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“Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.,” July 1839

Source Note

JS, “Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.,” in Times and Seasons (Commerce, IL), July 1839, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 2–9; edited by and ; includes typeset signature. The copy used for transcription is currently part of a bound volume held at CHL.
The eight-page article is the second item in the first number of the Times and Seasons. This issue comprises eight leaves, making sixteen pages that measure 8⅝ x 5¼ inches (22 x 13 cm). The text on each page is set in two columns. It is unknown how long this copy of this issue of the Times and Seasons has been in church custody.

Historical Introduction

The historical account contained in “Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.” was composed in the aftermath of the 1838 armed conflict between the Latter-day Saints and other Missourians, a struggle that culminated in the incarceration of JS and the expulsion of the Saints from the . On 20 March 1839, from the in , Missouri, JS wrote to the Saints instructing them to document “all the facts and suffering and abuses put upon them by the people of this state and also of all the property and amount of damages which they have sustained.” A month later, on 16 April, JS escaped from the custody of Missouri lawmen, and on 22 April he was reunited with the Mormon exiles in , Illinois. Within days he arranged extensive land purchases for Mormon settlement at nearby , Illinois, and across the in . JS himself was among the initial Latter-day Saints to relocate to Commerce in May 1839. On 4 June 1839, during a visit to Quincy, JS created a record of his own Missouri losses, titled “Bill of Damages against the state of Missouri.” Written in the handwriting of JS’s recently appointed clerk, , the bill of damages was created as a petition to the federal government for redress, and it became the basis of “Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.,” published in July 1839. The reference to a “private journal” in the title notwithstanding, the article was not in fact based on a journal source; JS’s bill of damages is the only known manuscript source. The manuscript is much more than a simple bill of damages, however, and the historical narrative it contains bridges the chronological gap between JS’s last Missouri journal and his first journal.
After an introduction stating that JS encountered enmity from the moment of his arrival in in March 1838, “Extract, from the Private Journal” covers most of the significant episodes in the Missouri conflict. The first specific historical event is the siege of the Mormon settlement at in Carroll County. The article then narrates the subsequent conflict around in Daviess County, the battle at with militia from , and the siege at in Caldwell County. Also recounted are JS’s capture, imprisonment, and indictment, as well as the exodus of the Latter-day Saints to . The narrative draws to a close with JS’s escape and his flight from Missouri. Where the bill of damages ends with a list of losses and sufferings for which remuneration is sought, the “Extract” concludes with an address to the American people at large, appealing to the principles of liberty and justice.
“Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.” was published in the first issue of the church newspaper Times and Seasons. The prospectus published at the end of the issue declared that the newspaper would provide “a history of the unparallelled persecution, which we, as a people, received in ”; the lead article in the issue, an “Address” from the editors, similarly announced that the newspaper’s mission included publication of “a detailed history of the persecution and suffering” experienced in Missouri. “Extract, from the Private Journal” directly follows, taking up half of the issue’s sixteen pages. Times and Seasons editors and printed only about two hundred copies of the July 1839 issue before a malaria epidemic left them debilitated. Months later they published a reprint of the first issue, including JS’s “Extract,” under a November 1839 date. JS’s account of Missouri sufferings constituted part of a new genre of Mormon historical writing, and in the next issue, the Times and Seasons began publishing an eleven-part series on the Saints’ Missouri persecutions.
JS’s bill of damages was revised for publication as the “Extract” sometime between 4 June 1839, when the bill of damages was composed, and 12 July, when recorded “looking over the proof sheet of the first number of the Times & seasons.” JS returned to from on 5 June and remained in the area until 12 July, except for a 15–26 June journey through western . Therefore, JS’s narrative of persecutions was likely revised in Commerce between 5 and 14 June or between 27 June and 12 July. The first issue of the Times and Seasons was probably published within a few days of 12 July, the day Wilford Woodruff helped check the proof sheet.
The first two-thirds of the “Extract” was based closely on “Bill of Damages,” with only minor editorial changes. The changes softened some of the manuscript’s more strident rhetoric, omitted particulars regarding JS’s personal losses, and added details to emphasize the suffering of the Saints. Significant differences between the two documents are explained in footnotes herein. The final section of the article, which did not come from the bill of damages, may have been dictated or written by JS, perhaps with help from clerical assistants , , and . The published “Extract” was disseminated to Saints throughout the nation via the newspaper, and the document shaped their memory of the persecution in and their pattern for rehearsing it. JS clearly intended to reach not only the Latter-day Saints subscribing to the church newspaper but also the greater American public. As part of JS’s effort to gain sympathy in the court of public opinion, this document became part of the broadening agenda of gaining redress for grievances suffered in Missouri.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the church members and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 123:1–2]. In a letter to the church written three months earlier, JS had reflected on some of the causes leading to the expulsion. (JS, Liberty, MO, to “the church,” Caldwell Co., MO, 16 Dec. 1838, JS Collection, CHL.)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

