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William Wines Phelps, Marsena Cannon daguerreotype circa 1853. Courtesy of Church History Library, Salt Lake City.

Edward Partridge engraving, H.B. Hall & Sons, 1884, from drawing by unknown artist. Church History Library, Salt Lake City.

From 1831 to 1833, Mormons living in Jackson County, Missouri, were the victims of religious intolerance, discrimination, and persecution from local citizens, religious leaders, and civil authorities, culminating in their forced expulsion from the county in late 1833. Two of the most notable Church leaders who experienced firsthand a violation of their fundamental rights of religious liberty and freedom of conscience were William W. Phelps, the Church printer, and Edward Partridge, the bishop in Missouri. Over the course of three years (1833–36), these two determined and resolute individuals refused to be intimidated or deterred in their attempts to seek justice against those individuals who violated their personal fundamental rights of religious worship, practice, and expression. Ultimately, however, the will of the majority essentially superseded the rule of law, resulting in a less-than-hopeful outcome in the courts, and proved to be a foreshadowing that there would be no justice for the Mormons in Missouri.

Collective Opposition Begins

On March 1, 1832, in Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith received a revelation instructing Church leaders to organize a firm to oversee the mercantile and literary (“printing”) operations of the Church.[1] Exactly one month later, on April 1, Smith, in company with Sidney Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney, and Jesse Gause, left Kirtland to instruct Church leaders in Missouri about it. The party arrived in Independence on April 24. Two days later, the firm was officially organized, comprising nine officers—four who resided in Kirtland (Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney, and Martin Harris), and five residing in Independence (Edward Partridge, A. Sidney Gilbert, Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, and W. W. Phelps).[2] By this time, Phelps had secured a press in Independence and had published a prospectus announcing the forthcoming publication of a newspaper to be known as The Evening and the Morning Star.[3] Construction was also moving forward with a building that would serve as a residence for the Phelps family and also serve as the printing office.[4]

During their time in Missouri, the Ohio leaders also visited the members of the Church, over four hundred in number, who had settled in the county.[5] Alexander Majors, a resident of western Missouri, recalled that the presence of Smith and Rigdon on this occasion created a general stir among the locals. He said one Sunday Rigdon delivered a sermon at the Independence courthouse and spoke of the vision he and Joseph Smith had of the different heavens or kingdoms of glory in which Rigdon claimed to have “been to the third heaven, and had talked face to face with God Almighty.” The next day the preachers in the community “went en masse to call upon him, whereupon he repeated what he had said the day before, telling them they had not the truth, and were the blind leading the blind.”[6] The presence of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon agitated some of the locals who began intimidating and harassing the Mormons. “As the church increased[,] the hostile spirit of the people increased also,” wrote Edward Partridge. “They began to brick-bat or stone the houses of the saints, breaking in windows, &c., not only disturbing, but endangering the lives of the inmates [i.e., occupants].”[7] As these activities intensified, a town meeting was called for in Independence to adopt measures to drive the Mormons from the county. One of the attendees was Marston Clark, an Indian subagent, who learned about the meeting at his Indian agency across the border and chose to attend. During the meeting he voiced his opposition to any such action against the Mormons. As a result of his influence, the meeting broke up and the situation subsided.[8]

Site of The Evening and Morning Star office and the home of William W. and Sally Phelps, Lot 76, South Liberty St., Independence, Missouri. Courtesy of Alexander L. Baugh.

Although the proposal to expel the Mormons was dropped, animosity continued. One concern was the political, social, and theological views that would come from the Church-owned press. In June 1832 W. W. Phelps and his assistants, Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer, released the first of fourteen issues of The Evening and the Morning Star published in Independence. Phelps was a prolific writer, editor, and theologian. His writings and editorials filled multiple columns and pages in each issue, which contained articles and essays on scripture, prophecy, and doctrine as well as lengthy excerpts and passages from the Old and New Testaments and the Book of Mormon. Phelps was a staunch believer in Joseph Smith’s prophetic role and most issues included the text of one or more of the Prophet’s revelations. Also contained in the Star were letters from missionaries laboring in various parts of the country, correspondence from Church leaders in Ohio, and current events, both at home and abroad. On the last page of each issue Phelps routinely inserted verses of sacred poetry he had composed, many of which became prominent hymns in the Church. Simultaneous to publishing the Star, Phelps also printed the Upper Missouri Advertiser, a two-page weekly devoted to the various news of the day and commercial advertisements.[9] In addition to the two newspapers, Phelps edited, helped set type, and began printing the signature sheets of the Book of Commandments.[10]

More than anything, Jackson’s resident “gentiles” could not help but be concerned over the growing number of Mormons occupying the county. In the November 1832 issue of the Star, Phelps reported the Mormon population numbered just over eight hundred.[11] Most of the members lived in five geographic settlements or branches established by the Church: one in the vicinity of Independence, and four others—Prairie, Colesville, Whitmer (also called Timber), and Blue River—located several miles west of Independence in Kaw Township. Further evidence of the Church’s growing presence was the amount of property purchased by Church leaders—Bishop Partridge in particular. By the end of 1832, Mormon property holdings totaled over 1,700 acres, not including property purchased independently.[12]

Opposition from the Clergy

In 1833 a group of opponents emerged—clergymen—who not only had concerns about the increasing number of Mormons but also worried about losing members of their flock. Newel Knight remembered that it was during this time the sectarian priests and missionaries in the region came out “secretly and openly against us,” the most outspoken being Reverend Benton Pixley. “His talk was of the bitterest kind,” Knight recalled, “and he appeared to have an influence among the people, to carry them with him in his hellish designs.”[13] Originally from Vermont, Pixley, an ordained Congregational minister, came to Indian Territory in 1821 to labor among the Native Americans and spent eight years among the Osage tribe in what is today southeastern Kansas. In 1829, after a controversy with a government Indian agent, he left Indian Territory, settled in Jackson County near Independence, and preached among the local residents.[14] To promote his cause, Pixley also wrote a tract titled Beware of False Prophets, which he circulated in the Independence area in an effort to stir up the local population against the Mormons.[15] Knight further reported that Pixley “did not content himself in slandering us to the people of Jackson County but also wrote to eastern papers, telling horrible lies about us, with the evident intention of rousing a spirit of hatred against us.”[16] Besides Pixley, Knight mentioned the names of several other clergymen or missionaries who actively opposed the Mormons—namely, Isaac McCoy, John Fitzhugh Jr., James Loveland, John Bogard, and three others with the last names of Hunter, Kavanaugh, and Likins (Lykins).[17]

"Free People of Color," The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 5.

“Free People of Color”

In early July 1833 Phelps released the fourteenth issue of the Star. The contents of the paper appeared much like that in the previous thirteen issues; however, on the fifth page of the issue was an article he titled “Free People of Color,” one that caught the attention of the pro-slavery Jackson County citizens. The article cited two statutes governing slavery taken directly from the Laws of the State of Missouri; Revised and Digested by Authority of the General Assembly, which was enacted and published by the Missouri legislature in 1825. Phelps likely accessed the text of the statutes from a copy of the book in the Jackson County courthouse located less than a block from his home and printing office in Independence. The first clause Phelps inserted from the volume dealt with free slaves and mulattos who should come into or settle in Missouri (section 4). The statute stated that to live in Missouri or even enter it, a person of color must produce a certificate containing a state seal showing evidence they are a free citizen. If the individual in question could not produce a valid certificate, they would be obligated to leave the state within thirty days. If after thirty days the individual was still in the state, they would be brought to court, and may be sentenced to ten lashes and then forced to leave the state. The second section inserted by Phelps (section 5) stated that if any person brought a free person of color into the state who didn’t have the proper certification indicating he or she is free, that person would face prosecution, and if found guilty, would be fined five hundred dollars.[18] After citing these two statutes, Phelps added the following one-sentence commentary, “Slaves are real estate in this and other states, and wisdom would dictate great care among the branches of the church of Christ on this subject.”[19] Given Missouri’s strict laws governing slavery and free people of color, as well as the attitudes and prejudices of Missourians toward both groups, Phelps’s purpose for citing the Missouri statutes may have been meant to advise Church leaders and members in the East and elsewhere not to encourage any free person of color to move or relocate to Missouri. In addition, Phelps may have also intended to demonstrate to Jackson County’s leaders and citizens that the Mormon leadership in Missouri clearly recognized the legality of slavery and that they had no intentions of interfering with its practice.

