THE MARTYRDOM OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM, 1844.
Mission of the Apostles to the East.--A Warning to W. W.--A Sad
Parting.--Political News of the Prophet Published.--W. W. Arrives in
Boston, June 26.--The Martyrdom.--Its Announcement Reaches W. W. in
Portland, Maine.--His Return to Boston.--an Epistle to the Elders
and Saints in the World.--W. W. Visits His Old Home.--Return to
Nauvoo.--Conditions in That City.
The fourth of March, 1844, brought to Elder Woodruff's life the
satisfaction that comes to those who esteem it a divinely appointed joy
to sit beneath their own vine and fig tree. He moved on that day to the
new home he had erected in Illinois; and for the first time he could
leave his family, while abroad preaching the gospel, in some measure of
comfort and independence. He felt now, more than ever, from a material
point of view, that he had prepared for the missionary service which
belonged to his calling.
The opportunity for missionary service soon came. The Laws, Higbees,
Fosters, Blakesley, and others came out in open rebellion against the
Prophet of God, who now felt a foreboding of evil days to come. The
Prophet, therefore, made a call upon the Twelve to take a mission to
the Eastern States. He would not have their lives jeopardized by the
enmity which was intensifying about him. Upon the Twelve rested the
responsibility of the Kingdom, should he be called to lay down his
life. Elder Woodruff left Nauvoo in company with George A. Smith, J.
M. Grant, Ezra Thayer, and the latter's son. Of this circumstance he
writes, "This was the last mission the Prophet ever gave to the Twelve
Apostles in this dispensation. He wished none of us to remain by him
except Willard Richards. Apostle John Taylor was later required to
remain and take charge of the printing and publications. The Prophet
then turned to me and said: 'Brother Woodruff, I want you to go, and
if you do not you will die.' His words rested with mighty weight upon
me when he spoke, and I have often thought since, in contemplation of
the awful tragedy of his and Hyrum's martyrdom, how truly his {205}
words would have been verified had I remained. Elder Taylor barely
escaped. Willard Richards escaped the bullets altogether. He escaped,
as was written of him later, 'without even a hole in his robe.' I
took the parting hand of Hyrum and Joseph, at their own dwellings.
Joseph stood in the entry of his door when I took his hand to bid
him farewell. Brother J. M. Grant was with me. As he took me by the
hand, he said: 'Brother Woodruff, you are about to start upon your
mission.' I answered, 'Yes.' He looked me steadily in the eye for a
time without speaking a word; he looked as though he would penetrate
my very soul, and at the same time seemed unspeakably sorrowful as if
weighed down by a foreboding of something dreadful. He finally spoke
in a mournful voice: 'God bless you, Brother Woodruff; go in peace.'
I turned and left him with a sorrowful heart, partaking of the same
spirit which rested upon him. This was the last time I ever saw his
face or heard his voice again--in the flesh. Sad were the last months
of the Prophet's life. They were like the last days of Him who died
on Calvary for the redemption of a fallen world. The Apostles of
this dispensation, while not aware of the coming events in all their
fullness, were yet more fully prepared for the sad event than were
the Apostles of Jerusalem. Those of the latter days had been endowed
with power from on high, and they did not slumber while their Prophet
suffered, as did those 'in the Garden of Gethsemane.'"
After departing upon his mission, Elder Woodruff and others passed the
first week in holding public meetings, and on the 18th of May held
their first conference in Newark, Kendall County, Illinois. With him at
this conference was George A. Smith of the Twelve. At its close they
were joined by Elders Charles C. Rich, David Fulmer, and Henry Jacobs
from Nauvoo. The evening following they held a political meeting over
which Wilford Woodruff presided. Henry Jacobs read the views of Joseph
Smith on the policy and powers of the general government. Spirited
addresses were made by David Fulmer, Wilford Woodruff, and George A.
Smith. The day following they rode thirty miles to Joliet, where a
similar meeting was held, and where a good impression was made upon the
minds of the people. In his journal he says: "We continued from place
to place, holding forth in public assemblage upon political subjects,
reading the {206} views of Joseph Smith and placing him before the
public as a fit candidate for the presidency of the United States.
"On the first of June we held conference in Comstock, Kalamazoo County,
Michigan. There were present two of the Quorum, myself and George A.
Smith. There were eight high priests; S. Bent, Charles C. Richor, David
Fulmer, H. Green, Z. Coltrin, Moses Smith, Ezra Thayer, and G. Coltrin;
eight seventies and fourteen elders; two priests and one deacon.
Charles C. Rich, in council with the officers, appointed the elders to
their respective stations in the several counties of the state, and
he manifested much wisdom in arranging to carry out his work both in
politics and religion in the state of Michigan."
