satan until he repents.” Whitney presented Phelps’s motion to the high council, which sustained it, after which Phelps and Young presented the decision to the thousands there assembled. Except for “a few of Sidney Rigdon’s party, numbering about ten,” the congregation voted in the affirmative to excommunicate Rigdon from the church.[128]

―――――――― ◊ ――――――――

8 September 1844 • Sunday

on Sunday the 8 we had a meeting on the stand a bout 6 or 7 thausand People Present we tried Br Sidney Rigdon and Cut him of[f] from the Church[129] and Samuel James[130] [Joseph H.] Newton G[e]orge Morrey [Morey] John Forges[131] and som others,[132] we ware over 6 ours on the stand[133] the congration was well satisfyde. Rigdon and his party held a meeting in the morning and concluded not to make enny defence[134]

9 September 1844 • Monday

Monday 9 [Sep] I visited the sic[k] Br J[ohn]. P. Greene P[arley]. P. Pratt and others[135]

[136] Sept 9 1844

Thomas R Heris [Harris] one rifel $20.00 for the temple

[137] 10 Br John Trayer crd [credit] for the temple - $10 -

―――――――― ◊ ――――――――

Editorial Note

Numerous references in this part of Brigham Young’s journal to family members, friends, and visits show that as much time as he may have spent with church concerns, life was far from an administrative grind. Significantly, the journal also contains several references to women who are known from later sources to have been his plural wives, although the nature of his relationship with them at this time is unclear from Young’s journal writings. Intriguingly, at the top of the pages on which these women are mentioned, the letters “MT” or “ME” have been inscribed, which may stand for “married [for] time” and “married [for] eternity,” respectively. Beginning with this 10 September 1844 journal entry, these plural marriage references become more regular and an increasing part of Young’s diary through the rest of 1844 and into 1845.[138]

―――――――― ◊ ――――――――

10 September 1844 • Tuesday

S[eptember] tusday 10 Br J[ohn]. P. Greene died this morning about 6 o.c.[139] Jan. [General] Demming[140] I was made a quanted [acquainted] with Br. O[rson]. Hyde started for Kirtland had a Councel with the 12 and others[141]

M E[142]

Sept 10^th 1844 this day I visited Br. Isac Chace [Isaac Chase] Bro H[eber]. C. Kimball was with me Br & Sister [Isaac and Phebe] Chase with their daughter Claricy [Clarissa][143] was at home, we had a good visit[144] Br H[eber]. C. K[imball]. and I stoped at Br Geans [William A. Gheen][145]

10 Da[n]iel Corbett crd by cash for temple thirty three dallars

11 September 1844 • Wednesday

wensday 11 Burid Br J[ohn]. P. Greene[146] visited Br E[rastus]. Snows famely[147]

12 September 1844 • Thursday

12 Br Otus Hobert [Otis Hobart][148] came to me wanted councel of me concerning his famely Br Hobert [Hobart] said Br L[yman] Wight helped him to a team to come to this place. L[yman] W[ight]. sent Br Horbert [Hobart] to Missi<ci>ppy to see the Bretherin there a bout going with L[yman]. W[ight]. to Read Rever [Red River] Br L[yman]. W[ight]. said Br H[obart]. that the 12 understod all about it[149]

13 September 1844 • Friday

friday 13 went to the perade ground whare the officers war drilling[150] Johnathan Dunam [Jonathan Dunham] was elected Brigeder Ganeral of the 2th corhort to the Nauvoo Legon[151] I viseted Mother [Lucy Mack] Smith with Br & Sister Kimball[152]

14 September 1844 • Saturday

Saterday 14^th cauld on Sister Hyram Smith[153] Brs H[eber] C Kimball & G[eorge] A smith was with me attended to offering up prayrs for A[masa] Lyman[154] then went to Citty Councel apointed J[onathan]. C. Wright marshel & W[illiam]. W. Phelps recorder of deads [deeds][155] at 2 o.c. P.M. Br J[ohn] Taylor and I went up to the perade ground Saw the second corhort[156] inspected in the evening paid Br Amasa Lymond [Lyman] a visit found him much better 1/2 past 8 o.c. P.M

16 September 1844 • Monday

Monday 16 at 6 o.c. A.M. I went to the ground where we Located the arsnel on the lot Graham Colton [Coltrin] lives on near the temple[157] H. G. Sherewood [Henry G. Sherwood] seurvade [surveyed] the ground for the Building 48 feet 4 ench[es] north & south 33 feet 4 east & west. we then uncoverd our heads and lifted our hands to heven and I dedecated the ground to the God of the armes of Isreal. I then took the spade and broke the ground for the Soller [cellar] Jenerals [Generals] present Charles C. Rich Jothan Dunam [Jonathan Dunham] and others of the officers of the Legon[158]

MT[159]

[160] Sept 16 1844 monney for to send for guns gold $118 12

in paper 227.00

in silver 127.00[161]

18 September 1844 • Wednesday

wensday 18 w I have ben in councel with the 12 and Brs [Newel K.] Whitney G[eorge]. Miller.[162] we have had a good visit to gether read Br W[illiam]. Smith[163] J J. Adams[164] & O[rson]. Hydes letters[165]

Thomas Morris crd [credit] on tithing for one Bord 2.00

19 September 1844 • Thursday

thursday 19 staed at home all day my wife is quite sick I saw Sister Louisa B. Smith[166] H[eber]. C. Kimball & Silva L. Smith[167] &c. &.c. grate is the work of the Lord in these Last days

20 September 1844 • Friday

Sept 20 1844 went to the temple cauld at Sister Evens [Olive Evans] seald hir up to hir husband [Roswell Evans] Horres [Horace Evans] hir oldest son stod as proxey[168] lad [laid] hands on sister Durby[169] the Lord is with me continuly

22 September 1844 • Sunday

Sunday morning 22. 1844 I Preached to the congration of the Saints had a go[o]d time <told> the saints some new things.[170] had a councel with the men that came here to take up the murders of Bro Joseph & Hyram Smith[171]

23 September 1844 • Monday

Monday evening had a councel with the 12 the Mair [Mayor Daniel Spencer] & others concerning going after thouse men[172]

Sept 23th 1844. a list of arms from S[aint]. L[ouis]. By Thomas McKen[z]ie

one 2 bareld fouling peace

Six single Barrll

2 Swords 1 Pistol

2 Bullet Moulds

1 tin Box Bullets

3000 or more Caps

1 Barrell of Powder

1 lot of lead[173]

25 September 1844 • Wednesday

25^th Ira Miles Said Father Cutler[174] told him about the Last stone was laid on the wales [walls] of the Temple for it seamed the Devel was in the thing[175]

Sept 23th 1844 the murders[176]

26 September 1844 • Thursday

26 the govener came in to to town [sic] with a bout 4 or 5 hu[n]dred troops. we had officer drill[177]

27 September 1844 • Friday

27 had our Genaral perade[178] the govener [Thomas Ford] came on to the ground with general Harden [John J. Hardin] and others of his officers we had a day there was a good feeling a mong the officers and solgers [soldiers][179]

3 October 1844 • Thursday

M E[180]

Oct the 3t 1844 Brother H[eber]. C. Kimball and my self was at Br Steven Marcoms [Stephen Markham’s] Sister Eliza Snow & Betsey Farechiles[181] was there

we took diner with them went to the temple[182]

Thursday Oct 3th 1844

Mother [Lucy Mack] Smith[183] $50.00

Willard Richards 26.56

H[eber] C. Kimball 25.00

P[arley]. P. Pratt 35.00

D[an]. Jones 50.00

Lucien]. Woodworth 22 50

Sameul Shepard cr[edited] by corn for temple wagon Box Length 10 feet weth [width] 3 feet en hight 1 foot 3 enches[184]

4 October 1844 • Friday

4 Br H[eber]. C. Kimball and my self was at the seventis hall paid Sister Fany [Fanny Young Murray] a short visit Sister Anny Wicks[185] was there. Br Horten & wife put up there for confrence[186]

went up to the Temple in the fore noon went to see Sister Clark lent hir Seventy five dollars in gold

Notes

[1] Woodruff, Journal, 9 July 1844, CHL.

[2] Woodruff, Journal, 11­–12 July 1844, CHL.

[3] Woodruff, Journal, 16 July 1844, CHL.

[4] Watson, Manuscript History of the Church, 16 July 1844, 170–71.

[5] Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, 266–67, CHL.

[6] Woodruff, Journal, 17 July 1844, CHL.

[7] Woodruff, Journal, 18 July 1844, CHL.

[8] Watson, Manuscript History of the Church, 21 and 23 July 1844, 171.

[9] “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 September 1844, 5:648–49.

[10] Woodruff, Journal, 24–28 July 1844, CHL.

[11] Woodruff, Journal, 28 July–6 August 1844, CHL.

