MISSOURl

MORMON

FRONTIERNumber 34 Jackson coun Missouri Ma t 2004

IN THAT COUNTRYAN ESSAY

byH. D. Spidle

DEDICATION-In special consideration for the memory of preceding generations of my Missouri family who, had they the facts available

to me, may have reached a different view of the story than that which I believe they held.

Note: All rights reserved [by the author] for this copyrighted material [including Inap page].

FORWARD

J# 77!cz/ CowHtry began as an idea for the insert of afew paragraphs into an autobiographical sketch meantonly to be read by close family. However, in the writingit became much expanded and now seems more suitedas standalone narrative. I am not Mormon but aninterest in this A4:or77go# sJory springs from a time and

place of earliest memory and tales passed down from myCaldwell County, grandparents. The four of them wereborn in the early 1870's and all lived long enough that Iknew them well. On my matemal side the family hadmigrated to that part of Missouri shortly after the troubleof the late 1830's. And it is then that they were likelywell indoctrinated by non-Mormon neighbors (andperhaps others as well) with a singular, uncontestedview of the story. Because thereafter, the drama asfamily oral history would take on a life of its own.

Thus in commencing this work my journey was notonly for the discovery of fact but to understand as wellthe vehemence of my people toward all things Mormon.And for the first undertaking I was well rewarded, lessso for the second. It would be easy of course to dismissthis frustration as having confirmed a deteminedsecondhand bigotry on the part of my ancestors and theirpeers. But there must be more to it than that. It is arecollection that my known predecessors seemed for

their time to be rational, tolerant citizens. So byextension, I think it possible that early Momonisminculcated into the psyche of frontier Missouri asocial/cultural schism so deep that a lingering hostileremembrance would simply survive generations.Nonetheless, across those generations and certainlywithin my family, innocence of historical fact about thestory seems to have been pervasive. And it is probablyinstructive (albeit anecdotal) that my siblings findthemselves in somewhat supportive surprise on readinga draft of the manuscript. So perhaps some good maycome of its wider dissemination.

As for the process, I had begun assembling notes forthe autobiographical effort, when a visit last summer tothat place of first remembering brought into focus adesire to reflect on that which led to this essay. Thentoo, I was encouraged by the amount of informationreadily available from that remarkable storehouse ofinfomation, the internet. Especially helpful was aneasily directed access to works still in print which dealwith the history and/or the lives of those involved in thedrama. Thus for facts and flavor, about the story, aboutthe actors and about Mormonism, I'm much indebted tothe well researched and carefully drafted pertinentworks of whters Stephen C. Lesueur, Roger D.Launius, Armand L Mauss and Terryl L Givens. Alsoof good use was the Historical Atlas Of Mormonism

e2 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

edited by Messrs S. Kent Brown, Donald Q. Cannon andRichard H. Jackson. And finally, a little monograph onthe history of Caldwell County by Dr. Bertha EllisBooth (whom my mother would have known fromCaldwell's Kidder Institute) was most illuminating. Iwas led to thatjewel by Mr. Michael Riggs, a gentlemanintent on saving an historic log cabin of the period.

So those fine sources delivered the stuff of myinterpretation; but should that interpretation fail, eitheron matters of historical accuracy, judgment or desired

intent, the responsibility is entirely mine. And at anyrate a caveat is in order. I am by training an engineer,not a historian, so what the reader will encounter is astructure built on a generous foundation of thescholarship of others, albeit painted with a personalbrush... and in the colors of my choosing.

H. D. SpidleSmith County, TexasApril, 2004

IN THAT COUNTR:I

... It is as though fior more than a hundred and fiifly yearssilence and denial had conspired to perpetuate as valid, only thatremembered as negative toward Caldwell 's FoundingMormons . . .

When you look at a roadmap of Missouri, it is in theupper part of the state that US 36 Highway is shown asa ribbon stretching from the western border at SaintJoseph on the Missouri River, to Mark Twain'sHannibal on the great Mississippi, about 200 miles tothe east. And some 50 miles from St. Joe, the outlinedrectangle of Caldwell County hangs on that road like adish towel on a clothesline. So let us zoom in there.

As recently as a generation or two ago the passerbywould have noted a patchwork landscape of well definedfamily farms, each of 80, 120 or perhaps 160 acres. Andtypical of the genre would be a well kept century-old,two-story house accompanied by outbuildings, a groveof trees and the ubiquitous windmill. But the smallfamily farm as economic unit has nearly disappeared, sonowadays the traveler will experience mostly anexpanse of undexpopulated and unfenced tilled prairiepunctuated by small towns which, now long past theirprime, struggle to survive. Such then is creativedestruction worked by transforming time. However, oneunchanging and distinguishing feature of the county isthat of Shoal Creek which, commencing in ClintonCounty just to the west bisects Caldwell on its way todelivering its contents into south-bound Grand River incontiguous Livingston County to the east.

Point to point, from beginning to end, it's a distanceof no more than 50 miles, but Shoal Creek is muchlonger than that. On close inspection, its topologyappears to have been laid out by a confused diamond-

back rattler, indecisive as to where to follow themoming sun. In the dry season, from late summer andwell into autumn, the steep-banked watercourse canwither to an infimity hardly worth its name. Indeed inmany places it can then be crossed without so much aswetting one's boots. And there in that lazy-sun time ofyear, all is quiet except for the tired rasp of cicadae, theplaintive query of the whippoorwill and the full-throttlecroak of bullfrogs complaining at the lack of mud inwhich to play. Visiting the stream in that timid state canmislead a person (even those who know better) intothinking its purpose entirely innocuous.

Because there is another Shoal Creek. . .that of angry,raging demon which during periods of heavy rain,invites into its many tributary arms the watershed ofperhaps 100,000 acres, and then has its way with prettymuch anything it wants. In those times the flood plainsbecomejust that. And Shoal Creek in flood is somethingto behold. It is known to wreak havoc with crops andother property a like; but in receding, its anger spent,leaves in its wake a benevolent calling card of thick richlife giving silt. I think it has always been so.

In Caldwell's 36 square mile Fairview Township,which is about midway in the north/south direction buttoward the eastern border of the county, there is a placeon the north side of this creek called Haun's Mill...andnow just a marker really for what was there a long timeago. I was born very near there in the mid 1930's, aswas my mother before me (1900) and her

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIEF{ FOUNDATION Number 34 t 2004 Pa

To Bichmondand Liberty

Mormon Settlement in Frontier Missouri,1831-1839

e4 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

parents before her (1870 and 1874). Indeed, mygrandmother was from a family (Guffey) which hasowned land thereabouts since the 1840's. We lived withina mile of the mill site with no intervening neighbors, sothat locale is a place of some note in the collectivememory of my people. And certainly, for me as a child,an awakening sense of the outside world relied as muchon the ever present influence of Shoal Creek in our livesas did for example, the rhythm of the seasons or thecoming and going of extended family. Thus, reviewing itshistory for but little more than the past century would beworth a tale, even if told to none but my grandchildren.But, as with a difference in character between the dry andwet seasons, there is another history of Shoal Creek; onemuch older and darker...one that whispers of a sad andsinister drama which for those involved, eventually forceda great migration to a land far away. And for ShoalCreek, what was left in the trouble's wake would sullyreputations, both of men and places...and yes, includingeven that of the great State of Missouri. I've always beenmuch drawn to the story and can recall as a small child,having sleep disturbed by thoughts of that place, Haun'sMill. A nd in the intervening decades those nightmareimages, though now as faded as an old photograph, havenever altogether disappeared. What follows is an attemptto make personal sense of it.

From early on Caldwell County, Missouri had astrange and lurid history. The district was created as a430 square mile parcel carved out of, and separated from,the central part of super-sized Ray County. Ray, thoughonly about 25 miles wide, extended at the time from itssouthern reach on the Missouri River, north for more than100 miles to Missouri's border with the Iowa Territory.After the partition, Caldwell's contiguous neighborsbecame, to the north, Daviess (created out of Ray at thesame time), and to the northeast and southeastrespectively, Livingston and Carroll. Add to thisgeography Clinton County to the west and of courseCaldwell' s parent, Ray to the south. And just west of Raylay C lay C ounty w hich w as s eparated b y t he M issouriRiver from its southern neighbor Jackson County. Thisrealignment took place some fifteen years after theMissouri territory had achieved statehood.

Just prior to this, during the summer of 183 6, familiesbegan pouring into north central Ray County, settlingalong Shoal Creek's fertile northern bottom lands andsouth facing uplands, hopeful that a legally separatespace, cz res'ervczfz.o7], might be set aside for them.

They hadn't long to wait. The new county would bebirthed in December,1836 with the able assistance of a

bright 28 year old Liberty (Clay County Seat), Missourilawyer and legislator by the name of Alexander WilliamDoniphan (later of Mexican War fame), who drafted theseparation papers and coaxed consideration and approvalthrough the state legislature. The idea was to solve agrowing problem by setting aside an entire county as safehaven (feome/cz#cJ was Doniphan ' s tern) for the increasingnumbers of an emigrating religious sect who were in thehabit of finding themselves unwelcome wherever theywent. Will Doniphan and fellow attorneys (who were alsosenior commanders in Missouri's volunteer militia) hadrepresented the group in earlier disputes; so he knew themwell and hoped that an unwritten understanding for theirencouragement to migrate exclusively into newlyestablished Caldwell might leave them in peace. And too,the area seemed a good choice because at the time thatpart of the state remained sparsely settled. Many earlyhomesteaders had quickly moved on once they discoveredthe prairie surface to be mostly a hard thick crust beforewhich the breaking plows of the day resigned infrustration. But let's here pause to consider relevantdetails of background.

These people of Doniphan's concern (by selfreference a peculiar people) also called themselves Saints(or in groups, the Brethren) and called their covenant TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS).Locals called them Momon after their ancillary book ofworship by that name. Since the early 1830's their steadynumbers had fled persecution from a settlement atKirtland near Lake Erie in northeastern Ohio. And theywere relocating into northwest Missouri...some to upperRay and Carroll Counties, but more into the lowlands ofJackson County in and around the recently founded(1827) village of Independence. That area, on the BlueRiver and near the flood plains of the Missouri was aboutfifty miles southwest of what would become CaldwellCounty. The land had been peopled by farmers ofEuropean ancestry for some time. And too, the peacefulindigenous Indian tribes had practiced an agrarianlifestyle there for longer than anyone knew. Indeed in1804 when, at the direction of President ThomasJefferson, M essrs L ewis a nd C lark e mbarked from t hesmall town of Saint Louis on their historic journeywestward to find the headwaters of a great river, theytraveled deep into the namesake territory of Missouribefore entering a land where farming was unknown andfew whites had ever been.

But by the late 1820's western Missouri (at that timethe frontier's land of promise) was booming and JacksonCounty was becoming settled, mostly by hard scrabblefarming folk of Anglo-Saxon stock who were emigrating

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number 34 Ma t 2004 Pa

from the backwoods of Indiana, Kentucky and Termessee.In the main these were not sophisticated people, somodem ideas of inclusion or political correctness wouldnever have occurred to them. They could be profiled asan independent, self sufficient hard working type whowould fight at the drop of a hat either with outsiders or,not having that available, among themselves. Those whocould read and write were drawn mostly to the professionsof preaching, law and politics. And the profile lasted fordecades. My matemal grandfather, Clark Wells Suter(1870-1962)referredtomanyofthecountrypeopleofhisboyhood and before as "mean as polecats".

Thus the arrival in Jackson County of the Mormons in1831 was viewed with suspicion by settled homesteaderswho saw them indeed as a mos/ pecz//I.czr peep/e. LDSfounder and charismatic leader, twenty six year oldJoseph Smith Jr., though for the time staying in Ohio, haddirected them to western Missouri. Smith believed that czgczfAerj.#g o/ Sczz.#/s' there would eventually usher in thesecond coming of Christ who would then rule a just andpeaceable kingdom on earth. So come they did, from thenorth eastern U. S., but from Canada and the British Islesas well. Within less than a year they represented twentyfive percent of the county population of 5000. But theirnumbers, their beliefs and their lifestyle quickly proved ofconcern t o their e stablished n eighbors. F or o ne thing,local clergyjudged the religion apocryphal at best. It wassaid they arranged their affairs both public and privatearound divine revelation given the PrapAef in their midst.And the Mormon belief system with its tenant ofunquestioning obedience to doctrine and the confidencethat the church was at all times led by a fz.vz.ng Prapfee/,was soon to be castigated from local mainstream pulpitsas downright heretical and therefore dangerous. Then too,whispers of a considered practice of plural marriage alongwith a communal way of life (tried seriously only in the1831 -1834 period) was disturbing to their neighbors forreasons both political and economic. Importantly, theBrethren and the Church (though ironically at the timeracist by doctrine) were believed to be of an abolitionistconscience which in slaveholding Missouri lent anincendiary ingredient. And although they certainlyproselytized, it is probable that it was their very successwith pooled resources, their industry, their work ethic andthe mostly minding of their own business that broughtabout an irreconcilable rift. It was said their Prophet andFounder had dreamt an eschatological vision for JacksonCounty as the new Zion; but if so, he must havemisinterpreted a nightmare, because the faithful werewalking straight into Hell.

Soon, rumors (outlandish and otherwise) about theintent of the smug and clannish Mormons began to spread,and the Missourians became suspicious that the

newcomers wished eventually to acquire everything (andprobably they did, albeit by purchase), leaving little forthose who, having arrived first, believed absolutely in theneed to maintain a plurality. Because indeed far worsethan a question of land ownership was the fear that shouldpolitical majority be achieved by the Brethren fAe}J wow/c7then erforce a theocratic influence on the gore;[nanee onthe county. Notwithstanding that the concerns wereprobably warranted, I might add as footnote the doubt thatanyone much bothered to inquire of the precedentindigenous Osage, Ottawa and Kansa peoples theiropinion of such fine talking points on the rights andresponsibilities of earned stewardship.

So a state of increasing tension and insult soondeveloped. But as tipping point, in July,1833, a firestormwas ignited in Jackson County when an editorial "FreePeep/c o/ C'o/oJ~" appeared in the local Mormonnewspaper. The article apparently concerned aninvitation for freed slaves in the state to accept the Gospelof the Saints, but was interpreted as more than that byoutsiders. Soon tempers flared and mob violence erupted.The printing press was destroyed along with the buildingthat housed it, and Mormon Bishop Edward Partridge waspublicly stripped, beaten, tarred and feathered. A fewdays later the mob returned to inform the Saints that halfof them must leave by year's end and the remainder bythe following April. At this the Momons appealed toGovernor Daniel Dunklin who though not having warmfeelings toward them, did recognize their plight andwondered a t their p ersecution. He suggested they s eekredress in the courts.

Enter now attorneys A. W. Doniphan, David RiceAtchison (later, U. S. Senator) and Amos Rees. At thetime, these young and talented lawyers were achievingnotable success and a broadening client base in northwestMissouri. They certainly had empathy for the plight ofthe Mormons and agreed to represent them, albeitdemanding a high retainer for fear that such representationmight itself ruin their established trade. However, oncecontracted they worked hard for their new clients andbrought before the courts complaints concerning thedestruction of property along with an action by BishopPartridge against his attackers, one of whom was a man bythe name of Samuel Lucas. h the assault case allassailants pled self defense and all were acquitted. Othercomplaints ended with similar result; so although theBrethren at the time appreciated the efforts of Doniphanand Co., little was then obtained to their satisfaction.

