What is an anti-Mormon?

[_Shulem]

I mean, that's just rude.

Mormons can be quite rude and pushy. They peddle garbage.

The church is garbage.

[Guest]

Question:

Am I the only one in here who is NOT here to criticize/make fun of the church and those who still believe that it's true?

I really don't want to be barging into an 'ex/critic of/ completely against Mormons and Mormonism" support group.

I mean, that's just rude.

No, unlike your need to categorize people into distinct categories, there is a spectrum of belief on this site. One thing that is valued across the spectrum is knowledge and the ability to back up your claims with fact and evidence without a bunch of hand waving and gaslighting. Just look at Don Bradleys contributions. You don't seem to be capable of providing any back up to most of the claims you are making here - the closest you have come is referencing FAIR and letting us know you ordered a book that grindael already quoted for you. Here is a word of advice, if you are going to make a verifiable claim, provide backup...like the actual quote or source so people can actually look at themselves not some interpretation made by FAIR or some long winded explanation of "context" based on your misunderstandings of what occurred, that just sounds so shallow and transparent. Its like the first thing most new "apologists" turn to is "context" and its soooooooo lame...This isn't carm, most of us were members for a long time and many of us are quite well read.

Your inability to provide backup for any of your claims is like the online debate version fingernails on a chalkboard. Your personal commentary on what you think occurred or what it meant is meaningless and just annoying to read as your bias is so horrendously obvious that its hard to read without constant eye rolls. Consider this, anytime you make a verifiable statement, consider that someone has made a call for references before hitting submit. It will save us all time if you just get in the habit of providing backup rather than having to repeatedly ask you to provide references for your faulty and erroneous claims.

[_Niadna]

Prophets were/are men. With flaws. They have done some incredibly stupid things. When you read about them in the Bible, there isn't a single one of 'em that has more than a verse or two devoted to him who did NOT have a rather large flaw/did something incredibly stupid.

Some of 'em were downright murderous. They were people; men of their time. They did what everybody else in their time did.

Everybody else in their time did not create large standing armies, secret paramilitaries and lie about practicing polygamy.

Moses.

[_grindael]

I quoted you as saying WHAT, precisely?

What I said. If you go back and look, it should all become clear to you. But at the rate your going, I have my doubts.

[_Stem]

Question:

Am I the only one in here who is NOT here to criticize/make fun of the church and those who still believe that it's true?

I really don't want to be barging into an 'ex/critic of/ completely against Mormons and Mormonism" support group.

I mean, that's just rude.

I'm not here to criticize/make fun of the church, but I'm also not one who necessarily still believes that it's true.

There have been some believers in and out of here. They usually get swamped, particularly if they come in guns ablazing. I know I've been there and done it, as they say. Years ago, I showed up here while far more in the Church back then, and it did not turn out well. I left...years went by, my perspective on the church changed, came back and it's a much smoother ride for me now.

But with that said...I don't think you're getting a very fair shake on this. I'm not following closely, so I'm not sure where all of it is coming from or why, but it appears to me, your voice is exactly what we could use around here. I'd hope we can find more room here for believers. But we'll see, I guess.

[_Res Ipsa]

Nadnia, are you referring to a criminal trial in Nauvoo that found defendants not guilty?

And are you seriously claiming that the destruction of two printing presses by mobs means that “everyone was doing it?” Were other city governments persecuting dissenters by destroying their private property and threatening to burn down buildings if they tried to protect their property?

[_schreech]

Everybody else in their time did not create large standing armies, secret paramilitaries and lie about practicing polygamy.

Moses.

Now you have moved onto fictional stories to support your claims...Gandalf helped rally the armies of Gondor therefore, Joseph Smith was justified....

[_Maksutov]

Everybody else in their time did not create large standing armies, secret paramilitaries and lie about practicing polygamy.

Moses.

Did Moses live in the United States of 1844? Joseph Smith was more like "Moses" David Berg, the founder of the Children of God:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berg

[Guest]

But the attitude I'm getting in here is that even though the men who burned up the Jackson County press, tortured people and made a family homeless and penniless got away clean..and were even lauded for THEIR act, that Joseph Smith absolutely deserved to be charged with treason and shot by a mob for his.

