, 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.
25— had an inteviw [interview] with Wm G Flood of — at 8 oClock. while in convesition [conversation] Conl arrested joseph Smith for Treason on complaint of . was arrested for treason on compl[a]int of .—
1/4 past nin[e] <A.M.> came & invited Joseph to walk. walked with th[r]ough the crowd with & people all qui[e]t—— A co[mpany] of greys— f[i]led rou[n]d the door of the s Qua[r]ters. the [blank] <notice w[a]s sent —> who orderd <the Mc—> Donough troop to be drawn up in line for Joseph to pass in review th[a]t <th[e]y> might see him.— had convesatin [conversation] with the ab[o]ut 10 minutes [p. [21]]
A prominent resident of Quincy, Flood had served as a clerk and representative in the Illinois state legislature and was reappointed in 1843 as the registrar of the land office in Quincy. At this time he was also the colonel commanding the Quincy Riflemen. (Emmerson, Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 617, 618, 620; “Appointments by the President,” New World [New York City], 11 Feb. 1843, 6:186; Record of the Proceedings of the Quincy Riflemen, 1843–1844, vol. 1, p. 58, 28 June 1844, in Records, Reports, vols. 1–2, & Roster on Loose Papers, 1843–1847, microfilm, 1,863,526, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Asbury, Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, 42–43.)
Emmerson, Louis L., ed. Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 1919–1920. Springfield, IL: Illinois State Journal Co., 1919.
New World. New York City. 1840–1845.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Asbury, Henry. Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, Containing Historical Events, Anecdotes, Matters concerning Old Settlers and Old Times, Etc. Quincy, IL: D. Wilcox and Sons, 1882.
Hugh Reid later wrote that shortly before these arrests, JS, Hyrum, and their companions had “voluntarily surrendered themselves” to Bettisworth on the charge of committing a riot during the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press. James Woods, however, wrote that the arrests for treason were made at the same time JS and the others surrendered themselves on the riot charge.a Bettisworth was the original arresting officer in the riot case.bSpencer and Norton had testified before Hancock County justice of the peace Robert Smith that on about 19 June, JS and Hyrum “commit[ted] the crime of treason against the government and people of the State of Illinois.” Robert Smith had issued the writs for JS’s and Hyrum’s arrests on 24 June.c According to a letter JS wrote to Emma Smith later on 25 June, he and Hyrum were “arrested for Treason because we called out the Nauvoo Legion”—a probable reference to when JS placed Nauvoo under martial law on 18 June.d According to Thomas Ford’s later account, “the overt act of treason charged against them consisted in the alleged levying of war against the State by declaring martial law in Nauvoo, and in ordering out the legion to resist the posse comitatus.”e JS and Hyrum were held without bail because Illinois law stated that “no Justice of the peace shall admit to bail any person or persons charged with treason.”f
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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.
Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.
According to Thomas Ford, JS and Hyrum were shown to the McDonough troops “at the urgent request of the troops themselves, to gratify their curiosity in beholding persons who had made themselves so notorious in the county.” (Ford, History of Illinois, 343.)
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.
According to the compilers of JS’s history, during this conversation, Thomas Ford “again pledged the faith of the State that he [JS] and his friends should be protected from violence.” (JS History, vol. F-1, 156, underlining in original.)