[], 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.
aloud for assistance, as he fled from them; and they were on the very eve of stabbing him. A man named , seized a billet of wood, and ran furiously upon them, knocking down all he came to, until the rest fled before him, and he rescued Steward out of their hands, having with his own hands whipped some twenty men. The total number of the Saints in this affray did not exceed ten; that of the mob, from fifty to a hundred.
The mob then dispatched a number of their gang to get guns and ammunition, swearing that they would kill all the Saints they could find, or drive them out of , sparing neither men, women or children. The Saints left the ground and went home: few if any of them having voted.
Having in possession several affidavits concerning the election in , we here insert them.
State of ,)
ss:
County of ,)
Before me, , one of the Justices of the County Court, within and for the county of aforesaid, personally appeared Samuel Brown, who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith: That on the 6th day of August, in the year of our Lord, 1838, in the town of , in the county of , and aforesaid, that at the election in the aforesaid, one did make a speech at said election, in the which he represented the heads of the Church of Latter Day Saints, as being liars, counterfeiters, and scoundrels; and that the members of said church, were dupes; and not too good to take a false oath, on any common occasion; that they would steal their property, and that their property he did not consider safe; and that he was opposed to their settling there, and ever would be: and sundry other things, which were calculated to inflame the minds of those present: from which time there appeared to be much excitement against the Saints, and some hard sayings. One Richard Weldon said that the Saints were not allowed to vote in no more than the damned negroes: and the said Weldon made an attempt to strike said deponent, who stept out of the way: In the second attempt to strike, one , a Mormon, stepped in and prevented him, holding his arm; and immediately about five or six of those excited against the Mormons, commenced holding and beating said with clubs and boards, saying kill him, kill him, God damn him, kill him; immediately after which, the fight commenced on both sides, with and without clubs. One of the Mormons, so called, by the name of [Jackson] Steward, received a cut with a knife or dirk. And further, the said deponent saith, there was, as he considered, no insult offered to said Weldon before he attempted to strike; and that the conversation immediately previous to his attempting to strike, was, that the deponent said to Weldon, “that we would give no man an insult; we will use every man well, and are determined to be used well.” And further, this deponent saith not.
(Signed) SAMUEL BROWN.
Sworn and subscribed to, this fifth day of September, A.D. 1838.