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Letter from William W. Phelps, 1 May 1834

Source Note

, Letter, , Clay Co., MO, to church leaders (including JS), , Geauga Co., OH, 1 May 1834. Featured version published in The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, p. 160. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter, 30 Oct. 1833.

Historical Introduction

On 1 May 1834, wrote this letter to update church leaders in , Ohio, on the situation of the Saints who had been expelled from , Missouri, in November 1833 and who now resided mainly in , Missouri. The letter highlights continuing tensions between the Saints and the residents of Jackson County—tensions that grew as reports circulated that church members intended to regain their Jackson County lands, which the Saints did, in fact, try to do. Church leaders in petitioned Missouri governor for military assistance, but the governor did not believe he had the authority to maintain a militia force to protect church members from potential violence after they returned to possess their lands.
Revelations dictated by JS in December 1833 and February 1834 state that JS was responsible for gathering the Lord’s “wariors[,] my young men and they that are of middle age” to “break down the walls of mine enemies th[r]ow down their tower and scatte[r] their watchmen.” In February 1834, JS declared his intention to travel to to help the Saints reclaim their land, thereby redeeming . For the next several weeks, JS and others sought recruits for the expedition to Missouri, setting 1 May as the date for their departure.
It is unclear how much residents knew of the plans to redeem Zion by the time of ’s letter. church leaders had published the December 1833 revelation as a broadside and had sent copies of the revelation to in , Missouri, and to church members in . Given that , a Jackson County resident, was Dunklin’s lieutenant governor, it is probable that Boggs heard about the revelation and its potentially incendiary language of breaking down the walls of the Saints’ enemies and had shared that knowledge with his acquaintances in Jackson County.
By late April 1834, many residents believed that church members were going to send armed forces into the county to regain their lands. According to John K. Townsend, a traveler who visited , Missouri, in late April and later published an account of his experiences, “Reports have been circulated that the Mormons are preparing to attack” Independence “and put the inhabitants to the sword.” Because of these reports, Townsend continued, residents of the town were “in a constant state of feverish alarm” and had “stationed sentries along the river for several miles, to prevent the landing of the enemy.” They also “parade[d] and stud[ied] military tactics every day” in order “to repel, with spirit, the threatened invasion.” Perhaps responding to such fears, and other church leaders informed on 24 April 1834 that although “a number of our brethren, perhaps 2 or 3 hundred, would remove to Jackson Co in the course of the ensuing summer,” they planned on peacefully reoccupying the land and using force only if they faced “another unparallelled attack from the mob.” Fears of aggression from church members continued in Jackson County, however, as Phelps’s letter explains.
Given the amount of time it took for a letter to get from to , JS would not have seen ’s letter before departing for on 5 May. When the letter came to JS’s attention is unclear. published the letter in the May 1834 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, designating it as “the last intelligence from the west.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    For details on the Jackson County expulsion, see “Joseph Smith Documents from February 1833 through March 1834,”.

  2. [2]

    William W. Phelps et al., Liberty, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, 4 Dec. 1833, copy; Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., 4 Feb. 1834, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  3. [3]

    Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:55–57, 69–74]; Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834 [D&C 103:21–22].

  4. [4]

    Minutes, 24 Feb. 1834.

  5. [5]

    Minutes, 17 Mar. 1834; JS, Journal, 26–28 Feb. 1834; 1–2, 4–6, and 7 Mar. 1834; Letter to Orson Hyde, 7 Apr. 1834; see also Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., 4 Feb. 1834, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  6. [6]

    Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834.

  7. [7]

    Palmer, History of Napa and Lake Counties, California, 374; “Boggs, Lilburn W.,” in National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 12:303.

    Palmer, Lyman L. History of Napa and Lake Counties, California. . . . San Francisco: Slocum, Bowen & Co., 1881.

    The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. . . . 63 vols. New York: James T. White, 1898–1984.

  8. [8]

    Boggs was one of the participants in the violence that drove church members from Jackson County in November 1833. (“A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Jan. 1840, 1:35.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  9. [9]

    Townsend, Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains, 25.

    Townsend, John K. Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River, and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, &c. Philadelphia: Henry Perkins, 1839.

  10. [10]

    Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, 24 Apr. 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  11. [11]

    See Hartley, “Letters and Mail between Kirtland and Independence,” 163–189.

    Hartley, William G. “Letters and Mail between Kirtland and Independence: A Mormon Postal History, 1831–33.” Journal of Mormon History 35, no. 3 (Summer 2009): 163–189.

