Mormon Prophet Slain: Joseph Smith Dies in Carthage

A mob of two hundred men with blackened faces stormed a small jail in western Illinois and murdered the founder of one of America’s most enduring religions. On June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith Jr., the 38-year-old prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his brother Hyrum were shot and killed while being held at the Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois, on charges of inciting a riot and treason against the state. Smith had been the most controversial religious figure in America for fourteen years. Since publishing the Book of Mormon in 1830 and founding his church, he had gathered tens of thousands of followers, built and abandoned settlements in Ohio and Missouri, and established the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, as a thriving theocratic community of roughly 12,000 people. Smith served simultaneously as Nauvoo’s mayor, the commander of its militia (the Nauvoo Legion, the second-largest armed force in the country after the U.S. Army), and the church’s prophet, seer, and revelator. The immediate crisis began when Smith ordered the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper published by Mormon dissenters that exposed his practice of plural marriage. The destruction of the press outraged non-Mormons across Illinois and led to criminal charges. Smith surrendered to authorities at Carthage, reportedly telling followers he was going "like a lamb to the slaughter." Governor Thomas Ford had promised Smith’s safety, then left Carthage the morning of the attack. The assassins, members of local militias, were never convicted despite a well-publicized trial. Smith’s death created a succession crisis that split the movement into several factions. Brigham Young led the largest group westward to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, where they built the Mormon heartland that persists today. The church Smith founded now claims more than 17 million members worldwide, making his assassination one of the most consequential acts of religious violence in American history.