American Crucifixion
Page 30
9. SURRENDER
151“I do not know where”: Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1994), p. 186.
152“Some were tried”: Ronald K. Esplin, “Life in Nauvoo, June 1844: Vilate Kimball’s Martyrdom Letters,” BYU Studies 19 (2) (1979).
152“Mind your own business”: Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, p. 187.
152“I believed the governor to be”: Wandle Mace, “Autobiography (1809–1846),” typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, Utah, p. 49; Dan Jones, “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum,” BYU Studies 24 (Winter 1984).
153“You always said”: B. H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed., rev., vol. 6 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978), p. 545ff; Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, p. 187ff.
154“It is of no use to hurry”: Fawn Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), p. 386; Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 551.
154“If anything should happen”: Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, p. 189.
154“I go as a lamb”: Ibid., p. 190.
155“This is the loveliest place”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 554.
156“I saw a large, well dressed”: B. W. Richmond, “The Prophet’s Death,” Deseret News, November 27, 1875.
157“write out the best blessing”: Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, p. 191.
157“Hodge, there are the boys”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 558.
157“Where is the damned prophet?”: Ibid., pp. 559–560.
158“No one could close his ears”: George Turnbull Moore Davis, The Autobiography of the late Col. Geo. T.M. Davis (New York: Jenkins and McCowan, 1891).
160“The Greys commenced”: John Hallwas and Roger Launius, Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1995), p. 224.
160“a hundred men loaded to shoot”: Susan Easton Black, “Esquire James Weston Woods: Legal Counsel to Joseph Smith,” Mormon Historical Studies (Fall 2003).
160“No!” they cried: Warsaw Signal, June 29, 1844.
161“It was evident”: John S. Fullmer, Assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Liverpool, England: F. D. Richards, 1855).
161“such bare-faced, illegal”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 570.
162“General Smith asked them”: B. H. Roberts, The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1900), p. 302.
162Richmond “told him plainly”: Deseret News, November 27, 1875.
163“I have had an interview”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 565.
164“Bless this little man!”: Jones, “Martyrdom,” p. 88.
164“make us as comfortable”: Kenneth W. Godfrey, “Correspondence Between William R. Hamilton and Samuel H. B. Smith Regarding the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,” Nauvoo Journal (Fall 1999).
164saved a foundering ship: Jones, “Martyrdom,” p. 100.
165several Greys left their posts: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 592.
165“great bulwark”: Ibid., p. 579ff.
166“It’s all nonsense!”: Robert Bruce Flanders, Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1965), p. 323.
166Joseph “walked boldly”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 595.
166“Now Old Joe”: Jones, “Martyrdom,” p. 101.
166“committed to jail”: Colonel J. W. Woods, “The Mormon Prophet,” Ottawa Democrat (Ohio), May 13, 1885.
167“like to see my family again”: Ibid.
10. “THE PEOPLE ARE NOT THAT CRUEL”
169“grown up with weeds and brambles”: B. H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed., rev., vol. 6 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978), p. 610.
170“We have had too much trouble”: Dan Jones, “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum,” BYU Studies 24 (Winter 1984).
171“women, inoffensive young persons”: Thomas Ford, Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois in Relation to the Disturbances in Hancock County (Springfield, IL: Walters and Weber, December 21, 1844), p. 12.
171“foul fiend Flibbertigibbet”: John Hay, “The Prophet’s Tragedy,” Atlantic Monthly (December 1869).
172“they were the elite”: Ford, Message of the Governor, pp. 13–14.
172“prisoners’ lives are in grave danger”: B. H. Roberts, The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1900), p. 309.
172“traitors, and midnight assassins”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 607.
173“were determined to kill Joe”: Jones, “Martyrdom,” p. 91.
173You may need that gun: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 608.
173“Governor continues his courtesies”: Ibid., p. 605ff.
175“went out in high glee”: Hay, “Prophet’s Tragedy.”
175father-son team . . . continued terrorizing: Dallin Oaks and Marvin Hill, Carthage Conspiracy (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1979), p. 59.
176“threw out considerable threats”: Dean Jessee, “Return to Carthage: Writing the History of Joseph Smith’s Martyrdom,” Journal of Mormon History 9 (1981).
177“After supper”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 615ff.
178Fourteen-year-old William: Hamilton’s account was published in Foster Walker’s “The Mormons in Hancock County,” Dallas City Review, January 29, 1903.
179“Come on, you cowards”: Eudocia Baldwin Marsh, “Mormons in Hancock County: A Reminiscence,” ed. Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 64 (1) (Spring 1971).
179While the Greys fussed: Roberts, The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo, p. 455.
181“cutting away a piece of flesh”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 620.
182“You are the damned old Chieftain”: LaJean Purcell Carruth, transcriber, “John Taylor’s June 27, 1854, Account of the Martyrdom,” BYU Studies 50 (3) (2011), note 6.
182“Stop, Doctor”: Hamilton letter to Foster Walker, December 24, 1902, in John Hallwas and Roger Launius, Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1995), p. 228.
