His Assassination.
A statement from Thomas Ford, Governor of Illinois in 1844:
I desire to make a brief but true statement of the recent disgraceful affair at Carthage, in regard to the Smiths, so far as circumstances have come to my knowledge. The Smiths, Joseph and Hyrum, have been assassinated in jail, by whom is not known. I pledged myself for their safety, and upon the assurance of that pledge they surrendered as prisoners. . . . The compliance of the Mormons with every requisition made upon them, failed of their purpose. The pledge of security to the Smiths was not given upon my individual responsibility. Before I gave it, I obtained a pledge of honor by a unanimous vote from the officers and men under my command, to sustain me in performing it. If the assassination of the Smiths was committed by any portion of them, they have added treachery to murder, and have done all they could to disgrace the State, and sully the public honor.
On the morning of the day the deed was committed, we had proposed to march the army under my command into Nauvoo. I, however, discovered, on the evening before, that nothing but utter destruction of the city would satisfy a portion of the troops; and that if we marched into the city, pretext would not be wanting for commencing hostilities. The Mormons had done everything required, or that ought to have been required of them. For these reasons, I decided, in a council of officers, to disband the army, except three companies, two of which were retained as guards for the jail. With the other company I marched into Nauvoo, to address the inhabitants there. . . . I performed this duty, and then set out to return to Carthage. When I had marched about three miles, a messenger informed me of the occurrences at Carthage.
(Signed) Thomas Ford,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief.
Governor Ford, in his History of Illinois, admits that he pledged Joseph Smith, and fourteen others for whose arrests warrants had been issued, the protection of the State if they would leave Nauvoo and go to Carthage for trial upon the charge of treason. Acting upon this pledge, they left Nauvoo, a city of 16,000 Saints who had armed themselves against mob violence, and went to Carthage. Here they were met by Governor Ford and the State militia. At the dictation of a Justice of Peace, who vastly exceeded his legal authority, they were taken from the hotel and placed in Carthage jail. Again the Governor pledged them protection. He planned to go to Nauvoo with the entire force under his command, but found that the men under him were anxious to go to Nauvoo to exterminate the Saints and he determined to discharge the militia, except three companies. In the morning of the day of the assassination he started for Nauvoo with two of these companies, leaving the third (the Carthage Grays) to guard the jail. Of this company the Governor said:
"I knew that this company were the enemies of the Smiths, yet I had confidence in their loyalty and integrity, because their captain was universally spoken of as a most respectable citizen and honorable man." Yet the Governor knew that in his presence and upon the arrival of the Prophet these same men had rebelled against their captain.
Before reaching Nauvoo, rumors of the intended assassination came to him in such numbers that he determined to send one of the companies with him back to Carthage, but they did not reach the city as an organized body. At Carthage, preparations were being made on every hand for the assassination. The captain of the Carthage Grays left his company for fear of his life and, quoting again from Governor Ford's History of Illinois: "Communication was established between the conspirators and the company who were stationed some distance from the jail, and it was arranged that the eight men on guard should have their guns charged with blank cartridges, and fire at the assailants when they attempted to enter the jail." In the afternoon, and while Governor Ford was addressing the Saints in Nauvoo upon law and order, a mob of bloodthirsty men, with faces blackened and consciences stilled, charged the jail and assassinated the Prophet Joseph Smith and Patriarch Hyrum Smith, his brother. They were in an upper room of the jail accompanied by Apostles John Taylor and Willard Richards. Each fell wounded with four balls and Apostle Taylor was also four times wounded. The Prophet fell from the window and a ruffian placed his body against the well curbing, where four men at a distance of a few paces fired upon his prostrate body.
The Christian world has hitherto regarded the growth of Mormonism with a kind of an air of indifference, but, unfortunately, they may yet awaken to feel its power. It is not at all improbable that within the course of a century some great orator may arise, some man gifted like the Apostle Paul, who will make the name of the martyr prophet ring even as does the name of Christ, and it is not impossible that Sharon, Palmira, Manchester, Kirtland, Far West, Adam-on-Diahmon, Ramus, Nauvoo, and the Carthage Jail may become holy and venerable names, places of classic interest, in another age, like Jerusalem, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives and Mount Calvary to the Christian, and Mecca and Medina to the Turk. And in that event the author of this history feels degraded by the reflection that the humble Governor of an obscure State, who would otherwise be forgotten in a few years, stands a fair chance, like Pilate and Herod, by their official connection with the true religion, of being dragged down to posterity with an immortal name, hitched on to the memory of a miserable impostor. There may be those whose ambitions would lead them to desire an immortal name in history, even in those humbling terms. I am not of that number. (Governor Ford's History of Illinois.)
Yes, Governor Ford, you are of that number, your name does go down through the generations of time, righteously coupled with that of Pontius Pilate, caused by your official connection with the death of a true Prophet of God. Your treachery, in plighting to him the protection of the State of Illinois, and then leaving him in the hands of confederate murderers, preserves your name in history, only to be hated and despised by those who abhor the existence of treachery. Joseph Smith relied upon your solemn pledge as the Governor of a great State, that he should be protected. He was basely betrayed, together with his beloved brother Hyrum, and went to a martyr's grave. His name is held throughout every civilized nation upon the earth as a Prophet, Seer and Revelator, while you became an object of charity, and now occupy a pauper's grave, having been buried as a public charge. It is not often that a man occupying the exalted position of Governor, lives to see himself despised, and fed by the hand of charity; but God gave you this fate, and during the last moments of your miserable life you must have had a strong testimony that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. "Mormonism is now so firmly established that it claims the respectful attention of the world. It has survived not only the violence which murdered its Prophets, burned the houses of Saints, laid waste the fields and destroyed their temples, but also an exodus which, for the distance covered and the dangers encountered, has not a parallel in ancient or modern history."
Nearly every nation under the whole heaven has given to the new faith some of her sons and daughters. What the Christian church is to the world to-day in point of numbers of followers and kindliness of feeling, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be to future generations. Its destiny is to roll until it shall fill the whole earth: It had its beginning when God spoke to Joseph Smith out of the heavens and He will finish what He has begun.