Road to Carthage: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast

This introductory episode previews the limited-series podcast on the history of the 1844 assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage, Illinois.

This episode reveals how the violence Latter-day Saints experienced in Missouri during the 1830s informed the way they designed safeguards for their rights and lives in Illinois.

This episode reveals the various avenues to protection that church and civic leaders in Nauvoo explored, including Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign and the Saints’ petitions to the United States Congress.

This episode explains the origins of dissent in Nauvoo, rising tensions in the region following the Nauvoo City Council’s suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor, and the events that led Joseph and Hyrum Smith to travel to Carthage, Illinois.

This episode describes the legal proceedings in Carthage, Illinois, on June 25, 1844, and the mob’s attack on Carthage Jail and murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith two days later.

This episode details the return of Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s bodies to Nauvoo, the mourning of the Saints and their efforts to memorialize their fallen leaders, questions of succession in church leadership, and the settling of Joseph Smith’s estate.

This episode explores the history of Carthage Jail, how the building became a historic site and how its meaning has changed to visitors over time. The episode also describes ongoing efforts to preserve and share Joseph Smith’s history.

In this episode, President M. Russell Ballard discusses the historic and spiritual legacy of Joseph and Hyrum Smith from his perspective as an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as a descendant of Hyrum.

In this episode, Dallin H. Oaks recounts his experiences and discoveries researching the legal history of the events surrounding the martyrdom. President Oaks and Richard E. Turley Jr. also reflect on the historical and spiritual legacy of Joseph.