CHAPTER XXI.
Nauvoo After The Exodus 

Arrival of Governor Ford-- The Final Work on the Temple--The "Endowment" Ceremony and Oath-- Futile Efforts to sell the Temple--Its Destruction by Fire and Wind--The Nauvoo of To-day

    BROCKMAN'S force was disbanded after its object had been accomplished, and all returned to their homes but about one hundred, who remained in Nauvoo to see that no Mormons came back. These men, whose number gradually decreased, provided what protection and government the place then enjoyed. Governor Ford received much censure from the state at large for the lawless doings of the recent months. A citizens' meeting at Springfield demanded that he call out a force sufficient "to restore the supremacy of the law, and bring the offenders to justice." He did call on Hancock County for volunteers to restore order, but a public meeting in Carthage practically defied him. He, however, secured a force of about two hundred men, with which he marched into Nauvoo, greatly to the indignation of the Hancock County people. His stay there was marked by incidents which showed how his erratic course in recent years had deprived him of public respect, and which explain some of the bitterne ss toward the county which characterizes his "History." One of these was the presentation to him of a petticoat as typical of his rule. When Ford was succeeded as governor by French, the latter withdrew the militia from the county, and, in an address to the citizens, said, "I confidently rely upon your assistance and influence to aid in preventing any act of a violent character in future." Matters in the county then quieted down. The Warsaw newspapers, in place of anti-Mormon literature, began to print appeals to new settlers, setting forth the advantages of the neighborhood. But a newspaper war soon followed between two factions in Nauvoo, one of which contended that the place was an assemblage of gamblers and saloon-keepers, while the other defended its reputation. This latter view, however, was not established, and most of the houses remained tenantless.

    Amid all their troubles in Nauvoo the Mormon authorities never lost sight of one object, the completion of the Temple. To the non-Mormons, and even to many in the church, it seemed inexplicable why so much zeal and money should be expended in finishing a structure that was to be at once abandoned. Before the agreement to leave the state was made, a Warsaw newspaper predicted that the completion of the Temple would end the reign of the Mormon leaders, since their followers were held together by the expectation of some supernatural manifestation of power in their behalf at that time¹ Another outside newspaper suggested that they intended to use it as a fort.

    ¹ A man from the neighborhood who visited Nauvoo in 1843 to buy calves called on a blind man, of whom he says: "He told me he had a nice home in Massachusetts, which gave them a good support. But one of the Mormon elders preaching in that country called on him and told him if he would sell out and go to Nauvoo the Prophet would restore his sight. He sold out and had come to the city and spent all his means, and was now in great need. I asked why the Prophet did not open his eyes. He replied that Joseph had informed him that he could not open his eyes till the Temple was finished." -- Gregg, "History of Hancock County," p. 375.

    Orson Pratt, in a letter to the Saints in the Eastern states, written at the time of the agreement to depart, answering the query why the Lord commanded them to build a house out of which he would then suffer them to be driven at once, quoted a paragraph from the "revelation" of January 19, 1841, which commanded the building of the Temple "that you may prove yourselves unto me, that ye are faithful in all things whatsoever I command you, that I may bless you and cover you with honor, immortality, and eternal life."

    The cap-stone of the Temple was laid in place early on the morning of May 24, 1845, amid shouts of "Hosannah to God and the Lamb," music by the band, and the singing of a hymn.

    The first meeting was held in the Temple on October 5, 1845, and from that time the edifice was used almost constantly in administering the ordinances (baptism, endowment, etc.). Brigham Young says that on one occasion he continued this work from 5 P. M. to 3:30 A. M., and others of the Quorum assisted.

