(Posted by: steve benson, RfM, Date: August 25, 2013)
Mormons are fond of retelling their selectively-constructed faith-promoting fable of how the "Gentile" governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs, supposedly unilaterally and indefensibly issued the notorious "extermination order" against the Mormons.
A more accurate and contextual reading of history reveals that it was the Mormons, not the "Gentiles," who initially and directly threatened the non-Mormons with extermination.
Historian D. Michael Quinn writes that, in vying for political power in Caldwell County, Missouri, in August 1838, the Mormon Church hierarchy had its secretive organization of lawless enforcers–-otherwise known as the Danite Band--produce a ballot of candidates for whom faithful Mormons were expected to vote in upcoming county elections. Mormon voters subsequently elected to inform the U.S. postmaster general that LDS Church First Presidency Counselor Sidney Rigdon was "the person of our choice to fill the place of W.W. Phelps, as postmaster of this city." This notice came on the heels of a warning from the First Presidency to area non-Mormons that had , as Quinn writes, "virtually dared the Missourians to try to stop Mormons from exercising their civil liberties," warning that if the Gentiles attempted to do so, "[i]t shall be between us and them A WAR OF EXTERMINATION." (emphasis added)
Truth be told, it was Rigdon himself who, in this brazen display of bellicosity, had first coined the "extermination" phrase when he threatened the Gentiles with death and extermination at the hands of the Mormons, declaring on July 4th of that year in a fiery speech which came to be known as the "Salt Sermon" that Mormon violence would be visited upon non-compliant non-Mormons of Missouri: "[C]ome on to us no more forever . . . . [W]e will bear it no more. The man, or the set of men, who attempt it, does it at the expense of their lives."
Writer Richard Abanes describes what Rigdon said next as "an announcement that surrounding communities took as nothing less than a declaration of war":
"[T]hat mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them A WAR OF EXTERMINATION, for we will follow them til the last drop of their blood is spilled or else they will have to exterminate us, for we will carry the seat of war to their own homes and their own families and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed. . . . Neither will we indulge any man, or set of men, in instituting vexatious lawsuits against us, to cheat us out of our just rights; if they attempt it, we say woe be unto them." (emphasis added)
Abanes notes that Rigdon's threatening words sounded "the beginning of the end of the Mormon community in Missouri. Word quickly spread that Rigdon had directly challenged the authority of law and order in the territory. A letter printed in the Liberty, Missouri, 'Western Star' reported that the inflammatory speech contained "the essence of, if not treason itself." . . . It all seemed to be making sense now to the Missourians--the Mormons had intended to take over all along."
Adding fuel to the fire, Mormon Church "prophet" and fellow Danite, Joseph Smith. endorsed Rigdon's "Salt Sermon." As historian Richard S. Van Wagoner notes, Rigdon's tirade was delivered in his capacity "as official spokesman for the First Presidency. From Smith came the concept, from Rigdon the words and from the people the power." Van Wagoner further observes that Rigdon was, in fact, formally "[d]esignated [as] spokesman unto the Lord . . . all the days of his life,'" as declared "in a 13 December 1833 blessing by the prophet. Rigdon was acting in that capacity on 17 June 1838 when he made public 'The Political Motto oF The Church of Latter-day Saints' [eventually dubbed the 'Salt Sermon'], formulated by Smith and others on 14 March 1838." Van Wagoner addes that "Smith [followed Rigdon's sermon by] deliver[ing] a short speech sanctioning Rigdon's address." As Quinn confirms, Smith gave his official blessing to Rigdon's wild death threat against Missouri's non-Mormons by "publish[ing] . . . [it] as a pamphlet, advertis[ing] it in the Church periodical and explain[ing] that Rigdon's sermon expressed 'the fixed determinations of the Saints, in relation to the persecutors . . . for to be mobbed any more without taking vengeance we will not."
In actuality, it was a band of Mormon Danite thugs, under the direction of Smith and Rigdon, who were waging war against non-Mormons in the name of God's law--and in violation of both federal and state law.
Writes author Arza Evans:
"Danites were told by Smith and Rigdon that the Kingdom spoken of by the prophet Daniel (thus the name 'Danites') that was to crush all other kingdoms had been set up by the Lord in these latter days in preparation for the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Since the Kingdom of God takes precedence over the government of men, the Lord's prophet and his followers were above the laws of Missouri, any other state or even the government of the United States.
"This 'above-the-law' attitude soon caused Smith and his partners in crime serious trouble. While in Missouri, Smith, Rigdon, [Parley P.] Pratt and other Church leaders were arrested for a large number of crimes, including treason against the state of Missouri, murder, burglary, arson, robbery and larceny. While being transferred from Liberty Jail to another location, they escaped and fled to Commerce (Nauvoo), Illinois. But these old Missouri charges would haunt these fugitives from the law for many years to come."
