The “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft,” and the “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account” are the two complete, extant iterations of efforts by later church historians to record the murder of JS and , including the events leading up to their deaths and the immediate aftermath. As stated at the beginning of both accounts, the information was compiled from a number of different sources, including other journals, letters, and various other documents. It was put into a cohesive narrative during the 1850s by Church Historian’s Office clerks , Jonathan Grimshaw, and , presumably under the direction of the church historian, .
was the initial scribe for approximately the first half of “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft,” and Grimshaw was the primary scribe for the remainder. Sometimes slips of paper were attached to pages of the draft with additional or alternative text to be included with a specific page. Page 12 of the draft has a notation by Grimshaw indicating that previously drafted text was to be added to the draft; instead of copying the text, he simply inserted a whole leaf into the draft. This leaf, in ’s handwriting, contains various numbered vignettes. It appears to be part of a larger collection of vignettes, as it is paginated “5” and “6,” and is likely the surviving portion of an earlier iteration of the martyrdom account by Thomas Bullock. The remainder of Bullock’s effort is not extant.
“Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account,” which is a more final copy written primarily by Grimshaw in the mid-1850s, similarly has slips of papers attached. It also includes several leaves that were physically removed from “Martyrdom Account, Draft”; these leaves were renumbered to match the pagination of the copy: pages 7–10 in the draft became pages 11–14 in the more final copy; pages 13–14 became 19–20; most extensively, pages 19–52 became 27–60; and finally, page 57, the last page of the draft, became page 73 in the new version. Although these leaves are cataloged with the more final copy, this website presents the pages both in the draft, as originally paginated, and in the more final copy, with the new pagination. Two additional items were added at the end of the more final copy. A bifolium paginated as “75” and “2” and written on the back of a printed Utah Territory legal form gives an account of the arrival of the bodies of JS and Hyrum Smith in Nauvoo as well as the funeral and burial. It was written by Grimshaw and edited by from information given by . On the final leaf, which is torn and is paginated “76,” Bullock drafted an introduction to a passage from ’s History of Illinois, with instructions to include the passage from Ford’s history in the martyrdom account.
Both the draft and the more final copy were edited by , Grimshaw, and . It is not clear when the edits were made. The more final copy of the account appears to be what was used in 1856 when the final version was copied into the last volume of the Joseph Smith’s multivolume manuscript history (JS History, vol. F-1, 147, 151–204).
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< June 26 noon> No. 24 It was common conversation in the Camp ground & in the dining room of the Hotel “The law is too short for these men, but they must not be suffered to go at large” and “if the law will not reach them, powder & balls must”
<27 8 am> No 25 at Joseph’s request applied to the & receiv obtained the following passes “Suffer Mr. to pass in to visit Genl. Joseph Smith and friends in Carthage Jail unmolested.
June 27th. 1844 “Gov & Commander in Chief”
“Protect Mr. in passing to & from &
June 27th. 1844
Governor & Commander in Chief”
while receiving these passes he related to the the <numerous> threats that he had heard
<9.50> No. 26 previous to leaving said to the “Sir you must be aware by this time that the prisoners have no fears in relation to any lawful demands made against them, but you have heard sufficient to justify you in the belief that their enemies would destroy them if they had them in their power, & now Sir I am about to leave for , & I fear for those men, they are safe as regards the law, but they are not safe from the hands of the traitor & the midnight assassins who thirst for their blood & have determined to spill it, and under these circumstances I leave with a heavy heart". He <> replied “I was never in such a dilemma in my life, but your friends shall be protected & have a fair trial by the law; In this pledge I am not alone, I have obtained the pledge of the whole of the army to sustain me in this respect”. After receiving these assurances <he> prepared to visit the prison, the morning being a little rainy, favored his wearing an overcoat, in the side pocket of which he was enabled to carry a revolver six shooter, he passed the guard unmolested— during his visit in the prison he slipped the Revolver into Josephs pocket unobserved by any other individual Joseph examined it & asked if he had not better retain it for his own protection it was a providential circumstance getting the pistol into the prison as every other person who had previously entered, had been very rigidly searched. Joseph then handed a single barrel pistol (which had been given him by who passed the guard with it concealed in the top of his boots) to his brother and said “you may have use for this” observed “I hate to use such things or to see them used”— “So do I” said Joseph “but we may want to help the guard defend the prison” upon this took the pistol.
was intrusted with a verbal request to the commander of the to avoid all military display or any other movement calculated to produce excitement during the ’s visit.
said Joseph “our lives have already become jeopardized, by revealing the wicked and blood thirsty purposes of our enemies, and for the future we must cease to do so, all we have said about them is truth, but it is not always wise to relate such truth, even Jesus the Son of God had to refrain from doing so and to restrain his feelings many times, for the safety of his own person and those of his followers and had to conceal the righteous purposes of his heart in relation to many things pertaining to his father’s kingdom; when quite a boy, he had all the intelligence