An Interesting Account of Joseph Smith’s 1832 Tarring and Feathering

An account of Emma Hale Smith’s life was published in 1893 that generally is accurate to the history of the Church. One detail that it includes, however, is not published elsewhere to my knowledge. As it is a late account and does not say who the source was, it should be treated as such by historians. When discussing the persecution Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon faced in Hiram, Ohio, this history states:

The converts to Mr. Smith’s preaching were constantly arriving from all parts of the country, [which added] greatly to the disturbance of antagonists to the Mormon religion, and in March, 1832, the most violent persecution followed. Mr. Smith was dragged from his bed, beaten into insensibility, tarred and feathered and left for dead. A strange part of this experience was, that his spirit seemed to leave his body, and that during the period of insensibility he consciously stood over his own body, feeling no pain, but seeing and hearing all that transpired.[1]

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[1] History of Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, in Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County (Dixon, IL: Inez A. Kennedy, 1893), 98.