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The situation remained volatile and (for reasons lostto history), on October 31,1833, the old settlers againattacked the Saints at a settlement called Whitmer Branchnear Independence. Mobs whipped, pillaged andgenerally t errorized t he p lace f or s everal d ays u ntil, i nearly November, Lyman Wight, a senior Mormon official,arrived with help from a few miles west (indeed from anupland prairie just south of the Missouri River that wouldlater become the site of a great city). At this juncture theMilitia Colonel responsible for that area called out a forceto subdue the violence and quickly arranged for anegotiated truce between the parties. However, as soon asthe Momons surrendered their arms, the troops j oined themob in terrorizing the now defenseless Brethren. Somenonparticipant locals may have approved of the outrage,but others were shocked at the barbarism of it. As for theSaints it had now became clear that neither local authoritynor the State of Missouri could be counted on forprotectionunderthelaw.Thusinthewinterof1833/1834,most Mormons, fearing for their lives, left their lands andother property and fled Jackson County to the north wherethey crossed the great Missouri into adjacent ClayCounty. This Diaspora was no doubt encouraged by mostof their neighbors and certainly by Jackson Countyresident and Missouri Lieutenant Governor, forty one yearold Lilbum Boggs. Boggs, who had earlier been the firstclerk of Jackson County, hadapparently himself haddisagreements with the Brethrenover issues involving property.

So once again a massiverelocation of the Saints wasunderway. But soon, their ClayCounty neighbors, welcoming atfirst, began to worry at the sheernumbers of Mormons in their

immediate removal. But also in attendance was attorneyWill Doniphan, who as a persuasive speaker, calmed thecrowd and promised to work toward a compromisesuitable to all.

A short time later he helped draft a recommendationto t he M ormons t hat t hey 1 Cave v oluntarily b ecause o fbeliefllife styles incompatible with that of their neighbors.But Doniphan also assured them of his support in findinga land where they might live in peace. Thereafter,negotiations with the Mormons, represented by theintelligent and practical John Corrill, led to agreement onupper Ray County as that place. Doniphan then promptlyled the effort in the State Capital at Jefferson City toconfirm just such an outcome which before year endresulted in the creation of Caldwell County. He wasnonetheless disappointed and uncomfortable with thesolution because, rather than effecting a result whereinCaldwell's northern border would extend to Iowa,political compromise reduced the plan for the newcounty's land area by two thirds, while creating DaviessCounty in the process. That decision by the state wouldprove disastrous but a short time later.

However, all went well for awhile. Non-Mormonswere not precluded from owning the land, but as theSaints moved quickly to take possession of Caldwell,most of the few old settlers already there sold and moved

on. And with this new

Sidney Rigdon in his fiery and defiantremarks at Far West on the 4th of July

stated that... /.n fhaf coLmfry the Saints would

brook no intrusion from outsiders andwould` indeed defend to the death their

right to be there.

midst. By this time there wereperhaps 5,000 of them scattered throughout northMissouri, which though not significant in a state with atotal population at the time of some 250,000, was viewedwith downright alarm in any county where their streamingarrival very quickly caused the locals to fear becoming theminority. And so once again, trouble waited but a shorttime to visit tongues and ears.

By the spring of 1836, unrest in Clay Countydemanded attention. The locals became convinced that aSaints invasion would soon ovemm everyone andeverything in the county, after which they would conductaffairs as they pleased. In mid-June several hundredpeople met in Liberty to discuss options. The crowd wasfirst stirred up by a Jackson County resident who, havinghad earlier experience with the Mormons, castigated thesect and recommended that his neighbors force their

migration, peace seemed as lastto settle on the affairs of theSaints.

They moved quickly to layout a new city which they calledFar West. This location whichbecame the county seat wassituated on a beautiful uplandplateaujust south of Shoal creekand approximately sixteen miles

due west of Haun's Mill. The Centrum was about fourmiles inside Caldwell's western border with ClintonCounty... as was Haun's Mill equally distant from theeastern border with Livingston. And although the entiretyof Caldwell was meant to be theirs, that stretch of ShoalCreek and its environs, centered as it was in the county,seemed most to quantify the sense of community andidentity t he a rriving S aints h ad o f t hemselves. 8 y in id1838, in Far West, broad streets were laid out, a templesite located and perhaps as many as three thousand peoplehad settled into newly built log homes, workshops, placesof trade and farms. It was by any standard a remarkableachievement. But for the Saints, as with earlier experiencethis idyllic state would not remain.

The temple's four giant comer stones (taken fromShoal Creek) were laid on July 1,1838 and on the fourth

MISSOUF3I MOF3MON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t 2004 Pa

of that month a great celebration took place at Far West.There were many events that day but the most talkedabout was a speech made by Sidney Rigdon, a staunchdefender of all things Mormon and Joseph Smith inparticular. His fiery and defiant remarks were apparentlymeant as an LDS position statement in support of a policythat j.# /foczf cow#/ry the Saints would brook no intrusionfrom outsiders and would indeed defend to the death theirright to be there. His comments were widely circulated inarea newspapers and for the Missourians, reaction wasgenerally one of concern. Rigdon's statements wereviewed as unnecessarily provocative, especially given thatmost non-Mormons believed pandemic anger to haveabated and agreeable assimilation to be underway. Thentoo, throughout earlier conflict the press had beengenerally sympathetic to the plight of the Saints,especially concerning constitutional rights. But nownewspaper editors seemed to draw a deep breath andopenly question this new appearance of hostility andmilitancy.

Corrmensurate with those odd remarks of July 4, wasan undercurrent of discomfort which had been evident inthe Saints community for some time. The arrival ofJoseph S mith Jr. in F ar W est the previous S pring h adbrought into confluence several elements as recipe fortrouble. To begin with, all followers of the prophetaccepted the book of Mormon as inspired revelation andmost, therefore, also accorded him carte blanche in allthings temporal. Others, however, could intellectuallyand emotionally separate the messenger from themessage. The dissenters were of course of this persuasionand were most critical when judging Smith to havestrayed from his own teachings. Thus, when because ofdissent within his church in Ohio, the (perhaps by nowparanoid) prophet hastened to Far West, his arrival veryquickly led to harsh treatment of dissenters, real andsuspect. A number of church officials wereexcommunicated and forced to leave the county...somefearing for their lives. This was done under the justifyingnotion that the majority spirit of the community should sorule...a concept I shall touch on later. But the purge gave

pause t o s ome of t he P rophet' s e arliest and s taunchestsupporters.

To carry out these dictates of church leadership, anenforcement alliance called f¢e Dcz#z./es came about.Some chroniclers claim the group to have evolved as asubset of the larger openly altruistic organization by thesame name; albeit agreeing that the adjunct quicklymolphed into a semi-secret paramilitary organizationcapable of terrorizing dissenters and non-Mormonneighbors alike. And the man most linked to this newDanite militancy was a recent Mormon convert andsurgeon by the name of Dr. Sampson Avard.

At about this same time the Brethren began anaggressive settlement policy o#ts!.c7e Ccz/cJwe// Cow#fy.This was seen by the Missourians (including WillDoniphan) as an ominous violation of an earlierunderstanding that they resist migrating to areas outsidethe zone set aside for them, and certainly not withoutapproval of a substantial majority of the existing settlers.Nonetheless, there were as least two motivations drivingthe policy. In the first place, Smith, on arriving inMissouri, immediately proclaimed that saints fromeverywhere should 7!ow gczffeer /foere. This was not asuggestion but rather a command...a command to bediscounted on risk of excommunication. So what had beena trickle of immigration now became a torrent. Secondly,and s omewhat derivative of the first, land values werefalling because some Missouri settlers (in an early versionof twentieth century w¢z.je /I.g¢f), began practically tostand in line to sell, for fear of being the last to do so. Soin the surrmer of 1838, the Mormons laid out the townsite of Adam-ondi-Ahman (also called Diahman) inDaviess County to the north. It very quickly attained apopulation exceeding that of nearby Gallatin, the countyseat. Also, in July they purchased half the city lotsavailable in the new town of Dewitt in Carroll County tothe southeast. This was a significant strategic movebecause the t own b oasted a fine landing s ite for b oatsplying the Missouri River. Further, it was near theconfluence of the Missouri and Grand Rivers, thereinproviding water access to Diahman situated some sixtymiles upstream on the Grand. And finally, small groups ofMormon famers began quietly settling in everycontiguous county around and beyond Caldwell. Thus itsoon became apparent to all that the Saints would veryquickly become a dominant regional political force. Andthe elections scheduled for August in Gallatin wouldprovide a precedent for future expectation.

Daviess County's first ever election promised to testthe civility of the process. The candidate slate includedno Mormons, but all knew that the Saints' habit of votinge# a/oc could swing the election. Thus, regardless ofpersonal opinions about the Brethren, those rurming foroffice openly courted that vote. But on election momingthe liberal distribution of whisky exacerbated a jealouslyalready extant among the candidates, and it wasdetermined that no Mormon should be allowed thefranchise. This may seem absurd to us but in JacksonianMissouri it would have been considered a perfectlyreasonable way to avoid what was viewed as potentialunfairness in the political selection process. Well, as theMomons arrived to vote, a donnybrook ensued of course.A few dozen men proceeded to break as many of eachother's heads as possible with fists, clubs and crockery;but fortunately none were fatally injured. And after

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exhaustion the Missourians repaired to their saloon tocontinue strategy while the Saints hurried to the safety ofDiahman, fearing reprisal against their farms and families.

Of the influences contributing to the tumultuousevents yet to come, one surely overshadowed all otherscombined; and it is this. From the time of the Prophet'sarrival in Missouri in March,1838, rumor was issued ascommon currency and inflation ruled the day. Thereafter,a resultant pandemic of fear,distrust and hatred wouldforecast an irreversiblebehavioral shift for allconcerned.

For example, word soonreached Far West that several

co#fde#ce that z.# Ccz/dwe//, convicting Smith wasimpossible, regardless the crime. So the concern of theMissourians escalated in fear that the Saints wouldbecome a scourge by retreating to Caldwell on anyoccasion where they might have broken the lawelsewhere. Then too, outlandish rumors began to spreadthat thousands of Mormons were preparing for siege andbattle; that they had induced the Indian tribes to join in;and that they had murdered numerous emissaries who hadentered Caldwell to determine the truth of intentions

From the time of the Prophet's arrivalin Missouri in March,1838, rumorwasissued as common currency andinflation ruled the day.

Saints had been brutallymurdered in the election-day melee and that theMissourians were prohibiting their burial. So in a contextlater to be played out in countless B-Western Moviesenter now Joseph Smith and a hundred or so armed menriding to investigate. 0 n arrival in Gallatin ( about 2 0miles north of Far West) Smith was surprised and relievedto discover a different truth. Nonetheless, he went to thetrouble of having local Justice of the Peace Adam Blacksign an affidavit committing to uphold the law inministering the peace. Within days Black would be inRichmond Gay County Seat) complaining to CircuitCourt Judge (later, Governor) Austin King of intimidationby five hundred armed Mormons. Joseph Smith laterclaimed that Black's signing was entirely voluntary, andprobably it was. Although as Judge Black pointed out ineffect, to "volunteer" signing was a decision easily madewhen surrounded by a horde of restless horsemen poisedwith guns laid across saddles.

However, before leaving Daviess County Mormonleaders and responsible settler citizens met and agreed toobey the laws all round; so a cordial spirit seemed toaccompany Smith and his men as they departed for home.Unknown to them at the time was that Judge Black, alongwith the local sheriff and others, were then on their wayto Richmond to obtain writs of complaint against them.The Daviess County Sheriff returned with warrants ofarrest for Joseph Smith and others. The principal chargewas that of crossing a county line to incite riot. But astandoff developed. Smith refused to be tried in DaviessCounty and for good reason. . .the probability of a fair trialwas nonexistent. He did however agree to be tried inCaldwell, to which of course the Daviess people objected.Daviess County authorities understood the difficulty ofextraditing any Mormon from a county in which they heldmajority; but there would also have been czbs'o/w/e

there.To make matters worse,

Mormon dissenters wereproviding gossipy affldavitswhich fueled the nonsense. It isappropriate here to note that inregard to these times, theinterested reader fmds with

surprising frequency references to the signing of affidavitssworn ostensibly to support genuine matters of fact. Butmore often than not the statements would represent eitheran egregious and self serving stretching of the truth, orindeed, claims so outrageous as to qualify as whoppers byany standard. Yet at the time such would have beenwidely accepted with little question. Likewise surprisingis the number of treaties or other memoranda ofagreementwhichdevelopedbetweentheopposingparties.These documents would likely as not have been breachedbefore the ink dried, but they were undertaken anyway.It's as if in the very exercising of such ritual, there wasappreciated by all involved, the solemnity of the momentand a keen desire to leave for posterity a written recordcornmonorzwing that ``we were here then, and this iswhat happened" .

But Smith and the rest of the accused finally agreed toattend a preliminary hearing in Daviess County on thecondition that an outside j.udge preside. The hearing washeld within half a mile of the Caldwell County line wherethe Prophet's men waited in readiness should they beneeded. Representing the Saints were attorneys Atchisonand D oniphan. T he p rosecution b rought b efore J udgeAustin King's court only Judge Black as withess, whileAtchison presented several Saints and friends to supportSmith's contention of non-belligerent intent. hterestedobservers from surrounding counties believed that astrong case was made on behalf of the Momons, andcommunicated such to friends and area newspapers alike.Nonetheless Judge King held the case over forconsideration by a grand jury. This was seen by theoutsiders in attendance as King's politically sawy desireto temporarily placate the mob, while to the Saints itfurthered a conviction that justice would forever beimpossible in Missouri. Then too, immediately after the

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t2004 Pa

hearing, Daviess citizens began sending information toarea newspapers (which often printed the claims) thathordes of armed Momons were in open rebellion. Andmatters certainly weren't helped by Sheriff WilliamMorgan' s contention that other Saints continued to resistarrest for alleged crimes relating to the Judge Black affair.On hearing of these things, vigilante groups inneighboring counties began to gather and combine foraction.

A short time later, in early September, the Mormonsdetained three men at Far West after capturing a wagonload of armament which the drivers were attempting todeliver from Richmond to Daviess (and carroll) vigilanteswhile passing unnoticed through Caldwell County.Mormon leaders wrote to Judge King of the detention, andin return received a letter ordering that the men bereleased. But by this time King was also receiving (fromall sides) so many petitions for restoration of order inDaviess that he asked General David Atchison to call outthe militia. Atchison decided to form two companiesunder the commands of Generals Will Doniphan andHiram Parks. Doniphan left immediately for Far West toeffect release of the three Waggoners, which wasaccomplished without incident. He then proceeded toDaviess County with orders to disperse armed camps ofMissourians and Saints who now faced each otherapparently ready for battle. After talking separately withleaders of each camp, the General bivouacked betweenthem so as to prevent immediate hostilities. The next dayGeneral Atchison arrived with enough troops to quiettempers all round. It was then worked out that thoseMormons not earlier included with Joseph Smith in theJudge Black hearing would immediately appear before acourt of inquiry. This resulted in several men being heldover for the next convening of a grand jury, after whichthe crowds dispersed. Atchison wrote to GovernorLilbum Boggs (elected to that office in 1836) that thesituation was, for the moment, under control. But theGeneral, a keen observer of men and their intentions, andunderstanding clearly the power and mystique of theState's highest office, pleaded with the Governor topersonally intervene lest a full scale war break out on theslightest provocation from either side. The Governordeclined.

