Letter from John C. Bennett, 25 July 1840
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Source Note
, Letter, , Wayne Co., IL, to JS and , , Hancock Co., IL, 25 July 1840. Featured version copied [probably ca. Aug. 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 169–170; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 25 July 1840, wrote from his home in , Illinois, to JS and in , Illinois. Bennett, who had apparently first met JS and Rigdon in January 1832 in , Ohio, was a prominent military figure in . He had helped incorporate an independent militia unit in southeastern Illinois named the “Invincible Dragoons” and had more recently been appointed quartermaster general of the Illinois state militia. In this letter, Bennett expressed his interest in the ’ welfare and reminded JS and Rigdon that he had offered to assist the Saints during conflicts with their neighbors in northwestern two years earlier. Bennett also declared he intended to move to , Illinois, the following spring to join church members gathering there. JS responded to this letter on 8 August 1840.The original letter is apparently not extant, but inscribed a copy in JS Letterbook 2, probably soon after JS received the original.
Footnotes
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1
McLellin, Journal, 12–13 Jan. 1832, 13; Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 12, 50, 54–56.
McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
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2
James Berry, Letter, 25 Apr. 1839, Governor’s Correspondence, Military Affairs, 1839, Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; Bennett, History of the Saints, 14–15.
Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
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3
Letter to John C. Bennett, 8 Aug. 1840; see also Letters from John C. Bennett, 27 and 30 July 1840.
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4
While he was not precise in dating events from this time of his life, Coray later wrote that he finished copying correspondence into JS Letterbook 2 before JS and Bennett began drafting Nauvoo’s city charter. (Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 4–5, 19.)
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.
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