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Letter from Edward Southwick, 29 July 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Lee Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 29 July 1843; handwriting and signature of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notation, postal stamp, and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7½ inches (31 × 19 cm) and ruled with thirty-five horizontal blue lines, now faded. Embossed in the upper left corner of the recto of the first leaf is a rectangle enclosing a decorative star and “D & J. Ames Springfield”, the insignia of a Springfield, Massachusetts, paper mill firm established by brothers David and John Ames in 1828. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked. The document was later refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. Richards wrote his docket on the address block, probably soon after the letter’s receipt. The letter was also docketed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets, its listing in a 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Whiting, “Paper-Making in New England,” 309; Gravell et al., American Watermarks, 235.

    Whiting, William. “Paper-Making in New England.” In The New England States: Their Constitutional, Judicial, Educational, Commercial, Professional and Industrial History, edited by William T. Davis, vol. 1, pp. 303–333. Boston: D. H. Hurd, 1897.

    Gravell, Thomas L., George Miller, and Elizabeth Walsh. American Watermarks: 1690–1835. 2nd ed. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2002.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  3. [3]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  4. [4]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  5. [5]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 29 July 1843, attorney wrote from , Illinois, to JS in , Illinois, requesting that JS ensure the publication of two affidavits and an editorial in the Warsaw Message. In June 1843, and state officials attempted to have JS extradited to stand trial for treason allegedly committed in the 1838 conflict between the and their antagonists in Missouri. On 23 June 1843, near Dixon, Illinois, Constable of , Illinois, arrested JS on a warrant issued earlier that month by Illinois governor as part of the extradition, and Wilson transferred custody of JS to the agent authorized to convey him to Missouri, Sheriff of , Missouri, who had accompanied Wilson during the arrest.
In , JS retained the legal services of attorneys and , who helped him obtain a writ of , which would allow an authorized judge to review the legality of JS’s detention. The attorneys also assisted JS in filing a civil lawsuit against and for false imprisonment and personal injury, leading Sheriff James Campbell of , Illinois, to arrest the two lawmen on 24 June. Two days later, JS, his attorneys, his captors, Sheriff Campbell, and a few others departed Dixon. Their stated destination was , Illinois, in order to appear before an Illinois state judge. However, JS and his attorneys decided instead to appear before the Municipal Court on a writ of habeas corpus. While en route, small parties of troops began intercepting the traveling party with the intention of impeding Reynolds if he tried to convey JS to without due process. Accordingly, the traveling party stopped in Nauvoo, and on 1 July, the municipal court discharged JS.
After the discharge, and publicly claimed that the legion troops had forcibly rescued JS and that he had defied the law by going before the municipal court, which they believed lacked jurisdiction in the case. The two lawmen petitioned to send the state militia to retake JS. Church members sought to counter the claims of Reynolds and Wilson by sending missionaries to every county in to explain the arrest and the resulting municipal court decision. In addition, JS spoke on the arrest and its aftermath at public gatherings in . Church members also sent Ford a petition and other documents asking him not to dispatch the militia.
For his part, worked to challenge ’s and ’s arguments in the public press. On 10 July 1843, a newspaper printed Reynolds’s statement recounting the arrest and subsequent events, with the lawman asserting that “Holy Joe” held the law in “utter contempt.” Reynolds explained that when JS obtained a writ of habeas corpus in , the expectation was that an circuit judge in would review the legality of the arrest. Reynolds claimed that he was threatened and coerced into diverting the traveling party to , where JS was “rescue[d]” by the municipal court. Southwick, who happened to be in St. Louis when Reynolds’s statement appeared, published a reply in the same newspaper two days later, claiming that Reynolds denied JS access to an attorney the day of the arrest in Dixon, that the legion troops had conducted themselves appropriately, and that the Nauvoo Municipal Court had jurisdiction in the case.
On 12 July—the same day that ’s rebuttal to appeared in the newspaper—the Warsaw Message in , Illinois, published Southwick’s “Statement of the Facts Connected with the Arrest of Joseph Smith, and His Discharge Therefrom,” by “an Eye-Witness.” Southwick argued that had initially refused to grant JS access to an attorney and that the sheriff relented only after residents protested. Southwick then recounted the various legal maneuvers JS’s attorneys employed to impede Reynolds, including obtaining the writ of habeas corpus and filing the civil lawsuit. The statement also described the journey from Dixon and the conduct of Nauvoo Legion troops that began intercepting the traveling party on 27 June. Southwick insisted that the troops treated Reynolds and with respect, going so far as to claim that the legionnaires were unarmed. Southwick concluded with a discussion of the Municipal Court’s 1 July 1843 discharge of JS and its aftermath. On 15 July 1843, the Message reported that Wilson claimed that Southwick’s statement contained “two unqualified falsehoods—the first that Reynolds refused counsel an opportunity of a private interview with Smith—and the second, that the mormons, who from time to time met the company, . . . were unarmed.” Wilson also charged Southwick with having suppressed many other facts relative to the events he described, while giving others “a high coloring.”
believed that these allegations reflected negatively on his reputation, and on 29 July 1843 he worked with his associates to produce two affidavits that countered ’s claims. The first affidavit affirmed that had in fact denied JS the opportunity to speak alone with an attorney for about an hour after the lawmen and JS arrived in Dixon on 23 June. The second affidavit contended that the Nauvoo Legion troops who joined the traveling party conducted themselves appropriately toward Wilson and Reynolds. In addition, the second affidavit contested the claim from Reynolds’s published account that Sheriff Campbell had disarmed Wilson and Reynolds after arresting them on 24 June and had not returned their weapons until after JS’s discharge on 1 July. Southwick also wrote a cover letter for the affidavits requesting that the Message publish them, though Southwick had his doubts that editor Thomas Gregg would comply with his request.
Given these suspicions, wrote to JS later on 29 July asking him to follow up with the newspaper to ensure publication of the affidavits. Southwick also authorized JS to publish the affidavits—which he copied into the letter to JS—in other newspapers. Southwick then mailed the letter to JS in , a distance of approximately 150 miles. The letter was probably delivered to Nauvoo about a week later. Southwick’s letter and affidavits were subsequently provided to the Nauvoo Neighbor, apparently because the Message would not print them. They appeared in the 8 November 1843 issue of the paper.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Clayton, Journal, 23 June 1843; JS History, vol. D-1, 1581–1582; “Part 4: June–July 1843.”

