Was Gov. Ford complicit in Joseph Smith's murder?

[consiglieri]

Last night, I read the account of the events leading up to Joseph Smith's murder at Carthage as set forth in Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling.

Bushman takes pains to accuse Governor Ford of no wrong-doing or complicity in Joseph Smith's murder, and yet the facts as even Bushman sets them forth lead me to wonder whether that is the case.

Granted that we will never know for sure, the circumstances are suggestive:

1. Governor Ford insisted that Joseph Smith leave the protection of Nauvoo to go to Carthage to answer the charge against him for issuing the order as mayor to destroy the Nauvoo Expositor. Several letters went back and forth, with Joseph Smith stating his life would be in jeopardy should he go to Carthage. Governor Ford was adamant that he must answer the charges in Carthage, or the lives of all the Mormons in Nauvoo would likely be in jeopardy from the incited anti-Mormons.

2. After two weeks, Joseph Smith finally agreed to go to Carthage with Governor Ford's assurance of protection.

3. On the way to Carthage, Joseph Smith was met by Ford's men who had an order to confiscate from the Nauvoo Legion all state-issued firearms. Joseph Smith countersigned the order and went back with Ford's men in order to make sure it was carried out; then made the trip to Carthage where he was arrested and placed in jail.

4. Governor Ford was at Carthage and met with Joseph Smith at least once while he was there.

5. On June 27, 1844, Governor Ford left Carthage to go to Nauvoo with his men, ostensibly for the purpose of searching for some counterfeiting equipment the Mormons were alleged to have.

6. Governor Ford left Joseph Smith to be guarded by the Carthage Grays, the militia that had the bitterest feelings of animosity against Joseph Smith. Later in life, Governor Ford defended this action by saying he had extracted a promise from the captain that no harm would come to Joseph Smith. (Call me jaded, but this seems a tad suspicious.)

7. After arriving at Nauvoo, Governor Ford did not seek for any counterfeiting equipment, but instead made a point of giving a public speech to the citizens of Nauvoo, at or near the time Joseph Smith was being murdered in Carthage. (Coincidentally, this happened to give Governor Ford an airtight alibi; all the Mormons in Nauvoo knew he was not in Carthage at the time they would later find out that Joseph Smith was murdered.)

8. Governor Ford did not spend the night at Nauvoo, but after giving his speech, left that day. (Perhaps not so suspicious in and of itself, but I can't help but noting that his actions put him in Nauvoo at the time Joseph Smith was murdered, while also making him scarce by the time news of the murder could reach Nauvoo.)

But why would Governor Ford engage in such complicity, if in fact he did?

I think the most charitable explanation would be that the entire countryside was a powderkeg due to the Mormon presence in Nauvoo, and that Governor Ford believed that all the Mormons in Nauvoo would be wiped out unless the anti-Mormons were allowed to kill Joseph Smith; that Joseph Smith's death would defuse the bomb that was rapidly ticking toward detonation.

If this is so, it would lead to the irony that Joseph Smith was sacrificed by the State of Illinois in order to prevent the wholesale slaughter of the citizens of Nauvoo, because Governor Ford decided it was better that one man should die than that a "nation" should perish.

What do you think?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[thesometimesaint]

consiglieri:

I believe Gov. Ford acted from cowardice, though I can't rule out complicity. I don't know what the laws were at the time to make a strong case for complicity.

[Analytics]

Last night, I read the account of the events leading up to Joseph Smith's murder at Carthage as set forth in Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling.Bushman takes pains to accuse Governor Ford of no wrong-doing or complicity in Joseph Smith's murder, and yet the facts as even Bushman sets them forth lead me to wonder whether that is the case....What do you think?

Allow me to make a couple of points. First, the â??Mormon presenceâ? itself wasnâ??t the powder keg. The mobâ??s grievances were focused on Joseph and Hyrum Smith. There problems with the Mormons were that they were too loyal to their prophet/mayor/general, who seemed too willing to use his sweeping political power in a way that offended the democratic sensibilities of mainstream America.

