Footnotes
Footnotes
Sidney Rigdon recalled that Josiah Morin, a Democratic candidate from Daviess County and a friend to the Latter-day Saints, reported the election-day affray to church leaders in Far West, although he was not at the polls when the fighting broke out. John P. Greene indicated that several messengers brought word of the fracas. (Sidney Rigdon, JS, et al., Petition Draft [“To the Publick”], pp. 12[a]–[12b]; Greene, Facts relative to the Expulsion, 19.)
Greene, John P. Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order.” By John P. Greene, an Authorized Representative of the Mormons. Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839.
Adam Black, Certificate, 27 July 1838, copy; William Bowman, Certificate, no date, copy; John Brassfield, Certificate, no date, copy, Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives, Washington DC; “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:65–66; JS, Journal, 7–9 Aug. 1838; Samuel Brown, Affidavit, Caldwell Co., MO, 5 Sept. 1838, pp. 11[a]–[11b], in Sidney Rigdon, JS, et al., Petition Draft (“To the Publick”).
Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives / Petitions and Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to the Committee on Judiciary during the 27th Congress. Committee on the Judiciary, Petitions and Memorials, 1813–1968. Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789–2015. National Archives, Washington DC. The LDS records cited herein are housed in National Archives boxes 40 and 41 of Library of Congress boxes 139–144 in HR27A-G10.1.
JS, Journal, 7–9 Aug. 1838; Adam Black, Complaint, Daviess Co., MO, 28 Aug. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.
Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.
Wight was probably named along with JS because Wight was widely considered the leader of the Latter-day Saints in Daviess County.
William Peniston et al., Complaint, Ray Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Riot (Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838), microfilm 959,084, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. Black, who wrote a similar statement on 8 August 1838, was apparently not in Richmond on 10 August. Along with Peniston, three other men—William Bowman, Wilson McKinney, and John Netherton—signed the 10 August complaint. (Adam Black, Affidavit, Daviess Co., MO, 8 Aug. 1838, in “Public Meeting,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 3 Sept. 1838, [2].)
Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.
Warrant, Ray Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Riot (Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838), microfilm 959,084, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. King did not identify a charge in the warrant. In April 1839, a Daviess County grand jury indicted JS, Wight, and other Latter-day Saint men for causing a riot at Black’s home. (Indictment, [Honey Creek Township, MO], [ca. 10] Apr. 1839, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Riot [Daviess Co. Cir. Ct. 1839], Historical Department, Nineteenth-Century Legal Documents Collection, CHL.)
“Mormon War,” Missouri Republican (St. Louis), 3 Sept. 1838, [2]; see also Historical Introduction to Letter from William W. Phelps, 6–7 Nov. 1833.
Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.
JS, Journal, 16–18 Aug. 1838; see also Petition to Elias Higbee, ca. 16 Aug. 1838. Morgan was apparently unaware of a Missouri statute that permitted him to work through a local magistrate to serve the warrant. (An Act to Regulate Proceedings in Criminal Cases [21 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], p. 475, art. 2, secs. 4–5.)
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.
“Public Meeting,” Missouri Republican (St. Louis), 3 Sept. 1838, [2]; “The Mormons,” Missouri Argus (St. Louis), 6 Sept. 1838, [1]; “Mormons Once More,” Hannibal (MO) Commercial Advertiser, 25 Sept. 1838, [1]; “Mormon Troubles,” Missouri Republican, 19 Sept. 1838, [2].
Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.
Missouri Argus. St. Louis. 1835–1841.
Hannibal Commercial Advertiser. Hannibal, MO. 1837–1839.
JS, Journal, 4 and 6 Sept. 1838; Austin A. King, Ray Co., MO, to William Morgan, Daviess Co., MO, 4 Sept. 1838, William Morgan, Papers, CHL.
Morgan, William. Papers, 1838–1839. CHL. MS 19757.
Although JS referred to himself as a “deponent” in the document, the format more closely matches that of an affidavit—a sworn statement. A deposition is an official transcript of a witness’s testimony before a “competent tribunal,” with the witness “answer[ing] all the interrogatories.” (“Affidavit” and “Deposition,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:63, 313.)
