Appendix 1: Letter to Oliver Cowdery and Others, circa 17 June 1838, Page 6
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Appendix 1: Letter to Oliver Cowdery and Others, circa 17 June 1838

Source Note

and others, Letter, , Caldwell Co., MO, to and others, , Caldwell Co., MO, [ca. 17] June 1838. Featured version copied [between ca. 1 Nov. and 10 Nov. 1838]; unidentified handwriting; eight pages; Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, MO.
Four leaves measuring 12¾ × 7¾ inches (32 × 20 cm), with thirty-five printed lines per page. Two slits at the top of each leaf indicate that the leaves were fastened together. Each leaf was inscribed on both sides; after the recto was inscribed, the leaf was turned over and upside down, and then the verso was inscribed. At some point, the fasteners were removed and the recto of each leaf was numbered. The four leaves were folded. A small white paper rectangle with “#73, p. 1 | MORMON” inscribed on it—likely an archival marking—was applied on the upper left corner of the recto of the first leaf. Additionally, a small white paper square was applied to the upper right corner of each recto and to the upper left corner of each verso, with typed numbers 17–23 providing pagination within a larger document. Tape was applied to the folds as well as over the fastener tears. At some point, the leaves were refastened with a staple, which was subsequently removed. Later, each leaf was laminated.
evidently maintained possession of the original letter from June 1838 until early November 1838, when he was captured by Missouri state militiamen. He then evidently gave the letter to Major General , who had it copied and forwarded the copy to Missouri governor on 10 November 1838. Since that date, this copy has apparently remained in the custody of the Missouri state government.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See John B. Clark, Richmond, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 10 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA; and Sampson Avard, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, pp. [9]–[10], Transcript of Proceedings, 12–29 Nov. 1838 [State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes]; see also John B. Clark, Jefferson City, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 29 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

