(MORMONISM) | Correspondence Between the Warsaw Committee and Governor Ford in the Illinois State Register, Vol. V, No. 49. Springfield, Illinois: Walters & Webber, Friday, July 19, 1844

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

(MORMONISM)

Correspondence Between the Warsaw Committee and Governor Ford in the Illinois State Register, Vol. V, No. 49. Springfield, Illinois: Walters & Webber, Friday, July 19, 1844

Large folio, 4 pages (23 7/8 x 18 1/2 in.; 605 x 470 mm) on a bifolium of wove paper, text in seven columns; some foxing, some marginal chips, disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot.

A scathing letter from Governor Thomas Ford to the members of the Warsaw Committee following the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith

The Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith's power and practice of polygamy in 1844, and, in response, Smith and the Nauvoo city council ordered the destruction of their printing press. It was this act of destruction that sparked powerful anti-Mormon sentiments, and Thomas C. Sharp, the editor of the Warsaw Signal, and longtime critic of Smith, was mobilized to action. Smith⁠—who had not anticipated that destroying the press would ultimately wreck more havoc than the slanderous claims it printed⁠—deployed the Nauvoo Legion on 18 June, and declared martial law. Carthage responded in kind by rallying their detachment of the state militia, and Governor Thomas Ford threatened to raise a larger militia, unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered.

Smith had evaded arrest before, and those outside of Nauvoo thought he had found a way to game the system, so to speak, believing that the laws governing the frontier society were pliable enough that he would never be brought to justice. On three separate occasions, arrest warrants for Smith had been issued, but in each instance he found a way to elude conviction. However, fearing an invasion of Nauvoo, Smith, along with his brother Hyrum, voluntarily rode to Carthage on 23 June to stand trial for inciting a riot. Though once the two were in custody, the charges were increased to treason, preventing them from posting bail. Believing that Smith and his brother would once again find a way to secure their freedom, inhabitants in the nearby town of Warsaw formed what they called a Warsaw Committee of Safety. This was a reference to the committees authorized by the Continental Congress during the American Revolution, suggesting⁠—in their minds at least—that extralegal actions were necessary to preserve their rights. Ultimately, it was members of the Warsaw militia who were responsible for the Smith murders. The Warsaw Committee sought to justify their actions, but in the present issue of the Illinois State Register, Governor Ford writes in a letter to its members: "I have no reply whatever to make to that part of your letter which treats of the history, character, and offences of the Mormons. I deem this a fit occasions, however, to remark somewhat on the character of the events that have just transpired... When I came to your county I announced the policy by which I intended to be governed. The law was to be my guide; and this you well understood." Ford then goes on to outline the assurances he obtained from various parties that they would follow him in this strict adherence to the law. "I now knowledge that I erred and erred grievously, in relying with too much confidence upon men with whom I was but little acquainted. The idea that men could be treacherous under such circumstances was abhorrent to my nature, and rejected with indignation. Whatever your hatred of the Smiths might be, I was too confident you would respect your honor—the honor of your county and State, and the rights of defenceless prisoners." 

In 2004, Illinois unanimously passed House Resolution 627, which states: "we asks the pardon and forgiveness of the community of Latter-day Saints for the misguided efforts of our citizens, Chief Executive and the General Assembly in the expulsion of their Mormon ancestors from the gleaming city of Nauvoo and the State of Illinois."