JS, Letter, , OH, to , “” [, Jackson Co., MO], 31 July 1832; retained copy; handwriting of ; signature of JS; seven pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket and notations.
Two bifolia, each measuring 12⅞ × 8 inches (33 × 20 cm) when folded. The pages from the first bifolium are in reverse folder page order; the second bifolium is in leaflet page order. Pagination is in the top left corner of each inscribed page in the handwriting of . The letter was tri-folded in letter style. The final page bears an inscription in the handwriting of : “Copy of a letter written to Broth | | Editor of the Evening & morning Star”. A docket on the final page, “Joseph Smiths Letter | to Zion 1832,” is in the handwriting of Newel K. Whitney. Appended to this docket is “July 1831 | N. K. Whitney.” in the handwriting of . Also on the final page is a separate Bullock notation: “July 31— 1845 | N. K. Whitney handed to me”. There is soiling at folds and tearing at fold corners on the final page, obscuring the text on page 7. Ink spotting, smears, and fingerprints are found in the letter.
This version of the letter is a contemporaneous retained copy made by and later filed by . The notation on the last page of the document indicates Whitney gave the letter to Historian’s Office clerk on 31 July 1845, the date of its receipt in the Historian’s Office.
Historical Introduction
JS’s 31 July 1832 letter to addressed ongoing tensions between church leaders in and . JS labored to establish unity between the two groups for much of the latter part of 1831 and the beginning of 1832, but his efforts were hampered by the distance between them (, Jackson County, Missouri, was nearly nine hundred travel miles from , Ohio) and by occasional criticisms of his leadership. Although a September 1831 revelation chastised those who had “sought occation against him [JS] without a cause” and counseled the of the church to “forgive one another,” problems continued.
In March 1832, a revelation commanded JS, , and to travel to . One reason for the trip was to organize what became known as the , a board governing the mercantile and publishing entities of the church in and . Another reason was to “sit in councel with the saints.” In the course of several meetings held in late April and early May, JS, Rigdon, Whitney, and (who, along with Rigdon, was called as one of JS’s counselors in March 1832) established the United Firm and fostered unity so that “the hearts of all” ran “together in love.”
Yet the harmony achieved in the meetings was fleeting—a fact that apparently concerned JS as early as his May–June 1832 stay in , Indiana, en route to with . JS’s 31 July letter to referenced Whitney shedding many tears in Greenville “for ” and recounted that JS, after communing with God in a grove of trees in Greenville, “viewed the conspiricy” of church leaders in Missouri. These statements indicate that JS and Whitney understood even as they traveled home that tensions still existed with the Missouri leaders. Upon his arrival in Ohio, JS found firm evidence of the continuing tension: a letter dated 2 June 1832 from , a counselor to Bishop , that again raised points of conflict and exhibited some animosity toward JS and other church leaders in Ohio. According to a letter written in January 1833 by and , Corrill’s letter implied that JS was “seeking after Monarchal power and authority.” Apparently, these accusations so upset that he entered into a “frantick” state of mind and claimed that the “keys” had been taken from the church, which caused JS to revoke Rigdon’s priesthood and strip him of his counselor and scribal duties for a brief period in July 1832.
In July, JS also received a letter from , who operated the church’s printing works in . This letter, according to JS’s 31 July reply featured below, exhibited a “cold and indifferent manner” that further disturbed JS and shaped his reply. Phelps’s letter may have been sent directly to JS in , Ohio, or it may have been sent to , where served as postmaster. If Phelps sent the letter to Kirtland, JS may have obtained it during the week of 22–28 July when, as noted in this reply, JS went to Kirtland, perhaps to officiate in Rigdon’s reinstatement. In any case, JS preached in Kirtland on Sunday, 29 July. He then probably spent Monday, 30 July, traveling from Kirtland to Hiram. On the morning of 31 July, JS dictated this letter to , his recently appointed scribe, in response to Phelps’s letter.