Historical Introduction

About 17 June 1838, a letter of uncertain origin was written in , Missouri, addressed to former Latter-day Saints , , , , and , demanding that they leave , Missouri. The letter was written in the plural “we” voice of those who would sign the letter—ultimately eighty-three Latter-day Saints. JS did not sign the document. His direct involvement in the production of the main body of the text is unknown, although , the church printer at the time, recounted decades later that the main body of the document was created under the auspices of the First Presidency. Nevertheless, the document’s historical background, the circumstances of its production, and its shifting narrative voice underscore the uncertainty of its authorship.
In March and April 1838, church councils in excommunicated , the Whitmers, , and on various charges. After their excommunications, the former church members remained in Far West. Cowdery and Johnson, and perhaps the others, encouraged lawsuits for debt among the Latter-day Saints in order to charge fees for legal services. According to , many Saints saw these actions as “a kind of secret opposition to the presidency and church.” In early May, JS delivered a sermon in Far West warning the Saints against certain unnamed men—presumably Cowdery and other recently excommunicated dissenters—whom he said would attempt to collect debts from among the membership of the church, claiming that they were owed money for bearing the church’s past expenses. JS also warned that these agitators would make “foul insinuations, to level as it were a dart to the best interests of the Church, & if possible to destroy the Characters of its Presidency.”
By the middle of June, these tensions between church leaders and the excommunicated dissenters reached a breaking point. , in a short history of the church in that he wrote following his disaffection in 1839, recounted that Latter-day Saints and called a secret meeting during the week of 10–16 June 1838 to discuss plans for removing the dissenters’ influence in . At least a few different proposals were discussed at the meeting, including a plan to expel the dissenters from the . Peck also claimed a proposal was made that the dissenters should be killed so “that they would not be capable of injuring the church.” This, he wrote, was “strenuously opposed” by church leaders and . Later, in the November 1838 hearing, Corrill testified that “none of the first presidency was present at the meeting.” However, Corrill also recounted that when he later approached , expressing his reservations regarding the proposals discussed at the meeting, Rigdon only told him that he need not participate further and that Carter and Huntington and the rest “would do as they pleased”—suggesting that was aware of what had been discussed at the meeting. JS, who was visiting during the week of 10–16 June, likely became aware of the meeting upon his return, but it is uncertain when or what details he learned of the meeting’s proceedings.
JS returned to by the following Sunday, 17 June, when he attended worship services in . During the meeting, delivered a sermon taking as its text Matthew 5:13: “If the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” The most detailed account of ’s sermon was made by in his 1839 history, wherein he recounted that accused the dissenters of seeking to undermine the First Presidency and of committing various offenses, including counterfeiting, lying, and cheating. According to Peck, “called on the people to rise en masse and rid the of Such a nuisance He said it is the duty of this people to trample them into the earth.”
Violent rhetoric and calls for expelling undesirable individuals from a community were already long-held American traditions. By the early nineteenth century, state laws regulated the “warning-out” system, a social mechanism that civil authorities used to compel individuals whose poverty threatened to overburden community resources to leave. For example, in the early 1830s, residents of , Ohio, who feared the increasing influx of Latter-day Saints convinced officials to issue warrants ordering several church members, including JS, to leave the township. These church members were ostensibly warned out due to their poverty but the more likely reason was their unpopular religion. Early American vigilantes employed their own parallel system of social order—often using legalistic expressions and tropes—to expel vagrants, free blacks, abolitionists, gamblers, and other people deemed undesirable from a community. Vigilantes relied on threats, assaults, and riots to maintain this social order, with the 1830s witnessing the highest number of riots and mobbings in the decades prior to the United States Civil War. This included the violence against the Latter-day Saints in 1833 that culminated in their expulsion from , Missouri. Vigilantes in Jackson had passed resolutions and circulated a document describing the social taboos violated by the Saints and calling for their expulsion. Consistent with other instances of vigilante violence, some Jackson County officers turned a blind eye, cooperated with the vigilantes, or even helped lead them.
In ’s 17 June 1838 speech, he reportedly related a recent instance of vigilantism in Vicksburg, Mississippi, using it as a precedent for such action in . In 1835, prominent citizens of Vicksburg had declared that all gamblers had twenty-four hours to leave town or face extreme consequences. Their resolutions were printed and posted publicly. Most of the gamblers fled; five men who had not heeded the warning were taken and hung. Similarly, as recounted, Rigdon threatened to either “trample” the dissenters, using the language of Matthew 5:13, or “to erect a gallows on the Square of and hang them up as they did the gamblers at Vicksburgh.” Peck also stated that after Rigdon concluded his sermon, JS addressed the audience and tacitly approved of his counselor’s remarks.
The warning-out letter to the dissenters was written in at about the time of ’s sermon. Addressed to , the two Whitmer brothers, , and , the letter described various crimes and offenses committed in and Far West and pronounced a “decree” that the dissenters would have three days from receipt of the document to leave the before facing “a more fatal calamity.” The letter then accused the dissenters of seeking to undermine the First Presidency and—congruent with the accusations made by in his 17 June sermon—of lying, stealing, and counterfeiting. The authors insisted that their letter served as a final warning that the dissenters leave the county peaceably on their own or be driven out with deadly force.
