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After fleeing Missouri, Mormons found temporary respite in Illinois. But eventually, conflicts between Mormons and non-Mormons — including a number of dissenting Mormons — arose there too. Things escalated quickly. In 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother were imprisoned. Despite assurances of protection while in custody, they were murdered by a mob of almost 200 men. A month after the murders, the church published a poem written by William W. Phelps that paid tribute to Smith. Originally titled simply “Joseph Smith,” it was later set to music and became an official and very popular Mormon hymn.

Joseph Smith

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.
Blessed to open the last dispensation,
Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.

(Chorus)
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Praise to his mem’ry, he died as a martyr;
Honored and blest be his ever great name!
Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins,
Stain Illinois while the earth lauds his fame.

Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.
Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
Faithful and true, he will enter his kingdom,
Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven;
Earth must atone for the blood of that man.
Wake up the world for the conflict of justice.
Millions shall know “Brother Joseph” again.

The song was later retitled “Praise to the Man” and reset to the tune of “Scotland the Brave.” It remains very popular today as such, often sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

 

As Clark Callahan and Quint Randle have pointed out, early Mormon ballads display a profound sense of betrayal by the United States – a “disconnect between the promise of a free America, or the promise of religious freedom in the new world, and what Mormons were experiencing.” In fact, none of the men who committed the Haun’s Mill Massacre were brought to trial. Of those mob who murdered the Smith brothers, five were brought to trial; all five were acquitted. Writing in reference to the Smith murders, the Governor of Illinois had this to say:

Men engaged in unpopular projects expect more protection from the laws than the laws are able to furnish in the face of popular excitement. They read in the Constitution the guaranty of their rights, and they insist upon the enjoyment of those rights to the fullest extent, no matter what may be the extent of popular opposition…In such a case, it may be that the whole people may be on one side, and merely the public officers on the other. [They] are appealed to for protection, when it is apparent that, being separated from the strength of the people, they form the mere dead skeleton of government.

The LDS Church’s 2014 essay on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, referenced above, underscores this deep sense of betrayal and identifies it as a contributing factor to the violence. “Latter-day Saints long remembered the persecutions they experienced and the unwillingness of government authorities either to protect them or to prosecute their attackers,” it states. The essay goes on to acknowledge that Mormons “organized a paramilitary group known as the Danites,” as well as “a large, state-sanctioned militia, the Nauvoo Legion, to protect themselves after they moved to Illinois.” Both groups would disband before the Mormons headed to Utah, but the Nauvoo Legion would be mobilized again in 1857, just prior to the Mountain Meadow Massacre.

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