Torture? Who was tortured? Edward Partridge was tarred and feathered. People did lose their homes though, that's correct. But the Mormons brought much of it on themselves. (See the account below by Mormon Orange L. Wight) Did they deserve that treatment? Of course not. But making things up doesn't help. And what about that "treason" by Joseph Smith. Here is what happened in Missouri and I'll let the readers decide (Be prepared, this is a long post):

After the events of 1833, Joseph was obsessed with revenge and getting their lands back from the Missourians. In March of 1836 Joseph wrote:

The Seventies are at liberty to go to Zion if they please or go wheresoever they will and preach the gospel and let the redem[p]tion of Zion be our object, and strive to affect it by sending up all the strength of the Lord’s House wherever we find them. I want to enter into the following covenant, that if any more of our brethren are slain or driven from their lands in Missouri by the mob that we will give ourselves no rest until we are avenged of our enimies to the uttermost. This covenant was sealed unaminously [unanimously] by a hosanna and Amen.

Orange L. Wight (who was 15 years old in 1838) would later write about the journey to Zion and the events leading up to the Mormon War:

In June 1831 many of the Saints moved from Kirtland to Jackson County, Missouri. My father, Lyman Wight, and Parley P. Pratt walked the entire distance, 800 miles, and preached by the way and organized a number of branches of the Church; hence added a great number to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My mother, I and my two little sisters went by water most of the way, with other Saints. We went down the Ohio River from near Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Ohio and then up the Mississippi and Missouri to a landing called Yellowstone on a steam boat.

I don’t know whether I can describe the steamer correctly or not, but according to my best recollection it was a flat-bottomed arrangement with side wheels–something after the order of Fulton’s first effort–and a board shanty on it for cabin passengers. Mother was honored with a corner in the shanty; most of the rest of the Saints occupied the open decks without shelter. But we all got there without accident of any serious nature and in time to plant a garden which produced abundance by the time father and Parley P. Pratt got there.

Now comes a part of the story of our proceedings. The Saints began to come in from all quarters, held sensational meetings, became to some extent fanatical and argued they were the Lord’s favored people and the land was the Lord’s and it eventually would all belong to them. Now that exasperated the people and they were ready to add to what they heard, and all the efforts of those of the Saints–who could see the evil effects of the fanaticism–to reconcile the people of Jackson County proved in vain. Thus it went on from one thing to another until it ended in real persecution. After both parties became exasperated we, instead of making an effort to settle the difficulty by purchase, undertook to arbitrate it by force of arms; were conquered and driven from the county. Thus fulfilling the revelation, “If by purchase, behold you are blessed; but if by blood, lo, your enemies are upon you–and but few that stand to receive an inheritance.” D&C 63:30 and 31.

Now I can hardly blame the Saints for feeling like retaliating, but I do blame some of them for letting their anger get away with their better judgment and undertaking to regulate the citizens of Jackson County against the Lord’s advice. The anger was human which they should have put away and asked the Lord to guide them with His Holy Spirit. They should have left the business in the hands of God and tried to get what they could by purchase. After being conquered and driven from the county and Zion’s Camp had arrived, we undertook to purchase the lands, but it seems it was then too late, at least we could not make the deal. Now we were driven–I call it–or requested to make our place of gathering further north in the unsettled counties of Caldwell and Daviess Counties, Missouri.

And what did Joseph do, when he fled from Kirtland in the middle of the night with warrants out for his arrest? Started it all back up again.

Joseph Smith made an effort to get justice and “redeem Zion” in 1834, by marching an armed band of about 200 men (and a few women and children) from Ohio to Missouri, but failed miserably. He afterwards wrote a “revelation”, Doctrine and Covenants Section 104, which was a scathing denunciation of those who had committed “transgressions” (verse 2) and were blamed by him as the cause of that failure. But here also, (D&C 104) Smith promised that “not many years hence they [the “Gentiles”] shall not be left to pollute mine heritage”. So according to this “revelation”, God would take care of things—but not by force through his “Saints”.