Throughout, the letter uses the first-person plural voice; it also refers to the “citizens of ” in the third-person. Although in the letter’s opening sentences this plural voice appears to be representatively embodying the united “citizens of Caldwell County,” the language seems to quickly shift so that the first-person plural voice of authorship separates itself from the third-person references to the citizens of Caldwell County. Similarly, the letter refers to the warning already given to the dissenters as “our warnings” and closes by expressing indignity at the counterthreats received from the dissenters “to shoot us if we offered to molest you.” This indicates the authorship not of the Caldwell citizens generally, but of a much smaller group, who had already confronted the dissenters and had been threatened. This group also tended to differentiate itself from JS and , referring to them in the third person. For example, in one passage they are referred to as “our beloved breathren.” This voice of a smaller body of individuals acting in defense of both the First Presidency and the county’s citizens suggests that the letter may have been authored by the group of zealots led by and .
However, following his disaffection from the church, testified in the November 1838 hearing that had “drafted” the “paper against the dissenters.” Church printer , who also signed the document, recalled in 1890 that it was commonly understood that the letter “was gotten up in the office of the First Presidency.” One possibility is that Rigdon authored the document on behalf of the First Presidency. However, Rigdon’s signature does not appear on the document. Rigdon was often the first signatory to documents he had written himself. A second possibility is that Avard, the first signatory, named Rigdon as the author to shift blame away from himself and support the state of in its case against JS, Rigdon, and other church leaders and members. A third possibility is that Rigdon and Avard were both somehow involved in the document’s production.
Eighty-three Mormon men signed the letter. A comparison of the order of signatures in the two extant copies, which were presumably copied from the original, indicates that the signatures were initially written on two pages, each with two columns. On the first page, each column contained thirty-six names. On the second page, the left column contained five signatures while the right column had six names. Nearly all of the signatories were citizens. At least one—JS’s uncle and assistant church president —had only recently arrived in the county. The letter was signed by several ecclesiastical leaders as well. Besides John Smith, the letter was signed by , second counselor in the First Presidency, and , the presidency’s scribe. However, these men did not sign as members of the First Presidency; they signed their names only, without any title. Moreover, their names did not appear first among signatories nor even grouped together. Instead, they appear here and there among the many other signatures. The gathering of signatures, in general, seems to have been somewhat haphazard. One of the signatories, , later recalled that the document was presented to him while in the street in and that several men had already signed it. He had no recollection of either reading or hearing the letter read at the time, only that his signature was requested as a sign of loyalty to the First Presidency.
Among the earliest signatories were some especially prominent men in terms of wielding civil and military power or social influence. , as noted above, had been one of the organizers of the group that was later formally organized, at about this time or shortly thereafter, as the Daughter of Zion (Danite) society. would be appointed a general in the society. served as the colonel of the regiment of the Missouri state militia, with as lieutenant colonel. served as the sheriff of the county. It may be that these early signers were the group that initially gathered at a secret meeting to compose the letter; the inclusion of Huntington supports this possibility. Yet another possibility is that Avard—whom later referred to as “the most busy actor and sharpest tool of the Presidency”—composed the letter, signed it, and then began gathering signatures by approaching powerful office holders for support early on. The fact that Avard maintained possession of the letter also suggests that he may have composed it or perhaps have been the one gathering signatures.
Dating the letter, both the main body of the letter and the register of signatures, presents a challenge. The document bears the month and year, June 1838, but not a specific day. Presumably, the earliest the letter could have been written was during the week of 10–16 June, when the secret meeting was held regarding the excommunicated dissenters. Given that and the others fled on 19 June, that date is likely the last possible day the letter could have been written. Since the letter gave the dissenters three days from receipt of the document to leave the county, it was probably written on or about 17 June, the date of ’s sermon.
It is also unknown how or even whether this enigmatic document was delivered to its addressees. The document states that it was intended for publication, but there is no indication that anything was printed in June 1838. later claimed that he was unaware of the letter’s existence until after its publication in 1841. Additionally, attributed his departure from on 19 June not to the warning-out letter, but to his efforts, along with the other excommunicated dissenters, to secure legal assistance in a neighboring county. He did indicate that their families, who had remained in Far West, were subsequently threatened with expulsion, suggesting that the warning-out letter may have been delivered after 19 June or that the intent of the letter, if not the document itself, was effectively communicated. A few weeks later, noted approvingly in the journal he was keeping for JS that the dissenters were sent “bounding over the prairie like the scape Goat to carry of[f] their own sins.” , who had reconciled with church leaders, was permitted to remain in the .
When was captured by Missouri state militiamen in early November 1838, he agreed to cooperate with the criminal prosecution of Latter-day Saints in exchange for immunity. At this time, he submitted the letter and another document to be used as evidence against church members. Although Avard’s copy of the letter is not extant, it was copied at least twice following his arrest. Major General had these documents copied, evidently by an unidentified member of his staff, and on 10 November 1838 forwarded the copies to Missouri governor . That copy of the letter is apparently the copy now held by the Missouri State Archives. The letter was also copied into the record of Avard’s testimony given before Judge on 13–14 November 1838 in , Missouri. The clerk who copied the letter into the court record neglected to transcribe the signatures, providing instead a descriptive notation: “The above signed by some eighty four Mormons.” The copy at the Missouri State Archives is featured here because it includes the signatures. Significant variations between the two extant version are noted.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Ebenezer Robinson, “‘Saints’ Herald,’ Again,” Return (Davis City, IA), Feb. 1890, 218–219.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  2. [2]