Rigdon went so far as to openly boast that Missouri state law did not apply to the Mormons, after originally making the less-than-persuasive claim that the Mormons were simply the innocent victims of religious persecution. Smith, in endorsing Rigdon's vigilante views, slyly added, "Though I don't want the brethren to act unlawfully, . . . I will tell them one thing: Judas was a traitor and, instead of hanging himself, was hung by Peter." No wonder Missouri renegade Mormons faced the wrath of Missouri's alarmed non-Mormons. As Evans writes, Rigdon eventually confessed "that the main reason Mormons had so much trouble in Missouri was that they would not obey the laws of the land. He [Rigdon] said, 'We did not break them; we were above them.'“
Evans continues:
“Rigdon also spoke candidly about the attitude that he, Smith and other Church leaders began to assume: '. . . [W]e began to talk about the kingdom of God as if we had the world at our command. We talked with great confidence and talked big things. . . . We began to talk like men in authority and power. We looked upon the men of the Earth as grasshoppers.' Smith agreed with Rigdon's outlaw mentality when he said, 'I am above the kingdoms of the world, for I have no laws.'"
Quinn notes that increasing numbers of non-Mormons Missourians were becoming increasingly convinced that Mormons (as demonstrated by harsh LDS treatment of dissenters in their own ranks) "were inimical to law and order." In this regard, Evans writes how Mormons dissenters--including such prominent leaders as Lyman Johnson, David Whitmer, John Whitmer and several others--were ordered out of western Missouri on short notice by the LDS high command. Clearly, non-Mormon Missourians had good reason to fear this Mormon “either-you’re-with-us-or-you’re-against-us” approach, given, as Evans reports, what Rigdon said in June 1838 after arriving in the state: "When men embrace the Gospel and afterward lose their faith, it is the duty of the Saints to trample them under their feet."
Convinced that the Mormons were intent on taking over their state by illegal means, Missourians in overwhelming numbers voted and otherwise attempted to get the Mormons to leave DeWitt County. Abanes writes that the Mormons responded "with a firm no," adding that "[i]n fact, Mormon leader George Hinckle threatened [a Missouri citizens] committee.” The result was predictable, with Abanes writing that “about 100 non-Mormons later responded by riding into DeWitt, shooting up the place and threatening the area which, in turn, created additional animosity."
Fearful that the arrogant and clannish Mormons had tipped the scales of political power in Daviess County, efforts were made by apprehensive Missourians to prevent them from voting in upcoming state and county elections. Abanes observes that a local judge attempted to warn the Mormons that "there would probably be trouble at the polls"--identifying the county seat of Gallatin as a particularly dangerous spot--but the Mormons scoffed it off. On election day, fighting broke out around the Gallatin polls when a drunken local resident accused a member of the Mormon faithful of being a liar and Joseph Smith of being an imposter. Fists started to fly and a cry of distress was issued for Danite intervention--resulting in a melee which led to serious injuries on both sides.
In what Abanes describes as subsequent "displays of aggression," Smith "rode through the countryside with at least 100 Danites who intimidated several Missourians into signing statements opposing all persecution of the Saints. In response, the settlers from Daviess County traveled to surrounding counties and gave authorities exaggerated accounts about armed Mormons threatening to murder various citizens."
Serious hostilities eventually erupted between the Mormon and non-Mormon sides--known as "the Missouri War of 1838"--with atrocities being committed by each. Vigilante-driven Missourians began launching raids on isolated raids LDS farms, including in one instance, as described by Abanes, where they drove a Mormon man from his home, taking his ill wife and children hostage in the process. One of the children died during the incident and was buried by the Missourians. Two more of the children later died from lack of medical care after being rescued by the Mormons. Hostilities against the Mormons continued and, under threat of death from roving Missouri gangs, the Mormons eventually left DeWitt County.
Not to be outdone, however, the Mormons retaliated by invading towns in Daviess County, where they torched buildings--including the U.S. post office and county treasurer's office. Abanes reports that Gallatin was plundered of “all its merchandise;” Millport was “looted;” and "raiding parties [were dispatched] that scoured the countryside for vigilantes, all along the way ransacking and torching any non-Mormon cabins they happened to find, in a show of “no mercy, even to Missourians who had never been part of the vigilante forces." Non-Mormons, including pregnant women, were forced to flee their homes in bare feet with only the clothes on their backs and with only what they could carry.
