| Incidents at Whitmer Settlement, 1833 (2) |
| History of Joseph Smith | "History of Joseph Smith," in theTimes and Seasons, vol. 6 no. 8 (May 1, 1845) 881–882. | |||
| Joseph a rrives home from Canada, November 1, 1833 | ¶ | … Friday November 1st 1833, left Buffalo, New York, at eight o'clock A. M., and arrived at my house in Kirtland on Monday the 4th ten A. M., and found my family well according to the promise of the Lord in the revelation of Oct. 12th, for which I felt to thank my heavenly Father. | This pragraph is based on Joseph's handwritten entry in his 1832–1834 diary. The next entry is November 13, 1833. | |
| October
31 40–50 armed men attack branch west of Big Blue, unroof 10 homes, beat men, women flee |
¶ | Thursday night the 31st of October gave the Saints in Zion abundant proof, that no pledge, written or verbal, was longer to be regarded; for on that night, between forty and fifty in number, many of whom were armed with guns, proceeded against a branch of the church west of the Big-Blue, and unroofed, and partly demolished, ten dwelling houses; and in the midst of the shrieks and screams of women and children, whipped and beat in a savage and brutal manner, several of the men; and with their horrid threats, frightened women and children [i]nto the wilderness. | Italics
and parentheses in originals. nto: begins a line; the i is misplaced at the beginning of the next line |
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| Few armed, threatened with death, stoned, beaten | Such of the men as could iescape, fled for their lives; for very few of them had arms, neither were they embodied; and they were threatened with death if they made any resistance: such therefore as could not escape by flight, received a pelting by rocks, and a beating with guns, sticks, &c. | iescape:
the i is misplaced from the line above |
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| November
1 Women and children emerge from hiding |
¶ | On Friday night the 1st of November, women and children sallied forth from their gloomy retreats, to contemplate with heart rending anguish, the ravages of a ruthless mob, in the mangled bodies of their husbands, and in the destruction of their houses, and some of their furniture.— | ||
| Homeless, unprotected, winter approaching, impoverished, anguished | Houseless and unprotected by the arm of the civil law in Jackson County, the dreary month of November staring them in the face, and loudly proclaiming an inclement season, at hand; the continual threats of the mob, that they would drive out every Mormon from the country; and the inability of many to remove, because of their poverty, caused an anguish of heart indescribable. | |||
| Mob at Prairie branch | ¶ | On Friday night, the 1st of November, a party of the mob, proceeded to attack a branch of the church at the prairie, about twelve or fourteen miles from the village. | Prairie settlement is about this distance west of Independence, on the Missouri/ Kasas border. | |
| Scouts
captured, detained overnight Parley P. Pratt struck over the head |
Two of their numbers
were sent in advance, as spies, viz: Robert Johnson, and one Harris, armed
with two guns, and three pistols. They were discovered by some of the Saints,
and without the least injury being done to them, said (mob) Johnson struck
Parley P. Pratt with the breech of his gun, over the head; after which they
were taken and detained till morning; which, it was believed, prevented
a general attack of the mob that night. In the morning, they were liberated
without receiving the least injury. |
Parley wites that this occured as he was posting guards at Colesville Branch, about 7 miles north northeast of Prairie, on the other side of the Missouri River. He also reports being struck with the barrel, not the breech, of the gun. Autobiography of Parley, 119. | ||
| Mob breaks doors, windows, furniture in Independence | ¶ | The same night (Friday) another party in Independence, commenced stoning houses, breaking down doors and windows, destroying furniture, &c. | ¶ Incidents at Whitmer Settlement (1) | |
| Gilbert's home partly torn down, windows broken | This night, the brick part, attached to the dwelling house of A. S. Gilbert, was partly pulled down, and the windows of his dwelling broken in with brick-bats, and rocks; while a gentleman stranger lay sick with a fever in his house. | |||
| Store doors broken, goods scattered in streets | ¶ | The same night, three doors of the store of Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney, were split open; and after midnight, the goods lay scattered in the streets, such as calicoes, handkerchiefs, shawls, cambrics, etc. | ||
| Mob flees on rumor | An express came from the village after midnight to a party of their men, who had embodied about half a mile from the village, for the safety of their lives; stating that the mob were tearing down houses and scattering the goods of the store in the streets. The main body of the mob fled, at the approach of this company. | |||
| One taken to justice of the peace, no action | One Richard McCarty was caught in the act of throwing rocks and brick-bats into the doors, while the goods lay strung around him in the streets and was immediately taken before Samuel Weston, Esq., and a complaint was then made to said Weston, and a warrant requested, that said McCarty might be secured; but said Weston refused to do anything in the case at that time. Said McCarty was then liberated. | |||
| Long poles thrust through shutters | ¶ | The same night, some of their houses in the village, had long poles thrust through the shutsters and sash into the rooms of defenceless wo[882]men and children, from whence their husbands and fathers had been driven by the dastardly attacks of the mob, which were made by ten, fifteen or twenty men upon a house at a time. | shutsters: line break after shuts, next line begins ters | |
| Saturday, Mormons move | ¶ | Saturday, the second of November, all the families of the Saints, in the village, moved about half a mile out with most of their goods: and embodied to the number of thirty, for the preservation of life and personal effects. | ||
