--- title: Times and Seasons description: Issues of 1845 to 1846. authors: - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints editors: - Ebenezer Robinson - Don Carlos Smith - Smith, Joseph, Jr. - Taylor, John collections: - periodicals tags: - newspaper - times-and-seasons - nauvoo - nineteenth-century periodical: Times and Seasons volume: 6 number: 8 published: 1845-05-01 publisher: E. Robinson and D. C. Smith; later John Taylor publisher_place: Commerce and Nauvoo, Illinois language: en type: article reference: "“History of Joseph Smith,” *Times and Seasons* 6, no. 8 (May 1, 1845): 880–882." printed_title: HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH. source: url: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1845-05-01_6_8 transcription: Text from the Centerplace.org transcription (https://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v6n08.htm), with its page breaks; this Internet Archive scan is the reference copy (its OCR was used only as a witness for OCR repair) identifier: per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1845-05-01_6_8 start_page: 880 end_page: 882 curator_note: A Mormon newspaper published by the church in Nauvoo; included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1845 (Nauvoo, Illinois); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States source: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1845-05-01_6_8 publication_year: 1845 --- # History of Joseph Smith [Continued.] About this date the brethren in Zion received the following communication from Governor Dunklin, in reply to their petition of September 28th. City of Jefferson, Executive } Department, Oct. 19, 1833. } To Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Isaac Morley, John Corrill, A. S. Gilbert, John Whitmer, and others:- Your memorial soliciting my interposition against violence threatened you, and redress for injuries received by a portion of the citizens of Jackson county, has been received, and its contents duly considered. I should think myself unworthy the confidence with which I have been honored by my fellow citizens, did I not promptly employ all the means which the Constitution and laws have placed at my disposal, to avert the calamities with which you are threatened. Ours is a Government of laws, to them we all owe obedience, and their faithful administration is the best guarantee for the enjoyment of our rights. No citizen, nor number of citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or imaginary, into their own hands: Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society, and subverts the foundation on which it is based. Not being willing to persuade myself that any portion of the citizens of the State of Missouri are so lost to a sense of these truths as to require the exercise of force, in order to ensure a respect for them. After advising with the Attorney General, and exercising my best judgment, I would advise you to make a trial of the efficacy of the laws; the Judge of your circuit is a conservator of the peace. If an affidavit is made before him by any of you, that your lives are threatened and you believe them in danger, it would be his duty to have the offenders apprehended and bind them to keep the peace. Justices of the peace in their respective counties have the same authority, and it is made their duty to exercise it. Take, then, this course: obtain a warrant, let it be placed in the hands of the proper officer, and the experiment will be tested whether the laws can be peaceably executed or not, In the event they cannot be, and that fact is officially notified to me, my duty will require me to take such steps as will enforce a faithful execution of them. With regard to the injuries you have sustained by destruction of property, &c., the law is open to redress, I cannot permit myself to doubt that the courts will be open to you, nor that you will find difficulty in procuring legal advocates to sue for damages therein. Respectfully, Your ob't servant, DANIEL DUNKLIN. W. W. PHELPS, ESQ., Independence, Mo." Immediately on receipt of the Governor's letter, the members of the church generally, (though they had lain idle since the outrage in July,) began to labor as usual and build and set in order their houses, gardens, &c. Tuesday the 29th of October, we took our departure from Mount Pleasant, on our return to Kirtland and arrived at Buffalo, New York, on the 31st. While we were thus pursuing our journey the brethren in Zion were busily engaged in devising means of redress for their grievances, and having consulted with four lawyers from Clay county, then attending court in Independence, they received from them the following letter on the day written; which I will copy entire, that the principle by which the lawyers of this generation are actuated may be recorded, as well as the difficulties the Saints had to encounter, in executing the Governor's letter. "Independence, Oct. 30, 1833. Gentlemen;-The first thing necessary to be done, under circumstances like ours, is to ascertain and fix upon the amount of fee to be paid, and to secure the payment thereof by the necessary papers; and then