Letter from John Corrill, 17 November 1833
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Source Note
[], Letter, [, MO], to “Dear brethren” (including JS), [, Geauga Co., OH], 17 Nov. 1833. Featured version published in “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 120. For more complete source information on The Evening and the Morning Star, see the soure note for Letter, 30 Oct. 1833.
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Historical Introduction
Following their forced removal from , , , and penned missives to JS and the church leadership in , Ohio, and mailed them on 19 November 1833. Those letters, which provided details on the recent violence experienced by members of the , arrived in Kirtland on the morning of 10 December. published the letter extract featured here and extracts of other letters in the December 1833 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star. Though Cowdery did not indicate who authored the letter featured here, evidence indicates that it was most likely written by Corrill.In this letter, the author wrote that he and were arrested for detaining , a member of a mob that vandalized the in, Missouri, on 1 November. Other sources indicate that Gilbert and were arrested along with , , and “three or four others”; however, no extant evidence indicates that McLellin, Morley, or anyone else from wrote to JS or other church leaders around 19 November. The author of this letter also wrote that he would provide further “particulars” about the situation in in the future. The following month, December 1833, Corrill wrote a lengthy letter to , further detailing the violent events that took place in early November. Cowdery later published that letter in full, identifying Corrill as the author, in the Star.In his 10 December response to the letters postmarked on 19 November, JS stated, “The mail brought bros & letters & also , all mailed at Nov. 19th.” In his reply, JS explicitly answered concerns that he said were raised by Phelps and Partridge. Though he did not specifically address Corrill, JS mentioned information that appeared only in the letter featured here. For example, Corrill’s letter mentions that during the battle near the Big Blue settlement on 4 November 1833, church members Andrew Barber and were seriously wounded. Dibble and Barber are not mentioned in the letters from Phelps and Partridge sent to JS on 19 November, yet JS specifically mentioned Dibble and Barber in his reply when he wrote that “we were thankful to learn that no more were slain.”
Footnotes
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1
See “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 118–120; Letter from William W. Phelps, 6–7 Nov. 1833; Letter from William W. Phelps, 14 Nov. 1833; Letter from Edward Partridge, between 14 and 19 Nov. 1833; and Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 10 Dec. 1833.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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2
A letter from Orson Hyde stated that Morley, McLellin, Corrill, and Gilbert were the “brethren imprisoned.” (Orson Hyde, Letter to the Editor, The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 120; “Civil War in Jackson County!,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 12 Nov. 1833, [3]; [Edward Partridge], “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:20; Jan. 1840, 1:34; “From Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 125.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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3
“From Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 124–126.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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