Quinn makes note of further reports that Mormon marauders may have also committed one or more murders in their attacks, adding that when president of the Quorum of the Twelve, Thomas B. Marsh, drafted a formal affidavit of complaint against these violent acts committed by fellow Church members, he was excommunicated and branded an apostate. Quinn also writes that a devout Mormon, James Bracken, later admitted that during these Mormon-led hostilities "some of the brethren did things they should not have done, such as appropriating to their own use things that did not belong to them." Indeed, Quinn quotes a Danite named Justus Morse who stated that he had personally heard Smith order the Danites to "suck the milk of the Gentiles." Even Mormon Church historians have belatedly acknowledged that "Danite depredations, both real and imagined, intensified hostilities" with the Missourians. Some of those Mormon "depredations" included orders from Mormon commanders to "rake down" their Missouri enemies, with the understanding "[t]hat God would damn them and give us power to kill them."
Abanes writes that Missouri’s non-Mormons reacted quickly in an organized effort in Livingston County to bedevil Mormon settlers, including looting and burning their homes, seizing their property and, in the process, driving almost all Mormons away.
Quinn records that Mormon atrocities at the Battle of Crooked River sparked further blood-letting, with non-Mormon Missourians ruthlessly massacring 18 men and two boys, as well as wounding several fleeing women and children, at the Mormon settlement of Haun's Mill. The carnage was gruesome. One of the boys had his head blown off at close range with a rifle shot as he hid under the bellows in the blacksmith's shop; others were murdered at point-blank range while huddling in their homes, while marauding Missourians mutilated a still-alive Mormon man with his body "literally mangled from head to foot" via a scythe.
Abanes adds that after the massacre, the surviving Mormons--not knowing when and if the attackers would return--hastily collected the bodies of the dead and dumped them into a well, which they then covered with dirt. “To add insult to injury,” Abanes writes, “before all of the Mormon women departed, the Missourians returned and built a latrine over the make-shift grave, which they used to desecrate the remains of those who had been buried there."
The Haun's Mill action--as atrocious as it was--nonetheless was precipitated by earlier Mormon action at the afore-mentioned Battle of Crooked River, where Mormons attacked encamped elements of the Missouri state militia, raising fears among local non-Mormons that they were doomed for slaughter. There appeared to be ample justification for that fear. Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt was himself eventually charged with murder in the sniper-style killing of one Missourian and with attempted murder in the severe wounding of another--the latter whom Danites mutilated in the Battle of Crooked River by ramming their swords into his mouth, cutting out his bottom teeth, slicing off his cheeks, breaking his jaw, delivering a "terrible gash in the skull through which his brain was plainly visible" and leaving him for dead.
Abanes describes the reaction of non-Mormon Missourians to the Mormon attack on their state militia:
"When residents throughout the various counties heard that Mormons actually had attacked state troops, panic gripped the entire region. Hundreds of men enlisted in newly-formed militia units, weapons were primed and readied for action, letters were sent to state military personnel and Governor Lilburn Boggs was notified of the Crooked River skirmish by a number of individuals."
Quinn further explains the connection between the Mormon brutalities committed at the Battle of Crooked River and the ensuing "extermination order" issued by Governor Boggs:
"A generally unacknowledged dimension of both the extermination order and the Haun's Mill massacre . . . is that it resulted from Mormon actions in the Battle of Crooked River. Knowingly or not, Mormons had attacked state troops and this had a cascade effect. Local residents feared annihilation: 'We know not the hour or minute we will be laid in ashes,' a local minister and country clerk wrote the day after the battle. 'For God's sake give us assistance as quick as possible.' Correspondingly, the attack on state tropps weakened the position of Mormon friends in Missouri's militia and government.
"Finally, upon receiving news of the injuries and death of state troops at Crooked River, Governor Boggs immediately drafted his extermination order on 27 October 1838 because the Mormons 'have made war upon the people of this State.' Worse, the killing of one Missourian and mutilation of another while he was defenseless at Crooked River led to the mad-dog revenge by Missourians in the slaughter at Haun's Mill."
While reports that reached Governor Boggs were in some respects exaggerated, it was, in fact, the Mormon attack on state troops at Crooked River that prompted Governor Boggs to finally issue his “extermination order." The order read as follows:
"Headquarters of the Militia City of Jefferson, Oct. 27, 1838
"[To] Gen. John B. Clark
"I have received . . . information of the most appalling character, which entirely changes the face of things and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws and of having made war upon the people of this State. . . . Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operations with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace--their outrages are beyond all description."
