Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft
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Source Note
Historian’s Office, martyrdom account, draft; handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw, , and ; 57 pages plus several inserted pages; CHL.For more information on the History Drafts, see Introduction to History Drafts, 1844–1856.
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Historical Introduction
The “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft,” and the “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account” are the two complete, extant iterations of efforts by later church historians to record the murder of JS and , including the events leading up to their deaths and the immediate aftermath. As stated at the beginning of both accounts, the information was compiled from a number of different sources, including other journals, letters, and various other documents. It was put into a cohesive narrative during the 1850s by Church Historian’s Office clerks , Jonathan Grimshaw, and , presumably under the direction of the church historian, .was the initial scribe for approximately the first half of “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft,” and Grimshaw was the primary scribe for the remainder. Sometimes slips of paper were attached to pages of the draft with additional or alternative text to be included with a specific page. Page 12 of the draft has a notation by Grimshaw indicating that previously drafted text was to be added to the draft; instead of copying the text, he simply inserted a whole leaf into the draft. This leaf, in ’s handwriting, contains various numbered vignettes. It appears to be part of a larger collection of vignettes, as it is paginated “5” and “6,” and is likely the surviving portion of an earlier iteration of the martyrdom account by Thomas Bullock. The remainder of Bullock’s effort is not extant.“Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account,” which is a more final copy written primarily by Grimshaw in the mid-1850s, similarly has slips of papers attached. It also includes several leaves that were physically removed from “Martyrdom Account, Draft”; these leaves were renumbered to match the pagination of the copy: pages 7–10 in the draft became pages 11–14 in the more final copy; pages 13–14 became 19–20; most extensively, pages 19–52 became 27–60; and finally, page 57, the last page of the draft, became page 73 in the new version. Although these leaves are cataloged with the more final copy, this website presents the pages both in the draft, as originally paginated, and in the more final copy, with the new pagination. Two additional items were added at the end of the more final copy. A bifolium paginated as “75” and “2” and written on the back of a printed Utah Territory legal form gives an account of the arrival of the bodies of JS and Hyrum Smith in Nauvoo as well as the funeral and burial. It was written by Grimshaw and edited by from information given by . On the final leaf, which is torn and is paginated “76,” Bullock drafted an introduction to a passage from ’s History of Illinois, with instructions to include the passage from Ford’s history in the martyrdom account.Both the draft and the more final copy were edited by , Grimshaw, and . It is not clear when the edits were made. The more final copy of the account appears to be what was used in 1856 when the final version was copied into the last volume of the Joseph Smith’s multivolume manuscript history (JS History, vol. F-1, 147, 151–204).
wine. Joseph gave two half dollars to give the guard; but the guard said one was enough, and would take no more. The Guard immediately sent for a bottle of wine, pipes, and two small papers of tobacco and one of the guard brought them in to the Jail soon after the jailer went out. uncorked the bottle & presented a glass to Joseph he tasted tasted the tasted and gave the bottle to the guard who turned to go out When at the top of the Stairs some one below called him two or three times. when He went down There was a little rustling at the outer door of the Jail and a cry of surrender and also a discharge of three or four fire arms followed instantly.
see Daniel’s statement pa 14.15
The glanced an eye by the curtain of the window and saw about a hundred armed men around the door. It is said that the guard elevated their firelocks, and boisterously threatening the mob discharged their firearms over their heads. The mob encircled the building and some of them rushed by the guard up the flight of stairs, burst open the door and began the work of death, while others fired into the open windows.
In the meantime— Joseph, , and had their coats off; Joseph sprung to his coat for his six shooter, for his single barrel, for ’s large hickory cane, and [p. 53]
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Document Information
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Footnotes
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Insertion in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.
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Jonathan Grimshaw handwriting ends; Leo Hawkins begins.
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