Given the overall tone of “Free People of Color,” one would think that the local citizens could hardly be offended or agitated by Phelps’s inclusion of a quote taken directly from the state constitution. But a careful reading of a short statement in an essay by Phelps that appeared on the page immediately following “Free People of Color” is revealing: “Our brethren will find an extract of the law of this state, relative to free people of color on another page of this paper. Great care should be taken on this point. The saints must shun every appearance of evil. As to slaves we have nothing to say.” He then concludes, “In connection with the wonderful events of this age, much is doing [or taking place] towards abolishing slavery, and colonizing blacks, in Africa.”[20] Could it have been this statement that Jackson’s citizens had the most issue with? After all, the mere mention of “abolishing slavery” or “colonizing blacks” would have infuriated any Jackson County slave owner. Whatever Phelps’s intentions were, they backfired. The community response was swift, causing Phelps to immediately draft a statement to clarify and explain what he had included and written in the Star, printed as an “Extra” in the form a small handbill.[21] Unfortunately, it was too little too late.

The Evening and Morning Star, "Extra," July 16, 1833. Digital Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

July Hostilities

In a matter of a few days, an independent ad hoc fourteen-member citizens committee, consisting of some of the leading civil officers and community leaders, drafted a document outlining their objections against the Mormons which they published and circulated throughout the county.[22] Their complaints can be summarized as follows: (1) Mormons were religious fanatics who “converse face to face with the most high God,” “receive communications and revelations direct from heaven,” “heal the sick by laying on of hands,” and pretend “to speak in unknown tongues;” (2) they were “the dregs,” or the most worthless part of society; (3) they were inviting free blacks and mulattos to move to Missouri, and they had tampered with citizens’ slaves and (4) they declared that God had given them this land (i.e., Jackson County) and that they would eventually have possession of all of it. The circular also announced that a public meeting would be held on Saturday, July 20, at the courthouse and public square in Independence to consider what actions should be taken against the Mormons.[23]

In 1881 Alexander W. Doniphan, who was well acquainted with the situation regarding the Mormons in Jackson County and who acted as their legal counsel for six years, commented on these accusations. He said the real concerns the local citizens had about the Mormons was “their denunciation of slavery, and the objections slave holders had to having so large a settlement of anti-slavery people in their midst.”[24] In other words, if their numbers became large enough, they would possibly interfere in the Missourians’ right to own slaves, a privilege granted to them under federal law. Or, perhaps even worse, they feared the Mormons might instigate a slave uprising like Nat Turner’s rebellion, which took place just two years earlier in Southampton County, Virginia. As to the accusations about the religious practices and beliefs, Doniphan believed these objections were merely pretenses “made use of for the purpose of exciting the jealousy of persons of other religious denominations and the more ignorant portions of the county.”

Several hundred Jackson citizens turned out to the July 20, 1833, mass meeting. First on the agenda was to organize an “official citizens committee” to oversee the proceedings. Richard Simpson, a colonel in the county militia, was appointed chair, and seven others—Russell Hicks, Robert Johnson, Henry Chiles, James Hambright, Thomas Hudspeth, Joel F. Chiles, and James M. Hunter—were selected as committee members. Jones H. Flournoy and Samuel D. Lucas were appointed as secretaries to the committee. Next, the committee informed those who had assembled that the committee would discuss the situation concerning the Mormons and propose a plan of action. They then adjourned to conduct their business in private. When the committee completed their deliberations, Simpson, the chair, read the committee’s report to the large crowd who had waited outside the courthouse to learn of the decision.

The committee’s report reflected several of the same objections made by the “unofficial” citizens group a few days earlier. They characterized the Mormons as ignorant, superstitious, and of the lowest orders of society, being only “a little above the condition of . . . blacks, either in regard to property or education,” and who were so poor that they were “unable to buy fifteen acres of land,” and “destitute of the means of procuring bread and meat.” Noting that Mormon population in the county had risen to around twelve hundred and anticipating their numbers would continue to increase, the committee surmised that “it required no gift of prophecy to tell, that the day is not far distant, when the civil government of the county will be in their hands, when the Sheriff, the Justices, and the county Judges, will be Mormons.” The report mocked the practices of healing the sick, speaking in tongues, and receiving divine revelation, along with the belief that Jackson County was the location of Zion. And although Phelps had stated that he published “Free People of Color” to discourage emigration by any such persons, the committee report put forward the false assertion that Church leaders in Missouri were encouraging free people of color to move to Missouri to claim the right of equal citizenship.[25]

After presenting these accusations, the committee issued the following ultimatums: (1) no Mormon should be permitted to settle in the county; (2) those who pledged to move out of the county would not be molested and would be given sufficient time to sell their property; (3) both The Evening and the Morning Star and the Church storehouse must cease operations; (4) Church leaders must use their influence to prevent any further Mormon immigration and encourage Church members to comply with the stated requisitions; and (5) any who refused to comply with the requisitions must be referred to and brought to the attention of the Church leaders. They justified these measures as needed for “self-preservation.” After reading the report, the terms set forward in the document were adopted by those who had assembled on the square. At this point, the meeting adjourned for two hours so the committee could summon six Church leaders—Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, A. Sidney Gilbert, John Whitmer, John Corrill, and Isaac Morley, each of whom lived in the vicinity of Independence—to deliver their demands and propositions.

The meeting between the citizens committee and the Mormon leaders took place at the Church-owned storehouse operated by A. Sidney Gilbert, located on the southeast corner of Lexington and Liberty, directly across the street from the public square.[26] “They demanded . . . to have the printing office, and indeed all other mechanic shops, belonging to our people, together with Gilbert &. Whitney’s store, closed forthwith; and the society to leave the county immediately,” Partridge wrote. “[We] . . . asked for three months, to consider upon their demand, which was refused, they then asked for ten days, when they were informed that fifteen minutes were the most that could be granted. Being driven to the necessity of giving an immediate answer, and being interrogated separately, [we] . . . answered that they could not consent to their demands.”[27] Lewis Franklin, the county jailor, replied, “I am Sorry . . . the work of destruction will then Commence Ammeadiately [immediately].”[28] With that, the delegation left to announce to those assembled on the public square that the Mormons refused to comply with their demands.

Destruction of The Evening and the Morning Star Office and the Phelps Home

Partridge, Corrill, and Morley returned to their homes on the temple property about a half mile west on the outskirts of town, while Phelps and Whitmer walked half a block south to the Phelps home and the Star printing establishment. Gilbert remained at the Church’s storehouse. Within a short time, a local citizen visited Phelps and Whitmer to alert them that trouble was brewing and that it would be best to get away. Phelps quickly gathered whatever documents and papers he considered to be important and went into hiding, leaving the safety of their children to his wife, Sally.[29] John Whitmer, Phelps’s assistant in the printing operations, may have sequestered with him.[30]

Within a short time, a large company of men gathered at the Star offices and began their rampage and destruction. Their main target was the printing equipment on the second floor. Exact details are sketchy, but the mob probably rushed up the outside stairs to the second story. Once inside, several men either pushed or lifted the press (which weighed several hundred pounds) across the floor and through the door onto the outside steps, then threw it to the ground.[31] Other items from the printing office, such as the paper, type, printer’s tools, and printed materials, including the signature sheets that composed the Book of Commandments, were tossed out a window. While the rampage was taking place on the second floor, other mob members ransacked the Phelps home on the first floor, where they plundered household items and destroyed furnishings. In a final act of destruction, a human wrecking crew deroofed the building and demolished the walls and support structure, turning the building into a heap of rubble.[32] The mob then proceeded to the Gilbert & Whitney store with the intention of wreaking havoc there too. But before they could do so, Gilbert pledged to close the store, cease operations, and box the goods, so the mob agreed to leave the establishment alone. Satisfied, the attackers backed off and ended their destructive operations.[33]

C.C.A. Christensen, Mobbers Raiding Printing Property & Store at Independence, MO. July 20, 1833.

