The Papers
Browse the PapersDocumentsJournalsAdministrative RecordsRevelations and TranslationsHistoriesLegal RecordsFinancial RecordsOther Contemporary Papers
Reference
PeoplePlacesEventsGlossaryLegal GlossaryFinancial GlossaryCalendar of DocumentsWorks CitedFeatured TopicsLesson PlansRelated Publications
Media
VideosPhotographsIllustrationsChartsMapsPodcasts
News
Current NewsArchiveNewsletterSubscribeJSP Conferences
About
About the ProjectJoseph Smith and His PapersFAQAwardsEndorsementsReviewsEditorial MethodNote on TranscriptionsNote on Images of People and PlacesReferencing the ProjectCiting This WebsiteProject TeamContact Us
Published Volumes
  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” December 1839–October 1840

Installment 1, December 1839 Page 17 Installment 2, January 1840 Page 33 Installment 3, February 1840 Page 49 Installment 4, March 1840 Page 65 Installment 5, April 1840 Page 81 Installment 6, May 1840 Page 97 Installment 7, June 1840 Page 113 Installment 8, July 1840 Page 129 Installment 9, August 1840 Page 145 Installment 10, September 1840 Page 161 Installment 11, October 1840 Page 177

Source Note

“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in ,” in Times and Seasons (Commerce/Nauvoo, IL), vol. 1, nos. 2–12: Dec. 1839, pp. 17–20; Jan. 1840, pp. 33–36; Feb. 1840, pp. 49–51; Mar. 1840, pp. 65–66; Apr. 1840, pp. 81–82; May 1840, pp. 97–99; June 1840, pp. 113–116; July 1840, pp. 129–131; Aug. 1840, pp. 145–150; Sept. 1840, pp. 161–165; Oct. 1840, pp. 177, 184–185; edited by and . The copy used for transcription is currently part of a bound volume held at CHL; includes light marginalia and archival marking.
Each segment in the eleven-part series begins on the first page of its respective number of the Times and Seasons. Each issue comprises eight leaves (sixteen pages) that measure 8⅝ x 5¼ inches (22 x 13 cm). The text on each page is set in two columns. At some point, the editors of the Times and Seasons reset and reprinted the December 1839 and January 1840 issues of the Times and Seasons; based on textual analysis, the version used for transcription appears to be the earlier typesetting of both. It is unknown how long this volume has been in church custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:94–95.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

Historical Introduction

While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the Saints, and to “ in particular,” in which he called for the Saints to gather up “a knoledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them” in that they might publish the records “to all the world” and “present them to the heads of the government.” Apparently in response to this assignment, Edward Partridge wrote a history that became the first three installments of “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” an eleven-part series published in the church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, between December 1839 and October 1840. This series gave the first extended account of the Missouri period to be printed in the Latter-day Saint press. The editors of the Times and Seasons, and , announced in its first issue that the newspaper would “commence publishing the history of the disturbances in Missouri, in regular series,” and the first installment appeared in the second issue.
“A History, of the Persecution” begins with ’s account of the conflicts in the early 1830s. Partridge was a bishop of the church in Missouri, first in , then in following the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from Jackson, and finally in after the Saints relocated from Clay. By the time he wrote this account of the Mormons’ experiences in Missouri, the Saints had been exiled from the state and had relocated to . Partridge lived first at Pittsfield, then at . In July 1839 he settled in the area, where he served again as a bishop in the new Mormon community being established there. Partridge’s narrative is based on firsthand observations and may also have relied on other records he kept. The manuscript version of the history begins, “In presenting to our readers a history of the persecutions,” indicating that Partridge wrote it for publication purposes. He may have intended to tell the entire Missouri story himself, but he fell ill shortly after publication of the “History of the Persecution” began, and he died 27 May 1840.
The fourth installment of “History, of the Persecution” provides a brief transition from ’s account, which ends in 1836 as the Saints were settling in what became , to the conflicts in Caldwell and adjoining counties beginning in 1838. Though the source or author of this portion is not known, it may have been written by editors and . Perhaps prompted by Partridge’s illness, the editors sought elsewhere for source materials to continue the series. In April 1840, the fifth installment reprinted passages from ’s History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839), and the sixth in May excerpted ’s An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri (Cincinnati: Glezan and Shepard, 1840). In June the editors again excerpted Pratt’s History of the Late Persecution, and in the three articles published from July to September they reprinted more of Rigdon’s work. The series concluded in the October 1840 issue with a reprint of the speech that , a major general of the Missouri state militia, made to the Latter-day Saints at , Caldwell County, on 5 November 1838.
The “History, of the Persecution” is representative of the many histories and individual petitions written at the time to document the Saints’ experiences in . Its excerpts from ’s History of the Late Persecution and ’s Appeal to the American People provide a useful sampling of two published histories of the period and demonstrate that documenting these events was a widespread effort. Publication in the church’s periodical lent credibility to the series and ensured that it was the source from which many new Mormon converts learned the details of the church’s history in Missouri. What they read was not the work of neutral historians detached from the events described. When , Pratt, and Rigdon wrote their histories, the persecutions and injustices against them were still fresh in their memories. All three authors suffered personally during the Missouri hardships, and as they and other Saints undertook to write about their experiences, their primary focus was to fulfill JS’s directive—to obtain redress by making known the “nefarious and murderous impositions that have been practiced upon this people.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the church members and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 123:1, 6]. An edited and slightly shortened version of the letter was published in two parts in the Times and Seasons, May and July 1840. The instruction to record the Saints’ Missouri history was part of the July installment. (“Copy of a Letter, Written by J. Smith Jr. and Others, While in Prison,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:99–104; “An Extract of a Letter Written to Bishop Partridge, and the Saints in General,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:131–134.)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

