Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith

In the flurry of all the news activity of the SCOTUS ruling last week, an important date in the Mormon calendar was skipped over. I speak of the 168th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith (38) and his brother Hyrum (44) on June 27th, 1844.

Carthage Jail

It has been estimated that thirty-five lead balls were fired that day in Illinois by the participants in the massacre at Carthage Jail. The mob was estimated at around fifty in number against the four who were in the room where Joseph and Hyrum died. We know that fifteen of the bullets found their mark, killing Hyrum and Joseph and injuring John Taylor (35). Willard Richards the largest man of the four escaped uninjured.

Hyrum Smith, the Prophet's older brother, was the first to die instantly as he was hit by four lead balls. At the time of his death he was the assistant president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and also the patriarch to the Church. The Prophet Joseph Smith and Elder John Taylor, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were also each struck by four lead balls. We know the exact time of the martyrdom because John Taylor pocket watch stopped when it was struck by one of the balls, and the watch likely saved his life. Some accounts marked the time at 5:21:15 p.m., others at 5:26:16.

Many authors over the years have written their accounts of the martyrdom, but there is nothing to compare with standing or sitting in that room to help one relive those events. I've had that experience on four separate occasions over the years. I can tell you the witness of their divine calling as true prophets never diminishes each time I have gone.

President John Taylor

In the heat of that sweltering June afternoon, the Prophet asked Elder Taylor, an accomplished tenor soloist, to sing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief,” and he complied not just once but twice. His voice uplifted his fellow inmates. It was also John Taylor who would later pen the official account of the martyrdom, and it is preserved today as D&C 135. Joseph Smith predicted his time had come when he said to his brethren on the other side of the Mississippi, forsaking his plans to flee to the west, "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning."

Elder Willard Richards

Elder Willard Richards, also a member of the Twelve, who received powder burns on his cheek that day in 1844, wrote his own account of the martyrdom. It was later published in the Nauvoo Times and Seasons, titled “Two Minutes in Jail.” He said he hid the wounded Elder Taylor underneath a mattress in another room in the jail, fearing the mob would return and finish them off. Later that night, Elders Richards and Taylor sent a message back to Nauvoo. They wrote simply, "Carthage Jail, 8:05 o'clock, p.m., June 27th, 1844. Joseph and Hyrum are dead. . . The job was done in an instant."

Elder Taylor returned July 2nd to Nauvoo on a sleigh, but the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were taken to Nauvoo on June 28th.

Those who succeeded the Prophet and Hyrum in their death were their two widows, Emma (40) and Mary Fielding Smith (43). Emma and Joseph had eleven children, including their youngest son, David H. Smith, who was born in November, four months after the Prophet's death. Only five lived to adulthood.

Mary Fielding Smith was the mother of two of Hyrum's eight children, including then five-year-old Joseph F. Smith, future Apostle and eventually a President of the Church.

Two others known by Joseph Smith were among those late arriving on the scene on June 27, 1844: Samuel Smith, his younger brother, and “Sonny,” who first met the Prophet as a young man.

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

In his October 2007 general conference address, the late Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve told of a fourteen-year-old boy who had been taken care of by Joseph Smith as he searched for his brother. This boy ended up being a stage driver between Nauvoo and Keokuk, Iowa, with Carthage being a half-way station. That boy was nicknamed “Sonny” by Joseph, who rode the stage.

On June 27, 1844, when that stage came through Carthage, Sonny saw a mob gathered around the jail. As passengers got off the stage, the shooting started. Sonny drove the stage to the stable and saw Joseph fall from the jail window.

Samuel, who was one of the eight witnesses to The Book of Mormon, never made it to the Carthage Jail before the martyrdom.

He lived southeast of Nauvoo in nearby Plymouth, Ill., and was on horseback to see his brothers in Carthage. He escaped after being met by members of the mob who chased him through the woods.

Samuel rode back to Nauvoo as part of the fourteen-person bodyguard of Joseph and Hyrum when their bodies were returned to Nauvoo the next day in his wagon. Samuel would succumb and die on July 30th, just a month later as a result of the fatigue from the chase of June 27th. He left behind six children and his death preceded by twenty-one days the birth of his daughter, Lucy J.C.

Other members of the Quorum of the Twelve as well as two future church presidents, Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff, were on missions in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nauvoo at the time of the martyrdom.

Elders Taylor and Richards, the only two apostles who were not away on missions, were in the jail cell that day because they willingly chose to accompany the Prophet and Hyrum to Carthage.

Joseph and Hyrum leave Nauvoo for Carthage

Joseph, in his journal, noted Nauvoo had 15,000 inhabitants. There were between 25,000 and 26,000 members of the Church in 1844. Today, Nauvoo has a population around 1,000. When the company of fifteen men rode out of Nauvoo on that final journey to Carthage, the road was about fifteen miles in length. Today on paved roads it's about twenty-three miles on a similar route.

