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Mormon War’ and the Governor’s Extermination Order
HISTORIC MORMON COUNTRY
Historic LDS Visitors Sites from Gallatin, MO, to: ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN approx. 10 miles
Hwy 13 south of Jameson, MO; about 15 minutes travel time FAR WEST approx. 20 miles
2024 NW State Highway D, Kingston, MO 64650; about 25 minutes travel time Daviess and Caldwell counties owe their formation to the Mormons who lived in Missouri in 1838. What transpired in those days in what was then the Missouri frontier is among the most unusual chapters in Missouri history. This is the site of the "Mormon War." Today there is no evidence of strife. Gazing upon picturesque Adam-Ondi-Ahman or the immaculately groomed memorial at Far West makes one wonder if the term "war" is a misnomer. Yet, consider the following:
LIBERTY JAIL approx. 58 miles
216 N Main St, Liberty, MO 64068 via Interstate 35; about 1 hr travel time Liberty Jail is where Joseph Smith, founder of Latter Day Saint movement, and other associates were imprisoned from Dec. 1, 1838, to April 6, 1839, during the 1838 Mormon War. Smith was later killed by a mob while incarcerated at the jail in Carthage, IL.
Joseph Smith • Mormon numbers swelled to over 2,000 in just months, causing fears about majority rule among “gentiles” who cleared and settled the land • Daviess Countians talked openly of organizing against Mormons after an election scuffle occurred in Gallatin • Misunderstandings, escalating hostilities, and irreconcilable differences spawned vigilante groups, destruction and bloodshed • Missouri Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs issued his infamous "Extermination Order," ordering 2,800 state troops to stand ready to march into Caldwell and Daviess counties • 20 Mormons were killed and about 20 wounded in military engagements; one Mormon was killed and perhaps another 10 injured in beatings by Missourians and a number of Saints died as a result of suffering and exposure while Missourians suffered one dead and about a dozen wounded in conflict
“The 1838 Mormon War” by Stephen C. LeSueur University of Missouri Press, Columbia 1987
Missouri Historical Review “The Mormon Experience in Missouri 1830-39, by R.J. Robertson, Jr. “...they (Mormons) declare openly that their God hath given them this county of land, and that sooner or later they must and will have the possession of our lands for an inheritance, and in time they have conducted themselves on many other occasions in such a manner that we believe it a duty we owe ourselves, to our wives and children, to the cause of public morals, to remove them from among us...”
– Citizen petition circulated in July, 1833 in Jackson County, MO
By 1838 the main body of the Mormons were at Far West in Caldwell County. Mis- sourians viewed secret Mormon teachings and oaths of the Danite band, the unwillingness of Mormon leaders to submit to local authorities, and military operations of Mormon soldiers as evidence of Mormon intentions to overthrow the government in western Missouri and supplant it with their own. Thus, Gov. L.W. Boggs gave orders to treat the Mormons as public enemies and issued his infamous extermination order. General D.R. Atchison was in command of the militia near Far West, but he revolted and withdrew the state’s military force. This left Gen. Samuel D. Lucas in command; war seemed imminent. On Oct. 30, 1838, inspired by the exterminating order of the Governor, a detachment of men under the command of Captains Nehemiah Comstock, William O. Jennings and William Gee fell upon a defenseless settlement of Mormons at Haun 's Mill and murdered the entire settlement of men, women and children with very few escaping. On the same day the troops approached Far West and encamped one mile from the town. The next day Gen. Lucas induced several leading Mormon men to come into his camp for the purpose of consultation. When they arrived, these Mormons were made prisoners of war: Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, George W. Robinson;. the next day Hyrum Smith and Amasa Lyman were added to the number of prisoners. Although these men (with the exception of Colonel Wight) were not military men, a courtmartial on charges of treason was convened and all prisoners were sentenced to be shot. Gen. Lucas issued the execution order but Brigadier-General Alexander W. Doniphan defied authority and he refused to carry it out. This so disconcerted General Lucas that the sentence was not executed. The prisoners were kept by the militia for some time, then turned over to the civil courts. After being imprisoned for several months under one pretext or another, they were permitted to escape with the connivance of the officers, and no effort made to apprehend them on charges then pending. The Mormons at Far West were disarmed, their property confiscated, and they were banished from Missouri. The eventual costs of the Mormon War, for both Mormons and Missourians, amounted to over $1 million. The state legislature appropriated about $200,000 to pay the expenses of the conflict. Mormons calculated their losses, in both property and suffering, to several million dollars. The Mormon War literally changed the course of Missouri history with the migration of the Saints first to Illinois and eventually to Salt Lake, Utah. Upon their surrender, Missouri officials arrested Mormon leaders on charges of treason.
Artist’s concept of a skirmish between Mormons and “Gentiles” at Gallatin, Daviess County, MO in 1838
Extermination Order in Missouri finally repealed in 1975
Brigadier-Gen. Alexander W. Doniphan
For 137 years, it was technically legal to kill a Mormon in Missouri. The law was on the books until 1975, when Governor Christopher “Kit” Bond officially rescinded what was known as the extermination order. Bond, later serving Missouri as a U.S. Senator, says Mormons still thank him. "I've had a lot of people who come to Missouri who told me they came back because the Extermination Order is repealed."
To Samuel D. Lucas, Major-General Commanding: "It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock; and if you execute those men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God! A. W. DONIPHAN, Brigadier-General
Missouri Historical Review, July 1910. Vol. IV, No. 4, page
Following their departure from Missouri, the Mormons also sought redress through over 700 petitions to the federal government; Joseph Smith and Elias Higbee argued the Mormons' case personally to President Martin Van Buren but to no avail since Supreme Court rulings indicated a federal action would infringe upon states' rights. Mormons, led by Brigham Young, settled in Utah where they experienced more armed confrontation in 1857-58.
Joseph Smith laid out the town site of Adam-Ondi-Ahman on May 19, 1838. While staying at the home of Lyman Wight, Smith organized the church Stake (later dissolved with the expulsion of the Saints in November). Smith proclaimed Tower Hill as the site of an ancient Nephite Altar and the nearby valley of the Grand River where Adam met with the great high priests of his time and blessed his posterity before his death. The Mormons believe that in this same valley, at the second coming of Christ, there will be another gathering of high priests and righteous people. Adam-Ondi-Ahman means “the place or land of God where Adam dwelt.” (Mormon Doctrine,19–20) 20 HISTORIC DAVIESS COUNTY