    Minute Book 2, 10 Mar. 1838; Minutes, 12 Apr. 1838, in JSP, D6:93; Minutes, 13 Apr. 1838, in JSP, D6:101, 103.

    JSP, D6 / Ashurst-McGee, Mark, David W. Grua, Elizabeth Kuehn, Alexander L. Baugh, and Brenden W. Rensink, eds. Documents, Volume 6: February 1838–August 1839. Vol. 6 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017.

  3. [3]

    As early as January 1838, Cowdery and Johnson were arranging to leave the county because of their opposition to the actions of church leaders. In early June, Cowdery informed his brothers that he and Johnson were considering relocating to Springfield, Illinois, and starting a law practice there with Warren Parrish, another disaffected Latter-day Saint. In the meantime, however, Cowdery sought to alleviate his debts in Far West, pursuing debt suits and allegedly committing fraudulent activity. (Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 85; Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, 2 June 1838, Lyman Cowdery, Papers, CHL; JSP, D6:85n436; Indictment, July 1838, State of Missouri v. Walter and Cowdery for Forgery [Caldwell Co. Cir. Ct. 1838], in Oliver Cowdery, Petition, 30 Aug. 1838, CHL.)

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    Cowdery, Lyman. Papers, 1834–1858. CHL. MS 3467.

    JSP, D6 / Ashurst-McGee, Mark, David W. Grua, Elizabeth Kuehn, Alexander L. Baugh, and Brenden W. Rensink, eds. Documents, Volume 6: February 1838–August 1839. Vol. 6 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Petition, 30 Aug. 1838. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Corrill, Brief History, 30.

  5. [5]

    Discourse, 6 May 1838.

  6. [6]

    Peck’s narrative implies that the meeting was held sometime during the week prior to Sunday, 17 June 1838, when Rigdon gave a sermon regarding the actions of the excommunicants. (Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 22–23, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.)

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

  7. [7]

    R. Peck to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 22–23.

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

  8. [8]

    John Corrill, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, p. [29], Transcript of Proceedings, 12–29 Nov. 1838 [State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes].

  9. [9]

    JS, Journal, 4–5 June 1838.

  10. [10]

    JS’s uncle, John Smith, recorded in his journal that he had “met Joseph & Hyrum” at church services in Far West on 17 June. (John Smith, Journal, 17 June 1838.)

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

  11. [11]

    See JS, Journal, 4 July 1838.

  12. [12]

    R. Peck to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 24–25. Peck’s disaffection from the church was largely motivated by his opposition to the rising militancy among church members, which may have colored his recounting of the speech.

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

  13. [13]

    See Herndon, Unwelcome Americans, 1–22.

    Herndon, Ruth Wallis. Unwelcome Americans: Living on the Margin in Early New England. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.

  14. [14]

    Historical Introduction to Warrant, 21 Oct. 1833.

  15. [15]

    Grimsted, “Rioting in Its Jacksonian Setting,” 361–397.

    Grimsted, David. “Rioting in Its Jacksonian Setting.” American Historical Review 77, no. 2 (Apr. 1972): 361–397.

  16. [16]

    “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114; Grimsted, American Mobbing, 109; see also Historical Introduction to Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.

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

    Grimsted, David. American Mobbing, 1828–1861: Toward Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

  17. [17]

    R. Peck to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, p. 25; Thompson, “Far West Dissenters and the Gamblers at Vicksburg,” 22–23; see also Rothman, Flush Times and Fever Dreams, chaps. 5–6.

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    Thompson, John E. “The Far West Dissenters and the Gamblers at Vicksburg: An Examination of the Documentary Evidence and Historical Context of Sidney Rigdon’s Salt Sermon.” Restoration 5 (Jan. 1986): 21–27.

    Rothman, Joshua D. Flush Times and Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012.

  18. [18]

    According to Peck, JS stated he did not “want the brethren to act unlawfully” but then brought up the suicide of Judas in the New Testament and claimed that Judas had actually been hung by the apostle Peter. Peck interpreted this as a “hint” that, combined with Rigdon’s remarks, “created a great excitement and prepared the people to execute anything that should be proposed.” (R. Peck to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 25–26.)

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

  19. [19]

    The letter also states: “We have solmnly warned you and that in the most determined manner, that if you did not cease that course of wanton abuse of the Citizens of this County that vengence would overtake you sooner or later” (emphasis added).

  20. [20]

    The letter refers to JS and Rigdon as “two influential men of this place.” It also refers to JS individually in the third-person as “a principal man in this church.” The letter further states: “We wish to remind you that Oliver Cowdry and David Whitmier were among the principal of those who were the means of geathering us to this place by their testimony which they gave concerning the plates of the book of Mormon, that they were shown to them by an Angel which testimony we believe now as much as before you so scandalously disgraced it.” This expression of belief makes little sense coming from JS, who claimed to have had much more experience with the plates of the Book of Mormon than did the other witnesses.

  21. [21]

    Sampson Avard, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, p. [13], Transcript of Proceedings, 12–29 Nov. 1838 [State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes]. Rigdon’s authorship cannot be verified as the original letter is not extant.