But soon, true to Atchison' s fears, the Carroll Countyvigilantes on returning home from Daviess immediatelyaccosted the Momons in Dewitt and gave them but daysto leave the county. The terrified Saints petitioned theGovernor pleading that they had been threatened withextemination ...all of them. Nonetheless, immigrantscontinued streaming into the area, causing many

frightened settlers to sell out, often at huge discounts toearlier value. By October 1, the vigilantes acted byattacking the now fortified town where the Mormons werepreparing for siege. Skirmishes continued for severaldays while both sides awaited reinforcements. Because ofcontinuing rumors of Mormon lawlessness, severalhundred armed men from adjacent counties soon joinedthe vigilantes. But others, observers who traveled to thescene to get at the truth, found the Saints entirely in adefensive position, begging for peace and praying fordeliverance by state militia. A few days later, a fewMormon reinforcements entered the now desperate townand General Parks arrived with troops from Ray County.He also ordered a subordinate officer to muster statemilitia from Carroll County. But few menj oined thateffort and those who did, soon defected with theircommander to the vigilantes. Parks wrote to GeneralDoniphan requesting reinforcements from Clay citing thathe had become suspect of the sentiments of his owntroops. He also requested of the Governor his immediatepresence hoping that it might help. At the same time theMormons sent an emissary to Jefferson City with a similarplea. The observers now acted as intermediaries to attemptcompromise and avoid bloodshed. It was suggested thatthe Mormons sell their properties to the Missourians at tenpercent over original cost, plus moving expense out of thecounty, in return for the promise never to return. TheSaints resisted until discovering on the return of their manfrom the Capital that the governor had responded withcomments to the effect that the fight was between theMormons and the mob and that they must settle it as bestthey could. This position by Boggs can be seen as equallyuncaring and calculating. After all fee wczs cz po/i./I.cz.o#and knew that any action taken in obvious support of theplight of the Mormons would lose many votes in westernMissouri. Then too, the situation for the Saints had beenfurther compromised by General Parks' removal of histroops to Richmond because o f i ncreasing incidents oftheir open rebellion.

So by October 12, the now beaten and broken spiritedSaints sold out and trudged off to what they hoped wouldbe safety in Daviess and Caldwell Counties. But CarrollCounty vigilantes, feeling flush with victory, then decidedthat a wise course would be to run them out of Daviessand possibly Caldwell as well. Time was of the essencefor such action because of the pending transfer of titlefrom the Government to homesteaders beginningNovember 12. David Atchison was away on business soonce again Generals Parks and Doniphan began musteringtroops for the march to Daviess. And General Atchisononce more implored the Governor to personally intervene,although by now he had probably given up on anypossibility of help from the feckless Boggs.

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h Far West, when in mid October it was heard that amob from Carroll intended marching on Daviess, theMormons prepared for battle with Joseph Smith nowpersonally (for the first time) in command. It was saidthat he intended to take the Governor at his word andwould deal with the vigilantes once and for all.

In calling his men to him, Smith struck a tone ofexasperation and rage. He denounced all Missourians(including militia, thegenerals and the governor) aspart of the mob. He requestedthat all Saints join in theeffort to destroy the vigilantesand proclaimed that thosewho didn't should have theirproperty seized in support ofthose willing to fight. 4#d heinstructed his warriors to liveoff the land once in DaviessCounty...to take whateverthey needed from theMissourians there. Smith's

to known enemies, but especially sad was theindiscriminate lawlessness practiced as well against theproperty of Missourians who had made every effort t obefriend them.

Retaliation was soon in coming. Raiding parties ofMissourians quickly began to chase outlying Mormonfarm families from their homes and into the snow, burningeverything behind them. Indeed, the stom had halted

General Parks' intention to

Commencing on the 17th of October, theweather turned very cold and eighteeninches of snow fell which halted theintentions of all, including the movementof vigilantes from Carroll. And because ofthe storm the locals were well forewarned,so the town of Ga]latin was nearlydeserted when, a couple of days later,150armed Mormons raided the place takingevery foodstuff and property not naileddown, and burning the rest.

impassioned plea encouragedthe devious Sampson Avard to separately instruct the mento lay waste everything, whether needed or not. On thenight the Mormons were to leave, a very concernedGeneral Doniphan arrived in Far West on his way toDaviess. In light of the volatility of the situation hiscompany was small and, he feared, probably mutinous.However, because of his concern for the growing alam inDaviess County, he instructed the Mormons to proceed toDiahman in small unamed groups and await furtherinstructions. General Parks was at this time gatheringtroops in Richmond for a march to Daviess where he wasto meet Doniphan. But by the time for leaving Far West,General Doniphan realized his troops to be entirelyunreliable, so the disgusted commander marched theminstead back to Clay County. Anyway, the Mormonsignored the General's instructions and traveled toDiahman with hundreds of armed men to be joined thereby enough more to make five hundred total. Then oddly,a most unseasonable stomi occured. Commencing on the17th of october, the weather tuned very cold and eighteeninches of snow fell which halted the intentions of all,including the movement of vigilantes from Carroll. Andbecause of the storm the locals were well forewarned, sothe town of Gallatin was nearly deserted when, a coupleof days later, 150 armed Mormons raided the place takingevery foodstuff and property not nailed down, andburning the rest. Thereafter, the raiding and pillaging wascontinued by men, who having suffered years of pent-upfrustration, now seemed to enjoy participating in the mostegregious acts. They obviously delighted in bringing pain

march a significant numberof troops to Daviess. Hedecided to visit there alone,and on arriving in Diahman,was stunned to encountersuch large numbers of armedMormons and to note that astate of civil war existed. Hethen returned to Richmond toawait orders from Doniphanafter advising the General ofhis total loss as to what to do.After several days theoverwhelming force of the

Momons had effectively seized control of all of DaviessCounty and Smith returned to Far West with histriumphant troops. Some Mormons though, in particularJohn Corrill, had become increasingly concerned withMormon militancy. Corrill was a man neither awed norintimidated by Joseph Smith and was always quick toopenly criticize what he felt to be waywardness either inchurch policy or action. And now he pointed out to theProphet his grave concern about what might be broughtupon them because of their actions in Daviess County.Smith in response was unperturbed.

Soon rumors of the depredations in Daviess County(elevated probably with each telling) spread prairie firefashion throughout the region, and alarmed citizens beganto gather from all quarters. Raiding parties, oftenincluding rogue remnants of state militia, began to prey onknown Mormons in counties surrounding Caldwell.General Doniphan, commander of all militia troops inNorthwest Missouri, deplored these unauthorized andextralegal actions, and from Liberty complained of it tothe Governor. But the Governor was at the same timereceiving a steady stream of petitions describing in detailthe horrors of Daviess County. And to make mattersworse, by now Generals Parks, Atchison and Doniphanwere men caught in the middle of suspicious distrust fromall sides. The Saints thought the militia's efforts to havebeen too little, too late and of little effect in protectingthem;whilemanyMissouriansthoughttheGeneralsmuchto cozy with the Mormons and their cause. Concurrently,incendiary panic developed on knowledge that affidavits

MISSOURI MOF3MON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t 2004 Pa

signed at Richmond by two Mormon dissenters claimedthat the Saints planned to invade Ray County andthereafter the entire State...indeed that Joseph Smith haddesigns on the entire nation. Most damming of all was theassertion that Smith held himself, his followers and hisvision to be above the law of the land. Hysteria soonreigned as everyone discussed the necessity of firstprotectingtheborderbetweenRayandCaldwellCounties.

Samuel Bogart volunteered to lead a company for theintelligence task and received immediate whtten authorityfrom General Atchison to do so. Mormons lived on bothsides of the county line so Atchison was careful toauthorize o#fy the prevention of any armed CaldwellMormons attempting breach of the boundary with Ray.Bogart was a Ray County settler and Methodist Preacherwho had served as a militia captain under General Parksin the Carroll County incident. He was also known to bea fervent Mormon hater and prone to insubordination aswell...just the right man, of course, to deal withheightened tensions between frightened people living inthat zone. Quickly, and absolutely without authorization,he began disarming Mormon settlers on both sides of thecounty line and driving them from their homes. Then ondiscovering two Mormon spies at one farm, he threatenedto execute them, and took them to his camp along with thesettlers' son. The family was ordered to be gone by thenext moming or be shot. Late that evening word ofBogart's action reached Far West and by midnight fiftymen were mustered to immediately ride toward rescue ofthe three men. Before dawn the Saints approachedBogart's camp on Crooked River just inside Ray Countyand near the southwest comer of Caldwell. Soonthereafter a fierce battle erupted on the creek's bankswhich resulted in the wounding of perhaps twenty menand the deaths of four. But the speed and ferocity of theaction led participants on both sides to later estimate thenumber of casualties to be several times the actual. Oneof those killed was David Patten, Mormon Apostle andleader of his troops. When the firing was over theMissourians had retreated across the creek and the Saintsreturned to Far West. Whether the Mormons knew theyhad attacked state authorized troops is a point argued tothis day.

Throughout October, 1838, rumors were escalatingand affidavits true (and otherwise) were being swornwhich claimed various colorful atrocities and outragescommitted by the Mormons. On the 27th of that MonthMissouri G ovemor L ilbum 8 oggs issued h is i nfamousexecutive order to Major General John 8. Clark, the headof the Howard County Militia. It read in part, "772eMormons must be treated as enemies and must beexterminated or driwenfrom the state, if necessary for thepublic good. Their outrages are beyond all description.

If you can increase your force, you are authorized to doso, to any extent you may think necessary''. Those fortyseven words would become an undying embarrassmentfor the state of Missouri, and would earn for Boggs(correctly I think) the title of Absolutely Worst Governorof Record. His action had set a table for the open-season,murderous participation of every troublemaker, bigot andmalcontent who had grievances, real or imagined, againstthe hapless Mormons. Immediately a reign of mob terrorwas set loose on Momon residents outside Far West andthree days later the murder of eighteen defenseless people(with an additional number wounded) took place at thehamlet of Haun's Mill on Shoal Creek, possibly a directresult of the order, and worse, dy cr rogwe mz./I.f!.cz oc/f o/£z.vz.#grfo# Cow#fy. And surely more was planned.Among the dead were an elderly veteran of the AmericanRevolution and two boys not yet in their teens. One ofthese children was dispatched with the gun put to his headas he pleaded for life while sitting next to his dead father!After the attack and in haste, returning terrified residentsinterred the frozen bodies in an abandoned well and fledthe area.

And but a couple of days later events wouldcrescendo with confrontation at Far West, but in a veryreal sense the Haun's Mill massacre represented ashocking climax to the story. After that loss of innocentlife, clear heads on both sides of the conflict began toworry about how it would all play out. So again as tippingpoint, it was a moment when Joseph Smith himself surelyunderstood the futility of his cause in Missouri. And acentury later it would become the stuff of nightmares fora small boy who lived near that place. Indeed to this dayI cannot think of those scenes without experiencing anuneasy sadness. And for postscript there was thefollowing s trange addendum. I n June,1976, M issouriGovernor (now U.S . Senator) Kit Bond, in a proclamationof healing and regret (and 138 years of embarrassmentperhaps), would rescind Boggs's order.

As for Boggs, Governor Lilbum Boggs...what onearth was he thinking? The intent of the order left noroom for finesse. hdeed the very word Exfe777„.#czfj.o#calls forth images of the eradication of vemin, not humanbeings. It was certainly known that he was no ffiend ofthe Mormons and that his frustration had reached a pointof exasperation. But regardless ofpersonal feeling, whata disgrace that the chief executive of a state should issuesuch an unchallenged missive toward a people most ofwhom were, after all, citizens of the United States ofAmerica. . .people supposedly in command of all the rightsattendant that status, as guaranteed by the constitution.And he did so based on what? What were these outrages

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beyond all description? The answer is, of course, thatwhatever the level of violence and lawlessness, itsexaggerated promotion to the Governor would seem tosome to perhapsf inally demand his personal and involvedassessment before proceeding. And while determining ifthe czsswmecJ insurrection could (or should) be dealt within the criminal courts, Boggs surely had other options,declaration of martial law for example. That he wasplaying politics with rumor had been ascertained by morethan one cool-headed source. But that he proceeded as hedid, ignoring all but unsubstantiated inflammatory claimsis, I think, a searing indictment of Boggs' fitness for theoffice. Then too, the Govemor's trigger happymanagement style wasn't just limited to a method fordealing with the Mormon situation. A year later he wouldagain call out the militia and threaten war with the IowaTerritory over cz d!.spw/ec7 bow#dczry! ! One may ask whythe federal government was not then available to countersuch actions, but there were at least two reasons. In thatantebellum period (and as Joseph Smith would leam laterin personal e ntreaties w ith t he P resident o f the U nitedStates), States' rights reigned supreme and no politicianof national stature would flirt with the contrary. . .as indeedwe argue to this day the efficacy of such intrusions. Buton the other side as well, it is unlikely that Boggs wouldhave seriously considered a request that federal assistancebe sought to restore order. To ha`ve done so would surelyhave been political suicide in Jacksonian Era Missouri,while making the Governor appear an impotent laughingstock in the bargain. But let us now return to eventsequence.

The concerns which had led to the Govemor'sdraconian measure had also prompted assembly of morethat 2000 militia for a march on Far West to deal with theanticipated Mormon breakout. Troops of GeneralsAtchison and Doniphan were joined by those of GeneralSamuel Lucas of Jackson County. But it was leamed atthis time that Boggs would place Ma].or General John 8.Clark of Howard County in overall charge of thecampaign while at the same time relieving Atchison offield command, which General Lucas then assumed.Doniphan, knowing of Lucas' previous dealings with theSaints, apparently contemplated leaving in disgust withDavid Atchison, but was talked into staying in hope thathis might be a voice of reason in what was anticipated byall to spin into major conflict. These transactions are ofcuriosity to me for a couple of reasons. I find noreference in the record of Lucas' previous command oftroops anywhere, for any reason. And oddly, his rank ofBrigadier was not superior to that of Doniphan. Too,Governor Boggs claimed later that he neither placedLucas in charge, nor did he issue orders to attack FarWest. Finally the mystery is deepened by Doniphan's

agreement to a subordinate position given his strength ofpersonality and prior militia experience.

