JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, created 9 Apr.–7 June 1856 and 20 Aug. 1856–6 Nov. 1856; handwriting of and Jonathan Grimshaw; 304 pages, plus 10 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the final volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This sixth volume covers the period from 1 May to 8 Aug. 1844; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1 through E-1, go through 30 Apr. 1844.
Historical Introduction
History, 1838-1856, volume F-1, constitutes the last of six volumes documenting the life of Joseph Smith and the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series is also known as the Manuscript History of the Church and was originally published serially from 1842 to 1846 and 1851 to 1858 as the “History of Joseph Smith” in the Times and Seasons and Deseret News. This volume contains JS’s history from 1 May 1844 to the events following his 27 June 1844 death, and it was compiled in Utah Territory in 1856.
The material recorded in volume F-1 was initially compiled under the direction of church historian , who was JS’s cousin, and also assistant church historian . Smith collaborated with in collecting material for the volume and creating a set of draft notes, which Smith dictated to Bullock and other clerks. Woodruff gathered additional material concerning the death of Joseph Smith as a supplement to George A. Smith’s work recording that event. Jonathan Grimshaw and , members of the Historian’s Office staff, transcribed the draft notes into the volume along with the text of designated documents.
According to the Historian’s Office journal, Jonathan Grimshaw initiated work on the text of volume F-1 on 9 April 1856, soon after Robert L. Campbell had completed work on volume E-1. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 5 and 9 Apr. 1856.) Grimshaw’s scribal work begins with an entry for 1 May 1844. Unlike previous volumes in which the numbering had run consecutively to page 2028, Grimshaw began anew with page 1. He transcribed 150 pages by June 1856, and his last entry was for 23 June 1844. Though more of his writing does not appear in the volume, he continued to work in the office until 2 August, before leaving for the East that same month. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 2 and 10 Aug. 1856.)
assumed the role of scribe on 20 August 1856. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 20 Aug. 1856.) He incorporated ’s draft notes for the period 24–29 June 1844 on pages 151–189, providing an account of JS’s death and its immediate aftermath. He next transcribed a related extract from ’s 1854 History of Illinois on pages 190–204. Pages 205–227 were left blank.
provided the notes for the final portion of the text. This account begins with an entry for 22 June 1844 and continues the record through 8 August 1844, ending on page 304. (The volume also included ten pages of addenda.) The last specific entry in the Historian’s Office journal that captures at work on the history is for 6 November 1856. A 2 February 1857 Wilford Woodruff letter to indicates that on 30 January 1857, the “presidency sat and heard the history read up to the organization of the church in , 8th. day of August 1844.” (Historian’s Office, Journal, 6 Nov. 1856; Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 2 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 410; see also Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, 28 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, pp. 430–431.)
The pages of volume F-1 contain a record of the final weeks of JS’s life and the events of the ensuing days. The narrative commences with and arriving at , Illinois, on 1 May 1844 from their lumber-harvesting mission in the “” of Wisconsin Territory. As the late spring and summer of 1844 unfold, events intensify, especially those surrounding the suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor in mid-June. Legal action over the Expositor leads to a charge of riot, and subsequently JS is charged with treason and is incarcerated at the jail in , Illinois. The narrative of volume F-1 concludes with an account of the special church conference convened on 8 August 1844 to consider who should assume the leadership of the church.
<June 30> forces, unless it should be necessary to retain them to suppress violence on either side: of this you must be the judge at present.
“I direct that you immediately order all persons from and to leave the camp and return to their respective homes without delay.
“I direct also, that you cause all mutinous persons, and all persons who advise tumultuous proceedings to be arrested; and that you take energetic measures to stop the practice of spreading false reports put in circulation to inflame the public minds.
Commander in Chief”
“To
, Ill.” [HC 7:146]
A few of the brethren met in council, and agreed to send bro to bear the news of the massacre to the Twelve.
Elder wrote the following, and sent it by :—
“, Sunday June 30th 1844 6 p. m.
“Beloved Brother ,
For the first moment we have had the opportunity, by request of such brethren of the council as we could call, we write to inform you of the situation of affairs in and elsewhere.
“On the 24th inst., Joseph, , and thirteen others went to and gave themselves up to Robert F. Smith, a Justice of the Peace, on charge of riot, for destroying the ‘Nauvoo Expositor’ press and apparatus.
“25th.— were exhibited by , to the troops assembled, like Elephants,— gave bonds for appearance at Court, were arrested on charge of treason, and committed to jail without examination.
“26th. brought out to the Court House, contrary to law, for examination,— returned to jail till witnesses could be procured.
“27th. A little before six p. m. the jail was forced by an armed disguised mob of from 150 to 200; the guard was frustrated, shot in the nose and throat and two other places, only saying ‘I am a dead man’. received four balls in left leg and left wrist and hand. Joseph received four bullets, <one> in right collar bone, one in right breast, and two others in his back; he leaped from the East window of the front room and was dead in an instant. I remained unharmed. The bodies were removed to on the 28th, and buried on the 29th. remains at yet: we heard to day he is better.
“Elder is deputed to convey this to you, together with to day’s ‘Extra, Nauvoo Neighbor’, and other papers giving particulars which you may rely on.
“The effect of this hellish butchery was like the bursting of a tornado on and ; those villages were without inhabitants, as in an instant they ran for their lives, lest the Mormons should burn and kill them suddenly— ‘the wicked flee when no man pursueth.’
“The excitement has been great, but the indignation more terrible; a reaction is taking place, and men of influence are coming from abroad [p. 240]