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

  2. [2]

    “A Word to the Saints,” Times and Seasons, July 1839, 1:12. After the first copies of the first number were printed in July, publication of the Times and Seasons halted for several months because both editors fell ill amidst a malaria outbreak in the Commerce, Illinois, area. The first number was reissued under the date November 1839.

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

  3. [3]

    Edward Partridge, Miscellaneous papers, CHL. This collection of Partridge papers includes other autobiographical writings about Missouri events.

    Partridge, Edward. Miscellaneous Papers, ca. 1839–May 1840. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Partridge, History, manuscript, Edward Partridge, Miscellaneous Papers, CHL. Significant differences between the first three installments of “History, of the Persecution” and the Partridge manuscript are described in footnotes herein.

    Partridge, Edward. Miscellaneous Papers, ca. 1839–May 1840. CHL.

  5. [5]

    No manuscript is known to exist for Pratt’s published pamphlet. Rigdon is not named as the author on the title page of Appeal to the American People, but he is credited as such in the “History, of the Persecution” series and in advertisements for the pamphlet in the Times and Seasons. A manuscript version of Rigdon’s Appeal to the American People, titled “To the Publick” and inscribed by George W. Robinson, is found in the JS Collection at the Church History Library. Many textual differences exist between the manuscript and Appeal to the American People, and the editors of the Times and Seasons clearly used the published pamphlet, not the manuscript, as their source. (“History, of the Persecution,” May 1840, 1:99; Advertisement, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:272.)

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

  6. [6]

    Earlier published accounts of the Jackson County conflicts from Latter-day Saints include the broadside “The Mormons,” So Called, dated 12 December 1833, and its reprint in The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]–[2]; a series titled “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” published in The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833–Mar. 1834 and May–June 1834; John P. Greene’s pamphlet Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order” (Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839); and John Taylor’s eight-page work, A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, Upon the Latter Day Saints (Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839).

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

  7. [7]

    JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the church members and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 123:5].

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

Page 161

Installment 10, September 1840
Editorial Note
Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:161–165. This tenth installment was taken from [], An Appeal to the American People, pages 62–71.
A HISTORY, OF THE PERSECUTION, OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, OF LATTER DAY SAINTS IN .
 
continued.
 
We will now return to the prisoners. They had meanly betrayed us into their hands; we were kept in their camp till the third day of November [1838]; we were then started for . Let us here observe that they increased our number having added to it Messrs. and . By our special request, they took us into , to see our families, whom we found, when we got there, living on parched corn, as the town was so closely invested they could not get out. I will not attempt to describe this parting scene. I will leave every person to place themselves in our situation and then judge for themselves.
In writing this narrative it is no part of our intention to play upon the passions of the public, but give a faithful narrative of facts and then leave it.— After we arrived at , the county seat of , we served the same purpose that a caravan of wild animals would for a show, as hundreds of people called to see us. We were put into an old house and left to sleep on some blankets we had with us. Shortly after we had started from , a messenger came riding after us with a demand from , to take us back. With this, would not comply. Upon the whole, we were treated at with respect. We were boarded at a tavern, and soon were taken into the tavern house. A man was appointed to see that we had everything we wanted. They despensed with their guards, and we were at liberty to go where we pleased, and return when it suited us. These priviliges were not granted us at first, but after we had been there a few days. At first we were put into an old house and closely guarded. While we were there, , a lawyer of celebrity, and leader of the mob, confessed in our presence, and in the presence of many others, that the mob, was a wanton attack upon the saints without cause, and he said he presumed that the attack then made was of the same character[.]
We state this to show that the men of intelligence in , knew that they were again engaged in robbing a people of their rights. Indeed, went so far as to say that if ever the mobs attacked us again, he would fight for us. We will here leave the prisoners and relate what took place in . After ’s arrival at , , I think, was the General’s name, that was sent to . On his arrival there, he placed guards around the town, so that no person might pass out or in without permission. All the men in the town were then taken and put under guard, and a court of inquiry was instituted, with on the bench; the said belonged to the mob and was one of the leaders of it from the time mobbing first commenced in . The Attorney’s name I have forgotten, if I ever knew, but belonged to ’s army.
After two or three days’ investigation, every man was honorably acquitted. then ordered every family to be out of in ten days, with permission to go to , and there tarry until spring, and then leave the under pain of extermination. This was on the first of November, the weather was very cold, more so than usual, for that season of the year: and, in keeping this order of ’s they had to leave their crops and houses, and to live in tents and wagons in this inclement season of the year. As for their flocks and herds, the mob had delivered them from the trouble of taking [p. 161]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 161

