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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).
passed his farm he took a good look at it, and after they had passed it, he turned round several times to look again; some of the company made remarks on the subject, when Joseph said “If some of you had got such a farm, and knew you would not see it any more, you would want to take a good look at it, the last time you would see it” Joseph received the following letter “Carthage” -[copy]- “Woods.” At <They arrived at> Fellows’ house, 4 miles West of <about 9 P M, where they stopped about half an hour and partook of such refreshment as <they> had brought with them>, a Company of mounted militia (commanded by ,) returning with the State Arms from , joined them, and escorted them <into > in, where they arrived at 5 minutes before 12 at night, and went to Hamilton’s tavern. While passing the public square to Hamilton’s tavern, many of the troops <especially the Carthage Greys> made use of the following expressions, which were re-echoed in the ears of the and hundreds of others, “Where is the damned prophet?” “Stand away you McDonough boys and let us shoot the damned Mormons” <“God damn you old Joe, we’ve got you now"> “Clear the way and let us have a view of Joe Smith, the prophet of God; he has seen the last of — we’ll use him up now <and kill all the damned Mormons”>.”
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<The rear platoon of the Carthage Greys repeatedly threw their guns over their heads in a curve so that the bayonets struck the ground with the breech of their guns upwards, when they would run back and pick them up, at the same time whooping, yelling, hooting and cursing like a pack of savages.> While the <On hearing> [p. 5]
Source Note
Source Note
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Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
Unless otherwise specified, all insertions and cancellations on this page are in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
Insertion written vertically over the last four lines of text in the center of the page; handwriting of Leo Hawkins.