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David W. Kilbourne to Rev. T. Dent, June 29, 1844

By John W. Welch and Brooke R. LeFevre
book cover
Views from the Iowa Side of the Mississippi River
Page 251

Source Note

David W. Kilbourne, Letter, Fort Madison, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to Thomas Dent, England, June 29, 1844. David W. Kilbourne Papers, 1818–1914, Special Collections, State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines. Published in Warren A. Jennings, “The Lynching of an American Prophet,” BYU Studies 40, no. 1 (2001): 207–11.

Historical Introduction

The martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on June 27, 1844, has captured the attention of numerous historians, Latter-day Saints and non–Latter-day Saints alike. The events of that day and the days leading up to it have been researched and written about extensively.

David Kilbourne’s letter, written so soon after the incident, gives an interesting outsider view on the events of that day. While Kilbourne was not in Carthage, he was in Nauvoo and interacted with Illinois Governor Thomas Ford and was able to observe the Smith family as they learned of the deaths while staying at the Nauvoo Mansion House. His account of the martyrdom itself is thus secondhand but his interactions with Ford may have provided him a unique insight into the events. His decision to return to Nauvoo after hearing of the martyrdom while keeping that information to himself allowed him to simply observe reactions while others learned what he already knew. This letter thus provides a compelling account of Nauvoo directly before and after the martyrdom.

Document Transcript

Fort Madison
June 29th 1844
7 O Clock P. M.

Revd. T. Dent
Billington
near Whalley Lancashire England

My dear Sir

I hasten to inform you of the wonderful events which have taken place at Nauvoo since my letter to you a few days since. The work of death has commenced. The Mormon Prophet Joe Smith & his brother Hyrum are no more. I have just returned from Nauvoo & I this day looked upon the lifeless remains of these two men—the great heads & leaders of Mormonism. Their work of infamy is finished & their dupes about two hours since committed their remains to the silent grave. But I will hasten to give you the particulars as full as I am able in a single letter. I believe I mentioned in my last that Gov[ernor] Ford was at Carthage & had ordered out troops to enforce the laws.1

As soon as the Gov. arrived at C[arthage] he found that the people were determined to march to Nauvoo for the purpose of arresting Joe & all the members of the City Council for destroying the press & for other crimes—the Gov on the 21st sent messengers to Joe ordering him & the council to appear at C[arthage] & answer to the numerous charges which had been preferred vs him.2

This created excitement at Nauvoo—Joe called a meeting of the Council—He & some of the council would at this crisis have fled from the town & made their escape from justice; but most of the leaders & his people in general would not suffer him to do so.3 They knew by this time that if he did not go to Carthage—that the military forces & the people would march to the City—& if Joe could not be found that under the excitement vengence would fall upon the heads of the innocent as well as the guilty—in the destruction of their City.4 Joe finally decided to give himself up and on Monday the 24th Inst with the other members of the Council & an attorney from this place started for Carthage when within about four miles of C[arthage] they met a posse sent by the Gov to Nauvoo to arrest Joe—they all surrendered & were taken into custody—this was on the open Prairie.5 This done the officer in Command, presented an order to Joe from the Gov. for all the arms at Nauvoo belonging to the State.6 Joe after a moments consultation endorsed the order & the posse with Joe & his men returned to Nauvoo & recd all the arms & took them with Joe & his men to Carthage.

On their arrival at Carthage they appeared before a magistrate & entered into recognizance for their appearance at the next term of the Hancock Circuit Court to answer to the charge of riot on which they had been arrested.7 Joe & Hyrum were immediately arrested again on charge of Treason against the State of Illinois & committed to Jail to await their examination. On Wednesday the 26th Inst they were brought before a magistrate, and time was given until 12 O Clock, Thursday, to get witnesses ready for trial. On the same day the Gov held a council of Officers, and determined to march all the troops with the exception of one company, into the City of Nauvoo. The examination of Smit[h] in consequence of this determination to march to Nauvoo was postponed until Saturday the 29th Inst.