183faked confrontation with the guards: Willard Richards and John Taylor left detailed accounts of the attack on the jailhouse. Eudocia Baldwin’s memoir appeared in Wilson and Davis, eds., “Mormons in Hancock County.” Greys lieutenant Samuel O. Williams, John Fullmer, and Cyrus Wheelock, and Joseph Smith’s lawyer J. W. Woods (Col. J. W. Woods, “The Mormon Prophet,” Ottawa Democrat [Ohio], May 13, 1885) also left useful accounts of the Carthage events, as did John Hay.
184in a tut-tutting mood: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 623.
184painstakingly carved: David E. Miller and Della S. Miller, Nauvoo: The City of Joseph (Santa Barbara and Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, 1974), p. 116.
185Ford’s account differs: Thomas Ford, A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847 (Chicago: S. C. Griggs, 1845), p. 336.
185patrolled the prairies: Thomas Barnes trial testimony, Illinois v. Williams: Trial of the Persons Indicted in the Hancock County Circuit Court for the Murder of Joseph Smith at the Carthage Jail, on the 27th of June, 1844 (Warsaw, IL, 1845).
186Taylor lay in agony: Roberts, The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo, p. 446ff.
186“nerves like the devil”: Stanley B. Kimball, “Thomas L. Barnes—Coroner of Carthage,” BYU Studies 11 (2) (Winter 1971).
187“Joseph and Hyrum are dead”: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 621.
018700“Joseph is killed!”: Harold Schindler, Orrin Porter Rock
well: Man of God, Son of Thunder (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1966), p. 135.
11. JOSEPH’S HOMECOMING
189“proceeded with all convenient haste”: George Turnbull Moore Davis, The Autobiography of the late Col. Geo. T.M. Davis (New York: Jenkins and McCowan, 1891).
190“Will you be tied”: John Taylor’s excellent memoir of the Carthage events is an appendix in B. H. Roberts, The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1900), p. 404ff.
190“There’s a good lady”: Ibid.
190“I ought to be killed”: Ibid., p. 455.
191“The inhabitants were all out”: Donna Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998); and Susan Easton Black, “The Tomb of Joseph,” in The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson (Provo, UT: Maxwell Institute, 2000).
191“The weeping was communicated”: B. W. Richmond, “The Prophet’s Death,” Deseret News, November 27, 1875.
192“she extended her trembling hand”: Lavina F. Anderson, Lucy’s Book (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001), contextual note Chapter 6.
192“How could they kill”: Deseret News, November 27, 1875; Marvin Hill, Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), p. 153.
192“when I entered the room”: Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), p. 8.
192“the people with one united voice”: B. H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed., rev., vol. 6 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978), p. 626.
193“shot in the right breast”: Ibid., p. 627.
193“She trembled at every step”: Richmond, “The Prophet’s Death.”
194“every business forgotten”: Dan Jones, “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum,” BYU Studies 24 (Winter 1984).
194“the neck and face forming”: Richmond, “The Prophet’s Death.”
195prayer of vengeance “upon the murderers”: William Shepard, “The Concept of a ‘Rejected Gospel’ in Mormon History,” vol. 4, parts 1 and 2, Journal of Mormon History (2008), p. 140; Davis Bitton, “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith in Early Mormon Writings,” John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 3 (1983), p. 8.
196Levi “told me to place”: Shepard, “Concept of a ‘Rejected Gospel,’” p. 142.
196“Their dead bodies”: “Journal of Allen Stout, for the Period 1815–1848,” typescript in Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, Utah, available online at http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/AStout.html.
196“oath of vengeance”: Samuel Morris Brown, In Heaven As It Is on Earth (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 291.
198“All the field officers”: Thomas Ford, Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois in Relation to the Disturbances in Hancock County (Springfield, IL: Walters and Weber, December 21, 1844).
198“I seemed paralyzed”: Bitton, “Martyrdom,” p. 8.
199“the papers were full of News”: Heber Kimball, On the Potter’s Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, ed. Stanley B. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987), chap. 4, available online at http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=1771.
200“Thus Ends Mormonism!”: New York Herald, July 8, 1844.
200Invoking the “noble blood”: John Hay, “The Prophet’s Tragedy,” Atlantic Monthly (December 1869).
201“If the public understood”: George Rockwell, Letters, letter to “Parents,” August 3, 1844, Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, Utah, and Kansas State Historical Society.
201“recent disgraceful affair at Carthage”: Ford, Message of the Governor.
202“He called at a grog shop”: Rockwell, letter to “Parents.”
202future Church . . . might swell: Thomas Ford, A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847 (Chicago: S. C. Griggs, 1845), p. 359.
203Phelps . . . impassioned, incendiary speech: Richard Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker, “The Joseph Smith/Hyrum Smith Funeral Sermon,” BYU Studies 23 (1) (1983).
205“We will petition Sister Emma”: “General Conference,” Millennial Star, October 8, 1845.
