[], An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri, second edition; i-vi, 7–60 pp.; Cincinnati, OH: Shepard and Stearns, 1840. The copy used herein is held at CHL.
A manuscript draft of this pamphlet, simply titled “To the Publick” was presented to a conference of church members at , Illinois, on 1 November 1839. The conference voted to approve the manuscript and authorized its publication on behalf of the church. The pamphlet, when published, carried the endorsement of JS, , and as “Presidents of said Church.”
and collaborated on the publication of the text, which was available in print by May 1840. Though no author is named on the title page, was acknowledged as author in an 1840 Times and Seasons newspaper article, and when the pamphlet was advertised in that church periodical in 1841. JS and held some expectation that funds from the sale of An Appeal would eventually help defray costs of their late-1839 trip to .
By July 1840, and had been authorized to produce a second, revised edition to be published by Shepard & Stearns in . Page related some of the circumstances surrounding its publication and circulation in a letter sent to JS, “. . . at [Ohio] we parted for a few days . . . Elder Hyde went to Cincinnati where in my absince he published a second Edition of the ‘Apeal to the American people’ (2000 copies)[.] when I arrived the work was about completed[.] after disposing of as many of them as posible and suplying the market about cincinnati and the adjacient country he left me with some fourteen or fifteen hundred on hand, to dispose of” (John E. Page, Philadelphia, PA, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 1 Sept. 1841, JS Collection, CHL). Funds from this printing were to be for the express purpose of subsidizing Hyde and Page’s imminent mission to in Palestine.
The second edition was essentially a lightly edited reprint of the first, with a four-page “Publisher’s Preface” added. In the preface, and noted the purpose of the publication, explained the severe hardships imposed by the persecutions upon Page’s own family, provided a detailed account of a vision experienced by Hyde, and expressed enthusiasm about the prospects of the mission. The preface also contained a copy of an official letter of appointment and commendation for Hyde and Page from an April 1840 church conference at , Illinois, signed by JS, and a letter of reference from , governor of .
Although many of the events reported in both editions of ’s pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology of events is often inaccurate. However, Rigdon’s account does contain the texts of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s September 1838 affidavit concerning the 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document from a historical perspective is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some important material not readily found elsewhere.
next morning, and the letter had to be carried some thirty or forty miles. Here was another piece of legerdemain. was turned into militia, to hide up his wickedness. We had this account from the mouth of Samuel Tillary; he is a Clerk of the Circuit Court in and acts as clerk for .
Let the reader particularly notice, that this , was well acquainted with the operations of the mob, for the space of five years; having been the leader of it once himself, at the time it raged in ; and had been petitioned, again and again, after he was Governor, to stop its ravages; and in every instance refused to do it. He now perfectly knew that the whole difficulty, had originated in consequence of its violence and plunder: yet notwithstanding this, he issued the above order. , said, that if it had not been for the vote, which the Mormons gave at the late election, he would have exterminated them before.
After the citizens of were made acquainted with the fact, that was there, by the ’s order, they ceased to take any measures for defence; but submitted immediately.
In the meantime, the army employed itself in destroying the cornfields, potatoes and turnips, and in taking horses and plundering houses. Houses were searched by them, as closely to find money, as a man would be searched by a set of Arabs after a shipwreck. Every dollar was carried off, that could be found, while the lives of the owners were threatened, if they offered the least resistance. Cattle, hogs and sheep, were shot down, and left on the ground to rot. Men, women and children, were insulted and abused, in a most brutal manner!
We return again to the maneuvering of the Officers. In the evening of the second day after their arrival, they sent a messenger to a number of persons, informing them, that they wanted them to come into their camp; as they wished to have a consultation with them: and they pledged their sacred honors, that they should be at liberty to return to the town, by eight o’clock, the next morning. The persons, called for, were , , , Joseph Smith Jr., and . It was supposed that confidence might be placed in the word of Major and Brigadier Generals; and accordingly, the persons called for, went into their camp.
When they started to go, instead of meeting a white flag, as was expected to conduct them in safety, alone to the camp; here comes the whole army, with a cannon with it, and , at its head! The persons before mentioned, were immediately taken as prisoners of war. The cannon guard, was commanded to take them, and guard them into the camp, as such; and a loaded cannon, drove close behind them.
But to describe this scene, would defy the pen of a Scott. Guns were snapping in every quarter. The yellings, the howlings, the screamings, we think, were never equalled! We thought, at the time, that we might perhaps, hear something like it, if we were at the gates of perdition; hearing the howlings of the miserable; but we think, except that could exceed it, it never was equalled. After they got into the camp, there was a strong guard placed around them. It will be seen by this, how much reliance could be placed in the [p. 36]