, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; handwriting of ; nineteen pages; in Willard Richards, Journal, CHL. Portions of some entries were written in pencil before they were overwritten in ink.
Historical Introduction
JS’s journal, kept by , ended with the entry of 22 June 1844, just before JS left , Illinois, in company with Richards, , and . Richards, who remained with JS until the moment of JS’s death on 27 June, evidently left JS’s journal in Nauvoo when the four men departed for , Illinois. Richards, however, recorded in his own journal many of the events of the last five days of JS’s life. These events include JS’s arrival on the bank in on the morning of 23 June and his trip to Carthage, during which JS and Hyrum gave themselves up to authorities on the charge of treason. Richards’s journal also recounts JS’s activities in Carthage during the days preceding his and Hyrum’s deaths. The material Richards recorded in his own journal during this time is in the same format and style as the record he had been keeping for JS. Richards’s hasty, terse notations and precise attention to details—illustrated by his practice of recording the specific times events occurred—indicate that he continuously carried his journal with him and recorded many of the events as he witnessed them, possibly with the intention of using the record to fill in JS’s journal at a later date. Richards’s journal entries for 23–27 June 1844 provide a contemporaneous firsthand account of JS’s activities during the last five days of his life, and they are reproduced here in full. Richards first inscribed portions of these entries in pencil and then rewrote them in ink. In a few cases, while overwriting, he skipped or altered the original penciled text. The transcription here reproduces the final ink version and does not capture the slight variations in the penciled text.
For additional details on the events leading to the deaths of JS and Hyrum Smith, see Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy.
Oaks, Dallin H., and Marvin S. Hill. Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975.
Page [32]
15 to 5— o clock——
suggested 12 tomorrow
proposd till witnes[s]es could be got.— till tomorrow any time & adjou[r]n if they are not ready— with[o]ut bringing in the prisone[r]s.—
— hop[e]d no compulsory measures should be made use of. in this enlightnd country.—
— if witness[e]s cannot be had after du[e] diligenc[e] a continuanc[e] will be granted.—
Cou[r]t said this writ was sevd [served] yested [yesterday] will give till tomorrow 12— noon to get witnesses— and gra[n]ted subpoenas
5.30 minutes— retu[rne]d to Jail— & Joseph & th[r]ust into close confnemet [confinement]
6. copi[e]d witnesses— names.— &
— brought— the following
“I would advise the Jailor to keep the Messrs Smith’s in the Room in which I fou[n]d them this Morning until unless a closer confinement is <should be clearly> necessary to prev[e]nt an escape—”
Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.
Thomas Ford had visited JS and Hyrum Smith in a room they had been moved to following breakfast. It was located on the second floor and furnished with a bed, a “chair or two, and some mattresses.” They stayed in this room the night of 26 June and during the day of 27 June. Ford identified it as a “larger room . . . more airy and comfortable than the cells” and distinct from the jailor’s living quarters. (John S. Fullmer, Preston, England, to George A. Smith, 27 Nov. 1854, p. 8, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860; Jones, Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, 6; Ford, History of Illinois, 338.)
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
Jones, Dan. The Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, 1855. CHL. MS 153.
Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.
In his letter, Clayton told JS of a Mr. Marsh who had offered to pay bail for JS “to any amount” if needed and who wanted to give JS some corn he had. Clayton also told JS that a messenger was about to be sent to Judge Jesse Thomas—before whom JS hoped to have a habeas corpus hearing in Nauvoo—and that Captain James Singleton, who had arrived in Nauvoo with some policemen that morning under orders from Ford to protect the city, was requesting Ford recall him and his men because Singleton found “no difficulties to settle here but there is plenty to settle at home.” Clayton closed by telling JS that “all [was] peace in Nauvoo” and that the people there had no fears in spite of threats “that the mob [were] determined to attack the City” in JS’s absence. (William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Carthage, IL, 26 June 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)
James, Hunter, and Lewis had left Nauvoo for Springfield earlier in the month to deliver to Ford letters and other documents about the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press and threats against the Mormons. Ford had not received the papers, however, probably because he left Springfield for Carthage the same day the Mormon party left Nauvoo. Ford arrived at Carthage on 21 June. (JS, Journal, 15, 17, and 21 June 1844; John Taylor, Statement, 23 Aug. 1856, p. 22, Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, ca. 1839–1856, CHL; “Mormon Troubles,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 27 June 1844, [3]; see also JS History, vol. F-1, 172.)