JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. E-1, created 20 Aug. 1855–5 Apr. 1856; handwriting of Robert L. Campbell, , and Jonathan Grimshaw; 392 pages, plus 11 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the fifth volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This fifth volume covers the period from 1 July 1843 to 30 Apr. 1844; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1, B-1, C-1, D-1, and F-1, continue through 8 Aug. 1844.
Historical Introduction
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1, constitutes the fifth of six volumes documenting the life of Joseph Smith and the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series is also known as the Manuscript History of the Church and was originally published serially from 1842 to 1846 and 1851 to 1858 as the “History of Joseph Smith” in the Times and Seasons and Deseret News. This volume contains JS’s history from 1 July 1843 to 30 April 1844, and it was compiled in Utah Territory in the mid-1850s.
The material recorded in volume E-1 was initially compiled under the direction of church historian , who was JS’s cousin. Smith collaborated with in collecting material for the history and creating a set of draft notes that Smith dictated to Bullock and other clerks.
Robert L. Campbell, a recently returned missionary and member of the Historian’s Office staff, transcribed ’s notes into the volume along with the text of designated documents (such as letters and meeting minutes). The Church Historian’s Office journal entry for 2 May 1855 pinpoints the beginning of his work: “R. L. C. on Book D forenoon, afternoon began book E.” Campbell’s work on the volume apparently concluded on 5 April 1856; entries in the Historian’s Office journal indicate that he then moved on to other assignments while another clerk, Jonathan Grimshaw, began work on volume F-1, the last manuscript in the series. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 2 May 1855; 5 and 9 Apr. 1856.)
Volume E-1 contains 391 pages of primary text and 11 pages of addenda. The initial entry on page 1637 is a continuation of the 1 July 1843 entry that closed volume D-1. The final entry in volume E-1 is for 30 April 1844.
The 391 pages of volume E-1 document a crucial period of JS’s life and the history of the church. Important events recorded here include
• An account of JS’s 2 July 1843 meeting with several Pottawatamie chiefs.
• JS’s 4 July 1843 address regarding his recent arrest, the Legion, and Mormon voting practices.
• JS’s 12 July 1843 dictation of a revelation regarding eternal marriage, including the plurality of wives, in the presence of and .
• The 13 August 1843 disfellowshipment of and revocation of his priesthood license.
• Dispatch of the first missionaries to the Pacific Islands on 20 September 1843, led by .
• JS’s 1 October 1843 announcement of ’s appointment to a mission to Russia.
• Minutes of a 6–9 October 1843 general conference inserted under the date of 9 October at which pled his case in regard to his 13 August 1843 disfellowshipment and was permitted to continue as counselor in the First Presidency.
• Text of JS’s appeal to the Green Mountain Boys of , inserted under the date of 29 November 1843.
• A 20 January 1844 entry that includes a poem by commemorating the presentation of two copies of the Book of Mormon to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert by .
• JS’s nomination on 29 January 1844 as an independent candidate for the presidency of the .
<April 15> The General is not an admirer of lawyers ‘Like the good Samaritan’, he exclaims, ‘send every lawyer, as soon as he repents and obeys the ordinances of Heaven, to preach the Gospel to the destitute, without purse or scrip, pouring in the oil and the wine’. How it must have delighted his heart to learn that the pious has lately become an eloquent preacher!— though we fear he does not ‘repent and obey the ordinances of the Gospel’, nor is contented— not he— to preach’ without purse or scrip,’ however willing to ‘pour in the oil and the wine.’
We cannot refrain from treating our readers to the following glowing passage, in which our friend Joseph so eloquently describes the defeat of . We have read nearly all the whig slang on this same subject; and we have met with nothing to equal the gloomy grandeur of this portentous paragraph:
‘At the age, then, of sixty years, our blooming republic began to decline, under the withering touch of . Disappointed ambition, thirst for power, pride, corruption, party spirit, faction, patronage, perquisites, fame, tangling alliances, priestcraft and spiritual wickedness in high places, struck hands, and revelled in midnight splendour. Trouble, vexation, perplexity and contention, mingled with hope, fear, and murmuring, rumbled through the Union, and agitated the whole nation, as would an earthquake at the centre of the earth, heaving the sea beyond its bounds, and shaking the everlasting hills. So, in hopes of better times, while jealousy, hypocritical pretensions, and pompous ambition were luxuriating on the ill-gotten spoils of the people, they rose in their majesty, like a tornado, and swept through the land, till General [William Henry] Harrison appeared, as a star among the storm clouds, for better weather.’
After this, won’t Mr. Botts give way, and let General Smith be the whig candidate for the vice presidency? But let us finish the picture:
‘The good man died before he had the opportunity of applying one balm to ease the pain of our groaning country; and I am willing the nation should be the judge whether General Harrison, in his exalted station, upon the eve of his entrance into the world of spirits, told the truth or not; with acting ’s three years perplexity and pseudo-whig-democrat reign, to heal the breaches or show the wounds, secundum artem, (according to art.) Subsequent events, all things considered, ’s downfal, Harrison’s exit, and ’s self-sufficient turn on the whole go to show, as a Chaldean might exclaim: Beram etai elauh beshmayauh gauhah rauzeen. (Certainly there is a God in heaven to reveal secret’s.’)
Joseph is unquestionably a great scholar as well as financier. Cannot persuade the General to accompany him on his electioneering tour? With Piondexter, Prentiss, the Bear, the Borer, Joe Smith, and a few other quadrupeds to complete his menag[e]rie, he could not [p. 2017]