American Prophet

I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet. You know my daily walk and conversation. I am in the bosom of a virtuous and good people. How I do love to hear the wolves howl!

[…]

What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers.

Joseph Smith Jr.
Sunday May 26, 1844
Nauvoo, IL
(History of the Church, vol 6, p. 411)

Joseph Smith made this statement preaching from the stand to the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo on Sunday May 26, 1844. He had already secretly taken as many as 40 plural wives, some as young as 14, others still married to other men.

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Sunday, June 23rd, 1844

Mississippi River Between Nauvoo, IL and Montrose, IA

“Keep bailing, brethren. There’s nothing else for it.”

I followed my own advice, hauling one of my boots from my foot to scoop water out of the small rowboat. Before us stretched the mighty Mississippi, dark and ominous in the small hours of the morning. I could only see as far as the next rain-dimpled wave as we headed to the town of Montrose on the Iowa side of the river. Fingers of lightning lit the dark clouds all around us, and thunder beat down on us as if it were the very wrath of God.

On a normal day, we would have made this trip in my own steamboat, the Maid of Iowa. This night, however, my dear brother Hyrum and I fled for our lives ahead of the unjust persecution of Governor Thomas Ford, that old bastard. An old leaky skiff was the best we could procure in our haste to escape Nauvoo.

With us were Dr. Willard Richards and Orrin Porter Rockwell, men whose love for me never faltered. Porter rowed whilst the rest of us bailed, lest the leaky skiff sink and carry us to the bottom of the mighty river with it. Each wind-whipped wave of the night-darkened water rocked the boat to and fro, threatening to carry us to our graves.

We at last arrived again on land in Iowa Territory around daybreak, each of us wet as drowned rats and trembling with weariness. Montrose, just across the river from lovely Nauvoo, was an old abandoned U.S. Army fort that now housed various Indians and white settlers in its few simple, unpainted wood houses.

Before we sought a place to rest with some of the saints who lived here still, I asked brother Porter, my most loyal servant and executor of many of my most secret designs, to return to Nauvoo by ferry to fetch horses and supplies for Hyrum and me.

“Horses, Brother Joseph?” Porter asked. “I thought we were to wait here for Phelps to figure whether the Governor has sent his militia after you.”

“The Lord has given Joseph a revelation, warned him to flee to the Rocky Mountains to save his life,” Hyrum explained from beside me. “A company of men are seeking to kill my brother and me.”

Porter’s face hardly twitched. “I’ll see to any men as try to harm either of you, Brother Hyrum. You see if I don’t. The Danite boys and the entire Legion will stand with me besides.”

I grasped his shoulder warmly. “I love you for it, Porter. But the Governor himself has gathered his militias and has threatened to destroy all of Nauvoo if we resist. I fear that even the Legion can’t stand against them, and all they want is Hyrum and myself. Best if we flee and build ourselves a new Zion in the west. The Lord has called me to the Rocky Mountains, and perhaps He will see fit to guide us to Oregon Territory after all. Bring the horses secretly in the night with any provisions you are able to procure. Brother Hodge is gathering our families and effects. The Maid of Iowa will take them to Portsmouth where they shall have further instruction from us.”

Porter looked from me to Hyrum and back before saying quietly, “Why, Brother Joseph, you know as well as I do how I can handle a Governor what sets himself against you.”

“Yes, but Boggs still breathes, Porter, and I spent more than four months in that God-forsaken prison in Missouri. Go now. See to our families and bring the horses. Bring guns and ammunition back with you. I will not be put in chains again.”

He did as I said, as he ever has done. Hyrum, Willard Richards, and I retired to the home of Brother William Jordan, who we sent to purchase necessary provisions for our journey west. Soon we were scooping flour from barrels into canvas sacks that would fit in saddle packs.

That afternoon, Porter returned with the horses and guns, but Brother Reynolds Cahoon and some others accompanied him with the intent to convince Hyrum and I to return to Nauvoo. Brother Cahoon handed to me a letter from my wife, Emma.

“She wants us to go back,” I said to Hyrum quietly, still staring at the letter. Hope abandoned me, leaving only sick despair in my gut. “She knows we’ll be killed, Hyrum. I gave the revelation to her plainly.”

Brother Cahoon was one of my closest friends and confidantes, having been with me from nearly the founding of the Church. Now, however, his oft-cheerful eyes were full of reproach. “When the wolves came, the shepherd ran from the flock, and left the sheep to be devoured. I never figured you for a coward, Brother Joseph.”