205Emma arranged . . . midnight burial: Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1994), pp. 197, 213; Black, “Tomb of Joseph.”
206“The Utah cousins”: Brown, In Heaven, p. 302.
12. TRIAL BY JURY
208“They would have murdered”: John Taylor, “The John Taylor Nauvoo Journal, January 1845–September 1845,” BYU Studies 23 (3) (1983), p. 45.
209“one of the most able”: The Bench and Bar of Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent, vol. 1, ed. John McAuley Palmer (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1899), p. 181.
210Browning . . . “ablest speaker in the state”: Most biographical details of the trial participants come from Dallin Oaks and Marvin Hill, Carthage Conspiracy (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1979), a near-definitive account of the trial. The Church History Library in Salt Lake City offers a digital copy of George Darling Watt’s famous shorthand record of the trial for a nominal fee (“Report of the Trial of the Murderers of Joseph Smith, 1845”).
211“vomited at the feet”: In Lavina F. Anderson, Lucy’s Book (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001), p. 728.
212“a respectable set of men”: Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, p. 22.
212“the finest looking man”: Ibid., p. 76.
212Muskets and sidearms: Ibid., p. 113; Daily Missouri Republican, May 27, 1845.
212wild anti-Mormon onlookers: Thomas Ford, A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847 (Chicago: S. C. Griggs, 1845), p. 368.
213“The eyes of the whole country”: All trial quotes come from Watt’s “Report of the Trial of the Murderers of Joseph Smith, 1845.”
214Lamborn pressed Peyton: Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, p. 118.
216“difficult to imagine anything cooler”: John Hay, “The Prophet’s Tragedy,” Atlantic Monthly (December 1869).
217Daniels said he had ridden: William Daniels, “Correct Account of the Murder of Generals Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith at Carthage, on the 27th Day of June, 1844.”
226“As we anticipated”: John G. Turner, Brigham Young, Pioneer Prophet (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012), p. 122; and Hay, “The Prophet’s Tragedy.”
227“wholly destitute of principle”: Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, p. 174.
227“No one would be convicted”: Ford, A History of Illinois, p. 369.
13. AFTERMATH
233“Secret things cost Joseph”: George D. Smith, ed., An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995), p. 144.
234“Lusty, hot tempered”: Fawn Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), p. 245.
234“wickedness of his brother”: Vicki Cleverley Speek, “God Has Made Us a Kingdom”: James Strang and the Midwest Mormons (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2006), p. 43.
234“He seemed determined”: D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994), p. 152.
235victim of a “bilious fever”: Ibid., p. 153.
236“I have thrown him off”: B. H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed., rev., vol. 6 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978), p. 49.
236Rigdon “leaped for joy”: Andrew F. Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the 1844 Mormon Succession Question,” master’s thesis in history, Brigham Young University, December 1982, p. 102.
237Rigdon saw Joseph Smith in heaven: Richard Van Wagoner, “The Making of a Mormon Myth: The 1844 Transfiguration of Brigham Young,” Dialogue—A Journal of Mormon Thought 28 (4) (Spring 2001), p. 163.
237there must be
a guardian appointed: Ibid.
238The Nauvoo stalwarts scorned: Leonard Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986), p. 112.
238“I expected I should find him”: John G. Turner, Brigham Young, Pioneer Prophet (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012), p. 33.
238poor families making the grisly trek: Roberts, ed., History of the Church, vol. 3, p. 247.
239Joseph assigned the delicate task: Lyndon W. Cook, William Law: Biographical Essay; Nauvoo Diary; Correspondence; Interview (Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994), p. 19.
239“never pretended to be Joseph Smith”: Turner, Brigham Young, p. 114.
239Brigham had his own revelation: Van Wagoner, “Making of a Mormon Myth,” p. 165.
240“He was dry as sticks”: Lynne Watkins Jorgensen, “The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: A Collective Spiritual Witness,” BYU Studies 36 (4) (1996–1997), p. 154.
240Brigham Young’s dramatic entrance: Richard Van Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994), p. 339.
240“I will manage this voting”: Jorgensen, “Mantle of the Prophet,” p. 165.
241Orson Hyde’s dramatic testimony: Van Wagoner, “Making of a Mormon Myth,” p. 168.
242“I know your feelings”: Ibid.
242“Do you want a spokesman?”: Van Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon, pp. 340–341.
243Matthias had a screw loose: Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), p. 275.
243boy named James Colin Brewster: An excellent account of Brewster’s ministry can be found in Dan Vogel, “James Colin Brewster: The Boy Prophet Who Challenged Mormon Authority,” in Differing Visions: Biographical Essays on Mormon Dissenters, ed. Roger D. Launius and Linda Thatcher (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
245“behold my servant James J. Strang”: Speek, “God Has Made Us a Kingdom,” p. 22.
245Strang . . . excommunicated Brigham: Ibid., p. 34; Milo M. Quaife, The Kingdom of Saint James: A Narrative of the Mormons (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1930), p. 43.