Nonetheless, by October 31, approximately 2500militia troops were positioned just to the south of FarWest. Joseph Smith, fearful of the potential for a slaughterof Saints, sent Messrs. John Corrill and George Hinkle (aCaldwell County Militia Captain) to negotiate, withauthority to accept any terns short of battle. GeneralLucas insisted on speaking for the State and quicklybrought the S aints ' representatives to understand that onlyimmediate and unconditional surrender would beavailable, with terms c7z.c/cz/ed dy fez.in . . . forget negotiation.In which regard, it was demanded that church leaders behanded over for trial...that those who had taken up armshave their property confiscated...and that all others mustsurrender all ams and leave the State immediately. Lucasagreed to a request that a Mormon response be deferreduntil the next moming on the condition that Smith andfour others be quickly produced as hostages pending thedecision. A short time later, Hinkle returned with theProphet and others as demanded. But rather than therespect Smith expected, he found that Lucas refused tospeak with him. And as taunts of menacing troopsenclosed about them, the Mormons were left in the openduring a night of miserable weather. Also during thenight, many of the Mormons involved in the CrookedRiver incident and others as well (some 70 total) slippedquietly from Far West and escaped to the Iowa territory.

The next moming Smith sent word to Far West tosurrender after being informed by General Lucas that thealtemative was extermination...a threat which could havebeen easily carried out given that the militia outnumberedthe Saints forces three to one. Smith by this timesuspected betrayal by everyone including his own men.And the later disaffection of Hinkle and Corrill and theirtestimony against him in preliminary hearings, confimedit for him. However, the intractable position of GeneralLucas from the very beginning left no hope for anyoutcome other than that which transpired, so Smith'sanger seems wasted. Later that moming, hundreds ofstunned and saddened Mormon troops marched into thecenter of a square formed by militia and laid down theirams. It was over.

That night of November 1,1838, Lucas held a courtmartial for several members of the Momon leadership.This was of course illegal because the leaders werecivilians, and martial law had not been declared by theGovernor. Little is known of the actual proceeding butperhaps as many as twenty militia officers were inattendance. It I.s known that General Doniphan spokeforcefully on behalf of the Saints, as did George Hinkle,but conviction was confimed by a majority vote. Andwhat followed then was perhaps the strangest transaction

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIEF3 FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t 2004 Pa

of the entire episode.The trial concluded about 11:00 p.in. whereupon

General Lucas sent orders to General Doniphan that onthe following moming, he was to escort the sevenprisoners to the town square of Far West at 8:00 a.in. andexecute them by firing squad. At this, Doniphan returneda strongly worded written response, in which he refusedto have anything to do with it, citing the illegality of thetrial and his conviction that such action was nothing butcold blooded murder. He also swore before God that hewould see justice done to Lucas should he have otherscarry out the sentence. At this, General Lucas backeddown. Now, Doniphan was a subordinate officer to Lucasin this campaign so the question is begged as to thisegregious insubordination and Lucas' acquiescence to it.In all likelihood there was politics in the mix.

As pointed out by Doniphan's biographer RogerLaunius, by trial's end Lucas may have understood theimpropriety of the entire undertaking and was searchingfor a way to extricate himself from the criticism sure tofollow. The thinking goes like this: If Doniphan (knownfriend of the Saints) carried out the order, then acceptanceof its propriety may be more easily won. But should herefuse, then Lucas could at least report to the Governorthat he (Lucas) had done his best. Whether this was thescenario is problematic but certainly General Doniphanwas never called to task for insubordination, and GeneralLucas later denied in a report to the Governor that a thaleven took place. Thus with business finished, Lucas,Doniphan and their troops left Far West on November 2.And in a twist of farce, two days later General Clark, theassigned campaign leader, showed up with his 1500troops. History does not record if the General theninquired as to where everyone had gone.

However, before leaving for Independence with sevenMormon leaders as prisoners, General Lucas demandedthat all the Saints sign over their properties to the statealong with signed affidavits that they were cJoj.#g sovo/w#/¢rz./)/. This action (later detemined to be illegal)was not readily accepted by some who were then knockedsenseless by irate militia troops. But much to the surpriseof the church leadership they were treated well while inJackson County. Two weeks later they were taken toRichmond in Ray County to appear in pretrial beforeJudge Austin King. Many other Saints were alsosubpoenaed for this hearing which created something ofa circus atmosphere with hundreds of locals in attendanceto see firsthand if the seventy or so celebrated Mormonshad homs. At the hearing the most damaging evidencecame from Sampson Avard who had turned States'evidence in return for immunity from prosecution.Indeed, were it not for his testimony, the state may havehad difficulty indicting anyone. The irony of this cannot

be lost on the reader because Avard is the man mostlinked to promoting and leading the renegade Danite bandin lawless acts in Daviess County and elsewhere... someof which was without the knowledge or approval ofJoseph Smith. The Mormons were represented by WillDoniphan and by his effort a third of them were releasedfor lack of evidence and most of the rest were released onbail. This occasioned an opportunity for most of thosecharged to quickly leave the state for Illinois. However,five men charged with murder in the Crooked Riverincident were to be held in Richmond without bail whileJoseph Smith, along with his brother Hyrum, SidneyRigdon and three others were charged with treason andsent to Liberty, also without bail. The leaders latercomplained of Doniphan's incompetence, but in truth heprobably held back key witnesses for the recz/ fr!.cz/ tofollow. He was an accomplished criminal defense lawyerand certainly wouldn't have wished to show his hand fora legal argument strategy at a preliminary hearing.

Smith's trial was to await the convening of the nextcircuit court in March, 1839. The expected delaytroubled Will Doniphan, so by late January, 1839, heobtained a wit of habeas corpus (show of cause forretention) hearing in Liberty. Doniphan defended allexcept Sidney Rigdon, but was unable to secure therelease of any of his clients. However, for the occasion,an apparently very ill Rigdon, representing himself, wasbrought i nto the c ourtroom on his b ed. F eebly I iftinghimself a s b est h e c ould, he s poke p assionately o f t hegreat suffering in his service for mankind, for the Saintsand for God. So convincing was he that at the conclusionof the oration there was scarcely a dry eye in the court andhe was released immediately. And Will Doniphan,himself no slouch as a jury bending orator, later claimedit to be the finest courtroom performance he'd ever hadthe pleasure to witness. Very soon thereafter, Rigdonrecovered sufficiently to hastily remove himself toIllinois, and it is assumed that on his crossing of the greatMississippi the miracle of good health was soon restored.

The story now wound down with a series of eventsthat seemed to underscore a desire on the part of bothsettler citizens and Missouri politicians to quietly releasethe problem and its memory. In which regard,immediately after the capitulation at Far West many areanewspapers demanded (and the Missouri senate agreed to)a thorough investigation of Boggs' order and the events itinspired. Both Congressmen Atchison and Corrilladdressed the Missouri house of a similar need. But theGovemor's executive order remained in force, so theSaints moved throughout the winter of 1839 toward theMississippi River and into Illinois. It was a trek of nearly

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200 miles for perhaps 12,000 people: And a leader (andleaner) for this great undertaking was a man whose namewould later become synonymous with migration andMormonism, 38 year old Brigham Young.

Then too, for the Saints, no altemative presented itselfbecause the Missouri House of Representatives had votedto table the motion until the f ollowing July .... which aseveryone knew would be after the bulk of the Mormonshad left the state. So no such inquiry was ever made.Also, in April,1839, Joseph Smith, Jr. and his fellow

prisoners escaped while being transported to centralMissouri on a change of venue.„ escaped to Illinois whentheir guards fell asleep in a drunken stupor. Certainly,given such celebrated prisoners and the previous years ofbrouhaha, it is revealing that Missouri authorities neverattempted extradition. After this, the Saints began thearduous and lengthy legal process to recover theirMissouri property...a frustration that generally wentnowhere. And it was during this time, too, that thetimbers of Far West were lost to other use, Haun's Millwas lost to flood, and Mormon cemeteries were lost to the

plow. Indeed, it's asthough destiny had decreedthat all memorial trace ofthe LDS people, fAz.a

peculiar people, stl"xprtydisappear into the wind andsoil of Caldwell County.

However, once againthe Saints had started anewin Illinois, creating a placecalled Nauvoo on apromontory jutting into

irony that none of these men were taken to task fordecisions which led to so much hostility and suffering.

h a sense, parallel crisis events provided book endsfor the brief sojourn of the LDS people in the Americanfrontier of 1831-1846. Because of extemal dissent, thedestruction of a Mormon printing press in JacksonCounty, Missouri in 1833, foretold the end of a possiblelife for the Brethren in Missouri. And because of intemaldissent, the destruction of a Momon printing press inNauvoo, Illinois in 1844 foretold the end of life for JosephSmith Jr. and his dream. Thereafter the movement wassplintered with most Saints eventually proceeding west tosettle in a far away land about which no one else cared.And in ost o f the few who remained would later c ometogether to evolve into something quite different than wasenvisioned by the founder.

It is my personal view that history was better servedby having the bulk of the Brethren eventually removethemselves to the far off utah Territory, notwithstanding

that the attendant isolation

ln reviewing events of the LDSmovement's infancy there is little

question that there were things aboutthese people, these strange people, thateventually upset nearly every outsider

with whom they came in contact;because Missouri was not alone in its

summary treatment of the earlyMormons.

east bank of the Mississippijust across from uppermost northeast Missouri. Here theybuilt brick houses and a beautiful west-facing temple onthe highest ground. But, as before, it was not to be. h1844, because of dissent, there was destruction ofproperty which led to the jailing of Joseph Smith and hisbrother Hyrum in nearby Carthage. They were murderedthat same day by a mob and with that matyrdom beganthe final chapter for the Saints in the new country.

Prior to October,1838, one crisis event after anotherhad created confrontation between the Saints and theirneighbors. But thereafter, and in quick succession,tipping points which tuned confrontation into disasterbegan as signature events in which the leaders involvedwere later said to have acted without proper authority.Such were the actions of Samuel Bogart prior to the battleof Crooked River... the plundering in Daviess County byMormon Danites led by Sampson Avard. . .and the militaryconfrontation and resulting actions taken at Far West byGeneral Samuel Lucas. And if true, it is then of supreme

would provide demonizinggrist for a mill of popular dime-novel fiction for at least thenext century. Because inTea.1rty the early church wasJosepA Smz.ffo Jr. with all thebaggage and lightning rodsentiment that entailed. Thus,even before the Illinoisexperiment, even had theyfound safety and a substantivepeace at Far West...even had

they remained strictly within the confines of CaldwellCounty... it would have been temporary at best. At thetime, Mormonism was surely a growth industry (indeedstill is), and in Missouri, their numbers were increasingmuch faster than was that of the general population. Morespace would soon have been needed which, with anoverarching political ascendancy, could have quickeneda combustible mix of distrust and hatred just volatileenough to boil over from Caldwell County and directlyinto the embrace of regional, or even statewide civil war.So, too, I think it best that most of those who remained orreturned to Missouri were of the Reorganized Church ofJesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the RLDS). This sect,led for more than half a century by Smith's son JosephSmith 3rd, rejected outright many of the more arcanebeliefs and practices of their brothers in Utah. Andimportantly the RLDS made no effort to grzffeer inconcentrated numbers. Indeed, in the ensuing century anda halfthis group (now called Community of christ) has by

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number 34 Ma t 2004 Pa

all accounts integrated quietly into the societalmainstream.

In reviewing events of the LDS movement's infancythere is little question that there were things about thesepeople, these strange people, that eventually upset nearlyevery outsider with whom they came in contact; becauseMissouri was not alone in its summary treatment of theearly Mormons. In New York, in Ohio and in Illinois thestory,thoughperhapsnotasegregious,wasverymuchthesame. They were clannish, and though palpablyChristian, were thought to display that they, as apeccj/I.czrcz#c7 cftose# peop/e, had a superior contract with theirChristian God. At any rate I think (indeed know by wayof family oral history) that many of their neighborsdismissed them as fanatics and/or feared them as areligious cult led by a delusional Prophet. Then too, onthe frontier of that time, infomation flow was constrainedat best. So perhaps all it would take in any settlement wasthe harangue of a single bigot, whether from pulpit, stumpor backyard fence, to metastasize a hateful venomthroughout the community. Because everywhere theyattempted settlement, their very presence seemed to bringout the worst in their neighbors. And if that weren'tenough, a half century after the Missouri experience (andas part of an effort to eliminate altogether the practice ofpolygamy in the Utah territory), the Congress passed lawswhich, among other things, revoked the charter of theMormon Church, authorized seizure of church propertyand abrogated various rights of any LDS member failingto swear allegiance to the United States and it's laws .../AcCongress Of the United States Of America! Now thatwasn't just scratching at a fundamental underpinning ofour Constitution, it was taking a meat axe to it. Andworse, the whole nonsense was upheld by the highestcourt i n the land! 0 ne c an b ut i magine the g hosts o fAdams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison commiseratingin disbelief.

Notwithstanding that the Founders (Jeiferson surely)may have found attraction to Joseph Smith's messagestrange,aberranteven...wellwithintheframeworkoftheirthinking would have been space for such a belief systemto flourish with minimum interference. indeed I thinkJefferson and his fellow geniuses would have clearlyunderstood the necessity for pemitting the creativedestruction of transforming time to make all finaldecisions concerning the movement.

Then, too, nearly a century has passed since anyliving person either witnessed or participated in the eventsof 1838 in Northwest Missouri. Thus although a myriadof materials exists concerning the trouble, the record willof necessity remain incomplete concerning the whcl/Aczjzpe#ed. But in some ways I think the kaleidoscope ofseventeen decades provides a better lens through which to

view the wky I.f A c[ppe#ed. Although I reviewed feworiginal sources, inquiry as basis for this monograph ledto materials as diverse as family oral history, internetcommentaries, biographies of principals and scholarlyworks of ancillary assessment. Perhaps all serious studiesof the events can be (and have been) criticized for thechoice of weight given differing meticulously gatheredmatters of fact. 8 ut I think this somewhat misses thepoint because the story is, after all, very complex. In anycase, I prefer treatments such as that evidenced by thethoughtful and comprehensive work of Stephen Lesueurtitled appropriately, 772e /638 A4:or77!o# wczr I.# Mis'so#rz..Many of the story-fact details of this essay come from thatsource; the thoroughness of which I suspect will remainthe standard for years to come. Too, I was attracted to thework because of its compelling thematic argument that itwas the combustible mix of fundamentally incompatiblesocio/political, religious and economic ingredients,happening in frontier Missouri at ffecz/ /z."e, that produceda stew determined to simmer toward eruption.

For example, that startling document, the U. S.Constitution had been ratified but a few decades before,so the United States of the 1830's was a nation still verymuch in the throes of its first self-definition. And, too, itis for a reason that the period Zez./gej.j'f is labeled/clcdso#j.cl# after the views and practices of a famousPresident. One tenant of this was Andrew Jackson'streatment and removal of Native American Peoples. Andincorporated in such measures was a widespread sensethat the will of the maj.ority should supercede the confinesof any messy legal stricture. hdeed, the early Momonsused the same argument within their own community.And it's a notion still promoted throughout society fromtime to time. That is to say, when frontier populationsfound themselves offended by circumstance, whether bygroup or individual, they were often unwilling to await (ortrust for that matter) the deliberations of law enforcement,the courts or the State legislature. Add to this theinability of Missouri's newly minted state government torespond promptly and forcefully to conditions of generalunrest, and one had a recipe for mobocracy in times ofcrisis.

