Remembering Joseph, Hyrum & the Martyrdom

Today marks the 164th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. This is always a difficult anniversary for me because of the manner in which it happened. It seems that each year as this anniversary rolls around, and I refresh my memory of the events by reading in the D&C or History of the Church, I continue to be touched as I read the events.

Elder John Taylor, an eyewitness to the events, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and later the 3rd President of the Church wrote the following which is now verse 7 in Section 135 of the Doctrine & Covenants:

“They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to “Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.”

As I think about the events of that day and those following, I can’t help but think of how it all could have been avoided if it weren’t for the actions (or lack thereof) of the Governor of Illinois. I don’t know a lot about Governor Thomas Ford, but my thoughts on him mirror a similar sentiment he said about himself in his book History of Illinois, as quoted in Carthage Conspiracy:

“In his history Ford lamented the possibility that the names of “Nauvoo, and the Carthage Jail, may become holy and venerable names, places of classic interest, in another age; like Jerusalem, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and Mount Calvary to the Christian…” Ford wrote that, if this were to be the case, he felt “degraded by the reflection, that the humble governor of an obscure State, who would otherwise be forgotten in a few years, stands a fair chance, like Pilate and Herod, by their official connection with the true religion, of being dragged down to posterity with an immortal name, hitched on to the memory of a miserable imposter.”

I am a little unsure about the statement “miserable imposter”, whether he means himself or Joseph. If he means himself, it’s a pretty accurate statement seeing as how his pretended protection and cowardly acts brought about the martyrdom; however, if he is referring to Joseph, then I guess he considers the Savior a “miserable imposter” as well, since he is comparing himself to those men who helped bring about the Savior’s death.