John C. Bennett - Later Life

Later Life

After Bennett left Nauvoo in May 1842, he claimed he had been the target of an attempted assassination by Nauvoo Danites, who were disguised in drag. He soon became a bitter antagonist of Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saint church, reportedly even vowing to drink the blood of Joseph Smith, Jr. In 1842, he wrote a scathing exposé of Joseph Smith, entitled History of the Saints, accusing Smith and his church of crimes such as treason, conspiracy to commit murder, prostitution, and adultery. Through his newspaper writings and book, Bennett appeared to encourage Missouri's June 1843 attempt to extradite Smith to stand trial for "treason." Ironically, Smith escaped extradition, albeit narrowly, by virtue of the powerful Nauvoo charter, of which Bennett was a principal author in 1841.

In the fall of 1843 Bennett visited George M. Hinkle, a Mormon who was excommunicated after surrendering Joseph Smith to the Missouri Militia in 1838. Bennett's subsequent letter to the editor of the Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot describing the Mormon "Doctrine of Marrying for Eternity" is the first of his writings that discusses eternal marriage, as compared to the free love/spiritual wife doctrine he previously accused Joseph of practicing, where sexual relations weren't in the context of committed marriage. It is unclear whether Bennett learned of eternal marriage from Hinkle or from correspondents inside Nauvoo.

John C. Bennett briefly returned to Nauvoo in December 1843, but the sole record of that visit is a notation in Joseph Smith's Daybook from his General Store showing a payment of the rent Bennett owed for the 39 weeks he lived in the Smith home in 1840-1841. After December 1843 John Bennett is recorded to have lectured only once more against Mormonism during Joseph's life, in Boston, during the spring of 1844. At the 1844 Boston lecture, Bennett was not well received. He was pelted with rotten eggs and chased through Boston by the 'vast assemblage,' who ran over several Boston police officers in the process. After Smith's assassination in Carthage, Illinois on June 27, 1844, Bennett resumed his lectures against polygamy in an attempt to win converts for Strang. Bennett has been accused of having a part in Smith's murder, but, as his biographer Andrew F. Smith states, based on the extant evidence, "Bennett appears to have had no influence on the events that unfolded in Carthage during June 1844"

Following Smith's death, Bennett surprised many by returning briefly to Mormonism and joining forces first with Sidney Rigdon and then with James Strang—one of several Mormons contending for leadership of the movement. Bennett united with the "Strangites," who founded their own Mormon community on Beaver Island in Michigan. With Bennett's enthusiastic support, polygamy was introduced into the Michigan Mormon community. Shortly thereafter, amidst yet more charges of sexual misconduct, Bennett left the Strangite community and Mormonism once and for all.

Bennett is often credited with introducing into Mormonism the term "spiritual wifery." Spiritual wifery was the term Bennett used for both his own practice of "free love" and for the Nauvoo practice of plural marriage (polygyny). The term was occasionally used by Mormon leaders such as Brigham Young, who spoke of the shock he received when introduced by Joseph Smith to "the spiritual wife doctrine," referring to plural marriage. One of Bennett's legacies was the conflation of plural marriage with "free love" in the popular imagination. The term "spiritual wifery," with its mixed connotations of polygyny and promiscuity, was frequently used in the national dialogue against, and in activism against, Mormon polygamy.

Bennett's troubled relationship with the Mormons has overshadowed his other notable activities, including commanding a company for the Union in the Civil War. Bennett was an early champion of the health benefits of the tomato starting in 1835, a pioneer in the use of chloroform as an anesthetic, publishing his findings in 1848, and was the creator of several breeds of chicken, including Plymouth Rock fowl, which he exhibited in Boston in 1849. From 1830 through 1846 Bennett worked to establish institutions of higher learning, many of which were Medical Colleges. Bennett's practice of 'selling diplomas' clouds that achievement, and only one educational institution survived Bennett's connection with it.

Bennett left behind an extensive body of letters and published works on his various endeavors, including two books, History of the Saints, and The Poultry Book.