Joseph Smith assassinated - June 27, 1844

On this day in 1844, Joseph Smith, the leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, was murdered alongside his brother Hyrum by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Stay in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey y'all, I'm Eves and Welcome to the
Stand History Class, a podcast that brings you a little
nugget of history every day. Today is June. The day

(00:22):
was unto Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and leader
of the Latter Day Saint Movement, was murdered alongside his
brother Hiram by an angry mob in Carthage, Illinois. At
the time of their killing, they were incarcerated at Carthage
Jail awaiting trial for charges of treason, inciting riot, and
destruction of the press. In March of eighteen thirty, Joseph

(00:46):
published the Book of Mormon, which he claimed was a
sacred text that contains writings of ancient prophets who lived
on the American continent. In the book, Jesus Christ appears
in the America's not long after his resurrection. By the
time Smith's death fourteen years later, the Latter Day Saint
movement had tens of thousands of followers known as Mormons.

(01:07):
In eighteen thirty one, Smith proclaimed that God had designated
western Missouri as the place where Zion would gather. In
anticipation of Christ's second coming. This new Jerusalem was supposedly
the City of Independence in Jackson County, Missouri. During the
eighteen thirties, Smith sent out missionaries and published revelations, growing

(01:27):
his follower base. The growing Mormon population in Missouri cost
tensions and eventually episodes of violence with non Mormon residents.
In eighteen thirty eight, Mormons and non Mormons went up
against each other in the Missouri Mormon War after they
clashed in elections at Gallatin. In October of that year,
Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order forty four,

(01:51):
also known as the Mormon Extermination Order. He said that quote,
the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be
exterminated or driven for the state if necessary for the
public peace. Their outrages are beyond all description. Mormons were
subsequently expelled from the state of Missouri, and Smith and
the Mormons moved to Illinois, finding a new home at Navu.

(02:14):
By four several people who were dissatisfied with Smith had
left the LDS Church along with some non Mormons in
the Navu area. They founded the Navu Expositor, a newspaper
that published a single issue on June seven. The paper
criticized Smith for a practicing polygamy and claimed that he
had tried to marry other people's wives. Smith and the

(02:36):
Navus City Council declared the paper of public nuisance and
had the Expositor and its printing press destroyed. The destruction
of the Expositor led to a huge uproar against the LDS.
People made violent threats against Smith and his followers. Many
had already denounced Smith for acting as if he were
above the law, but critics sought legal charges against Smith

(02:58):
for destruction of the press and including charges of treason
and inciting riot. Lawrence went out first Smith's arrest. On June.
Smith declared martial law and called on the Navu legion
a city militia, but after briefly fleeing into Iowa Territory,
Smith returned and surrendered. The Smith brothers were transported to Carthage,

(03:19):
the seat of Hancock County, where they were immediately charged
with treason against the state of Illinois for declaring martial
law and Navou Joseph Hiram and some of their friends
were put in a second story sale at the Carthage
jail and held there until they could be tried, and
anti Mormon local militia called the Carthage Grays was assigned

(03:39):
to protect the Smiths. There were reports of several threats
being made against Smith by militia members, but the governor
dismissed them, and on the afternoon of June four, a
mob of between one hundred and two hundred armed men
stormed the Carthage jail, their faces painted black with a gunpowder.
A mob member fired a shot through the door, striking

(04:00):
Hiram in the face and killing him. Smith used a
pistol that was smuggled to him to shoot his attackers,
reportedly wounding some of them. Smith then made his way
to the window, at which point he was shot several
times from the doorway and from outside the window. He
fell to the ground outside the jail. There are conflicting
reports on whether Smith was dead when he hit the

(04:22):
ground or died shortly thereafter, but the mob soon dispersed.
John Taylor and Willard Richards, other Mormons targeted in the attack, survived.
Joseph and Hiram were buried in Navoo. Mormons condemned Governor
Ford for neglecting to take the malicious threats seriously and
suspected him of being party to the plot. Ford denied this,

(04:45):
but later he did write that it was good for
the Mormons to have been driven out of the state.
The death of the Smith brothers cost turbulence in the
Latter Day Saint movement and in the line of succession. Today,
the LDS Church reports a membership of more than sixt million.
I'm Eve Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. And if

(05:08):
you have any comments art suggestions, you can send them
to us at this day at iHeart media dot com.
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at t D I h C podcast. Thanks again for
listening to the show and we'll see you tomorrow. For

(05:31):
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