    The ceremony of the "endowment," although considered very secret, has been described by many persons who have gone through it. The descriptions by Elder Hyde and I. McGee Van Dusen and his wife go into details. A man and wife received notice to appear at the Temple at Nauvoo at 5 A. M., he to wear white drawers, and she to bring her nightclothes with her. Passing to the upper floor, they were told to remove their hats and outer wraps, and were then led into a narrow hall, at the end of which stood a man who directed the husband to pass through a door on the right, and the wife to one on the left. The candidates were then questioned as to their preparation for the initiation, and if this resulted satisfactorily, they were directed to remove all their outer clothing. This ended the "first degree." In the next room their remaining clothing was removed and they received a bath, with some mummeries which may best be omitted. Next they were anointed all over with oil poured from a horn, and pronounced "the Lord's anointed," and a priest ordained them to be "king (or queen) in time and eternity." The man was now furnished with a white cotton undergarment of an original design, over which he put his shirt, and the woman was given a somewha t similar article, together with a chemise, nightgown,, and white stockings. Each was then conducted into another apartment and left there alone in silence for some time. Then a rumbling noise was heard, and Brigham Young appeared, reciting some words, beginning "Let there be light," and ending "Now let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Approaching the man first, he went through a form of making him out of the dust; then, passing into the other room, he formed the woman out of a rib he had taken from the man. Giving this Eve to the man Adam, he led them into a large room decorated to represent Eden, and, after giving them divers instructions, left them to themselves.

    Much was said in later years about the requirement of the endowment oath. When General Maxwell tried to prevent the seating of Cannon as Delegate to Congress in 1873, one of his charges was that Cannon had, in the Endowment House, taken an oath against the United States government. This called out affidavits by some of the leading anti-Young Mormons of the day, including E. L. T. Harrison, that they had gone through the Endowment House without taking any oath of the kind. But Hyde, in his description of the ceremony, says: --

    "We were sworn to cherish constant enmity toward the United States Government for not avenging the death of Smith, or righting the persecutions of the Saints; to do all that we could toward destroying, tearing down or overturning that government; to endeavor to baffle its designs and frustrate its intentions; to renounce all allegiance and refuse all submission. If unable to do anything ourselves toward the accomplishment of these objects, to teach it to our children from the nursery, impress it upon them from the death bed, entail it upon them as a legacy."²

    ² Hyde's "Mormonism," p. 97.

    In the suit of Charlotte Arthur against Brigham Young's estate, to recover a lot in Salt Lake City which she alleged that Young had unlawfully taken possession of, her verified complaint (filed July 11, 1874) alleged that the endowment oath contained the following declaration: --

    "To obey him, the Lord's anointed, in all his orders, spiritual and temporal, and the priesthood or either of them, and all church authorities in like manner; that this obligation is superior to all the laws of the United States, and all earthly laws; that enmity should be cherished against the government of the United States; that the blood of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and Apostles slain in this generation shall be avenged."

    As soon as the agreement to leave the state was made, the Mormons tried hard to sell or lease the Temple, but in vain; and when the last Mormon departed, the structure was left to the mercy of the Hancock County "posse." Colonel Kane, in his description of his visit to Nauvoo soon after the evacuation, says that the militia had defiled and defaced such features as the shrines and the baptismal font, the apartment containing the latter being rendered "too noisome to abide in."

    Had the building been permitted to stand, it would have been to Nauvoo something on which the town could have looked as its most remarkable feature. But early on the morning of November 19, 1848, the structure was found to be on fire, evidently the work of an incendiary, and what the flames could eat up was soon destroyed. The Nauvoo Patriot deplored the destruction of "a work of art at once the most elegant in its construction, and the most renowned in its celebrity, of any in the whole West."

    When the Icarians, a band of French Socialists, settled in Nauvoo, they undertook, in 1850, to rebuild the edifice for use as their halls of reunion and schools. After they had expended on this work a good deal of time and labor, the city was visited by a cyclone on May 27 of that year, which left standing only a part of the west wall. Out of the stone the Icarians then built a school house, but nothing original now remains on the site except the old well.

    The Nauvoo of to-day is a town of only 1321 inhabitants. The people are largely of German origin, and the leading occupation is fruit growing. The site of the Temple is occupied by two modern buildings. A part of Nauvoo House is still standing, as are Brigham Young's former residence, Joseph Smith's "new mansion," and other houses which Mormons occupied.

    The Mormons in Iowa were no more popular with their non-Mormon neighbors there than were those in Illinois, and after the murders by the Hodges, and other crimes charged to the brethren, a mass meeting of Lee County inhabitants was held, which adopted resolutions declaring that the Mormons and the old settlers could not live together and that the Mormons must depart, citizens being requested to aid in this movement by exchanging property with the emigrants. In 1847 the last of these objectionable citizens left the county.