  22. [22]

    Ebenezer Robinson, “‘Saints’ Herald,’ Again,” Return (Davis City, IA), Feb. 1890, 218–219.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  23. [23]

    See, for example, License for Edward Partridge, ca. 4 Aug. 1831–ca. 5 Jan. 1832; Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76]; and Charges against Missouri Conference Preferred to JS, ca. Mar. 1832.

  24. [24]

    The signatures were copied in the version featured here and reproduced in the Missouri legislature’s 1841 publication of the letter. Although the lists present the names in different orders, the copyist for the featured version evidently copied the first column and then the second column of the first page, followed by the first and the second columns of the second page. Rather than following the order of names in the columns, the typesetter for the legislature’s 1841 printed version apparently reproduced the order of the rows on each page. (Document Containing the Correspondence, 106.)

  25. [25]

    John Smith, Journal, 16 June 1838.

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

  26. [26]

    Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–A; Minutes, 6 Apr. 1838.

  27. [27]

    Ebenezer Robinson, “‘Saints’ Herald,’ Again,” Return (Davis City, IA), Feb. 1890, 219.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  28. [28]

    Milo Andrus and Ralph Cox may have been interested individuals who were present with others of the early signers during or shortly after the body of the original document was written.

  29. [29]

    R. Peck to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 50–51.

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

  30. [30]

    Whitmer, Daybook, 19 June 1838.

    Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.

  31. [31]

    Decades later, Ebenezer Robinson recounted that the letter was circulated to Cowdery and the other former church members. In the same reminiscence, Robinson—who had served as a church printer in Kirtland and Far West—recounted printing the Independence Day oration delivered by Sidney Rigdon. In contrast, while Robinson recounted signing the warning-out letter, he made no mention of printing it. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], Oct. 1889, 147–148; Ebenezer Robinson, “‘Saints’ Herald,’ Again,” Return, Feb. 1890, 218–219.)

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  32. [32]

    The letter was published twice in 1841, first by the Missouri legislature and then by the U.S. Senate. In December 1843, Cowdery referred to “a certain publication, appended to which are many names who are, are [or] were at the time [in 1838], members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, charging myself with being connected with out-laws. I cannot speak definitely of this instrument, as I know nothing of it except what has been related by those who say they have seen it.” (Document Containing the Correspondence, 103–106; Document Showing the Testimony, 1841, 6–9; Oliver Cowdery, Tiffin, OH, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Nauvoo, IL, 25 Dec. 1843, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  33. [33]

    Whitmer, History, 86–87.

  34. [34]

    JS, Journal, 4 July 1838.

  35. [35]

    In November 1838, Phelps testified that he “agreed to conform to the rules of the church in all things, knowing I had a good deal of property in the county, & if I went off I should have to leave it.” (William W. Phelps, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, p. [87], Transcript of Proceedings, 12–29 Nov. 1838 [State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes].)

  36. [36]

    See John B. Clark, Richmond, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 10 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA; Sampson Avard, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, pp. [9]–[10], Transcript of Proceedings, 12–29 Nov. 1838 [State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes]; and R. Peck to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 123–124.

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

  37. [37]

    In Clark’s 10 November 1838 letter to Boggs, he indicated that he was forwarding “a copy of a Constitution of one of their societies,” likely referring to the Daughter of Zion constitution. Although Clark did not explicitly refer to the June 1838 letter, a contemporary newspaper article reported that Clark had recovered a “constitution” that included signatures. The constitution was not signed, but the June 1838 letter was, suggesting that the newspaper article, and perhaps Clark, had conflated the two documents. The copies of the constitution and the June 1838 letter housed in the Missouri State Archives are in the same handwriting as other documents connected with Clark, indicating that the copyist was a member of Clark’s staff. (John B. Clark, Richmond, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 10 Nov. 1838, copy; John B. Clark, Jefferson City, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 29 Nov. 1838, copy; Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA; Letter to the Editor, Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 20 Nov. 1838, [2].)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

    Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.

  38. [38]

    The copy is interspersed with the copy of Avard’s testimony contained in “Copies of Part of the Evidence Taken in the Examination of the Mormon Prisoners before Judge King,” in the Mormon War Papers.

  39. [39]

    Sampson Avard, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, p. [20], Transcript of Proceedings, 12–29 Nov. 1838 [State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes]; Phelps, Reminiscences, 19. The reference to “some eighty four Mormons” was apparently a miscount, as only eighty-three signatures appear on the copy at the Missouri State Archives.

    Phelps, Morris. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 271.