Tarring and Feathering of Edward Partridge and Charles Allen

The final target of the mob was Bishop Edward Partridge, considered by all to be the leading Mormon official who, as noted, had returned to his home after he and other Church leaders had informed the citizens committee representatives that they would not comply with their demands. Partridge reported the following:

The tarring and feathering of Edward Partridge, Missouri State Capitol Building, House Lounge, Jefferson City, MO. The illustration is part of a mural in the lounge painted by Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton (a great-nephew of Missouri's five-term US senator, Thomas Hart Benton). As noted in the text, Partridge was not stripped naked. Courtesy of Alexander L. Baugh.

On the 20th day of July A. D. 1833 George Simpson and two other mobbers entered my house (whilst I was sitting with my wife, who was then quite feeble my youngest child being then about three weeks old,) and compelled me to go with them. Soon after leaving my house I was surrounded by about fifty mobbers who escorted me about half a mile to the public square, where I was surrounded by some two or three hundred more. Russell Hicks Esqr. appeared to be the head man of the mob, he told me that his word was the law of the county, and that I must agree to leave the county or suffer the consequences. I answered that if I must suffer for my religion it was no more than others had done before me—That I was not conscious of having Injured any one in the county therefore I could not consent to leave it. Mr. Hicks then proceeded to strip off my clothes and was disposed to strip them all off—I strongly protested against being stripped naked in the street, when some more humane than the rest interfered and I was permitted to wear my shirt and pantaloons. Tar and feathers were then brought and a man by the name of [John or Joseph] Davis with the help of another daubed me with tar from the crown of my head to my feet, after which feathers were thrown over me.[34]

After being tarred and feathered, an unknown assailant “raised a whip to finish him off by thrashing him,” when another man stopped him, held his arm, and said “he had done enough.”[35] Through this entire ordeal, Partridge said he was “so filled with the Spirit and Love of God, that I had no hatred towards my persecutors, or anyone else.”[36] Another Mormon, Charles Allen, was tarred and feathered along with Partridge because he refused to denounce his faith. With this, the mob ended its destructive activities, then called for another public meeting to be held three days later, on July 23, to allow Church leaders a few days to reconsider their previous decision to remain in Jackson County.[37]

July 23rd Citizens Meeting

On the day of the meeting, hundreds of local citizens gathered again, some carrying red flags to send the message that violence would be carried out if talks broke down again. Local leaders went to the homes of the Mormon officials and escorted them to the county jail where they threatened their lives if their demands were not met, whereupon two or three of the brethren offered their lives if the rest of their faith community could live in peace and safety. This proposal was completely rejected. The only alternative was that all the Mormons must agree to leave the county en masse or all would be put to death.[38] Left without any other option, Church leaders agreed to submit to the demands and signed a memorandum of agreement, which stipulated the following: (1) nine leaders (each mentioned by name) and one-half of the Mormon population must leave the county on or before January 1, 1834, and the other half would be obligated to leave by April 1, 1834; (2) Church leaders must use their influence to stop any further immigration by Mormons into the county; (3) John Corrill and A. Sidney Gilbert would be permitted to remain as general agents for the Church to “wind up business of the society”; (4) the Star must cease operation; and (5) the committee would use their influence to prevent any further violence as long as the Mormons complied with the terms agreed upon.[39] With this agreement in place, for the next couple of months, day-to-day life in Jackson returned to somewhat normal.

Within a few days of reaching a peace agreement, Oliver Cowdery was dispatched to Ohio to inform Joseph Smith and the Kirtland leadership of the unfortunate events that had taken place and to seek their counsel. Cowdery made the trip in record time, in just over two weeks, arriving on August 9.[40] The day after his arrival, he drafted a letter to the leadership in Missouri which contained general instructions, as well as promises to the Missouri members. In a letter dated August 18, 1833, Joseph Smith provided his own counsel, including instructions to the Missouri leadership not to sell any of the Church’s property.[41] Then in early September, Orson Hyde and John Gould left Kirtland with the most current relevant documents and revelations in hand, some of which were intended to assist Partridge, Phelps, and others in their decision-making. Hyde and Gould arrived in Independence later that month.[42]

Engraving of Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin (1832-36). Courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO.

Meanwhile, although the Mormons had agreed to a systematic evacuation of Jackson County, after consulting with Hyde and Gould, Missouri Church leaders decided to submit a formal complaint to Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin detailing the activities conducted against them earlier that summer. The petition, dated September 28, 1833, included detailed information about the July disturbances, names of mob leaders and members (many of whom were civil authorities), and the citizen’s mandate that Church members evacuate the county or be subject to severe repercussions if they failed to comply. They also asked Dunklin to support them in their rights as citizens to “the liberty of the press, the freedom of speech, and liberty of conscience” and requested he exercise his authority to “raise a sufficient number of troops, who with us, may be empowered to defend our rights, that we may sue for damages, in the loss of our property” and “for abuse” [and] defamation.”[43] The petition was signed by Edward Partridge and nearly all the members of the Church in Jackson County.[44]

In initiating this communication with the Governor Dunklin, Mormon leaders exercised caution to try to ensure as much as possible that Jackson’s leaders and citizens were unaware of these arbitrations, fearing that if word leaked out that they were negotiating with state officials, it would be perceived that they were trying to back out on the agreement to evacuate the county, resulting in further repercussions.[45]

Alexander William Doniphan. Courtesy of Library of Congress. Doniphan acted as legal counsel on behalf of the Mormons from 1833 to 1839. He also served in the Missouri legislature and was an officer in the Missouri militia and a colonel in the Mexican-American War.

David Rice Atchison. Courtesy of Library of Congress. Atchison served as legal counsel to the Mormons following their expulsion from Jackson County and continued to advise Mormon leaders in Missouri for several years. Atchison served as a member of the Missouri legislature (1834-41) and as a US senator from Missouri (1843-55).

During the first week of October, Edward Partridge and Orson Hyde traveled to Jefferson City, where they were able to secure a personal meeting with Dunklin on October 8.[46] In their interview they reassured the governor that the accusations they were charged with by the Jackson County citizens were not true. They also submitted their formal petition requesting his assistance by asking him to raise “a sufficient number of troops [i.e., state militia], who, with us may be empowered to defend our rights,” and also allow them to sue for damages for “the loss of property, for abuse, [and] for defamation.”[47]

On October 19 Dunklin issued a formal response to the Mormon leadership: “No citizen, or number of citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or imaginary into their own hands,” he wrote. “Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society, and subverts the foundation on which it is based.” The governor indicated that he had been advised by Robert W. Wells, the state attorney general, that the Mormons should secure warrants against the offending parties and pursue litigation in the circuit court.[48] Emboldened by the support they received from the meeting with the state’s chief executive, Church leaders announced publicly on October 20 that they would defend their homes and property.[49] Knowing they would need legal assistance in order to purse litigation against their Jackson County antagonists, on October 30 Mormon leaders struck an agreement with David Rice Atchison, William T. Wood, Amos Rees, and Alexander W. Doniphan, attorneys living in Liberty, to pay them $1,000 ($250 each) for their legal services.[50]

Expulsion from Jackson County

The announcement of the Mormons’ intention to remain in Jackson County sparked a swift response by local county regulators. Beginning on October 31 and continuing through early November, raiding parties threatened Church members and destroyed their property. Most of the violent hostilities occurred in Kaw Township at the Blue, Colesville, and Whitmer settlements, located several miles west of Independence. To end the violence, local Church leaders were left with no other choice but to capitulate to the demands of their anti-Mormon adversaries and agreed to a wholesale evacuation of the county. Within a matter of a few days, most Church members in Jackson County abandoned their homes and property, took their livestock, household items, and what food they had, ferried across the Missouri River, and sought refuge in temporary homes and shelters in Clay County.[51] Meanwhile, Orson Hyde and John Gould returned to Ohio to inform Joseph Smith and other Church leaders about the expulsion.[52]

Partridge and Phelps Initiate Civil Suits

During the first weeks of November 1833, Partridge and Phelps worked to assist hundreds of Church members to resettle in Clay County, most of whom were in destitute circumstances. However, now that they were in close proximity to their attorneys, they could counsel together about what course of action to take against their Jackson County antagonists. Their efforts were facilitated by a November 24 letter from John F. Ryland, judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Missouri, to Amos Rees, one of the four attorneys employed by the Mormons. In the letter Ryland said he had been instructed by Governor Dunklin to investigate the recent disturbances in Jackson County to “take steps to punish the guilty,” and he indicated he would be willing to adjudicate a hearing in Independence to examine the Mormon complaints.[53] In other words, both Dunklin and Ryland were not interested in prosecuting the offenders in a criminal sense, but they were supportive of the injured parties filing civil suits to recover damages.