[12] On 16 July, Wilford Woodruff received two letters—one from “E Snow” (probably Erastus Snow, who had been serving a mission in Vermont), the other from John E. Page—confirming the report of Joseph Smith’s death. Woodruff, who was in Boston at the time, “immediately” wrote a letter to Brigham Young and Orson Pratt, giving them the news. Woodruff wrote three copies of the letter and sent them to where he believed Young and Pratt might be—Peterborough, New Hampshire; Lowell, Massachusetts; and Bradford, Massachusetts. Young heard from other sources the same day confirming the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Upon hearing the news, Young later recalled, “I felt then as I never felt bef[ore] . . . I felt as tho my head wo[ul]^d crack.” (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 16 July 1844, 170–71; Woodruff, Journal, 9, 11–13, 16 July 1844, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 73; “Special Conference,” Times and Seasons, 15 April 1844, 5:505; William Pratt, Autobiography, BYU; Wilford Woodruff, Boston, MA, to Brigham Young and Orson Pratt, Peterborough, NH, 16 July 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 12 February 1849, CHL.)

[13] After the presidential nominating convention in Boston on 1 July, Wilford Woodruff had traveled to Maine, where he held a conference in Scarborough on 6 and 7 July before returning to Boston on 10 July. Heber C. Kimball was in Salem, Massachusetts, on 9 July when he heard of Joseph Smith’s death; according to Woodruff’s journal, Kimball, Orson Hyde, and Orson Pratt arrived in Boston on 18 July, although Kimball himself reported arriving there at 6:00 a.m. on 19 July and finding Brigham Young, Hyde, Pratt, and Woodruff already present. (Woodruff, Journal 2–10, 18 July 1844, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 73, 75.)

[14] Wilford Woodruff reported that Young left Boston on 17 July, shortly after he arrived there, and that he returned the following day, 18 July. (Woodruff, Journal, 17–18 July 1844, CHL.)

[15] On 21 July while waiting for Lyman Wight to arrive, Brigham Young preached a discourse to a congregation of Saints in the Boston area. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 75.)

[16] George J. Adams had been sent from Nauvoo to inform Brigham Young and other members of the Twelve of Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s deaths. (Clayton, Journal, 28 and 30 June 1844, CHL.)

[17] Augusta Adams Cobb and Vilate Young came from the Salem/Lynn, Massachusetts, area just northeast of Boston. Cobb had resided in the Boston area for years. She converted to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and was baptized by traveling missionaries Samuel H. Smith and Orson Hyde on 30 June 1832. On 2 November 1843 she had been in Nauvoo and, in a religious ceremony, married Brigham Young as a plural wife, although she was civilly and legally married to Henry Cobb, with whom she had several children. Augusta Cobb returned to the Boston area by the end of April 1844. One of Brigham Young’s older daughters, Vilate Young, lived in the Salem/Lynn, Massachusetts, area with the Nathaniel Henry Felt family and with Augusta Adams Cobb and her family. Vilate was attending school in the area. Brigham Young visited with Vilate and Cobb, and in a letter to his wife Mary Ann Angell Young he reported that “Sister Cobbs children think much of her [Vilate] and due all they can to make her happy.” He seemed pleased to inform Mary Ann that he “stayed and visited with vilate through [the] day.” Brigham also gave Mary Ann an update on Augusta Cobb’s home situation. He wrote, “Sister Cobb is well all things goes well with hir, as far as I can fined out. Mr Cobb tried to get a bill of devose from hir but could not, and she is in peasable possession of hir famely and hir house.” Cobb, Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Ruth Wellington breakfasted together on 23 July 1844 in Boston before Young and the other apostles headed west for Nauvoo. Augusta Cobb remained in the Boston area until at least the fall of 1844, when Wilford Woodruff returned to the city and the two walked to a meeting together on 13 October 1844. (Samuel Smith, Diary, 29 June and 1 July 1832, CHL; Orson Hyde, Journal, 29 June 1832, CHL; Brigham Young to Vilate Young, 11 August 1844, CHL; Caroline G. Smith, Philadelphia, PA, to Jedediah M. Grant, Nauvoo, IL, 5 May 1844, Grant Family Papers, CHL; Brigham Young, Salem, MA, to Mary Ann Angell Young, Nauvoo, IL, 8 July 1844, Brigham Young, Letters, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 75–76; and Woodruff, Journal, 13 October 1844, CHL.)

[18] Brigham Young and his companions left Boston by train at 7:00 a.m. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 76.)

[19] Wilford Woodruff, Orson Hyde, and Orson Pratt left Boston on 20 July 1844—Woodruff to visit his parents in Farmington, Connecticut, and Hyde and Pratt to go to New York. Ruth Vose Sayers, who had lived in Boston before her marriage, appears to have been visiting family members in Schenectady. Woodruff left Farmington on 23 July and arrived, via train and steamboat, in New York on 24 July. He then boarded a steamboat for Albany and found Hyde, Pratt, and Sayers on board. The four continued on to Troy, New York, where they boarded a train for Buffalo and on the way met Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Lyman Wight in Schenectady on 24 July. (Woodruff, Journal, 18, 20–24 July 1844, CHL; and “Hymenial,” Times and Seasons, 15 February 1841, 2:324.)

[20] William Hyde and William Pratt (Orson Pratt’s older brother) had been serving political and proselytizing missions in Vermont and New York, respectively. Both had heard of Joseph Smith’s death and were returning to Nauvoo; a few days earlier, on 20 and 21 July, they had held a church conference together in Ossian, New York. (General Church Minutes, 9 April 1844, 37–38, CHL; “Special Conference,” Times and Seasons, 15 April 1844, 5:505; William Hyde, Autobiography, BYU; and Pratt, Autobiography, 292.)

[21] Brigham Young and his party reached Fairport, Ohio, at midnight on 26–27 July. Orson Hyde left “to visit his family in Kirtland.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 76; and Woodruff, Journal, 26 July 1844, CHL.)

[22] Andrews’ Railroad Hotel, which had opened in 1838, was located on Detroit’s Campus Martius, an outdoor civic gathering place and military parade ground in the heart of the city just north of the bank of the Detroit River. (Ross and Catlin, Landmarks of Detroit, 438–39.)

[23] TEXT: The asterisk here at the end of the page connects with an asterisk on the following page that gives the name of the “Propeller” as the steamer Hercules that Young and his companions took from Detroit to Chicago.

[24] Sal enixum is a chemical, acid potassium sulphate, used to color textile fabrics.

[25] Traveling the Great Lakes on the Hercules provided opportunity for visiting and reflection. As Wilford Woodruff wrote in his diary on 28 July, he “conversed with the quorum of the Twelve.” Specifically, he wrote, “Elder B. Young expressed his feelings to me upon a variety of subjects. Among others wished me to keep an account of things as he should look to me for his Journal some day.” Woodruff noted also that Heber C. Kimball and Orson Pratt were “quite sociable.” Woodruff wrote on the twenty-eighth that as he and Lyman Wight “talked over old times,” Wight “informed me that Joseph told him while they were in Joal [in Liberty, Missouri, winter of 1838–39] that he should not live to see forty years but told him not to reveal it untill he was dead.” The Hercules, launched at Buffalo in April 1843, was the first propeller-driven steamboat in operation upriver from Niagara Falls. It was noted for its large size—115 feet in length and of 275 tons burden—and its hull was painted red, white, and blue in a checkerboard pattern. (Woodruff, Journal, 28 July 1844, CHL; “Hercules (Propeller), 30 Apr 1843,” Maritime History of the Great Lakes, ; and Hilton, Lake Michigan Passenger Steamers, 42–43; and Palmer, Early Days in Detroit, 38.)

[26] The Hercules stopped for a half hour at Mackinac Island, Michigan. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 77.)

[27] On 1 August, Brigham Young and his companions stopped at the cities of Milwaukee, Racine, and South port in Wisconsin Territory before arriving in Chicago, Illinois, at 8:00p.m. that night. (William Hyde, Autobiography, BYU.)

[28] One history of Detroit noted that Fred S. Wheeler, who was the captain of the Hercules and the steamboat St. Louis, was “very popular with all classes in every port on the lakes.” (Palmer, Early Days in Detroit, 38.)

[29] William Hyde, Autobiography, BYU; and Woodruff, Journal, 1–2 August 1844, CHL.

[30] Woodruff, Journal, 4–5 August 1844, CHL.

[31] Woodruff, Journal, 6 August 1844, CHL.

[32] Walker, “Six Days in August,” 161–96.

[33] Historian’s Office, History of the Church, August 4, 1844, 7:10, CHL; George D. Smith, Intimate Chronicle, 140; and Huntington, Reminiscences and Journal, July 14–August 4, 1844, 17–18, CHL.