  40. [40]

    The copy in Avard’s testimony occasionally varies in diction and syntax from the copy in the Missouri State Archives, differences that seem to go beyond copying errors. This suggests one of the copyists took a liberal approach, occasionally revising the text, or that Avard may have had two versions of the letter in his possession when he was arrested in early November 1838.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Appendix 1: Letter to Oliver Cowdery and Others, circa 17 June 1838 Minutes and Testimonies, 12–29 November 1838, Copy [State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason] Minutes and Testimonies, 12–29 November 1838 [State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason] Minutes and Testimonies, 12–29 November 1838, Copy [State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason] Document Containing the Correspondence, Excerpt, 1841 [State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason] Document Showing the Testimony, 1841 [State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason]

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regard for righteousness you dreded. and not only you but your wives and children led by yourselves were busily engaged in it. Neither were you contented with slandering and vilifying here: but you kept up continual correspondance with your gang of Marauders in incourageing them to go on with their inequity which they did to perfection by smearing falsely to injure the character and property of innocent men—cheating stealing, lying, and instituting vexatious Law Suits, selling bogus money, and also stones and sand for bogus money, in which nefarious business you and were engaged while at . Since your arrival here you have commenced a general system of the same kind of conduct in this place you got up a nasty dirty pettifoggers office pretending to be judges of the law when it is a notorious fact that you are profoundly ignorant of it, and of every other thing calculated to do mankind good or if you know it you take good care never to practice it. And in order to bring yourselves into notice you began to interfere with all the business of the place trying to distroy the character of our merchants and bring their creditors upon them and break them up. In addition to this you steared up men of weak minds to prosecute one another, for the vile purpose of geting a fee for a pettifogger from them. You have been also been threatening continually to enter into a general system of prosecuting—determined as you said to peck a flaw in the titles of those who have purchased city lots and built upon them not that you can do any thing but cause vexatious [p. [6]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Appendix 1: Letter to Oliver Cowdery and Others, circa 17 June 1838
ID #
9518
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
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Footnotes

  1. [20]

    Although little of the correspondence survives, at least Cowdery and Johnson appear to have been regularly corresponding with Warren Parrish and other dissenters in the Kirtland area. (See Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 87; Oliver Cowdery to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, 24 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 87; Stephen Burnett, Orange Township, OH, to Lyman Johnson, 15 Apr. 1838, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 64–66; and Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, 2 June 1838, Lyman Cowdery, Papers, CHL.)

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    Cowdery, Lyman. Papers, 1834–1858. CHL. MS 3467.

  2. [21]

    Soon after JS arrived in Far West earlier that year, he composed a church motto that condemned, among other things, “vexatious lawsuits.” (See Motto, ca. 16 or 17 Mar. 1838.)

  3. [22]

    An August 1838 editorial in the Elders’ Journal alleged that Warren Parrish, a dissenter in Kirtland, traveled to Tinker’s Creek, Ohio, to buy a box of counterfeit coin but upon his return discovered that the box contained only sand and stones. The editorial claimed that “Parrish stole the paper out of the institution, and went to buying bogus or counterfeit coin with it” and that he “was aided by his former associates to take his paper, and go and buy bogus with it.” (Editorial, Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 58; see also Letter from Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, between 22 and 28 May 1838.)

  4. [23]

    Although all three men were named in this letter, during their excommunication hearings before the Zion high council only Cowdery was accused of being connected with counterfeiters in the Kirtland area. (See Minutes, 12 Apr. 1838, in JSP, D6:87, 92–93.)

    JSP, D6 / Ashurst-McGee, Mark, David W. Grua, Elizabeth Kuehn, Alexander L. Baugh, and Brenden W. Rensink, eds. Documents, Volume 6: February 1838–August 1839. Vol. 6 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017.

  5. [24]

    Instead of “you Oliver Cowdry David Whitmer and Lyman E Johnson were engaged while at Kirtland,” the version in Avard’s testimony has “Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Lyman E Johnson were engaged while you were there.”

  6. [25]

    Cowdery and Johnson both began to study law while in Far West and apparently attempted to offer legal counsel, especially to redeem promissory notes, although apparently neither man had been licensed by the state of Missouri to practice law. (Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, [10] Mar. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 92; David Frampton, Justice of the Peace Docket Entry, CHL; Attornies at Law [18 Feb. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], p. 90, secs. 1–5.)

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    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. [26]

    Instead of “purchased,” the version in Avard’s testimony has “bought.”

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