Little, Jesse Carter. Circular the second, published by elder J. C. Little, president of the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” in the eastern states, Philadelphia, May 15th, 1846 [Philadelphia? 1846?]
8 pp. 24 cm.
Jesse C. Little remained in Philadelphia from the time of the conference there on May 13–14 until he left for Washington on May 20. He reports that on May 16 he “bargained for the printing” of Circular the Second, so it seems clear that he had it printed in Philadelphia. This is consistent with its typography, which differs from that of the first and third circulars (see this digital collection for the third circular). Most of the Circular the Second reports resolutions passed at each of the four conferences Little called in his first circular at Peterborough, May 2–3; Boston, May 6; New York, May 9–10; and Philadelphia, May 13–14. In each case these resolutions sustain the Twelve as the leaders of the Church and Little as the presiding authority in the East, and dedicate the time and means of those in the eastern branches to the move west.
In his epistle “To the Saints Scattered Abroad in the Eastern Lands” which follows the resolutions, Little calls W.I. Appleby to assist him, and he assigns certain elders to local positions of leadership. He remarks that he will visit Washington in a few days to try to get some assistance from the federal government for the move west. He mentions the war with Mexico and urges the Saints to express only loyalty to the United States. Referring to his plan to sail to San Francisco in September, he requests those with means to send what funds they can as soon as possible so that he can charter a ship, and he asks those who are unable to pay the passage to send in their names so he will know how much assistance they will require.
Little left for Washington on May 20, armed with letters of introduction to various members of the Polk administration, one from Thomas L. Kane, whom he met at the conference in Philadelphia. Two days later, in Washington, he called on Amos Kendall, a former postmaster general, and that evening he was introduced to President Polk. The next day he talked about the Mormon emigration with Kendall, who thought that there might be some chance of enlisting one thousand Mormon men into the U.S. army and marching them to California, and on the 26th he learned that Kendal had presented this idea to Polk.
During the next five days, however, Little received no word from the president; so on June 1 he sent him a long letter in which he asked for assistance to move the Saints west and declared that should help not come from the United States he was determined to get it from some other country. Polk met with his cabinet on June 2 and authorized Col. Stephen W. Kearny, who was to lead the expedition to California, “to receive into serve as volunteers a few hundred of the Mormons who are now on their way to California, with a view to conciliate them, attach them to our country, & prevent them from taking part against us.”
The following day the secretary of war issued an order to Kearny to muster into service a number of the Mormons not to exceed one–third of his force, to be paid as other volunteers and allowed to choose their own officers. Little tarried in Washington until June 9 and then headed for the Mormon camps in Iowa, reaching them four weeks later, in time to reassure the Saints that the call for volunteers then being made by Capt. James Allen was legitimate. On July 21, in company with the departing Mormon Battalion, he left Council Bluffs for the eastern states, to resume his duties as presiding elder. It has been estimated that the pay and allowances of the Battalion, much of which was sent back to the Church leaders, totaled more than the $50,000 Little had hoped to get from the federal government.
Excerpted and edited from Peter Crawley, A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. Volume One, 1830-1847. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center, [1997]). Item 306, p. 343-44.
Used by permission of the author and the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.