While Joseph Smith was a prisoner in Liberty Jail there was a serious effort mounted to persuade the Latter-day Saints never to gather again but to spread out in the town and villages along the Mississippi River, mix with the people, read their Book of Mormon and be good saints, but do not gather. Every time we do,’ was the thought, ‘our enemies come upon us.’ But Joseph and the Almighty felt differently. The Lord has always and will always gather his people to bestow upon them his greatest blessings. This episode of History of the Saints is about the gathering of the Latter-day Saints to Hancock County, Illinois and the tiny village of Commerce that would become the mighty city of Nauvoo.
