Sidney Rigdon, JS, et al., Petition Draft (“To the Publick”), circa 1838–1839
Source Note
, JS, et al., Petition Draft (“To the Publick”), ca. Sept. 1838–ca. Oct. 1839; handwriting of , , , , and two unidentified scribes; 112 inscribed pages with eight inserted slips of paper; JS Collection, CHL.
Historical Introduction
While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the church “at Illinois and scattered abroad and to in particular,” instructing the Saints to gather up “a knoledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this state.” Edward Partridge responded with an account that became the three opening 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. “A History, of the Persecution” receives comprehensive treatment in volume 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and is available on this website.
may have intended to tell the entire story himself, but he fell ill shortly after publication of “A History, of the Persecution” began and died on 27 May 1840. Prompted by Partridge’s illness and subsequent death, the editors of the Times and Seasons, and , sought elsewhere for source materials to continue the series. It is probable that they composed the fourth installment to provide a brief transition from Partridge’s account, which ends in 1836, and the conflicts in and adjoining counties beginning in 1838. The fifth and seventh installments reprinted passages from ’s History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839). In May 1840, the sixth installment drew upon ’s eighty-four page pamphlet, An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri (Cincinnati: Glezan and Shepard, 1840), a draft of which is presented here. Though no author is named on the title page of the pamphlet, Rigdon was acknowledged as responsible for that publication when it was advertised in the Times and Seasons in 1840 and 1841. Also, much of this draft is in Rigdon’s hand. More of Rigdon’s work was reprinted in the eighth through tenth installments published from July to September 1840. The series concluded with an eleventh installment in the October 1840 issue, featuring General ’s callous speech to the Saints after their surrender at , Missouri, in November 1838.
The manuscript version of ’s Appeal to the American People presented here is referred to as the “petition draft” titled “To the Publick”. On 1 November 1839, Rigdon’s recently completed petition draft, endorsed by JS, Rigdon, and , was read to a conference of Saints in , Illinois, who then voted to approve its publication in the name of the church. and then collaborated to arrange for publication of the text in late 1839 and early 1840.
Although many of the events reported in ’s draft and pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology is often inaccurate. (Consult the annotation in Histories,Volume 2 for corrections to portions published as part of “A History, of the Persecutions.”) However, his account contains the text of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s 5 September 1838 affidavit concerning his 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some material not readily found elsewhere.
time being and gained the residence of a friend in Myers settlement. On Sunday 28th of Oct. we arrivd about twelve oclock at noon at ; where we found a number of our friends. collected together who were holding a council; and deliberating on the best course for them to pursue, to defend themselves against the mob who were collecting in the neighborhood under the command of Col. [Thomas] Jennings <of and Mr Ashby of co>, a member of the legislature, and threatning them with house burning and killing. The decision of the council was that our friends there should place themselves in an attitude of self defence.
Accordingly about twenty eight of our men armed themselves and were in constant readiness for an attack of any small body of men that should <might> come upon them. The same evening, for some cause best known to themselves, they <mob> sent one of their number to enter into a treaty with our friends, which was accepted of on the condition of mutual forbearence on both sides and that each party as far as their influence extended should exert themselves to prevent any further hostilities upon either party. At this time however there was another mob collecting on , at William Mann’s who were threatning us. consequently we remained under arms on monday the twenty ninth which passed away without any molestation from any quarter. On tuesday the thirtieth ofOct that bloody tragedy was acted the scenes of which I shall never forget. More than three fourths of the day had passed in tranquillity, as smiling as the preceeding one I think there was no individual of our company that was apprized of the sudden, and awful fate that hung over our heads, like an overwhelming torrent. which was to change the prospects, the feelings <and circumstances> of about thirty families.— The banks of on either side teemed with children sporting and playing, while their mothers were engaged in domestick imployments and their fathers employed in guarding the mills and other property [p. [38[b]]]