Joseph Smith Killed (1844)
On June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith Jr. — founder and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — was shot and killed by a mob at Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois. He was 38 years old. His brother Hyrum was killed at the same time. Smith had surrendered to state authorities days earlier on charges related to the destruction of a newspaper critical of the church. Governor Thomas Ford had promised him protection. The promise was not kept. Smith's death — his martyrdom, in the theology of his church — redirected the course of Latter-day Saint history and reshaped the American religious landscape.
The Prophet and His Church
Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont. He reported his first divine vision at age 14 in Upstate New York, in which he claimed God and Jesus Christ appeared to him. In 1830 he published the Book of Mormon — which he said he had translated from golden plates revealed to him by an angel — and formally organized the Church of Christ (later renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The church grew with remarkable speed. Smith was a charismatic and visionary leader who continuously received new revelations: he introduced plural marriage (practiced secretly at first), the endowment ceremony, baptism for the dead, and other distinctive doctrines. The church moved repeatedly — from New York to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois — fleeing mob violence and government opposition. By the early 1840s, Nauvoo, Illinois, was one of the largest cities in the state, and Smith was simultaneously its mayor, head of the Nauvoo Legion (a private militia), and presidential candidate for the 1844 election. His combination of religious, political, and military power alarmed non-Mormon neighbors and triggered the conflict that would kill him.
Did You Know?
When the mob stormed Carthage Jail, Joseph Smith had a small pistol that had been smuggled in to him. He fired it three times, wounding three of his attackers, before being shot. He then fell from the second-story window — accounts differ on whether he fell trying to escape or was pushed by the impact of bullets. He was shot multiple times as he fell. The men who killed him were mostly members of the Illinois state militia who had been assigned to guard the jail; many were tried for his murder in 1845 but all were acquitted by a jury. No one was ever convicted for the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
The Events Leading to Carthage
The immediate cause of the crisis was the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper that had published exposés of Smith's secret practice of plural marriage. Smith, acting as Nauvoo's mayor, ordered the newspaper's press destroyed as a public nuisance — a legally questionable act that outraged non-Mormons throughout Illinois. Warrants were issued for his arrest. Fearing for his life, Smith initially fled across the Mississippi River, then returned — reportedly telling followers, "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter" — and surrendered to state authorities in Carthage. He and Hyrum were charged with treason and held in Carthage Jail pending trial. Anti-Mormon sentiment in the surrounding area was intense: newspapers called for the extermination of the Mormons; Governor Ford, fearing an attack, reduced the guard at the jail and took most of the militia to Nauvoo. On June 27, a mob of 200 men with blackened faces stormed the jail. The guards put up only token resistance. John Taylor, who survived the attack, described the scene in detail; Willard Richards was the only member of the group who was not seriously wounded.
The Great Migration and the LDS Church Today
Smith's death triggered an immediate succession crisis. Several men claimed the right to lead the church; the largest faction followed Brigham Young, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In 1846–47, Young led the main body of Latter-day Saints in the Great Migration west — across Iowa, the Missouri River, and the Great Plains to the Salt Lake Valley, then part of Mexican territory. The migration, undertaken in the face of enormous hardship, is one of the great mass movements in American history. The church Young led grew into the institution that today has over 17 million members worldwide, with its international headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. Smaller successor churches — including the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church), which is headquartered in Independence, Missouri — also trace their roots to Joseph Smith. Smith's birthplace in Vermont, the Sacred Grove in New York where he reported his first vision, and the Carthage Jail where he died are all significant pilgrimage sites. The jail is maintained by the LDS Church as a historic site; the room where Smith died is preserved largely as it appeared in 1844.