[34] John Taylor and Willard Richards stayed in Nauvoo when most of the quorum went east and were with Joseph Smith when he and his brother were killed. George A. Smith and Parley P. Pratt did leave for a time, but they had returned weeks before the apostles who had gone to the East. (Willard Richards, Journal, 3–5 August 1844, CHL; and Historian’s Office, History of the Church, August 5, 1844, 7:10, CHL.)

[35] Woodruff, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL.

[36] Woodruff, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL. Rigdon had been identified as Joseph Smith’s spokesman in a revelation dated 12 October 1833; see Revelation, 12 October 1833 [D&C 100:9–11], in JSP, D3:324–25.

[37] Woodruff, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL.

[38] Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 7 August 1844, 172; and Woodruff, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL.

[39] Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, 7 August 1844, p. 296, CHL.

[40] Woodruff, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL; see also Clayton, Journal, 7 August 1844, CHL.

[41] Willard Richards, Journal, 4–5 August 1844, CHL; Brigham Young, Journal, 8 August 1844, p. XXX herein; and Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL. For more information on the days leading up to the 8 August 1844 meeting and succession, see Walker, “Six Days in August,” 161–96.

[42] 27 June 1844.

[43] Sidney Rigdon had moved to Pittsburgh at Joseph Smith’s request earlier in the year shortly after the council asked him to serve as Smith’s running mate in his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. By moving to Pennsylvania—Rigdon’s home state—and establishing his residency there, Rigdon made it possible for members of the electoral college to vote for him and Smith. Otherwise, as the US Constitution prohibits electors from voting for both a president and vice president from the same state as the elector himself, electors from Illinois would be able to vote for one or the other, but not both. (Joseph Smith, Journal, 6 May 1844, in JSP,J3:244; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 6 May 1844, in JSP, A1:157–58; and US Constitution, article 2, section 1; amendment XII.)

[44] Illinois law authorized religious organizations to elect up to ten trustees in whose names the organization’s property would be held and managed. On 30 January 1841, a special conference of the church elected Joseph Smith as the sole trustee-in-trust for the church, with authority “to receive acquire manage or convey property real personal or mixed for the sole use and benefit of said church” while he was alive. By 4 July 1844, Emma had expressed support for the proposition that Nauvoo stake president William Marks be chosen as the new president and trustee of the church. Other influential men in Nauvoo, however, including William W. Phelps and apostles Willard Richards and Parley P. Pratt—who arrived in Nauvoo from a mission in the East on 10 July 1844—recommended waiting to appoint a trustee or trustees until other members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles arrived from the East. Emma opposed the delay, feeling that the “situation of business” required a trustee to be appointed immediately. Phelps, Richards, and Pratt ultimately decided to suggest appointing four trustees after a majority of the Twelve returned to Nauvoo. Initially unhappy with the decision, according to Clayton, Emma later seemed “better satisfied” after learning that Clayton and Alpheus Cutler would be two of the four they planned to nominate. (An Act Concerning Religious Societies, 6 February 1835, Laws of the State of Illinois, 1834–1835, 148–49, sec. 3; Appointment as Trustee, 2 February 1841, in JSP, D8:4–6; Clayton, Journal, 4, 7, 8, 12–15 July 1844; and Willard Richards, Journal, 10, 14 July 1844, CHL. For an overview of Joseph Smith’s financial situation at the time of his death, see Oaks and Bentley, “Joseph Smith and Legal Process,” 1–31.

[45] On 6 July 1844, less than ten days after the murders and a month before Young and his associates arrived, Clayton reported that “there are already 4 or 5 men pointed out as succesors to the Trustee & President & there is danger of feelings beings manifest. All the brethren who stand at the head seem to feel the delicacy of the business.” (Clayton, Journal, 6 July 1844, CHL.)

[46] See Revelation, 2 January 1831 [D&C 38:27], in JSP, D1:230–33.

[47] The “prayer meeting” that Marks had scheduled for 8 August began at 10:00 a.m. According to shorthand notes made by Thomas Bullock, Rigdon told the assembled Saints that the authority Joseph Smith had restored to the earth was still with the church and that it would remain on the earth until God had accomplished his purposes. Referring to the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 13 August, Rigdon presented the idea that he should be allowed to act in his “calling” as a “spokesman” for Joseph Smith. “I do not seek any action upon it,” he told the people, “but I offer it for my own satisfaction.” (Jensen and Carruth, “Sidney Rigdon’s Plea to the Saints,”133–37.)

[48] Brigham Young, who missed the first part of the morning prayer meeting, spoke after Sidney Rigdon was finished. According to Bullock’s shorthand notes, Young felt there was a “spirit of being in a hurry to transact business here” and to determine “who shall be greatest in our midst.” In order that such impulses be “foiled,” Young proposed that the 13 August meeting be canceled and a meeting set for “this afternoon” at 2:00 p.m. to determine who should lead the church. “It is not the feelings of my brethren,” he told the assembled church members, nor his own “private feelings,” but it was necessary “for the general good of all.” Wilford Woodruff attributed Young’s call for an afternoon meeting on 8 August in lieu of the 13 August meeting to “some excitement among the People and a disposition by some spirits to try to divide the Church.” (Jensen and Carruth, “Sidney Rigdon’s Plea to the Saints,” 138–39; and Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL.)

[49] Thomas Bullock’s notes of the meeting indicate that while it began at 2:00 p.m., as Brigham Young had proposed, the meeting was not “called to order” until “¼ to 3.” Woodruff reported that it started at 3:00 p.m. The delay appears to have been the result of taking time to seat the various quorums of the priesthood “on and around the stand according to order.” (Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 8 August 1844, CHL; and Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL.)

[50] Brigham Young’s main point was that Joseph Smith had committed the keys of the kingdom to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and that they alone had the authority to lead the church after his death. Three days later Young described his remarks this way to his daughter Vilate: “The power of the Preasthood was explained and the order there off, on which the hol Church lifted up there vooises and hands for the twelve to move forward and organize the Church and lead it as Joseph lead it. which is our indespencable duty to due.” (General Church Minutes, 8 August 1844, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL; “Special Meeting,” Times and Seasons, 2 September 1844, 5:637–38; and Brigham Young to Vilate Young, 11 August 1844, CHL.)

[51] According to the report of the meeting published in the Times and Seasons, Brigham Young spoke for “nearly an hour.” He was followed by Amasa Lyman, William W. Phelps, and Parley P. Pratt, each of whom sanctioned his remarks. (“Special Meeting,” 5:638; General Church Minutes, 8 August 1844, CHL; and Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL.)

[52] According to Woodruff, Rigdon asked Phelps “to speak in his behalf as he could not speak.” (Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL.)

[53] Following Parley P. Pratt’s brief speech, Brigham Young spoke again and conducted the voting. (“Special Meeting,” 5:638; General Church Minutes, 8 August 1844, CHL; and Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL.)

[54] At this point, according to Thomas Bullock’s minutes of the meeting, Young was intending the voting to be done “as Quorums,” with the question being, “Do you want brother Rigdon to stand forward as your leader, your guide, your spokesman[?]” (General Church Minutes, 8 August 1844, CHL.)

[55] According to Bullock’s minutes of the meeting, Rigdon wanted Young to “bring up the other questions first—and that is, does not this Church want, and is their only desire to sustain the twelve as the first presidency of this people?” Following the unanimous affirmative response, with no votes to the contrary, Bullock reported Young saying that “this supersedes the other question—and trying by Quorums.” Subsequent votes, all reportedly unanimous in the affirmative, were then taken on the matters of paying tithes until the Nauvoo temple was completed, supporting the Twelve in missionary work, and giving the Twelve charge of the church’s financial affairs. Additional votes on “leav[ing] it to the twelve” to call a new church patriarch, sustaining Rigdon and Amasa Lyman as counselors to the Twelve, and allowing the Twelve to oversee “other matters” of the church, including the temple committee, were also unanimous in the affirmative. “There was a very good feeling prevailed,” Clayton reported, “except amongst a few who were disappointed.” (General Church Minutes, 8 August 1844, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL. See also Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL; and “Special Meeting,” 5:638.)

[56] The Twelve, the Nauvoo stake presidency and high council, Sidney Rigdon, Amasa Lyman (both were serving as counselors in the First Presidency at the time of Joseph Smith’s death), and “others”—probably some members of the high priests quorum—sat on the stand during this meeting. Other members of the high priests quorum sat next to the stand “on [the] right hand,” and the Quorum of Seventy sat in front of the stand. The bishops, along with the priests, teachers, and deacons quorums sat behind the Seventy, while the quorum of elders and “the sisters” sat to the right (west) and left (east) of the Seventy, respectively. (Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL; and General Church Minutes, 8 August 1844, CHL.)