  2. [2]

    JS, “Bill of Damages against the State of Missouri[:] An Account of the Sufferings and Losses Sustained Therein,” Quincy, IL, 4 June 1839, JS Collection, CHL; see also JS, Journal, 27 May–8 June 1839.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

  3. [3]

    The last entry in JS’s September–October 1838 journal is 5 October 1838. On that day, JS left Far West, Missouri, with a detachment of Mormon men to reinforce the besieged Saints in De Witt, Missouri; after an introductory overview, JS’s “Bill of Damages” begins with the De Witt conflict. The bill ends with JS’s escape from his captors on 16 April 1839 and his arrival in Quincy, Illinois, on 22 April 1839; the first two entries in JS’s 1839 journal resume JS’s journal keeping precisely at this point.

  4. [4]

    “Prospectus of the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons, July 1839, 1:16; Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, “Address,” Times and Seasons, July 1839, 1:1.

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

  5. [5]

    “To the Patrons of the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:15–16; Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” The Return, May 1890, 257–258.

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

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

  6. [6]

    It appears that there were three printings of the first issue of the Times and Seasons: the first in July; the second in November, from the same typesetting; and a third sometime thereafter, from a new setting of the text. The third printing, perhaps issued to satisfy increasing demand for the newspaper, retained the November 1839 date. Although minor spelling and punctuation changes appear in the later printings of the “Extract,” no changes were made to the wording. (See Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:94–95.)

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  7. [7]

    See “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839–Oct. 1840.

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

  8. [8]

    Woodruff, Journal, 12 July 1839.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  9. [9]

    JS’s journal records that he was “dictating History” 10–14 June and 3–5 July 1839, which may have included the historical narrative in the “bill of damages” along with his ongoing work on a complete history of the church. (JS, Journal, 10–14 June and 3–5 July 1839.)