The Nauvoo Temple has now been reconstructed and was dedicated in 2002. The original temple was completed after Joseph and Hyrum's martyrdom, razed shortly thereafter.

John Taylor's tribute to the brothers concludes:

". . . henceforward their names will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a green tree for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified." (D&C 135:6).

Joseph Smith, the Prophet

Joseph Smith (1805 - 1844)

A few years ago in recognition of the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1805 on December 23rd, our stake held a youth fireside at the end of the year honoring the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I was asked to be the keynote speaker.

I assembled many notes for that talk, most of which I never used.  This morning I discovered them in a deeply buried archive file on the computer, and share them here with the readers of this page. 

Joseph Smith was a remarkably candid and forthright speaker and writer.  He pulled no punches, it appears to me, particularly in his own self-appraisals.  Most of what I have gathered below comes from his History of the Church compilation (hereafter HC), some 3,200 pages in total.  (Many of these statements have also been compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.)  Today legislation in Washington can be cobbled together approaching that many pages with ease and speed (it's frightening how fast), but in Joseph's case this compilation of his history was laborious and done with quill pens and parchment paper by those who recorded it.  His own words reveal far more about him than anything else.

As one of her first gifts to me when we were still in college, and knowing of my love for the Prophet Joseph, Patsy spend a goodly sum of money to buy me my own seven-volume set.  I treasure those books.

Joseph, an eighteen-year-old, was promised by the angel Moroni that "my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people."  (JS-H 1:33).  Despite the chilly prospect of what that declaration must have portended for his future, it is obvious Joseph Smith was a spirit not easily deterred, knowing what he knew.

I read a statement from Hugh Nibley several years ago that startled me.  It came from Eduard Meyer, the great German historian.  He made a comparison of Joseph Smith and Mohammed. He concluded Mohammed had to be ranked higher by his standard because from the records Meyer discerned Mohammed experienced periods of self-doubt, vagueness, and misgiving in developing his religious views.  On the other hand, said Meyer, he felt Joseph Smith never showed any signs of those despairing thoughts. The comparisons between Islam and Mormonism are fascinating, and this is just one among many.

I thought about that a lot.  It was true.  I never found any evidence in his sermons or writings that the Prophet Joseph Smith ever had doubts about the divinity of his calling or his message, and despite his adversities he was rarely discouraged.

"Never be discouraged. If I were sunk in the lowest pits of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I would come out on top." (Quoted in My Errand from the Lord: A Personal Study Guide for Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums, 1976–77, 175–76).

Here's what he said about his life's mission:

“I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it. . . " (JS-H 1:25).

“I was called of my Heavenly Father to lay the foundation of this great work and kingdom in this dispensation, and testify of His revealed will to scattered Israel. . . ” (HC 5:516).

“If any person should ask me if I were a prophet, I should not deny it, as that would give me the lie. . .” (HC 5:516).

Knowing who he was and what he was about, Joseph spoke powerfully “as one having authority.” (HC 5:356)

“I know what I say; I understand my mission and business.” (HC 5:259).

“In relation to the power over the minds of mankind which I hold, I would say, It is in consequence of the power of truth in the doctrines which I have been an instrument in the hands of God of presenting unto them, and not because of any compulsion on my part. . .  I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Repent ye of your sins and prepare the way for the coming of the Son of Man, for the kingdom of God has come unto you. . .’ ” (HC 6:273)

“I defy all the world to destroy the work of God; and I prophesy they never will have power to kill me till my work is accomplished, and I am ready to die.” (HC 6:58).

There is little doubt Joseph Smith was not easily intimidated.  He had an indominable spirit.  Confident and fearless, his allegiance was first and always to God. “I never knew what it was, as yet, to fear the face of clay, or the influence of man,” he wrote to James Arlington Bennett. “My fear, sir, is before God. I fear to offend Him and strive to keep His commandments.” (HC 5:157).

Declared Joseph on another occasion: “The object with me is to obey and teach others to obey God in just what He tells us to do. It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular. I will always maintain a true principle, even if I stand alone in it.” (HC 6:223).

In another letter to Bennett he wrote, “The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock in the midst of the ocean, which has withstood the mighty surges of the warring waves for centuries, am impregnable, and am a faithful friend to virtue, and a fearless foe to vice. . .  I combat the errors of ages. . . ” (HC 6:78).

Some critics have concluded Joseph Smith was arrogant, impressed with his own self-importance, but that is not the case.  “God Almighty is my shield,” he told the Saints. (HC 5:259).  “I am His servant.” (HC 6:305).

He knew his role:  “I realize in some measure my responsibility, and the need I have of support from above, and wisdom from on high, that I may be able to teach this people. . . ” (HC 4:230).  “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my Great Counselor.” (HC 6:93).

It is impossible to calculate all he learned and never taught.

