27 Oct Mormon Extermination Order

Nice. Now I know this happens to be the same date as my wedding anniversary… LOL.

I remember believing for years that the saints were totally innocent in the Missouri business and victims, pure and simple, of Governor Boggs and the mob. Too bad it wasn’t true.

What did they do that justified this statement?

I have received by Amos Reese, Esq., of Ray county, and Wiley C. Williams, Esq., one of my aids [sic], information of the most appalling character, which entirely changes the face of things, and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this state.

Mormons raided and burned 2-3 towns some time after the expulsion from Jackson County. It’s all in “Rough Stone Rolling” so the governor decided it was war.

Which was the next escalation from the previous incidents, etc., etc. There was plenty of bad behavior all around. I just want to add that I also don’t believe anymore the Saints were blameless. They were very bad neighbors right from the start, and made things worse with some speeches that were published in newspapers.

But nothing justifies sending out the state militia with orders to exterminate a whole people… 😯

I remember believing for years that the saints were totally innocent in the Missouri business and victims, pure and simple, of Governor Boggs and the mob. Too bad it wasn’t true.

The truth is that there is NO WAY that Boggs (some name) could ever jutify this order. It was unconstitutional, brutal and half way to genocide. But what should we expect from people who treated blacks and Indians as they did?

Presumably the extermination order also covers women, children and the elderly who were all Mormons, and who had to be exterminated or driven from the state.

Yes, I am aware that the LDS didn’t behave themselves, but it has to be taken in the context of the harassment that they received and this is an example, a black stain on the State of Missouri. There is a fine line here… many of the survivors of Waco have complained about how they were persecuted by the state.

Again, I’m disappointed that the Church published Truth Restored that sanitized all this. Personally, I would simply NOT publish an official history of our Church at all, rather than publish a re-framed one – Consciously reframed denying the balanced facts. I think I need to read Rough Stone Rolling, as it sounds like it will help me truly understand this heritage I adopted under “truth-frugal” circumstances…

There is another one by Fawn Brodie called “No Man Knows My history” that I hear is less faith-promoting, but could be more accurate — assuming accuracy is even possible in history.

And by the way, the Internet, and the accessiblity of so much data about things like the Extermination Order and the Church in general now, brings new meaning to the scripture that in the last days everything that has been done will be “shouted from rooftops”. Perhaps I’m out of context with that statement, as I’m too lazy to look it up, but I certainly have learned more about the truth of our organization’s past through Internet experiences than I learned through all the first-hand study of the Church in the decades prior to the information highway.

Yes, but there is a prophecy by Joseph Smith that is recorded by church historian B.H. Roberts many years later. Roberts’ essay on this point is published in front of one of the seven volumes of church history. Joseph Smith essentially prophesied that the state of Missouri would be a bloodbath and that those who persecuted the saints would have the same happen to them ten fold or a hundred fold. I don’t remember the exact quote. This prophecy was realized during the US Civil War 1861-1865. The worst and most brutal carnage and destruction; the result of severe guerrilla warfare was waged in the state of Missouri. So, I don’t really dwell on the extermination order, knowing that vengeance is the Lord’s, and he took care of it just as the Prophet Joseph Smith prophesied. Nevertheless, it was a terrible episode in the church’s history from the insider’s perspective.

There is plenty of blame to go around both on the Missouri side and on the Mormon side. Cooler heads certainly did not prevail. Kenny Ballentine put together a documentary on the Missouri problem, and I blogged about it: http://www.mormonheretic.org/2010/07/11/the-moral-panic-causes-trouble-in-zion/

Here are some key events.

1) July 1833, WW Phelps published an article in the Evening and Morning Star that Mormons wanted to welcome people of all color. This is the reason the Missourians were upset.

2) July 20, 1833. Bishop Partridge is told to leave Jackson County immediately. He refuses and is tarred and feathered. Mobs destroyed the Mormon printing press. (Joseph was living in Kirtland at this time.) Three days later, Partridge signs an agreement to leave the county.

3) Oct 31-Nov 7. Missourians incite hostilities against the Mormons. Mormons leave for Clay County.

4) In 1836, the Missouri legislature declares Caldwell County will be set aside for Mormon settlement. (This is the home of Far West.) Ballentine doesn’t mention that the original “Jack Mormon”, non-Mormon Alexander Doniphan brokers a deal to create the county. This is partly to make a home for Mormons in recompense for Jackson County, but Alex Baugh has referred to this as a “Mormon reservation”.

5) In 1838, Joseph leaves Kirtland under the cover of night due to the Kirtland Bank Crisis. Upon arriving in Missouri, he finds dissent among Missouri Mormons as well. John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and WW Phelps are excommunicated. Many of these dissenters opposed living the Law of Consecration. Non-Mormons find the excommunications a hostile act.

6) June 17, 1838. Sidney Rigdon issues the “Salt Sermon.” In the sermon, he referenced the scripture about “salt that has lost it’s savor”, and essentially issued an ultimatum that Mormon apostates should leave the county or be forcibly removed. Most of the dissenters move south to Ray County.

7) July 4, 1838. Rigdon issued another fiery patriotic sermon stating that the Mormons and Missourians would wage a “war of extermination…one party or the other”. It seems the subsequent Extermination Order by Governor Boggs wasn’t quite what Rigdon had in mind.

Aug 6, 1838 – Mormons in Daviess County were prevented from voting. The Whig candidate said Mormons were only supposed to live in Caldwell County and should be ineligible to vote. He was concerned that Mormons would vote for the Democratic Candidate, because Mormons were overwhelming Democrats back then. A big brawl broke out that has often been called a “battle”. There were exaggerated rumors that Mormons were killed.

9) Aug 19, 1838 – Mormons were expelled from DeWitt, in Daviess County. Following the election, Missourians decided to expel Mormons.

10) Oct 18, 1838 – The Mormons decide to retaliate. Known as the Daviess Expedition, a group of Danites (a secret Mormon militia group) led an effort to expel Missourians from Gallatin, Millport and Grindstone Fork. Mormons plundered the property and burned the stores and houses to the ground.

11) Oct 24, 1838 – The Battle of Crooked River. Mormons attack and scatter the Missouri Militia. Many of the Missouri Militia erroneously believe all others are killed. Only 1 Missourian was killed, but LDS Apostle David Patten (known as “Captain FearNot”), Danite leader Gideon Carter were both killed; 9 other Mormons were wounded.

12) Oct 27, 1838 – Governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order; “the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace…”

13) October 30, 1838 – The Hauns Mill Massacre; 18 Mormons are killed, ranging in age from 10-year old Sardius Smith, to 62 year old Thomas McBride.

Hopefully you can see from this sequence of events that both sides were to blame.