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But in 1827, when he was 22, he told his wife Emma and a few intimates that he had discovered more awesome treasure. It was a pentecostal time of wild religious mysticism and hysteria. Scores of thousands of Americans were pondering the second coming of Christ, thronging into camp meetings where they danced, hopped, screeched and talked convulsively "in tongues." Joseph Smith's story: an angel named Moroni had told him where to unearth some golden plates covered with mystic symbols.
With them he got a pair of magic spectacles to decipher the symbols. One look by anyone else, Joseph said, would mean instant death. After months of speaking from behind a blanket while awe-stricken neighbors took down his words, Joseph Smith produced a 275,000-word document which he called The Book of Mormon. Mark Twain, the great debunker of his day, later described it as "chloroform in print."
God's Prophet. Joseph Smith explained that the Book of Mormon was the new expression of the everlasting Gospel. The import of this revelation was clear. Joseph Smith was God's Prophet, Seer, Revelator and mouthpiece. On the raw frontier in Jackson County, Mo., he established the "true church." Thousands flocked to him—and were persecuted with him—until, after eight years of moving, mobbings, house burnings and guerrilla warfare, Smith sent the Mormons into Illinois. There they began building a new temple, and a new town: Nauvoo.
Life with the prophet was always exciting. At times he received divine revelations almost monthly. He was a man as well as a prophet; he loved to laugh, wrestle and drink. In seven years Nauvoo became the biggest city (20,000) in Illinois.
But Joseph Smith and his chosen people were an affront to the whole frontier. Rumors blazed across the country. The prophet and a few intimates had secretly begun practicing polygamy, often marrying the wives of other Mormons who were handily absent on missions. In 1844, Smith ran for President of the U.S. He organized a Nauvoo Legion of 4,006 well-armed troops, donned a glittering uniform, signed himself "Lieut. General Smith," and talked of setting up a new nation.
That same year, Illinois Governor Thomas Ford threatened to raze Nauvoo. The 38-year-old prophet surrendered himself as a hostage for his people—and sealed his own fate. A mob with their faces disguised with paint invaded Carthage jail, shot him as he tried to escape from a window. As he fell to the ground, a lyncher with a bowie knife prepared to cut off his head, despite the remonstrances of a horrified bystander (see cut). But as he died, the prophet had one more triumph; the sun blazed out, illuminating the jail yard, and the man with the knife shrank away.
The Lion of the Lord. Then a new leader arose and led them west to a final "gathering place of the saved in the last days." The leader was Brigham Young, a broad-shouldered, big-handed Vermont-born carpenter whom the Mormons had called The Lion of the Lord.
Young was a stern and practical man. He was also a diplomat, a statesman, an empire builder and a begetter of children such as America had seldom seen.
The Mormon trail was a cruel road. The Saints began crossing the coffee-colored, ice-littered Mississippi with their cattle and goods in February. Many drowned. Many died on the plains beyond.