DEPARTURE OF GOVERNOR FORD FOR NAUVOO--THE AFTERNOON IN CARTHAGE PRISON--THE ASSAULT ON THE PRISON--THE MARTYRDOM OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH. Pass for Willard Richards. Letter: Joseph Smith to O. H. Browning--Engaging Browning as Legal Counsel. The Guard's False Alarm over the Nauvoo Legion. Markham Forced out of Carthage. Anxiety of the Jailor. Wine for the Guard. The Assault on the Jail. The Prisoners' Defense. Death of Hyrum Smith. The "Handsome Fight" of Joseph Smith and John Taylor. Taylor Wounded and Helpless. Two Minutes in Jail. First Message to Nauvoo. CHAPTER XXXIV. GOVERNOR FORD IN NAUVOO--NEWS OF THE MARTYRDOM MESSAGE TO NAUVOO--ARRIVAL OF THE BODIES--SORROWFUL SCENES--THE BURIAL. Governor Ford in Nauvoo. Military Display. Departure of the Governor from the Danger Zone. The Start from Nauvoo with the Bodies of the Martyrs. The Address of Dr. Richards _et al._. Preparation of the Bodies for Burial. Lying in State. The Real Burial. Official Statement of the Martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch. {XXI} INTRODUCTION. _I. The Time Period._ The time-period covered in this sixth volume of the HISTORY OF THE CHURCH is less than one year. Nine months and twenty-eight days, to be exact; or from the 1st of September, 1843, to the 29th of June, 1844. Events within this period are therefore given in elaborate detail. The general reader and the student of our history will find in this volume a larger collection of documents, official and otherwise, covering this period, than will be found elsewhere. This volume also closes the first Period of our Church History, the period marked off by two events: (1) the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and (2) his martyrdom and that of his brother Hyrum, at Carthage, Illinois. The Journal History of the Prophet, that great source of historical knowledge concerning the development of the New Dispensation, closes with his entry of the 22nd of June, 1844. After that, for our knowledge of the remaining events of the Prophet's life, we are dependent upon collections of _data_ by the Church historians from public and private sources, of which collections there are two: the first extends from the 22nd of June to the 29th of that month, and forms the concluding chapters of this volume; the second begins also with the 22nd of June, and extends to the 8th of August, 1844; at which time the Twelve Apostles were sustained for the time being as the presiding council of the Church. This second collection of _data_ by the Church historians will open Volume VII of this History.