Fall is coming
a little later here than New England.
Definitely a farming community…lots of combines, tractors, cows and road
kill (I’ll spare you the pics).
First stop…
Next stop...the Nauvoo temple, completed in the early 1840's and destroyed by arson in 1848. Rebuilt in 2002.
Our last stop of the day was
Carthage jail, the site of Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s martyrdom.
This was, for me, the most
sobering and profound experience of our trip.
This small house functioned
as a prison.
A family by the name
of Stigall lived in the home and the father
worked as the jailer. After a few days
of talking with Joseph and Hyrum, Mr Stigall became impressed with their character
and the way they conducted themselves.
He felt pity on them and allowed them to move from the prison room...
into
an adjacent bedroom (which had windows to provide for some ventillation). There
were also men on the outside of the house who were sent by the governor of
Illinois to guard the prison. Ironically, these men were (secretly) part of the
same group who participated in the assignation.
On
the day Joseph and Hyrum were killed, these guards arranged for Mr Stigall to be
away from the prison. On June 27th, 1844, an angry
mob, with their faces painted black, climbed the stairs to where Joseph and
Hyrum (and also John Taylor and Willard Richards) were being held. The prisoners tried in vain to block the
door. Two shots were fired through the
door. These are the actual bullet holes.
Hyrum was the first to be
killed…Joseph was then shot. After trying in vain to defend himself, he moved toward the window...after another round of gun fire, he fell through a window to his death.
John Taylor, though seriously wounded,
survived and miraculously, Willard Richards escaped without injury.
I really don’t have adequate
words to describe how I felt after walking where Joseph Smith took his last
steps. More than anything, I felt a sad,
yet peaceful sense of gratitude for this man and his unyielding love and
devotion to the Savior. I was reminded of a talk about Joseph's final hours given by Elder Holland…he always seems to have the words.
After leaving Carthage…we
stopped on the bank of the Mississippi and I took this pic of Sadie and
Drew. They’ve always had a close
friendship, and my heart was filled with more gratitude for all that’s good in
my life from my Heavenly Father.