Upon his return to Kirtland (August 1834) Joseph wrote a letter to Edward Partridge and some of the other brethren who had relocated to other counties in Missouri and made a prophecy about the date of the “redemption of Zion”:

I shall now procede to give you such council as the spirit of the Lord may dictate… And I would recomend to brother [Lyman] Wight to enter complaints to the Govonor as often as he receves any insults or injury, and in case that they procede to endeaver to take life or tear down homes, and if the citizens of Clay co, do not befriend us to gather up the little army and be set over Immediately into Jackson County and trust in God and do the worst <best> he can in defending maintaining the ground, but in case the excitement continues to be allayed and peace prevails use every effort to prevail on the churches to gather to those regions and situate themselves to be in readiness to move into Jackson Co. in two years from the Eleventh of September next which is the appointed time for the redemption of Zion, If Verely If I say unto you If the Church with one united effort perform their duties If they do this the work shall be complete If they do not this in all humility making preperation from this time forth like Joseph in Egypt laying up store against the time of famine every man having his tent, his horses, his charrots [chariots] his armory his cattle his family and his whole substance in readiness against the time <when> it shall be said To your tents O Isreal!! and let not this be noised abroad let every heart beat in silence and every mouth be shut

Now my beloved brethren you will learn by this we have a great work to do, and but little time to do it in and if we don't exert ourselves to the utmost in gathering up the strength of the Lords house that this thing may be accomplished behold their remaineth a scorge* <*for the church even that they shall be driven from City to City and but few shall remain to receive an inheritence if these things are not kept there remaineth a scorge> also, Therefore be were [beware] this over O ye children of Zion! and give heed to my council saith the Lord!

We see that Joseph planned on returning to Jackson County, and as revealed through the spirit of the Lord, and he writes that they should be ready to move into Jackson County by September 11, 1836, which was the “appointed time for the redemption of Zion.” In 1835 Joseph wrote in his diary:

September 24th 1835 This day the high Council met at my house to take into conside[r]ation the redeemtion of Zion and it was the voice of the spirit of the Lord that we petition to the Governer that is those who have been driven out should to do so to be set back on their Lands next spring and we go next season to live or dy to this end so the dy is cast in Jackson County we truly had a good time and Covena[n]ted to strugle for this thing u[n]till death shall desolve this union and if one falls that the rest be not dis ha discouraged but pe[r]sue this object untill it is acomplished which may God grant u[n]to us in the name of Christ our Lord.

This day drew up an Article of inrollment for the redemtion of Zion that we may obtain volenteers to go me next Spring to Mo – I ask God in the name of Jesus that we may obtain Eight hundred men or one thousand well armed and that they may acomplish this great work even so Amen.

Why would the Lord give Joseph a date for the redemption of Zion if he did not plan on granting it to them? (See D&C 62:6) Even with these promises (“I the Lord promise the faithful and cannot lie”) and even though Joseph had once before gotten a large force to “redeem” Zion in 1834, his second effort (in 1838) was also doomed to failure. September 11, 1836 passed without the “Saints” moving back into Jackson County. This did not mean that Joseph had given up.

After the failure of Joseph’s “Zion’s Camp”, he returned to Kirtland, Ohio and left the Church in Missouri in the hands of David Whitmer, his brother John Whitmer, W. W. Phelps (Presidency) along with Bishop Edward Partridge, John Corrill (and others). The latter wrote:

With the exception of some little threatening, the Church lived in peace, until the summer of 1836; and, notwithstanding all these difficulties, it continued to gather in Clay County; and in the adjacent counties, the members hoping that they would get back to Jackson County.