  12. [12]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 477.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  13. [13]

    “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 160.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter from William W. Phelps, 1 May 1834
Letter from William W. Phelps, 1 May 1834, as Published in Evening and Morning Star History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 160

, May 1, 1834.
Dear brethren:— There are great moves in the west. Last week an alarm was spread in , the seat of iniquity and bloodshed, that the “Mormons” were crossing the , to take possession of their lands, and nearly all the county turned out, “prepared for war,” on Saturday, and on Sunday took the field, near old McGees, above . But no “Mormons” came; neither did go over to see about his spilt whiskey, so that the scene closed with burning our houses, or many of them. Our people had about one hundred and seventy buildings in , and a bonfire of nearly all of them, at once, must have made a light large enough to have glared on the dark deed and cup of iniquity running over, at midnight.
The crisis has come: All that will not take up arms with the mob and prepare to fight the “Mormons,” have to leave .
I understand some have left the because they refused to fight an innocent people. It is said the mob will hold a “general muster” this week for the purpose of learning who is who. They begin to slip over the and commit small depredations upon our brethren settled near the as we have reason to believe.
It is said to be enough to shock the stoutest heart to witness the drinking, swearing, and ravings of the most of the mob: nothing but the power of God can stop them in their latter day crusade against the .
Our brethren are very industrious in putting in spring crops; and they are generally in good health and the faithful in strong faith of a glorious hereafter.
I remain yours, &c,
. [p. 160]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from William W. Phelps, 1 May 1834
ID #
217
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D4:39–42
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    In a 25 April 1834 daybook entry, John Whitmer noted, “Mob gathered above blue 150 or 200.” Saturday was 26 April and Sunday was 27 April. (Whitmer, Daybook, 25 Apr. 1834.)

    Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.

  2. [2]

    “Old McGee” may have been James McGee, who was one of the first settlers of Westport in Jackson County and owned at least two hundred acres of land in Kaw Township. (1830 U.S. Census, Jackson Co., MO, 301; History of Jackson County, Missouri, 113; Jackson Co., MO, Deed Records, 1827–1909, bk. B, pp. 238–239, 309–310, microfilm 1,017,978; Jackson Co., MO, Deed Records, 1827–1909, bk. C, p. 4, microfilm 1,017,979, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Jennings, “Army of Israel Marches into Missouri,” 116.)

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Jennings, Warren A. “The Army of Israel Marches into Missouri.” Missouri Historical Review 62, no. 2 (Jan. 1968): 107–135.

  3. [3]

    Michael Arthur was a wealthy non-Mormon landowner in Clay County who, according to Edward Partridge, was “friendly to the saints”—even employing many of them to build a house for him. Clay County tax rolls show that in 1836, Arthur owned 1,016.17 acres of land, valued at $6,000, as well as fourteen slaves. The Evening and the Morning Star reported that sometime in April 1834, Arthur sent one of his slaves into Jackson County “with a large waggon loaded with whiskey, flour, and bacon” to sell. After the slave crossed the Missouri River, “a stranger came out of the woods and began to burst open the barrels and destroy the flour,” threatening to kill the slave “if he should ever come into that county again.” The Star used this as an example of how those living in Jackson County were “like the wild beast, left to prowl upon every creature whom they suspect weaker than themselves, whether members of this church or not.” Partridge later implied that the slave was attacked because of Arthur’s friendship with the Saints. (“A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:49; Woodruff, Journal, 1 July 1834; Curtis, 1836 Clay County, Missouri, State Tax List, 1; “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 159.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

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

    Curtis, Annette W., comp. 1836 Clay County, Missouri, State Tax List; All Taxpayers and Land Owners Are Identified, Including Mormons; and the 1835 Missouri Tax Law. Independence, MO: Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation, 2003.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  4. [4]

    On 7 May 1834, Sidney Gilbert and William W. Phelps wrote a letter to Governor Daniel Dunklin telling him that “since our last of the 24 ult. the mob of Jackson Co. have burned our dwellings—as near as we can ascertain, between 100 and 150 were consumed by fire in about one week.” John Corrill reported similar occurrences in a June 1834 letter: “Several nights in succession were they in burning our houses,” Corrill declared, “and I am informed, that they have burned them all, except a very few which are occupied by other families.” (Sidney Gilbert and William W. Phelps, Liberty, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, 7 May 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL; “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1834, 168.)

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  5. [5]

    In the May 1834 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, an article reported that “not only the members of the church of the Latter Day Saints, are in danger of being molested and abused if they go into Jackson county; but any one whose principles the mob may suspect are different from their own, is likewise liable to be insulted.” (“The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 159, italics in original.)

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  6. [6]

    No contemporary accounts of Jackson County residents attacking church members or their property near the river have been found, but John Whitmer did report in a 1 May journal entry that “the mob from Jackson are trying to get help from this Co. to drive us from here.” Edward Partridge also later remembered that around this time, Jackson County residents “frequently sent over word to Clay co. that they were coming over to drive” church members “from that place.” (Whitmer, Daybook, 1 May 1834; “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:49.)

    Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  7. [7]

    John Whitmer later remembered the condition of church members at this time somewhat differently. “We had hard strugling to obtain a living as may well be understood,” he wrote, “being driven having no money, or means to subsist upon, and being among stranger[s] in a strand [strange] place, being despised, mocked at and laughed to scorn by some and pitied by others, thus we lived from Nov 1833 until May 1834.” (Whitmer, History, 60.)

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