[], 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.
, the candidate for senator and who was elected, came to , either the evening before the election commenced, or the first morning of the election. He staid that day, and until the next morning. Early the second morning of the election, he said that a gentleman, who lived in , had left late the preceding evening, ( was the county seat of , and the place where the election was held) and that there had been a serious affray at the election in ; that the mob had tried to stop the Saints from voting; and in order to accomplish their object, had killed two of them, and their bodies were lying on the ground, and that they would not let their friends have them for burial; and that one other man had fled into the woods, badly wounded; supposed to be dead, as he had not been heard of, after he disappeared among the bushes. This created a great feeling, and of course much excitement. A physician, who resided in , by the name of , called for volunteers, declared that he would have the bodies of those persons who had been killed, and bury them; and have the man that was lost, or die in the attempt. The report coming from , a resident of the , and the successful candidate for the senate, no doubt was entertained of its truth. A company was raised consisting, if we recollect right, of about seventeen persons, who left for the express object of getting the bodies of the dead. Through the course of the day, there was probably to the number of fifty persons, all going to enquire after their friends, for it was unknown to the people of , who of their friends were killed; for no doubt was entertained but some of them were dead.
When the company arrived there, they found the report not true: there had been a great difficulty; but no lives lost that was known of. But there was nothing heard but threatening—men were passing through the village, which had been laid off, by the saints, threatening them, that in three days they should all be driven out and the property taken as spoil. It was reported, and that by themselves, too, that there was a large mob gathering at Millport, a small village in ; and that , formerly a Justice of the Peace, and had at the election, been elected one of the County Judges, was at the head of it. It was thought best, seeing he was a peace officer, to go and inquire into the affair. The said , had, a short time before this, sold his possessions to one of the saints, by the name of , and had received two hundred dollars, as part of the payment. A committee was appointed, consisting of five or six persons; the names of three of them, were , , and ; the names of the others not recollected. They accordingly went to the house of , who received them unfriendly, looked upon their visit as a high insult, and refused to give them any satisfaction. This, tended to confirm the report, that he was head of a mob—it created some uneasiness. Quite a number of persons, in the course of the day, went to a spring of water which was near his house, to drink, and also to get water for their horses. Dr. , and a number of others, went into his house and again interroga [p. 19]