Skip to main content

Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 February 1840–B

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 February 1840–B

Source Note

, Letter, , to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL?], 20 Feb. 1840. Featured version copied [between Apr. and June 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 96–97; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction

On 20 February 1840, wrote two letters to JS from . In the first letter, Higbee discussed testimony he had presented before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which was considering the ’s memorial to Congress. The letter featured here refers to that account of Higbee’s remarks, indicating that this was the second letter he wrote that day. In this letter, Higbee addressed matters associated with the travel expenses of the church’s delegation to the federal government. He also requested that certain documents—including affidavits and newspaper articles that supported statements he had made before the judiciary committee—be sent to him so that he could present them to the committee.
presumably sent this letter by post to , Illinois, where JS would have received it after he returned from on or before 29 February 1840. The original letter is not extant. copied the version featured here into JS Letterbook 2 sometime between April and June 1840.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 Feb. 1840–A.

  2. [2]

    John Smith, Journal, 1836–1840, 29 Feb. 1840, [58].

    Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1.

  3. [3]

    Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 17, 19.

    Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 February 1840–B Letterbook 2
Go to previous page 1

Page 97

In my remarks I refered you to a resolution passed at a large meeting of the citizens of (which was), all mormons who would deny their religion should be protected in or any other County in the . The resolution was published in the Newspapers at , & I think copied by the Mo. Republican. I wish you would send me a Paper that contains that statement if you can find such a one; also the affidavits concerning false swearing by & Co or to prove their rascality or bad character and direct the same to —
[p. 97]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Go to previous page 1

Page 97

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 February 1840–B
ID #
2741
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:186–188
Handwriting on This Page
  • Howard Coray

Footnotes

  1. [9]

    This refers to Higbee’s remarks to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. (See Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 Feb. 1840–A.)

  2. [10]

    The 24 October 1838 meeting held in Richmond, Missouri, at which this resolution was passed, opened with a report on the burning of homes in Daviess County, Missouri. (“The Mormon War Again,” Jeffersonian Republican [Jefferson City, MO], 3 Nov. 1838, [2].)

    Jeffersonian Republican. Jefferson City, MO. 1831–1844.

  3. [11]

    JS believed that Hinkle had betrayed him, leading to the arrest of JS and other church leaders. Avard and Hinkle were later among the men who testified against JS in a Missouri court. (LeSueur, 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, 170–173; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 330–332; Sampson Avard, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, pp. [2]–[23]; George M. Hinkle, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, pp. [38]–[45], State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”)

    LeSueur, Stephen C. The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987.

    Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).

Go to page