On the eighth day they held a conference in Pleasant Valley, and
another in Franklin on the fifteenth. Soon after this Elder Woodruff
proceeded to Boston, where he arrived on the 26th of June. On the 27th,
the most sorrowful day of this dispensation, he was in company with
President Brigham Young. Of this day he subsequently wrote: "The day
of the martyrdom, Brigham Young and myself were seated in the railroad
station at the time Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated. This was June
the 27th, at quarter past five in the evening, at Carthage, Illinois.
It was half-past six in Boston. As we sat in the station, Brigham was
very sorrowful and depressed in spirit, not knowing the cause. This
was the time when Satan struck the heaviest blow he had struck since
the Son of God was crucified. We well knew afterwards why all the
Twelve, wherever they were on that day and at that time, were, like
the president of our Quorum, sorrowful, and burdened in spirit without
knowing why."
On the 29th of June the Twelve held a conference with the Saints in
Boston. They met in Franklin Hall. There were present Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, William
Smith, and Lyman Wight. President Young presided. It occupied two days.
The conference was well attended, and every effort was made to present
the views of the Prophet and explain the character of the Latter-day
Saints. The conference also received instructions in political matters.
July first, by previous appointment, a convention was held in {207}
Melodian Hall. Brigham Young of Nauvoo presided. William Smith and
Lyman Wight were vice presidents. Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, and
A. McAllister of Boston, and N. H. Felt of Salem were secretaries.
Resolutions were passed and proceedings of the meeting were published
in the "Boston Times" of July 2nd, 1844. An evening session of the
convention was held. A number of rowdies made their appearance in the
galleries. While President Young was speaking, a woman by the name
of Folsom, arose and began to harangue the audience; then a rowdy,
supported by a large number of kindred spirits, made such a disturbance
that the police came in to quell those creating the confusion. The
police, however, were overpowered by the rough element and the meeting
was broken up. The convention, however, adjourned until 4 p. m. the
following day, to meet at Bunker Hill. Here Heber C. Kimball and George
B. Wallace were elected delegates to attend the Baltimore National
Convention.
On July 2nd the Twelve met in council and made their plans to support
and attend the several conferences in the various states. Elder
Woodruff and his old-time friend, Milton Holmes, whom he had not seen
for five years, went into Maine. "We left Boston," he says, "at seven
p. m. on the 2nd and arrived at Father Carter's home in Scarboro early
the next afternoon. I found my wife's father and mother and Brother
Fabyan and family all well." A Brother Stoddard had already made the
appointment for their conference on the 6th and 7th at Scarboro, in a
Presbyterian chapel. About six hundred people assembled. There were
present besides himself S. B. Stoddard, Milton Holmes, Elbridge Tufts,
and Samuel Parker.
On the 9th, in company with Milton Holmes and Father Carter, Elder
Woodruff visited Portland, and dined with his brother-in-law, Ezra
Carter. While there he saw for the first time the announcement in the
press of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. It was published in
the "Boston Times." In consequence of the shocking news, he repaired
at once to Boston, and the day following his arrival there he met with
the Saints and gave them counsel and comfort in the hour of their
bereavement. "The next day," he says in his journal, "I wrote a letter
to the editor of the "Prophet," published in New York, giving a word
of exhortation {208} to the Saints abroad to maintain their integrity,
and to keep the faith and endurance of the Saints even unto death. The
following morning we obtained information from Quincy, giving full
account of the horrible affair at Carthage and the great loss which the
Church had sustained.
"The governor himself acknowledged the death of Joseph and Hyrum to be
a wanton murder. The state of Illinois was in commotion, and Governor
Ford made Quincy his headquarters and issued a proclamation to the
citizens of the state. The news of the day stated that the Mormon
leaders in Nauvoo had done all they could to restrain the disciples
of the martyred Prophet from vengeance. Still there was evidently a
disposition on the part of the people and the troops to destroy Nauvoo,
lest the Mormons should hold a fearful reckoning with the mobocratic
element in desperation over the assassination of their Prophet and
Patriarch. 'The wicked flee when no man pursueth.'"
On Sunday, the 14th, Elder Woodruff preached twice to the Saints in
Boston, he being the only one of the Twelve then in that city. On the
morning of the 16th of July he received a letter from Erastus Snow and
one from John E. Page, both confirming the report of the martyrdom. The
same day he received the first letter he had obtained from his wife
since leaving Nauvoo. This letter contained the narration of a dream
given to the Prophet Joseph a few days before his death. In the dream
there was clearly indicated to him the conspiracy and treachery of
William and Wilson Law, and the fact, too, that they would yet cry unto
Joseph to deliver them from the grasp of the monster into whose hands
they had wilfully placed themselves; and that his power to help them
would be like that of Lazarus, to whom the rich man appealed. There was
a gulf between them.
