Skip to main content

Letter to Emma Smith, 26–27 June 1844

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter to Emma Smith, 26–27 June 1844

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Hancock Co., IL, [26]–27 June 1844; handwriting of and JS; signatures of JS; two pages; CHL. Includes address, docket, and redactions.
Two leaves measuring 9⅝ × 7⅝ inches (24 × 19 cm). The leaves were most likely conjugal leaves of a bifolium that are now separate. The leaves are ruled with twenty-seven printed lines, now faded. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style and addressed. The letter was refolded multiple times and there is separation along and tearing at the folds. The document has undergone conservation.
The letter was retained by , who died in 1879, and passed down among Smith family descendants. It bears a docket in the handwriting of an unidentified scribe. Redactions on the manuscript correlate with changes to capitalization and punctuation made to the letter when it was published in The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1896, which indicates the letter had been transferred into the possession of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ) by that time. In 2024, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acquired the letter from the Community of Christ, and it is now held at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.

Footnotes

  1. See History of the Reorganized Church, 2:771.

    The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 8 vols. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1896–1976.

Historical Introduction

On 26–27 June 1844, JS dictated a letter from , Illinois, to his wife in , Illinois, providing instructions for the residents of Nauvoo and expressing his love and concern for Emma and their family. JS and his brother had been confined in the jail, in Carthage, since the evening of 25 June on charges of . On 26 June at 8:00 p.m., JS’s attorneys informed him that governor had held a council with the militia officers gathered in Carthage. This council had determined that Ford and most of the militia at Carthage would go to Nauvoo the following day, in part, Ford later reported, “to strike a salutary terror” into the Saints and to dissuade them from committing any acts of vengeance against “those who had taken a part against them.” Ford, however, abandoned this course of action after learning of a conspiracy to initiate a war with the once Ford’s troops were in Nauvoo. Instead, on the morning of 27 June, Ford decided to disband most of the men under his command and travel with a single company of militia to Nauvoo. Once there he would “deliver an address” to the Latter-day Saints warning them that if they took revenge against their opponents, then “it would be the sure and certain means of the destruction of their city and the extermination of their people.” At 9:40 on the morning of 27 June, one of JS’s attorneys visited him in the jail at Carthage and informed him of Ford’s new plan.
JS appears to have started his letter to on the evening of 26 June 1844. served as JS’s scribe, writing the letter as JS dictated it. The next morning, Richards wrote most of the letter and consequently revised its date and time.
In his letter, JS informed that he had heard that and his troops would not go to as had been reported on 26 June. Following this remark, the majority of JS’s letter included instructions for , the acting major general of the , to relay to the residents of Nauvoo, asking them to stay in their homes, avoid gathering, and await Ford’s orders. JS reassured Emma that should there be a mutiny in the governor’s force, some troops would remain loyal. But he also cautioned that it was the duty of men to protect their lives and their families, writing that “no power has a right to forbid it. should the last extreme arrive.” JS then wrote a personal postscript to the letter, telling Emma, “I am very much resigned to my lot knowing I am justified and have done the best that could be done.” He also asked her to give his love to their children and friends. Later that morning, at 9:40, added a second postscript, in which JS informed Emma that Ford intended to disband his troops and come to Nauvoo to give a speech. Richards wrote in his journal that after the final postscript was added, the letter was sent with and , who left for Nauvoo before 10:30 that morning. It would have taken them several hours to travel the approximately twenty miles from to Nauvoo, where the letter was delivered to Emma. At some point, Richards made a copy, which was presumably the version later used in the manuscript history. The version sent to and received by Emma is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. Warrant, 24 June 1844; Letter to Emma Smith, 25 June 1844; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844.

  2. Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; Ford, History of Illinois, 339. Ford had considered bringing JS and Hyrum Smith with him to Nauvoo but ultimately decided against it. He later reported: “I had determined to prevail on the justice to bring out his prisoners, and take them along. A council of officers, however, determined that this would be highly inexpedient and dangerous, and offered such substantial reasons for their opinions as induced me to change my resolution.” (Letter to Emma Smith, 25 June 1844; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; Letter to Jesse B. Thomas, 26 June 1844–B; Clayton, Journal, 26–27 June 1844; Ford, History of Illinois, 340.)

    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.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  3. Ford, History of Illinois, 340–342, 345.

    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.

  4. Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844.

  5. Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844.

  6. JS, Carthage, IL, to Emma Smith, [Nauvoo, IL], 27 June 1844, copy, JS Collection, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; JS History, vol. F-1, 175.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Emma Smith, 26–27 June 1844 Letter to Emma Smith, 26–27 June 1844, Copy History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
and all my Friends Mrs Brower and all who in after inquire after me and as for I know that I have not commited any and they cannot prove one apearance of any thing of the kind So you need not have any fears that any harme can happen to us on that score may God bless you all Amen
Joseph Smith
P. S. 20 mi to 10— I Just learn[ed] that the is about to disband his troops, all but a guard to protect us and the peace,— and come himself to and deliver a speech to the people. This is right as I suppose. [11 lines blank] [p. [2]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Emma Smith, 26–27 June 1844
ID #
1453
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Smith Jr.
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. Possibly James Brewer. A “Col Brewer” and his wife arrived at the Nauvoo Mansion on 21 June. “Col. J. Brewer” was also included in a list of witnesses compiled for JS and Hyrum Smith’s trial for treason that Willard Richards wrote in his journal on 26 June. This was probably the same “Col. Brewer from St Louis” with whom JS spent time in August 1842. Joseph Smith III later recalled a “Colonel Brower” in his reminiscences. Brewer had lost his lower left arm but “was an excellent horseman and a skillful swordsman and fencer.” He had possibly stolen the identity of a Seminole War veteran in order to promote broadsword instruction, and he falsely claimed the rank of colonel in the United States Army. (JS, Journal, 21 June 1844; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; JS, Journal, 4 and 6 Aug. 1842; Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, “The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Jan. 1935, 15; Josephus, “Romance of Real Life,” Huron Reflector [Norwalk, OH], 9 Nov. 1841, [2]; William Medill, Washington DC, to John Bell, Washington DC, 4 Aug. 1841, U.S. War Department, Letters Received by the Office of the Adjutant General, Main Series 1822–1860.)

    Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

    Huron Reflector. Norwalk, OH. 1830–1852.

    U.S. War Department. Letters Received by the Office of the Adjutant General, Main Series 1822–1860. Letters Received, 1805–1889. Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1762–1984, Record Group 94. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC.

  2. In a letter written to attorney Orville Browning later the same day, JS further explained, “There is no cause of action, for we have not been guilty of any crime, neither is there any just cause of suspicion agai[n]st us.” (Letter to Orville Browning, 27 June 1844.)

  3. JS handwriting ends; Willard Richards begins.

Go to page