On Thursday morning 27 Inst the order for all the troops to march to Nauvoo were for some cause countermanded. Most of the troops at Carthage some 800 in number were discharged. One company of some 50 men were left at Carthage to protect the prisoners, only eight of this Company were stationed at the Jail as guards while the remainder of the Company were in Camp a quarter of a mile distant.8

The Gov with some 60 horsemen marched to Nauvoo where he made a speech to the Mormons telling them of the excitement that was abroad against them & the dangerous ground on which they stood.9

In the absence of the Gov. & about 4 O Clock P.M. of this Thursday 27th day of June, an armed and disguished [sic] band of men, about two hundred in number attacked the Jail—overpowered the guard of eight men, entered the Jail and shot both the Smiths. Hyram received a ball in the head, and mearly [sic] had time to exclaim “I am a dead man,” and expired; Joe received a number of balls which pierced his body, some while still in the Jail, some while he was in the act of leaping from the window of the Jail, and others after he reached the ground, he exclaimed “O god”—and expired.10

Elder [John] Taylor who was also in the jail received several flesh wounds, is considered dangerous.11 The disguished band immediately escaped to the woods & were not pursued for want of force sufficient to take them. They were all disguished with paint, & of course not known.

There is but one feeling throughout this country in regard to this last tragedy, & that is, that merited vengence had fallen on the right men, at the same time all regret that it happened while he was a prisoner & had a right to expect protection. It is regretted because his followers will now claim that he died a martyr when if he could have been tried on the charges & convicted he would have died a felon.

On Thursday morning I determined to go to Carthage 18 miles distant for the purpose of seeing for myself & learning the true state of the case—but after I got over the river I concluded to go down to Nauvoo. There I found Mr. Ford & his company & heard him make his speech. The Gov invited me to go to Carthage with them that evening & about sunset we set out when about 4 miles out we met a messenger with the inteligence [sic] that Joe & Hyrum were dead. The Gov fearing to have the inteligence go to Nauvoo took the man in charge & proceeded on towards Carthage.

As it was after dark I turned about myself unnoticed & went back to Nauvoo & put up at Joes tavern where several of my friends from this place were stop[p]ing over night which circumstance made me feel more secure.12

I soon retired without mentioning the circumstance to any one for I could hardly believe it. About 4 O Clock the next morning Friday June 28th the same messenger arrived at Joes tavern confirming the news. I immediately dressed & went down, saw Joes wife & children about the house, but saw no manifestations of grief on the part of any one save Joes mother who made her appearance at the door in the course of the morning & enquired who had killed her sons.13

The Mormons were told by their principal men to be quiet, to be calm to make no threats—and to remain quiet in the City, as the only possible means of preventing their entire extermination. I remaind [sic] here until this evening—they are still in a great state of alarm—& I doubt not they have reason to be. The troops are rallying at Carthage & the people at Warsaw, Quincy & other towns. The people say that they must scatter—that there are 12 men yet in Nauvoo who must be brought to Justice.14 Every body who is able to get away is doing so. I do not myself think that there will be any further hostilities at present—but there may be.

I called at a small house in Nauvoo the other day where I found an English family. They had been there but 12 weeks, had resided & [word illegible] in Missouri. They told me that they came from Clith[e]roe, Lancashire—The mans name is Stephen Longstroth.15 I found them an interesting family. There was three daughters—young women—he has an acre of ground there & a fine garden. He told me that he had heard you preach many a time . . .

Notes

1. Thomas Ford, the governor of Illinois from 1842 to 1846, has been accused by many Latter-day Saints as being involved in events related to the martyrdom. He later wrote A History of Illinois from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847 (Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co., 1854) which has been dubbed as a sort of apologia. Carthage, which was the county seat of Hancock County, was about eighteen miles southeast of Nauvoo.

2. Kilbourne discussed the destruction of the press for the Nauvoo Expositor in his letter on June 15, 1844. See pp. 247–48 herein.

3. Kilbourne, now living further north in Fort Madison, Iowa, seems unaware of Joseph Smith’s trip across the river to Montrose, Iowa, before deciding to give himself up and go to Carthage, Illinois. For an account of the events and reasons for Joseph’s coming to Iowa that day, see John W. Welch, “Joseph Smith’s Quest in Iowa on Sunday, June 23, Securing Legal Representation before Leaving for Carthage on June 24, 1844,” in Joseph Smith: A Life Lived in Crescendo, ed. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, 2 vols. (The Interpreter Foundation; Eborn Books, 2024), 2:625–84. See also Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill, Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith (University of Illinois Press, 1975), 16–17; and Stanley B. Kimball, “Nauvoo West: The Mormons of the Iowa Shore,” BYU Studies 18, no. 2 (1978): 142.

4. Joseph Smith declared martial law in Nauvoo on June 18, 1844. John E. Hallwas and Roger D. Launius, Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois (Utah State University Press, 1995), 190.

5. This attorney is James W. Woods. See “History, 1838–1856, Volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844],” 134, Joseph Smith Papers, Church Historian’s Press, accessed August 8, 2019, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-f-1-1-may-1844-8-august-1844/140.