Page 4

We had now, no hopes whatever, of successfully resisting the mob, who kept constantly increasing: our provisions were entirely exhausted and we being wearied out, by continually standing on guard, and watching the movements of our enemies; who, during the time I was there, fired at us a great many times. Some of the brethren died, for want of the common necessaries of life, and perished from starvation; and for once in my life, I had the pain of beholding some of my fellow creatures fall victims to the spirit of persecution, which did then, and has since prevailed to such an extent in Upper —men too, who were virtuous, and against whom, no legal process could for one moment, be sustained; but who, in consequence of their love to God—attachment to his cause—and their determination to keep the faith, were thus brought to an untimely grave.
Many houses, belonging to my brethren, were burned; their cattle d[r]iven away, and a great quantity of their property destroyed by the mob. Seeing no prospect of relief, the having turned a deaf ear to our entreaties, the militia having mutinied, and the greater part of them ready to join the mob; the brethren came to the conclusion to leave that place, and seek a shelter elsewhere; they consequently took their departure, with about seventy waggons, with the remnant of the property they had been able to save from their matchless foes, and proceeded to . During our journey, we were continually harrassed and threatened by the mob, who shot at us several times; whilst several of our brethren died from the fatigue and privations which they had to endure, and we had to inter them by the wayside, without a coffin, and under circumstances the most distressing.
On my arrival in I was informed by of , that a company of mobbers eight hundred strong, were marching towards a settlement of our people’s in . He ordered out one of the officers to raise a force and march immediately to what he called ’s town and defend our people from the attacks of the mob, until he should raise the militia in his, and the adjoining counties to put them down. A small company of militia who were on their rout to , and who had passed through , he ordered back again, stating that they were not to be depended upon, as many of them were disposed to join the mob; and to use his own expression, were “damned rotten hearted.” According to orders marched with a number of our people to to afford what assistance they could to their brethren. Having some property in that and having a house building there, I went up at the same time. While I was there a number of houses belonging to our people were burned by the mob, who committed many other depredations, such as driving off horses, sheep, cattle, hogs &c. A number, whose houses were burned down as well as those who lived in scattered and lonely situations, fled into the town for safety, and for shelter from the inclemency of the weather, as a considerable snow storm had taken place just about that time; women and children, some in the most delicate situations were thus obliged to leave their homes, and travel several miles in order to effect their escape. My feelings were such as I cannot describe when I saw them flock into the village, almost entirely destitu[t]e of clothes, and only escaping with their lives. During this state of affairs arrived at , and was at the house of Colonel , when the intelligence was brought, that the mob were burning houses; and also when women and children were fleeing for safety. who held a commission in the 59th regiment under his () command, asked what was to be done. He told him that he must immediately, call out his men and go and put them down. Accordingly, a force was immediately raised for the purpose of quelling the mob, and in a short time were on their march with a determination to drive the mob, or die in the attempt; as they could bear such treatment no longer. The mob having learned the orders of , and likewise being aware of the determination of the oppressed, they broke up their encampments and fled. The mob seeing that they could not succeed by force, now [p. 4]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
“Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.,” July 1839
ID #
6549
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, H1:464–488
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [24]

    The previous sentence does not appear in JS’s bill of damages.

  2. [25]

    JS’s bill of damages does not specifically note starvation as a cause of death among the De Witt Saints, nor does it include the sentiments expressed here following “the spirit of persecution.”

  3. [26]

    The evacuation from De Witt began on 11 October 1838. (John Murdock, Affidavit, Adams Co., IL, 10 Jan. 1840, photocopy, Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843, CHL; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 179–181.)

    Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.

    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).

  4. [27]

    Other eyewitnesses reported deaths that occurred during the evacuation of De Witt. (See Judd, Autobiography of Zadoc Knapp Judd, 9; Tarlton Lewis, Statement, 20 May 1879, p. 1, Historian’s Office, History of the Persecutions, 1879–1880, CHL; and Arza Judd Jr., Petition, 6 Jan. 1840, photocopy, Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843, CHL.)

    Judd, Zadoc Knapp. Autobiography of Zadoc Knapp Judd (1827–1909). [Provo, UT]: Brigham Young University Library, 1954. Copy at CHL. MS 4545.

    Historian’s Office. History of Persecutions, 1879–1880. CHL. CR 100 96.

    Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.

  5. [28]

    JS’s bill of damages does not call the company “mobbers.”

  6. [29]

    JS was evidently already aware that anti-Mormon forces were on their way to Daviess County, as he had called for an armed expedition to Daviess on 14 October, the day before Brigadier General Alexander Doniphan arrived at Far West. Doniphan may have confirmed rumors of the vigilante detachment or apprised JS of the size of the force. (See Corrill, Brief History, 36–37; and [Rigdon], Appeal to the American People, 41.)

    Corrill, John. A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, (Commonly Called Mormons;) Including an Account of Their Doctrine and Discipline; with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church. St. Louis: By the author, 1839.

    [Rigdon, Sidney]. An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri. Cincinnati: Glezen and Shepard, 1840.

