[], 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; 1–84 pp.; Cincinnati, OH: Glezen and Shepard, stereotypers and printers, 1840. The copy used herein is held at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Historical Introduction
While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the church “at Illinois and scattered abroad and to in particular,” instructing the Saints to gather up “a knoledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this .” Edward Partridge responded with an account that became the three opening installments of “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” an eleven-part series published in the church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, between December 1839 and October 1840. “A History, of the Persecution” receives comprehensive treatment in volume 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and is available on this website.
may have intended to tell the entire story himself, but he fell ill shortly after publication of “A History, of the Persecution” began and died on 27 May 1840. Prompted by Partridge’s illness and subsequent death, the editors of the Times and Seasons, and , sought elsewhere for source materials to continue the series. It is probable that they composed the fourth installment to provide a brief transition from Partridge’s account, which ends in 1836, and the conflicts in and adjoining counties in 1838. The fifth and seventh installments reprinted passages from ’s History of the Late Persecutions Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839). In May 1840, the sixth installment reprinted passages from ’s eighty-four page pamphlet, 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 (Cincinnati: Glezan and Shepard, 1840). More of Rigdon’s work was reprinted in the eighth through tenth installments, published from July to September 1840. The series concluded with an eleventh installment in the October 1840 issue, featuring General ’s callous speech to the Saints after their surrender at , Missouri, in November 1838.
A manuscript version of ’s Appeal to the American People, referred to as the “petition draft” titled “To the Publick” and endorsed by JS, Rigdon, and , was read to a conference of Saints in , Illinois, on 1 November 1839. The conference voted to approve its publication in the name of the church. and then collaborated to arrange for publication of the text in late 1839 and early 1840. Though no author is named on the title page, Rigdon was acknowledged as author when the pamphlet was advertised in the Times and Seasons in 1840 and 1841. JS and Elias Higbee had some expectation that funds from the sale of the publication would help defray costs of their trip to in late 1839. In July 1840, a second edition was printed by Shepard & Stearns in to raise funds for Orson Hyde and ’s mission to .
Although many of the events reported in ’s pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology is often inaccurate. (Consult the annotation in Histories, Volume 2 for correction to portions published as part of “A History, of the Persecutions.”) However, his account contains the text of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s 5 September 1838 affidavit concerning the 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some material not readily found elsewhere.
associates, acts of violence and plunder, and boasting of it, and that publicly. There was not the the first effort made to restore the property, they had stolen, nor pay for the cattle they had killed, though the civil authorities were called upon time, and again to do so; and at all times, when called on to do so, replied, that it was in vain to undertake it, for there could not be a jury found that would do the saints justice, and it was in vain to sue, for they would obtain nothing. Thus being put off, from time to time, the saints had to sit down and submit to their fate.
Here, probably, would be as suitable a place as any, to notice one circumstance, which goes far, to prove the the apathy which reigned in the civil authorities, and their unwillingness to do the saints justice. The truth is, the civil officers, were as much to blame for the outrages of the mob, as the mob was; because they gave them lenity to do so.
There was in a quantity of arms, from forty to fifty stand. They were in the care of a man by the name of Pollard, known by the title of Capt. Pollard. While this mob was collecting in , being scarce of arms, they went to the place where those arms were deposited, and took them, whether with, or without the consent of Pollard, we know not, and were carrying them off to . In going from to , they had to pass through a corner of . The civil authorities of , hearing of the circumstance, sent the Sheriff of the , to intercept them in passing through the . This the sheriff effected: arrested the persons carrying the guns, and brought them to , for trial. The trial came on—the facts were all proven, that the guns had been taken by one of the men who was then in custody, and they were taking them to , to arm the mob that was then collecting in : and it was also proven, that the mob was collecting for the purpose of driving the Saints from their homes.
After the arrest and trial, a letter was sent to , the Circuit Judge; informing him of the facts, and asking his advice, how to dispose of both the prisoners and the guns. Accordingly, when ’s [p. 32]