On June 27, 1844, a mob,
spurred by vigilante justice, stormed the Carthage Jail, which held the Prophet
Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and two associates. The
attackers charged the second-floor room and fired their
guns. "Joseph and Hyrum are dead," Willard Richards (who survived
the attack) wrote in a quick dispatch to the Saints of
Nauvoo. "Taylor wounded, not very badly. I am well. . . .
The job was done in an instant."
Martyred for the cause
of Christ, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum sealed their
work with their blood. In a hasty letter from
Carthage, written that morning before his death
to his wife Emma, the Prophet Joseph wrote: "I am
very much resigned to my lot, knowing that I am justified,
and have done the best that could be done. Give my love to
the children and all my friends."
Wrote John Taylor, who
survived the attack on the prison at Carthage: "As our
Prophet he approached our God, and obtained for
us his will; but now our Prophet, our counselor,
our general, our leader, was gone. . . . He had
spoken for the last time on earth."
Carthage
Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered by a mob on June 27, 1844, at the jail in Carthage, Illinois, United States of America (see D&C 135; The Guide to the Scriptures, "Carthage Jail," 38).
Hyrum
An older brother and faithful associate of Joseph Smith. Hyrum was born on February 9, 1800. He served as an assistant to Joseph in the Church presidency, as well as being the second Patriarch to the Church. On June 27, 1844, he became a fellow martyr with Joseph in Carthage Jail (The Guide to the Scriptures, "Smith, Hyrum," 230).
Willard Richards
An Apostle in the Church and a first counselor to Joseph Fielding, president of the British mission. He was ordained on April 14, 1840, being the first and only Apostle ordained outside the United States (Church History in the Fulness of Times, 654).
