LETTER OF G. M. HINKLE
(From Messenger and Advocate, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1845.)
Buffalo, Scott County, Indian Territory, August 14, 1844.

TO W. W. Phelps, Esq.,
Nauvoo, Illinois.
    My Dear Sir: After so long a time, I take up my pen to address a few lines to you, and thus break that perfect silence which has existed between us ever since we parted in Far West, Missouri, in the fall of 1838. Then you and I were both dissenters from the church of Latter Day Saints, though we did not dissent upon exactly the same principles; for I only dissented from the unwise, unhallowed management of the heads or authorities of the church, and not from any true points of doctrine which I ever had believed. But you said to me that you dissented from the whole Mormon system.
    Since then I have been told by good authority, such as Hyrum Smith and others, that you have returned to the bosom of the church, and been received again to fellowship, and all seems to be well with you. If you are happy in the course you are now taking, all I have now to say to you is, at the tribunal of heaven you will have to answer for all your deeds done in the body.
    But, sir, there is one point upon which I wish to address [449] the Latter Day Saints through you, in order that the honest-hearted and ignorant-minded may be corrected, and the malicious-hearted slanderers put to shame. It has been the theme of many, since I left Missouri, to calumniate and vilify me for the course which I, as the acting colonel of the militia of Caldwell, pursued in the surrender of the citizens of Far West, Caldwell, etc., to the authorities of Missouri. Those vilifiers have stated it, and vociferated its repetition throughout the length and breadth of our happy land, and the newspapers of the day have thrown it upon the wings of the wind, and no doubt it has gone to the Old World, and there been listened to and credited—especially by those of your faith—that I, as a base wretch, after having the confidence of the church, yet in that critical moment of their perils in Missouri, when they in and of Far West were besieged by between three and four thousand men—the story is, that I, there and then, betrayed 'the heads of the church' into the hands of the military authorities of Missouri, and that, too, for a large sum of money. And then, as if they intended to heap disgrace upon me, after insult and injury, they say I turned state's evidence against them; also that I informed on many of the citizens of Far West and had them arrested and delivered up to the court of inquiry to be punished. And many such like reports have been put in circulation by my enemies to do me injury; all of which, before God, I declare to be as false as Satan himself.
    Now, sir, you are the man who knows more about it than any other man belonging to your church. You know that you, John Corrill, A. Morrison, and myself, were appointed by Joseph Smith to go and confer with the commanding officers of the Missouri militia, and effect a treaty if possible, on any terms short of a battle. You know that we went and risked our lives with a white flag, when only a few hours previous the bearer of one (Charles Rich) had been fired at on the [450] same field; and we did this to obey the order or request of Joseph .Smith. Our object was (at least I felt so) to prevent the effusion of blood, which we all saw must inevitably take place unless something could be done immediately. Were you not present, sir, at that trying scene when the eyes of our enemies seemed to flash fire when we approached, and I received from the hand of Major General Lucas that unhallowed paper, narrating to us the terms upon which the lives of our families and friends could be saved, viz: "Give up your leaders—your principal men—as hostages to be tried by civil law. Give up all your arms of defense, and all leave the State forthwith." He also read to us that generous—no, that execrable—order of Governor Boggs, authorizing him to exterminate us, or drive us from the State. Now, sir, I appeal to your candor: Did I, at this critical moment, say to General Lucas, or to any of those with him, "Give me a sum of money [Judas like] and I will comply"? If you answer in the affirmative, then query, Were you and the others of the delegation to go partners with me in such an unhallowed speculation? What! thus to betray our friends—our brethren—into the hands of their implacable enemies in the hour of their peril—and that, too, for Missouri gold!!!! Or if I did, as has been reported by men high in authority among you, winked at by all, and not contradicted by any—at least so far as I know—did I take the price and snugly lodge it all in my own pocket, without dividing with any of you? You know I did not make that treaty alone. Nay, you well remember that yourself and the others with us, by authority or request of Joseph Smith himself, agreed to the disgraceful terms. We then urged all to submit. But did I not then and there oppose that part of the order requiring us to give up our arms and immediately leave the State, urging that if any had offended by breaking the law, we were willing and even anxious that such should be punished to the extent of jus- [451] tice, or the magnitude of the crime, but to give up our arms and leave the State, would be virtually throwing away our most sacred rites as citizens of a republican state, and that we would as soon give up our lives? Did he not become enraged and say that Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, P. P. Pratt, and G. W. Robinson must be given up, and no other terms would do? Did he not give us half an hour to consult our friends? When the facts were laid before Joseph, did he not say, "I will go"; and did not the others go with him, and that, too, voluntarily, so far as you and I were concerned?

