Wild West; The Way West, The Mormon Trail By Gene Stevens , Video Presenter Tom Hall

 

Introduction

The story of the Mormon people is very interesting, and one could argue that the story of the foundation of the Mormon Church, and subsequent migration to the great salt lake to the west, is a very American story of a devout people who risked all to seek Gods blessings in a new land. Their story is filled with political intrigue. And this blogpost only scratches the surface of what the Mormon experience was really about. Its worth mentioning that great Mormon migration that passed through Iowa, began in Nauvoo Illinois, and that there was a great amount of tension between the Mormons and locals in Illinois.                                                                                                                                          

    

"Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, United States, on June 27, 1844, while awaiting trial in the town jail.As mayor of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith had ordered the destruction of the facilities used to print the Nauvoo Expositor, a newly-established newspaper created by a group of non-Mormons and others who had seceded from Smith's church, the Church of Christ. The newspaper's first (and only) issue was highly critical of Smith and other church leaders, reporting that Smith was practicing polygamy and claiming he intended to set himself up as a theocratic king. In response, a motion to declare the newspaper a public nuisance was passed by the Nauvoo City Council, and Smith consequently ordered its press destroyed.The destruction of the press led to public outrage, and the Smith brothers and other members of the Nauvoo City Council were charged with inciting a riot. Warrants for Joseph Smith's arrest were dismissed by Nauvoo courts. Smith declared martial law in Nauvoo and called on the Nauvoo Legion to protect the city. After briefly fleeing Illinois, Smith received a personal statement from Governor Ford, who "pledged his faith and the faith of the state to protect him while he underwent a legal and fair trial", which convinced Smith along with Hyrum to return voluntarily.[3] When the brothers arrived at the county seat of Carthage to surrender to authorities, they were charged with treason against Illinois for declaring martial law."

-Wikipedia

Full context

Nauvoo Legion

The Nauvoo Legion was a sanctioned para-military group that followed the traditional role of militia in American Society, presenting public entertainment through drills, parades and mock battles. But many saw the Legion as a conquering army of Zion, and they may have had some justification for such fears. Even by conservative numbers, the Nauvoo Legion employed over 2500 men, while the entire United States Army of the day, only had approximately 8500 soldiers in 1845. And those troops were scattered throughout the country, while the Nauvoo Legion was centered in Nauvoo. Joseph smith had also platted Nauvoo as a defensive position and also had Mormons in positions around Nauvoo in towns in Hancock County to be early warning posts, and the Mormon temple could also be used as a watch tower and a fortified block house in the event of an attack. 

                                            Tom from History Delights gives a tour, and some

                                               history of the Mormon, trail. Background 

                                                           The Great Migration

"The journey was taken by about 70,000 people, beginning with advance parties sent out by church leaders in March 1846 after the 1844 death of the church's leader Joseph Smith made it clear that the group could not remain in Nauvoo, Illinois—which the church had recently purchased, improved, renamed, and developed, because of the Missouri Mormon War, setting off the Illinois Mormon War. The well-organized wagon train migration began in earnest in April 1847, and the period (including the flight from Missouri in 1838 to Nauvoo), known as the Mormon Exodus is, by convention among social scientists, traditionally assumed to have ended with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. Not everyone could afford to transport a family by railroad, and the transcontinental railroad network only serviced limited main routes, so wagon train migrations to the far west continued sporadically until the 20th century."

Ref Wikipedia

References / Credits

1. Wikipedia articles on the Great migration and the death of Joseph Smith

2.Uniforms and  Equipment of the Black Hawk War and Mormon War by John Lee Allaman 

3. History Delights, by Videographer Kevin Schmitt and Presenter Tom Hall, The Mormon Trail In Iowa.