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Bill of Damages, 4 June 1839

Source Note

JS, Bill of Damages, , Adams Co., IL, 4 June 1839; handwriting of ; eight pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes redactions, use marks, docket, and archival marks.
Two bifolia measuring 12¼ × 7½ inches (31 × 19 cm). The document was folded for transmission and perhaps for filing. At some point, its leaves were numbered in graphite. In the 1840s or early 1850s, church historian docketed the upper left corner of the first leaf: “Joseph’s Bill of Damages | vs. Missouri June 4 | 1839”. Later, the two bifolia were fastened together with a staple, which was subsequently removed. The document has marked soiling and some separation along the folds. An archival marking—“d 155”—was inscribed in the upper right corner of the first leaf.
Following its completion, the bill of damages was temporarily in the possession of and other church scribes, who in June and July 1839 revised and expanded the document for publication. The bill of damages was possibly among the documents a Latter-day Saint delegation carried to in winter 1839–1840. If so, the document was included with the “additional documents” that were in the custody of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 17 February 1840 to circa 24 March 1840, after which the documents were retrieved by the church delegation. The document has probably remained in continuous institutional custody since that time, as indicated by ’s inscription of a copy in JS History, 1838–1856, volume C-1, in 1845 and by the docket and archival marking that were subsequently added to the document.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Richards served as church historian from December 1842 until his death in 1854. (JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News, 16 Mar. 1854, [2].)

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    The scribes may have added the use marks when preparing the document for publication. (See Historical Introduction to “Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.,” July 1839.)

  3. [3]

    Journal of the Senate of the United States, 17 Feb. 1840, 179; 23 Mar. 1840, 259–260; Elias Higbee, Washington DC, to JS, [Commerce, IL?], 24 Mar. 1840, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 105; see also Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 391–394.

    Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.

    Bushman, Richard Lyman. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. With the assistance of Jed Woodworth. New York: Knopf, 2005.

  4. [4]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 441; JS History, vol. C-1, 948–952. Bullock may have added the use marks after he finished copying the document in 1845, and Richards may have added the docket around the same time. The archival marking was added in the twentieth century.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

Historical Introduction

On 4 June 1839, JS prepared a bill of damages describing his suffering and losses during the 1838 conflict in and his subsequent imprisonment. This document was one of several hundred that prepared in an effort to seek redress from the federal government for their losses in Missouri. In March 1839, while JS was imprisoned in the in , Missouri, he wrote to the Saints in , instructing them to document “all the facts and suffering and abuses put upon them by the people of this state [Missouri] and also of all the property and amount of damages which they have sustained.” JS explained in a letter to his wife that after documenting the damages, church members should “apply to the Court.” The Saints subsequently altered this strategy, deciding in early May to send to to present Congress with church members’ claims for redress. That month, Latter-day Saints began in earnest to write affidavits, most of which were sworn before local government officials, describing church members’ suffering and detailing the loss of life and property.
JS prepared his bill of damages on 4 June 1839 during a visit to church members in , Illinois. JS’s regular scribe, , was not in Quincy at the time, so assisted JS with the document. Thompson had prior experience as a scribe for the church and had recently been assigned to write a history of the church’s persecutions in . This assignment may have contributed to JS’s decision to work with Thompson on the bill of damages. The earliest extant version of the manuscript, featured here, is lengthy and fairly polished, suggesting there was at least one earlier draft.
The bill of damages begins with a brief description of JS’s travels from , Ohio, to and his experiences in Missouri during summer 1838. The document then focuses on the October 1838 conflict with anti-Mormons in Missouri, including the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Carroll County and the Saints’ aggressive military operations to defend themselves in . In his description of the operations, JS highlighted the participation of state militia leaders—Brigadier Generals and Hiram Parks as well as Colonel of the regiment of the state militia—while deemphasizing the actions of the Latter-day Saints’ “armies of Israel.” The bill also covers the state militia’s occupation of , as well as the incarceration of JS and others during winter 1838–1839, including unfair treatment of the prisoners, their attempts to obtain hearings, and their escape to in April 1839. The document concludes with a list of damages and expenses totaling $100,000. Unlike the vast majority of affidavits that Latter-day Saints made in 1839, JS’s bill of damages was not sworn before a government official.
In June and July 1839, penciled in changes to the text of the bill of damages, apparently in preparation for publication. Since these changes were probably made for a purpose distinct from the intention of the original document, these revisions are not reproduced here. Thompson’s changes, as well as other revisions and additions, were included in the bill of damages when it was published as “Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith, Jr.” in the July 1839 issue of the church periodical Times and Seasons.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839.