JS’s reply expressed his continuing frustration with the leadership. JS noted that their conduct influenced other Mormons in to make false prophecies and unwise statements that apparently generated hostility among local citizens who were not members of the church. But he concluded the letter on an optimistic note, highlighting the success of the missionaries and the good feelings that prevailed in church meetings that he had recently attended.
The document presented here is a complete copy of the letter penned by and signed by JS, including a notation that it is missing only “a few words on the wrapper by way of exhortation complementary &c.” It eventually came into the possession of , the bishop in . apparently received and answered the letter, as indicated in a subsequent letter written by church leaders in .
According to the letter featured below, Sidney Gilbert brought Corrill’s letter with him to Ohio and arrived there before JS. When JS arrived in Ohio, he reunited with his wife Emma and adopted daughter, Julia, who were staying in Kirtland, before apparently moving them back to the John and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio. Gilbert may have given Corrill’s letter to JS when JS was in Kirtland, or he may have brought it to JS in Hiram. (JS History, vol. A-1, 215–216.)
Other 1832 letters from Missouri leaders to JS were sent to Whitney, including a January 1832 letter from Oliver Cowdery. These letters were addressed to Whitney at the Kirtland Mills post office, which was in Whitney’s store. JS apparently received correspondence from the Missouri leaders through the Kirtland Mills post office. (Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832; Berrett, Sacred Places, 3:11–12.)
Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.
On 28 July, Hyrum Smith wrote in his journal that “Brother Sidney was ordaind to the hight preisthood the second time.” Rigdon was probably reinstated in Kirtland; Hyrum and Rigdon both resided there, and Rigdon had been removed from his office in Kirtland. (Hyrum Smith, Diary and Account Book, 28 July 1832.)
Smith, Hyrum. Diary and Account Book, Nov. 1831–Feb. 1835. Hyrum Smith, Papers, ca. 1832–1844. BYU.
In a January 1833 letter, Hyrum Smith and Orson Hyde wrote that Phelps and others provided “answers” to letters from church leaders in Ohio that referred to these leadership issues. It is probable that this 31 July letter is one of the letters to which Smith and Hyde referred. Any response that Phelps made to this letter is not extant. (Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 14 Jan. 1833.)
Page 6
Judgment upon all the face of the earth, we have information which may be relyed upon that the cholera is cutting down its hundreds in the city of pr day also is raging in Charleston Albany & and in all the large citys in the eastern countrys we have Just received a letter from sister who is now at to visit her friends she states that the cholera is raging in that city to an alarming degree, hundreds of families are a fleeing to the country and the country people have become alarmed and torn up the bridges and stopped all communication and even shot peoples horses down under them who attempt to cross the river on any express two steam boats loaded with troops for the Indian expedition while going up [the] Detroit river the cholera made its attact [attack] upon the soldiers about fifty died the rest disbanded (about six hundred in number) and the last account we have of them they could find no quarters among the inhabitants and were a dying in the sheds and fields and nobody to bury them while between us and you the Indians are a spreading death and devastation wherever they go no force has as yet been brought sufficient to stand before them frequent cases of the cholera occures on steem boats and <othe[r]> water crafts on the Lakes the dysentary and the Cholera Morbus are the prevailing deseases as far as our information extends and is so malignent that it baffles the skill of the most eminent Phisicians we have news from our brethren who have gone to the east God is with them pulling down the strong holds of two brethren are here from theeast New hampshire & one from who are and worthy young men who were brought in by the hands of Bros. & who are like Peter & John building up the cause of God wherever they go and healing the sick they have better then sixty since they left here we also here [hear] from many others whose good success in gaining converts to the redeemers [p. 6]
A cholera epidemic began in India in 1826, spreading into England by October 1831. It appeared in Lower Canada in June 1832 and then gradually made its way into the United States, generally along waterways. By the end of July, over two thousand had died in New York City. (Rosenberg, Cholera Years, 25–34; Chambers, Conquest of Cholera, 64; “Items for the Public,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [6].)
Rosenberg, Charles E. The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.
