On Thursday, June 27^th (2019) we mark the 175^th year since the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. and his loyal brother Hyrum were murdered in the Carthage, Illinois jail.

Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its offshoot denominations are unaware that on June 18, 1844, Joseph Smith gave his last public discourse on a temporary stand erected across from the Mansion House.

The Cedar Valley-Nauvoo USA Mission Center, a division of The Community of Christ Church, provided the venue, actors, and commentary as crowd assembled to commemorate 175 years since Joseph Smith gave his last public address.

The Nauvoo Brass Band provided music prior to the event playing hymns and patriotic songs.

Lachlan Mackay, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles of the Community of Christ opened the commemoration with a brief history of the event and what was going on in Nauvoo at the time. (Lach is assigned to the Northeast USA Mission Field, serves as Historic Sites Director and Church History and Sacred Story Ministries Team lead.)

The following is taken from several eyewitness accounts penned 175 years ago:

June 18, 1844, near the Mansion House, Nauvoo, Illinois

The Nauvoo Legion assembled in the morning to organize and prepare for any mob action against the city of Nauvoo.  At 1:45 p. m. the Mayor, Joseph Smith, declared the city of Nauvoo under martial law.  At 2:00 p. m. the Prophet, Lieutenant General Joseph Smith, gave his last public discourse to the men of the Nauvoo Legion in full uniform from the top of the frame of a building across the street south of his mansion home (corner of Main and Water Streets). “I do not regard my own life,” he said.  “I am ready to be offered a sacrifice for this people; for what can our enemies do?  Only kill the body . . . God has tried you.  You are a good people; therefore I love you with all my heart.  Greater love hath no man than that he should lay down his life for his friends.  You have stood by me in the hour of trouble, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation” (History of the Church, 6:500).  At 3:15 p. m., the Prophet took command of the legion and marched them up Main Street to their former parade ground.  He then returned home to the mansion, keeping abreast of the situation with the mob in Carthage and the county.

With sword drawn Joseph declared, “While I live, I will never tamely submit to the dominion of cursed mobocracy.”

I found that as the actor portraying Joseph Smith spoke, I became very moved, almost to tears. I thought, “I am witnessing the same words spoken by the Prophet on that day, in the same place where he had spoken them 175 years earlier.”

Actors played the parts of John P. Greene, the Nauvoo City Marshall who carried out the orders of Joseph Smith, Mayor of Nauvoo, and the City Council to suppress the Nauvoo Expositor. W.W. Phelps and Hyrum Smith were also represented in the event along with Joseph.

I am so glad Jeanette and I were able to attend the commemoration. It made a lasting impression on both of us.