“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.
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 “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.”
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.
Page 98
; and said that it was absolutely necessary, that there should be a strong guard kept at , to defend the place. In accordance with his representation, the authorities of the county, had the militia regularly called out, and a number went to as he had reccommended, to await the movements and operations of the mob; and to act accordingly.
The troops that had been ordered out by , went only about a mile and a half, from , and there encamped until he should arrive. After his arrival and giving the instructions he did, he went and ordered his troops home, instead of sending them to .
Immediately after his departure, of , arrived, and reported that he had sent on a number of troops to , from , for the express purpose of stopping the operations of the mob; “part of them,” he said “were to be relied on, and part of them were not.” All the officers said that and his company, which in all their expeditions, had formed a part of their army, were not to be depended on, for he was as lawless, if not more so, and as mabocratic, as the worst of the mob.
, on his arrival, expressed some disappointment, at not finding there, as he expected, and also at his having ordered his troops home. It commenced snowing and storming, vehemently; after which, also sent his troops home, and they returned; but himself, went on to . The mob, by this time, felt themselves sufficiently strong, and declaring themselves four hundred in number, and knowing that the troops had returned; they felt all-sufficient to commence their operations; and accordingly, the very night of arrival in , the mob commenced their operations. The first attack, was made on the house of a man by the name of , who had gone on business to . His , was there alone with two little children, neither of them able to walk, and withal, , a very delicate woman. They drove her out of her house; there was a heavy snow on the ground—it was about the last of October or the first of November. She took her two children in her arms, and walked three miles through the snow, and waded , to . During the night, they burnt out seven families, and took all their goods and carried them off. They swore vengeance against the Mormons, as they called them, that they should leave or they would sacrifice them all, and that they would make no terms of peace, but at the cannon’s mouth,
The next morning after this driving out and burning, Mr. , who was an officer in the militia, asked , what they should do, he now saw the designs and purposes of the mob; and he wanted to know how to proceed.
Here let us just remark, that the saints had borne the abuse of the people of , without cause or provocation on their part, except their religion, from the summer of 1831, until this time, which was the first of November 1838, during which time, their crops had been destroyed, their goods and chattels plundered, their houses burned, and they, driven off their farms, in the face of the goverment, and appeal after apeal, made to the authorities for redress; but none could be had, and they had never, in one instance retaliated; and now they were not disposed to move, until the authorities of the country, said so: and seeing was there, they appealed to him.— replied, with an oath, “go and give them a complete dressing, for you will never have any peace with them, until you do it; and I will stand between you and all difficulty.”
Having the orders of their General, a man by the name of , took one hundred men, and went to give them battle, though they reported themselves four hundred strong, and had a cannon. As gave chase, the mob fled before him. The pursuit lasted for two or three days, during which time, a general destruction of property took place, burning houses &c. The saints fled into with what they could carry with them, and the rest of their property was all destroyed. They drove in, such of their cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep as they could get in. Their houses were soon wrapped in flames, [p. 98]
Sidney Rigdon testified later that Doniphan advised that the Caldwell County men assigned to duty in Daviess County “should go in small parties, unarmed in which condition they were not subject to any arrest, from any authority whatever.” (Sidney Rigdon, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, p. [10], photocopy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
Hiram Parks reported it was the troops he had sent to Daviess County under William Dunn that Doniphan ordered to return home. (Hiram Parks, Richmond, MO, to David R. Atchison, 21 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)
Rigdon’s reconstruction implies that Parks reached Far West before the snowstorm, which passed through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, 16–17 October. Parks, however, reported that he sent his troops home from the headwaters of Crooked River after heavy snowfall and that he and a few members of his staff then went to Far West and on to Daviess County 18 October. (Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, p. 85, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; Hiram Parks, Richmond, MO, to David R. Atchison, 21 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)
Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
At the time, Don Carlos Smith was fulfilling a fund-raising mission to Tennessee. (JS History, vol. B-1, addenda, 7nX; Hyrum Smith, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, p. 6, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
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.
Stevenson, Edward. Autobiography, ca. 1891–1893. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, box 5, fd. 1.
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.
The Smith property was on the same side of the Grand River as Adam-ondi-Ahman, so Smith probably crossed Big Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Grand that crossed her land. (See Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:460–461.)
Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.
Parks’s report of 21 October records no such orders or encouragement but indicates instead that the Mormons had already conducted raids on Gallatin and elsewhere before he arrived at Adam-ondi-Ahman. (Hiram Parks, Richmond, MO, to David R. Atchison, 21 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)
Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).