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Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft
Source Note
Source Note
Historian’s Office, martyrdom account, draft; handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw, , and ; 57 pages plus several inserted pages; CHL.
For more information on the History Drafts, see Introduction to History Drafts, 1844–1856.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
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).
dered in cold blood,’” and <then> said to “go, and God bless you. <who> then rode as swiftly as he could to . This was evidently designed to drive the citizens of to desperation that they might commit some overt act <-[]-> which the could translate <construe> into treason; that he might have a shadow of excuse for his mob militia to destroy the Mormons, And, at ’s request, the company returned to to assist in collecting the arms. ( pledging his word as a military man, that Joseph Smith and his friends should be protected, at the expense of his own life; and his men responded to that pledge by three cheers < no doubt fearing that the order of the would excite the inhabitants of beyond endurance, and choosing rather to depend upon the well known integrity of Gen. Smith than to risk the chances of exciting a much abused people. <-[T & S & Fullmer]->> At the same time <Joseph> sending <sent> a messenger to the with the following letter: “Four miles, -[copy]- “Smith.” <-[insert 3a]-> <* below> The <Joseph and his> company <with J> then returned with , and arrived in at 2 ½ P.M. left the Company there, and proceeded <continued his journey> to ; Joseph immediately issued the following order: “Head Quarters” -[Copy]- “Legion” <&> to have the State Arms collected and taken to the without delay. <*> Many of the brethren looked upon this as another [p. 3]
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Source Note
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Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
Insertion in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.
Cancellation and insertion in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.
Insertion written sideways in left margin in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Cancellation and insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw, indicating that the text on the inserted slip, labeled 3a, should be inserted here.
Insertion in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock. Bullock circled the following sentence; this insertion indicates that the sentence should be moved to the bottom of the page at the corresponding asterisk.
Cancellation and insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Cancellation and insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Insertion in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Asterisk inserted by Thomas Bullock, indicating that the text circled earlier in the page should be moved to this point.