[57] Though Young may have intended “anointed” here, both Woodruff and Clayton wrote “appointed” in their journals. (Woodruff, Journal, 9 August 1844, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 9 August 1844, CHL.)

[58] Heber C. Kimball, Amasa Lyman, George A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, Parley P. Pratt, Willard Richards, and “11 others” joined Brigham Young in this council, which was held at Young’s house at 1:00 p.m. In addition to appointing the new trustees, members of the council discussed the church’s financial situation, the need to better organize the various quorums of the priesthood, and the temple and Nauvoo House committees. The council adjourned to 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 12 August, at Young’s house. (Willard Richards, Journal, 9 August 1844, CHL.)

[59] Brigham Young was evidently referring to the Nauvoo City Council meetings that he attended this day in his capacity as a city councilor. The council discussed several issues, including paying off the owners of the Nauvoo Expositor press that had been destroyed by the city council’s order in June 1844, paying the Nauvoo police force, paying the attorneys who had represented Joseph Smith at Carthage, and paying members of the city council for their services. The council also discussed various petitions, appointed Daniel Spencer to serve as the city mayor in place of Smith, and passed a bill prohibiting brothels in the city. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 10 August 1844, 41–45, CHL; and “An Ordinance Concerning Brothels and Disorderly Characters,” Nauvoo City Council Proceedings, Ordinances and Resolutions, 10 August 1844, Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, CHL.)

[60] In February 1844, Lyman Wight and George Miller wrote two letters to church leaders in Nauvoo proposing that they and others who were harvesting lumber on the Black River in Wisconsin Territory move to Texas where they could proselytize among Indigenous peoples and others living in various southern areas. Following their return to Nauvoo on 1 May 1844, Miller and Wight explained their idea in person to the council, after which Brigham Young “moved that the brethren in the pine country be committed to the council” of Wight, Miller, and Lucien Woodworth, who had been negotiating with Texas president Samuel Houston for a tract of land near the Rio Grande on which the Mormons could settle. Young’s motion “carried unanimously.” As Wight recalled the meeting, Joseph Smith and the council voted to have him take the Black River group and others and find a place “some where between the head of Red River, the Little Colorado river and the Cordilleras Mountains” in Mexico where they could settle. Wight also claimed that shortly after the council vote, he and Joseph Smith “retired to a private chamber in presence of Heber C. Kimball” where Smith “instructed [him] faithfully” concerning the mission. No record from Heber C. Kimball regarding the alleged meeting afterward has been located. (Lyman Wight et al., Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, Nauvoo, IL, 15 February 1844, typescript, Joseph Smith Collection, CHL; Lyman Wight et al., Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, to Joseph Smith, 15 February 1844, Nauvoo, IL, typescript, Joseph Smith Collection, CHL; Council of Fifty, Minutes, 3 and 6 May 1844, in JSP, A1:142, 155–58; and Wight, Abridged Account and Journal of My Life, 3–6.)

[61] James Emmett was one of eight men the Quorum of the Twelve selected on 21 February 1844 to seek out a place in California or Oregon Country where church members could move and settle. Others were added to the group over the ensuing weeks. This expedition, however, never materialized among the many other concerns facing the church in early 1844. Emmett, however, continued to believe in the plan, or something similar to it, and began preparing church members in the Bear Creek area to follow him west against Brigham Young’s counsel. (Joseph Smith, Journal, 20 and 21 February 1844, in JSP, J3:180–81 and notes 798, 1106; Joseph Smith, Journal, 6 May 1844, in JSP, J3:244 and note 1106; Woodruff, Journal, 21 February 1844, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 12 August 1844, CHL; Council of Fifty Minutes, 27 February 1845, in JSP, A1:245–47; and Bennett, “Mormon Renegade,” 219–20.)

[62] Brigham Young, Journal, 8 August 1844, p. XXX herein; and Woodruff, Journal, 8 August 1844, CHL. For more information on events leading up to the 8 August 1844 meeting and succession, see Walker, “Six Days in August,” 161–96; and “October Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 October 1844, 5:691–92.

[63] Brigham Young, Journal, 9–11 August 1844, p. XXX herein.

[64] Clayton, Journal, 11 August 1844, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 79; Woodruff, Journal, 11 and 12 August 1844, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 11 and 12 August 1844, CHL; and Brigham Young, Journal, 11 August 1844, p. XXX herein. Efforts to procure a settlement outside of Nauvoo had been ongoing since late February 1844; see Joseph Smith, Journal, 20 February 1844, in JSP, J3:180; Council of Fifty, Minutes, 11 March 1844, in JSP, A1:40; and Editorial Note, p. XXX herein.

[65] Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 80; Willard Richards, Journal, 14 August 1844, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 14 August 1844, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 14 August 1844, CHL.

[66] Woodruff, Journal, 15 and 17 August 1844, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 15–16 August 1844, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 80.

[67] All thirty temple capitals were in place by 6 December 1844, by which time workers were also completing the building’s interior. See “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 1 October 1844, 5:668; Clayton, Journal, 23 September and 6 December 1844; “A Voice from the Temple,” Times and Seasons, 1 December 1844, 5:729; and “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:779.

[68] Brigham Young told the congregation that with the exception of Lyman Wight’s company, nobody had the consent of the Twelve to leave Nauvoo. Rather than leaving the city, church members should stay and help build the temple so they could receive additional priesthood ordinances. He also warned the Saints against unrighteous lawyers, doctors, and others. While the understanding at this point seems to have been that Wight would settle in Texas, less than a week later a council composed of the Twelve, the temple committee, and the Nauvoo House committee discussed the matter and concluded that it would be “best for Br Wight to go north with his company and not south.” (Woodruff, Journal, 18 and 24 August 1844, CHL; and Richards, Journal, 18 August 1844, CHL.)

[69] The council, which included Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt, George A. Smith, Amasa Lyman, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards, met at Young’s house at 10:00 a.m. (Woodruff, Journal, 19 August 1844, CHL; and Richards, Journal, 19 August 1844, CHL.)

[70] Bennet’s letter was addressed to Willard Richards. Bennet and Richards met in summer 1842 and continued a correspondence over the next two years. Richards received Bennet’s letter on 18 August. In it Bennet recounted two dreams he had had—the first the night of 30 June 1844, in which Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Richards, and an angel holding a crown visited him, and the second the night of 14 July, when Brigham Young joined the other four in visiting him. Though dreams, Bennet told Richards, “I can assure you they have troubled me much, and have almost induced me to go to Nauvoo.” The council voted to invite Bennet to Nauvoo, and Richards wrote him on 20 August to ask him to come, suggesting that he might be able to assist church leadership with legal questions surrounding the “immense amount of business” they faced following Smith’s death. (Letter from Willard Richards, 9 August 1842, in JSP, D10:370; Richards, Journal, 18 and 19 August 1844, CHL; James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 20 July 1844, Richards, Journal, CHL; and Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, 20 August 1844, Richards, Journal, CHL.)

[71] Clark had returned from a mission to England in April 1844. In addition to soliciting funds for building the Nauvoo temple and Nauvoo House, he had helped arrange transportation for thirteen companies of converts emigrating to the United States. (Joseph Smith, Journal, 27 April 1844 and note 1071, in JSP, J3:238.)

[72] Likely refers to the temporary speaking platform located near the temple. According to Heber C. Kimball, the meeting began at 10:30 a.m. Woodruff reported that Young “made many interesting remarks.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 82; and Woodruff Diary, 25 August 1844, CHL.)

[73] In his “farewell address” to the church before leaving for England, Wilford Woodruff exhorted the Saints to be unified, support the church leaders, build the temple, and remain faithful. (Woodruff, Journal, 25 August 1844, CHL.)

[74] While church members had been performing baptisms for the dead since September 1840, Brigham Young had told some after Joseph Smith’s death that he though it “not best to attend to it at that time.” (Woodruff, Journal, 18 August 1844, CHL.)

[75] According to Wilford Woodruff, Orson Hyde and Parley P. Pratt testified that Joseph Smith “had ordained, anointed, and appointed the Twelve to lead the Church [and] had given them the Keys of the Kingdom of God for that purpose.” Reynolds Cahoon and William W. Phelps spoke along the same lines, saying that Joseph Smith had told the Twelve that the kingdom of God must rest on their shoulders. According to Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor also spoke at this meeting and “bore testimony against those that murded Josph Smith and Hiram.” (Woodruff, Journal, 25 August 1844, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 83.)

[76] This may have been the court martial held in the Masonic Hall at 5:00 p.m. that Heber C. Kimball attended. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 83.)

[77] At this meeting, which was held at 10:00 a.m. in the Masonic Hall, Brigham Young and Charles C. Rich were nominated to serve as Lieutenant General and Major General of the Nauvoo Legion, respectively. A vote on the nominations was held four days later. Joseph Smith, who had served as the previous Lieutenant General, was killed on 27 June 1844, while Wilson Law, who had served as the previous Major General, had been cashiered, possibly on 9 May 1844. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 83–84; Brigham Young, Journal, 31 August 1844, p. XXX herein; and Joseph Smith, Journal, 9 May 1844, in JSP, J3:247.)

