The martyrdom of Joseph Smith

It is imperative that children learn to know and love Joseph Smith. They will encounter many voices in the world who will berate Joseph and they need to know the truth. We need to teach the children stories of Joseph Smith.

In his last years, Joseph Smith said that he was more worried about the apostates than the nonmembers. They WANTED/NEEDED the Church to be wrong so they could feel right. One of the biggest, most influential of the apostates was William Law. After he was excommunicated, he organized his own church, called The True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He created a newspaper called the Expositor, used to try to expose the Church as a fake. He used it to rail against the Church. He hated Joseph so much he had tried to kill him. He actually shot at Joseph six times and the gun mis-fired every time.

In those times it was very common for people to burn down a printing press if they felt it was printing scandalous stories. It had happened to the Saints more than 20 times, with no consequences from the law to those who did it. But when the Church burned down the Expositor, a warrant was put out for Joseph Smith, Hyrum, and other leaders of the Church. There were also more serious charges against Joseph (who was the Mayor) and Hyrum, who was the vice-Mayor. The City Council was exonerated twice in Nauvoo, so the authorities decided to move the court to Carthage, so another warrant was issued for them all.

Joseph and Hyrum knew they had 3 choices – 1. Turn themselves in, in which case they knew they would be killed, 2. Go west where the saints were beginning to move to, or 3. Go into hiding until the charges could be disputed and dropped. They decided to go into hiding. They stayed on an island in the Mississippi river until one member told Joseph Smith that he was a coward. He responded that if his life was of no value to the saints, it was of no value to himself, so they turned themselves in.

On the way to turn themselves in, they went home to say goodbye and gave each of his children a blessing and spent the night there. They had a very faithful dog named Major who followed Joseph everywhere. They didn’t want the dog to follow him to jail, so they shut him in an upstairs bedroom. But the window was open, so the dog jumped out the 2^nd story window and went with him. As Joseph waved goodbye to the saints, he said, “Little do they know the trials that await them.” D&C 135 he said, “I go as a lamb to the slaughter.” He knew he would not be coming back.

The ride took all day so when they got to Carthage, they spent that night in a hotel. Then in the morning they surrendered. There was rioting and then they were charged with treason. Same as when Christ was arrested, the charges were changed after they were taken into custody. Treason changed the charges to a capital offense, punishable by death. (Other similarities with Jesus – he submitted willingly, he gave his life, he asked someone to take care of his family, it was his own followers who convicted him, etc.)

The governor declared Martial Law and left for Nauvoo to “investigate” and should have taken Joseph with him like he said he would, so he wasn’t there to protect the leaders in jail. The men were put in Carthage to wait for trial. There had been no trial yet; they had not even been convicted.

Their first night was in a gloomy cell where they read from the Book of Mormon and Joseph testified to the guards regarding angels and truth.

Dan Jones, one of the prisoners, slept on the floor near Joseph (who was also on the floor). He didn’t want to be in a bed if others were on the floor. Joseph asked Dan if he was afraid to die and testified to him that he would live and would serve a mission in Wales.

In the morning, June 27, some men, including Dan were sent on an errand. Willard Richards and John Taylor wanted to stay. The lock on the door was broken, so they actually could have walked out anytime.  A group of the U.S. Militia was outside the jail – bad-mouthed, evil men who were boasting they would kill Joe Smith. A man named J Wheeler visited the prison and took a pistol to Joseph to defend himself.

The room was filled with a feeling of depression and gloom. They knew that the governor had left them to the mobs. Hyrum asked John Taylor to sing A Poor Wayfaring Man (not in hymnbook yet), then asked him to sing it a 2^nd time. John T said he really didn’t feel like singing; Hyrum said, “if you begin, perhaps the feeling will come.” He was singing when they saw men with their faces painted black (with gun powder) around the jail. They began to storm the door so Hyrum and Willard braced themselves against the door. Then the mobs shot through the door which wounded Hyrum, then a shot from the window killed him. Joseph saw his brother dead and leaped to the door. Joseph shot through the door, which slowed them a little but they soon broke through. John Taylor tried to jump out the window and was shot but the bullet hit his watch, stopping it. So we know the attack was at 5:15 pm. The watch saved his life. He crawled under the bed but was shot 2 more times. Joseph tried also to jump out the window but was shot and killed. Willard Richards was not shot at all. It was prophesied to him that bullets would whiz past him and he would not be hurt.

The mob fled after killing Joseph. One yelled, “the Mormons are coming!” (They apparently heard or saw something that wasn’t there.)

At the time that Joseph was killed, the cattle began to bellow all over Nauvoo. The Quorum of Twelve were all over the place on missions, and at the time of Joseph’s death, they all felt intense sadness and gloom and didn’t know why. Samuel Smith was on his way to Carthage to try to help them and arrived too late, but helped move the bodies before the mobs came back. He was sick and the ride was hard; he died 1 month later. Lucy Mack Smith had lost 5 sons and a husband. She cried, “Why hast thou forsaken my family?” The answer came back to her, “I have taken them home to rest.”

The next day they took the bodies back to Nauvoo. They covered them to protect them. They put them in Joseph Smith’s house to lie in state. Thousands went through for the viewing.

George Canon was a new convert, new to Nauvoo, and he had an ability nobody else had – he could make a “death mask”, which preserved the features of their faces so future generations would know what they looked like. He was the father of George Q Cannon.

There was a memorial service. W.W. Phelps spoke. Appropriately, he wrote Praise to the Man. Gordon B Hinckley said when he was 12 he was finally allowed to attend Priesthood meeting at Stake Conference. It was hard for him to sit still and listen to everything, but when that hymn was sung, it stirred his soul and started his testimony.

It was necessary for Joseph Smith to seal his testimony with blood. All 12 of Jesus apostles died martyrs. Willard Richards and John Taylor became the 2 witnesses of the martyrdom.

Porter Rockwell was a lifelong friend of Joseph Smith and wanted to go with him to Carthage, but Joseph asked him to stay in Nauvoo to guard his family.

Good books about Joseph Smith – They knew the Prophet and Remembering Joseph. They aren’t testimonials, but actual unsolicited journal accounts people had written.