TO WILLIAM W. PHELPS AND OTHERS
1833 AUGUST 10

Tr. Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, Ohio to William W. Phellps and others, Independence, Missouri, with Joseph Smith postscript, August 10, 1833, 2 pp., in hand of Edward Partridge, Edward Partridge Collection, LDS Church Archives.

Within two years of the 1831 announcement that Jackson County, Missouri, would be the site for their city of Zion, approximately one thousand Latter-day Saints had settled in that area (They comprised about one-third of the total population of the county.). But the sudden influx of a large body of northerners in a predominantly Southern state created a situation that proved disastrous for the newcomers. Specific charges made against the Mormons by the old settlers, based upon the cultural differences of the two peoples, became the focal point of action to drive the Saints from the county. On 20 July 1833, a mob gathered at Independence and destroyed the Church printing shop as well as the storehouse and goods of the Gilbert and Whitney store. The rabble tarred and feathered Bishop Edward Partridge and then forced the signing of an agreement stipulating that the Mormons would leave the county before the coming year.470

Immediately after this disaster, Oliver Cowdery was sent to Ohio to confer with Joseph Smith. Cowdery arrived in Kirtland on 9 August and the next day wrote a letter back to Missouri in which he gave what he termed reliable advice. Appended to the Cowdery letter were a few lines by Joseph Smith. This postscript and a lengthy epistle dated 18 August contain Joseph Smith's initial reaction to news of the Missouri violence.

Kirtland Mills Ohio

Aug 10th 1833.

Dear Brethren, W[illiam Phelps], J[ohn Whitmer], E[dward Partridge], I[saac Morley], J[ohn Corrill], and S[idney Gilbert], & all others who are willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ our Lord Jesus Christ:

I need not relate to you at this time the fatigues of my journey, nor the lonesome hours which I experienced while journeying, a stranger in a strange land, surrounded on the right & on the left by the destroying angels who were executing the will of the Lord in the consumation of the wicked. I have not doubted for a moment but that your prayers <were> ascending in my behalf; & so it is I am preserved. I did not arrive as soon as I had hoped, in consequence of being hindered three days since I left in waiting for a conveyance. I arrived yesterday afternoon. I will now proceed to give you some advice concerning your business & the advice may be relied upon. It is wisdom that you look out another place to locate on; be wise in your selection, & commence in the best situation you can find, is not the land before you? & an other place of beginning will be no injury to Zion in the end, & though you may be wearied, yet count it joy, for the Lord will reward you more than a hundred fold for all your sufferings in righteousness,- Make out your bill of damages immediately, if you have not, & get the pay; do not remove any faster to your new home than you bound yourselves to, but pray for the Lord to deliver, for this is his will that you should, & fear not for his arm will be revealed, & it will fall upon the wicked & they cannot escape. For the comfort of those who offered their lives & made the compromise to remove, I just say that the Lord was well pleased with that act, that is, the agreement to remove, & there was no other way to save the lives of all the church in Zion, or the most: and any who are dissatisfied with that move, are not right & have cause to repent, & call upon the Lord for grace to support them in the moment of tribulation. This great tribulation would not have come upon Zion had it not been for rebelion: Firstly there were rebelions against the one to whom were intrusted the keys, & from thence it has spread down to the lowest & least member! not this alone, but those who were void of understanding were continually telling that which was not true, & putting false coloring to the things of God! I mean those whose mouths are continually open, & whose tongues cannot be stayed from tatling! & the church will never have peace while such remain in her, therefore, brethren purge them out, & have no confidence in any except such as will lay down their lives for this sacred cause for none others are worthy of it. It was necessary that these things should come upon us: not only justice demands it, but there was no other way to cleanse the church. Fear not, brethren, the Lord is yet for you & though the heavens & the earth pass away, yet the elect [p. 1] will be saved, & Zion will be the joy of all saints & they will possess her forever & ever; & though the atmosphere looks dark yet the Son of righteousness will soon appear with healing in his wings, & he will spare his people as a man spareth his own son who serveth him. Our brethren here have sent you three revelations concerning Zion two of them dated the second of Aug. & the other the sixth.471 Read them carefully, & keep them from false brethren & tatlers, & all things concerning Zion will come to pass in the due time of the Lord. They also sent you a draft for the house of the Lord, & a plan of the city.472 I mention this that you may know that such things have been sent should any accident happen that you do not obtain them. I want br. Wm [Phelps] to write a circular for an "Extra Star" & send the manuscript immediately to me that I may go to some one of the printing offices here & publish it. Set forth the circumstances why the star is stopped &c. & I will assist all I can when your manuscript arrives, write close on a large sheet, you will have to write me the names of our former subscribers, their places of residence &c, so that I can mail them each an "extra" This you can do in a fine plain hand. Although it will be troublesome yet it looks to be necessary. I expect you have written me as many as two letters ere this, & when I receive the first I shall write again. Don't fail to write once a week for you know my anxiety, tell me who apostatizes when you write. The brn. here are lifting up their voices in your behalf continually. Don't be discouraged but be patient. you may be under the necessity to sell some of our lands, but be wise, hold on to the sacred places. I am in great haste to get this into the mail to day therefore must be short: I shall write again as I said. I am truly your br. in the New covenant

O[liver] - C[owdery]

P S Brethren if I were with you I should take an active part in your sufferings, and although nature shrinks, yet my spirit would not let me forsake you unto death God helping me Oh be of good cheer for our redemption draweth near Oh, God save my Brethren in Zion Oh brethren give up all to God forsake all for Christ's sake

J[oseph] S[mith]

Copy of a letter from O. Cowdery & J. Smith Jr