Thus when a strange cz#dpecz//j.¢r people...a peoplewhose beliefs differed markedly from their neighbors,congregated into areas where they were neitherunderstood nor wanted...all Hell was bound to breakloose. And who was guilty? Well, both sides of course.Local persecutions of the Saints (in Missouri and before)finally pushed them to respond in violent and unlawfulways, with the attack on legitimate State troops, thegeneral terrorizing of their neighbors and the theft anddestruction of property in Daviess County. But this hadresulted from years of being pushed, taunted, assaulted

el6 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

and forcibly removed from lands and propertieslegitimately theirs. In any event, they had surely sufferedimmeasurably more from that which was put upon themthan was dealt their tormentors in return. And in truth, ofcourse, only the Mormons were brought to judgment fortheir c riminal a ctivity. T hat n o vigilante member w asever indicted for murder or other crimes is a clear markerfor where the majority of Missourians stood on the issue.

fJz.a/ory, as so succinctly observed by Napoleon, I.awrz./fe# dy /Ae wz.##ers. But for this story there would beno winners. Regarding theMormons' sol.oum inMissouri, any telling of thetale seems always to leantoward one rendering of atripartite script; i.e., oneeither for the pros, for thecons, or for perhaps the mostelusive of all, the hand-me-down memories of Caldwell

ingredients of distaste and prurient superstition about theways of the early Mormons. . .but seasoned also perhapsby embarrassment for how they were treated. Then too,for some post 1839 settlers, latent concern for cloudedland deeds may have entered the mix as well.

In any case, it is as though for more than a hundredand fifty years silence and denial had conspired toperpetuate as valid, only that remembered as negativetoward Caldwell's Founding Momons. And to this day,those still of that mind will likely view as betrayal anyinquiry resulting in a contrary assessment of 77!crf rniffe socarefully nurtured over generations. And true to human

nature, quickest to judge will

I can recall not a single occasion whenan older neighbor, acquaintance, or

local citizen of Caldwell Countyresponded to questions about the

Mormon legacy with but an irritabledesire to change the subject.

County families. Certainly, for my family and others aswell, there would be but one version, that of the Saints asa strange and fanatical cult whose beliefs and actions wereentirely responsible for upsetting everything in earlyMissouri. It is a view that would dance across thedecades, and it is from personal experience that I canconfirm a disdainful cloud would overhang Shoal Creekfor generations.

On my patemal side the Spidles had famed inDaviess and Caldwell from the late 19th century. And myfather S amuel ( 1897-1971 )„. a in an g enerally g iven t ocareful judgment in all things and especially in mattersabout which he was not thoroughly appraised, foundloathsome anything relating to Mormons or Momonism.Once while still a teenager I inquired as to his knowledgeof their history in Daviess County, and for response wastreated to an irrational outburst. I never knew why, and Ididn't ask again. Even my grandfather, a kind andgenerous man if ever there was one, would in o ld agechuckle with approval on telling of the incident at Haun'smill, a place near where he was born but three decadesafter. And finally, for me, from the time of first memoryuntil the age of twenty five, when life's adventure wouldtake me from Missouri forever, I can recall not a singleoccasion when an older neighbor, acquaintance, or localcitizen of Caldwell County responded to questions aboutthe Momon legacy with but an irritable desire to changethe subject. At the time, I thought those reactions a bitstrange. And after years of thinking about it I'm but leftto consider such residual emotion the product of acomplex s tew p repared w ith i l1-defined h and-me-down

be those disavowed ofinterest either for facts ofhistory or of Mormon belief.When that's the case, nocontra argument will suffice,and so be it.

Nonetheless, for mychildren and grand children(and theirs yet to follow),

should they hear the tale, cz#d sfoow/d z.f be ffacr/ wfoz.ch JAeord, I can but hope that before they swallow it whole,they reach for a shaker of salt and go in search of aversion wAz.cfe i.a czs /7"e as they need find it true. I canexpect nothing more.

For summary, let us here fantasize a bit aboutarranging to meet with three principals of the drama.Were time travel available I'd enjoy an aftermath after-dinner conversation in frontier Missouri with MessrsJoseph Smith Jr., Alexander William Doniphan and JohnCorrill. And in full recognition of the difficulty fortwentieth century sensibilities to attempt any validassessment of nineteenth century men and their motives,I'd nonetheless wish to ascertain the following.

For Smith, to what degree would that personalityreflect a visionary grasp for new religious understanding,with the attendant heartfelt desire that his people benourished by it and left in peace; and altematively, whatmight I see that would display the marmer of a man whoincreasingly wished to control the lives of those whofollowed him. From Doniphan, I'd want to know of hisbroader view of the Mormon question in Jacksonian eraMissouri. For example, how might he reconcile a strongdesire to fight for and defend the constitutional rights ofthe Saints, while understanding clearly the difficultyinherent in assimilating concentrations of a populationdefined by an unconventional theocracy. And fromCorrill, that wry and affable first-elected Caldwellrepresentative, I'd wish to learn what attracted him to

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t 2004 Pa

Mormonism in the first place, given his later outspokenopposition of Joseph Smith and the Church...and hisenlightenment-era comments concerning both, before theMissouri House. But these questions, as with muchephemera surrounding the story, must of necessity gounanswered. The same may have been asked by others ofcourse, but I've not heard of it and thus assume suchflotsam but committed to the dustbin of history.

And so in Missouri they came and went, thesethousands of Mormons who at the personal level left littlefor the public record. Their tenure had been sandwichedbetween the census years of 1830 and 1840, so no scribewould have called to make note of birthplaces in far awayOhio, New York, Canada or England; of occupation; ofthe number of children in the family, or perhaps ofbiblical names such as Sharon or Ruth for little girls, orJoseph for the boys. Thus in the archives of the Countiesof Jackson and Clay, Daviess and Carroll the testament isincomplete... silent even.

And for Caldwell County, silent too is a record thatmight have spoken of a shining city on a hill; of life'sbustle radiating ever outward from the sacred centexpiecetemple... a high-ground, west-facing temple from where

one might gaze in all directions to visual delight, butespecially to the north ...north down to an ornery andtemperamental creek...a creek just waiting perhaps formake-over as a tamed and beautiful garden. And couldsuch a place have rivaled that later to flourish in a radiantvalley beyond the Wasatch? The question begs ananswer not forthcoming, and we're left but to muse that ifever the dream were dreamt, it was not to be.

True enough, in recent times the temple site is coaxedfrom slumber and enshrined... its comerstones reflecttheirnewfound status, under glass. But in the surroundingelsewhere all is quiet where the grass and the silt and thevines of 165 years have reclaimed places once called FarWest and Haun's Mill. And in that country, on ShoalCreek, the cicada, the whippoorwill and the bullfrog singtheir song and go about life' s rhythm as they always have,undisturbed by words or ghosts or thoughts of hauntedmemory. And when you come right down to it, maybethat's the main difference between folks and the wildcreatures; they can exult their place in the sun whether forthe moment or the season; while for us, be it thinkingabout a long ago drama at a place called Shoal Creek, orperhaps some other diversion, we are forever lookingaway. I think it has always been so.

Visiting HistorianRichard Holzapfel

Richard Holzapfel really needs no introduction tomost of us. He is a Brigham Young UniversityProfessor, renowned historian, researcher, lecturer andauthor of several books including histories ofIndependence, K irtland, N auvoo a nd P almyra; s everalbooks on the prophets; 7yome7t o/IV¢wvoo and the classicvolume of photo history entitled Cfewrch frz.a/ory I.H B/clchcz#d 77'7H./e. The Independence Mormon Visitors' Centerand Missouri Momon Frontier Foundation co-sponsoredhis presentation on Friday evening, July 23, 2004 at 7p.in at the Visitors' Center.

He began by telling a little of his family's religiouspersuasions and about what he likes about the LDSChurch. Some of the adages he finds in the Sacred

17

Record that he especially likes include the following."Men are that we might have joy." "Seek riches to do

good." ``Clothe the naked." "Liberate the captives.""Engage in a good cause." "Power is in us." "Truth is

knowledge, true yesterday, today and tomorrow." "TheGlory of God is intelligence."

When asked about how many books he has authored,he really did not know but said about thirty. He has threebooks which are almost done. One concerns women'sdiaries. Another is about the experiences of Momons inprison. The third is a collection of Joseph F. Smith'sletters from 1854 to 1917, mainly with his brothers andhis sisters. Watch for their publication.

el8 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOUF}l MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

OLD NEWS FROM 1838 NEWSPAPERS

Did You Know?rfee OAi.a J{eposi.fory, Canton, Ohio, Thursday, June28,1838.

Fire - /#ce77cJ!.crrz.es ~ The Methodist church inKirtland, was burned on the night of the 22 ult. TheHouse was situated near the Mormon Temple, and it issupposed was fired for the purpose of destroying theTemple. The stillness of the night saved the latter. Theincendiary, to make his work of villainy sure, cut the well

rope near by, and drew the bolt of a pump in anotherwell. An attempt to fire the Temple was also made thesame night, by means of straw and shavings thrust intothe building through a window, but the brand of fire tiedwith them, went out before a flame waskindled. Areward of $400 is offered by the citizens of Kirtland forthe discovery and alTest of the incendiary.

Clev. Gaz.

[Copied from the C/eve/cz;7c7 Gczzef/e newspaper]

The following is a sampling of articles about the Mormon trouble, or Mormon War, in Missouri in 1838.News was picked up from other newspapers as well as their own reporters so the articles first printed in thewest may be found in Ohio and Pennsylvania newspapers as well, giving us better odds for survival of thestory. Keep in mind that even contemporary newspaper accounts are never completely accurate. However,they do reflect the then-current knowledge of the facts and rumor of facts, both of which contribute to theactions of the people involved which may be as important to understanding history as the truth of the matter.These ideas, after all, are the emotions most likely to be acted upon and handed down form generation togeneration. Conflict under local initiative was not unique to the Mormon War. News of the Florida Warwasalso being reported at this time, as well as a armed border dispute with Canada. -AWC

.4d¢"s Se#fl.HCJ, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Monday, respecting the movements of both parties since the firstJuly 30,1838, page 4, column 5, bottom. difficulty took place.

At the election in Daviess county, a citizen objected77!e A4ormo#s-The Mormons to the number of to a mormon's voting, which brought about angrywords,

about 500, with 57 wagons, filled with furniture, cattle, the Mormon was struck with a club, and in return used the&c. have left Geauga county, Ohio, on their way to the same weapon himself and before the affair terminated,"promisedland" inMissouri. Theypitchtheirtents inthe several on both sides were engaged, and knives freely

open fields at night, after the manner of ancient Israelites. used. No person was killed, but some cut and bruised.The excitement did not terminate with the fight.

-... = ...- Shortly afterwards, Joe smith, Lyman wight, and otherMormon leaders, collected a large force in Caldwell, and

Hwro# Rc/ccfor, Tuesday, October 16,1838, page 1, went into Daviess countyto protect the Mormons residingcolumns 5-6. there. They went armed and equipped for war, but they

From /Aesf. £ow!.sRepwb/I.ca#. say their intentions were peace, and if what we hear isMormon Difflculties. true, respecting the paper which they presented to Adam

We have nothing later from Daviess county than the Black, a Justice of the Peace, for his signature, a very14th. At that time the militia from Clay, Saline, Jackson different face has been placed upon the transactions toand some other counties were collecting in Daviess and what 8. has sworn to. -The paper Smith presented toCarroll, but no decisive steps had been taken on either Black was to the effect, that insomuch as it wasside. We copy below, an article from the Western Star, anticipated that difficulties would grow out of the fight at(published at Liberty, in clay county.) of the 14th, Which the election, between the Mormons and [1ine lost byshows the origin and progress of the difflculty. We have crease in paper] a Justice of the Peace, pledged himselfheard anumber ofverbalreports, butnothingthatcanbe that he would take lawful notice of any unlawfulrelied on, so we prefer waiting for more positive proceedings of either party, Smith representing to Black,intelligence. The remarks of the star are as follows: that if he would show it to his own people and to others,

`We derive in the statement we are about to make, to it would have an effect to prevent difficulties.

give a true narrative of the causes which have Produced We understand that the facts elicited at the trial ofthe difficulty between the Momons and the Citizens of Smith and Wight (who have given themselves up, andDaviess county as well as to give all that has occurred

18

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t2004 Pa

were heard before the Judge of our circuit Court lastweek) completely stamped the certificate of Black,Comstock, and others, with falsehood. After the trial ofSmith, it was believed that difficulties had ceased, but notso. The people of Daviess county had sent letters andmessengers to other counties, in order to raise men todrive all the Mormons out of Daviess, and many fromother counties, had gone to their aid. The Mormonsseeing this, made preparations also. When, seeing thecrisis at which things were arriving, the Judge of ourcircuit, Hon. Austin A. King, directed Gen. D. R.Atchison to raise 1000 men in his Division, and forthwithmarch them into Daviess, to keep the peace, and preventbloodshed.

Two hundred men from Clay, under the command ofBrigadier General Doniphan, Major Lightbume, andCaptains Moss, Whittington, and Price, marched out onyesterday and the day before.

We are not apprehensive that any thing serious willtake place, though both parties have become muchexcited. Both sides are to blame, but our opinion is thatthe Mormons are the aggressors. Until the 4th of July,we heard of no threats being made against them, in anyquarter. The people had all become reconciled to let themremain where they are, and indeed were disposed to lendthem a helping hand. But one Sidney Rigdon, in order toshow himself a great man, collected them together in thetown of Far West, on the 4th of July, and there delivereda speech containing the essence of, if not treason itself.This speech was not only published in the newspapers,but, handbills were struck for distribution in Caldwell andDaviess counties. We have not the speech now before us,but we recollect among other threats, that the author said:

`We will not suffer any vexatious law suits with our

people, nor will we suffer any person to come into ourstreets and abuse them. '

Now, if this is not a manifestation of a disposition toprevent the force of law, we do not know what is. It isalso true, that when the Momons left this county, theyagreed to settle in, and confine themselves to a district ofcountry, which has since been fomed into the county ofCaldwell; but they have violated that agreement, and arespreading over Daviess, Clinton, Livingston and Carroll.

Such a number had settled in Daviess, that the oldinhabitants were apprehensive they would be governedsoon, by the Revelations of the Prophet, Joe Smith, andhence their anxiety to rid themselves of such an incubus.

No many reports are in circulation relative to battlesfought and men on both sides being killed and captured,that it is hard to get at the truth. We are certain, however,that up to yesterday, no person had been killed. Three

19

men from Ray county were captured by the Mormons, andsome 50 guns taken. The men are in confinement (orrather, are guarded and kept) in the town of Far West; andit is said the people of Daviess have captured on Mormon.

Gen. Doniphan, in some remarks made to thecompany which went out from this county siad, that themen and arms captured by the Mormons, would bedemanded, as also the M ormon captives in Daviess.-Should the Mormons refuse to give up the men and arms,the worst consequences must follow.