John F. Ryland was a Missouri circuit court judge from 1831 to 1849. he was the judge of Missouri's Fifth Judicial Circuit and presided in the civil suits initiated by W. W. Phelps and Edward Partridge. He later served as a justice in the Missouri Supreme Court from 1849 to 1857.

Meanwhile, in Kirtland, Joseph Smith received a revelation in mid-December 1833 for the Church leaders in Missouri, instructing them to seek redress by legal means. “Let them importune at the feet of the judge,” the revelation read. “And if he heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the governor; and if the governor heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the president.”[54] However, Church leaders in Missouri did not receive a copy of the revelation until sometime later, probably in February 1834. By that time, attempts to seek legal recourse were well underway.[55]

With tacit support coming from Judge Ryland and Governor Dunklin to initiate a hearing, on December 22, 1833, the attorneys for the Mormons filed separate declarations (civil complaints) on behalf of both W. W. Phelps and Edward Partridge at the courthouse in Independence. Phelps sought damages against twenty-five men.[56] Because he was not present at the time the mob ransacked his home and the Star offices, he had to secure the names of the men involved in the demolition from individuals who were either eyewitnesses to the destruction or who had firsthand knowledge of those who had participated. Partridge issued declarations against fifty-four men.[57] Each defendant named in both suits was ordered to appear in the February term of the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court in Missouri in Independence on February 24, 1834. The defendants in both cases employed seven men to act as their attorneys—J. H. Birch, Henry Chiles, Russell Hicks, Thomas H. Wilson, James Reynolds, Eldredge Burden, and an attorney with the last name of Young. Four of the attorneys—Chiles, Hicks, Reynolds, and Wilson—were also named as defendants.

Among those cited by Partridge and Phelps in their declarations were some of Jackson County’s leading citizens and prominent civil authorities. These included men such as Richard Fristoe, presiding judge of the county, and Samuel D. Lucas, who served as a judge, circuit court clerk, and colonel in the county and regional militia. (Lucas would later be promoted to the rank of major-general in the state militia and conducted the final surrender of the Mormons at Far West, arrested Joseph Smith, and issued the order for him to be executed.) Samuel C. Owens and Russell Hicks had both served for a time as county treasurer, and Owens was also the circuit court clerk at the time. Richard Simpson and Thomas Pitcher were colonels in the county militia, and Pitcher mobilized the militia against the Mormons in late October and November, resulting in their evacuation from Jackson County. John Smith and Samuel C. Weston were both justices of the peace. Richard W. Cummins was a government Indian agent, who in early 1831 had banned Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, and Frederick G. Williams from preaching to the Native Americans in Indian Territory and ordered them off Indians lands for not having obtained official papers granting them permission to proselytize. A final figure was none other than Jones H. Flournoy. In 1831 Flournoy sold the 63-plus-acre parcel comprising the temple lot to Edward Partridge. Fifteen of the fifty-four defendants were Jackson County slave owners, which suggests these men had a higher social and economic standing in the community. However, the number of defendants who were slave owners was probably higher in 1833 because some would have been newcomers who would not have been enumerated in the 1830 US federal census.[58]

February 1834 Term of the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri

Robert W. Wells served as attorney general of Missouri from 1826 to 1836. He attended the February 1834 term of the Missouri Fifth Circuit Court in Independence to oversee the court.

As preparations for the February term of the circuit court progressed, Phelps, Partridge, and their attorneys found it difficult to secure Church members who were willing to serve as witnesses, many of whom feared the possibility of personal harm and repercussions by Jackson County citizens if they were to testify. Recognizing the volatility of the situation, Judge Ryland requested that Governor Dunklin attend the court, hoping his attendance would help control the situation. Dunklin declined, but responded by appointing Robert W. Wells, the state attorney general, to attend and assist Ryland. The governor also authorized David Atchison, one of the attorneys employed by the Church who was also a captain in the Clay County militia and the commander of uniformed cohort known as the Liberty Blues, to take charge of a company of fifty men in his unit to accompany and guard Partridge and Phelps and their witnesses at the hearing.[59]

On February 23, the day before the scheduled term of the court in Independence, Partridge, Phelps, and a dozen Mormon witnesses met their armed militia guard under the command of Atchison at the Missouri River, then ferried across and marched about a mile north of Independence where they spent a cold, snowy night in the open air without tents. The following morning the company made their way to Independence, secured breakfast at a local tavern, and were about to proceed to the hearing at the courthouse when Attorney General Wells and Judge Ryland met them to inform them that a large mob had assembled at the public square who were intent on disrupting the hearing and who had vowed they would not be intimidated “by civil law” or “executive influence.” The excitement was of such a high pitch that Wells and Ryland feared if they tried to move forward with the hearing, the situation could easily escalate into armed violence, endangering their lives as well as the lives of many others. Although Partridge, Phelps, and the witnesses were still desirous of holding the hearing court at that time, Wells and Ryland, in private consultation with the Church’s attorneys, considered that it would be best to postpone filing their pretrial documents (pleadings) to a later date and ordered Atchison’s company to guard the plaintiffs and witnesses back to Clay County.[60]

Attempts at Litigation, 1834–36

Unfortunately, the original documents associated with the proceedings of the civil suits filed by Phelps and Partridge in Missouri’s Fifth Circuit Court are incomplete and sketchy at best, but the records show that the litigation process covered some two and a half years. Numerous factors contributed to both cases being drawn out, but it essentially came down to the fact that the attorneys on both sides initiated various legal procedures and back-and-forth maneuverings to secure positive outcomes for their respective clients. Other legal wranglings and technical issues also contributed to the continuance problem, such as the need for the plaintiffs to correct errors in their declarations and the defendants to make changes to their pleas; summoning witnesses, many of whom were unwilling to testify; requiring plaintiffs to secure a bond to cover court costs; absenteeism; and requesting a change of venue. All these factors and others lengthened the hearing process.

Despite the debacle of the failed February 1834 term of the circuit court, Phelps, Partridge, and their attorneys nonetheless succeeded in securing a hearing before Judge John F. Ryland in the June 1834 term of the Missouri Fifth Circuit Court in Independence. Significantly, at the very time the hearing was to convene (June 23), tension in Jackson, Clay, and Ray Counties was at a high pitch, due to the arrival in Clay County of the Camp of Israel (Zion’s Camp) from Ohio, comprising more than two hundred armed men led by Joseph Smith and other Church leaders who had come to help the displaced Church members regain their Jackson County lands and property.[61] Because of the situation, the attorneys for both sides probably agreed to lay out their cases and arguments before Judge Ryland at an upcoming term of the court.

