It's My Town!

For years there had been rumors that Joseph Smith espoused polygamy in the church, and by the early 1840s everyone in the Nauvoo community believed that Smith and his inner circle had cast off monogamy on the basis of a "revelation from God".  Within his own community controversy raged over the sanction of polygamy and division was in the air.  Outside the community, tongues wagged with disapproval, and many with questionable morals of their own, expressed outrage at the desecration of the American family.

In 1844, despite (or to spite) the opinions of those around him, Smith announced his candidacy for the office of President of the United States.  (Can you imagine the media circus today?  Sure we can!)  In June a small group of dissenters published the Nauvoo Expositor which challenged the doctrine of polygamy, charged Smith with unethical financial practices and derided him for his aspirations for national leadership.

In response to the newspaper, the Nauvoo City Council ordered the press destroyed as a public nuisance.  Smith (the Mayor) sent the city marshal to do just that.  The newspaper's editors fled to the county seat of Carthage and spread the word of the violation of the freedom of the press. (Sounds familiar) Throughout Illinois, editors and speakers painted Smith as a tyrant, destroying the Constitution.  They cursed his followers as "libertines."  Mobs formed to demand the governor disperse the Mormons and arrest their leader. 

Smith placed Nauvoo under martial law and told his troops, "my sword is unsheathed in a determination that the people shall have rights."  Surrounding communities became fearful of their own safety, the Governor mobilized the states' militia and Smith prepared to flee to the West. 
In the end, however, he ordered his men to disarm and then surrendered, along with his brother Hyrum and five other church leaders, to the authorities in Carthage. 

Next time...The Conclusion of the Suffering of Zion
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On this Day in Pioneer History: "On June 5, 1922, the discoverer of Klondike gold, George W. Carmack, dies.  Carmack was the first to discover gold along the Klondike River in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1896.  He died at the age of 61 a wealthy man.