JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. C-1, created 24 Feb. 1845–3 July 1845; handwriting of , , Jonathan Grimshaw, and ; 512 pages, plus 24 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the third volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This third volume covers the period from 2 Nov. 1838 to 31 July 1842; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1, B-1, D-1, E-1 and F-1, continue through 8 Aug. 1844.
Historical Introduction
This document, “History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842],” is the third of six volumes of the “Manuscript History of the Church” (in The Joseph Smith Papers the “Manuscript History” bears the editorial title “History, 1838–1856”). The completed six-volume collection covers the period from 23 December 1805 to 8 August 1844. The narrative in this volume commences on 2 November 1838 with JS and other church leaders being held prisoner by the “’s forces” at , Missouri, and concludes with the death of Bishop at , Illinois, on 31 July 1842. For a more complete discussion of the entire six-volume work, see the general introduction to this history.
Volume C-1 was created beginning on or just after 24 February 1845 and its narrative was completed by 3 May 1845, although some additional work continued on the volume through 3 July of that year (Richards, Journal, 24 and 28 Feb. 1845; Historian’s Office, Journal, 3 May 1845; 3 and 4 July 1845). It is in the handwriting of and contains 512 pages of primary text, plus 24 pages of addenda. Additional addenda for this volume were created at a later date as a supplementary document and appear in this collection as “History, 1838-1856, volume C-1 Addenda.” Compilers and Thomas Bullock drew heavily from JS’s letters, discourses, and diary entries; meeting minutes; church and other periodicals and journals; and reminiscences, recollections, and letters of church members and other contacts. At JS’s behest, Richards maintained the first-person, chronological-narrative format established in previous volumes, as if JS were the author. , , , and others reviewed and modified the manuscript prior to its eventual publication in the Salt Lake City newspaper Deseret News.
The historical narrative recorded in volume C-1 continued the account of JS’s life as prophet and president of the church. Critical events occurring within the forty-five-month period covered by this text include the Mormon War; subsequent legal trials of church leaders; expulsion of the Saints from Missouri; missionary efforts in by the and others; attempts by JS to obtain federal redress for the Missouri depredations; publication of the LDS Millennial Star in England; the migration of English converts to ; missionary efforts in other nations; the death of church patriarch ; the establishment of the city charter; the commencement of construction of the Nauvoo ; the expedition that facilitated temple construction; the introduction of the doctrine of proxy baptism for deceased persons; the dedicatory prayer by on the Mount of Olives in Palestine; publication of the “Book of Abraham” in the Nauvoo Times and Seasons; publication of the JS history often referred to as the “Wentworth letter;” the organization of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo; and the inception of Nauvoo-era temple endowment ceremonies.
<April 18> travelling, minding our own business, we were stopt by a Mob, they told us, that if we went another step, they would kill us all, they took our guns from us— as we were going into a new Country we took guns along with us. they took us back five miles, placed a guard around us, there kept us three days, and let us go. I thought is this our boasted land of liberty, for some said, we must deny our faith, or they would kill us; others said, we should die at any rate, the names of this mob, or the heads were Thomas O’Brien, County [HC 3:323] Clerk, Jefferson Brion, William Ewell Esqre. and James Austin, all of , after they let us go, we travelled ten miles, came to a small town, composed of one grist mill, one saw mill, and eight or ten houses, belonging to our brethren, there we stopt for the night. A little before Sunset, a mob of three hundred came upon us, the men holloe’d for the women and children to run for the woods and they ran into an old blacksmith’s shop, for they feared, if we all run together, they would rush upon us, and kill the women and children, the mob fired before we had time to start from our camp, our men took off their hats, and swung them, and cried “quarters”, until they were shot, the mob paid no attention to their cries, nor entreaties, but fired alternately, I took my little girls, my boy I could not find, and started for the woods. the mob encircled us on all sides, but the brook, I ran down the bank, across the mill pond, on a plank, up the hill into the bushes, the bullets whistled all the way like hail, and cut down the bushes on all sides of us, one girl was wounded by my side, and fell over a log, and her clothes hung across the log, and <they> shot at them, expecting they were hiting her, and our people afterwards cut out of that log twenty bullets. I sat down to witness the dreadful scene; when they had done firing, they began to howl, and one would have thought, all the infernals had come from the lower regions, they plundered the principal part of our goods, took our horses and waggons, and ran off howling like demons; I came down to witness the awful scene. Oh horrible! What a sight!! my and one son ten years old, lifeless upon the ground, and one son wounded very bad, seven years old, the ground covered with the dead, these little boys crept under the bellows in the shop, one little boy ten years old had three wounds in him, he lived five weeks, and died, he was not mine. Realize for a moment the scene, it was, sunset, nothing but horror and distress, the dogs filled with rage, howling over their dead masters, the Cattle caught the scent of innocent blood, bellowed; a dozen helpless widows, thirty or forty fatherless children screaming, and groaning for the loss of their fathers and husbands, the groans of the wounded and dying, was enough to have melted the heart of any thing, but a Mob, there was fifteen dead and ten wounded, two died the next day, there were no men or not enough to bury the dead, so they were thrown into a dry well and covered with dirt, the next day the mob came back, they told us we must leave the forthwith or be killed, it was cold weather and they had our teams and clothes, our men [HC 3:324] all dead or wounded. I told them they might kill me and my children, and welcome; they sent to us from time to time, if we did not leave the , they would come and [p. 923]