The February 1835 circuit court hearing provided the opportunity to discuss the declarations by both Phelps and Partridge and the pleas filed by the defendants. Phelps may have accompanied the members of their legal team to Independence to witness and participate in the proceedings. However, in late January, Partridge, in company with Thomas B. Marsh, left Missouri for an extended mission to the East, stopping for a short time in Kirtland before going to New York and New England, where he preached for several months during the summer and fall. Then he returned to Kirtland where he spent the winter of 1835–36 before returning to Missouri in May 1836.[62]

In the February hearing, the Liberty attorneys submitted amended declarations by both Phelps and Partridge. Phelps accused the twenty-five defendants of (1) creating a general noise and disturbance; (2) engaging in forced entry into the printing house which included the Phelps’s living quarters and The Evening and the Morning Star office; (3) tearing down the interior walls, dismantling the roof, and totally demolishing the entire structure; and (4) carrying away and converting the furniture, printing press, type, and other various apparatuses for use by the defendants. Such actions, Phelps asserted, “hindered and prevented” him from “carrying on and transacting his lawful and necessary affairs and business.”[63]

Each of the defendants in the suit denied the claims made by the plaintiffs. The following plea, given by Robert Johnson, one of the ringleaders, is similar in content with that of the others:

As to the breaking and entering the printing office and dwelling houses in the said declaration mentioned, and as to the making a great noise and disturbance therein, and as to the seizing, tearing down, carrying away and converting to the use of the defendant, the printing press, set up and in use in the said printing office . . . now is, and at the said time . . . was the close house soil and freehold of one Richard McCarty and by his command . . . and also, as the servant of one John Smith and by his command, . . . broke and entered the said several printing offices and dwelling houses . . . and made a great noise and disturbance, herein, and forced open, tore down and demolished the doors thereof, forced and tore off the roofs, and forced and tore away the walls and forcibly and violently tore down and destroyed every part of the said printing offices and dwelling houses . . . for the purpose and repairing, the said printing offices and dwelling houses, and placing new super-structures upon the said foundations and because the said printing press, type[,] furniture, and apparatus belonging to the said printing office, [had] been wrongfully put and placed, and were . . . incumbering the same and doing damage there, he the said defendant, . . . as servant and by the command of the said Richard McCarty, . . . and also, as the servant and by the command of the said John Smith seized, tore down[,] took and carried away the printing press type, furniture[,] and apparatus belonging to and appertaining to the said printing office . . . and removed them to a convenient distance and place and there left them for the use of the plaintiff, as he lawfully might, . . . doing no unnecessary damage to the plaintiff.[64]

Significantly, Johnson did not deny his participation in the destruction of the Star offices, but the justification he gives for his actions is farcical. He claimed that the building and property were actually in the possession of Richard McCarty and John Smith (not Phelps), both of whom commanded him to demolish the building “for the purpose and repairing . . . and placing new super-structures upon the . . . foundation.” He further stated that the press and the equipment were encumbering the property and that McCarty and Johnson, the so-called true owners and proprietors, commanded him to remove them to a convenient distance and leave them there for the plaintiff (Phelps).

In the declaration entered by the attorneys on behalf of Partridge, he stated that on July 20, 1833, he was taken by armed force to the public square, where in the presence of a large concourse of people he was thrown to the ground, violently kicked and struck with many blows, and was “greatly hurt, bruised, and wounded,” after which he was covered with pitch and tar and rolled in feathers. He also stated the mob “with great force and violence, rent, tore and damaged [his] clothes and wearing apparel” consisting of a coat, hat, waistcoat, britches, a shirt, and a pair of stockings valued at fifty dollars. The civil complaint stated that the incident damaged his reputation and standing in society, and he requested fifty thousand dollars in personal damages.[65]

The same Robert Johnson named in Phelps’s declaration was also a defendant in Partridge’s civil suit. Once again, Johnson contested the claims against him, as did all the other defendants. His plea is similar in wording with those of others:

As to the assaulting and taking and carrying the said Edward Partridge into a public place, in the town of Independence, and before a large concourse of people, indignantly and abusively treating him the said plaintiff, and as to the shaking, pulling about and throwing him upon the ground, and as to the kicking and striking the said plaintiff a great many violent blows, & as to the putting on the body of the said plaintiff a large quantity of pitch & tar, rolling in & covering his body with feathers, then turning him loose among a large concourse of people, and as to the renting, tearing, and damaging the clothes of the said plaintiff, . . . with force and arms, . . . made an assault upon . . . the said defendant, and would then and there have beat, bruised, and ill treated him the said defendant, if he had not immediately defended himself against the said plaintiff, wherefore, he the said defendant did then and there defend himself against the said plaintiff, as he lawfully might, for the cause aforesaid, and in so doing did necessarily and unavoidably, a little, pull and hawl about before a large concourse of people, and thereby, then and there in self defence, did indignantly treat the said plaintiff, by shaking, kicking, striking, throwing him upon the ground and did then and there for the cause aforesaid, a little, rend, tare and damage the clothes of the said plaintiff, and there being then and there upon the ground, where the said defendant was so compelled, in self defence as aforesaid, to throw down the body of the defendant as aforesaid, a large quantity of tar, pitch and feathers, by means whereof, the said plaintiff became a little covered and besmeared with tar, pitch and feathers, . . . doing no unnecessary damage to the said plaintiff on the occasion as aforesaid, and so the said defendant says, that if any hurt or damage then and there happened to the said plaintiff, or his wearing apparel, the same was occasioned by the assault so made by the said plaintiff upon the said defendant, in the necessary defence of him the said defendant, against the said plaintiff, . . . , and this he is ready to verify; therefore, he prays judgment, if the said plaintiff ought to have or maintain his aforesaid action thereof against him, &c.[66]

Johnson claimed Partridge initiated the altercation. He also maintained that Partridge did not sustain any serious injuries and that only a small amount of tar and feathers were used so there was only minimal damage done to his clothing. Johnson’s underlying claim is that he acted in self-defense.

To bolster the chances of a ruling in favor of Phelps and Partridge, their legal counsel made the decision to continue the suit against only nine of the defendants, each of whom was named in both sets of declarations: Henry Chiles, Lewis Franklin, Russell Hicks, James M. Hunter, Robert Johnson, Samuel D. Lucas, Samuel C. Owens, Richard Simpson, and Thomas Wilson. These defendants were informed that their case would be continued in the next term of the circuit court and litigation ended for the remaining defendants.[67] Believing they would not receive an impartial hearing if the court continued to convene in Independence, Phelps petitioned circuit court judge John F. Ryland to grant a change of venue for the hearings to be held in Richmond, Ray County, which request was granted.[68] The change of venue required the Mormon plaintiffs to pay an additional two hundred dollars in court costs.[69]

Phelps and Partridge’s Absence from Missouri

In late April 1835, two months following the February hearing, Phelps left Missouri and went to Kirtland at the request of Joseph Smith, where he spent the next eleven months assisting in the printing and publication of the Latter-day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate newspaper, the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Church’s first hymnal. Meanwhile, in late October 1835, Edward Partridge completed his mission in the East, then came to Kirtland where both he and Phelps spent the winter and early spring of 1835–36. They attended the Hebrew school and the school of the elders, participated in the Kirtland endowment, and took part in the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. The absence of Phelps and Partridge from Missouri during most of 1835 and early 1836 further delayed their cases against their Jackson County persecutors.[70]

Upon their return to Missouri in early May 1836, their attorneys petitioned to have both Phelps’s and Partridge’s cases come before the July term of the circuit court in Ray County, which appeal was granted by Judge John Ryland. However, this request also came at a cost to the plaintiffs, requiring them to pay an additional $600 to their attorneys for their services.[71] Significantly, to secure a final ruling and not prolong both cases any further, the attorneys for Phelps and Partridge waived a trial by jury and instead agreed to allow Judge Ryland to render a final decision on both cases. Partridge explained that ultimately a compromise was struck:

In the summer of 1836, the time drew near, when it was supposed that the trials must come on; which was very gratifying to those who planted the suits [himself and Phelps]. When the court came, their lawyers [Atchison, Woods, Doniphan, and Rees] instead of going to trial, as they should have done, made a sort of compromise, with the mobbers by dropping one suit, without even having the cost paid [by the defendants] and that without the knowledge or consent of their employers [himself and Phelps]. On the other suit the defendants agreed to pay a few hundred dollars; though not as much as the lawyer’s fees had had been. Thus the lawyers, after getting their pay, managed the cases; had they been true to the brethren, as they were bound to be by oath, and brought their suits to a trial, instead of making a compromise, and laboured faithfully for them, as they ought to have done; and laboured as though they meant to earn their thousand dollar fee; there is no doubt but that, on the two suits, they would have obtained as many thousands of dollars, as they did hundreds by the compromise.[72]

In his redress petition, Partridge stated his case was thrown out as a result of the compromise: “My lawyers after getting their pay of me, made a compromise with the defendents [sic], without my consent, and threw my case out of court without giving me any damages by their [the defendants] agreeing to pay the costs, which they have never paid that I know of, and I never could prevail upon my lawyers to collect them for me though they agreed so to do.”[73] The court record shows that in the case of Partridge, Judge Ryland awarded him damages to the paltry sum of one cent. However, in the case of Phelps, it shows that he too was initially awarded damages also amounting to one cent, but then “one cent” is struck out and $750 is written above it, suggesting Ryland amended his initial decision, then ruled that Phelps be awarded $750.[74] The reasoning behind Ryland’s judgment is not entirely clear, but it does show that he ultimately ruled on behalf of both Partridge and Phelps. In so doing, Ryland may have felt Phelps should receive a much higher sum since he incurred damages in the form of real and personal property, whereas Partridge sustained only bodily trauma and injuries. Although Phelps was awarded $750, much of that probably went toward paying off the additional $600 fee assessed by their attorneys to pursue the final litigation.

