Show 1 copyright Secure dj J HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH seith JUE joe 1844 ap som some rome 1 e persons have supposed that I 1 ought to have had them sent to some distant and friendly part of the state fod for confinement and arid trial and that I 1 ought to hafe have searched them for tor concealed arms but these surmises and suppositions posit ibris are readily disposed of by the fact that they were not uly prisoners ners but were the prisoner the constable and jailer under the direction of or thea isaice estice of the peace arid and also by the fact that by lav law they could be tried in in no other county than hancock the jail in aich which they sere vere confined is is a considerable stone building t containing a residence for ane mhd jailer cells cella for tor the close arid and secure con confinement of the prisoners and one larger room not so strong T but more airy and comfortable than the cells they were put into the cells by the jailer but upon their remonstrance and request and by my advice they were transferred to the larger room and there they remained until the final catastrophe neither they nor I 1 seriously apprehended an attack on the jail through the guard stationed to protect it nor did I 1 apprehend the least danger on their part of an attempt to escape for I 1 was very ery sure that any such an attempt would have been the signal 0 of their immediate death indeed if they had escaped it would have been fortunate for the purposes of those who wele vele anxious for the expulsion of the mormon population for the great body of I 1 hat that p people e ople opie would most assuredly have followed their prophet and arid principal leaders as they did in their flight from missouri Misso iri I 1 learned afterwards that the leaders of the arti anti mormons cormons did much to stimulate their followers to the murder oe of the smiths in in jail by alleging that the governor hi tended intended to favor their escape if this had been true and could have been well carried out it would have been the best way of getting rid nd of the mormons cormons Mor mons these leaders of the cormons mormons would never have dared to return and they would have been followed in their light flight by all their church jaad such a plan in my mind but I 1 had bad never breathed it to a living soul and wab waa thus thwarted in ridding the state of the mormons cormons two years before they actually lett left by the inane insane frenzy of the anti mormons cormons joe smith when hen he escaped from missouri had no difficulty in again collecting his sect about him at nauvoo arid and soi boi BO the twelve apostles after they had been at the head of affairs long iong enough to establish their authority and influence as leaders had no difficulty in in getting nearly the whole body tody of cormons mormons to follow them into the ild iid wilderness hilderness erness two years 5 ears after the death ot of their pretended prophet the force assembled at carthage amounted to about twelve or thirteen hundred men and it was calculated that four tour or five huri hurl hundred dred more were ivere assembled at warsaw nearly all that portion resident in ancock hancock II were anxious to be marched into nauvoo this measure was supposed to be necessary to search for far counterfeit money and the apparatus to make it arid and also to strike a salutary terror into the mormon people b by I 1 y an exhibition of the force of the state and thereby prevent future outrages murders robberies burnings and the like apprehended aa as the effect of mormon ven vengeance bance on those who had bad taken a part pait against them or my part art at one time this arrangement was agreed to the the tha morning of the d day of set june was appointed for the march an and goldens boldens Gol dens point near the mississippi sippi river and about equidistant from nauvoo aud ad ard warsaw was selected as the place of rendezvous 1 I 1 had determined to prevail on the justice to bring out his prisoners and take them along A council of however determined that this would be highly inexpedient and dangerous and offered such substantial I 1 reasons for their opinions as induced me meto to change my resolution to i f two or three daya days preparations bad been made for this expedition I 1 observed that some odthe of the people became more and more excited and inflammatory the further the preparations were advanced occasional threats came to my ears of 0 destroying the city and amr dering or expelling the inba inhabitants bitanO I 1 had bad no objection to ease the terrors of the people by byruch such buch a display ot 0 force and was mosi most anxious also to search for the alleged making counterfeit morey modey and in fact to inquire into all the charges ag against ainest that people if I 1 could have been assured of my command against mutiny and insubordination but I 1 gradually learned to my entire satisfaction that there was a plan to get the troops into nauvoo and there to begin the war probably by some of our own patty party or some of the seceding mormons cormons Mor mons taking advantage of the night to fire on an our own force and then than laying it on the I 1 mormons cormons vIor Mor mons I 1 was satisfied that there were those amongst us fully capable cabble of such an act ach hoping