Joseph Fielding’s journal clarifies Joseph Smith’s calling as a prophet and also offers a specific yet sweeping survey of key moments in the Nauvoo era in their context. It affords us first-hand glimpses of the struggle for survival in Nauvoo; of the unlawful seizure of Joseph Smith near Dixon; of the growth of opposition to the Prophet’s leadership by the Fosters, the Higbees, and the Laws and the results of that opposition; of the Martyrdom and general and personal grief that followed; of the Church’s rejection of Sidney Rigdon’s “guardianship” proposal; of the initiation of ordinance work in the Nauvoo Temple; of the abandonment of the Temple with the forced Exodus of the Saints from Nauvoo and of the “Battle of Nauvoo” which completed that expulsion. All these events are recorded by a man full of faith in the gospel and devotion to the latter-day work.