“I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them.” (HC 5:402).

The Prophet loved “the learning and wisdom of heaven.” (HC 5:423). His focus was how to reveal sacred truths. “It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind.” (HC 5:362).

Impatience at times overtook him: “When things that are of the greatest importance are passed over by weak-minded men without even a thought, I want to see truth in all its bearings and hug it to my bosom. I believe all that God ever revealed. . . ” (HC 6:477).

Many conspired against him within and without the Church.  He was committed to the law, the Constitution and due process despite all the opposition he and the saints encountered.

“It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul — civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race. Love of liberty was diffused into my soul by my grandfathers while they dandled me on their knees. . . ” (HC 5:498).

“I want the liberty of thinking and believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammelled.” (HC 5:340).

“I cannot believe in any of the creeds of the different denominations, because they all have some things in them I cannot subscribe to, though all of them have some truth. I want to come up into the presence of God, and learn all things; but the creeds set up stakes, and say, ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further;’ which I cannot subscribe to.” (HC 6:57).

“I will spill my heart’s blood in our defence. They [the Missourians] shall not take away our rights. …” (HC 5:473).

Joseph the Prophet was likewise a patriot:  “I would ask no greater boon, than to lay down my life for my country,” (HC 4:382) he told the Nauvoo Legion. Having described himself as a “patriot and lover of my country,” (HC 5:159) he once proclaimed, “I am the greatest advocate of the Constitution of the United States there is on the earth. In my feelings I am always ready to die for the protection of the weak and oppressed in their just rights.” (HC 6:56-57).

Four months later he said, “I feel it to be my right and privilege to obtain what influence and power I can, lawfully, in the United States, for the protection of injured innocence; and if I lose my life in a good cause I am willing to be sacrificed on the altar of virtue, righteousness and truth, in maintaining the laws and Constitution of the United States, if need be, for the general good of mankind.” (HC 6:210).

Despite the steel in his spine, there was velvet in his touch: “Sectarian priests cry out concerning me, and ask, ‘Why is it this babbler gains so many followers, and retains them?’ I answer, It is because I possess the principle of love. All I can offer the world is a good heart and a good hand.” (HC 5:498).

“. . . my heart is large enough for all men.” (HC 6:459).  “I have no enmity against any man. I love you all.” (HC 6:317).

One cannot plumb the depth of that love in these statements:

“I love to wait upon the Saints, and be a servant of all. . . ” (HC 4:492).

“I am not learned, but I have as good feelings as any man. O that I had the language of the archangel to express my feelings once to my friends! But I never expect to in this life. When others rejoice, I rejoice; when they mourn, I mourn.” (HC 5:362).

“I hope I shall see them [his friends] again, that I may toil for them, and administer to their comfort also. They shall not want a friend while I live; my heart shall love those, and my hands shall toil for those. . .” (HC 5:109).

“As I grow older, my heart grows tenderer for you. I am at all times willing to give up everything that is wrong, for I wish this people to have a virtuous leader.” (HC 6:412).

“The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father,” he said to the Relief Society sisters, “the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders. . .” (HC 5:24).

His journal records these words: “. . . those holy doctrines. . .  I cherish in my bosom with the warmest feelings of my heart, and with that zeal which cannot be denied. I love friendship and truth; I love virtue and law; I love the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. . .” (HC 5:108).

He knew his own limitations and warned his followers: “A prophet is a prophet only when he [is] acting as such.” (HC 5:265).

Even in a public setting Joseph Smith was ever candid in his self-evaluations:

“I am subject to like passions as other men, like the prophets of olden times. Notwithstanding my weaknesses, I am under the necessity of bearing the infirmities of others. . .” (HC 5:516).

“I told them [the Saints] I was but a man, and they must not expect me to be perfect; if they expected perfection from me, I should expect it from them; but if they would bear with my infirmities. . .  I would likewise bear with their infirmities.” (HC 5:181).

Like Nephi, Joseph Smith’s sins were not "magnificent," he said, “. . . a disposition to commit such was never in my nature.” (JS-H 1:28).

His famous words en route to Carthage and certain death reveal much about his character:

“I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward all men.” (HC 6:555).

He was refined in adversity:

“I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priestcraft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, suborned judges and jurors, and the authority of perjured executives, backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women — all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, who will give me dominion over all and every one of them, when their refuge of lies shall fail, and their hiding place shall be destroyed, while these smooth-polished stones with which I come in contact become marred.” (HC 5:401).

“Excitement has almost become the essence of my life,” reported the Prophet on another occasion. “When that dies away, I feel almost lost.” (HC 5:389).

His faithfulness resulted in these declarations by God that he would be exalted. (See D&C 121:8; D&C 122:9.)

These are only flashes of the brilliance of the Prophet's character in his own words about himself.  His name lives on as a testament to the God he loved and served.