Second, while Thomas Ford was no fan of Joseph Smith, he unreservedly condemned the mob. He frankly admitted that he personally promised Joseph Smithâ??s safety at Carthage, and admits that because the mobâ??s betrayal of him, he failed to keep his word. In his book, he goes into great detail about why he thought Joseph Smith would be safe, and about why that was a colossal misjudgment on his part. He publicly lambasted the mob for not honoring his orders. Because of Fordâ??s anger about the assassination, the mainstream people who were sympathetic to the assassination felt that Ford was siding with the Mormons. The lack of sympathy he showed the mob and their displeasure with him makes me doubt he was a co-conspirator with them.Iâ??d suggest you read the Mormon chapters of Fordâ??s A History of Illinois. It is a very well-written book and does a really good job of showing Fordâ??s perspective and explaining how the non-Mormons viewed Nauvoo and why they felt the need to resort to frontier-style justice.

[Lightbearer]

Hi Consig,

Although I am only about halfway through Bushman's "Rough Stone Rolling" I have not yet read that chapter. However even though I do believe that maybe Governor Ford was complicit in the murder, yet I think that maybe his role may be more closely compared to a "Pilate" than a "Chief Priest" of the Jews. I think he was definitely hostile towards the Church and towards Joseph in particular, but I do not think he was as active in wanting to destroy the Prophet as say Governor Boggs was. He seems to be the classic politician like Van Buren "Your cause is just but.." and he may have just been allowing the mob to do their thing with no regard for justice (much like many political hacks of our day) or he may have even seen Joseph as a political threat (he was mayor of Nauvoo) and he (Joseph) had put in a bid for the U.S. presidency, so there could have been a personal political motive for his "looking the other way." I suppose we will not know all the facts until judgement day, but there is enough "evidence" or at least traces to indicate a very good possibility of a conspiracy. The level of Ford's involvement or knowledge is up for debate but it cannot be denied that there was a conspiracy to kill the Prophet afoot and that it involved former and disaffected members of the Church as well as Anti-Mormon "gentiles." There are a lot of things Bushman has put in this book that I question especially some of his conclusions, but it seems like the problem is he is trying very hard to "distance" himself and perhaps subjecting his personal beliefs so as to come across as being "more objective" in his historical evaluations as opposed to other more "faith promoting" histories have been.

I do know from other things I have read on the subject that John Taylor (who was there) and others directly implicate Governor Ford and believed if he were not an active force in the conspiracy he may have been passive one, that "consented unto his death."

[thesometimesaint]

Analytics:

Yep. It was the darned Jews that were responsible for the Holocaust.

[consiglieri]

Allow me to make a couple of points. First, the â??Mormon presenceâ? itself wasnâ??t the powder keg. The mobâ??s grievances were focused on Joseph and Hyrum Smith. There problems with the Mormons were that they were too loyal to their prophet/mayor/general, who seemed too willing to use his sweeping political power in a way that offended the democratic sensibilities of mainstream America.

Thanks for making that point, Analytics.

I tried to make the OP as dispassionately and correct as possible, but you are no doubt right that this is the better way to describe the "mob's grievances."

(Though I might quibble a bit more and suggest that they were focused more on Joseph Smith in particular, and probably not very much, if at all, on Hyrum. I think Hyrum was "collateral damage" at Carthage, and once the mob had killed Joseph Smith, they beat feet.)

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[thesometimesaint]

consiglieri:

Except those were still cannons pointed at Nauvoo after JS death.

[Analytics]

Analytics:

Yep. It was the darned Jews that were responsible for the Holocaust.

I didnâ??t say that. My point is that if you want a first-hand account of what happened in Illinois from a Mormon perspective, read History of the Church. If you want a first-hand account of what happened in Illinois from a non-Mormon perspective, read A History of Illinois. If you want to understand the dynamics involved and understand the whole story, strive to understand everybodyâ??s perspective and then synthesize.