the responsibility of advising rests upon us. We are now laboring under all the disadvantages of an engagement, without any of its advantages; it therefore becomes us to know whether we can agree as to the fee, or not; and that we should be paid, too, according to the situation in which we place ourselves. We have been doing a practice here, among these people, to a considerable extent, and by the engagement, we must expect to lose the greatest part of it, which will be to all of us a considerable loss; besides that the amount involved must be very considerable, and the amount involved must be generally the criterion of the fee. Taking all these matters into consideration, we propose to you to bring all the suits you may want brought, and attend to them jointly throughout, for the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars each, making for all four of us the sum of one thousand dollars. This may seem to be a large sum for a fee for lawyers in this country, but the circumstances here involved make it necessary. This matter must be attended to in the first place, and then such advice, for the present, as may seem to be dictated by wisdom, and be necessary, we will give you; and in the proper time we will bring the suits. If this proposal suits, you will please execute notes, and send them to us: and if not agreed to apprise us by letter immediately, for we can be engaged on the opposite side in all probability. We prefer to bring your suits, as we have been threatened by the mob, we wish to show them we disregard their empty bravadoes. Signed WOOD, REESE, DONIPHAN, & ATCHISON. As a dernier resort, the brethren accepted the foregoing proposition, and Brothers Phelps and Partridge gave their note, of one thousand dollars, endorsed by Gilbert and Whitney. No sooner had the news spread among the mob, than they began to congregate and prepare for battle. Friday, November 1st 1833, left Buffalo, New York, at eight o'clock A. M., and arrived at my house in Kirtland on Monday the 4th ten A. M., and found my family well according to the promise of the Lord in the revelation of Oct. 12th, for which I felt to thank my heavenly Father. Thursday night the 31st of October gave the Saints in Zion abundant proof, that no pledge, written or verbal, was longer to be regarded; for on that night, between forty and fifty in number, many of whom were armed with guns, proceeded against a branch of the church west of Big-Blue, and unroofed, and partly demolished, ten dwelling houses; and in the midst of the shrieks and screams of women and children, whipped and beat in a savage and brutal manner, several of the men; and with their horrid threats, frightened women and children into the wilderness. Such of the men as could escape [escape], fled for their lives; for very few of them had arms, neither were they embodied; and they were threatened with death if they made any resistance; such therefore as could not escape by flight, received a pelting by rocks, and a beating with guns, sticks, &c. On Friday the 1st of November, women and children sallied forth from their gloomy retreat, to contemplate with heart rending anguish, the ravages of a ruthless mob, in the mangled bodies of their husbands, and in the destruction of their houses, and some of their furniture.-Houseless and unprotected by the arm of the civil law in Jackson County, the dreary month of November staring them in the face, and loudly proclaiming an inclement season, at hand; the continual threats of the mob, that they would drive out every Mormon from the county; and the inability of many to remove, because of their poverty, caused an anguish of heart indescribable. On Friday night, the 1st of November, a party of the mob, proceeded to attack a branch of the church at the prairie, about twelve or fourteen miles from the village. Two of their numbers were sent in advance, as spies, viz. Robert Johnson, and one Harris, armed with two guns, and three pistols. They were discovered by some of the Saints, and without the least injury being done to them, said (mob) Johnson, struck Parley P. Pratt with the breech of his gun, over the head; after which they were taken and detained till morning; which it was believed, prevented a general attack of the mob that night. In the morning, they were liberated without receiving the least injury. The same night (Friday,) another party in Independence, commenced stoning houses, breaking down doors and windows, destroying furniture, &c. This night, the brick part, attached to the dwelling house of A. S. Gilbert, was partly pulled down, and the windows of his dwelling broken in with brick-bats, and rocks; while a gentleman stranger lay sick with a fever in his house. The same night, three doors of the store of Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney, were split open: and after midnight, the goods lay scattered in the streets, such as calicoes, handkerchiefs, shawls, cambricks, &c. An express came from the village after midnight to a party of their men, who had embodied about half a mile from the village, for the safety of their lives; stating that the mob were tearing down houses and scattering