I drew close and looked him in the eye, not a small measure of anger hastening my step. “If I or Hyrum are ever taken again, we will be massacred, or I am not a prophet of God.”

Brother Cahoon frowned. “Governor Ford has promised your safety in writing, Joseph. And what of the others who stand accused, who acted on your orders and those of the Council in destroying the Nauvoo Expositor’s press? Will you abandon them to the fate you designed?”

When I stood quiet a long moment, Brother Cahoon lay a friendly hand on my arm. “Ford has vowed to occupy and even destroy the entirety of Nauvoo if you are not found, Joseph. Women and children will die if you do not give yourselves up, and all of our property will be forfeit.”

My roiling gut turned cold. I looked to Hyrum, who stood the other side of Cahoon. "Brother Hyrum, you are the oldest and the wisest, what shall we do?"

Hyrum’s face made now a mask of sorrow, for he knew our fate as well as I did. "Let us go back and give ourselves up and see the thing out."

I passed a hand over my face, suddenly weary beyond earthly measure. "Governor Ford has accused us of violating the Constitution in at least four particulars, Hyrum. He means to get us out of Nauvoo where his ungodly men can have a go at us. If you go back, I will go with you. But we shall be butchered."

He smiled and shook his head, attempting a brave face. "No, no. Let us go back and put our trust in God, and we shall not be harmed. The Lord is in it. If we live or have to die, we will be reconciled to our fate, Joseph.”

And so, I gave Brother Cahoon my reply. “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself."

We returned to Nauvoo by ferry and landed on the south dock. I nearly wept to see the brilliant white stone temple on the hill above the neatly arranged streets, all in a perfect grid.

The great burgeoning frontier city that had been built by my own sweat and tears and by those of my people was quiet as Hyrum and I walked the streets. Any other day, my people would have shouted their greetings, their adoration.

I put an arm around my brother to pull him close. “Something is wrong, Hyrum.”

He looked around us. There was Brother Miller at the Nauvoo House, and there Brother Whitney at the red brick store, my store. None so much as raised a hand to greet us. “I fear we’ve lost their faith, Joseph. If we’re to continue to lead these people, we must show them that God is still with us.”

“I hope He is,” I replied sadly.

My own house was very nearby the landing, and I parted ways with my brother as he sought his own home and family just down Water Street. Porter remained with me, of course, as was his habit. Another of Porter’s men stood guard at my front door, a young British fellow with whom I wrestled on occasion, though he outweighed me by twenty pounds and was twenty years younger besides. He wore a pistol at his belt. There had been several attempts on my life in recent months, and I was fortunate to have a band of friends dedicated to keeping me and my family safe. ‘Danites’, as they’d come to call themselves, the warrior tribe of Israel. Well, they’d earned the name many times over, in my estimation.

I reached out my hand in greeting, and he took it with his strong grip. “Hello, John. Mighty kind of you to watch over my family.”

“Think nothing of it, Brother Joseph. I’m your man.”

“Lambert,” I heard Porter say behind me.

“Porter,” the man replied. “Should I go with Brother Hyrum if you’re going to be with Joseph?”

“Aye, be ready to ride in the morning as well. Gather more of the boys.”

As I entered my front door, I found my scribe, Brother William Clayton, in my parlor, as was his frequent habit. He managed most of my sensitive business, and nearly every matter of business in Nauvoo was conducted in my home.

“Brother Joseph, you came back!” The relief in my clerk’s voice told me straightaway that Hyrum had been right. Had we fled to the west in the night like thieves, we might have lost the whole of the Church in the doing.

“Ah, good,” I said by way of greeting, ignoring the implied doubt in his exclamation. “Brother Clayton, write ahead to Governor Ford to inform him that we who have been so wrongly accused will nevertheless be submitting ourselves to the court in Carthage on the morrow. Express our hope that he will preserve us from the evils of the mobs that have threatened often to kill us.”

When he had written and sent the letter, I took him aside. “William, burn the records relating to the Council of Fifty. William Law has related his notion of it to the Governor, and I fear we shall be brought low should the records be produced.”

Brother Clayton, who had been my close companion and record-keeper for near on four years, grasped my hand. “I’ll see it done, Brother Joseph. God go with you.”