P that in the alarm bustle and confusion of a militia camp the truth could not be discovered and that it might lead to the desired collision I 1 had many objections to bo be made the dupe of any such or similar artifice I 1 was openly and boldly opposed to any attack on the city unless it should become necessary to arrest prisoners r so legally charged and demanded indeed ee 1 if f any anyone one will reflect upon the number of women inoffensive and young persons arld and innocent children which must be contained in such stich a city of twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants habitants its it would seem to me his heart would relent and rebel against buch such violent resolutions nothing but bilt the most blinded blinded and obdurate fury could incite a person even if lie he had the power to the willingness of driving stich such persons bare and houseless on to the prairies to starve suffer and even steal as they must muse have done lor subsistence no one who has children of his own would think of it for a moment besides this if we had been ever evar so much disposed to commit such stich an act of wickedness we evidently had not the power to do it I 1 was we well weli I 1 assured that the mormons cormons Mor mons at a short notice could muster as many as two or three thousand well armed men we had not more than seventeen hundred with three pieces of cannon and arid about twelve h undrel hundred undre I stand of small arms we had provisions for two days only and would be compelled to disband at the end of that time to think of be beginning a 4 war under such circumstances was a p plain lain iain absurdity if the mormons cormons had bad succeeding in repulsing our attack as most likely would have been the case the country must necessarily be given up to their rava ravages es until a new force could be assembled sem bled and arid provisions made for its subsistence or if we should have succeeded in driving them from their city they would have scattered and being justly incensed at our barbarity and suffering with privation and hunger would have spread desolation all over the country without any possibility on our part with the force we then had of preventing it again they would have had the ae vantage advantage of being able to subsist their force in the field by plundering their enemies all these considerations were duly urged by me upon the attention of a council of officers convened on the morning of the of june I 1 also urged upon the council that such wanton I 1 and un unprovoked 0 evoked barbarity on their part I 1 would turn t ehe the e sympathy of the people of the surrounding counties in favor of the mormons cormons Mor mons and anti therefore it would be impossible to raise a volunteer militia force to protect such stich a people against them many of the officers admitted that there mi might ht be danger of collision but such was the blind fury prevailing at the time thou though 1 h not showing itself by much visible excitement that a small majority of the council adhered to the first resolution of marchin marching into nauvoo most of the officers of the S schuyler cl ayler and mcdonough danou donough h militia voting against it and most of those oi of the county of hancock voting in its favor A very responsible duty now devolved upon me to determine vii yil whether ili ether I 1 would as com in ander mander in chief be governed by the advice of this his majority I 1 had no hesitation in deciding that I 1 would not but on the contrary I 1 ordered the troops to be disbanded both af at Cart carthage hage bage and warsaw with the exception of three companies two of which were retained as a guard to the jail and the other was retained to accompany me to nauvoo the officers insisted much in council upon the necessity of marching to that place to search for apparatus to make counterfeit money and more particularly to terrify the mormons cormons from attempting any open or secret rie measures lasures of vengeance against the citizens of the county who had taken a part against them or their leaders to ease their terrors on this ibis head I 1 proposed to them that I 1 would myself proceed to the city accompanied by a small force make the proposed search and arid deliver an address to the cormons mormons Mor Alor mons and tell them plainly what degree of excitement and hatred prevailed against them in the minds of the whole people and that it if any open or secret violence should be committed on the persons or property of those who had taken part against them that no one would doubt but that it had been perpetrated by them and that it would be sure and certain means of the destruction of their city and the extermination of their people I 1 ordered two c companies on anies under the command of capt R L F S smith m i teunies tE of the carthage greys to guard the jail in selecting these companies and particularly the company of the carthage greys for this service I 1 have been I 1 acted e to some censure it has been said that this company had haq already been guilty of mutiny and and bad been ordered bordere to be arrea arrested ted whilst in the encampment at carthage carthage Cart bame bage and that they and anti their officers were the sea deadly cily olly enemies of the prisoners indeed it would have been difficult to find friends