On June 24, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith left Nauvoo for Carthage with John Taylor, Williard Richards, and others to answer false charges, traveling a road that ran directly between the two places for 16 miles. It was the last journey Joseph and Hyrum would ever make. While they were being housed in an upstairs room of the Carthage Jail, a band of armed men stormed the jail with guns blazing and ruthlessly martyred the Prophet Joseph and his brother, Hyrum. The old Nauvoo-Carthage Road is now mostly buried in the midst of farm fields, though rural roads run near the original route.