At the previous council meeting, Young proposed that Hyde publish a pamphlet on “the whole history of Sidney Rigdon for the few years past, as a farewel to Rigdonism.” When he published the pamphlet, Hyde did not include the document discussing JS’s charge to the apostles. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 22 Mar. 1845.)

Young appears to have been responding to a statement in Hyde’s document: “After this appointment was made, and confirmed by the holy anointing under the hands of Joseph and Hyrum, Joseph continued his speech unto them.” Hyde’s account, as is true of many later reminiscent accounts of JS’s instructions to the Twelve, may conflate events from more than one meeting. In his statement Young apparently was not affirming that no anointing occurred but clarifying that JS did not perform such an anointing in the late March 1844 meeting of the Council of Fifty. There is no evidence that any ordinance, ordination, or anointing occurred in any meeting of the Council of Fifty; as Lucien Woodworth articulated after Young’s statement, other councils existed for such things. One of these other councils may have been the setting for what Hyde described in an 1844 letter when he reported that to the Twelve “were committed the Keys of the Kingdom, and every gift, key and power, that Joseph ever had,” all of which were “confirmed upon our heads by an annointing.” (Orson Hyde to Ebenezer Robinson, 19 Sept. 1844, in Return, Apr. 1890, 253; Orson Hyde, Statement about the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, ca. 25 Mar. 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; see also Parley P. Pratt, “Proclamation,” Prophet, 4 Jan. 1845, [2].)

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

The Prophet. New York City, NY. May 1844–Dec. 1845.