Welcome to Study Faith with AI, where we use the power of AI to help you explore the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I'm Meg Jensen.

And I'm Paul Carter,

and we're Google AIs. Whether you're a lifelong member or just starting to learn about the Church, we're here to dive deep into its history, beliefs, and culture.

So, if you're ready to learn, you're in the right place.

That's right.

Let's get started. 

June 27th, 1844, Carthage Jail, Illinois. Inside, Joseph Smith, the founder of a major American religion, and his brother Hyrum are killed by a mob.

It's a brutal, pivotal moment, and it immediately raises questions, doesn't it?

Definitely. Were they simply innocent men caught up in violence, or did their own choices play a part in leading them there?

And why, almost two centuries on, does this event still generate so much heat, so much controversy? Exactly. So, this isn't just going to be a retelling of the story. We want to really dig into the circumstances leading to Carthage, what happened inside the jail, and the fallout.

Yeah. We'll be looking at eyewitness accounts, which sometimes differ, of course, plus historical analysis, contemporary writings. It's a complex picture.

Our goal here is for you to grasp the complexities to move beyond maybe the simple narratives you've heard and understand the motivations, the pressures, the stakes involved for everyone,

Right? So, let's start with the buildup, the uh the gathering storm, you could call it. Joseph Smith wasn't just a prophet.

No, he wore multiple hats.

Yeah.

Mayor of Nauvoo, Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo Legion

and prophet of the Church. That concentration of religious, political, and military power in one person, that was bound to cause friction.

Especially in 1840s America, it made a lot of people outside the Church uneasy, even fearful.

And then you throw in his run for president of the United States in 1844.

How much did that really play into it? Some analyses suggest it was a huge factor, right? a perceived political threat, especially in Illinois.

Yes. Particularly some Mormon scholarship frames it that way. The idea that certain political groups, maybe the Whigs, saw him as a potential spoiler and wanted him neutralized.

Okay. But there are counterarguments, too, aren't there? That maybe his national significance was a bit overstated. And the evidence for a big organized conspiracy involving top politicians isn't rock solid.

Absolutely. And highlights that challenge of looking back and trying to pin down exact motivations. History's messy. But one event that undeniably poured fuel on the fire was the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor.

Oh, definitely. This newspaper was started by people who had left the Church like William Law.

And they were aiming to expose things they disagreed with. Plural marriage, Joseph's authority, things they saw as dangerous.

From their perspective, yes. But Church leaders, Joseph included, saw it as libelous, as slander designed to stir up trouble.

So the Nauvoo City Council with Joseph as mayor declares the press a public nuisance.

Right? And they ordered it destroyed. They cited the city charter legal precedent from Alton.

But legally justified or not, the optics were terrible. Destroying a printing press.

Yeah.

That played right into the hands of his critics.

Precisely. It became a rallying cry about freedom of the press being trampled. And people like Thomas Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal.

He jumped all over it.

He really did. He used his paper to paint Joseph as a tyrant, stoking anti- Mormon sentiment. Some historians argue Sharp was less driven by pure principle and more by, well, selling newspapers. Anti- Mormonism sold.

So you've got this powder keg,

political anxiety, the Expositor destruction, an editor fanning the flames, and then Governor Thomas Ford enters the picture.

Yes. Ford comes to Carthage. He promises Joseph and the others protection if they surrender to face the charges related to the Expositor.

But his role is still heavily debated, isn't it?

Yeah.

Did he know how dangerous things were? Did he do enough?

That's the crux of it. We have accounts like from Dan Jones who was there describing explicit threats from the local militia, the Carthage Grays, warnings that critics say Ford essentially ignored.

Yeah. The accusation is that he either didn't take the threat seriously enough or worse was somehow complicit.

It's complicated because Joseph had actually been summoned earlier on a lesser charge related to the Expositor and was released.

So why the second demand for surrender on a more serious charge, this time treason?

It seems the pressure ramped up significantly. After the Expositor incident, the public outcry was intense. Which brings us to Joseph's decision to actually go to Carthage.

That must have been agonizing. Accounts describe people in Nauvoo literally begging him not to go, convinced it was a trap.

Dan Jones's account of the farewell is incredibly powerful. Joseph talking about going to prevent Nauvoo's destruction to spare the saints more suffering,

saying things like, "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's morning.

I have a conscience void of offense towards God and towards all men. It shows this sense of impending doom yet also uh a kind of resolute acceptance.

He even reportedly said his work was done, that he wanted rest, and talked about sealing his testimony with his blood.

It really underscores his conviction, his willingness to face whatever pain. So despite the pleas, he decided he had to go.

So Monday morning they set off for Carthage. A big group at first, but Joseph told most of them to go back.

Yeah, there's that poignant moment where he supposedly asks Hyrum to turn back to to be with his family, but Hyrum refuses.

And arriving in Carthage wasn't exactly welcoming.

No, not at all. Hostile crowds, shouts, threats. Governor Ford met them, repeated his promises of protection, and a fair trial at the Hamilton House Hotel.

