Joseph and Hyrum Smith's Last Ride - Nauvoo, IL, USA
N 40° 33.030 W 091° 23.124
15T E 636711 N 4490112
This statue, near the LDS Temple in Nauvoo, Illinois, depicts the last ride of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, as they left Nauvoo for Carthage, where they were murdered by a mob three days later.
Waymark Code: WMFARA
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2012
Views: 3
"On June 24, 1844, Joseph Smith, with his brother, Hyrum, left Nauvoo for Carthage on what would be their final ride. They were required to appear in court to answer charges for “causing a riot.”
This statue depicts the brothers beginning that fateful journey. Not far from this location by the temple, Joseph turned and said, “This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them.”
As they were nearing Carthage, Joseph spoke to the company, saying “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a Summer’s morning. I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me, ‘He was murdered in cold blood.’”
His prophecy came true three days later when he and his brother Hyrum were killed while awaiting trial in the Carthage Jail.
Sculptors Stan Watts and Kim Corpany created this bronze statue depicting Joseph and Hyrum in peaceful conversation on their way to face charges in Carthage.
The artists began the statue early in 2003, often laboring 14-hours a day, six days a week. Stan Watts sculpted the human figures, while Kim Corpany concentrated on her specialty, the horses. After completing the sculpture, Corpany stated, “I know I’m not capable of pounding as much clay as we have done. I know we’ve had help.”
The monument was transported from Salt Lake City in one piece on a flatbed truck, arriving in Nauvoo the morning of December 8, 2003. It was then lifted with a crane onto the pedestal." SOURCE
On the plinth that holds the sculpture of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on horseback, is a plaque entitled "The Prophet's Last Ride", that reads:
The Prophet's Last Ride
On the morning of June 24, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum
left their families, homes and fellow Saints for the last time. Traveling
on horseback, they paused on this bluff. Joseph looked admiringly
at the unfinished temple and the city of Nauvoo and declared:
This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens;
little do they know the trials that await them.
Joseph and Hyrum then continued on to Carthage, Illinois, where
they faced legal charges and eventual death at the hands of a mob.
Sculpted by Stan Watts and Kim Corpany, 2003