I think that is what Bushman did, and I think his conclusions regarding Ford are well-founded.

[Ticketyboo]

Consig,

It may not be possible to prove complicity on behalf of Governor Ford, but I shall ever remember President Hinckleys words at the Nauvoo Temple Dedication.

Whilst stating that no unhallowed hand should stay the work of the Lord, he also revealed the misery into which Governor Fords life descended as a result of his failure to live up to his promise of protection.

I was very struck by the mood of President Hinckleys words too, here we were viewing the great occassion & expecting to hear the jovial & reasssuring words that we'd come to expect from our beloved prophet, but what we seemed to get in respect to Governor Ford at least was a consignment to outer darkness, do not pass go, do not receive forgiveness.

I realise now as I write, that it is no coincidence that President Hinckley was indeed speaking on the anniversary & the very hour in which Josephs life was taken.

[lostindc]

I didnâ??t say that. My point is that if you want a first-hand account of what happened in Illinois from a Mormon perspective, read History of the Church. If you want a first-hand account of what happened in Illinois from a non-Mormon perspective, read A History of Illinois. If you want to understand the dynamics involved and understand the whole story, strive to understand everybodyâ??s perspective and then synthesize.

I think that is what Bushman did, and I think his conclusions regarding Ford are well-founded.

Should we get a perspective from Hitler's diary or some of the other nazis when we look at the terrible acts done during the Holocaust.

[T-Shirt]

I am torn as to whether or not For was complicit. But in my opinion there are only two possible conclusions, either he was complicit, or he was a coward, or possibly a third, he was incompetent. When Joseph first went to Carthage he was staying in a hotel where he was relatively safe. He had not yet been placed under arrest. It wasn't until a false mitimus was produced that he was arrested for treason and expected to be taken to the jail. The Governor knew the mitimus was false and that the charges were false, but he refused to interfere. Justice Robert F. Smith told the Governor that the reason for the warrant to take Joseph to jail was in order to protect them as he claimed they weren't safe in the Hotel. All of this, of course was pure bunk. The only reason they wanted him in the jail was so they could kill him. If the Governor had any spine, he would have intervened. The Governor later told Joseph that he hoped that he would be acquitted, but that he could not interfere. The Governor knew that many of the Carthage Greys were intent on killing Joseph, but he insisted that they were disciplined. It was requested that the Governor put the prisoners under the guard of a militia of another county, but he refused. Eventually he left town leaving the prisoners in the care of the very men that wanted to kill him. Joseph was in jail illegally on false charges of treason. The destruction of the press was a civil matter, and Joseph was willing to pay restitution if the City Council's act was found to be against the law. He never should have been in that jail in the first place.

All the best,

T-Shirt

[Analytics]

Should we get a perspective from Hitler's diary or some of the other nazis when we look at the terrible acts done during the Holocaust.

If the question is "what was Hitler thinking and what were the Nazis thinking", then yes, getting their perspective is exactly what we should do.

[bethabara]

Should we get a perspective from Hitler's diary or some of the other nazis when we look at the terrible acts done during the Holocaust.

Just as illustrative, read the source documents, first hand accounts, of the original founders of the Knights of the White Camelia and the Ku Klux Klan. Thousands of pages describe nothing more than a fraternal order. So, there you have it. They're the ones who should know, right? (How naive!)

[Anijen]

As Dallin H. Oaks points out, Ford was very determined to bring the guilty parties to trial, and assigned the best person for the job as prosecutor. The evidence indicates that he was sincere in trying to right this injustice, with no attempt at whitewash.

you can still be complicit and then be sincere in bringing others to trial (him being the exception).

I think he was complicit (IMO). I read somewhere that he also profited on the LDS owned properties after the exodus to the Utah basin. At the very least a coward.