during the 1840s, warsaw was one of the centers of opposition to the mormons at nauvoo. thomas c. sharp, who edited the "warsaw signal" at this time lead the anti-mormons. the mormons tried to set up a settlement at warren, a site just south of warsaw. in 1841 willard richards moved to warsaw to oversee the settlement of warren, but due to the public response to writings by sharp and other problems, the mormon settlement was abandoned in 1842. in october 1844, a great gathering was announced in warsaw. although it claimed to be a "wolf hunt," people knew that the "wolves" to be hunted were the mormons. when governor thomas ford heard about it, he sent militia troops to disperse the gathering. most mormons left the area for utah in 1846.