I had previously planned to preach to my people by the starlight this evening, to commune with the saints, the most perfect people the earth had ever seen, one last time. However, when I saw my dear Emma and our children at the Mansion, my heart desired nothing more than to spend this last night with them. My wife embraced me, sobbing. “Oh, Joseph. I have no more ill feelings toward you. I know that you fear for your life, but we need you here. Your people need you.”

“I know it now, Emma. I’m sorry I ever left.” And I was, for without my family and my people, what good was my life? This here was what I had spent a lifetime of toil to build, and I’d be damned if I was going to pack up and flee once more.

Early the next morning, Monday the 24th of June, Hyrum, myself, and the fifteen others who had been wrongfully accused of treason for the destruction of the libelous Expositor Press set out for Carthage, where Governor Ford waited at the Hancock County headquarters.

I ordered Porter and his men to stay behind, as the entire purpose of this mission was to placate those of our neighbors who reviled us, not provoke them to war. I nearly came to regret that decision when we reached the farm of Albert Fellows, some few miles out from Carthage, for we encountered a company of sixty mounted militia men.

I called out to the brethren riding with me. “Do not be alarmed, brethren! For they cannot do more to you than the enemies of truth did to the ancient Saints - they can only kill the body."

The militia did not fire on us, however, and their leader, one Captain Dunn, invited Hyrum and me into the farmhouse. There he presented an order from Governor Ford for all the state arms in possession of the Nauvoo Legion to be surrendered.

I shared a look with Hyrum. Our design in surrendering ourselves to the whims of the mob that held Governor Ford’s ear had been to spare our people in Nauvoo. Disarming the Nauvoo Legion would leave the folk in our fair city without means of defense should the mob grow bold enough to attack them.

Nevertheless, we were surrounded by many times our number in armed men, and the Governor had already threatened all manner of destruction should we fail to comply with his unjust summons. I countersigned the order and sent ahead my own order to the Marshal of Nauvoo to ready the state arms to be surrendered to Captain Dunn and his men.

“This order will not be taken well, Captain,” I said as I signed. “I ought to accompany you back to Nauvoo, just to be sure everyone understands, and the peace is preserved.”

Captain Dunn agreed, and it was well that he had. Major-General Jonathan Dunham of the Nauvoo Legion, being one of the accused with me, was with my party riding to Carthage. He was none too happy to receive my order of disarmament and met me with quite the scowl when he heard the plan to return to Nauvoo. Many of the brethren of the Legion were also cross to hear the order, having been the victims of much violence in Missouri. By the blessing of heaven, we saints had carved a proper city from the wilderness of the American frontier in Nauvoo, weapons being a necessary part of such a life.

Nevertheless, the Lord softened their hearts to my words, and all necessary arms belonging to the state were surrendered peacefully when we had returned to the city. Captain Dunn, being duly impressed with our peaceable conduct, gave his word that he and his men would protect the folk of Nauvoo even should it cost him and his men their lives.

I availed myself of the opportunity to visit my family one last time whilst we were unexpectedly back in Nauvoo. I took my Emma in my arms, our children gathering close. “They are going to kill me there, Emma. I know it. See that my sons follow in my footsteps.”

I put a hand to her belly, swollen with another of my children. One I might never meet. We had each had our failings, to be sure. She had even attempted to poison me on more than one occasion. Brother Brigham can testify the truth of that matter. This day, however, I was heartened to see love still shining in her tear-filled eyes.

“I will see it through, Joseph,” she replied and could say no more. Our cheeks grew wet with tears, and the children gathered with us wept, though they could not have known the true gravity of our present condition.

All too soon, our party of wrongfully accused made ready to return to Carthage once more. My tears flowed freely again when I met my beloved brother Hyrum at the corner of Water and Main, just outside my own house in the city. His own eyes were swollen with the grief of leaving his own family.

I embraced him and put my head on his shoulder. “Has it truly come to this, Hyrum? Will the Lord allow His servants to perish at the hands of wicked men?”

Hyrum smiled through his tears. “Whatever happens, Joseph, we will face it together as we ever have. Fear not, for He is with us.”

When we drew near the Masonic Temple, a fine three story building we had constructed and dedicated only recently for the use of our Nauvoo lodge, I called out to the men who tarried there. “Boys, if I don't come back, take care of yourselves. I am going like a lamb to the slaughter."