  2. [2]

    Letter to Emma Smith, 21 Mar. 1839.

  3. [3]

    Historical Introduction to Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 10 Apr. 1839; Minutes, 4–5 May 1839.

  4. [4]

    See, for example, James Newberry, Affidavit, Adams Co., IL, 7 May 1839; Joseph Dudley, Affidavit, Adams Co., IL, 11 May 1839; Phebee Simpson Emmett, Affidavit, Adams Co., IL, 14 May 1839, Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845, CHL.

    Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845. CHL. MS 2703.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 27 May–8 June 1839.

  6. [6]

    Mulholland was in Commerce, Illinois, during JS’s visit to Quincy in late May and early June 1839. (JS, Journal, 27 May–8 June 1839; Mulholland, Journal, 19 May–8 June 1839.)

    Mulholland, James. Journal, Apr.–Oct. 1839. In Joseph Smith, Journal, Sept.–Oct. 1838. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 1, fd. 4.

  7. [7]

    “Extracts of the Minutes of Conferences,” Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:15; Authorization for Almon Babbitt et al., ca. 4 May 1839; Snow, Journal, 1838–1841, 50–54.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.

  8. [8]

    For more information on the “armies of Israel,” see Introduction to Part 3: 4 Nov. 1838–16 Apr. 1839.

  9. [9]

    “Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.,” Times and Seasons, July 1839, 1:2–9.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Bill of Damages, 4 June 1839 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith” “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [8]

we then got a change of venue to and were on our way to that place on second evening after our departure our Guards getting intoxicated with I & thought it a favourable time to Effect our Escape from a state such men whose aim was only to destroy our lifes, and to abuse us in every manner that wicked men could invent accordingly we took advantage of their situation and made our Escape and after enduring considerable Fatigue & suffering hunger & weariness Expecting that our enemies would be in persuit we arrived in the Town of Illinois amidst the congratulations of our Friends & the Joy of our Familys. I have been here for several weeks as it is known to people in the State of but they knows they had no Justice in their Crusade against us me have not to my knowledge taken the first step to have me arrested——
The Loss of Property which I have sustained is as follows—
Lossess sustained in : including Lands: <​Houses​> Horses: Harness &c Hogs Cattle Hogs & Books & store Goods) $100,000
Expences while in Bonds: of moneys paid out Expences of moving out of the & damages sustained by <​False imprisonment​>)
threatnings: intimidation Exposure &c &c &c &c &c)
[p. [8]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Bill of Damages, 4 June 1839
ID #
462
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D6:492–505
Handwriting on This Page
  • Robert B. Thompson

Footnotes

  1. [49]

    The defendants obtained a change of venue from Daviess County to Boone County because Judge Thomas Burch served as prosecuting attorney during the November 1838 court of inquiry. Under Missouri law, defendants were permitted a change of venue if the judge previously served as a lawyer in the case. (See Historical Introduction to Promissory Note to John Brassfield, 16 Apr. 1839.)

  2. [50]

    The prisoners and their guards departed Gallatin on 12 April 1839. On 16 April, the party stopped for the night, likely near Yellow Creek in Chariton County, where the prisoners escaped, evidently with the complicity of the guards. (See Historical Introduction to Promissory Note to John Brassfield, 16 Apr. 1839.)

  3. [51]

    JS and his fellow prisoners arrived in Quincy on 22 April 1839. (JS, Journal, 22–23 Apr. 1839.)

  4. [52]

    JS was apparently unaware that in early June 1839, Missouri officials began the process of extraditing the escaped Latter-day Saint prisoners. (Austin A. King, Richmond, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, 7 June 1839, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA; Thomas C. Burch, Keytesville, MO, to James L. Minor, Jefferson City, MO, 24 June 1839, Mormon Collection, Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

    Burch, Thomas C. Letter, Keytesville, MO, to James L. Minor, Jefferson City, MO, 24 June 1839. Mormons Collection. Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.

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