TODAY IN CHURCH HISTORY: 18 July

[Hemidakota]

1833 - A number of prominent men in Independence, Missouri, prepare a document in which they state their accusations against the Mormons. The Saints later refer to it as the "Manifesto of the Mob."

1839 - Many of the newly arrived Saints in Commerce, later Nauvoo, Illinois, were becoming sick. The Prophet Joseph and others, including his wife, Emma, spent much of their time for a couple weeks caring for those who were sick and camped along the river near his home.

1846 - A grand ball is held near Council Bluffs prior to the departure of the Mormon Battalion. Music was provided by William Pitt's brass band.

1847 - Both companies of pioneers rested and observed the Sabbath with religious services. They had traveled 85 ½ miles from Fort Bridger. Many of the sick, including Brigham Young, were reported as doing much better by evening and were expected to recover soon.

1853 - The Walker War, a conflict between the Latter-day Saint settlers and local Native Americans, begins near Payson, Utah.

1857 - A contingent of the U.S. Army left Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for the Utah Territory to "resolve the Mormon problem." Word reached three Latter-day Saint men, Abraham Smoot, Porter Rockwell, and Judson Stoddard, who were at Ft. Laramie, Wyoming, and they quickly left for Salt Lake City to warn the Saints of the approach of the Army sent to "end" the Mormon problem in Utah.

1993 - The first meetinghouse in Swaziland, Africa, is dedicated by Elder Richard P. Lindsay, a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy and President of the Africa Area.

1999 - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir reached a milestone on its weekly broadcast of "Music and the Spoken Word." The program became the longest continuous, uninterrupted network radio broadcast in the world having passed the 70 year mark of broadcasting.

2004 - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir celebrates its 75 years of uninterrupted continuous broadcasting on radio and television with a grand concert at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.