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“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” December 1839–October 1840

Installment 1, December 1839 Page 17 Installment 2, January 1840 Page 33 Installment 3, February 1840 Page 49 Installment 4, March 1840 Page 65 Installment 5, April 1840 Page 81 Installment 6, May 1840 Page 97 Installment 7, June 1840 Page 113 Installment 8, July 1840 Page 129 Installment 9, August 1840 Page 145 Installment 10, September 1840 Page 161 Installment 11, October 1840 Page 177

Source Note

“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in ,” in Times and Seasons (Commerce/Nauvoo, IL), vol. 1, nos. 2–12: Dec. 1839, pp. 17–20; Jan. 1840, pp. 33–36; Feb. 1840, pp. 49–51; Mar. 1840, pp. 65–66; Apr. 1840, pp. 81–82; May 1840, pp. 97–99; June 1840, pp. 113–116; July 1840, pp. 129–131; Aug. 1840, pp. 145–150; Sept. 1840, pp. 161–165; Oct. 1840, pp. 177, 184–185; edited by and . The copy used for transcription is currently part of a bound volume held at CHL; includes light marginalia and archival marking.
Each segment in the eleven-part series begins on the first page of its respective number of the Times and Seasons. Each issue comprises eight leaves (sixteen pages) that measure 8⅝ x 5¼ inches (22 x 13 cm). The text on each page is set in two columns. At some point, the editors of the Times and Seasons reset and reprinted the December 1839 and January 1840 issues of the Times and Seasons; based on textual analysis, the version used for transcription appears to be the earlier typesetting of both. It is unknown how long this volume has been in church custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:94–95.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

Historical Introduction

While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the Saints, and to “ in particular,” in which he called for the Saints to gather up “a knoledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them” in that they might publish the records “to all the world” and “present them to the heads of the government.” Apparently in response to this assignment, Edward Partridge wrote a history that became the first three installments of “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” an eleven-part series published in the church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, between December 1839 and October 1840. This series gave the first extended account of the Missouri period to be printed in the Latter-day Saint press. The editors of the Times and Seasons, and , announced in its first issue that the newspaper would “commence publishing the history of the disturbances in Missouri, in regular series,” and the first installment appeared in the second issue.
“A History, of the Persecution” begins with ’s account of the conflicts in the early 1830s. Partridge was a bishop of the church in Missouri, first in , then in following the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from Jackson, and finally in after the Saints relocated from Clay. By the time he wrote this account of the Mormons’ experiences in Missouri, the Saints had been exiled from the state and had relocated to . Partridge lived first at Pittsfield, then at . In July 1839 he settled in the area, where he served again as a bishop in the new Mormon community being established there. Partridge’s narrative is based on firsthand observations and may also have relied on other records he kept. The manuscript version of the history begins, “In presenting to our readers a history of the persecutions,” indicating that Partridge wrote it for publication purposes. He may have intended to tell the entire Missouri story himself, but he fell ill shortly after publication of the “History of the Persecution” began, and he died 27 May 1840.
The fourth installment of “History, of the Persecution” provides a brief transition from ’s account, which ends in 1836 as the Saints were settling in what became , to the conflicts in Caldwell and adjoining counties beginning in 1838. Though the source or author of this portion is not known, it may have been written by editors and . Perhaps prompted by Partridge’s illness, the editors sought elsewhere for source materials to continue the series. In April 1840, the fifth installment reprinted passages from ’s History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839), and the sixth in May excerpted ’s An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri (Cincinnati: Glezan and Shepard, 1840). In June the editors again excerpted Pratt’s History of the Late Persecution, and in the three articles published from July to September they reprinted more of Rigdon’s work. The series concluded in the October 1840 issue with a reprint of the speech that , a major general of the Missouri state militia, made to the Latter-day Saints at , Caldwell County, on 5 November 1838.
The “History, of the Persecution” is representative of the many histories and individual petitions written at the time to document the Saints’ experiences in . Its excerpts from ’s History of the Late Persecution and ’s Appeal to the American People provide a useful sampling of two published histories of the period and demonstrate that documenting these events was a widespread effort. Publication in the church’s periodical lent credibility to the series and ensured that it was the source from which many new Mormon converts learned the details of the church’s history in Missouri. What they read was not the work of neutral historians detached from the events described. When , Pratt, and Rigdon wrote their histories, the persecutions and injustices against them were still fresh in their memories. All three authors suffered personally during the Missouri hardships, and as they and other Saints undertook to write about their experiences, their primary focus was to fulfill JS’s directive—to obtain redress by making known the “nefarious and murderous impositions that have been practiced upon this people.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the church members and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 123:1, 6]. An edited and slightly shortened version of the letter was published in two parts in the Times and Seasons, May and July 1840. The instruction to record the Saints’ Missouri history was part of the July installment. (“Copy of a Letter, Written by J. Smith Jr. and Others, While in Prison,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:99–104; “An Extract of a Letter Written to Bishop Partridge, and the Saints in General,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:131–134.)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  2. [2]