Missouri’s Constitutional Promises of Religious Liberty

If “Free People of Color” ignited the firestorm against Phelps, Partridge, and the general Mormon community in Jackson County, it is important to note that the authorities and citizens who mistreated the Mormons ignored or completely disregarded a major portion of Phelps’s article. After citing the Missouri statutes regarding “Free People of Color,” Phelps inserted two clauses from the Missouri state constitution adopted in 1820, both of which deal with the rights of individuals as it pertains to the free exercise of religion. The most important clause is section 4. Note the following: “That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; . . . that no human authority can control or interfere with the rights of conscience; that no person can ever be hurt, molested or restrained in his religious professions or sentiments, if he do[es] not disturb others in their religious worship.”[75]

Historian David Sehat has observed, “Because most disputes about religious liberty occurred on the state or local level, and because the federal government had limited power until the New Deal, the First Amendment had almost no effect on the protection of religious belief or non-belief until the 1920s, when the federal courts began expanding the protections of the Bill of Rights to include all levels of government.”[76] Phelps likely understood that in the 1830s the Bill of Rights, which included the free exercise of religion clause in the First Amendment, did not apply to the individual states. Given this policy of noninterference by the federal government, Phelps may have purposely cited the free exercise of religion clause in the Missouri Constitution to inform his readers, Missourians in particular, that their state constitution guaranteed all citizens, Mormons included, the fundamental civil right to the free exercise of religious “professions and sentiments.” Therefore, any form of harassment, maltreatment, persecution, discrimination, or violence that “hurt, molested or restrained” the Saints in their “religious professions or sentiments” was clearly at odds with Missouri’s constitutional commitments. In addition, assaults on Mormon persons and property might have been expected to be punishable by criminal prosecution. However, when Phelps and Partridge took the milder step of civil suits to claim damages, the promises of religious liberty granted in the Missouri Constitution were largely disregarded. On the other hand, Jackson’s citizens saw the actions they had taken against the Mormons in a much different way. Richard L. Bushman has written, “The Mormon presence in Jackson County . . . tested democracy. The Mormon case illustrated an underlying democratic dilemma; can a majority in defense of the public good as they see it, strip a minority of its rights? The Jackson County citizens believed their procedures were democracy in action . . . [and they] came together to prevent a social and political disaster of alarming proportions in their view; they acted purely in self-defense. But for the Mormons, Jackson County democracy should have also meant the free expression of religious liberty, but came to mean repression and expulsion.”[77] Sadly, similar scenes of “Jackson County democracy” would take place again in Clay County in 1836, and again in Caldwell and Daviess Counties in 1838, culminating in the wholesale expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri.

Notes

[1] Matthew C. Godfrey, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Grant Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds., Documents, Volume 2: July 1831–January 1833, vol. 2 of the Document Series of the Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, Richard Lyman Bushman, and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2013), 197–200 [D&C 72], hereafter cited as JSP, D2.

[2] JSP, D2:233–37 [D&C 82].

[3] See JS History, A-1, 1999–204, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, hereafter cited as CHL. The prospectus was dated February 22, 1832. No original copies of the prospectus are extant. In addition to the announcement of the publication of the Star, Phelps also announced that a weekly community paper, known as the Upper Missouri Advertiser, would also be published. See Peter Crawley, A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume 1, 1830–1847 (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997), 32–35.

[4] On August 8, 1831, Edward Partridge transacted the purchase of two lots in Independence—Lots 75 and 76—both approximately .3 an acre each (.6 total) for sixty dollars. Both lots had been privately owned. Partridge paid ten dollars for Lot 75 from Garnet McHensley, and fifty dollars to James Gray for Lot 76. See Jackson County Land Deed Record Book, A, 111, 114, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City, Missouri. Levi Hancock wrote that Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and A. Sidney Gilbert instructed him to build a two-story brick building for Phelps’s home and the printing office. “I told them if they knew how they wanted it done, I could do it,” he wrote. “Oliver gave me the plans and I began to work on it and was soon finished.” Levi Hancock, “Life of Levi Hancock,” typescript, 46, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. The first floor served as a home for the Phelps family. The printing operation was located on the second floor. See also Ronald E. Romigand John H Siebert, “First Impressions: The Independence, Missouri, Printing Operation, 1832–1833,” John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 19 (1990):54–55.

[5] Karen Lynn Davidson, Richard L. Jensen, and David J. Whittaker, eds., Histories, Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831–1847, vol. 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 50, hereafter cited as JSP, H2.

[6] Alexander Majors, Seventy Years on the Frontier: Alexander Majors’ Memoirs of a Lifetime on the Border (Columbus, OH: Long’s College Book Company, 1950), 45. The “third heaven” was used by the Apostle Paul to describe his vision of having seen the paradise or God, or in other words, seeing God in heaven (see 2 Corinthians 12:2–4). Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon experienced the vision of the degrees of glory on February 16, 1832, at the home of John and Elsa Johnson in Hiram, Ohio. Regarding the visit by Joseph Smith and the others, John Whitmer wrote: “Joseph the seer and Sidney the Scribe and N. W. Whitney and one Jesse Gause came to Zion to comfort the Saints and Setle [sic] some little difficulties, and regulate the church and affairs concerning it, we had a pleasant visit and them and they returned again in peace.” John Whitmer, “The Book of John, Whitmer, kept by Comma[n]d,” in JSP, H2:50.

[7] Edward Partridge, History, manuscript, circa 1839. Partridge’s “History,” was subsequently published under the title, “A History, of the Persecution, of The Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” Times and Seasons, December 1839, 17; also in JSP, H2:207. This essay was the first installment in the series and was written by Edward Partridge at the request of Joseph Smith. All subsequent references to Partridge’s “A History, of the Persecution,” will cite the Times and Seasons source.

[8] Partridge also wrote that Clark “appeared quite indignant,” at the idea of having the constitution and laws set at defiance, and trodden under foot, by the many trampling upon the rights of the few. He went to certain influential mob characters, and offered to decide the case with them in single combat: he said that it would be better for one or two individuals to die, than for hundreds to be put to death. Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 17.

[9] Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, 1:35.

[10] See The Evening and the Morning Star, December 1832, [8]. The first twelve issues of the Star were not paginated.

[11] In the November 1832 issue of the Star, Phelps reported that the number of baptized individuals who had come from the East was 465. In addition, he added, “Children and those not members about 345,” bringing the total to 810. Children under the age of eight were not baptized, but considered to be members. Who Phelps meant by “those not members” was possibly individuals over the age of eight who were affiliating with the Church for whatever reason who had not yet been baptized but were still considered to be part of the Mormon community. See W. W. Phelps, “The Gathering,” The Evening and the Morning Star, November 1832, 5. John Whitmer recorded in his history under the date of December 1, 1832 (a month after Phelps published his figures), that the total Mormon population in Jackson County was 538. See JSP, H2:5, n153. Phelps’s figure is likely the most accurate.

[12] Alexander L. Baugh, “Purchasing Zion: Mormon Land Acquisition in Jackson County, Missouri, 1831–1833,” unpublished paper.

