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 27> afterwards told that the purport of the meeting was to take into consideration the best way to stop Joseph Smith’s career, as his views on [HC 6:605] Government were widely circulated and took like wild fire, they said if he did not get into the Presidential Chair this election, he would be sure the next time; and if and would join together and kill him they would not be brought to justice for it. There were delegates in said meeting from every State in the , except three; and Captain [Robert] Smith were also in the meeting -[]-
and his company were ordered to accompany the to . The Carthage Greys, who had but two days before been under arrest for insulting the commanding General, and whose conduct had been more hostile to the prisoners than that of any other company were selected by to guard the prisoners at the jail; and the other troops composed of the mob whom the had found at , and had mustered into the service of the , and who had been promised “full satisfaction”, and that they should be marched to , were disbanded and discharged in ; yet suffered two or three hundred armed men to remain encamped about eight miles off <on> the road, apparently under the control of Col. , a notoriously sworn enemy to Joseph, and who had on many occasions threatened the destruction of , and the death of Joseph. Moreover it was the duty of [HC 6:606] the to dismiss the troops into the hands of their several officers in order to be marched home and there disbanded, and not to have disbanded them at a distance from home and at a time and place where they were predisposed to acts of lawless violence, rapine and murder.
states that previous to leaving he said to the , “Sir, you must be aware by this time that the prisoners have no fears in relation to any lawful demands made against them, but you have heard sufficient to justify you in the belief that their enemies would destroy them if they had them in their power; and now sir, I am about to leave for , and I fear for those men; they are safe as regards the law, but they are not safe from the hands of traitors, and midnight assassins, who thirst for their blood, and have determined to spill it; and under these circumstances I leave with a heavy heart.” replied; “I was never in such a dilemma in my life; but your friends shall be protected, and have a fair trial by the law; in this pledge I am not alone; I have obtained the pledge of the whole of the army to sustain me.” After receiving these assurances, prepared to visit the prison; the morning being a little rainy favored his wearing an overcoat, in the side pocket of which he was enabled to carry a six shooter; and he passsed the guard unmolested. During his visit in the prison he slipped the revolver into Joseph’s pocket. Joseph examined it, and asked if he had not better retain it for his own protection. This was a providential circumstance as most other persons had been very rigidly searched. Joseph then handed the single barrel pistol, which had been given him by to his brother and said, [HC 6:607] “you may have use for this.” observed, “I hate to use such things, or to see them used.” “So do I,” said Joseph “but we may have to, to defend ourselves;” upon this took the pistol.
was intrusted with a verbal request to the of the Legion to avoid all military display, or any other movement calculated to pro [p. 176]