Chambers, J. S. The Conquest of Cholera: America’s Greatest Scourge. New York: Macmillan, 1938.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
The Detroit Courier in June, July, and August 1832 did not report on anything resembling what JS describes here, although it stated on 12 July 1832 that “little doubt exists that the Cholera” had reached the city and that “a large number of our citizens” had “betaken themselves to the country” in response. The newspaper also cautioned against “unauthenticated accounts of the existence of the Cholera in various places,” stating that “every new story adds to the general stock of alarm; and under such feverish sensability, much anxiety is created, which cannot fail of producing solicitude and unhappiness, and great numbers of people are made miserable without the least advantage to any body.” (“The Cholera” and “Our City,” Detroit Courier, 12 July 1832, [2].)
Detroit Courier. Detroit, Michigan Territory. 1830–1835.
This probably refers to troops who took transport on the steamboat Henry Clay. In June 1832, troops departed from New York City to aid in what is now known as the Black Hawk War. In Buffalo, New York, they boarded the Henry Clay, and on 4 July cholera broke out among them. When the ship reached the Detroit River, two soldiers had already died. According to one report, “the cases multiplied” rapidly, and the steamboat finally landed near Fort Gratiot, in St. Clair County, Michigan, at the mouth of the outlet of Lake Huron, where the soldiers disembarked. By 16 July, thirty-four deaths had occurred and “many [had] deserted to escape the disease.” According to assistant surgeon R. E. Kerr, “The attempt to escape the disease, however, by that means, in a number of cases that came to our ears, proved futile, for they are reported to have died on the road.” The Detroit Courier reported a similar incident involving the steamboat Sheldon Thompson. On 5 July, that steamer, loaded with soldiers, left Detroit, Michigan Territory, en route to Chicago, Illinois. Cholera soon broke out, killing twenty-five and afflicting another sixty. According to the Courier, the bodies of the dead were thrown overboard and the vessel continued on to Chicago. However, when the ship reached Chicago, “the inhabitants [of the city] fled in every direction, including Col. Owen, the Indian Agent.” (U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office, Cholera Epidemic of 1873, 569–572; “Our Army,” Detroit Courier, 19 July 1832, [2]; Blois, Gazetteer of the State of Michigan, 287, 365–366.)
U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office. The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 in the United States. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1875.
Detroit Courier. Detroit, Michigan Territory. 1830–1835.
Blois, John T. Gazetteer of the State of Michigan, in Three Parts, Containing a General View of the State. . . . Detroit: Sydney L. Rood, 1839.
Likely a reference to the Black Hawk War. In April 1832, a group of Sac and Fox Indians (including men, women, and children), who had been removed from their homelands in Illinois to the west side of the Mississippi River, crossed back over the Mississippi in an attempt to resettle their ancestral lands. Pursued by federal troops and the Illinois militia, the group, led by Black Hawk, attempted to surrender under a white flag, but the soldiers fired on them, after which Black Hawk routed the troops. Additional soldiers then pursued Black Hawk and his followers into western Michigan Territory (now Wisconsin), eventually leading to Black Hawk’s capture in August. Newspaper reports at the time gave exaggerated accounts of Indian depredations during the war. William W. Phelps, for example, stated in the June 1832 The Evening and the Morning Star that “the Indians are undoubtedly the aggressors, and it is said they have murdered several men, women, and children.” But there is no evidence that Black Hawk’s band committed such acts. (Prucha, Great Father, 253–256; “News,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1832, [7].)
Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. 2 vols. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
A January 1832 revelation appointed Pratt and Johnson, who were both only twenty years old, to preach the gospel in the “eastern countries” of the United States. They left Hiram in February and traveled through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. (Revelation, 25 Jan. 1832–A [D&C 75:14]; Orson Pratt, Bath, NH, to “Dear Brethren,” 23 Jan. 1833, in The Evening and the Morning Star, Mar. 1833, [6]; Milando Pratt, “Baptism and Ordinations Early Missionary Labors and Family Register of Orson Pratt, Sen,” in Orson Pratt, Diaries, CHL.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.