[], 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, second edition; i-vi, 7–60 pp.; Cincinnati, OH: Shepard and Stearns, 1840. The copy used herein is held at CHL.
A manuscript draft of this pamphlet, simply titled “To the Publick” was presented to a conference of church members at , Illinois, on 1 November 1839. The conference voted to approve the manuscript and authorized its publication on behalf of the church. The pamphlet, when published, carried the endorsement of JS, , and as “Presidents of said Church.”
and collaborated on the publication of the text, which was available in print by May 1840. Though no author is named on the title page, was acknowledged as author in an 1840 Times and Seasons newspaper article, and when the pamphlet was advertised in that church periodical in 1841. JS and held some expectation that funds from the sale of An Appeal would eventually help defray costs of their late-1839 trip to .
By July 1840, and had been authorized to produce a second, revised edition to be published by Shepard & Stearns in . Page related some of the circumstances surrounding its publication and circulation in a letter sent to JS, “. . . at [Ohio] we parted for a few days . . . Elder Hyde went to Cincinnati where in my absince he published a second Edition of the ‘Apeal to the American people’ (2000 copies)[.] when I arrived the work was about completed[.] after disposing of as many of them as posible and suplying the market about cincinnati and the adjacient country he left me with some fourteen or fifteen hundred on hand, to dispose of” (John E. Page, Philadelphia, PA, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 1 Sept. 1841, JS Collection, CHL). Funds from this printing were to be for the express purpose of subsidizing Hyde and Page’s imminent mission to in Palestine.
The second edition was essentially a lightly edited reprint of the first, with a four-page “Publisher’s Preface” added. In the preface, and noted the purpose of the publication, explained the severe hardships imposed by the persecutions upon Page’s own family, provided a detailed account of a vision experienced by Hyde, and expressed enthusiasm about the prospects of the mission. The preface also contained a copy of an official letter of appointment and commendation for Hyde and Page from an April 1840 church conference at , Illinois, signed by JS, and a letter of reference from , governor of .
Although many of the events reported in both editions of ’s pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology of events is often inaccurate. However, Rigdon’s account does contain the texts of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s September 1838 affidavit concerning the 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document from a historical perspective is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some important material not readily found elsewhere.
we could stay until spring; he replied that was the first conclusion, but he had just received new orders from the , and that was, that all Mormons should be driven out of the forthwith. I then asked him if the way was not guarded, so that I would be in no danger in passing the roads. He said he would give me a pass or ticket which would carry me safely through the , provided I continued to travel in an eastward course, and minded my own business. We soon parted; and on the next day I went to the and received my pass, which reads as follows. Having the original in my possession I give it verbatim.
November 13, 1838.
This is to certify that , a Mormon, is permitted to leave and pass through the State of , in an eastward direction, unmolested during good behavior.
,
Captain of Militia.
The next day Hiram Comstock, the ’s brother, with two or three others, brought a prisoner to me to see if I knew him; I told them I had seen him, but did not know his name. After questioning me for some time, told me to go with them into their camp, and said I might consider myself a prisoner. They kept me until the next day, and set me at liberty, charging me to be gone from the forthwith. I was compelled to comply with these orders, at the sacrifice of all I had, and leave the State of , agreeably to the order of the of that ; a thing unprecedented in the history of the world. I was taught to hold sacred the rights of man in my childhood. I was raised in Kentucky, born in 1814, and lived in that State until April, 1837. Such doctrine as taught and practiced in , by the officers of that was never taught neither practiced in my native State.
.
We will now return to the prisoners. They had meanly betrayed us into their hands; we were kept in their camp until the third day of November; we 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 infested they could not get out. I will not attempt to describe this parting scene. I 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 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 [p. 45]