[], 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; 1–84 pp.; Cincinnati, OH: Glezen and Shepard, stereotypers and printers, 1840. The copy used herein is held at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Historical Introduction
While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the church “at Illinois and scattered abroad and to in particular,” instructing the Saints to gather up “a knoledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this .” Edward Partridge responded with an account that became the three opening 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. “A History, of the Persecution” receives comprehensive treatment in volume 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and is available on this website.
may have intended to tell the entire story himself, but he fell ill shortly after publication of “A History, of the Persecution” began and died on 27 May 1840. Prompted by Partridge’s illness and subsequent death, the editors of the Times and Seasons, and , sought elsewhere for source materials to continue the series. It is probable that they composed the fourth installment to provide a brief transition from Partridge’s account, which ends in 1836, and the conflicts in and adjoining counties in 1838. The fifth and seventh installments reprinted passages from ’s History of the Late Persecutions Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839). In May 1840, the sixth installment reprinted passages from ’s eighty-four page pamphlet, 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). More of Rigdon’s work was reprinted in the eighth through tenth installments, published from July to September 1840. The series concluded with an eleventh installment in the October 1840 issue, featuring General ’s callous speech to the Saints after their surrender at , Missouri, in November 1838.
A manuscript version of ’s Appeal to the American People, referred to as the “petition draft” titled “To the Publick” and endorsed by JS, Rigdon, and , was read to a conference of Saints in , Illinois, on 1 November 1839. The conference voted to approve its publication in the name of the church. and then collaborated to arrange for publication of the text in late 1839 and early 1840. Though no author is named on the title page, Rigdon was acknowledged as author when the pamphlet was advertised in the Times and Seasons in 1840 and 1841. JS and Elias Higbee had some expectation that funds from the sale of the publication would help defray costs of their trip to in late 1839. In July 1840, a second edition was printed by Shepard & Stearns in to raise funds for Orson Hyde and ’s mission to .
Although many of the events reported in ’s pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology is often inaccurate. (Consult the annotation in Histories, Volume 2 for correction to portions published as part of “A History, of the Persecutions.”) However, his account contains the text of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s 5 September 1838 affidavit concerning the 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some material not readily found elsewhere.
arrived within two or three miles of , where he met a company of men: he was asked where he was from, and where he was going; and answering them correctly, he was then asked if he knew where the militia were; he told them he did not know of any. They then told him to face about and go with them, and they would lead him where there were five or six thousand of them. He was then compelled to go to , and stopped at Samuel McCriston’s that night. In the morning they robbed him of a fine fur cap, and ordered him to take off his overcoat, telling him it is too fine for a Mormon to wear. They then concluded to shoot him, and disputed among themselves who should do it. And some hard words and threats were used among themselves who should have the fine horse the young man rode. However, they soon quit their dispute, and , (a Presbyterian Preacher of long standing in Corrillton [Carrollton], the county seat of Corrill [Carroll] County,) saddled the young man’s horse and rode him about for some time, as if trying him, to see if he would answer his purpose. This was also the same man who took the young man’s cap, and his boy wears it now, or did the last information received from that quarter. After being thoroughly satisfied with riding the horse, he dismounted and Samuel McCriston mounted and rode for some time while was equally engaged in the trial of another horse, which it appeared had been obtained in the same way in which they intended to get this.
McCriston rode off the horse and the young man was taken to , although he begged to be let loose that he might go and help the widows and children bury the dead at ; still he was kept for many days a prisoner at , in Ray County.
The mobbing party here mentioned, consisted of nine persons, , (Preacher,) Joseph Ewing (Preacher,) Jacob Snorden, Wiley Brewer, John Hills (Preacher,) and four more, their names not mentioned or known. After tormenting the young man all in their power, he was let go, and returned to mourn the loss of friends, without being able or privileged to pay the last debt of honor and respect to his murdered relatives. [p. 60]