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  2. [2]

    “Arrest of Joseph Smith,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 July 1843, [2].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  3. [3]

    See “Part 4: June–July 1843”; and Affidavit, 24 June 1843.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 2 July 1843; see also Joseph H. Reynolds, St. Louis, MO, 10 July 1843, Letter to the Editor, Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald, 10 July 1843, [2].

    Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald. St Louis, MO. 1843–1844.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 2–3 July 1843; Discourse, 30 June 1843; Discourse, 4 July 1843; Affidavit, 7 July 1843; see also Joseph H. Reynolds, St. Louis, MO, 10 July 1843, Letter to the Editor, Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald, 10 July 1843, [2]; and “Part 4: June–July 1843.”

    Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald. St Louis, MO. 1843–1844.

  6. [6]

    Joseph H. Reynolds, St. Louis, MO, 10 July 1843, Letter to the Editor, Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald, 10 July 1843, [2].

    Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald. St Louis, MO. 1843–1844.

  7. [7]

    Edward Southwick, St. Louis, MO, 12 July 1843, Letter to the Editor, Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald, 12 July 1843, [2].

    Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald. St Louis, MO. 1843–1844.

  8. [8]

    JS, Journal, 5 July 1843; [Edward Southwick], “Statement,” Warsaw (IL) Message, Extra, 12 July 1843, [1]; Editorial, 15 July 1843, in Warsaw Message, 12 July 1843, [3].

    Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.

  9. [9]

    Editorial, 15 July 1843, in Warsaw (IL) Message, 12 July 1843, [3].

    Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.

  10. [10]

    Gregg edited the Message from January 1843 to February 1844. It served as a temporary replacement for Thomas Sharp’s Warsaw Signal, which operated before and after the Message. Both Gregg and Sharp were critical of the Latter-day Saints and the growing economic and political power of Nauvoo. While Gregg favored lawful approaches to the perceived problem, Sharp advocated extralegal solutions. (Hallwas, Thomas Gregg, 46–48; “To the Public,” Warsaw [IL] Message, 7 Jan. 1843, [2]; see also Hampshire, “Thomas Sharp and Anti-Mormon Sentiment in Illinois,” 82–100.)