George M. Hinkle, ca. 1850

    My understanding was that those men were to be taken and kept till next morning as hostages; and if they did not, upon reflection and consultation with the officers in the camp of the enemy, during the night, conclude to accept of the terms proposed to us, but choose to fight, then they were to be kept safely, and returned to us in the city next morning, unharmed, and time given us to prepare for an attack by the militia. During this whole interview and transaction, were not thousands of troops drawn up near the city, ready to fall upon us, provided those demanded as hostages refused to go? And when Smith and the others had given up, without any compulsory measures from us, did not General Lucas demand our arms, but on reflection agree to let us retain them till next day, inasmuch as it was then about sunset? Were we not advised next day, by word sent expressly from Joseph Smith to us, to surrender? When that intelligence was received, did I not draw up the forces under my command, and explain to them the nature of the whole affair, and then request all who were in favor of surrendering, to make it known by marching three paces forward ? They made a very slow start, but finally all came forward. We then marched out with slow and solemn step into a partial hollow square of the enemy, faced inward, grounded arms, and marched away and left them. The town [452] was laid under martial law and guarded. Then the authorities commenced taking others as prisoners, and kept them under guard to be tried, as they said, by civil law.
    No man ever knew me to complain of, or inform on any one. Uniformly when questioned by those seeking victims, 1 told them that all I knew to be guilty of breaking the law had fled from the city the night before the surrender. When the court of inquiry held its session in Richmond, I did not turn state's evidence, but was legally subpoenaed, as you know.
    Therefore, as to my course of conduct there, even under trying circumstances, while restrospecting it I have no cause of regret. And during the time I was a member of that church, before God and all men I have a clear conscience, and am willing to give an account of my course at any time. While I lived in that church I tried to live in peace; and when I left it, I did not leave in order to persecute it, but to get from under the priestly influence of those men who bore down upon those who opposed their views, with an iron rule; with a yoke too intolerable for a high-minded man, or a humble Christian spirit to bear. Past experience had already shown me that as soon as anyone, but especially one of note among them, would leave them, he must sufl'er all kinds of abuse. The motto was, "His character must be ruined, or he will injure us." And in return, the dissenters have said, "Down with the heads of the church." And I know that they have sometimes used base means, and published many falsehoods, and brought much persecution on you. This has not been my course. I despise the course which both parties have pursued. I am for peace and for truth, and truth only on all subjects. Notwithstanding the many slanders that have been afloat about me, in order to injure and ruin me, this is the first scrap that I have ever published on the subject; and I have written and published this out of mere necessity, in self-defense. I have [453] hitherto been determined, let them say what they would or could, I would bear it, and leave the event with God. Almost six years have rolled away since I withdrew my labors and influence from among that people; and notwithstanding my reserve, some of them still continue to roll down their Satanic falsehoods upon me. I have been informed that one of your number is now in an adjoining neighborhood to this, asserting that I sold the heads of the church, in Missouri, for $700.
    Now, sir, as you are the man who was engaged in the whole affair with me, I request that you write a letter for publication, and either put in the Times and Seasons, or send it to me; and in it exempt me from those charges, and correct the minds of that people and the public on this subject; for you know that they are as base as the blackness of darkness, and as false as Satan himself. If I felt to retaliate or to do as other dissenters have done, I might publish much, and do it in truth, about the wickedness of that people, and it might add to the already exasperated state of feeling now existing against them; but, sir, that is not my purpose. I feel, and always have, to leave them in the hands of God, and to mind my own business; and I assure you I find enough to do to attend strictly to my own duty; therefore, write and exhort your brethren "to go and do likewise."

    Very respectfully, Your friend and well-wisher,
    G. M. Hinkle.
[Journal of History, Vol. 13 (January 1920): 448-453].