[13] Newel Knight, “Newel Knight’s Journal,” in Scraps of Biography: Tenth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883), 76.

[14] See William W. Graves, The First Protestant Osage Missions, 1820–1837 (Oswego, KS: Carpenter Press, 1949), 243. Pixley is reported to have died at Independence, Missouri, April 11, 1835.

[15] Knight, “Newel Knight’s Journal,” 76. Phelps issued a response to the arguments made by Pixley in his tract and published it in the Star under the same title of Pixley’s missive, “Beware of False Prophets” but never mentions him by name. See Phelps, “Beware of False Prophets,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 105.

[16] Knight, “Newel Knight’s Journal,” 76. The author was able to locate one such report. See Benton Pixley, “Religious Miscellany: Intelligence Respecting Mormonites,” Christian Watchman (Boston, MA), November 9, 1832, 13, 45.

[17] Knight, “Newel Knight’s Journal,” 76. In naming the ministers who antagonized the Mormons, the only one Knight identified by first and last names was Benton Pixley. In identifying the others, Knight only gave last names. Of those, Isaac McCoy was the most well-known and influential. McCoy was a Baptist preacher who had labored among the Native American tribes in Indiana and Illinois before evangelizing among the tribes in Indian Territory just west of Jackson County beginning in 1830. See Dennis K. Boman, “McCoy, Isaac (1784–1846),” in Dictionary of Missouri Biography, ed. Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 529. However, it appears McCoy’s involvement with the Mormons did not actually occur until the final expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County in late October and early November 1833, during which time he sought to defuse the tension between the Mormons and the local citizenry by taking strict, but nonviolent, measures to ensure that the Mormons evacuate the county. See Warren A. Jennings, “Isaac McCoy and the Mormons,” Missouri Historical Review 61, no. 1 (October 1966): 62–82. Using the 1830 US Federal Census for Jackson County, I was able to find the full names for John Fitzhugh Jr., James Lovelady, and John Bogard. There was no listing in the 1830 census for Hunter, Kavanaugh, or Likens. However, the “Likens” mentioned by Knight was probably Johnston Lykins, a son-in-law of Isaac McCoy. See “McCoy, Isaac (1784–1846),” 530.

[18] Laws of the State of Missouri; Revised and Digested by Authority of the General Assembly, vol. 2. (St. Louis: E. Charles, 1825), 601–2.

[19] “Free People of Color,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 109.

[20] W. W. Phelps, “The Elders Stationed in Zion to the Churches Abroad, in Love, Greeting,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 111; emphasis added.

[21] W. W. Phelps, “Extra,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 16, 1833, 1, M205.1 E92e 1833, CHL.

[22] For the citizens group to communicate to the people residing in the county, they would have had to have their message and objections printed in some format. Since the only press in the county was that owned by the Mormons, they would have had to secure a contract with a printer or publisher in another nearby county.

[23] The document stating the citizens’ grievances against the Mormons is usually referred to “The Manifesto of the Mob.” Edward Partridge made a handwritten copy of the document (a few pages of which are partially damaged) which includes the names of 111 Jackson County men. See Edward Partridge, “Manifesto of the Citizens of Jackson County, 1833,” Edward Partridge Papers, MS 892. In December 1833, five months after the July events, Church leaders began publishing a second edition of The Evening and the Morning Star in Kirtland with Oliver Cowdery as editor. The December issue featured a lengthy petition written by Missouri Church leaders, dated September 28, 1833, addressed to Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin. The petition includes the text of the “Manifesto of the Mob” but includes only 16 of the 111 names given by Partridge. See “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri,” The Evening and The Morning Star, December 1833, 114, also in JS History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, 347–49.

[24] Alexander W. Doniphan, “Mormonism,” interview in Kansas City Daily Journal, June 12, 1881, 1, copy in author’s possession.

[25] The committee’s report, titled “Mormonism,” appeared in the Western Monitor, a newspaper published in Fayette, Howard County, MO, on August 2, 1833, but no issues of the Monitor under that date have been located. However, other newspapers around the country picked up the �ѴDzԾ��ٴǰ�’s article and reprinted it, including the United States Telegraph, one of the most widely read newspapers in the country, published in Washington, DC, under the date of August 21, 1833, 2. An original reprint Telegraph of the article in its entirety is located in L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Americana Collection, AN.Un39t, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

[26] Isaac Morley, petition, in Clark V. Johnson, ed., Mormon Redress Petitions: Documents of the 1833–1838 Missouri Conflict (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992), 499.

[27] Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 17. See also “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri,” 114; also in JS History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, 350.

[28] Morley, petition, in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 499.

[29] In his biography of Phelps, Bruce A. Van Orden notes one of the local citizens alerted Phelps and his wife, Sally, about the likely assault of their home and the Star office. “Realizing that he would be a target, . . . [Phelps] exited and found a hiding place. . . . Sally dressed the children and then, bearing sick little James, still an infant, prepared to ride off with a wagon and team of horses. She was threatened with death if she didn’t leave. Inadvertently, she left two of her sons, Waterman and Henry, in the building.” Fortunately, no harm came to them. See Bruce A. Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018), 100.

[30] Given John Whitmer’s responsibilities as the Church historian and as the main scribe and custodian of the holograph volume containing the manuscript revelations for the Book of Commandments, he may have been the one who safeguarded the revelations book, as well as other materials considered to be sacred. See Ronald E. Romig, Eighth Witness: The Biography of John Whitmer (Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books, 2014), 212.

[31] As noted above, I indicate the press was pushed or carried to the second story door and then thrown to the ground from the second story stair landing. Given the size of other presses, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for the mob to try to throw it out a window since it would likely have been considerably larger than a window.

[32] A detailed treatment of the destruction of the Phelps family quarters and the Star offices is given in Romig and Siebert, “First Impressions: The Independence, Missouri, Printing Operation, 1832–1833,” 61–64.

[33] Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 17.

[34] Edward Partridge, Affidavit, 1, MS 892, box 1, folder 18, May 15, 1839, CHL, also in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 512–13.

[35] Emily Dow Partridge Smith Young, Autobiography, typescript, n.p., L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

[36] Edward Partridge, Autobiography, as cited in JS—History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, 327–28.

[37] Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 18.

[38] “Memorial,” in Johnson, Missouri Redress Petitions, 104–5, see also Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 18–19.

[39] John Whitmer and W. W. Phelps to Dear Brethren, in Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Brent M. Rogers, Grant Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds., Documents, Volume 3: February 1833–March 1834, vol. 3 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2014), 194–95, hereafter cited as JSP, D3; also in JS—History, 1838–1845, vol. A-1, 336–27; and The Evening and the Morning Star, December 1833, 115. The nine men were Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, William E. McLellin, Edward Partridge, Lyman Wight, Simeon Carter, Peter Whitmer Jr., John Whitmer, and Harvey H. Whitlock.

[40] See Oliver Cowdery to W. W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Edward Partridge, Isaac Morley, John Corrill, and Sidney Gilbert, August 10, 1833, in JSP, D3:239–43.

[41] Joseph Smith to William W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Edward Partridge, Isaac Morley, John Corrill, and Sidney Gilbert, August 18, 1833, JSP, D3:268. The letter is in Smith’s own handwriting.

[42] JSP, D3:246. See also Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout, 113.

[43] “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri,” 115; also in JS History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, 355.

[44] JS History, 1838–1856, vol.A-1, 355. Phelps likely authored the petition with input provided by Partridge, but others as well—namely, Isaac Morley, and John Corrill (counselors in the Missouri bishopric), John Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and A. Sidney Gilbert.

[45] John Corrill wrote about the need to keep any type of negotiation or communication with Governor Dunklin or other state official outside the knowledge of the general public. “We accordingly drew up a petition and circulated it in as prudent a manner as possible [among the church members]; for the mob threatened that if we petitioned or prosecuted they would MASSACRE us in toto.” John Corrill to Oliver Cowdery, The Evening and the Morning Star, January 1834, 124. On another occasion he wrote, “Between two or three months passed off in peace, when, towards the last of October [September] a petition was drawn up and circulated in the church, praying the Governor for protection. . . . For as soon as the people found out that we had petitioned the Governor for protection, and that we were about to appeal to the law for redress, they became very angry, and again commenced hostilities.” John Corrill, A Brief History of The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (St. Louis: Printed for the author, 1839), 19–20; also in Karen Lynn Davidson, Richard L. Jensen, and David J. Whittaker, eds., Histories, Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831–1847, vol. 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 147.