or the prisoners under tinder my command unless I 1 had bad aa called in tle mormons cormons as a guard and this I 1 was satisfied would have led to the immediate war and the sure death of the prisoners it is true that hat this company ha ba behaved badly towards the brigadier general general in command on the occasion when the prisoners were shown s 0 w n along the line of the mcdonough militia this company had been ordered as a guard they were under the belief that the prisoners who were arrested for a capital of Fence were shown to the troops in a kind of triumph and that they had been called on as a triumphal escort to grace the protes procession sion slon the they also entertained a very bad feeling towards the h e brigadier general who cornman commanded ded dea their thair service on the occasion the truth is however that this company was never ordered to be arrested that the smiths were not shown to the mcdonough Durough Mc troops as a marl mari of honor and triumph but were shown to them at the urgent request of the troops themselves to gratify their curiosity in beholding persons who had made themselves ao so notorious in the coti country when the carthage greys ascertained what was the true motive in showing the prisoners to the troops they wire ware were perfectly satisfied all due atonement was made on their part for their conduct to the brigadier general eral and they cheerfully returned to their duty although I 1 knew that this company were the file enemies of the smi smiths hs yet I 1 had confidence in their loyalty arid and integrity because their captain was universally spoken of as a most respectable citizen and honorable man the company itself was an old independent company well armed uniformed formed and drilled and arid the members of it were the elite of the militia of the county 1 I relied upon this company especially because it was an independent company for a longtime long iong time instructed and practiced practised in military disc discipline i line and subordination I 1 also had bad their worta word and n d honor officers and men to do their duty according to law besides all this the officers and most of the men resided in carthage in the near vicinity of nauvoo and arid as I 1 thought must know that they would make themselves and their property convenient and conspicuous marks of mormon vengeance in case they were guilty of treachery I 1 had at first intended to select a 9 guard from the county of mcdonough but the militia of that county were very much dissatisfied to remain their crops were sus suf fiering suffering at home they were in a perfect fever to be discharged and I 1 was destitute of provisions to supply them for more than a afew few days they were far irom from from home chere i here they could not supply themselves whilst the carthage company could board at their own houses and would be put to little inconvenience in comparison what gave me greater confidence in the selection of this company as a prudent measure was that the selection was first suggested and urged by the brigadier general in command who was well known to be utterly hostile to all and violence towards the prisoners and iho who was openly charged by the violent party with being on the side of the mormons cormons Mor Alor moris mons at any rate I 1 knew that the jail would have to be guarded as long iong as the prisoners were confined that an imprisonment for treason might last the whole summer and anti the greater part of the autumn before a trial could be had in the circuit court that it ift would be utterly impossible in the circumstances of the country to keep a force there from a foreign county for so long iong a time arld and that a time tilde must surely come when the duty guarding of the jail would necessarily devolve on the citizens of the county it is true also that at this time I 1 had not believed or suspected that any attack was yas to be made upon the prisoners in jail it is true hat that I 1 was wag aware that a great deal of hatred existed against them and that there were those who would do them an injury if they could I 1 iad aad heard of some threats being made but none of an attack upon the prisoners whilst in jail jall ail all these threats seemed to be made by individuals divi duals not acting in concert they were no more than the bluster which might have been expected and furnished no indication of num bers lers aers combining for this or any other purpose I 1 must here be permitted to say also that frequent sequent appeals had ald been made to t me to make a clean and thorough work of the matter by exterminating the mormons cormons or expelling them from rom the state an opinion seemed generally to 0 o prevail that the sanction of executive authority would legalize the act and all persons of a any influence authority or note is who ho conversed ve r se d with me on the subject frequently and repeatedly stated their total unwillingness to act without my roy direction or in any mode except according to law this was a circumstance well calculated to conceal froin from me the secret machinations on oot 1 I had constantly contended a against ainah vio lent ent measures and se had bad the brigadier general in command commar col fol and I 1 am convinced that unusual lains pains were taken to conceal from both of us the he secret |