Source Note
Laban B. Fleak, Letter, Keokuk, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to Gov. [Thomas] Reynolds, July 12, 1842. Published in Warren A. Jennings, “Two Iowa Postmasters View Nauvoo: Anti-Mormon Letters to the Governor of Missouri,” BYU Studies 11, no. 3 (1971): 278–79.
Historical Introduction
On May 6, 1842, Lilburn Boggs was shot while reading a newspaper in his home in Independence, Missouri. Boggs, who had served as Missouri’s governor from 1836 to 1849 and had issued the infamous extermination order against the Latter-day Saints, was not expected to live and word spread that he had already died, but he eventually did make a full recovery. At first, Missourians had essentially no leads for the attempted assassination.1 On May 14, 1842, just over a week after the attempted assassination, David Kilbourne wrote to the governor of Missouri, Thomas Reynolds, explaining, “I should not entertain a doubt that it was done by some of Joes minions at his instigation.”2 A rumor began to spread that Joseph Smith had prophesied of Boggs’s death. Smith denied this, but many still maintained that he had made such a prophecy.3
This letter, written by Fleak, was written just before John C. Bennett visited Governor Reynolds in St. Louis to obtain a warrant for Joseph Smith.4 Fleak, undoubtedly, hoped to encourage Reynolds to take legal action against Smith.
Document Transcript
Keokuk Iowa Tty July 12th 1842
His Excellency Gov Reynolds
sir
. . .
Genl Bennet, late a Mormon leader now a dissenter goes to you as he tells me for the purpose of giving information touching the attempted assassination of Ex Gov Boggs—It is not doubted here in the least but that the information which he intends to convey to you is literally correct, /i.e./ that he knows who the person is that shot Boggs and that he /Bennet/ can prove Smith’s agency in the matter sufficiently clear to satisfy any person of his participation in the matter.5 Bennet accuses a fellow by the name of Rockwood or Rockwell6 & from some circumstances I suspected him the very day the news reached & I wrote the Post Master of Independence Missouri for a description of the person, who was seen lurking around there about the time the affair took place. It is certain that immediately preceeding the news reaching here of the attempted assassination, Smith stated that he had it revealed to him of God himself that Boggs would not die in his bed.7 If he had not had some knowledge of the contemplated murder, what grounds would he have had for such remarks—None of us are willing to admit that he holds communion with the Diety, without admitting it we are compelled to believe him to be by, proxy, the author of that most foul deed. Ever since he was compelled to leave your State he has denounced the Citizens with heaviest imprecations. Could Treason be made out of words, in the United States, he has certainly been guilty of treason toward Missouri but such is not the case. Nearly his whole conversation & thoughts are taken up by planning the destruction of Missouri and unless checked, depend upon it, he will some day and that before long give your State more trouble than you are aware of or once think of. If his society was composed of men of moral honesty you would know how to meet them, but a majority of them are renegades renegades. Now, Sir do not think this idle speculation, for if you do you will be deceived, grossly deceived.
I know that the Mormons can never seriously affect this soon but they will one day give her a great deal of trouble. A person unacquainted with them knows nothing of the reverential awe with which they receive and obey Smith’s mandates & from the mouths of a majority of them is constantly hearty imprecations against & plans for the destruction of your State.
Smith’s word is law & his prophecies, revelation among them and could you attend one of their military parades (and you could not miss one any day in the year [Sundays excepted] for their city is constantly a military encampment) you would be satisfied that my remarks are not groundless.
Now, Sir, it is in your power to break up this horde of villany and murder by removing its head or leader. Is not Smith a refugee from your State? And does not justice to her citizens require you to demand from Illinois his immediate surrender? Rest assurd your call would be recd with loudest cheers from this quarter & from the adjoining counties on the opposite side of the Mississippi. You can form no idea of the accession that is daily being made to their numbers by the arrival of Foreigners & other persons from different parts of the United States, all filled with hatred to Missouri. There are some good meaning persons among them, I have no doubt, but a large majority of them are villains of the darkest dyes and are as enthusiastic as they are worthless.
I expect to be a Citizen of Missouri shortly & would be glad to see the vile traducer of your State & black assassin of one of her ex Governors brought to Justice.
You will pardon me from intruding myself on you a second time, I take a warmer interest in this matter than I should do, perhaps. . . . I wish the above to be considered as confidential.
L. B. Fleak P. M.
at Keokuk I. T.
1. Glen M. Leonard, Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise (Deseret Book; Brigham Young University Press, 2002), 278–79.
2. D. W. Kilbourne to Governor Reynolds, May 14, 1842, p. 218 herein.
3. For example, George Hinkle wrote to Joseph Smith on June 12, 1842, saying, “That tale in the Herald and Whig denying your having prophecyed in the violent death of Boggs wont do, too many people have hard you myself among the rest.” See “Letter from Hinkle, 12 June 1842,” Joseph Smith Papers, Church Historian’s Press, accessed March 18, 2025, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-from-hinkle-12-june-1842/1.
4. Leonard, Nauvoo, 280.
5. John C. Bennett had been recently discredited by the Saints and removed from his Church offices. He first wrote to Thomas Carlin, governor of Illinois, and published letters in the Sangamo Journal in Springfield voicing his opinion of Orrin Porter Rockwell’s involvement. In July, Bennett went to St. Louis, Missouri, to meet with Reynolds and asked him for a warrant for Smith’s arrest, promising to deliver him to Missouri. See Leonard, Nauvoo, 280.
6. Apparently Bennet was confusing Rockwell with Albert Perry Rockwood, on whom see “Rockwood, Albert Perry,” Joseph Smith Papers, accessed March 18, 2025, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/albert-perry-rockwood.
7. Smith denied making such a prophecy, but the rumor stuck and was perpetuated by many. See Leonard, Nauvoo, 279.
