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Attempted Assassination of Lilburn Boggs Attempted Assassination of Lilburn Boggs The attempted assassination of Lilburn Boggs was an attempted murder of former Missouri Governor Lil- burn Boggs on May 6, 1842 in his home in Indepen- dence, Missouri. Background Lilburn Boggs was the sixth Governor of Missouri from 1836 to 1840. In the aftermath of the 1838 Mor- mon War which saw armed conflict between Missouri State Guard and a Mormon militia, Governor Boggs is- sued Missouri Executive Order 44, known by Mormons as the “Extermination Order”, branding Mormons “en- emies [who] must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace”. Assassination Attempt On the rainy evening of May 6, 1842, Boggs was shot by an unknown party who fired at him through a win- dow as he read a newspaper in his study. Boggs was hit Sixth Governor of Missouri Lilburn Boggs by large buckshot in four places: two balls were lodged in his skull, another lodged in his neck, and a fourth en- Some Mormons saw the assassination attempt tered his throat, whereupon Boggs swallowed it. Boggs positively: An anonymous contributor to The Wasp, a was severely injured. Several doctors—Boggs’ brother pro-Mormon newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois wrote on among them—pronounced Boggs as good as dead; at May 28 that “Boggs is undoubtedly killed according to least one newspaper ran an obituary. To everyone’s great report; but who did the noble deed remains to be found surprise, Boggs not only survived, but his condition out.”[3] gradually improved. The crime was investigated by Sheriff J. H. Reynolds, John C. Bennett’s Accusations who discovered a revolver at the scene, still loaded with The Sangamo Journal published a letter by John C. buckshot. He surmised that the suspect had fired upon Bennett, a recently excommunicated Mormon who, pri- Boggs and lost his firearm in the dark rainy night when or to the assassination, had served as mayor of Nauvoo, the weapon recoiled due to its unusually large shot. The Major General of the Nauvoo Legion, and Chancellor of gun had been stolen from a local shopkeeper, who identi- the University of Nauvoo. fied “that hired man of Ward’s” as the “most likely culprit”. Bennett made a number of controversial allegations. Aftermath Firstly, he claimed that Joseph Smith personally threat- ened him and forced him to make a false statement News of the attack reached Nauvoo around May under oath. Bennett’s letters also alleged, in detail, the 14.[1] practice of Mormon polygamy in Nauvoo. On May 21, the Quincy Whig reported that “There Bennett implicated Smith in the assassination at- are several rumors in circulation ... one of which throws tempt, writing: the crime upon the Mormons—from the fact, we sup- “In 1841, Joe Smith predicted or prophesied in a pose, that Mr. Boggs was governor at the time, and no public congregation in Nauvoo, that Lilburn W Boggs, small degree instrumental in driving them from the ex-Governor of Missouri, should die by violent hands State. Smith ... prophesied a year or so ago, his death by within one year. From one or two months prior to the at- violent means.”[2] tempted assassination of Gov. Boggs, Mr. O. P. Rockwell 1 Attempted Assassination of Lilburn Boggs left Nauvoo for parts unknown to the citizens at large. I was then on terms of close intimacy with Joe Smith, and asked him where Rockwell had gone? “Gone,” said he, “GONE TO FULFILL PROPHECY!” Rockwell re- turned to Nauvoo the day before the report of the assas- sination reached there.” Smith and his supporters vehemently denied Ben- nett’s account. Porter Rockwell Porter Rockwell, an early and close associate of Joseph Smith, was accused of having committed the shooting. Rockwell was one of the very first members of the Latter Day Saint movement. At 16 years old, Rockwell was baptized into the Latter Day Saint church on April 6, 1830, the day the church was organized; it is most likely that Rockwell was the youngest member of the first group to be baptized into the church.[4][5] Rockwell was eight years younger than Joseph Smith. When Smith was publishing the Book of Mor- Former Mayor of Nauvoo John C. Bennett mon, Rockwell would work by picking berries at mid- and Major General of the Nauvoo Legion night and hauling wood into town in order to help pay for the publishing of the book.[4] Defendants in Hiding Rockwell served as a loyal personal bodyguard to On August 10, Sheriff Thomas King returned to both Smith and Brigham Young. Nauvoo and found both men had been released by the Arrest of Smith and Rockwell attempted city marshal. Both Smith and Rockwell had fled to avoid arrest.