[78] This “councel” may have been the meeting with the Legion officers, as Heber C. Kimball makes clear that it included at least some of the Twelve. Alternatively, Brigham Young may be referring to a later meeting he had that day at his home with the members of the Twelve. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 83.)

[79] The following list may be related to the Twelve’s intention to divide the “continent of America” into districts, each of which would be presided over by a high priest. (See Editorial Note, p. XXX herein << BY and other church leaders met on a number of occasions between 11 and 17 August. . . .>>.)

[80] The three men were leaving on missions: Woodruff and Clark to serve in England, where Woodruff would preside over church affairs in the British Isles, and Jones for Wales. (Woodruff, Journal, 12 August 1844, CHL; and Willard Richards, Journal, 12 and 19 August 1844, CHL.)

[81] Phoebe Carter Woodruff, Thankful Gill Clark, and Jane Melling Jones. Woodruff’s daughters Phoebe Amelia (b. 4 March 1842) and Susan Cornelia (b. 25 July 1843) also went with him, while his son Wilford (b. 22 March 1840) remained in Illinois with John and Jane Benbow. (Woodruff, Journal, 18 and 19 August 1844, CHL.)

[82] The council, called “in consequence of rumors & reports” about the “proceedings” of Sidney Rigdon and Nauvoo stake president William Marks, was held at 10:00 a.m. at Brigham Young’s home. The Twelve had asked both men to attend, but Rigdon was sick and did not appear. According to William Clayton, Young told Marks that “he had called them together that the thing might be talked over and if possible an union effected.” Young explained to Marks what he had heard—the precise nature of which is unknown—and Marks denied the allegations, saying that while “the course the Twelve had pursued was contrary to what he had expected . . . he did not intend to say anything.” (Clayton, Journal, 29 August 1844, CHL.)

[83] The fast meeting was held in the afternoon. Eight days earlier, Wilford Woodruff had noted that it was beginning “to be sickly in Nauvoo some” and that he was “almost daily called upon to visit the sick,” suggesting that those on whom Brigham Young “lade hands” were ill, probably with malaria. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 84; and Woodruff, Journal, 21 August 1844, CHL.)

[84] Probably John Aylor Mikesell.

[85] Mary Ann Angell Young.

[86] Eunice “Luna” Caroline Young.

[87] John P. Greene, Brigham Young’s brother-in-law, whom Young visited repeatedly until his death on 10 September. (Brigham Young, Journal, 2, 7, 9, and 10 September 1844, pp. XXX, XXX, XXX, and XXX.)

[88] Both Brigham Young and Charles C. Rich had been nominated for these positions in a meeting of the officers of the Nauvoo Legion four days earlier. Their elections immediately followed the court-martial’s passage of an ordinance calling for the elections to be held at 2:00 p.m. and affirming the legion’s plan to “use such arms as we can procure for ourselves, untill we can receive our proportion of the public arms according to the Charter of said Legion.” Both Young and Rich gave a speech after the election. (Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 31 August 1844, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 84.)

[89] Probably referring to trustees of one of the many common schools in Nauvoo. Trustees, generally two or three, were appointed by the teacher’s “employers,” many of whom appear to have had children attending the school. Duties of the trustees included visiting the school, “superintending” the schools, and certifying the attendance records on which the teacher’s pay was based. (Nauvoo School Schedules, CHL)

[90] The Bible speaks of two battles that might be considered the battle of Gog and Magog. The first is a battle in the latter days in which Israel defeats her enemies, while the second is a battle at the end of the Millennium in which the righteous defeat the wicked. (See Ezekiel 38; 39; Revelation 20:7–10.)

[91] While no contemporary account of Rigdon’s speech has been located, accounts of church leaders’ references to it at Sidney Rigdon’s trial the following Sunday, 8 September, provide further details about its contents. In the earliest account of the 8 September meeting, Parley P. Pratt reported that Rigdon “told us he had told all of his revelation which he had received at Pittsburgh” and that Rigdon had “had nothing but blessings in his heart for us.” Additional details are found in a later manuscript account that was published in the 15 September 1844 issue of Times and Seasons. “I heard him pour blessings upon this people in an unbounded degree,” Brigham Young reportedly said. “I heard him encourage the building up of this City and the Temple He said he was one with us, and left his blessing upon the congregation.” According to the later account of Parley P. Pratt’s and Amasa Lyman’s speeches, Rigdon also spoke about “terrible battles to be fought somewhere by the brook Kedron,” which would continue “till the blood of the slain flow as high as the horse’s bridles.” Pratt also reported that Rigdon talked about Queen Victoria; that he told the Saints that their “persecutions were about over and cried peace, peace;” and that “he did, by hard straining, get it out that we might go on and build the Temple and build up the City.”

Almost eight months later, on 27 April 1845, in an address he gave to the Nauvoo High Priests Quorum, Orson Hyde discussed Rigdon’s speech further. According to Hyde, Rigdon began by telling the Saints that God would avenge their wrongs only after they stopped thinking of doing it themselves. He then told them that he was going to collect a “mighty army” with which he would “fight the battles of the Lord” and with which he would also cross the Atlantic, overpower the British army, and “demand a portion of her [Queen Victoria’s] riches and dominions.” He closed by saying he had no desire to divide the church or “interfere at all with the affairs in Nauvoo,” and that the Saints were “doing right to build the Temple.” As he left the stand, Hyde recalled, Rigdon “poured out his blessings upon us as a people, and left his peace with us.” (General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [two versions], CHL; and Hyde, Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 15–16. See also “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 September 1844, 5:648, 652, 654.)

[92] Twenty-four-year-old Little, a nephew of Brigham Young, had been living in St. Louis with his mother, Susan Young Little Stilson. (Little, Biographical Sketch of Feramorz Little, 12, 17.)

[93] Heber C. Kimball also noted on this day that Willard Richards was “verry sick.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 84.)

[94] Frederick G. Williams, a member of the church’s presidency in Kirtland, died on 10 October 1842 in Quincy, Illinois.

[95] General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [two versions], CHL; “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:648–50; and Hyde, Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 17.

[96] “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:649, 652–53; Hyde, Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 17; and General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [two versions], CHL. See also George A. Smith, Journal, 3 September 1844, CHL.

[97] General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [first version], CHL; George A. Smith, Journal, 3 September 1844, CHL; Clayton, Journal, 4 September 1844, CHL; and “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:649, 653.

[98] Doctrine and Covenants 42:11.

[99] Hyde, Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 17–18; and General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [both versions], CHL. See also “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 September 1844, 5:650, 653; George A. Smith, Journal, 3 September 1844, CHL; and “Notice,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 4 September 1844.

[100] According to the earliest account of the 8 September trial of Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young visited Sidney Rigdon because he had heard that that Rigdon and others “were ordaining some to be prophets Seers & Revelators & some to Kings and Priests,” and Young wanted to “see if it was really the case that such conduct was going on.” Orson Hyde accompanied Young on the visit. “After much ado,” Young reportedly said, Rigdon admitted to holding the meeting the previous evening. According to the same account, Hyde reported Rigdon saying that “he claimed no Jurisdiction over the twelve” and that he felt there would be “many churches built up, for there will be one here & another theire.” According to the published Times and Seasons account, Brigham Young reported Rigdon admitting to both the meeting and the ordinations and then claiming that he held “keys and authority above any man, or set of men in this church, even the Twelve.” According to the prepublication manuscript version of the Times and Seasons account, Hyde reported Rigdon saying that the “good many churches” that would be “built up all over the world” would not be “subject to one common head.” “We labored much with him during the afternoon and evening,” Hyde reported almost eight months later, after which, according to the published Times and Seasons account, the three men agreed to meet later in the evening with the Twelve to continue the discussion. (General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [two versions], CHL; “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:648–49; and Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 17. See also “Trial of Elder Rigdon, 5:650.)

[101] According to the manuscript account that was eventually published in the Times and Seasons, Pratt said that Rigdon continued to defend the ordinations he had made, claiming that “he had authority and Keys over any one else.” “We could frequently silence and confound him in his conversation,” Orson Hyde recalled the following April, “but we could not make him acknowledge his error.” (“Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:649; Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 17; and General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [two versions], CHL. See also “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:652–53, and George A. Smith, Journal, 3 September 1844, CHL.)