the goods of the store in the streets. The main body of the mob fled, at the approach of this company. One Richard McCarty was caught in the act of throwing rocks and brick-bats into the doors, while the goods lay strung around him in the streets and was immediately taken before Samuel Weston Esq.; and a complaint was then made to said Weston, and a warrant requested, that said McCarty might be secured; but said Weston refused to do any thing in the case at that time. Said McCarty was then liberated. The same night, some of their houses in the village, had long poles thrust through the shutters and sash into the rooms of defenceless [defenseless] women and children, from whence their husbands and fathers had been driven by the dastardly attacks of the mob, which were made by ten, fifteen or twenty men upon a house at a time. Saturday, the second of November, all the families of the Saints, in the village, moved about half a mile out, with most of their goods; and embodied to the number of thirty, for the preservation of life and personal effects. This night, a party from the village, met a party from the west of the Blue, and made an attack upon a branch of the church, located at the Blue, about six miles from the village; here they tore the roof from one dwelling, and broke open another house, found the owner David Bennet, sick in bed, whom they beat most inhumanly [inhumanely], swearing they would blow out his brains, and discharged a pistol, the ball of which cut a deep gash across the top of his head. In this skirmish, a young man of the mob, was shot in the thigh; but, by which party remains yet to be determined. The next day, Sunday Nov. 3d, four of the church, viz: Joshua Lewis, Hiram Page, and two others, were despatched [dispatched] for Lexington, to see the circuit judge, and obtain a peace warrant. Two called on Esq. Silvers, who refused to issue one, on account, as he has declared of his fears of the mob. This day many of the citizens, professing friendship, advised the Saints to clear from the county, as speedily as possible; for the Saturday night affray had enraged the whole county, and they were determined to come out on Monday, and massacre indiscriminately; and in short it was proverbial among the mob, that "Monday would be a bloody day." Monday came, and a large party of the mob gathered at the Blue, took the ferry boat, belonging to the church, threatened lives, &c. But they soon abandoned the ferry, and went to Wilson's store, about one mile west of the Blue. Word had previously gone to a branch of the church, several miles west of the Blue, that the mob were destroying property, on the east side of the Blue, and the sufferers there wanted help, to preserve their lives and property. Nineteen men volunteered, and started for their assistance; but discovering, that fifty or sixty of the mob, had gathered at said Wilson's, they turned back. At this time two small boys passed on their way to Wilson's, who gave information to the mob, that the Mormons were on the road west of them. Between forty and fifty of the mob immediately started with guns in pursuit; after riding about two or two and a half miles, they discovered them, when the said company of nineteen, immediately dispersed, and fled in different directions. The mob hunted them, turning their horses into a corn field, belonging to the Saints, searching their corn fields and houses, threatening women and children that they would pull down their houses and kill them if they did not tell where the men had fled. Thus, they were employed hunting the men, and threatening the women, until a company of thirty of the Saints, from the prairie, armed with seventeen guns, made their appearance. The former company of nineteen had dispersed, and fled, and but one or two of them had returned to take part in the subsequent battle. On the approach of the latter company of thirty men, some of the mob cried, "fire, God damn ye, fire." Two or three guns were then fired by the mob, which were returned by the other party without loss of time. This company is the same, that is represented by the mob, as having gone forth in the evening of the battle bearing the olive branch of peace. The mob retreated early after the first fire, leaving some of their horses in Whitmer's corn field; and two of their number, Hugh L. Brazeale and Thomas Linvill, dead on the ground. Thus fell H. L. Brazeale, one who had been heard to say, "with ten fellows, I will wade to my knees in blood, but that I will drive the Mormons from Jackson County." The next morning the corpse of said Brazeale was discovered on the battle ground with a gun by his side. Several were wounded on both sides, but none mortally, except one Barber, on the part of the Saints, who expired the next day.-This battle was fought about sun-set, Monday Nov. the 4th; and the same night, runners were despatched [dispatched] in every direction under pretence [pretense] of calling out the militia; spreading as they went, every rumor calculated to alarm and excite the unwary; such as, that the Mormons had taken Independence, and the Indians had surrounded it, being colleagued together, &c.