[1] Smith initially fled from Missouri to Iowa ter- On July 20, Boggs issued a sworn statement saying ritory. He remained in hiding in various locations for that he “believes, and has good reason to believe from months. evidence and information now in his possession, that On September 20, Governor Carlin issued a reward Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Proph- of $200 for each man, describing them as “fugitives from et, was accessory before the fact of the intended mur- justice”.[8] In October, Governor Reynolds of Missouri der;”[6] Current Missouri Governor Reynolds request- offered an additional reward of $300 each.[9] ed “the surrender and delivery of the said Joseph Smith” to Edward R. Ford. Governor Thomas Carlin issued Surrender of Joseph Smith arrest warrants for Joseph Smith and Porter Rockwell. On December 8, Governor Carlin’s term ended and On August 8, Smith and Rockwell were placed un- Thomas Ford became Governor of Illinois. der arrest by Thomas King, the deputy sheriff of Adams On December 26, Smith surrendered to church County, and two other officers. The defendants were- or member Wilson Law and they traveled to Springfield, dered to be freed by the Municipal Court of Nauvoo. arriving on the 30th. Smith was granted bail in the sum The officers did not recognize the authority of the mu- of $4,000 and a hearing was scheduled for the following nicipal court, and left the prisoners in the custody of the week.[10] city marshal.[7] In a hearing on January 2, 1843, Smith was defend- 2 Attempted Assassination of Lilburn Boggs ed by US District Attorney Justin Butterfield in Fed- eral Circuit Court before Judge Nathaniel Pope. Pope quashed the warrant and ordered Smith released. Arrest of Porter Rockwell O. P. Rockwell was apprehended in St. Louis on March 6, 1843.[9] In late May, Rockwell briefly escaped from the Independence jail where he was being held. [11] In September 30, 1843, it was reported: “Orin Porter Rockwell, the Mormon confined in our county jail some time since for the attempted assassi- nation of ex-governor Boggs, was indicted by our last grand jury for escaping from the county jail some weeks since, and sent to Clay county for trial. Owing, however, to some informality in the proceedings, he was remand- ed to this county again for trial. There was not sufficient proof adduced against him to justify an indictment for shooting ex-Governor Boggs; and the grand jury, there- fore, did not indict him for that offence.”[9] Though never indicted for the attempted assassi- nation, Rockwell was tried and convicted of jailbreak. Rockwell was released on December 13, 1843—ten Officials accused Orrin Porter Rockwell, months after his arrest.[12] one of Smith’s longest and closest followers. Joseph H. Jackson’s Accusations the assassination attempt, speculating that Boggs — no On June 1, Joseph H. Jackson wrote a letter to the longer governor, but campaigning for the state senate — Warsaw Signal in which he publicly claimed that Joseph was attacked by an election opponent. Mormon writer Smith had admitted to sending “O. P. Rockwell to Mis- Monte B. McLaws, in the Missouri Historical Review, souri to assassinate Gov. Boggs”. Jackson further stated supported Smith, averring that while there was no clear that Smith offered him $3000 to “do what Rockwell had finger pointing to anyone, Governor Boggs was running failed to do, to wit: take the life of Boggs.”[13] for election against several violent men, all capable of William Law’s Accusation the deed, and that there was no particular reason to sus- pect Rockwell of the crime. This opinion was not shared In 1887, more than 40 years after the events, ex-Lat- by Rockwell’s most noted biographer, Harold Schindler. ter Day Saint William Law gave an interview to the Whatever the case, the following year Rockwell was Salt Lake Tribune in which he claimed Joseph Smith arrested, tried, and acquitted of the attempted murder had admitted a role in the assassination; Law reported (Bushman, p. 468), although most of Boggs’ contempo- that Smith stated, “I sent Rockwell to kill Boggs, but he raries remained convinced of his guilt. missed him, it was a failure; he wounded him instead of sending him to Hell.”[14] References 1. “Joseph Smith, John C. Bennett, and the Extradi- Joseph Smith’s Denial tion Attempt, 1842 | Religious Studies Center”. Rsc. Joseph Smith vehemently denied involvement in byu.edu. Retrieved 2013-10-29. 3 Attempted Assassination of Lilburn Boggs Although Governor Boggs’ Extermination Order, October 27, 1838, lead to the arrest and imprisonment of Joseph Smith and many other Church leaders for six months and the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri, Joseph Smith vehemently denied any involvement in the assassination attempt on Boggs. 2. “Uncle Dale’s Old Mormon Articles: Quincy Whig, 1841-1850”.
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