Joseph Smith's deliverance from a mob in Hyrum, Ohio
Published October 5, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
On the night of March 24–25, 1832, while living at the John Johnson farm in Hiram, Portage County, Ohio, Joseph Smith was awakened by his wife, Emma, screaming 'murder.' Joseph had been sleeping on a trundle bed in the first floor of the home, where he and Emma were caring for their adopted twins, who were sick with the measles. A mob of approximately 25 men, including Eli Johnson and others, broke into the home, dragged Joseph out into the night, and held him by his hair, limbs, and clothing. The mob choked him and attempted to force acid into his mouth; they also enlisted a physician to castrate him, though the doctor ultimately refused to perform the procedure. Joseph struggled against the group until he was finally left in a battered, naked, and tarred and feathered state. Upon returning to the house, Joseph was met by Emma, who, seeing the black tar on his skin and mistaking it for blood, fainted. Friends spent the remainder of the night cleaning the tar from his body. Despite his severe injuries and exhaustion, Joseph preached a sermon the next morning to a gathering that included some of the very men who had attacked him. He also baptized three people that day. Tragically, one of the twins, eleven-month-old Joseph Murdock Smith, died four days after the attack, a death exacerbated by the trauma and exposure the family suffered that night.
In Their Own Words
“On the 25th of March, the twins before mentioned, which had been sick of the measles for some time, caused us to be made up, so that I lay on the trundle bed, and Doctor Murdock's twins came to bed with us; and I being pretty well fatigued, fell asleep. In the night the people of the house awakened me, and told me that I had better lie down on the trundle bed, and I did so, and was soon after awoke by her screaming 'murder!' when I found myself going out of the door, in the hands of about a dozen men; some of whose hands were in my hair, and some hold of my shirt, drawers and limbs. The side of the house was broken open, and they were dragging me out by some force, so that they knocked me against the door-post and casement; and why they did not kill me, I do not know, but they hauled me away for some distance, and one of the gang made a violent attempt to thrust his hand into my face, with all his fingers extended, for the purpose of gouging my eyes, but he missed his mark, and he felt the serrated edge of my teeth, which cut his fingers. They then seized me by the throat, and choked me, and I had to use all my strength to keep from being strangled. They knocked me down, and then kicked me in my sides, and one man cried out, 'Shoot him, shoot him!' but they were afraid to do it. They then dragged me further off, on to the ground, and began to abuse me in other ways. They returned after a while when I learned they had concluded not to kill me, but pound and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave me naked. One cried, 'Simonds, Simonds, where's the tar?' so they brought a bucket of tar and a paddle, and they tarred my body all over, and then they feathered me; and then they whipped me, and after that they returned to the house, and tarred and feathered the doctor also. After they had left me, I attempted to rise, but fell down again; I pulled the tar away from my lips, so that I could breathe more freely, and raised myself up, when I saw two lights. I made my way towards one of them, and found it was Father Johnson's. When I came to the door I was naked, and the tar made me look like a negro, and I was obliged to ride upon a horse, and go about, till Brother Murdock and others came to assist me. My friends spent the night in scraping and removing the tar, and washing and cleansing my body; so that by morning I was ready to be clothed again. This being the morning of the Sabbath, the morning of the Lord's day, the people assembled for meeting at the usual hour of worship, and among them came several of the mob that had assisted in tarring and feathering me, and actually showed symptoms of repentance. But whether they repented or not, the gospel was preached that day, and I baptized three individuals.”
— Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 265-267
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 28 November 1868 (Vol. 30, No. 48). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1868-11-28_30_48 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): John Johnson Farm - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Johnson_Farm Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 30, No. 48, 28 November 1868 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1868-11-28_30_48
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