Hyrums Gun

During the afternoon of June 23, Reynolds Cahoon and Orrin Porter Rockwell found Joseph, Hyrum, and others across the river in Montrose. Provisions for their journey west were spread across a room. Brothers Cahoon and Rockwell said they came at the request of the Prophet’s wife, Emma. A posse had come for Joseph and Hyrum that morning warning that the governor had promised to garrison troops in Nauvoo until the brothers submitted to arrest. The brethren were told that the people of Nauvoo feared what the troops might do. A discussion ensued. At its end, Hyrum said, “Let us go back and give ourselves up, and see the thing out.”

John S. Fulmer brought his single shot pistol into Carthage Jail for the prisoners to use in self-defense. When the jail was attacked Hyrum Smith had the pistol, but he was fatally wounded before he could use it.

Fulmer had been living on a farm four miles from Nauvoo when, on June 25, 1844, Smith and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were arrested. As an officer in the Nauvoo Legion, he had been on duty during the time the city was under martial law. Because of his friendship with the brothers, Fulmer was one of those who accompanied the Smiths to Carthage Jail. He spent the day and night before the martyrdom with them there. On the morning of the day they were assassinated, June 27, he was sent on an errand by Joseph and he left his gun with them.

This gun was of British make by Lewis & Tomes about 1840. Though at that time it is believed Lewis & Tomes subcontracted the manufacturing out to G.E. Lewis. It is .44 caliber.

This is the English percussion lock pistol. The spring bayonet, because of its size, would not have done much except give the owner a little more room if he was in a dangerous situation. The manufacture of flintlocks in England almost disappeared by 1825. This was a single shot, .44 Cal., flintlock pistol with a single round smooth bore barrel. It had wood grips. It was made of an iron alloy, lock mechanism, bayonet, and trigger guard. It had a Copper alloy barrel and frame.

When the Prophet handed the single shot he had concealed to his brother Hyrum, taking the Pepperbox he said, “You may have use for this.”
Hyrum observed, “I hate to use such things or to see them used.”
“So do I,” said Joseph, “but we may have to, to defend ourselves;” upon this Hyrum took the pistol (History of The Church, 6: 607).
The gun that John Fulmer smuggled in is by my estimation, an infamous one. I would also say it is the most infamous gun never used.
On June 27, 1844, about five o’clock in the evening, about 150 to 200 armed men stormed the jail. Mob members ran up the stairs to the second story where the prisoners were and fired their muskets into the room. Lead balls were fired at the door, one of which passed through the door and hit Hyrum Smith in the face, near his nose. He instantly fell to the ground dead, not having yet shot his single shot pistol.
After Hyrum Smith fell to the ground, Joseph Smith went to the door, opened it slightly and fired off the entire cylinder of his six-shot Pepperbox revolver. Three shots misfired, but the three other balls made positive hits on three would-be assassins.
The bayonet-mounted muskets instantly filled the tight space at the top of the stairs with thick smoke as more lead balls soared into another Mormon prisoner named John Taylor, who was seriously wounded.
Joseph knew the mob wanted his blood, so in an attempt to save his other friends in the room, he made an attempt to leap out the window. He was shot both from the doorway and from the window from which he fell to his death. Both Joseph and Hyrum received 4 balls each.
In his letter to Emma Smith, his wife, dated June 27, 1844, the day of his death, he wrote, “There is one principle which is eternal; it is the duty of all men to protect their lives and the lives of the household, whenever necessity requires, and no power has a right to forbid it, should the last extreme arrive, but I anticipate no such extreme, but caution is the parent of safety.”
There are some who say these men did not die as martyrs because they were armed. My definition of a martyr is to die for your religious or other beliefs. This they did. I believe Joseph Smith was an inspired, living prophet, called to restore God’s church.
174 years last June guns played a very small part in this martyrdom. They attempted to defend themselves but Joseph said it best: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am as calm as a summer's morning. I have a consciences void of an offense toward God and toward all men. If they take my life, I shall die an innocent man, and my blood shall cry from the ground for vengeance, and it shall be said of me, 'He was murdered in cold blood!'"
Semper Paratus
Check 6
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