While in hiding outside of , Illinois, to avoid arrest and extradition to , JS wrote to in Nauvoo on 16 August 1842 asking his opinion on whether JS should leave for a time. On 14 August, JS, as lieutenant general of the , had issued orders to Law, the legion’s major general, to rescue him if he was captured and to prepare to defend the Saints against possible enemy attacks. The next day, JS received Law’s response indicating his willingness to follow the orders and pledging full support to JS. On the night of 15 August, a group of JS’s friends and associates had traveled to the residence of , where JS was hiding, to inform JS of threats the officers seeking his arrest had made against Nauvoo’s citizens. JS’s journal indicates that after a lengthy conversation, “it was considered wisdom” for JS to make plans to depart for the ’s lumber operation at Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, should he feel the need to flee.

The next day, apparently in the morning, JS wrote the letter to featured here, again addressing him as the major general of the Nauvoo Legion but also calling him a brother in the gospel and a friend. JS expressed joy in reading Law’s 15 August letter. He informed Law that he thought it might be best if he left for and asked for Law’s thoughts on the matter. The same day JS wrote this letter, he composed one to his wife Emma Smith, in which he outlined preparations she would need to make if they decided to flee to Wisconsin Territory. , who had been staying with JS while he was in hiding, delivered the letters to their recipients. Law responded to JS’s letter in the early afternoon of 16 August, the same day he received it.

, who appears to have been at ’s farm on 16 August, inscribed the version of the letter featured here. Out of all the correspondence with and while JS was in hiding in August 1842, this is the only extant letter on loose paper; all other letters from their correspondence are available only as copies made in JS’s journal. This may represent the original letter written by Clayton as JS dictated it to him. Alternately, it may be a retained copy that Clayton made after drafting the original, in which case the original is not extant. Clayton appears to have used this version when copying the contents of the letter into JS’s journal after returning to , probably between 21 and 23 August.