[102] According to minutes, George A. Smith’s and William Clayton’s journals, and the Times and Seasons account, after talking with Sidney Rigdon “till near twelve o clock,” Brigham Young and the others left to discuss the matter among themselves at Willard Richards’s home, where they decided to disfellowship Rigdon. Young and the others also “deemed it necessary to demand his license, and say to him he could not hold it any longer, unless he retracted from his present course and repent of his wickedness.” According to the prepublication account of Parley P. Pratt’s speech on 8 September, Pratt told church members that “it was for this ordaining men to unheard of offices, in an illegal manner—and the proceedings of their secret meetings that the fellowship of the Twelve was withdrawn from Er Rigdon.” (General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [first version], CHL; George A. Smith, Journal, 3 September 1844, CHL; Clayton, Journal, 4 September 1844, CHL; and “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:649. See also “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:653.)

[103] According to both Orson Hyde’s 1845 account and the earliest account of Sidney Rigdon’s trial, the Twelve sent Orson Hyde, Amasa Lyman, and Parley P. Pratt as a committee to demand Rigdon’s license, which he refused to give to them. Rigdon threatened that he would “write the history of this people since they came to Nauvoo of all th[e]ir iniquity and midnight abominations” and “publish it in the public prints.” (Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 17–18; and General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [both versions], CHL. See also “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” 5:650, 653; George A. Smith, Journal, 3 September 1844, CHL; and “Notice,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 4 September 1844, [3].)

[104] Brigham Young probably used this and other donation records he made in his journal as a reminder to enter a more official report in the Book of the Law of the Lord—a large leather-bound volume used by William Clayton, the temple recorder, to record tithing and other donations. Clayton recorded such donations “under the respective dates when the same is deposited in the hands of the Trustee in Trust” or when he received a receipt for a donation given to an authorized agent of the church. (JSP, J2:5–9; and “To the Friends of the Temple,” Times and Seasons, 15 October 1844, 5:675–76.)

[105] According to William Clayton, the Twelve “and a few others” met at Brigham Young’s home in the evening and prayed for their own and the church’s preservation, “and that the Lord might bind up the dissenters that they may not have power to injure the honest in heart.” (Clayton, Journal, 4 September 1844, CHL; see also George A. Smith, Journal, 4 September 1844, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 84.)

[106] The prayer meeting was public and held “at the stand.” Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith all spoke, according to Smith and Kimball, “on the Faction of Sydney Rigton” and his “wickedness.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 5 September 1844, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 85.)

[107] Heber C. Kimball wrote that he and Brigham Young visited the sick “at Levi Richards.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 85.)

[108] TEXT: There are distinct spaces on the manuscript page in Brigham Young’s writing of the letters of Partridge’s last name. Those spaces are represented similarly in the rendering here.

[109] Amasa Lyman and Carolyn Partridge were sealed in a plural marriage.

[110] TEXT: the following is written in graphite.

[111] Whitney visited Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball at Kimball’s home, where Young and Kimball went after blessing the sick. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 85.)

[112] TEXT: A misspelling of “bogus business,” likely referring to counterfeiting.

[113] Probably George W. Crouse. (“Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 September 1844, 5:655.)

[114] Edward Hunter.

[115] Probably James Twist.

[116] Probably William Richards.

[117] See 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4.

[118] William Clayton recorded in his journal a 3 September meeting in which the Quorum of the Twelve attempted to reconcile with Sidney Rigdon, who had said he would “not be controlled by them.” Rigdon made strong statements against the leadership of the Twelve. As their differences appeared irreconcilable, the Twelve asked Rigdon for his elder’s license. With belligerence Rigdon refused. He declared that he would “expose all the works of the secret chambers and all the iniquities of the church.” The Twelve then withdrew fellowship from Rigdon and others, including James Emmett and Leonard Soby, who followed Rigdon. (Clayton, Journal, 4 September 1844, CHL.)

[119] TEXT: writing in ink recommences.

[120] Greene died on 10 September 1844, three days later. He married Rhoda Young on 11 February 1813; she died on 18 January 1841. He married Mary Eliza Nelson on 6 December 1841. (“Obituary,” Times and Seasons, 15 February 1841, 2:325.)

[121] TEXT: the following line of text was written sideways along the page’s edge.

[122] Probably John McEwan.

[123] See the 31 August 1844 entry for Young’s election, a week earlier, to head the Nauvoo Legion. The Lieutenant General’s staff consisted of an inspector general, a chief chaplain, four aids-de-camp, a guard of twelve aids-de-camp, a drill officer (who also served as the chief officer of the guard), and up to two secretaries. (“Revised Laws of the Nauvoo Legion,” 8 July 1843, Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 40, CHL.)

[124] All of the following twelve men were identified as aids-de-camp to Joseph Smith on 15 September 1843. (“Roll of the Lieutenant General’s Staff,” n.d., Rockwood, Papers, folder 1, CHL; and “Roll of the Liet Gen Staff,” Rockwood, Papers, folder 1, CHL.)

[125] George A. Smith, Journal, 8 September 1844, CHL.

[126] Hyde, Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 21.

[127] General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [both versions], CHL; and Editorial Note, p. XXX herein; see also “Trial of Elder Rigdon” and “Continuation of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 15 September and 1 October 1844, 5:647–55, 660–66.

[128] General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [second set only], CHL; “Continuation of Elder Rigdon’s Trial” and “Conclusion of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 1 and 15 October 1844, 5:666–67, 685–86.

[129] According to George A. Smith, who was present, Rigdon was excommunicated “with much Reluctance . . . for ordaining unheard of offices & holding secret meetings and in them attempting to Lead away the saints to the Allegeny Mtns and threatning to Pubblish an Exposure of the Church and Declaring it had Not Been Led by the Lord for A Long time.” Recalling the trial the following year, Orson Hyde said that the “sum and substance of the offences” for which Rigdon was excommunicated were his “trying to palm upon us a false revelation, which was that God had shown him that a guardian must be appointed to build the kingdom up to Joseph Smith;” professing “to have many visions and revelations concerning Joseph and the church, that he never had;” trying “to divide the church of God;” “ordaining prophets, priests, and kings, contrary to any known usage in the church;” and attempting to “organize a great army to fight the Gentiles.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 8 September 1844, CHL; Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 21.)

[130] TEXT: There is a large, distinct blank space between the names James and Newton. The reason for this blank space is not known.

[131] Samuel James was disfellowshipped from the church, while Newton, Morey, and Forges were “cut off,” or excommunicated. (General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [second set], CHL; Clayton, Journal, 8 September 1844, CHL; and “Conclusion of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” 5:687.)

[132] In addition to the men Brigham Young named in his journal, Jared Carter was disfellowshipped and Samuel Bennett and Leonard Soby were excommunicated. Also, according to the published account of the meeting, after calling for a church vote on Rigdon’s case, Young called for those who supported Rigdon to “manifest it” and “about ten” did so. According to the earliest account of the trial, Phelps then motioned that those supporters “be withdrawn from fellowship until they be tried before the high counse[l].” No vote is recorded in the earliest minutes on that motion, but in the published minutes, which quote Phelps as motioning that Rigdon’s supporters be “suspended” until a trial before the high council, the vote was recorded as “unanimous in the affirmative.” William Clayton described the meeting this way in his journal: “At the meeting all day and acted as clerk. Er Rigdon Samuel Bennett, Leonard Soby, George Morey, Joseph H. Newton and John A. Forgens were cut off from the church & Samuel James and Jared Carter disfellowshiped. There was a good feeling among the people and a bad feeling among the Rigdonites.” (General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [second set only], CHL; “Conclusion of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” 5:686–87; and Clayton, Journal, 8 September 1844, CHL.)

[133] George A. Smith recorded that the meeting lasted five hours, while Heber C. Kimball said it went for “6 or 7 hours.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 8 September 1844, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 85.)

[134] According to the earliest account of the meeting, Brigham Young told the assembled church members that Rigdon and at least some of his supporters “had a council this morning already” and that Rigdon was unwell and could not attend this meeting. In the prepublication manuscript Young is quoted as also saying that Rigdon and “his party . . . have concluded not to say anything in their own defence, thinking that would be best for them.” Orson Hyde later reported that at the early morning council of Rigdon and his friends, Rigdon had urged his supporters to “arm themselves with deadly weapons” and “take possession of the public Stand and prevent the church from bringing him to trial.” The plan failed when Rigdon’s “principal counsellor,” William Marks, opposed it, after which it was decided “that Mr. Rigdon should make no defence; but treat the matter as being far beneath his notice.” Hyde claimed to have received this information from Marks himself. (General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [both versions], CHL; “One of Rigdon’s Mysteries,” Times and Seasons, 15 December 1844, 5:742; and Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, 18–19. See also “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 September 1844, 5:648.)

[135] The Twelve held a council with James Emmett at Heber C. Kimball’s home in the morning, after which Kimball reported that he and Brigham Young went to “John Pack^[’^]s,” the temple, Almon Babbitt’s office, and “Br. Woolies” [probably Edwin D. Woolley]. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 85.)