On the 17th of July he says, in his journal: "Elder Brigham Young
arrived in Boston. I walked with him to No. 57 Temple Street and called
upon Sister Vose. Brother Young took the bed and I the armchair, and
then we veiled our faces and gave vent to our grief. Until now I had
not shed a tear since the death of the Prophet. My soul had been
nerved up like steel. After giving vent to our grief in tears we felt
more composed. Brother Brigham left the city the same day, but soon
returned. Elders {209} Kimball, Hyde, and Orson Pratt also came. We
held a council and I was directed to write a letter to the "Prophet,"
edited in New York, advising the elders who had families in Nauvoo to
go immediately to them, and all the elders of the Church to assemble
forthwith at Nauvoo for a council. It was signed by order of the quorum
of the Twelve, Brigham Young, president, and Wilford Woodruff, clerk.
This order of the quorum was subsequently published in the "News,"
Volume 7, No. 447."
On July 18th, meeting was held in a hall on Washington Street, opposite
Boylston Hall. Elder Hyde spoke on the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum,
and was followed by Brigham Young, who said: "Be of good cheer. The
testimony is not in force while the testator liveth; when he dieth, it
is enforced. So it is with Joseph. When God sends a man to do a work,
all the devils in hell cannot kill him until his work is accomplished.
It was thus with Joseph. He prepared all things and gave the keys to
men on the earth and said, 'I am soon to be taken from you.'"
Soon after this the Twelve left for Nauvoo. Elder Woodruff started
on the 20th, and two days later found himself at his native home in
Farmington, Connecticut. "I found my father and stepmother alone, there
was not a child with them in their decline of life to watch over them.
I had twenty-four hours to stay and I happily improved the time.
"My father was sixty-seven years of age, and I might never see him
again in mortality. I felt deeply impressed of late that I had
something to do for my parents. As the sable shades of a serene night
drew their curtain over the earth and sealed the cares of the day, we
went alone to prayer. There were none but congenial spirits there. I
rose and with a spirit like that of Joseph of old towards his father
Jacob, opened my heart to my father, and he reciprocated my sentiments.
I then laid my hands upon his head and ordained Aphek Woodruff a high
priest and patriarch after the order of Melchisedek, and sealed him
up unto eternal life. I shall never forget the deep satisfaction and
heavenly spirit of that night beneath my father's roof. Sleep departed
from me, and I was wrapped in the meditations and visions of days gone
by and of days to come."
The day following he journeyed on to New York, where he {210} met Orson
Hyde and Orson Pratt. When they reached Schenectady they met Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Lyman Wight. The six journeyed together
until they reached Fairport, where Elder Hyde separated from them to
visit his family in Kirtland.
On this journey homeward President Young requested Elder Woodruff to
keep an account of the events of those times, for some day he would be
called upon to give a record of them. It was during this journey that
Lyman Wight testified that while he was in jail in Missouri with the
prophet, that Joseph informed him that he (Joseph) would not live to
see his 40th birthday, but enjoined him not to speak of it until after
his words had been fulfilled. It was during this journey also that
Elder Kimball had a dream. It showed the policy of the nation toward
the work of God and the important part the Twelve would perform in
building upon the foundation laid by the Prophet.
The Twelve arrived in Nauvoo on the sixth day of August, where they
received a hearty welcome by families and friends. "When we landed in
the city, a deep gloom seemed to rest over Nauvoo such as we had never
before experienced."
Those were days of heartfelt anxiety. Conflicting spirits were at
work in a struggle for ascendency. Selfish ambitions and sinister
motives were operating among the few. The Saints, generally, were
trusting themselves to an overruling Providence; they believed that
at the proper time and in a manner unmistakeable, there would be
some manifestation of God's watchcare over His Saints. The personal
ambitions of men had gained no decided sway over the hearts and minds
of the great body of the Church. The Apostles had just arrived. They
were strong men, and the people felt the power of their influence.
Those who were promoting their own selfish ends were likewise concerned
over the arrival of the Twelve. To them the presence of these men meant
more a contest for supremacy than it did an opportunity for more light
and a better understanding. The humble and the God-fearing among the
people possessed the key of their own safety. They were seeking a will
higher than their own, and were willing when they found it to yield
obedience. They knew that it was not their work. They appreciated
fully the fact that they were humble instruments and therefore wanted
to place themselves in harmony {211} with that divine authority which
had been their guide and their anchor in bygone days. Those who were
seeking the light were the first to behold it. The days following the
arrival in Nauvoo of President Young and other members of the Twelve
were days of great future significance in the history of the Church;
every event of those days has been a land-mark in the history of God's
people. What followed of importance is carefully recorded by Elder
Woodruff in his journal. The contents of that journal are of supreme
historical importance in the annals of the Church.
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