    “A Word to the Saints,” Times and Seasons, July 1839, 1:12. After the first copies of the first number were printed in July, publication of the Times and Seasons halted for several months because both editors fell ill amidst a malaria outbreak in the Commerce, Illinois, area. The first number was reissued under the date November 1839.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  3. [3]

    Edward Partridge, Miscellaneous papers, CHL. This collection of Partridge papers includes other autobiographical writings about Missouri events.

    Partridge, Edward. Miscellaneous Papers, ca. 1839–May 1840. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Partridge, History, manuscript, Edward Partridge, Miscellaneous Papers, CHL. Significant differences between the first three installments of “History, of the Persecution” and the Partridge manuscript are described in footnotes herein.

    Partridge, Edward. Miscellaneous Papers, ca. 1839–May 1840. CHL.

  5. [5]

    No manuscript is known to exist for Pratt’s published pamphlet. Rigdon is not named as the author on the title page of Appeal to the American People, but he is credited as such in the “History, of the Persecution” series and in advertisements for the pamphlet in the Times and Seasons. A manuscript version of Rigdon’s Appeal to the American People, titled “To the Publick” and inscribed by George W. Robinson, is found in the JS Collection at the Church History Library. Many textual differences exist between the manuscript and Appeal to the American People, and the editors of the Times and Seasons clearly used the published pamphlet, not the manuscript, as their source. (“History, of the Persecution,” May 1840, 1:99; Advertisement, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:272.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  6. [6]

    Earlier published accounts of the Jackson County conflicts from Latter-day Saints include the broadside “The Mormons,” So Called, dated 12 December 1833, and its reprint in The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]–[2]; a series titled “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” published in The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833–Mar. 1834 and May–June 1834; John P. Greene’s pamphlet Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order” (Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839); and John Taylor’s eight-page work, A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, Upon the Latter Day Saints (Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839).

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  7. [7]

    JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the church members and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 123:5].

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

Page 162

care of them, or from the pain of seeing them starve to death, by stealing them. An arrangement was made in which it was stipulated that a committee of twelve, which had been previously appointed, should have the privilege of going from to for the term of four weeks, for the purpose of conveying their crops from to . The committee were to wear white badges on their hats for their protectoin.
But in a short time after this arrangement was made, withdrew with his army, and the mob rose up as soon as the army had gone, and forbid the Committee from coming again into under pain of death. By this the mob secured unto themselves several hundred thousand bushels of corn, besides large quantities of oats, and the saints were left to seek their bread and shelter where they could find it.
We will now return to the prisoners in . Shortly after our arrival in , Colonel from the army of , came with orders from who was commander-in-chief of the expedition, to have us forwarded forthwith to . Accordingly, on Thursday morning, November 8th, with three guards only, and they had been obtained with great difficulty, after laboring all the previous day to get them. Between and Roy’s ferry, on the , they all got drunk, and we got possession of their arms and horses. It was late in the afternoon, near the setting of the sun. We travelled about half a mile after we crossed the river, and put up for the night. The next morning there came a number of men some of them armed, their threatenings and savage appearance were such as to make us afraid to proceed without more guards. A messenger was therefore despached to to obtain them. We started before their arrival, but had not gone far before we met with a guard, if we recollect right of seventy four men. As to the number, however, we are not certain: and were conducted by them to and put into an old vacant house, and a guard set. Sometime through the course of that day, came in and we were introduced to him. We enquired of him the reason why we had been thus carried from our homes and what were the charges against us. He said that he was not then able to determine, but would be in a short time, and with very little more conversasion withdrew. Some short time after he had withdrawn, came in with two chains in his hands, and a number of padlocks. The two chains he fastened together. He had with him ten men armed, who stood at the time of these operations with a thumb upon the cock of their guns. They first nailed down the windows, then came and ordered a man by the name of John Fulkerson whom he had with him, to chain us together with chains and padlcks, being seven in number. After that, he searched us, examining our pockets to see if we had any arms; finding nothing but pocket knives, he took them and conveyed them off.
spent several days in searching the statutes of to find some authority to hold a Court Martial. (The troops said that he had promised when they left, that there were two or three that they should have the privilege of shooting before they returned.) But he could find none, and after a fruitless search of a number of days he came again to see us and informed us that he would turn us over to the civil authorities for trial. Accordingly, the trial commenced; on the bench, and , attorney. This was surely a new kind of Court: it was not an inquisition nor yet a criminal court, but a compound between. A looker on would be convinced that both the judge and attorney were not satisfied that some or all of the prisoners had been guilty of some criminal act or acts, but on the contrary that their object was to try by all means in their power to get some person to swear some criminal thing aginst us, through [though] they were innocent.
The first act of the court was to send out a body of armed men, to obtain witnesses without any civil process whatever; and after witnesses were brought before the court, they were sworn at bayonet point. Dr. was the first brought [p. 162]
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Editorial Title
“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” December 1839–October 1840
ID #
6553
Total Pages
39
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Footnotes