[136] TEXT: Writing in graphite commences.

[137] TEXT: Writing in ink recommences.

[138] Brigham Young, Journal, pages containing journal entries 10 and 18 September; 3, 8, 10, and 31 October; 7 November 1844; 15 January 1845, pp. XXX, XXX, XXX, XXX, and XXX herein.

[139] John P. Greene had been sick since at least 31 August 1844; Brigham Young had visited him several times since then. According to George A. Smith, Greene died of “Inflamation in the Bowels,” while the Nauvoo Neighbor reported that he died of “quick consumption.” (Brigham Young, Journal, 31 August 1844 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein; George A. Smith, Journal, 10 September 1844, CHL; and “Deaths for the week ending Monday, Sept. 16th 1844,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 18 September 1844, [3].)

[140] Miner (Minor) R. Deming, who had served as Brigadier General of the Illinois state militia and had recently been elected sheriff of Hancock County. Deming arrived in Nauvoo on the steamship Osprey; he met in council with Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others at Young’s home. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 85–86.)

[141] The council was held at least in part to discuss the continuing threats of a mob against the Saints, with Deming opining that he did not think the anti-Mormons could “Raise A Mob Large Enough to do any Mischief.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 85–86; and George A. Smith, Journal, 10 September 1844, CHL.)

[142] Over the next several months, Brigham Young entered into multiple additional plural marriages. He marked several of his journal pages at the top with either an “ME” or “MT” designation, perhaps indicating that on the pages below there was a “marriage for eternity” or a “marriage for time.” Nowhere in the text itself are these marriages mentioned; rather, Young recorded visiting or meeting with the women involved. As Young’s wives are well known, many researchers have surmised that the plural marriage occurred on the date listed in Young’s journal if it had such a designation on the page.

[143] Clarissa Ross Chase Young was Phebe’s daughter from her first husband, William Ross. Though it is not clear from this text, many researchers believe that this was the day Brigham Young and Clarissa were sealed. (Crockwell, Pictures and biographies of Brigham Young and his wives, 21.)

[144] In his brief account of the visit to the Chases, Heber C. Kimball recorded that “they ware sealled”—probably indicating that he or Brigham Young “sealed” Isaac and Phebe as husband and wife for eternity. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 86.)

[145] Heber C. Kimball’s journal suggests that Brigham Young and Kimball visited Gheen before they visited the Chases. (See JSP, J2:74, 172; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 86.)

[146] Greene died a day earlier, 10 September 1844. Both the Nauvoo City Council and the Nauvoo police attended the funeral, probably because Greene was the Nauvoo city marshal. (Brigham Young, Journal, 10 September 1844, p. XXX herein; and George A. Smith, Journal, 11 September 1844, CHL.)

[147] Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and “six others” also held a council at Snow’s home. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 86.)

[148] Otis Hobart had been among the Saints who requested permission from Joseph Smith to settle in Texas after their work in the Wisconsin pineries was concluded. Hobart had served as the scribe of the letter that made that request to Smith in February 1844. (Letter from Lyman Wight and Others to Joseph Smith, 15 February 1844, Joseph Smith Collection, CHL.)

[149] Early in 1844 Lyman Wight had proposed settling a group of church members in Texas where they could proselytize among the Native Americans and others in various southern locations. Joseph Smith and the Council of Fifty had voted in support of Wight’s proposition. After Smith’s death, when Wight persisted in his plans to take the group to Texas, Brigham Young relented only on the condition that Wight not attempt to take others with him. In an 18 August 1844 sermon, Young addressed the false rumors that he had endorsed a plan allowing more people to join Wight’s emigration: “Their is no man [with] any right to lead away one soul out of this city by the consent of the Twelve, except Lyman Wight and Geo Miller had the privilege of taking the Pine Company whare they pleased. But not any other soul has the consent of the Twelve to go with them. Their is no man [with] any liberty to lead away people into the wilderness from this Church or to lead them any whare els not by the consent of the Twelve or the Church except the case above named. And I tel you in the name of Jesus Christ, that if Lyman Wight & Geo Miller take a course contrary to our Council, and will not act in consert with us but take a course against us they will be damned and go to destruction. And if men will not stop striving to be great and exhalted and lead away parties from us and strive to weaken our hands they will fall and not rise again, and I will destroy their influence in this church with the help of God and my brethren. I wish you to distinctly to understand that the Council of the Twelve is for evry family that does not belong to the Pine Company to stay here in Nauvoo, and build up the Temple & get your endowment. Dont scatter. United we stand divided we fall.” By 8 September, when it became clear Wight and others had persisted attempting to recruit others for the Texas venture, Young began to openly oppose Wight’s plan, reportedly telling church members on that date that he wanted those who supported it “to shew themselves openly and boldly” and “to withdraw to day without fear.” (See notes XXX <<In February 1844, Lyman Wight . . . >>, XXX <BY and other church leaders met on a number of occasions . . . >>, XXX <<BY told the congregation that with the exception of . . . >> herein; Woodruff, Journal, 18 and 24 August 1844; General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [first set]; General Church Minutes, 8 September 1844 [second set]; and “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 September 1844, 5:647.)

[150] According to the “Revised laws of the Nauvoo Legion,” passed 8 July 1843, the officers of each of the legion’s two cohorts were to hold an officer drill the day before the cohort parade, which was to be held annually on the second Saturday in September. According to George A. Smith, Brigham Young “made A Speech to the officers.” (Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 3 February 1841, 2; 8 July 1843, 47; and George A. Smith, Journal, 13 September 1844, CHL.)

[151] Jonathan Dunham became Brigadier General, replacing Charles C. Rich, who was elected Major General of the Legion on 31 August 1844. (JSP, J3:476; and Brigham Young, Journal, 31 August 1844, p. XXX herein.)

[152] Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball.

[153] Mary Fielding Smith.

[154] Lyman, who was “very sick,” according to George A. Smith, had been ill since at least 12 September. Smith and Kimball were with Brigham Young when he visited Lyman, and the three had given him a blessing by the laying on of hands the previous day. (George A. Smith, Journal, 12–14 September 1844, CHL.)

[155] Wright replaced John P. Greene, who had died on 10 September 1844. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 14 September 1844, CHL.)

[156] The first cohort was cavalry, the second infantry. (Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 2, CHL.)

[157] Graham Coltrin’s land, lot 3 of block 80, was on the northeast corner of Durphy and Knight Streets, very close to the temple. Officers of the legion passed a resolution on 10 September calling for the construction of an arsenal, and they began looking for an appropriate site on 11 September. (Bond to Graham Coltrin, 18 September 1840, Whitney Papers, BYU, available at www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/bond-to-graham-coltrin-18-september-1840/1; Leonard, Nauvoo, 203; George A. Smith, Journal, 10 and 11 September 1844, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 86.)

[158] George A. Smith recorded that Brigham Young spent the evening with him talking with Jared Carter, who “promised to return to the Church.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 16 September 1844, CHL.)

[159] Probably a notation indicating a “marriage for time” plural marriage to Louisa Beaman Smith.

[160] TEXT: Graphite commences.

[161] This money had evidently been collected by Parley P. Pratt, who delivered it into the hands of an “Agent” on 16 September “for to go & go and Purchase Arms for the Ligion.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 16 September 1844, CHL.)

[162] Brigham Young and the Twelve had designated Whitney and Miller as the trustees for the church the previous month. (Brigham Young, Journal, 9 August 1844, p. XXX herein.)

[163] William Smith wrote two letters that Brigham Young could have read on 18 September, either one of which (or both) he may have been referring to here. In the first, written from Bordentown, New Jersey, and dated 27 August, Smith explained that his wife’s poor health had prevented him from meeting Young at Buffalo earlier—evidently referring to Young’s efforts to gather members of the Twelve from various points in the eastern United States and return to Nauvoo together after hearing of Joseph Smith’s death. He also explained his views on church leadership, saying that Brigham Young should lead the church through revelation from Smith, just as the ancient apostle Peter had led the early Christian church through revelation from Christ. Smith concluded his letter with his views on the office of church patriarch, denouncing speculation that Sidney Rigdon would be appointed to that office and strongly suggesting that he himself should be Hyrum Smith’s successor. The second letter, dated and postmarked at New York 9 September 1844, and signed by Smith, George J. Adams, and “A. Elbright,” accused Benjamin Winchester of speaking against the Twelve to church members in Philadelphia and New York and asked “that some immediate action may be had on his head.” On 26 September 1844 the Twelve and others excommunicated Winchester and his wife “for unchristian like conduct, in slandering the Church, and railing against, and speaking evil of the Twelve and others.” (William Smith, Bordentown, NJ, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 27 August 1844, and William Smith, George J. Adams, and A. Elbright, New York, NY, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 9 September 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and “Notice,” Times and Seasons 1 October 1844, 5: 670.)