We hope and believe they will not be so blinded as torefuse; but if they should, we can tell them that `war to theknife,' will be waged against them, and they will nolonger be suffered to remain in the State. We rely greatlyupon the standing and influence of Generals Atchison andDoniphan, as well as the other gentlemen who have goneout, to bring this matter to a peaceable termination.

•..=...

HwroH Re/ecfor, Norwalk, Ohio, Tuesday, October 30,1838, page 2, columns 4-5.

FurtherfromtheMormons.-Welea;mbrythf3Pira;he,which arrived at noon to day, that, on Tuesday night theAnti-Mormons were still in force, near Dewit. The Piratelay at Greenville, seven miles above Dewit, on Tuesdaynight. At that time information had come in, that theAnti-Mormons had given their opponents notice that theymust take up their line of march next moming, at 8o'clock. This, the Mormons refused to do. It wasreported also, that the Anti-Mormons had sent word to theMormons, that if they would collect their women andchildren in one house-that house should not be fired at.As the Pirate passed down on Wednesday moming, by

Dewit, a flag was seen flying over one of the largesthouses there. From all appearances there is reason tobelieve that a conflict took place on Wednesday. i/.Louts Republican.

•..B...

A letter, whtten from Richmond, Ray County, Missouritwo days before Haun' s Mill, was published in the Hwro#jRc/7ecfor, Norwalk, Ohio, on 6 November 1838 andreprinted from the St. Louis Republican of November 5,1838 under the heading Mormon War. John S. Rylandwas the Recorder at the Land Office in Lexington,Missouri.

e20 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MOF{MON FRONTIEF2 FOUNDATION

Richmond, Ray Co., Mo.Oc/. 29,1838.

Editors of the Missouri Republican:Gentlemen-I whte you from the [illeg] Richmond,

in Ray county, [illeg] to give you some informationrelative to the unprecented [sic] excitement now existingin the upper Missouri, against this most deluded,wretched, and misguided people, the A4lormo#s'.

The band of fanatics commenced on the 18th inst. tobum and ravage the plantations, houses, &c. of the peoplein Davies county. They have laid waste the wholecountry; burning store houses, farm houses, destroying theproperty of citizens, driving off the hogs and cattle of theinhabitants of that county, taking the plunder of theMormon hold, Far West, leaving the county of Davies onewide, extended ruin. To-day, I saw and conversed withMaj. Morin, the Senator elect from Ray, Caldwell, andDavies, and he informed me that the people of Davieswere literally ruined. Bands of Mormons would go out,followed by wagons, and would take livestock andproperty, sweeping every thing before them, and haul thespoils into Far West. They (the Mormons) have burnt thetown of Gallatin, the county seat of Davies. On lastWednesday night, a body of some hundred and fifty ortwo hundred Mormons attacked a small body of themilitia of Ray county, some fifteen miles north ofRichmond, under Bogard; some two or three of Bogard'smen were killed and several wounded. Some four or fiveMormons were killed and many wounded. Ray menretreated. [Battle of crooked River] The alarm hasspread through the whole upper counties, and the militiahave been called out forthwith.

Last night I was in thee camp of the militia fromLafayette, Jackson and Ray. There was about the numberof seven hundred men, and as the people were flocking infrom all quarters, I suppose this moming the numberexceeded 8 hundred.- Major Generals Atchison andLucas and Brig. Generals Graham and Nelson werepresent. The encampment was about one and a half milesfrom Richmond, on the road leading to Far West.

This moming, at 8 o'clock, the amy moved off forthat point, and will to night encamp within a shortdistance of Far West. Brig. General Doniphan, with somethree hundred men, was to encamp last night nearBogard's battleground. Col. Comelius Gillam, with theforces from Clinton county, some three hundred strong, ormay be more, was encamped near Far West, say abouteight miles off.

From the exasperated feeling manifested plainly bythe forces last night, I apprehend the most seriousconsequences. Everybody is excited; the public mind

resolutely bent on putting it beyond the power of theMormons to again disturb the peace of the citizens, andmore especially their plunderings and bumings. It wasrumored that the Momons were to bum Richmond on lastThursday night, and the women and children all fledacross the river to Lexington. I saw on the bank of theriver in the night a large number of women and children,without a shelter or food, who had fled early on Thursdaybefore I heard of the alarm of the women of Ray, and Iimmediately hastened to Lexington, and then to the river,to offer shelter, protection and food to these sufferingpeople. No man without seeing the objects, can properlyestimate my feelings on that night.

You may expect to hear in three or four days morenews of the most fatal character.

I am your most ob't serv't.JOIIN S RYLAND.

•..=...

£4d¢ms ScHfl.#eJ, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Monday,November 19,1838, page 3, column 2-3.

From the Baltimore American.MORMON TROUBLES -A slip from the Missouri

Watchman, of the 29th October, contains the proceedingsof a meeting of the citizens of Ray county, convened forthe purpose of considering the difficulties existingbetween the people of Missouri and the Mormons. At themeeting a report was made by three persons, who hadvisited certain places in Davies County where theMormons were reported to have committed excesses.They found numerous ruins of dwellings, stores, mills,&c. which were laid in ashes, and were informed that theircontents had previously been pillaged by the Mormonsand carried off. It was also stated to them that theMormons had driven away large numbers of cattle.-They were represented to be about 600 strong. Thesepersons were deterred from prosecuting their inquiriesfurther, from the fact of their meeting families removinginto Ray County for safety, who stated that the country onthe north side of Grand River was devastated and entirelydeserted, except by the Mormons.

A letter was also read to the meeting from JudgeKind, of much the same tenor as the above report, andstating in addition that the Mormons are haulingprovisionsfromthesurroundingcountryandpreparingfora seige by building block houses, &c. as they expect thatan armed force will be shortly sent against them. Theopinion is expressed that the civil authority is entirely tooweak to control the lawless band.

20

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t 2004 Pa

Another letter was read to the meeting stating that Generals Atchison, Doniphan, and Parks were there, thatinformationhadbeenreceivedthattheMormonsdesigned mob boasted that they lived on Mormon beef andan attack on the town of Richmond on the night of the Momon com. The mob amounted to four or five25th October, and that the women and children were hundred; and you mayjudge of the destruction that mustflying in the utmost consternation, while the men were have been made of the property ofa poor people who had,preparing to defend the town. but a short time before come into the country. It was the

Resolutions were then passed requesting the Governor cause of much suffering and distress among the Mormons.immediately to order out an armed force to quell the When the mobbers were dispersed at Daviess, theyinsurrection, to protect the persons and property of the went directly to Carroll county and commenced an attackcitizens of Missouri, and to drive from the State this on the Momons there, where they obtained a cannon forpowerful band of robbers. It was also resolved to raise the purpose. Abody of70 families was closely invested;three companies of soldiers to guard the northern consisted of men, women and children; living in wagonsboundary of Ray county and prevent the intrusion of the and tents, not having had time to build houses. A greatMormons. many sickened and died for want of attention. In this

In consequence of these proceedings, the Governor wretched situation they were driven from Dewitt. Theordered a force of three thousand men to be raised, and same evening, a lady who was sick, died in consequenceproceed immediately to the relief of the suffering ofmovingher, and was buriedbythe wayside, without ainhabitants ofDaviess county. coffin; thus was a family of children left without a

The Missourian, published atFayette, nearthe seat of mother. A multitude of children died, because theirGovernment, states thatthe Govemorhad received a letter parents could not take proper care of them. Applicationfrom Gen. Clark, informing him that he had so far was made to the Governor for assistance, but he utterlyanticipated the orders as to order out 600 mounted men, refused to give the least aid.and directed them to march that moming, the 20th. The Deluded fanatics, or whatever name the Buffaloauthorityconfered on Gen. Clark, to close the warfare, is Commercial may be pleased to give them, we arevery full and there is little doubt, from the spirit astonished that such outrages should be suffered to gomanifested among the people, that the difficulties will unpunished in the land of equal rights, and religioussoon be teminated. privileges.

•..=......g...

FrccmaH ,4"dMessc#gcr, Lodi, New York, Thursday, Ori!.a Rcposz.fory, Canton, Ohio, Thursday, NovemberFebruary 14,1839. 22,1838.

THE MORMONS.-A letter from s. Rigdon, one of the „ORMOIV W:HR.Mormon chiefs confined in the jail at Liberty, Missouri, MORMON TROUBLES IN MISSOURI.gives the following affecting picture of the persecutions An arrival at St. Louis, from above, confirms theof this deluded class of fanatics:-BWJ7jj: CforoH. reports which were previously current, of the burning of

The sufferings, the calamities, the woe and Daviess court house, post office, and a store by thewretchedness of the Mormons is, at this time unknown to Momons. It is stated that the Governor had ordered outthe public generally, and not only since the Govemor's 4,000 militia; and that volunteer companies were rapidlyorder, but before. For a length of time before the being organized to march to the scene of action. TheGovemor's order, the Mormons had been scourged by a Mormons are said to be daily receiving accessions to theircompany ofmobbers, who were constantly wasting their numbers by emigrants from canada.property ; gathering together and threatening them and ADDITloNAL PARTICULARS.-The Missourian of thetheir property with destruction and extermination. The 27th ultima, printed at Fayette, gives the followingmob which collected in Daviess, immediately subsequent additional information. A company was to be organizedto the election, commenced in general destruction of in Fayette on the moming of the 27th.Mormon property, and destroyed, before the authorities SNowDEN'S, October 25,1838.could disperse it; or, rather, before they did disperse it, SR: News has just reached here that the Mormonsone hundred head of cattle; and, of this number, was the have attacked and cut to pieces Capt. Bogart's companylast cow that some poor families possessed. And, while of50 men, except three or four who have escaped. They

21

e22 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

say the Mormon forces is 3 or 400. Richmond isthreatened to night. If you can spare them, I wish you todetail two or three companies of troops and repair toRichmond with all speed. Yours in haste,

GEO. WOODWARD.Aid to General Parks.

Colonel Jones.CARROLLTON, Oct. 25,1838.

GENTLEMEN: News of an appalling nature has justreached us. Captain Bogard who was ordered with hiscompany to guard the frontier of Ray county, wasattacked and cut to pieces by immense numbers. Theywere overpowered by 3 or 400 Mormons while they wereguarding their own frontier. But five minutes ago, threereports of a cannon was heard in the direction ofRichmond. Firing has been heard in various directions,and there is no doubt that these infatuated villains haveattacked Richmond.

The news of their burning and pillage has alreadyreached you. They have undoubtedly captured thecannon,andtakenmanyprisoners-probablykilledmany.Daviess county is a scene of desolation. Ray is probablyso ere this time; and their next movement will be at thisplace. It is already threatened.

Be up and doing. Bring all the men you can, and letus check them in their course of destruction anddevastation. They are moving on with giant strides to theclimax of anarchy, civil war, and desolation. Wolf andBaker will explain all. I have just received orders. byexpress, from Brig. Gen. Parks to raise 150 mounted men.Many have volunteered, and the remainder I will obtain ina day or two.

Stir up the people in Howard and Chariton. Send allthe brczves you can with Wolf, and we can meet and checkthem in their mad course. Yours, in haste,

". C. JONES.To CCINGRjAVB, ]ALCKSON , and others.

The St. Louis Republican of the lst instant, afterpublishing the foregoing article added: "We haveconversed with a gentleman who says that he had held aconversation, in person with Joe Smith, a few days ago,and Smith stated that his people were prepared to die indefense of what they thought to be their rights; that,although the Governor might raise and send against themthe power of the State, yet he, and all the men he couldbring, would not drive them from their present homes."

From the St. Louis Gazette-November 2.FURTHER PARTICULARS .

We, at a late hour, received an extra from theMissouri Watchman, Jefferson city, of the 29th.

A very numerous meeting has been held in Ray

county, at which the most energetic resolutions weretaken.

A report was read at the meeting, by which it appearsthat Millport, in Daviess county had been burnt, and thatthe county was deserted, and sacked.

Judge King whting to the Governor, from Richmond,Ray County, October 24th, says:

``At this time there is not a citizen in Daviess, except

Mormons. Many have been driven without waning;others have been allowed a few hours to start. The stockof the citizens have been seized upon, killed up, and saltedby hundreds; from from 50 to 100 wagons are nowemployed in hauling i n t he c om from the s urroundingcountry. They look for a force against them, and areconsequently preparing for a siege, building block houses,&c. They have lately organized themselves into a band ofwhat they call `Danites, ' and sworn to put to instant deaththose who will betray them. There is another band callthe `Destructives,' whose duty it is to avenge themselvesfor supposed wrongs by privately burning houses,property, and laying in ashes, towns, &c."A bloody battle has no doubt been fought, near

Richmond; and a war of extermination will ensue."E. M. Ryald, whting from Lexington (Lafayette

county) evening 25th, says:"M. Morehead brought news that the Mormons had

attacked Captain Bryant this moming at day light. SinceMr. M. left Richmond, one of the company (Bogart) hadcome in and reported ten of his comrades killed, and theremainder (forty) taken prisoners, many severelywounded. He stated that Richmond would be sacked andburned by the Mormon banditti tonight. Nothing canexceed the consternation which the news gave rise to.The women and children are flying from Richmond inevery direction. We have sent from this county since twoo'clock this evening, about 100 well armed and daringmen.

•..=...

rfee j4//o" rc/cgrapfe, Alton, Illinois, November 10,1838.

THE MORMON WAR.We republish in another column, from the St. Louis

Eve#z.#g Gczze/fe, a somewhat detailed account of thetermination of the recent crucade against the Mormons,which, if substantially correct, indicates that in theproceedings to which those unfortunate people have beensubjected, every principle of law, justice, and humanity,has been grossly outraged - Although it may be difficult

22

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number 34 Ma t 2004 Pa

to decide who is to blame in this matter, it is evident to allthat a fearful responsibility rests somewhere, and thatthose who commenced the work of destruction have muchto answer for. The State of Missouri owes it to her ownhonor t o i nsitute a r igid inquiry i nto t he c auses whichhave led to results so much to be deplored; and as herLegislature meet on Monday next, it be hoped that thisbody will promptly adopt such measures as may benecessary to the elucidation of the whole truth, andbringing the offenders, if any, to the bar of justice.

AFFARS OF CANADA.The late New York papers state that a report is in

circulation that Lord D has recently received a letterfrom P`dr. Van Buren, in which he is appraised that a plotto revolutionize Canada has been organized on this side ofthe frontier ...

From the St. Louis Daily Evening Gazette.THE MORMON WAR ENDED.

The Mormon war has been terminated by a surrenderof the Mormon leaders to the troops under Gen. Atchison.This happened on Sunday October 28th [sic, 31st]. On

that day about fAree ffoowsc!#d men, being part of the anyof 5,000, ordered out under Gen. Clark, comprising Gen.Atchison's division, made their appearance before thetown of Far West, the county seat of Caldwell county,where the Mormons were entrenched. Upon theirapproach the Momons had hoisted a white flag, whichwas s hot d own b y C apt. 8 ogard, b ut w as i mmediatelyreplaced. Gen. Atchison then sent a message with a viewto leam their wishes and intentions, when six of theirleaders avowed their willingness to surrender, in theexpectation that the Mormons should be unharmed. Thesurrender was accepted, and the individuals put underguard. Their names were Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon,George Hewitt, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, and Mr.Knight. The Mormons, assembled at Far West,comprised 700 men under ams. Of this number, a smallbody of 150 retreated and pursued their way to thenorthern Frontier.