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” December 1839–October 1840
ID #
6553
Total Pages
39
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Printed text

Footnotes

  1. [231]

    JS, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, George W. Robinson, Hyrum Smith, and Amasa Lyman, taken prisoner by Samuel D. Lucas’s militia forces 31 October and 1 November 1838.

  2. [232]

    The camp of the militia was located at “Goose Creek, one mile south of Far West.” (Samuel D. Lucas, “near Far West,” MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 2 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  3. [233]

    On 2 November Clark sent orders to Lucas to hold the seven prisoners until Clark arrived at Far West.a Lucas apparently did not receive those orders before departing with the prisoners for Independence. Clark sent orders 3 November for Lucas to take the prisoners to Richmond.b Lucas explained to Governor Lilburn W. Boggs that he refused to comply with Clark’s 3 November order because Clark, being junior to Lucas in appointment as a major general in the Missouri militia, was not entitled to issue such a command to Lucas. By returning from the field of operations to his division headquarters in Independence and bringing the prisoners with him, Lucas maintained jurisdictional control over the situation. He reported to Boggs that he “only ordered them to my Head Quarters to await your further orders.”c

    (aJohn B. Clark, Richmond, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 10 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. bJohn B. Clark, Jefferson City, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 29 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. cSamuel D. Lucas, Independence, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 11 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  4. [234]

    Samuel D. Lucas earlier sent Hiram Parks with five companies to Adam-ondi-Ahman “to disarm the Mormon forces at that place, and to leave a guard of 50 men for the protection of prisoners.”a Robert Wilson arrived at Adam-ondi-Ahman 8 November. His report to John B. Clark mentioned his own posting of guards and the involvement of Justice of the Peace Adam Black in the court of inquiry.b Benjamin F. Johnson later recalled that “the State’s Attorney (his name forgotten) from St. Louis,” who “accompanied General Wilson,” was involved in the proceedings.c William Barclay Napton was Missouri’s attorney general at the time, but it may have been one of his deputies who attended.d

    (aSamuel D. Lucas, “near Far West,” MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 2 Nov. 1838, copy; Samuel D. Lucas, Independence, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 5 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. bRobert Wilson, Adam-ondi-Ahman, MO, to John B. Clark, 12 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. cJohnson, “A Life Review,” 44. dPhillips, The Making of a Southerner, 32–33, 126n1.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. My Life’s Review: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Johnson. Independence, MO: Zion’s Printing and Publishing Company, [1947].

    Phillips, Christopher. The Making of a Southerner: William Barclay Napton’s Private Civil War. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2008.

  5. [235]

    Robert Wilson did not report the acquittals, but he wrote that most of the Latter-day Saints who could be identified as lawbreakers absconded before he arrived in Adam-ondi-Ahman. Benjamin F. Johnson, who admitted involvement in burning a home where enemy arms were hidden but who was known to have assisted the inhabitants of the home during their forced evacuation, was allowed to escape after examination by Adam Black and several days of confinement. (Robert Wilson, Adam-ondi-Ahman, MO, to John B. Clark, 12 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA; Johnson, “A Life Review,” 39–44.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. My Life’s Review: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Johnson. Independence, MO: Zion’s Printing and Publishing Company, [1947].

  6. [236]

    Wilson announced he would remain at Adam-ondi-Ahman until 20 November, after which no protection would be given to the Latter-day Saint inhabitants. Wilson gave the Mormons the choice to remain in Daviess County without protection or obtain permits to move to Caldwell County. (Robert Wilson, Keytesville, MO, to John B. Clark, 25 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of UseUpdated 2021-04-13Privacy NoticeUpdated 2021-04-06