I passed my farm on the way out of the city, just one of my fine properties, and slowed to admire it. Since I was a boy, my family and I had labored and suffered to build such a place for ourselves, and let me tell you, this was some farm. Some of the company murmured against me for my mournful gaze, but I felt in my heart that this was the last time I’d see my magnificent farm, in many ways the symbol of all I had come to accomplish.

“If some of you had got such a farm and knew you would not see it anymore, you would want to take a good look at it for the last time,” I called to them harshly, and they quieted. Hyrum smiled, knowing the triumph that such a farm represented, for he had struggled with me all our lives, and had a farm just like it for his own family. And a whole city built with our brethren in Christ. What a marvelous work we had wrought together.

The journey to Carthage was short. Upon our arrival to that city around midnight that evening, we found that the company of militia men from those parts, who called themselves the ‘Carthage Greys’, had gathered to witness our arrival despite the hour. They were all well-armed, for the bastard Governor Tom Ford had not required the surrender of their state arms as he had of me and my Nauvoo Legion.

The gathered mob whooped and hollered as we rode to the square, brandishing their bayonets and shouting all manner of insult at us from either side of the street. The rear platoon of the Carthage Greys repeatedly threw their guns over their heads in a curve, so that the bayonets struck the ground with the breech of their guns upward, when they would run back and pick them up, at the same time whooping, yelling, hooting and cursing like a pack of savages. Had we not been escorted by Captain Dunn and his dragoons, I daresay that might have been the end of us then and there.

"Where is the damned prophet?"

"Stand away, you McDonough boys, and let us shoot the damned Mormons."

"God damn you, old Joe, we've got you now. You’ll not steal another horse nor daughter from us.”

"Clear the way and let us have a view of Joe Smith, the prophet of God. He has seen the last of Nauvoo. We'll use him up now and kill all the damned Mormons."

None other but Tom Ford himself leaned out the window of Hamilton’s hotel to tame the mob, promising them they’d have a good look at me on the morrow. The mob cheered at this, men all around me continuing to spit their vitriol and poisonous hatred.

The men protecting us cleared the way for us to enter the hotel, only for us to find that some of our fiercest adversaries and accusers had gathered in the very same hotel. I nearly wept to see these apostates all gathered here together, contempt writ so plain on their faces. They had, to a man, been some of my closest companions and friends at one time. Now the devil had firm hold of them and they thirsted for my blood.

As we passed through the common, John Hicks, who had been the Elder’s Quorum president and an elect man not long ago, grabbed hold of me roughly and growled, “Your blood will be spilled, Joseph, whether the law brings you to justice or not. You will find me a true prophet in this respect.”

William Law, who had been the source of so much contention between my dear Emma and I, stood with him. Only recently William had been part of the First Presidency of the Church with Hyrum and I, until he had tried to shoot me in the street. He had more recently started the libelous Nauvoo Expositor in an attempt to slander my name with accusations of polygamous acts. “We’ll get you, Smith. You’ll not trick another man’s wife into your bed like you tried with my Jane. To think I ever called a rotten scoundrel like you my friend.”

I suffered their abuse in dignified silence, and we were shown to our rooms where we spent a nervous, sleepless night for fear that the mob would come for us while we slept.

Next morning, we saints surrendered to the constables. Hyrum and I were there arrested on spurious charges of Treason. I begged a moment of private conversation with Governor Ford, who had a room nearby, to express my grave concerns with respect to my safety and that of my friends, but he declined. Instead, Tom Ford stood on a table before all of the assembled men of the mob where he gave a lengthy speech to much applause.

“General Joe Smith and General Hyrum Smith stand before you at last, gentlemen of Hancock County, and I assure you that they will face the full scrutiny of the law and its adjurers! They have been credibly accused of violating the First Amendment of these United States in destroying the press of the Nauvoo Expositor, of declaring martial law in defiance of the laws of this great state of Illinois, and of refusing to be tried in an impartial court outside of their Mormon city. Joe Smith has even declared himself a king over all the earth, in treasonous defiance of our great constitution!”

The crowd roared its hatred, and I did my best to remain stoic.

Governor Ford held his hands aloft, palms out to the crowd until they quieted. “But though they be guilty of all manner of mischief, of which they have been much accused, we must allow the law and the law only to mete them justice. I swear to you, you will have full satisfaction.”

He continued thus for some time, then asked Hyrum and I to join him in walking the square outside so the assembled militias could again see us in person. I objected, but Ford assured me that he would personally see to our safety, and that if we did not give the assembly some show, they were liable to riot and take matters into their own hands.