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; with References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1839.
Higbee and Robinson may have made additional changes to the affidavit in 1839, when they assisted Sidney Rigdon in preparing a history of the conflicts between the Latter-day Saints and other Missourians. The published history includes a version of the affidavit that incorporates Higbee’s and Robinson’s changes. Since it is unknown when each change was made, each has been reproduced here. (Sidney Rigdon, JS, et al., Petition Draft [“To the Publick”], pp. 15[a]–[15c]; [Rigdon], Appeal to the American People, 26–28.)
It is possible that a fair copy of the affidavit was made and submitted to King in 1838 and filed the following year in the Daviess County Circuit Court with other documents pertaining to the case. In 1974, when the contents of the case files were microfilmed, the affidavit was missing. (See Source Note for Recognizance, 7 Sept. 1838.)
The four defense witnesses were Robinson, Dimick B. Huntington, Gideon Carter, and Adam Lightner. (JS, Journal, 7 Sept. 1838.)
State of Missouri) | ss [scilicet] |
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Elias Higbee handwriting begins.
Latter-day Saint John D. Lee recalled that by August 1838, “the two political parties [Democrat and Whig] were about equally divided in Daviess county, and that the Mormons held the balance of power, and would turn the scale which ever way they desired.” Before the 6 August election, rumors spread that the Daviess County Whigs, realizing the Latter-day Saints would likely vote for the Democrats, planned to stop the Saints from voting. Just before the outbreak of fighting in Gallatin, a Missourian declared that when the Saints resided in Clay County, they were permitted to vote “no more than the dam[n] negros.” (Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 56; Samuel Brown, Affidavit, Caldwell Co., MO, 5 Sept. 1838, pp. 11[a]–[11b], in Sidney Rigdon, JS, et al., Petition Draft [“To the Publick”].)
Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, MO: Sun Publishing Company, 1882.
John Butler, who was present at the Gallatin polls and heard Peniston speak, later recounted that Peniston claimed “he had headed a company to order the Mormons, off of there farmes & possessions.” This action was presumably part of a mid-1837 effort to intimidate church members into leaving the county. (Butler, “Short Account of an Affray,” [1], CHL; see also Sidney Rigdon, Far West, MO, to Sterling Price, 8 Sept. 1838, draft, CHL.)
Butler, John L. “A Short Account of an Affray That Took Place betwene the Latter Day Saints and a P[o]rtion of the People of Davis County Mo at an Election Held in Galaton, August 6, 1838,” 1859. CHL. MS 2418.
Rigdon, Sidney. Letter, Far West, MO, to Sterling Price, 8 Sept. 1838. Draft. CHL. MS 2560.
Latter-day Saint William Swartzell noted that armed church members “assembled at Adam-on-Diammon, for the purpose of resisting an attack that was hourly expected.” Women and children were gathered together and guarded in expectation of a siege. (Swartzell, Mormonism Exposed, 28.)
Swartzell, William. Mormonism Exposed, Being a Journal of a Residence in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 20th of August, 1838, Together with an Appendix, Containing the Revelation concerning the Golden Bible, with Numerous Extracts from the ‘Book of Covenants,’ &c., &c. Pekin, OH: By the author, 1840.
See Sampson Avard, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, pp. [2]–[3], State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes (Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838), in State of Missouri, “Evidence”; and Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 103–107. Avard was a Danite general, subordinate only to the First Presidency and Captain General Elias Higbee. Robinson recorded in JS’s journal that “the bretheren from all parts of the County, followed after and continued to come and join us and before we arrived at Col. [Lyman] Wights we had quite a large company.” This company was led by the First Presidency, “General Higbee,” and “Gen. Avard.” (Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 45, 47, 63, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; Constitution of the Society of the Daughter of Zion, ca. Late June 1838; JS, Journal, 7–9 Aug. 1838.)
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).
Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Robinson recorded in JS’s journal that “some 15 or 20 men started from this place [Far West] armed and equipt for our defence the bretheren from all parts of the County, followed after and continued to come and join us.” (JS, Journal, 7–9 Aug. 1838.)