The reports vary as to what happened after thesurrender. In fact, our intelligence does not come downclearly to a period, later than the day of the capitulation.

On the day after, Gen Atchison received the orders ofthe Governor which have already been mentioned in thispaper, as directing the expw/sz.o# or exfermi.#a/I.o# of theMormons. It is said that, shocked and disgusted with theseverity of the command, he retired and went home.

23

After that event, it is stated that several-some accountssay 40 of the Mormons-were put to death. One versionof the statement is, that the Mormons killed, at this time,were such as had not come into Far West. [rumors aboutHuan's Mill] We need, however, more certain andauthentic infomation, than we now have, on this hand.

Gen. Clark with the remainder of the troops, collectedfrom the counties below [to last column on page]Caldwell, was, on the Friday after the surrender,encamped in Ray county, and had not reached Far West.

It is stated that about the time of the surrender, acompany of men-200 in number-fell on a body of theMormons, in Splawn's [Haun's] settlement, on ShoalCreek, about 20 miles from Far West. The Momons, itis said, were 30 in number, and the story runs that all butfour were put to death. Some of the names of the killed,as r eported t o u s w ere D avid E vans from 0 hio, J acobFoutzfromPennsylvania,ThomasM'Brideandhisfather,Mr. Daly, M. Merrill and his son-in-law, M. White, allfrom Ohio.

The facts about Bogard' s fight are that two of his menwere killedutne outright and one died of his wounds.At the same time, four Momons fell-among them theCaptain of their band. Bogard's company were stationedon the line of Ray county, to intercept the communicationbetween Ray and Caldwell. They had captured fourMormons; and to rescue these the attack was made uponthem by the Momons. Bogard's Company is said tohave been 40 in number, and the Mormons 70.

As to the Mormon ravages in Daviess county, theplundering and burning of which so much has beensaid-we are informed that, before those hostileoperations, the Mormons held a consultation, at which thepropriety of the steps afterwards taken, was debated atlarge. Some of their number were averse to the plan, andnearly one third dissented from it. The reasons assignedfor these measures, were alleged outrages by theirenemies in Carroll and Daviess counties. According tothe Mormon statement, their houses and buildings, nearDewitt, in Carroll county, had been destroyed by theirenemies, and they themselves expelled from the countyand afterwards pursued, on their retreat into Daviess. Itwas, therefore, as they allege, in retaliation for previousunprovoked outrages, that they executed their system ofviolence and terror in the county of Daviess. Evidently,they could not have adopted a more suicidalpolicy-allowing their own statements to be wholly true.

We have no time now-and it would take more spacethan we can spare for it*ven with a knowledge of all thefacts, to enter into a history of the origin and progress ofthis difficulty. But there is a statement in this connection,

e24 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MOFRMON FRONTIEF{ FOUNDATION

which we have heard but recently, and which we sincerelyhope is not true. That statement is as follows.

About the 9th or loth of last month, when about 80Mormon families had been expelled from Carroll county,and driven into Daviess, a message was sent by them tothe State Executive, praying for his interposition in theirbehalf. The reply to that message was, that already theState had been put to a great deal of expense on accountof these difficulties, and that he could see no cause tointerpose, thus leaving the parties to fight it out!

The disposition of the captured Mormons presents acase of great difficulty. They are generally poor-at leastthey have but little houses and few means besides theirstock and crops to preserve them from starvation. As itis, we suspect, these means are very much abridged. Thepresence of several thousand troops in their vicinity musthave reduced them greatly. The proposition-so it isgiven out-is to remove them from the State. Who willadvance the funds, wherewith to consummate to such ameasure? And where shall they be sent? Their numbersexceed¢ve /Ao#scz#d, men, women and children! Arethese 5,000 people-without any means and literallybeggars-to be thrust upon the charities of Illinois, Iowa,or Wisconsin?

It is said that the leaders are to be put to trial. Wehope there may be a trial, and that the trial will extend toa most thorough, rigid, and impartial examination into theorigin and progress of this extraordinary commotion. Wehope that a searching operation will be applied to theguilty on all sides. I t is only in such a way that thegovernment and people of this State can place themselveson a just and dignified attitude before their sistergovernments and fellow citizens of the Union.

FURTHER FROM THE MORMONS.-The account of abloody butchery of /fej.rty-n^;o Mormons, on Splawn'screek [rumor about Haun's Mill on Shoal Creek], is fullyconfirmed. Two cfez./c7re7c were killed, we presume, byaccident. Considerable plunder-such as beds, hats, &c.,were taken from the slaughtered. Not one of theassailants was killed or hurt.

About the time of the surrender, several Mormonhouses were burnt in Chariton; and one Mormon whorefused to leave, killed.

At Far West, after the surrender, a Mormon had hisbrains dashed out, by a man who accused the Momons ofburning his house in Daviess.

On Monday next, commence the sale of public lands,in Daviess county.

24

•..=...Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, Pennayivim±i\,Tuesday, November 20,1938, page 4, column 3.

From the St. Louis Republican, Nov. 1.ALARMING STATE OF AFFAIRS.

The following letter, from a highly respectableindividual, has been privately furnished us by a friend, forpublication. The statements are confirmed by manyvaried experts from in the city. We have latelycommunicated with several intelligent individuals fromthe vicinity of the Momon disturbance, and, whilst wehave found it difficult to arrive with any certainty at thetruth concerning many things, we are well assured that the

y is more deeply seated than has generally beensupposed, and we feel assured that bloodshed anddevastation only will t erminate the struggle, unless theMormons remove from the county. Every account fromthat quarter shows an existing state of agitation on thepublic mind truly alarming. Every stranger is watchedwith ].ealousy, and every man compelled to take sides foror against the Momons.- In truth, there appears to bebut little division, on the part of the citizens, in theiropposition. We are told that two men who laid out thetown of De Witt, and, and as a matter of speculationinvited the Mormons to buy lots in it, have been givenleave to pass through the county /Aree times, after whichthey are infomed that a return there will be dangerous.They have already moved their goods into another county.

So deep and all pervading is the opposition to theMormons, and so many respectable men have engaged inthe attempt to expel them, we feel satisfied the public arenot truly informed of the objections which exist againstthe Mormons or the circumstances which render them soobnoxious. We hope shortly to be able to developesomething more of this unhappy state of affairs then letsyet come to the knowledge of the public.

ON BOARD THE STEAMSHIP ASTORIA,Below Jefferson city, 28th Oct.

Dear Major.-I hasten to communicate intelligencewhich received a few minutes since (from anunquestionable source) at Jefferson city, viz. - Col.Reese, of Richmond, Ray county has arrived with anexpress to the Governor, to call out the militia to march indefense of Ray and Richmond. The Mormons haddevastated Daviess county, burning the county seat andmost of the houses in the county, and were then marchingon Richmond to bum and destroy it. Rencountres hadtaken place with loss of lives[?]. Col. Reese had, but afew hours before we landed, returned, and orders were

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number 34 Ma t 2004 Pa

promptly issued by Governor Boggs, for 4000 mountedmen to report to the scene of war. The troops below areto rendezvous at Fayette, and march immediately.

The Mormons have for many days hauling in com andother supplies to their great depot Far West. They havet>een reinforced by many hundreds lately from Ohio andthe Canada,-refugees and Mormons. Do not believethat these disturbances are "humbugs." There are seriousand dangerous difficulties[?] now pending. ~The whter of this has every opportunity to know thesefacts, as he was an eyewitness in Caldwell, having beenout with the troops. Mormonism, emancipation & also[?]ism mws/ be drz.ve# from our State.

We, the exposed frontier men, have enough tocontend with _o [?]etant shamefully exposed I _r,without having to combat with the seys of the easterndegraded and _?_ rable thrown with the "poorJ7]dz.cz#s," on our border. Forbearance no longer can beexercised. If the Government will not protect us, we willdo it ocjrse/vex.4d¢ms Sc#fz."cJ, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Monday,November 26,1838, page 4, column 1-2. [This articlewill give the reader a small taste of other conflicts goingon in 1838. The "Mormon War" was not unique.]

From the United States Gazette.Co#czd¢ ,4jrczz.rs.-By reference to another column it

will be seen that the affairs of Canada are againembroiled; that another invasion has been made, and wesuppose, of course, made from the territory of the U.States, with men gathered on our soil, and with weaponsfrom our armories. We refer to extracts for particulars ofthe warfare, and proceed to say a word upon the positionin which our nation is being placed by the existing state ofaffairs. Not only do hostile troops gather within ourcountry, and take refuge there when repulsed from theinvaded territory, but we have in our Atlantic cities openand avowed efforts to enlist the feelings and services ofmenagainstanationwithwhomourGovemmentisatthismoment at peace, and in constant political andcommercial intercourse. Nay, in this quiet city we saw onSaturday, the comers of our streets placarded withinvitations to attend a meeting where plans were to beadopted for aiding the rebellion in Canada. Is this right?Is this seconding to the usages of neutral nations? It isconsistent with our treaties with Great Britain? If it is, weare certainly ignorant of what is due from one nation to

another, resting on the faith of treaties and the good faithof favorable sovereignties.

•..=...

j4d¢ms ScHfl.HeJ, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Monday,January 7,1839.

A4issowrz. £egz.s'/cz/wre - The Governor has made astatement of the expenses of the Mormon war, which heestimates at 70 or 80,000 dollars; and suggests that ffaeUnited States are liable for it.

The Govemor's position is, that the Mormonmovement was an insurrection and that the IVczf!.o#cz/Government is bound to suppress insurrections. But,with the St. Louis Gazette, we conceive that, before theGeneral Government pays for beating the poker, it willbest inquire whether there was an insurrection by theMormons; and next, whether that insurrection wasdirected against the laws and authorities of the Union.The Gazette says: -We opine that the Governor will findit no easy matter to answer either of these questionsaffirmatively." And we opine, moreover, that the State ofMissouri will gain nothing, any way, by carrying itsMormon story into the National Legislature.-rrcz#scrz27/.

...=...Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, Pennsyivania,Tuesday, December 31,1839, page 3, col. 2.

The Mormons having been driven from Missouri,have settled in Illinois on a tract of land which theypurchased at the head of the Des Moines rapids of theMississippi. They have laid out a town which they callNauvoo. A deputation of three persons of their fraternityhas been despatched to the City of washington, to petitionCongress for relief on account of losses experienced bythe Missouri troubles. Persecution in their case has hadits usual effect in strengthening those who are its victims.The Mormon sect has increased largely, and it is said thatmany families of respectability and influence in theadjoining counties have united themselves with this newdenomination,

Baltimore American.

25

e26 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

Henry K. Inouye, Jr.Many MMFF members will remember Henry Inouye

as a board member and artist for MhffF publications.The following was printed in memory of Henry K.Inouye and we share it here with you.

Heny K. Inouye,75, of Independence,Missouri, passedaway at his homeearly Sunday, May23, 2004. Mr. Inouyewas born inIndependence, theson of Heny andEmily (DeTray)Inouye and graduatedfrom WilliamChrisman HighSchool in 1946. Heimmediately enlistedin the Navy and

served during the latter part of world War 11.Henry married Helen Amundson in 1949 and later

moved t o H awaii, where h e and his w ife r aised threedaughters. He owned and managed an advertising andpublic relations agency in Honolulu, as well as threeearly childhood centers, prior to moving back to Missouriin 1980.

Henry successfully combined a career in art withreligious studies. He studied at Graceland College inLamoni, Iowa, and received a bachelor's degree in arthistory and fine arts form the University of Hawaii. Healso majored in fine art at the Kansas City Art Instituteand commercial art at the Art Center in Los Angeles.Later he earned a master's degree in religion from theClaremont School of Theology in Califomia, andpursued postgraduate studies at Park College.

A published author, Henry wrote jto}; CAevz.//e..Explorer Of Spiritual Frontiers (Independence, Mo...Herald Publishing House, 1986), as well as essays inRestoration Studies V, VI, and IX, Restoration WitnessA4lczg¢zz.#e and 77!eo/og)/ Co//oqw};. He was an Elder andmember of the Community of Christ Comerstonecongregation.

Henry was a member of the Mormon HistoryAssociation, John Whitmer Historical Association, andthe Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation. Hecombined extensive research with a unique artistic styleto create historical illustrations and narrative of eventswhich occurred throughout local church history. He alsopainted a series of portraits that are featured at theKirtland Temple Historic Center. His illustrations wereused as the design for the plaques of the MormonWalking Tour in Independence.

Very active in his community, he served as Presidentof the Santa Fe Trail Neighborhood CommunityDevelopment corporation (SFTNCDC). Together witha team of other committed residents, he accomplishedmany projects dedicated to the revitalization of this olderarea of Independence. Crime prevention, youthprograms, home rehabilitation, and a planned seniorhousing project are the focus of the ongoing efforts of theSFINCDC.

Henry expressed his appreciation of the beauty ofGod' s creation through his artistic landscape gardening,twice earning a City of Independence BeautificationAward for his home in the Santa Fe Trail neighborhood.

Henry is survived by his wife, Helen, three daughters(Patti Franks of wailuku, Hawaii, Cindy Mendelsohn ofIndependence, Missouri and Lori Shem of Belton,Missouri), fifteen grandchildren, a sister, NadineHarbottle of Kanoehe, Hawaii and a brother DonaldInouye of Hilo, Hawaii.