[164] Probably George James Adams. In his letter from New Bedford, Massachusetts, dated only to “August,” George J. Adams reported to Young and Heber C. Kimball about the success he was having on his mission in the East and spoke against elders who spread rumors and slanders about church leaders and others. He also affirmed his willingness to serve a mission to Russia—where he had been called to go in 1843—if he could obtain the money to go. (George J. Adams, New Bedford, MA, to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, August 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

[165] Like William Smith, Hyde wrote two letters that Young could have read on 18 September. At the time, Hyde was on his way to Kirtland and had taken the same boat to St. Louis that Sidney Rigdon, who was on his way to Pittsburgh, had taken. In the first letter, dated 12 September at St. Louis, Hyde told Young that he did not think Rigdon would publish as much against the church as he said he would and that Rigdon had reportedly said there was no need to finish building the Nauvoo temple, as the Twelve did not have the authority to administer temple ordinances. In addition, according to Hyde, Rigdon also reportedly said he had organized the “school of the prophets” in Nauvoo to carry on the work there while he did the same in Pittsburgh, while Emma Smith had reportedly told Ridgon that she would “deliver up to him” Joseph Smith’s new translation of the Bible “and other important and sacred things.” Hyde also reported that news of Rigdon’s excommunication had preceded Hyde to St. Louis and that members in both Quincy and St. Louis were supportive of the Twelve. In his second letter, also from St. Louis and dated 16 September, Hyde reported that Rigdon had told him personally “that he had never come out against Joseph heretofore for Joseph’s own sake,” but that he was “in possession of facts and power to have hurled Joseph from his station long ago.” Hyde also reported on his own plans and activities, including that he had preached to several crowded congregations of church members in St. Louis and that the power of God had been manifest. (Orson Hyde, St. Louis, MO, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 12 September 1844, and Orson Hyde, St. Louis, MO, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 16 September 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

[166] Probably Louisa Beaman Smith, plural wife of Joseph Smith. The notation at the top of the page “MT” may be a marker that on that page of the journal there is a reference to a plural marriage that was for time only, Beaman Smith having already been sealed for eternity to Joseph Smith. (See footnote XXX.)

[167] Probably the “Silvester Smith” whom Heber C. Kimball reported seeing this day. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 86.)

[168] Brigham Young sealed Olive Evans to her deceased husband Roswell with their son Horace acting as proxy for his father.

[169] Possibly Ruhamah Burnham Knowlton Derby, wife of Erastus Derby. (JSP, J3:402.)

[170] Brigham Young’s discourse was on the priesthood. (Clayton, Journal, 22 September 1844, CHL.)

[171] Murray McConnell, Illinois governor Thomas Ford’s “agent,” came to Nauvoo to initiate “proceedings against some of the perpetrators” of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith’s murders at Carthage in June 1844. The discussion centered on arresting Levi Williams and Thomas C. Sharp for their alleged roles in the crime. To that end, John Taylor issued an affidavit before justice of the peace Aaron Johnson, charging Williams and Sharp with participating in the murders, and Johnson issued a writ for their arrest. McConnell also appears to have asked Brigham Young and the church to furnish men for a posse that would help arrest the two men. (“Civil Matters,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 2 October 1844, [2]; George A. Smith, Journal, 22 and 23 September 1844, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 87; and Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, 37–38.)

[172] This council actually convened around 1:00 a.m. on the morning of 24 September. It included “offic[e]rs of the Legion” and was to consider Murray McConnell’s request for a posse to help arrest Thomas Sharp and Levi Williams for their alleged role in the deaths of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith. According to George A. Smith, the council decided it lacked the authority to form such a posse. William Clayton, who believed the request was “evidently designed to draw us into collision with the mob,” noted that “the brethren feel to tarry at home & take care of their families.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 24 September 1844, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 87; and Clayton, Journal, 24 September 1844, CHL.)

[173] These arms may have been purchased for the Nauvoo Legion with money evidently collected by Parley P. Pratt for that purpose. Alternatively, they may have been sent to Nauvoo through less formal channels because of ongoing rumors that a mob was collecting to attack the city. (George A. Smith, Journal, 16 and 23 September 1844, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 13 and 20 September 1844, CHL.)

[174] Alpheus Cutler, a member of the Nauvoo temple building committee and skilled stone craftsman. (“Minutes of the General Conference,” Times and Seasons, October 1840, 1:186.)

[175] At this point in time, builders were placing the capitals on the temple walls; the first, weighing nearly two tons, was placed on 23 September. Cutler’s remark may have been a reference to the difficulties and dangers attending the placement of the capitals. While raising the first, for example, the crane lifting the stone collapsed, which resulted, according to William Clayton, in “very nigh letting the stone down.” A similar accident occurred on 25 September, when “as the brethren were attempting to raise one of the Capitals the Crane fell over and came very near killing a man.” (“An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 1 October 1844, 5:668; and Clayton, Journal, 23 and 25 September 1844.)

[176] This unclear, unfinished entry was written on 25 September, though dated to the twenty-third, apparently referred to the murderers of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The manuscript history of Brigham Young describes Sheriff Minor Deming attempting on this date to raise a posse to arrest Thomas Sharp and Levi Williams for their alleged roles in the murders of Hyrum and Joseph Smith. (Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 9 August 1844–30 June 1845, 23 September 1844, 34, CHL.)

[177] Brigham Young received an order on this date sent by General John Jay Hardin, commander of the Illinois state militia, explaining that Hardin intended to take command of the Nauvoo Legion and the troops were to assemble for inspection and review at 1:00 p.m. on the twenty-seventh, with the potential that they might be called out by the governor, but they were not called out yet. (W. B. Warren to Brigham Young, 26 September 1844, Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 9 August 1844–30 June 1845, 26 September 1844, 37, CHL.)

[178] Other records make it clear that Brigham Young inscribed this and the previous, crossed-out entry under the wrong dates. Illinois governor Thomas Ford and General John J. Hardin arrived in Nauvoo with their staffs and “fore or five hundred troops” on Friday, 27 September, the same day the drill for the legion’s officers was held. The legion parade was held on Saturday, 28 September. According to the “Revised laws of the Nauvoo Legion, the officer drill was to take place the day before the legion parade, which was scheduled to be held annually on the fourth Saturday in September. (“Affairs at Nauvoo,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 2 October 1844, [2]; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 88; George A. Smith, Journal, 27 and 28 September 1844, CHL; and Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 8 July 1843, 47, and 4 November 1843, 70, CHL.)

[179] Ford had called for 2,500 volunteers from the state militia to assemble on 25 September to prevent anti-Mormons in Hancock County from staging a “Grand Military Encampment” in Warsaw, the apparent goal of which was to harass the Latter-day Saints and perhaps drive them from the state. The encampment, which the anti-Mormons designated as a “wolf hunt,” was eventually called off. “As much as anything else,” Ford also wrote, “the expedition under General Hardin had been ordered with a view to arrest the murderers” of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith. According to William Clayton, the troops, who were “very civil and friendly,” arrived with three cannons “about 2” p.m. on 27 September “and halted on the first vacant lot on the flat.” During its parade the following day, the legion passed in review before Ford and the state troops, who reportedly “fired several salutes with muskets.” Clayton also noted that Brigham Young received his commission as Lieutenant General for the Nauvoo Legion from the governor during this visit. (Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, 35–37; Ford, History of Illinois, 364–67; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 88; George A. Smith, Journal, 28 September 1844, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 28 September 1844, CHL.)

[180] Likely a notation marking “married for eternity” to Eliza R. Snow or Elizabeth Fairchild, possibly both, mentioned on the page, both of whom were plural wives of Brigham Young.

[181] Elizabeth Fairchild.

[182] Young may have been checking on temple construction progress. By 1 October, seven capitals had been placed on the temple and workmen were ready to build the upper-story window arches. Timbers were also being “framed” and “reared” on the inside. By 2 December, all but one of the thirty capitals were in place, with the final one being installed four days later. (“An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 1 October 1844, 5:668; “A Voice from the Temple,” Times and Seasons, 1 December 1844, 5:729; and Clayton, Journal, 6 December 1844, CHL.)

[183] These donations recorded here by Brigham Young appear to be directed toward the building of the temple.

[184] Samuel Shepherd donated tithing to the temple committee on a previous occasion. (Book of the Law of the Lord, 18 December 1841, CHL.)

[185] TEXT: The name Wicks is written in brown ink while the rest of the entry is written in blue ink.

[186] The annual conference of the church was held from 6 to 8 October 1844. On 29 September, Brigham Young had asked church members in Nauvoo to “prepare themselves to be able to take in some of the Elders who may come from abroad to attend the conference.” (Brigham Young, Journal, 29 September 1844, p. XXX herein.)