Footnotes
Two of the four exceptions contain only copies of the speech dated 24 June, a third is undated but resembles the speech accounts dated 23 or 24 June, and a fourth exception contains only a copy of the speech dated 22 June. (“This Is the Last Discourse That the Prophet Joseph Smith Deliverd in Nauvoo,” 24 June 1844, and “An Epitomy of the Speech of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” 24 June 1844, in Collected Accounts of Addresses of Joseph Smith to the Nauvoo Legion, June 1844, CHL; “A Manuscript Furnished by Jno Forsgreen,” ca. 1870, [1]–[2], Ruia Holden Bushman, Collection, CHL; JS, Discourse, 22 June 1844, in Miscellaneous Papers, 1840–1844, ca. 1870, Hosea Stout, Papers, CHL.)
Collected Accounts of Addresses of Joseph Smith to the Nauvoo Legion, June 1844. CHL.
Bushman, Ruia Holden. Collection, 1842–1948. CHL.
Stout, Hosea. Papers, 1832–1875. CHL.
Historical Introduction to Military Orders, 24 June 1844, in JSP, D15:450–453.
JSP, D15 / Dowdle, Brett D., Matthew C. Godfrey, Adam H. Petty, J. Chase Kirkham, David W. Grua, and Elizabeth A. Kuehn, eds. Documents, Volume 15: 16 May–27 June 1844. Vol. 15 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Matthew C. Godfrey, R. Eric Smith, Matthew J. Grow, and Ronald K. Esplin. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2023.
See JS, Journal, 22 June 1844; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844; and Clayton, Journal, 22–24 June 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
The earliest recorded document came from an account book with the date 12 December 1868 inscribed on the front flyleaf. The dates “1945”and“1946” were inscribed on the verso of the final leaf of the most recent transcript, which suggests the transcript was created no later than the mid-twentieth century. (“A Manuscript Furnished by Jno Forsgreen,” ca. 1870, Ruia Holden Bushman, Collection, CHL; Edwin Holden Family Record Book, ca. 1868–1882, Ruia Holden Bushman, Collection, CHL; “An Epitomy of the Speech of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” 24 June 1844, in Collected Accounts of Addresses of Joseph Smith to the Nauvoo Legion, June 1844, CHL.)
Bushman, Ruia Holden. Collection, 1842–1948. CHL.
Collected Accounts of Addresses of Joseph Smith to the Nauvoo Legion, June 1844. CHL.
See John S. Fullmer, Nauvoo, IL, to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; and Source Note to Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841.
Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.
The account of the 22 June discourse contains the following introduction: “A few words of counsel by the Prophet Joseph Smith on the 22nd day of June 1844.” (Fullmer, Letterbook, 83.)
Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.
Clayton’s purported notes are not extant. W. Gallup could be William Gallop, who was born in Springville, Utah, on 14 December 1852. It is possible that Dibble asked Gallup for a copy of these speeches so he could use them in his famed lectures. For three decades, Dibble traveled throughout Utah, displaying three painted murals and speaking on church history. The paintings depicted JS’s final speech to the Nauvoo Legion in Nauvoo, the 27 June 1844 murders of JS and Hyrum Smith in Carthage, Illinois, and the Mormon Battalion. (“Gallop, William,” in Jenson, Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:497; Leonard, “Picturing the Nauvoo Legion,” 110–111; Carmack, “Philo Dibble’s Museum and Panorama,” 26–33.)
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
Leonard, Glen M. “Picturing the Nauvoo Legion.” BYU Studies 35, no. 2 (1995): 95–135.
Carmack, Noel A. “‘One of the Most Interesting Seeneries That Can Be Found in Zion’: Philo Dibble’s Museum and Panorama.” Nauvoo Journal 9, no. 2 (Fall 1997): 25–38.
At the first court-martial of the Nauvoo Legion, held on 4 February 1841, Fullmer was appointed “Pay-Master” of the militia. In his letterbook, Fullmer wrote “Springville, Utah, Jan. 20th. 1878” at the beginning of his copy of JS’s speeches. If Fullmer’s transcript is an accurate copy of the Dibble transcript, which has not been located, then this dateline could possibly refer to the date and location that Gallup allegedly transcribed Clayton’s notes for Dibble. (Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841; JS, Discourses, 22 and 23 June 1844, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 83, 87.)
Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.
Digital copies of most of these versions of the two speeches are available through the Church History Library catalog at catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org.
In the early 1830s, the Saints viewed the Rocky Mountains as a place of possible gathering where missionaries could preach to American Indians. They also believed that American Indians, whom they viewed as members of the house of Israel, would make a pivotal contribution to God’s eschatological plans, including the building of the New Jerusalem. Efforts to convert Indians began in 1830, shortly after the church was organized, and continued throughout JS’s life. For example, during a meeting of the Council of Fifty in March 1844, JS motioned that council member James Emmett preach to American Indians and “instruct them to unite together and cease their enmity towards each other.” (Richard W. Cummins, Delaware and Shawnee Agency, to William Clark, [St. Louis, MO], 15 Feb. 1831, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency, Records, vol. 6, pp. 113–114; Elizabeth Godkin Marsh, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Lewis Abbott and Ann Abbott, East Sudbury, MA, Sept. [1831], Abbott Family Collection, CHL; Letter from Thomas Burdick, 28 Aug. 1840; Walker, “Native American during the Joseph Smith Period,” 1–33; Mahas, “American Indians and the Nauvoo-Era Council of Fifty,” 119–127; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 21 Mar. 1844; see also Mauss, All Abraham’s Children, chaps. 2–3; and Reeve, Religion of a Different Color, chaps. 2–3.)
U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency. Records, 1807–1855. Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Also available at kansasmemory.org.
Abbott Family Collection, 1831–2000. CHL. MS 23457.
Walker, Ronald W. “Seeking the ‘Remnant’: The Native American during the Joseph Smith Period.” Journal of Mormon History 19 (Spring 1993): 1–33.
Mahas, Jeffrey D. “American Indians and the Nauvoo-Era Council of Fifty.” In The Council of Fifty: What the Records Reveal about Mormon History, edited by Matthew J. Grow and R. Eric Smith, 119–130. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017.
Mauss, Armand L. All Abraham’s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.
Reeve, W. Paul. Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
TEXT: “Yes” is underlined twice.
TEXT: “yes” is underlined twice.
See John 15:13.
See Interview, 29 Aug. 1843, in JSP, D13:88; and Discourse, 16 June 1844–A.
JSP, D13 / Heimburger, Christian K., Jeffrey D. Mahas, Brent M. Rogers, Mason K. Allred, J. Chase Kirkham, and Matthew S. McBride, eds. Documents, Volume 13: August–December 1843. Vol. 13 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Matthew C. Godfrey, R. Eric Smith, Matthew J. Grow, and Ronald K. Esplin. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2022.
See Deuteronomy 32:41; Ezekiel 21:3–5; and Book of Mormon, 1841 ed., 577 [Mormon 8:41].