1. David W. Kilbourne to Reverend Thomas Dent, June 29, 1844, Kilbourne Collection, State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines; Warren A. Jennings, “The Lynching of an American Prophet,” BYU Studies 40, no. 1 (2001): 207–11.

2. Lyman O. Littlefield, A Correct Account of the Murders of Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage on the 27th Day of June, 1844 by William M. Daniels, an Eye Witness (Nauvoo, Ill.: John Taylor, 1845), 13–14, quoted in Dean C. Jessee, “Return to Carthage: Writing the History of Joseph Smith’s Martyrdom,” Journal of Mormon History 8 (1981): 16.

3. Jessee, “Return to Carthage,” 16–17. Robert S. Wicks and Fred R. Foister, Junius and Joseph: Presidential Politics and the Assassination of the First Mormon Prophet (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005), 276–79. For further discussion of the historiographical issues surrounding the Daniels account, see Glen M. Leonard, Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002), 395.

4. Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill, Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 6, 214. An editorial in the Times and Seasons asked, “If one of these murderers, their abettors or accessories before or after the fact, are suffered to cumber the earth, without being dealt with according to law, what is life worth, and what is the benefit of laws? and more than all, what is the use of institutions which savages would honor, where civilized beings murder without cause or provocation?” “The Murder,” Times and Seasons 5 (July 15, 1844): 585; emphasis in original.

5. Thomas Hull, “Events of the Month,” Improvement Era 5 (March 1902): 398; Dean C. Jessee, ed. and comp., The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002), 662.

6. Milton V. Backman Jr., The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983), 377; Jessee, Personal Writings, 662.

7. Jessee, Personal Writings, 128; Joseph Smith Jr., History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 2d ed., rev., 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1971), 1:342 (hereafter cited as History of the Church); Susan Easton Black, comp., Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848, 50 vols. (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989), 7:12–15.

8. Stanley B. Kimball, “Sources on the History of the Mormons in Ohio: 1830–38 (Located East of the Mississippi),” BYU Studies 11, no. 4 (1971): 527–28; Jessee, Personal Writings, 662.

9. Christopher C. Lund, “A Letter Regarding the Acquisition of the Book of Abraham,” BYU Studies 20, no. 4 (1980): 402–3; “The Worlds of Joseph Smith Gallery Display,” BYU Studies 44, no. 4 (2005): 127.

10. Probably refers to Mrs. R. Monroe of Utica, New York. Sister Monroe was an active member of the Utica Branch, which numbered sixty-one saints in 1842. James Blakeslee, “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons 3 (July 15, 1842): 861; John P. Green and E. P. Maginn, “General Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons 4 (August 15, 1843): 127, 300.

11. Don Carlos Brown was Albert’s son. He was born April 6, 1843, in Nauvoo. At the time of this letter, Carlos would have been eighteen months old. Black, Membership, 7:13.

12. Miss Louisa possibly refers to Louisa A. Brown, Albert’s niece. See Black, Membership, 7:146.

13. Mary Ives was a widow whose husband died of dysentery after the Saints’ expulsion from Missouri. Mary took in boarders to support herself and her children. Apparently, Mary anticipated receiving supplies similar to those Albert listed. Several years before this letter she wrote to her parents, “I can work for provisions but it is verry hard to get clothing more particular Flannel unless one has the money.” Mary Ives to Parents and Friends, ca. 1840, photocopy, Amos L. Underwood Correspondence, 1831–1853, Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as Church Archives), quoted in Carol Cornwall Madsen, In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Nauvoo (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994), 9, 93.

14. On May 7, 1844, a group of apostates formed a printing establishment a block from the Nauvoo Temple site. The Nauvoo Expositor published its only issue (1,000 copies) a month later on June 7, 1844. Leonard, Nauvoo, 362. The Expositor was “established by William and Wilson Law, Charles and Robert D. Foster, Francis M. and Chauncey L. Higbee, and managed by Sylvester Emmans.” Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814–1879, 6 vols. (Springfield, Ill.: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 6:261.

15. The Nauvoo Expositor’s stated purpose was to “explode the vicious principles of Joseph Smith, and those who practice the same abominations and whoredoms.” The primary arguments of the paper were that Joseph Smith “had too much power, that polygamy was whoredom in disguise, and that the Nauvoo charter should be unconditionally repealed.” John Henry Evans, Joseph Smith: An American Prophet (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1966), 197.

16. For a detailed account of the legal issues surrounding the council’s decision to destroy the press, see Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review 9 (Winter 1965): 862–905.

17. Councilman Benjamin Warrington cast the dissenting vote. He did not belong to the Church and believed that a fine of $3,000 should be levied against those who libeled. History of the Church, 6:445–46.

18. The Council passed the ordinance to destroy the press around 6:30 pm on June 10, 1844. Joseph then instructed John P. Greene, the City Marshal, to “destroy the printing press from whence issues the Nauvoo Expositor, and pi [scatter] the type of said printing establishment in the street, and burn all the Expositors and libelous handbills found in said establishment; and if resistance be offered to your execution of this order by the owners or others, demolish the house; and if anyone threatens you or the Mayor or the officers of the city, arrest those who threaten you, and fail not to execute this order without delay, and make due return hereon” (History of the Church, 6:448). Greene fulfilled the order with the assistance of the city police. The Nauvoo Legion under Jonathan Dunham was ready to assist. By 8:00 pm it was finished.

