Joseph Smith to the Nauvoo Legion his Last adress in which he called for all philanthropic men from Main to the Rocky Mountains & from the East & the west & from the North & the south to the help of this people also he cursed the Mob.â€"with thunder & lightning & the sword plague Earthquakes & pestilence & devouring fire.
[Source: William Clayton Diary -Words of Joseph Smith, 383]
18 June 1844,
ReplyDeleteFront of Mansion House.
This A.M. the Legion is ordered to parade.... At 11 he rode to the parade ground & after staying a short season the whole legion marched down to the Mansion Judqe Phelps there read the preamble and resolutions of the mob in which they threaten extermination to the whole Church in Nauvoo.
After Phelps got through General Joseph Smith addressed the multitude He briefly explained the object of the mob and showed that they waged a war of extermination upon us because of our religion. He called upon all the volunteers who felt to support the constitution from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean to come with their arms, ammunition & provisions to defend us from the mob & defend the constitution. He called upon them as the Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo Legion and Illinois
laying the proceedings of the City Council
Militia in the name of the Constitution of the U.S. The People of the State of Illinois and the citizens of Nauvoo. He called upon the citizens to defend the lives of their wives & children, for their fathers and mothers, brothers & sisters, from being murdered by the mob. He urged them in strong terms not to shed innocent blood--not to act in the least on the offensive but invariable in the defensive and if we die--die like men of God and secure a glorious resurrection. He concluded by invoking the Great God to bless the people.--
... In the above address he advised all to arm themselves those who had no rifles, get swords, scythe and make weapons of some kind He informed them that he had 5000 Elders, minute men who would come with volunteers as soon as he would inform them. He said there were many from Iowa waiting to come when requested.
Source: http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/clayton-diaries