HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1880

Chapter VI, The Mormon Period, by Thomas Gregg

*The county courthouse is in Carthage, Illinois. This is the modern courthouse built in 1908. Joseph Smith was killed in Carthage in 1844.

**Augusta, Illinois, is located across the county from Nauvoo and south. The stone building in the center of the picture is the city hall (post-Mormon era). A stone incorporated into the front of the hall has the date, 1894, engraved on it. Augusta is host to the annual Hancock County Fair.

*St. Mary's is a small town of about half a dozen houses north of Augusta. **Alexandria is a small town roughly across the Mississippi River from Warsaw.

". . . I [the Governor] immediately departed for Nauvoo, . . . accompanied by . . . Capt. Dunn's (Augusta) company of dragoons (page 322)."

"The Governor now decided to march his force into Nauvoo, . . . " [After changing his mind, the Governor dismissed most of his troops, and simply delivered an exhortation to the citizens of Nauvoo and then he returned to Carthage.] "A few miles out they were met by a messenger with the information that the two Smiths had been assailed in jail by a mob, and killed! (page 322)."

"The Governor with his command hurried on to Carthage, only to find the place partially deserted; and all who had not gone were going as fast as they could find means of conveyance. Men with their families, in carts, in wagons, and on horseback or a-foot, were en route mostly toward Augusta and St. Mary's (pages 322-323)."

"The Governor . . . rode on to Augusta (page 323)."

"At Warsaw the people . . . hurried . . . to Alexandria (page 323)."

Pages 322-323

© 2002-2003, Ken Bowles -- June 13, 2003, Edition

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