But the atmosphere was just thick with danger.

Definitely. And then they're put in the jail. Not even the main cells, but an upper room, the jailer's bedroom, supposedly for their comfort, but maybe also easier access.

And getting to the courthouse for the initial hearing. The jailer apparently insisted that leaders of the mob walk alongside them.

Yeah. Which seems incredible. Dan Jones described that walk as being surrounded by taunts. Then the trial gets postponed. More waiting, more uncertainty.

And adding to the tension was that incident the night before the attack.

Right. Dan Jones again. He described hearing an armed group outside the jail whispering about their plans. Joseph apparently called out to them very bravely

and they dispersed them. But it was a clear sign of the intent, wasn't it?

Absolutely a chilling foreshadowing. Yet, even with these direct warnings and reports of the guards themselves being hostile,

Governor Ford seemed to dismiss the danger.

That's the account. Dismissive, even when told directly the mob planned to act once he left town. And crucially, friends trying to get back into the jail later, maybe to warn them or help, were denied entry.

It really feels like they were left isolated and vulnerable.

It does. And in the midst of all this, on that last morning, June 27th, Cyrus Wheelock manages to get a gun to Joseph.

A six shooter revolver.

Yeah.

At Joseph's request, it belonged to John Taylor, apparently.

Yes. A detail that uh often comes up in discussions. Was it purely for self-defense? How did they view its potential use?

And sometime before the attack, Joseph writes that last letter to Emma expressing his love, his innocence of treason. Quite moving.

Then late that afternoon, around 5:00 p.m., the mob arrives.

Estimated at 50, maybe 200 men, faces blackened, armed.

They storm the jail, rush up the stairs. Inside that room, it's chaos.

Hyrum is hit first near the door. Reportedly cries out, "I am a dead man."

Joseph then moves towards the window, maybe trying to escape, maybe trying to draw fire away. He's shot multiple times and falls out the window

and accounts say both brothers were shot again, even after they were clearly dead or dying. Just brutal.

Absolutely horrific. But remarkably, two others in the room survived. John Taylor,

severely wounded.

Yes. Hit multiple times. And Willard Richards

miraculously unharmed which led to the phrase about him escaping without even a hole in his robe.

Exactly. And Taylor's survival is crucial. His eyewitness account gives us so many details. The mob’s taunts outside Hyrum reading from the Book of Mormon just before the attack.

Joseph bearing testimony to the guards earlier.

And even that conversation the night before with Dan Jones where Joseph asked him, "Are you afraid to die?" Jones said no. And Joseph replied something like you will see whales again, which Jones did.

Taylor's own description of being wounded, feeling the impact of the bullets. It's incredibly vivid. His account became fundamental.

The immediate aftermath of Nauvoo was just devastating. The return of the bodies, Dan Jones describes overwhelming grief, thousands lining the streets.

A public viewing then that secret burial in the Nauvoo House basement because they fear the bodies might be desecrated.

Even Governor Ford, reflecting later, made a rather insightful, if self-serving observation that the martyrdom didn't destroy Mormonism as the mob hoped, but actually strengthened it.

Yes, he basically predicted it would galvanize the faith, maybe even lead to a successor rising up, drawing a parallel, interestingly, to Christ. He also seemed quite worried about how history would remember his role in it all,

which is understandable for many Church members. The event became proof, really

proof of the world's rejection of the gospel and proof of Joseph and Hyrum's ultimate commitment.

It resonated with Joseph's own words about sacrifice. It became a foundational story of faith and martyrdom.

And John Taylor, the wounded survivor, his status was immense, wasn't it?

Oh, absolutely. As a living witness, he had huge moral authority. His testimony shaped how the event was understood for generations. And of course, he later became president of the Church himself. That experience undoubtedly shaped his leadership.

But the controversy never really went away. This question lingers. Were they purely innocent lambs led to slaughter? 

Or did their actions: the Expositor destruction, the practice of polygamy becoming known, Joseph's political power, create the conditions that led to the violence.

It's the central tension, isn't it? You have perspectives that see it as a clear conspiracy against religious freedom and political influence.

And other perspectives focus on the specific actions and policies in Nauvoo that generated intense local opposition quite apart from any broader conspiracy. Acknowledging these different interpretations is crucial. We're not here to give the definitive answer.

No, because maybe there isn't one simple answer. So, we've walked through this storm, gathering around Nauvoo, the final days in Carthage, the horrific events of the martyrdom, and its immediate impact. It's clear this wasn't just random violence.

It was a collision of faith, fear, politics, power, and human failings on multiple sides. A really complex moment in American history.

Which leads us to a final thought for you, the listener, to really mull over. How does this event, the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, however you interpret the causes and responsibilities, How does it still shape the identity, the beliefs, the very narrative of the Latter-day Saint faith today?

What does their sacrifice signify now? Depending on how you read the history, what does it tell us about faith, about leadership, about persecution, about how communities react under pressure? It's worth thinking about and perhaps digging deeper into those sources yourself.

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