We obliged, again submitting ourselves to the predictable insults of the gathered host of men. As we exited the hotel, their jeers greeted us in a deafening roar. Many of them, the men of the Carthage Greys in particular, brandished their rifles and threw up their hats as we passed, leaning close to shout so violently that their spittle showered us like rain.

“Thieves!”

“Murderers!”

“False prophets!”

We were paraded in a circle through the square, then returned to our rooms in the hotel before the mob could do more than shout; General Deming of the Illinois militia was kind enough to post guards on the building until the Carthage Greys calmed themselves. While we thus awaited our fate, many in the town and its surrounds came to see us, wanting to get a look at the Mormon prophet. I again obliged, greeting everyone I could with aplomb in an attempt to demonstrate that we were a peaceable, God-fearing people. In the time between these visits, I penned a letter to Emma with Brother Willard Richards' help.

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I also penned a letter to Porter Rockwell, telling him that under no circumstances was he to come to Carthage, but to stay in Nauvoo, and not to suffer himself to be delivered into the hands of his enemies, or to be taken a prisoner by anyone. He had long been the leader of the Danites, my band of Destroying Angels, and the chief executor of many violent designs, such as the ugly business with that devil Boggs and the murderous thieves in Missouri. He would certainly be condemned if caught. His condemnation should certainly mean the same for me, should he be made to confess.

Around four o’clock in the afternoon, all of us were taken before a justice of the peace by the name of Robert F. Smith to answer for the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press that had belonged to the apostate Law brothers and their associates. Justice Smith was a captain of the Carthage Greys, the very same militia group that had just hours before thirsted so for my blood and that of my friends, so violently that the Governor had posted guards on our doors. Nevertheless, our counsel successfully argued our case and a bail was set at an absurd five hundred dollars per person, seventy-five hundred dollars in total. This was clearly an attempt to detain the lot of us unlawfully, but to their surprise, we posted the required funds. Many of the brethren pledged the entirety of the value of their properties to avoid unjust imprisonment. No mention of the separate charges of treason against me and Hyrum were made, and Justice Smith adjourned.

Most of the brethren departed that evening, returning to Nauvoo. Before they did, Brother Dan Jones heard Wilson Law, whilst endeavoring to get another warrant against me for treason, declare that while I was once preaching from Daniel 2nd chapter, 44th verse, said that the kingdom referred to was already set up, and that I had declared myself the King over it. I had just instructed Brother William Clayton to burn all such records of the Council of Fifty, so I knew that they would have no evidence to support the claim and was not overly concerned with the accusations.

He also heard Joseph B. Jackson, and other leaders of the mob of men who had apostatized from my church, declare that they had eighteen more accusations against me. As one failed, they would try another to detain me there, and that they had had so much trouble and hazard, and worked so hard in getting me to Carthage, that they would not let me get out of it alive. Jackson had pointed to his pistols and said, "The balls are in there that will decide his case."

Before we departed for Nauvoo ourselves, Hyrum and I stopped at the Governor’s rooms in the hotel one last time to plead our case with him, and to explain that we had already settled the entire matter of the Nauvoo Expositor with Esquire Wells, our lawyer. Ford shortly issued orders for passes to be given for Hyrum and me to return to Nauvoo, and we went to supper in our quarters with our counsel and our dear friends Dr. Richards and Elder John Taylor. Within moments of retiring to our rooms, however, a constable Bettisworth appeared at our lodgings with a new mittimus from Justice Robert F. Smith demanding that Hyrum and I be put in jail. It read thus:

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“This is a bare-faced, illegal, tyrannical attempt on my life!” I roared at the constable, who stood at our door with a face of stone. “I will not be dragged to jail on spurious charges leveled by unscrupulous men, and without due process at that! We’ve just been given passes by the Governor himself.”

Lawyer Woods argued on my behalf as well, demanding that we see the Governor again, having just been granted passes by his hand to return to our homes in Nauvoo.

The constable was unmoved. “I can give you five minutes, gentlemen, no more. This is a writ from a justice of the peace, and it is my responsibility to see it done. Not even the Mormon prophet is above the law. Not here, anyway.”

I attempted physically to gain access to the Governor’s rooms, but his attendant would not let me pass and the constable aided him in restraining me. Lawyer Woods was finally allowed in to see Ford, but the coward said only that it was not the place of the Governor to interfere, though he knew god damn well that these illegal proceedings were happening because of his actions in enforcing the writs of arrest that our enemies had procured from justices under their influence.

