, “Brief History,” Manuscript, ca. 6 April 1838– ca. 26 January 1839; handwriting of and an unidentified scribe; seventy pages numbered 20–90, plus three unnumbered pages; John Fletcher Darby Papers, Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.
, a careful observer, had enjoyed a close association with Mormon leaders, and consequently his account provides valuable insights into the development and structure of the early church. He summarized many of the doctrines taught by JS and provided a detailed description of the conflict between the Latter-day Saints and other settlers. But his chronicle also related the story of a personal spiritual journey into and then out of the church as came to disapprove of the church’s course in 1838 in Missouri. Yet despite his estrangement from the church and his excommunication in 1839, he retained a degree of sympathy for the Saints and maintained some contact.
apparently began compiling portions of his account while serving as an officially appointed church historian in . He probably completed his narrative by 11 February 1839, when he secured a copyright with the district federal copyright office. He arranged for Thomas Watson & Son of to print A Brief History. The entire print run may have included up to twelve hundred copies.
The document presented here, ’s circa 1838–1839 rough draft of his history, is incomplete. It includes the title page, copyright notice, and preface but is missing twenty-one pages, including the nineteen pages that constitute chapters 1 through 6. The manuscript is almost entirely in Corrill’s handwriting, though some of the chapter summaries (added after he drafted the narrative) were written in a different hand, possibly that of the printer.
’s published version of A Brief History receives comprehensive treatment in volume 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and is available on this website as part of the history series.
<Fourth of July celebrated. s oration. The Election.>
<The church celebrated the fourth of July by raising a liberty pole on which they hoisted the American flag.> <They also> formed a civil and military procession, and delivered an oration in which there were one or two sentences to which considerable exceptions was taken by the people of other counties. The substance was, that they did not mean to suffer vexacious law suits and other abuses as they had done,— but if a mob fell on them they would resist and would follow them to their houses and it should be a war of extermination to one or the other party. This spirit was kept up untill the church, or many individuals, became so inspired with it that we they would not hear any offence.
As the Danites had covenanted and agreed to support the heads of the church in all things, so of course they must controll the elections as well as othr matters. Therefore they got up a meeting of their <Danite> officers on saturday before the election, and appointed a committe[e] consisting of one man from each tow[n]ship in the , who called upon the first presidency to assist them in making out a nomination. Accordingly a ticket was made out to suit them and a sufficent number printed that night. The next day another meeting of the Danites was conveaned two hundred or more in number, and these tickets divided out among them. They agreed to scatter them through out the county of and support it the next morning at the polls, which they did. The people supposed that this ticket was from head quarters and that it was the will of God that all should go for it. But many saw that it was taking an undue advantage of the election, and were extremely dissatisfied; not so much with the ticket itself as with the principle [p. [59]]