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Part 5: 24–28 June 1844

Part 5 covers the last four days of JS’s life. On the morning of 24 June, a Monday, JS left , Illinois, for , Illinois, to answer an 11 June charge of related to the of the press of the Nauvoo Expositor. Traveling with him were others listed on the 11 June arrest warrant for the riot charge as well as some other associates. On their way there, they met Captain of the state militia, who asked JS to help him carry out an order from Governor to retrieve the state arms held by the . JS returned to Nauvoo to do so and then set out again for Carthage that same day, arriving around midnight. He lodged at ’s , where Governor Ford and JS’s attorneys and were also staying.
The next day was 25 June, a Tuesday. In the morning, , Illinois, constable arrested JS and fourteen of the other men named in the riot warrant. He then served warrants on JS and his brother for . The charges were reportedly related to JS’s decision to call out the on 17 June and his declaration of martial law in the next day. In the afternoon of 25 June, at around four o’clock, the men arrested on the riot warrant appeared before Hancock County justice of the peace . They each signed recognizances, agreeing to appear before the Hancock County Circuit Court during its next term. Later that evening, Bettisworth presented the Smith brothers with a mittimus from Justice Smith related to the treason charges, ordering that they be committed to the county jail. The brothers spent the night there.
On Wednesday morning, per ’s order, sixty members of the militia, under the command of Captain James Singleton, arrived in to protect the city from possible mob violence. That same morning in , Ford met with JS at the latter’s request. The two discussed JS’s response to the 11 June warrant and the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor’s press. Ford reassured the Smith brothers that they were safe and that he would probably bring them with him when he traveled to Nauvoo. JS expected this trip to occur the following day. Anticipating his return to Nauvoo, JS hoped to have a hearing and wrote to Judge , asking him to travel to Nauvoo and preside. Despite Ford’s assurance and JS’s expectation of leaving Carthage, JS expressed worry, saying, “I have had a good deal of anxiety about my safety. which I never did before.” Later that afternoon, conveyed the Smith brothers from the jail to the courthouse, where they again appeared before Justice , who granted the attorneys for the Smith brothers until noon the next day to procure witnesses. The prisoners were then conveyed back to the jailhouse. That evening, JS learned from his attorneys that he would not travel to Nauvoo with the governor; instead, he and his brother would remain in the jailhouse, protected by a guard consisting of fifty men. They also learned that their examination was postponed until 29 June.
On the morning of Thursday, 27 June, after hearing that would not be going to that day as expected, JS dictated a letter to his wife in which he included instructions for , the acting major general of the , to have Nauvoo’s citizens follow the governor’s orders should he arrive. JS wrote a postscript to the letter in his own hand, affirming that he was innocent of treason. Later that morning, JS learned that Ford intended to discharge most of the troops in and then visit Nauvoo after all, to speak to its citizens. Richards included this information as a second postscript from JS in the letter to his wife. Ford left Carthage sometime before noon with a company of dragoons. At 12:30 JS wrote to attorney , asking him to travel to Carthage and represent him and his brother during their treason examination on 29 June.
Part 5 of this volume contains eighteen documents, several of which are described previously and all but two of which address some aspect of JS’s travel to or experiences in . The first document that does not deal with the events in Carthage is an account of the travels of and to the eastern in the latter part of June 1844. The second contains a report, completed on 28 June, from member , who was campaigning in the mid-Atlantic states for JS’s presidential candidacy.