“Coward,” I shouted at the Governor’s door. “I can see what is in your hearts and will tell you what I see. I can see that you thirst for blood, and nothing but my blood will satisfy you. It is not for crime of any description that I and my brethren are thus continually persecuted and harassed by our enemies, but there are other motives, and some of them I have expressed, so far as relates to myself. And inasmuch as you and the people thirst for blood, I prophesy, in the name of the Lord, that you shall witness scenes of blood and sorrow to your entire satisfaction. Your souls shall be perfectly satiated with blood, and many of you shall have an opportunity to face the cannon's mouth from sources you think not of; and those people that desire this great evil upon me and my brethren, shall be filled with regret and sorrow because of the scenes of desolation and distress that await them. They shall seek for peace and shall not be able to find it. Gentlemen, you will find what I have told you to be true.”

Justice Robert F. Smith himself, who was also Captain Smith of the Carthage Greys, arrived then to inquire of the Governor what he should do. Governor Ford replied only, “You have the Carthage Greys at your disposal.”

Knowing what they meant for us, Hyrum and I now fought and struggled, but Captain Smith had brought several armed men with him. Under threat of rifle fire and after several convincing thumps with rifle butts, we were carried bodily to the jail. A raucous crowd of men had gathered to see the commotion, and I thought we might have our lives taken from us right then and there. We made the jail safely, however, and were placed in a side room with a wooden door, rather than in the jail cell.

As Hyrum and I were thus assaulted, Elder John Taylor sought out the Governor to implore him again, as we had already more than satisfied the demands of the law, and were in Carthage at his insistence and under his protection. Elder Taylor, Dr. Richards, and six others joined us in the jail a short time later and related to us that the Governor still claimed to be unable to interfere with the judicial. He was determined to ‘let the law take its course’.

“He means to kill us, then,” I told my friends.

“The Governor said he’d post a guard and is on his way with most of his men to Nauvoo to observe matters there. I’ve offered payment to one of the local militia men to gather his company to guard us as well,” Elder Taylor offered. “Captain Dunn and some twenty of his men have also been retained by Esquire Woods. I’ve done all I can, Brother Joseph.”

I laid a hand affectionately on the back of his neck, pulling him close. “You’ve done well, Brother John. There are hundreds of men out there, all determined to kill me, and to drive the Mormons from this state. You know how they resent our influence. They call for our demise plainly. We should never have come here. Have Esquire Woods send word with all haste to General Dunham, we have need of the Nauvoo Legion in Carthage. He’ll need to recover the surrendered arms and march through the night if we are to escape this prison with our lives.”

Though we had been forcibly put in jail, the keeper of the jail was kind enough to allow us the continued use of one of the keeper’s rooms off to the side rather than be locked into the pitiful jail cell like common criminals. Thus, we had a bed for rest. He plainly felt ashamed at our poor treatment, illegal as it was.

A time later, Dr. Richards took ill with a sour stomach, and the rest of us had settled into a state of melancholy. I pulled aside Brother Dan Jones, who was not under any constable’s orders to remain imprisoned as Hyrum and I were, and asked him to fetch a pipe and tobacco for Dr. Richard’s ailment, and some food and bottles of wine to lift our spirits.

As we partook of the refreshment provided, Hyrum fidgeted next to me nervously. “You were right, Joseph. Just as sure as we fall into their hands we are dead men. There will be no mercy for us here. We should have continued into the west. We were across the river into Iowa already.”

I smiled, forcing myself to believe my own declaration though in truth I knew not our fate: “There have been several times in my life when I truly feared that death had come for me, Hyrum. I feel no such fear now, my sweet brother, and this is hardly an inconvenience when compared to our time imprisoned in Liberty. I have faith in Brother Dunham and our Nauvoo Legion. We have an entire army to keep us safe, that is the entire purpose for them. We’ll be free by this time tomorrow. You’ll see.”

Hyrum pursed his lips but kept quiet. He knew me better than any man living. The rest of the men gathered caught his mood, falling silent.

I put my hand on my brother’s shoulder and addressed the room, as I could feel that the faith of the brethren with us waned. “I have said before that no man knows my history, but now I shall relate to you the whole of it from the beginning, as it truly happened. This is not the first time that this wicked world and the servants of the great serpent have sought to take my life, nor will it be the last.”