Mormon History, Sep 12, 1845

Letter to Solomon Hancock-- BRIGHAM YOUNG'S LETTER to Solomon Hancock No general message to the Church as a whole has been located for the period from June to September, 1845. However there were a series of letters to individuals. While no available copies of these letters have been located, it is known that letters were written by the Quorum of the Twelve to the Chief of the Seneca Indians on August 4; to Thomas F. Hendricks on August 4; to Wilford Woodruff on August 21; to Charles Brown on August 27; to Lehman Hancock on September 11 and this letter to Solomon Hancock on September 12, 1845.
While this is a letter to an individual, Solomon Hancock, instead of an epistle written to the Church, yet it lays down certain principles applicable throughout the Church.
"What is a little property or a few lives, compared with the properties and lives of a great people, and the house and ordinances on which the salvation of that people depend?"
This instruction to President Solomon
Hancock would seem to echo the instruction of the Lord to an ancient Nephite prophet, "It is better that one man shall perish than a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief (1 Nephi 4:13). Although the parallel is not perfect, the principle of sacrificing the one for the many is here called for. The sentiment expressed in this letter would also seem a forerunner to President Wilford Woodruff's statement in 1891 that the Lord had told him that it was better to stop the practice of plural marriage than to lose the entire property, program and ordinances of the Church. For additional background see: DHC 7:439-443.
Nauvoo, Sept. 12, 1845. President Solomon Hancock, Dear Brother: We have received your communication of last eve and taken it into consideration in council, and decided that it is wisdom for you to remove the women and children from Yelrome as fast as you can with what teams you have got, and we will send you more as fast as we can, and not only remove the wome
n and children but your grain and let all the brethren stay there and keep "bachelor's hall" and watch movements of the mob.
The object of our enemies is to get opposition enough to raise popular excitement but we think it best to let them burn up our houses while we take care of our families and grain.
Let the sheriff of Hancock county attend to the mob, and let us see whether he and the Jack Mormons, so-called, the friends of law and order, will calmly sit down and watch the funeral processions of Illinois liberty; if so, they will all fall under the same condemnation. At a future day our course will be plain.
Be calm and patient till all thin 5 are ready. What is a little property or a few lives, compared with the properties and lives of a great people, and the house and ordinances on which the salvation of that people depend?
You will employ the best scribe you have, or half a dozen of them, if necessary, to pen minutely all the movements of the enemy and friends, wh
at houses are burned, by whom, at what hour, who were present, and who saw them do it, etc.: even every particular and forward us a daily copy, if opportunity permits. [Signed] BRIGHAM YOUNG, President. W. Richards, Clerk. {1845-September 12-DHC 7:440-441}

[source: Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]