6. The commanding officer was James Dunn, and the arms were about 250 muskets and other material granted to the Nauvoo Legion by the state of Illinois. “Appendix 3: Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844,” [20], Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 8, 2019, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/appendix-3-willard-richards-journal-excerpt-23-27-june-1844/2; Richard L. Saunders, “Officers and Arms: The 1843 General Return of the Nauvoo Legion’s Second Cohort,” BYU Studies 35, no. 2 (1995): 138–51.

7. The magistrate was Robert F. Smith, captain of the Carthage Greys. The Greys were the military force instructed to protect the Carthage Jail during Joseph Smith and the others’ imprisonments. Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, 17–18, 20, 121, 160.

8. The company relegated the task of protecting the jail during the time of the martyrdom was the Carthage Greys, notoriously antagonist towards the Latter-day Saints. Glen M. Leonard, Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise (Deseret Book; Brigham Young University Press, 2002), 378–85, 393–94.

9. Thomas Ford later wrote in his History of Illinois that the officers insisted he go to Nauvoo “to terrify the Mormons from attempting any open or secret measures of vengeance,” and that when he did go to Nauvoo, he delivered an address which told them “what degree of excitement and hatred prevailed against them in the minds of the whole people, and that if any open or secret violence should be committed on the persons or property of those who had taken part against them, that no one would doubt but that it had been perpetrated by them, and that it would be the sure and certain means of the destruction of their city and the extermination of their people.” Thomas Ford, History of Illinois, From Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1854), 1:342.

10. Willard Richards recounted that Joseph Smith’s last words were “O Lord my God!” Willard Richards, “Two Minutes in Jail,” Nauvoo (Ill.) Neighbor, July 24, 1844, [3]. For Latter-day Saint accounts of the martyrdom, see “Appendix 3: Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844,” [20], Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 10, 2019, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/appendix-3-willard-richards-journal-excerpt-23-27-june-1844/2; “Awful Assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,” Times and Seasons 5, no. 12 (July 1, 1844): 560–61; Leonard, Nauvoo, 380–410; Richard Lyman Bushman with Jed Woodworth, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (Alfred Knopf, 2005), 544–50. For more non–Latter-day Saint accounts of the martyrdom, see Hallwas and Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 222–37.

11. John Taylor was an English convert and would later succeed Brigham Young as the third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was present in Carthage Jail when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. Richards, “Two Minutes in Jail,” [3]. For a more complete work on Taylor’s life, see Francis M. Gibbons, John Taylor: Mormon Philosopher, Prophet of God (Deseret Book, 1985).

12. The “tavern” refers to the Nauvoo Mansion House.

13. Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, endured another tragedy when another one of her sons, Samuel, died of natural causes on July 30, 1844. William Smith was the only of her six sons to survive her. B. W. Richmond, a non–Latter-day Saint who arrived at the Mansion House that morning, reported the reaction of the Smith family a little differently. He said, “When I entered the mansion I found the wife of Joseph seated in a chair in the centre of a small room, weeping and wailing bitterly, in a loud and unrestrained voice, her face covered with her hands. . . . The first words the poor woman uttered were: ‘Why, O God, am I thus afflicted? Why am I a widow and my children orphans? Thou knowest I have always trust in Thy Law.’ . . . I passed into the next room, and the aged mother of Joseph and Hyrum came up to me, with a gaze of wild despair, and clasping me with both hands she asked me why they had shot her dear children. Her eyes were dry, and her anguish seemed too deep for tears. She paced the room, turned around, went to the window, and then to the door of the room where Joseph’s wife was still weeping.” B. W. Richmond, “The Prophet’s Death!” Deseret News, November 27, 1875, 2, reprinted from the Chicago Times.

14. While Kilbourne might be referring to the Apostles, who certainly feared for their lives, he could very likely be referring to the men charged with ordering and carrying out the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press. Many of the Twelve Apostles were far from Nauvoo currently preaching and electioneering for Joseph Smith’s presidency, yet unaware of the martyrdom.

15. Stephen and Ann Gill Longstroth joined the Church in Clitheroe, Lancashire, in 1838. After several more years in England, they decided to move to Nauvoo, setting sail from Liverpool on February 5, 1842. They stayed in St. Louis, Missouri, until they moved to Nauvoo in 1844. Both Ann and Stephen set about being baptized for their ancestors in the Nauvoo Temple as early as July 1844, and Stephen was called to be a carpenter for the temple in December 1844. They later traveled to Utah and lived there the remainder of their lives. See Leo William Goates, “Biography of Stephen and Ann Gill Longstroth,” MS 14414, Church History Library.