19. One of the most vocal antagonists was Thomas Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal and organizer of the Anti-Mormon Party. Sharp was outraged after the destruction of the Expositor’s press and wrote, “Citizens ARISE, ONE AND ALL!!!—Can you stand by, and suffer such INFERNAL DEVILS! to rob men of their property and rights, without avenging them. We have no time for comment, every man will make his own. Let it be made with POWDER AND BALL!!!” “Unparalleled Outrage at Nauvoo,” Warsaw Signal, June 12, 1844; Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 540–43; emphasis in the original.

20. The Mormon paper Nauvoo Neighbor insisted the dissenters left Nauvoo “as a matter of their choice.” The apostates claimed the dissenters left under duress. See Leonard, Nauvoo, 370. A month later, Church leaders claimed that the dissenters had set fire to their own homes, perhaps hoping to blame it on Church members. The police extinguished the fire before it spread. In Carthage, the dissenters persuaded Justice Morrison to issue a writ for Joseph’s arrest. Willard Richards and John Taylor to Reuben Hedlock, July 9, 1844, published in Millennial Star 24 (November 22, 1862): 743.

21. Arguably the most important “mob” meeting occurred in Carthage on the eve of the Martyrdom. Anti-Mormons gathered together as the Carthage Central Committee, or Committee of Safety, to determine what should be done with Joseph and Hyrum. Governor Thomas Ford was notably present, along with important business and political leaders from around the country. It was decided that after the governor left Carthage the following day, a dozen handpicked men would shoot the Smiths. Wicks and Foister, Junius and Joseph, 164–65.

22. Governor Ford repeatedly pledged to Joseph his protection and guaranteed him “a trial safe from vigilantes.” Leonard, Nauvoo, 375. For a contemporary discussion of the governor’s involvement in the murders, see “Was Governor Ford Responsible for the Murder of the Prophet and Patriarch of the New Dispensation?” History of the Church, 7:113–16.

23. On the night of June 22, Joseph, Hyrum, Orrin Porter Rockwell, and Willard Richards had crossed over the river into Iowa intending to go into hiding. The next day Joseph wrote Emma, “I do not know where I shall go, or what I shall do, but shall if possible endeavor to get to the city of washington.” Jessee, Personal Writings, 616. Other accounts record the Prophet’s intention to head west towards the Rocky Mountains. “The way is open. It is clear to my mind what to do. . . . We will cross the river tonight, and go away to the West.” History of the Church, 6:545–46. Joseph F. Smith, who was nearly six years old at the time, remembered, “The last time I saw [Joseph] was when he crossed the river, he and my father, from Iowa back to Nauvoo, after they had started for the Rocky Mountains; for let me tell you that the Prophet Joseph contemplated journeying to these mountains for the purpose of looking out a gathering place for the people of God. Being constantly persecuted by his enemies, he laid his plans to slip out of their grasp and way, and come out to these mountains to explore them with a view to seeking out a place where the people of God could be gathered and worship God in peace and according to the dictates of their own consciences. But some of these false brethren, of whom I have been speaking, raised the hue and cry that only a false shepherd flew from the flock when the wolves approached. He was upbraided by some of those false brethren of being a false shepherd. When that word came to him he was wounded in his feelings, and so hurt that he turned round and said: ‘If this is all my friends care for my life, why should I care for it?’ And he returned home and went, as he said, ‘like a lamb to the slaughter’” (Joseph F. Smith, Collected Discourses, comp. and ed. Brian H. Stuy, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif.: B. H. S. Publishing, 1987–92], 5:28).

24. Albert Brown perhaps learned of this statement of the Prophet from the Times and Seasons July 15, 1844, article, which recorded Joseph as saying, “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter: but I am calm as a summer’s morning: I have a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward all men: I shall die innocent.” “The Murder,” Times and Seasons 5 (July 15, 1844): 585 (emphasis in original). The Prophet’s final entry in his History was, “I told Stephen Markham that if I and Hyrum were ever taken again we should be massacred, or I was not a prophet of God. I want Hyrum to live to avenge my blood, but he is determined not to leave me.” History of the Church, 6:546 (emphasis in original). In response to those who pled with him not to go to Carthage, Joseph replied, “If I do not go there, the result will be the destruction of this city and its inhabitants; and I cannot think of my dear brothers and sisters and their children suffering the scenes of Missouri again in Nauvoo; no, it is better for your brother, Joseph, to die for his brothers and sisters, for I am willing to die for them. My work is finished; the Lord has heard my prayers and has promised that we shall have rest” (Dan Jones, “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother, Hyrum,” trans., Ronald D. Dennis, BYU Studies 24, no. 1 [1984]: 85).