| Village attacked, unroof one house, shoot David Bennett | This night a party from the village, met a party from the west of the Blue, and made an attack upon a branch of the church, located at the Blue, about six miles from the village; here they tore the roof from one dwelling, and broke open another house, found the owner, David Bennet, sick in bed, whom they beat most inhumanly, swearing they would blow out his brains, and discharged a pistol, the ball of which cut a deep gash across the top of his head. | "The mob, thirty or forty, came at night to Bro. David Bennett's, who lay sick; his wife, who was in critical condition, and children fled; they took Bennett's rifle and beat the sick man with his own gun till his life was despaired of. A company of Saints were on guard near by, at the rear of the house, under the lead of Solomon Hancock, and when the mob came, Hancock said, that we should have no firing on either side; and Jerome Burson [Benson] said, "what shall we do?" At this a young man of the mob attempted to climb up the corner of the house which was built of logs, in order to throw off the roof, and I said, "shoot," and Bro. Benson shot, the ball striking the young man in the thigh, and he fell to the ground cursing and swearing at his own company for shooting him. Soon after this a proclamation came from the Governor, for both parties to give up their arms." Reminiscence of Edward and Nancy Larkey, MMFF Source Page. Off-site link. | ||
| One young mobber shot | In this skirmish, a young man of the mob, was shot in the thigh; but, by which party remains yet to be determined. | |||
| Sunday,
Mormons see circuit judge Afraid of the mob |
¶ | The next day, Sunday, Nov. 3rd, four of the Church, viz., Joshua Lewis, Hiram Page, and two others, were dispatched for Lexington, to see the circuit judge, and obtain a peace warrant. Two called on Squire Silvers, who refused to issue one, on account, as he has declared, of his fears of the mob. | The other two members were Parley P. Pratt and Thomas B. Marsh. They swore out a complaint before Judge Ryland, but the judge refused to issue a warrant, advising them instead "to fight and kill the outlaws whenever they came upon us." Autobiography of Parley, 118. | |
| Mormons advised to move before bloody Monday | This day many of the citizens, professing friendship, advised the Saints to clear from the country as speedily as possible; for the Saturday night affray had enraged the whole country, and they were determined to come out on Monday, and massacre indiscriminately; and in short it was proverbial among the mob, that "Monday would be a bloody day." | |||
| Monday, mob captures ferry, abandon it, go to Wilson's store, 1 mile west of the Blue | ¶ | Monday came, and a large party of the mob gathered at the Blue, took the ferry boat, belonging to the church, threatened lives, &c. But they soon abandoned the ferry, and went to Wilson's store, about one mile west of the Blue. | ||
| Mormons start for Wilson's, discover 50–60 and retreat | Word had previously gone to a branch of the church, several miles west of the Blue, that the mob were destroying property, on the east side of the Blue, and the sufferers there wanted help, to preserve their lives and property. Nineteen men volunteered, and started for their assistance; but discovering that fifty or sixty of the mob, had gathered at said Wilson's, they turned back. | |||
| Boys inform mob | ¶ | At this time two small boys passed on their way to Wilson's, who gave information to the mob, that the Mormons were on the road west of them. | ||
| Mob
overtakes Mormons Mormons hide in corn fields |
Between forty and fifty of the mob immediately started with guns in pursuit; after riding two or two and a half miles, they discovered them, when the said company of nineteen, immediately dispersed, and fled in different directions. | |||
| Mob threatens women and children | The mob hunted them, turning their horses into a corn field, belonging to the Saints, searching their corn fields and houses, threatening women and children that they would pull down their houses and kill them if they did not tell where the men had fled. | |||
| Mormons from Prairie arrive | ¶ | Thus, they were employed hunting the men, and threatening the women, until a company of thirty Saints, from the prairie, armed with seventeen guns, made their appearance. | ||
| ¶ | The former company of nineteen had dispersed, and fled, and but one or two of them had returned to take part in the subsequent battle. | |||
| Mob fires first | On the approach of the latter company of thirty men, some of the mob cried, "fire, God damn ye, fire." Two or three guns were then fired by the mob, which were returned by the other party without loss of time. | |||
| Mob the "peace" party | This company is the same, that is represented by the mob, as having gone forth in the evening of the battle, bearing the olive branch of peace. | |||
| Mob retreats, 2 killed | The mob retreated early after the first fire, leaving some of their horses in Whitmer's corn field; and two of their number, Hugh L. Brazeale and Thomas Linvill, dead on the ground. | |||
| H. L. Brazeale | Thus fell H. L. Brazeale, one who had been heard to say, "with ten fellows, I will wade to my knees in blood, but that I will drive the Mormons from Jackson County." The next morning the corpse of said Brazeale was discovered on the battle ground with a gun by his side. | |||
| One Mormon killed | Several were wounded on both sides, but none mortally, except one Barber, on the part of the Saints, who expired the next day.— | "In the battle brother Philo Dibble, of Ohio, was shot in the body through his waistband; the ball remained in him. He bled muich inwardly, and, in a day or two his bowels were so filled with blood and so inflamed that he was about to die, or, rather he had been slowly dyring from the time he was wounded. The smell of himself had become intolerable to him and those about him. At length Elder Newel Knight administered to him, by the laying on of hands, in the name of Jesus; his hands had scarcely touched his head when he felt an operation penetrating his whole system as if it had been a purifying fire. He immediately discharged several quarts of blood and corruption, among which was the ball with which he had been wounded. He was instantly healed, and went to work chopping wood. He remained an able bodied man, a hard worker, and ev en did military duty for many years after." Autobiography of Parley, 119. | ||
| Philo Dibble wounded, healed | This battle was fought about sun-set, Monday Nov. the 4th; and the same night, runners were despatched in every direction under pretence of calling out the militia; spreading as they went every rumor calculated to alarm and excite the unwary; such as, that the Mormons had taken Independence, and the Indians had surrounded it, being colleagued together, &c. | |||
|
Incidents
at Whitmer Settlement (1) |
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