    Hallwas, John E. Thomas Gregg: Early Illinois Journalist and Author. Western Illinois Monograph Series 2. Macomb: Western Illinois University, 1983.

    Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.

    Hampshire, Annette P. “Thomas Sharp and Anti-Mormon Sentiment in Illinois, 1842– 1845.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 72, no. 2 (May 1979): 82–100

  11. [11]

    JS, Journal, 1 Nov. 1843.

  12. [12]

    Statement, Nauvoo Neighbor, 8 Nov. 1843, [2]–[3].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

Page [3]

number; pledged themselves that said and should be personally safe— and that said Mormons none <​none​> of them as we could perceive were armed so far as was discernable; and further that the said statement made in the Old School Democrat of the 12th instant over the signature of that he and said were disarmed soon after they were arrested on the trespass suit commenced against them by Said Smith, and that their arms were not returned to them until after said Smith’s discharge at was incorrect, and in relation to this these deponents say that said and were arrested on said action of trespass at on Saturday morning the 24th of June last; that they were not disarmed by the sheriff of who had them in custody nor by any other person until the following day at thirty two miles distant from , and that the arms of said and were restored to them by the said Sheriff of who had them in custody for default of bail at their and own request while on a the journey from to before the company had arrived within at least eighty miles of .
I. D. McComsey
Sworn and Subscribed to before me at this 29th day of July A.D. 1843
Frederick R. Dutcher Justice of the peace
To The Editors of the Warsaw Message
Gent— At appears from an article in your paper of the 15th of July under the Editorial head that there is a question of veracity therein raised between Mr and myself, relative to the proceedings had after the late arrest by him of Joseph Smith. Now in order that the public may no longer be deceived in the premises be pleased to publish together with this note the above affidavits that the charge of falsehood may attach where it properly belongs.
Very Respectfully Your’s
July 29th 1843. [p. [3]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [3]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Edward Southwick, 29 July 1843
ID #
1977
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:508–514
Handwriting on This Page
  • Edward Southwick

Footnotes

  1. [9]

    When William Clayton arrived in Nauvoo on 25 June 1843 with news of JS’s arrest, approximately two hundred Nauvoo Legion soldiers organized into companies. According to Charlotte Haven, Hyrum Smith “warned them against excitement, told them to go peaceably, to take nothing but secret arms.” About half of the troops left that night on horseback to locate JS, and the remainder departed the following morning by steamboat. A few scouts intercepted JS’s traveling party on 27 June, while the remaining mounted troops joined the caravan over the next few days. Later reminiscences by members of the expedition confirm that JS enjoined the men to treat Wilson and Reynolds with respect. (Clayton, Journal, 25 June 1843; Woodruff, Journal, 25 June 1843; Charlotte Haven, Nauvoo, IL, to “Dear Sister,” 4 June–2 July 1843, in “A Girl’s Letters from Nauvoo,” 634; JS History, vol. D-1, 1587; Peter Cownover, Statement, [26 Sept. 1854]; William McIntire, Statement, 3 Oct. 1854, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Haven, Charlotte. “A Girl’s Letters from Nauvoo.” Overland Monthly 16, no. 96 (Dec. 1890): 616–638.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

  2. [10]

    In Reynolds’s 10 July 1843 account of JS’s arrest and subsequent legal struggles, he stated that after he and Wilson were arrested by Sheriff James Campbell on 24 June in the trespass suit, the two men “were disarmed by the Sheriff of all weapons, and they were not returned to us till after Smith’s discharge at Nauvoo.” (Joseph H. Reynolds, St. Louis, MO, 10 July 1843, Letter to the Editor, Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald, 10 July 1843, [2].)

    Old School Democrat and Saint Louis Herald. St Louis, MO. 1843–1844.

  3. [11]

    Peter Cownover, one of the Nauvoo Legion soldiers who intercepted JS’s traveling party on 27 June 1843, later recounted that a dispute occurred the following day between the two lawmen and JS’s supporters over whether to continue to Quincy overland or to go by steamboat, after which Sheriff James Campbell confiscated Wilson’s and Reynolds’s guns. (Peter Cownover, Statement, [26 Sept. 1854], Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; JS History, vol. D-1, 1588–1589; see also Discourse, 30 June 1843.)

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

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