25. When Joseph and Hyrum arrived in Carthage, the soldiers “shouted obscenities and threatened ‘to shoot the damned Mormons.’” Leonard, Nauvoo, 378. Colonel Thomas Geddes inquired of Governor Ford if he would interfere with the assassination of the Smiths. “No, I will not, . . . until you are through!” the governor replied. Wicks and Foister, Junius and Joseph, 163.

26. Joseph had been arrested on a writ for rioting. Having lured him to Carthage, his adversaries then proceeded to charge him with treason—a capital crime that was punishable by hanging. Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, 18. This explains the interchange between the Prophet and Dr. Willard Richards, “‘If we go into the cell, will you go in with us?’ The doctor answered, ‘Brother Joseph you did not ask me to cross the river with you—you did not ask me to come to Carthage—you did not ask me to come to jail with you—and do you think I would forsake you now? But I will tell you what I will do; if you are condemned to be hung for treason, I will be hung in your stead, and you shall go free.’ Joseph said ‘You cannot.’ The doctor replied, ‘I will’” (History of the Church, 6:16).

27. Major Franklin Worrell, who was supposed to protect the Prophet as an officer of the guard at the jail, warned Dan Jones, “We have had too much trouble to bring Old Joe here to let him ever escape alive, and unless you want to die with him you had better leave before sundown; and you are not a damned bit better than him for taking his part, and you’ll see that I can prophesy better than Old Joe, for neither he nor his brother, nor anyone who will remain with them will see the sun set today.” History of the Church, 6:602.

28. Governor Ford acted as a “Judas,” leaving Carthage knowing of the plot against the Prophet. Ford had given his word to Joseph that “if I go [to Nauvoo], I will certainly take you along.” Wicks and Foister, Junius and Joseph, 162–63. Breaking his promise, the Governor traveled to Nauvoo where he spoke to 5,000 Saints gathered to hear news of their beloved leader. Many Church members, including Porter Rockwell and Stephen Markham, believed the Governor’s trip was planned as a pretext to give the mob an opportunity to kill the Prophet while providing an alibi for the Governor. See Wicks and Foister, Junius and Joseph, 191–92.

29. For a list of men who were possibly involved, see History of the Church, 7:142–43. Recent scholarship implicates John C. Elliot as the man “who shot the fatal bullet into the breast of the Prophet Joseph.” Wicks and Foister, Junius and Joseph, 176–78, 239–42.

30. This account is one of three contemporary accounts that describes the mob as having painted faces rather than merely “blackened” ones. See Leonard, Nauvoo, 724 n. 37.

31. Shortly after 5:00 pm.

32. Accounts do not agree on whether Joseph was shot after he hit the ground. Leonard argues that he was not. Leonard, Nauvoo, 397, 725 n. 50. The authors of Junius and Joseph argue that Joseph was indeed shot while leaning against the well on the ground. Wicks and Foister, Junius and Joseph, 178–80 n. 76.

33. Hyrum was also hit by four balls. Willard Richards, an eyewitness, recorded that the first shot entered “the side of his nose” causing Hyrum to fall backwards onto the floor. After exclaiming, “I am a dead man,” another musket ball grazed his chest, passed through his throat, and entered his head. “Two Minutes in Jail,” History of the Church, 6:619–20.

34. At nearly the same moment, one ball hit John Taylor in the left leg just below the knee (giving him a limp for the rest of his life) and another struck his pocket watch, stopping it at 5:16 pm. He was also shot in the left wrist and left hip, “cutting away a piece of flesh . . . as large as a man’s hand.” “Two Minutes in Jail,” in History of the Church 6:620.

35. Brigham Young later recounted, “I recollect a promise Joseph gave to Willard [Richards] at a certain time when he clothed him with a priestly garment. Said he, ‘Willard, never go without this garment on your body, for you will stand where the balls will fly around you like hail and men will fall dead by your side, and if you will never part with this garment there never shall a ball injure you.’ I heard him say this (voice in the stand: ‘So did I.’) It is true. When the mob shot Joseph, Willard was there and Br. Taylor was in the room. I have nothing to say about the rest. You know about it. Willard obeyed the words of the Prophet. He said, ‘I will die before I part with this garment.’ The balls flew around him, riddled his clothes, and shaved a passage through one of his whiskers” (Brigham Young, Brigham Young Addresses, 1860–1864: A Chronological Compilation of Known Addresses of the Prophet Brigham Young, comp. and ed. Elden J. Watson, 6 vols. [Salt Lake City: Elden J. Watson, 1980] 4:1, July 14, 1861; original in Church Archives).

36. Those indicted were John Wills, William Voras, William N. Grover, Jacob C. Davis, Mark Aldrich, Thomas C. Sharp, Levi Williams, Gallaher, and Allen. Only five men were brought to trial: Sharp, Williams, Aldrich, Davis, and Grover. Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, 51–52.

37. No one was convicted for the murders of Joseph and Hyrum. “Those who were charged with the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and judged by their peers not guilty of murder resumed their lives. . . . Then, despite legends to the contrary, they lived out their lives as respected citizens with successful careers in their communities.” Leonard, Nauvoo, 416.

Timothy Merrill

BYU Studies Publications