  7. [30]

    Lyman Wight spearheaded settlement of Adam-ondi-Ahman, the principal Latter-day Saint community in Daviess County.a Wight was also the leader of the Adam-ondi-Ahman contingent of the Danite society, a private Mormon militia.b

    (aJS, Journal, 18 May–1 June and 4–5 June 1838; Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:399–402, 416, 438–444. bJS, Journal, 7–9 Aug. 1838; Swartzell, Mormonism Exposed, 17, 20–23, 32; “History of Lyman Wight,” 5, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL.)

    Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

    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.

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

  8. [31]

    While Brigadier General Alexander Doniphan had authority to issue orders for Caldwell and Daviess counties, Sidney Rigdon recounted that Doniphan “advised” and “recommended” that Latter-day Saints from Caldwell County help defend their fellow Saints in Daviess County. ([Rigdon], Appeal to the American People, 42.)

    [Rigdon, Sidney]. An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri. Cincinnati: Glezen and Shepard, 1840.

  9. [32]

    JS’s bill of damages notes that the company numbered sixty. This was apparently the company of Missouri militia commanded by Colonel William Dunn of Clay County that Brigadier General Hiram Parks had sent to Daviess County. Dunn’s company encamped near Far West awaiting Brigadier General Doniphan’s arrival. Doniphan, however, ordered Dunn to dismiss his troops. (Hiram Parks, Richmond, MO, to David R. Atchison, 21 Oct. 1838, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  10. [33]

    Approximately one hundred fifty to three hundred men from Caldwell County arrived in Daviess County on 16 October. (John Smith, Journal, 16 Oct. 1838; Corrill, Brief History, 37; Foote, Autobiography, 21 Oct. 1838.)

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

    Corrill, John. A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, (Commonly Called Mormons;) Including an Account of Their Doctrine and Discipline; with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church. St. Louis: By the author, 1839.

    Foote, Warren. Autobiography, not before 1903. Warren Foote, Papers, 1837–1941. CHL. MS 1123, fd. 1.

  11. [34]

    JS remained in Daviess County over the next few days to oversee Mormon operations there. (LeSueur, 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, 112–128; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 185–210.)

    LeSueur, Stephen C. The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987.

    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).

  12. [35]

    Mormon victims of these vigilante depredations included Agnes Coolbrith Smith, wife of JS’s brother Don Carlos. Her husband was away from home on a church mission. ([Rigdon], Appeal to the American People, 43; Hyrum Smith, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, p. 6, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    [Rigdon, Sidney]. An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri. Cincinnati: Glezen and Shepard, 1840.

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

  13. [36]

    Brigadier General Hiram Parks arrived 18 October. (Hiram Parks, Richmond, MO, to David R. Atchison, 21 Oct. 1838, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  14. [37]

    Wight had been commissioned as the colonel of the Caldwell County regiment of the state militia when he resided there, prior to moving to Daviess County. William Peniston, an antagonist to the Mormons, held the office of colonel in Daviess County.a Wight directed Mormon forces at Adam-ondi-Ahman as leader of the church’s private militia there.b

    (a“History of Lyman Wight,” 5, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL; see also William Peniston, Daviess Co., MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 21 Oct. 1838, Mormon War Papers, MSA. bJS, Journal, 7–9 Aug. 1838; Sampson Avard, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, in State of Missouri, “Evidence”; Swartzell, Mormonism Exposed, 17, 20–23, 32; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 385.)

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

    Missouri, State of. “Evidence.” Hearing Record, Richmond, MO, 12–29 Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Joseph Smith et al. for Treason and Other Crimes (Mo. 5th Cir. Ct. 1838). Eugene Morrow Violette Collection, 1806–1921, Western Historical Manuscript Collection. University of Missouri and State Historical Society of Missouri, Ellis Library, University of Missouri, Columbia.

    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.

    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).

  15. [38]

    JS’s bill of damages does not include “or die in the attempt.”

  16. [39]

    According to Parks, the Latter-day Saints began their attack before he arrived. (Hiram Parks, Richmond, MO, to David R. Atchison, 21 Oct. 1838, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

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