26

MISSOUF2I MORMON

Date

FRONTIEF{ FOUNDATION Nunber34 Ma

THE MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATIONP.O. Box 3186, Independence MO 64055

t 2004 Pa

• I would liketojoin MMFF forthe 2005 CalendarYear H New I Renewal

=Fi8dueL:trs$8L.:.o°°(fuLLtlm=:%m£L¥oSL:e°;:°toageD25S)ustaLn]ngs:5i°a°trons=5So?83S°rs±°£i:e°SLooo.oo

• I would like to make an additional contribution in the amount of:I Marker Fund S

Name

I Rich Log House Fund S

Address

Home & Bus. Phone

Make checks payable to Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundationand mail to:Missouri Mormon Frontier FoundationP.O. Box 3186Independence MO 64055

I Un-designated S

A Gift for a Friend

Date

• Iwould liketojoin "FF forthe 2005 CalendarYear I New I Renewal

=Fi8dueL:trs$8].:.o°°(fuiitLm=E:in;1:osi:e°;:°toageE25S)ustamm8S:5i°a°trons=5SoP:BS°rs±°£;:e°SLooo.oo

• I would like to make an additional contribution in the amount of:I Marker Fund S

Name

I Rich Log House Fund S

Address

Home & Bus. PhoneMake checks payable to Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundationand mail to:Missouri Mormon Frontier FoundationP.O. Box 3186Independence MO 64055

27

I Un-designated S

e28 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MOFIMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

Publications Order FomlTHE MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

P.O. Box 3186, Independence MO 64055

4 Sfeor/ f7z.sfory o/Ccz/cJwe// Cow#ty by Bertha Booth,1936, reprinted with new index 1998. 65 pages,index,paperback, 5 i/2x 8 I/2 ISBN: 0-9720011-0-7 Price$5.00

Eczr/}; J7!c7epe#cJe7!ce, Mz.s'sowrz. "A4lormo# " ro#r Gwz.de by Ronald E. Romig, illustrated by HenryInouye, revised 2003. 45 pages. Paperback, 9.5 x 11" ISBN 0-9720011-6-6Price $6.00

An Index to Early Caldwell County, Missouri, Land Records edited by Clalkv . Iohason and R+onaldE. Romig, 2002. Revision of 19941imited edition by Clark V. Johnson. xxiv, 242 pages,12township plats, maps ofFar West, current road map. Spiral, 8.5 x 11" (2fld printing) ISBN:0-9720011-5-8 Price $20.00

Jczcdro# Cozt#ty, Mj.Jsowrz. A4lormo# fJz.s/orz.c Sz.res by William J. Curtis, 2002. Heavily illustrated with

photographs, 59 pages, paperback, 5.5 x 8.5" ISBN 0-9720011-5-8 Price $5.00

1836 Clay County, Missouri State Tax List: All Taxpayers and Land C^^lners Are Identified, IncludingA4lormo#s, cz#d /fee /83J rtzjr fczw. Transcribed, annotated and indexed by Annette W. Curtis,2003. xx,125 pages, softcover, 8.5 x ll" ISBNO-9720011-7-4 Price$15.00 rvEW

Early Jackson County Missouri.. The ``Mormon" Settlement on the Big Blue River.. A Guided Tour77zrowgfe rz.me by Ronald E. Romig., illustrated by Henry K. Inouye, Jr. 1996. vii, 34 pages;comb binding, 8/5xl 1" ISBN 0-9720011-2-2 Price $9.00 2nd printing forthcoming

A4:h4FF Ivews'/e//era / -23, / 993-/ 888 w./% J#dex, cumulation of back issues bound for handy reference,about270pages. Paperback, 8.5 x 11" ISBNO-9720011-3-1 Price$20.00

To complete the set of our periodical publication, back issues of A4issowrz. A4lormo# Fro#£z.er are available, Issues 24through 32. $3 per issue postpaid or $10 for the complete set, please add postage.Available as print-on-demand :Archaeological Reconnaissance Of a Caldwell County, Missouri, Log House. (FhohLogHouse) 8.5 x \1" papehoa,ck,

combbinding. $10.00ZOO/ Dz.g Jzepo7~/ o# Ce7"e/Cry Sow/fe, Fczr Wee/, A4rssowrz. by Paul DeBarthe, Tovia Cohen and Tehau DeBarthe, 2002.

34 pages, ill., some color. 8.5xl 1" paperback, comb binding. $10.00

(Quantity purchases for re-sale are discounted and welcomed.)Please add postage and packaging. Total Amount enclosed: S

Name

Address

Publications may also be purchased online at www.FarwestHistorv.com

28

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t 2004 Pa

Log HouseBenefit Dinner / Auction

The weather here in western Missouri during the lastpart of August was often stormy. Thursday August 26,2004 was hot and muggy in hdependence but cool, witha light breeze in Caldwell County that evening. It was abeautiful evening to spend at the 1837 C. C. Rich LogHouse. While the Dutch Oven Dirmer flnished cookinga group of Missouri Mormon Foundation members andfiends gathered for an auction to raise funds to cover thelog house. Dave MCEwen acted as auctioneer andAnnette Curtis clerked the sale.

Among the items auctioned were: a first edition ofThe Relationship Of Mormonism and Freemasonry bryAnthony W. Ivins with a signed insert on LDS FirstPresidency Letterhead dated September 21, 1935 byHeber J. Grant, J. Reuban Clark and David 0. MCKay.A pottery piece donated by Marvin Crozier who was thepopular artist many will remember from their trips toNauvoo in the 1970s and 1980s. (Check out the WashHouse Gift Shop for his pottery.) A signed First Editionhard bound copy of Stephen C. Lesueur's classic 7lfee/848 A4lormo# Jyczr I.# A4lz.ssowrj.. A piece of the originalNauvoo Temple stone retrieved from the site. Two quilthangings by Alta Short - "Love in Plaid" and "StarBright." Hand made washable mats made by Fern

MCBride who is in her 90s. Photos by Bill Curtis suchas "Far West Temple Site, 1962 with cows" and ``Zion'sCamp Fishing River Storm Site." Grandma's Lye Soap.Hand-made Native American Indian belt buckles. A

lead crystal Tulip Vase. A set of four Henry Inouyecolor pictures and a set of 8 Church History booklets byHeny Inouye. .

In spite of the fact that the threatening weatherreduced attendance the event was a success. Between theproceeds from the dinner and the auction over $ 1000 wasraised. A few more fund-raisers like that could save thelogs from the weather! If you missed this opportunityto contribute to this worthy cause, you may contribute tothe log house preservation fund by sending a check toMMFF for that purpose.

Browse the shelves of the online store atwww.FarwestHistory.com to find good stuff notavailable elsewhere and at the same time help thepreservation effort. A new book for sale only there isNortheast Of Eden: A Historical Atlas Of Missouri'sA4lormo# Cow#fy by John Hamer. Artwork by HenryInouye is also available there exclusively.

FVI Book NotesAlthough these books are not available through Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation, our members may be interestedto know about them. See the MMFF order page for MMFF publications.

Joseph and Emma's JULIA by S. FLeed M:uldockhas recently been published in hard cover by EBomBooks, Valley Fair Mall, Suite 8120, 3600 ConstitutionAve., West Valley City UT 84119.www.ebombcoks.com 801-965-9410

Also new on your bookstore's shelves is: S¢crcdPlaces, Missouri: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDSHistorical Sites (Voharme 4 in thf3 Sacred Places series)by I,aMar C. Berrett and Max H. Parkin. Salt I.ake City:Deseret Book Company, 2004. ISBN 1-57008-939no652 pages, softcover, $29.95.

Northeast of Eden: A Historical Atlas ofA4:issowr[.'s jt4ormo# CowHfy by John Hamer is newlyavailable through the Far West Cultural Center. All

29

profits from the sale of this edition are being donated bythe author to help preserve the Log House. 193 pagesincluding index, paperback, $25 plus S&H. It is aportion of a broader project to map Mormon history. Formore information visit www.MormonAtlas.com. Anindex ofn ames with the land descriptions is includedwith the maps. Visit www.FarwestHistorv.com onlinestore to order. John Hamer is an independent researcherand a professional map maker. He is a great, great, great,great, grandson of Stephen and Nancy Winchester, earlyLatterrday Saints who owned 120 acres of famland inCaldwell County just east of the present-day town ofMirable. The maps contain three layers: the terrain andmodem road information; the surveyed section lines, andthe name of the property owner and date the sale wasentered, i.e. the date the land was paid for at the Federal

e30 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

Land Office in Lexington, Missouri. This work dealswith the Mormon period ( 1830s) in Caldwell County anddoes not include the later land sales. This filters out laterinformation and lets the user concentrate on the Mormonland ownership in Caldwell County.

The Truman Neighborhood, From ElegantMansions to the Neck, In dependence, Missouri: TheMccoy Neighborhood in Story and PhotographsbyBmCurtis, 2004. Published with a grant from the KansasCity Neighborhood Alliance, the proceeds benefit theMccoy Neighborhood council organization. This bookdraws from the massive photograph collection of ourown Bill Curtis. The book contains over 580 images and

photographs, many never before published, along with aportion of his knowledge about them and the people whopassed through this neighborhood through time, muchalso never before in print. Besides buildings and people,churches and schools in the neighborhood are covered.Mccoy Neighborhood #15 is bounded by Noland Roadto River Blvd. and US 24 Highway to Truman Road.Now going into the 2nd Edition after the first printingsold out in less than two months. About 182 pages,including index. $20 plus shipping (and tax ifapplicable). They are available at Scandinavia Place, 209N. Main, Independence, MO 64050 and The Little DixieBookshop, 204 N. Liberty, Independence, Missouri64050 or by calling Barb Wiley 816-836-3248.

Books of Special Interestfrom Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation

1836 Clay County, Missouri State Tax List: All Taxpayers and Land Owners Are Identified,J#c/wdz.#g A4:ormoHs.. ¢#d 7lfee J835 rtz]c fflw was transcribed, annotated and indexed by Amette W. Curtis,2003. It is 125 pages plus 20 pages of front matter (introduction and the 1835 tax law), soft cover, 8 I/2 by11 inches, spiral bound for easy use. ISBN 0-9720011-7-4. Price $15.00

This 1836 tax list fills a gap as a census of taxpayersbetween the 1830 and 1840 censuses. The year isespecially significant for those doing research onMormons who were refugees there from Jackson Countyafter 1833. The year 1836 is just before the greatmigration of Mormons to that part of Ray County whichbecame Caldwell County.

After a delegation of influential Clay Countyresidents told the Mormons it was time for them to moveon, legislation was initiated at the State level to create a

place for them to inhabit. W . W . Phelps and BishopEdward Partridge went northeast into northern RayCounty, the future Caldwell County, to investigate thearea. They picked out the location of Far West for afuture Momon town. (fJz.szory o//foe Cfewrch, Volume 2,Chapter XXXI, especially pages 449-452) By 1836some people were already living in what was to becomeCaldwell County and a few Momons including John andRhoda Cooper had already gone north. Familyresearchers with people in Clay County in 1836 will findinformation in this not found elsewhere.

Historians will also find it helpful. Slave ownerslisted the number and value of their slaves. Essentials tosurvival like horses, mules and cattle were taxed.Carriages, watches and clocks were also taxed and so

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listed by value. Tan yards, distilleries and mills werebusiness operations that are included in the tax list. Millsare always of special interest as an important service andthe values give an idea of their relative size.

MMFF Books Back in Stock

AshortHistoryofcaldwellcountyTM:issouir]written by Bertha E. Booth in 1936 has beenreprinted again. We printed 1000 copies, which areon hand to fill orders, both retail and wholesale.This objective history was enhanced (1998) with anindex by Annette Curtis. Price is $5.00 plusshipping.

h just one year we have sold out the firstprinting of 100 of our reprint of £4# JHdeic fo E¢rtyCaldwell county, Missouri Land Records edhedbyClark V. Johnson and Ronald E. Romig, 2002. Thisbook includes all original Federal land salesincluding later non-Momon sales. The new price is$20 plus shipping.

MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIEF3 FOUNDATION Number34 Ma t 2004 Pa

Current NewsOur President Alta Davis Short and her husband

Kenneth Short celebrated their 50th wedding amiversaryat the Farview Restoration Branch hall on Sunday 12Sept.ember 2004. The room was decorated with theirwedding pictures and her wedding dress was displayed.Congratulations Ken and Alta.

Spring BanquetThe MhffF Christmas dinner that we have tried to

hold in January the past few years became the MMFFSpring Banquet this year in deference to Missouri'stemperamental winter weather. It was held on April 28th2004 at the Red Rooster Inn in Polo, Missouri. The RedRooster has added a new patio seating area and continuesto serve excellent food.

The welcome was given by Diane Forsythe. ElderMCKay gave the opening prayer. Diane madeintroductions and read her historian's report for theprevious year. We enjoyed singing folk songs with CelesteDidericksen playing the guitar and leading the singing.Drawings were made for door prizes and good fellowshipand fun was had by all. The closing prayer was given byDon Stacker.

Ongoing ProjectsStill on the board agenda are:• Wording fora Haun'sMillmonumentledbyRon

Romig.• Discussion and reports on progress on the peter and

John Whitmer burial site on the Michael Arthur famiprior to designing a marker for that site and theMichael Arthur farm. Ron Putz is working on this.

• Markers in Richmond, Missouri for the jail and forDavid Smith's home. Lawrence Oliphant is headingthis one.

Visiting HistoriansRichard Holzpfel -see page 16.Gracia Jones - "A Celebration at the Center" on 22 Sept

2004 at the hdependence Visitors' Center wasenjoyed by several MITF members. Gracia haswritten on Emma and Joseph Smith and is adescendant of Alexander Smith.

TreasurerOur treasurer, Max Parkin moved to northern

Missouri. Shirley Gallup filled in for him briefly. She andher husband are moving so the position is open.

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MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIERFOUNDATION

is a duly organizedGENERAL NOT FOR PROFIT

CORPORATIONunder the Laws of Missouri

The Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation is anonsectarian organization dedicated to collecting andpreserving information related to the Mormonexperience in western Missouri during the 1830's.

The purposes of MMFF are stated in the By-Laws as follows:1. To promote the research, documentation,

verification, renovation and restoration of eventsand sites associated with the Missouri MormonFrontier.

2. To preserve documents, photographs, artifacts,sites and other historical memorabilia associatedwith that period.

3. To facilitate the gathering and preservation ofgenealogical information from the affectedgeographical area.

President -Alta ShortVice President -Ronald E. RomigCorresponding Secretary -William J. CurtisRecording Secretary -Nancy HarlacherTreasurer -Historian -Mary Diane ForsytheBoard Members -Ida Mae Burkhardt, Annette Curtis,

Larry Harlacher, Dave MCEwen, Ron Putz,Kenneth Short, Don Stacker

Ex-Offico Board Members -Barrie Gunn MCKay, Elaine MCKay, Elder &Sister Rees Jensen, Hugh Barlow, Diane Barlow,Robert Parker, Dave Aamodt, Alex Baugh,Susan Easton Black, Clark Johnson, John MarkLambertson, Roland Sarratt, Mark Scherer

All meetings, including Board meetings, are open.You are invited to come and bring other interestedpeople to any of our meetings.

NEWSLETTERplease send news and articles for the newsletter toAnnette Curtis at 714 North Main, Independence MO64050-2828 or mail to MMFF at P.O. Box 3186, 64055.

Home e-mail address: lobal.net

Publications editor: Annette w. Curtis

e32 Number34 Ma t 2004 MISSOURI MOF]MON FRONTIER FOUNDATION

Membership

Keep the newsletter coming to you. Memberships arefor the calendar year. New memberships are welcomedanytime. 2005 memberships welcome now.

Interested people are invited to attend MMFFfunctions. Call Alta Short at (816) 257-5588 or RonRomig at (816) 229-7981 or (816) 833-1000 for moreinformation.

MMFF meetings are the 2 nd T uesday e vening a t theIndependence Mormon Visitors' Center

MhffF - NW Chapter meetings will be quarterly. Fordates and events contact Diane Forsythe.

Missouri Mormon Frontier FoundationP.O. Box 3186Independence MO 64055

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In That Country .Old News 1838 . .Henylnouye . . .Membership formsBook order formLog House .....Book Notes ....

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CONINGBecky and Greg Smith - Friday 22 October 2004 at the

Independence Visitors' Center. Becky CardonSmith is the author of 77!c £DS Fczmz./y rrcrve/Guide, Independence to Naavoo and The LDSFamily Travel Guide, Sharon, Palinyra andKirtland.

If the first line in your address label does not end in04, 05 or life, it is time to Renew your Membership.

First Class