Even pro-Mormon historians James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard grudgingly acknowledge (while still essentially blaming non-Mormon Missourians) that the Mormons' well-earned, Danite-driven reputation for violence against non-Mormons precipitated an understandable reaction from Missouri's governor:
"Highly exaggerated reports of those atrocities . . . reached Governor Boggs, and it appeared to him that the Mormons were burning towns, driving old settlers from their homes and generally undermining civil authority. The known proclivities of the Danites for vengeance did not help the Mormon cause. Finally, on October 27, 1838, heedless of any information he may have had about the Mormon viewpoint, Boggs issued his infamous 'Order of Extermination.' 'The Mormons,' he wrote to Colonel John B. Clark of the state militia, 'must be treated as enemies and MUST BE EXTERMINATED or driven from the state, if necessary fr the public good. Their outrages are beyond all description.' Clark was ordered to immediately carry out his instructions." (emphasis added by authors)
The Mormons subsequently fled to Far West, Missouri, where they were pursued by a Missouri state army of more than 2,500 men determined to crush the Mormon rebellion. A publicly-blustering Smith privately ordered his emissaries to "beg like a dog for peace" and negotiate for a treaty "on any terms short of a battle." Given only one hour to comply, the Mormons agreed to surrender on the following four terms, as outlined by Abanes:
"1. Turn over Mormon leaders Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight and George W. Robinson to be tried and punished for their crimes.
"2. Financially compensate non-Mormons state citizens for all damages to them or their property; the payments for which should be taken from those who took up arms to commit the damage.
"3. Leave the state.
"4. Give up all arms and weapons of every description."
Taken into custody, Smith and his co-conspirators were presented in a preliminary hearing with the charges against them which, as Abanes notes, "clearly revealed that Joseph had directed most, if not all, of the illegal activities in which the Saints had engaged.” The case against Smith was compelling, as Abanes explains:
“The prosecution's witnesses included not only long-time accusers such as John Whitmer and W. W. Phelps . . . , but also several more recently-added individuals to the growing list of dissenters [including] . . . Sampson Avard, supposedly the most loyal follower of them all. He spilled his proverbial guts, exposing to a Gentile court of law every Danite secret. He even produced a list of Danite officers, which included a Secretary of War. The judge, it seemed, was seeking specific information proving Smith's plans to establish a kingdom within the U.S.--a treasonous offense."
Following six months of imprisonment in Liberty Jail, Smith and his cohorts were transferred to Boone County, Missouri, to stand trial against evidence so compelling that Abanes describes it as "doom[ing] [them] to a life of imprisonment." As fleeting fate would have it, however, Smith and his band of crooks, cronies and conmen managed to escape after Joseph and his brother Hyrum bribed the sheriff "with a jug of whiskey and $800.00.”
A few years later, Joseph and Hyrum--not Governor Boggs and his fellow Missourians--were exterminated in a jailhouse shootout in Carthage, Illinois.
So much for Sidney Rigdon’s “extermination order.”
Aided by historical hindsight, researcher and writer, H. Michael Marquardt, adds perspective to the vicious Mormon-vs.-Gentile blood-spilling that was the end result of Sidney Rigdon's insane, seed-sowing "Salt Sermon" screed:
"What occurred in Missouri during those trying times was a sad state of affairs. There was no restoration of homes and property for either the Mormons or the Missourians. The insurrection surely assisted Governor Boggs to help the early settlers in their efforts to get rid of the Mormons. Petitions for help from the local citizens resulted in the extreme measure of Executive Order #45 issued by Boggs on October 27, 1838. It took another executive order, issued 137 years later in 1976 by Missouri Governor Christopher S. Bond, to heal the wounds made in 1838."
**********
Sources:
--Abanes, Richard, “One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church" (New York, New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002), pp. 155-61, 164-68
--Allen, James B., and Leonard, Glen M., "The Story of the Latter-day Saints" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1976, "Published in Collaboration with the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"), p. 127
--Evans, Arza, "The Keystone of Mormonism" (St. George, Utah: Keystone Books, Inc., 2003), pp. 157-58
--Marquardt, H. Michael, "The Rise of Mormonism: 1816-1844" (Longwood, Florida: Xulon Press, 2005), p. 489
--Quinn, D. Michael, "The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1994), pp. 96-100
--Van Wagoner, Richard S., "Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1994), pp. 217-18
--see also related thread, "Important Points from a Non-Censored Version of the Extermination Order?," posted by "rainwater," on "Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, 25 August 2013, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1001357,1001357#msg-1001357; and new thread, "The Truth about the Danites, Haun's Mill, and the Extermination Order,” by “randyj.,” on “Recovery from Mormonism” discussion board, 31 January 2016,
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1763474,1763474#msg-1763474