  1. [237]

    The committee of Latter-day Saints responsible to sell and exchange Mormon livestock and crops consisted of William Huntington as foreman, William Earl, Elijah B. Gaylor, William Hale, Henry Herriman, Mayhew Hillman, Henry Humphrey, John Reed, Oliver Snow, Daniel Stanton, Benjamin S. Wilbur, and Z. Wilson. (Huntington, Diaries of William Huntington, 6–7.)

    Huntington, William. Diaries of William Huntington. [Provo, UT]: Brigham Young University Library, 1952–1953. Copy at CHL.

  2. [238]

    William Huntington reported that committee members were allowed to function in Daviess County for only one month, although their permits stated they could continue their efforts throughout the winter. Huntington wrote that they “collected many of our cattle horses sheep waggons and other property” and hauled some corn, but he calculated they were forced to leave 29,465 bushels of corn unharvested. The Latter-day Saints’ preemption rights to the Daviess County lands they occupied lapsed by the third week of November 1838, while military occupation made redeeming them impossible. Within forty-five days of the lapse, other Missourians purchased more than eighteen thousand acres in Daviess County, including all of Adam-ondi-Ahman. The new owners therefore likely had legal support for not allowing Latter-day Saints to harvest crops from properties that had officially changed hands. (Huntington, Diaries of William Huntington, 6–7; see also Walker, “Mormon Land Rights,” 41–46.)

    Huntington, William. Diaries of William Huntington. [Provo, UT]: Brigham Young University Library, 1952–1953. Copy at CHL.

    Walker, Jeffrey N. “Mormon Land Rights in Caldwell and Daviess Counties and the Mormon Conflict of 1838: New Findings and New Understandings.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mormon History Association, Salt Lake City, 24–27 May 2007.

  3. [239]

    On 6 November, General Samuel D. Lucas received a copy of Lilburn W. Boggs’s 1 November orders to Clark, which gave the latter overall command of the operation against the Mormons.a Boggs had further instructed that if Lucas wished to lead his own troops in the campaign he was to “waive” his rank and serve as a brigadier general under Clark.b With this clarification of Clark’s superior authority, Lucas surrendered his prisoners at Independence to Lieutenant Colonel Sterling Price, who transported them to Richmond.c

    (aSamuel D. Lucas, Independence, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 11 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. bLilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, 6 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. cJohn B. Clark, Jefferson City, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 29 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  4. [240]

    Clark reported that 7 November he sent Sterling Price to Richmond in command of two companies to take custody of the prisoners but that Price had to retrieve them from Independence instead. Evidently Price dismissed his troops before reaching Independence and had difficulty recruiting replacements to accompany him and the prisoners from Independence to Richmond. (John B. Clark, Richmond, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 10 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  5. [241]

    As late as 10 November, Clark was considering the possibility of a court-martial for JS and other Latter-day Saint leaders “as a dernier [last] resort.” That day he wrote to Governor Boggs requesting him to solicit the Missouri attorney general’s opinion on whether the prisoners could be charged with “having mutinied in time of war.”a However, later that same day the prisoners were informed that their case would be considered by civil authorities. Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight reported that Clark also sought information from Fort Leavenworth about any applicable provisions in military law.b By the time Boggs responded on 19 November that “the Civil law must govern,”c the court of inquiry, or preliminary hearing, for JS and the other Latter-day Saint leaders had been underway for a week.

    (aJohn B. Clark, Richmond, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 10 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. bHyrum Smith, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, pp. 17–18, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; History of the Reorganized Church, 2:297. cLilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, 19 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

    The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 8 vols. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1896–1976.

  6. [242]

    The task of the court of inquiry, which commenced 12 November 1838, was to determine not guilt or innocence, but whether there was “probable cause to believe the prisoner guilty” of an offense. If probable cause was found, the case was to be tried at the next term of the appropriate court. (An Act to Regulate Proceedings in Criminal Cases [21 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, pp. 476–477, art. 2, sec. 22.)

    The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.

  7. [243]

    Hyrum Smith later contradicted Sidney Rigdon on this point, testifying that subpoenas were issued for about forty witnesses for the defense. (Hyrum Smith, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, p. 18, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

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