[46] Daniel Dunklin to Orson Hyde, October 8, 1833, in W. W. Phelps Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837, MS 657, CHL.

[47] See “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri,” 115; also in JS History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, 363–64.

[48] Daniel Dunklin to Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Isaac Morley, John Corril[l], A. S. Gilbert, John Whitmer, and others, 19 October 1833, W. W. Phelps Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837, CHL; also in The Evening and the Morning Star, December 1833, 115.

[49] Unidentified author to Dear Brethren, October 30, 1833, JSP, D3:335. In the letter (possibly written by Phelps), the author wrote, “We declared publicly a week ago last Sunday that we as a people should defend our lands and houses.” This would therefore have been on Friday, October 20, 1833.

[50] John Whitmer, “The Book of John Whitmer,” in JSP, H2:57.

[51] By year’s end, most of the estimated thousand to twelve hundred Mormons had relocated in Clay County. For a historical discussion of the Mormon expulsion from Jackson County, see Warren A. Jennings, “The Expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri,” Missouri Historical Review 64, no. 1 (October 1969): 41–63. While most Mormons sought refuge in Clay County immediately to the north, a small number relocated in Lafayette County to the east. Some Church members living in the Prairie branch located on the western boundary of Jackson County remained until late November before they too were expelled. In addition, a few Mormon families in the Prairie settlement tried to resettle in the region of southern Jackson County. (This area became Van Buren County in 1835, and later Cass County in 1849.) However, local opposition soon rose against this group as well, so they returned to their former homes in the Prairie settlement but remained only a short time before being forced to leave once again. See Corrill, “A Brief History,” 20; also JSP, H2:149; and Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 36. See also Larry C. Porter and Ronald E. Romig, “The Prairie Branch, Jackson County, Missouri: Emergence, Flourishing, and Demise, 1831–1834,” Mormon Historical Studies 8, nos. 1–2 (Spring/Fall 2007): 1–36.

[52] JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, 344; also “History of Orson Hyde,” Deseret News, May 12, 1858, 49.

[53] John F. Ryland to Amos Rees, November 21, 1833, in JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, 381–82.

[54] JSP, D3:386 [D&C 101:86–88].

[55] The earliest Church leaders in Missouri could have received a copy of the revelation (Doctrine and Covenants 101) would have been sometime in January 1834, but this is not likely. Note the following: “Although it is possible that David W. Patten and William Pratt took a copy of the revelation with them to Missouri when they left Kirtland on December 19, 1833, carrying ‘dispatches’ for the Missouri church leaders, it appears that JS first sent the revelation to Missouri in a letter dated 22 January 1834.” See JSP, D3:388. If that was the case, it was probably not received until sometime in February 1834.

[56] Missouri Fifth Judicial Circuit, William W. Phelps vs. Richard Simpson, et al., Declaration, December 22, 1833, HM25796, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. For a photocopy of the original see MS 11861,C HL. The names of the twenty-five defendants are as follows: James P. Campbell, Henry Chiles, Richard W. Cummins, Jones H. Flournoy, Lewis Franklin, Richard Fristoe, James P. Hickman, Russell Hicks, James M. Hunter, William L. Irvin, Gan Johnson, Robert Johnson, Samuel D. Lucas, Benjamin Majors, Nathaniel K. Olmstead, Aaron Overton, Samuel C. Owens, George W. Simpson, Richard Simpson, John Smith, Abner F. Staples, Zachariah Waller, Samuel C. Weston, Thomas H. Wilson, and Moses G. Wilson.

[57] Edward Partridge vs. Samuel Lucas, et al., Declaration, December 22, 1833, HM 25795, Huntington Library. For a photocopy of the original, see MS 629 1, CHL. The names of the fifty-four defendants are as follows: William Brown, James P. Campbell, Allen Chandler, John Canet, Henry Chiles, Joel Chiles, James Cockrell, William Conner, John Cook, Richard W. Cummins, John M. Danewood, John Davis, Joseph C. Davis, Tarleton Elledge, Jones H. Flournoy, Roland Flournoy, Lewis Franklin, Richard Fristoe, Harmon Gregg, John Harris, James P. Hickman, Edwin F. Hicks, Russell Hicks, James M. Hunter, William L. Irwin, Gan Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Robert Johnson, Daniel King, John Lewis, Samuel D. Lucas, Benjamin Majors, William Masters, Richard McCarty, James H. McGee, Leonidas Oldham, Nathaniel K. Olmstead, Aaron Overton, Samuel C. Owens, Moses Pitcher, Thomas Pitcher, William Pough, James Reynolds, Robert Rickman, Jonathan Shephard, George W. Simpson, Richard Simpson, John Smith, David A. Stayton, John M. Walker, Zachariah Waller, Samuel C. Weston, Thomas H. Wilson, and Moses G. Wilson.

[58] The population of Jackson County in 1830 was 2,823 whites and 193 blacks (slaves). 1830 US Federal Census for Jackson County, MO.

[59] Edward Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution, of The Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” Times and Seasons, February 1840, 49.

[60] W. W. Phelps, Dear Brethren, February 27, 1834, in The Evening and the Morning Star, March 1834, 139, also in JSP, D3: 469–71.

[61] For an account of the arrival of the Camp of Israel (Zion’s Camp) in Clay County, see Alexander L. Baugh, “The Camp of Israel in Clay County, Missouri,” in Zion’s Camp, 1834: March of Faith, ed. Matthew C. Godfrey (Sandy, UT: History of the Saints, 2018), 67–101. Conflict was averted when Mormon leaders assured the local citizens that their intentions were peaceful, and the company would disband and return to the East.

[62] Partridge was absent from Missouri from January 27, 1835 to May 6, 1836, a period of just over fifteen months. See Edward Partridge, Diary, January 27,1835–July 8, 1836, MS 892,CHL.

[63] Phelps vs. Simpson, et al., Phelps, Declaration.

[64] Phelps vs. Simpson, et al., Robert Johnson, Plea.

[65] Partridge vs. Lucas, et al., Partridge, Declaration.

[66] Robert Johnson plea, October 29, 1834, 1, MS 629, folder 2, CHL. The document is a printed version of Johnson’s plea. See also Partridge vs. Lucas, et al., Robert Johnson, plea.

[67]Partridge vs. Lucas, et al.

[68] W. W. Phelps to John F. Ryland, May 13, 1835, in Phelps vs. Simpson, et al., 60. See also John F. Ryland, Order, May 26, 1835, in Phelps vs. Simpson, et al., 61.

[69] Edward Partridge, Affidavit, in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 513. In another source, Partridge wrote that cost for the change of venue was three hundred dollars. Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 50.

[70] Phelps left Liberty on April 25, 1835, and returned to Missouri (Far West) on May 6, 1836. See Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout, 151, 242. As noted previously, Partridge was absent from Missouri from January 27, 1835, to May 6, 1836. Partridge, Diary, 1, 47.

[71] Partridge, in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 513.

[72] Partridge, “A History, of the Persecution,” 50. In his redress petition, Partridge stated, “My lawyers after getting their pay of me, made a compromise with the defendents [sic], without my consent, and threw my case out of court without giving me any damages by their agreeing to pay the costs, which they have paid that I know of, and I never could prevail upon my lawyers to collect them for me though they agreed so to do.”

[73] Partridge, Affidavit, in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 513.

[74] Ray County Circuit Court, July 1836, Book A, 249–50, copy in possession of Max H Parkin. See also Edwin Brown Firmage and Richard Collin Mangrum, Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988), 69– 70.

[75] “Free People of Color,” The Evening and the Morning Star, 109.

[76] David Sehat, The Myth of American Religious Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 4.

[77] Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling: A Cultural Biography of Mormonism’s Founder (New York: Knopf, 2005), 224.