Corrill then explains that,

During their [the leaders of the Church in Kirtland] mercantile and banking operations they not only indulged in pride, but also suffered jealousies to arise among them, and several persons dissented from the Church, and accused the leaders of the church with bad management, selfishness, seeking for riches, honor, and dominion, tyrannizing over the people, and striving constantly after power and property. On the other hand, the leaders of the Church accused the dissenters with dishonesty, want of faith, and righteousness, wicked in their intentions, guilty of crimes, such as stealing, lying, encouraging the making of counterfeit money, etc.; and this strife or opposition arose to a great height, so that, instead of pulling together as brethren; they tried every way in their power, seemingly, to destroy each other; their enemies from without rejoiced at this, and assisted the dissenters what they could, until Smith and Rigden finally were obliged to leave Kirtland, and, with their families, came to Far West, in March or April 1838.

Smith and Rigdon and others had visited Far West in the fall of 1837, and during that visit,

“A general meeting was called for the Church to choose whether they would have the old Presidency rule any longer over them or not. Their old difficulties were talked over, and so far reconciled, that they still choose to have Phelps and Whitmer their presidents; but in the winter following, the old difficulty broke out again, and the excitement rose so high that they turned them out of their presidential office, and T. B. Marsh and two others served as presidents, pro tempore, until Smith and Rigden arrived…”

It is important to note that Thomas Marsh sided with Joseph at this time. Corrill continues:

When Smith and Rigden arrived, the Church was much pleased and supposed that things would be managed right by them, and they would have better times; but it was not long before the old feelings began to be stirred up between the Church and the dissenters. Complaints were made to the authorities of the Church against them, upon which they immediately withdrew from the Church. The Church in Caldwell had been doing well, with the exception of these little difficulties among themselves, until the First Presidency came to the Far West, and began to move things to their own notions. Many of the Church had settled in Davies County, and to all appearance, lived as peaceably with their neighbors as people generally do; but not long after Smith and Rigden arrived in Far West, they went to Davies County and pitched upon a place to build a town. L. Wight was already on the ground with his family. They laid out a town and began to settle it pretty rapidly; Smith gave it the name of Adamondiaman [Adam-ondi-Ahman]…

Many of the Church became elated with the idea of settling in and round about the new town, especially those who had come from Kirtland, as it was designed more particularly for them. This stirred up the people of Davies in some degree; they saw that if this town was built up rapidly it would injure Gallatin, their county seat, and also that the Mormons would soon overrun Davies, and rule the county, and they did not like to live under the laws and administration of “Joe Smith.” Lyman Wight also would frequently boast in his discourses of what they would do if the mob did not let them alone,–they would fight, and they would die upon the ground, and they would not give up their rights, etc.; when, as yet, there was no mob. But this preaching inspired the Mormons with a fighting spirit, and some of the other citizens began to be stirred up to anger.

Reed Peck (an early convert from New York) would write in 1839:

The people of the surrounding country were still friendly & harmony prevailed among the Mormons till the middle of June when the enmity of the two parties from Kirtland manifested itself to an alarming degree[.] At this period measures were concerted no doubt by instigation of the presidency to free the community of the cowderies, Whitmers, Lyman Johnson and some others, to effect which a secret meeting was called at Far West, by Jared Carter and Dimick B. Huntington two of Smiths greatest courtiers where a proposition was made and supported by some as being the best policy to Kill these men that they would not be capable of injuring the church. All their measures were strenuously opposed by John Corrill and T. B. March one of the twelve apostles of the church and in consequense nothing could be effected until the matter was taken up publicly by the presidency[.] the Sunday following (June 17th) in the presense of a large congregation. S. Rigdon took his text from the fifth chapter of Mathew “Ye are the Salt of the Earth but if the salt have lost his savour wherewith shall it be salted, it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and be trodden underfoot of men”[.] From this Scripture he undertook to prove that when men embrace the gospel and afterwards lose their faith it is the duty of the Saints to trample them under their feet[.] He informed the people that they had a set of men among them that had dissented from the church and were doing all in their power to destroy the presidency, laying plans to take their lives &c., accused them of counterfeiting lying cheating and numerous other crimes and called on the people to rise en masse and rid the county of Such a nuisance[.] He said it is the duty of this people to trample them into the earth, and if the county cannot be freed from them any other way I will assit to trample them down or to erect a gallows on the Square of Far West and hang them up as they did the gamblers at Vicksburgh and it would be an act at which the angels would smile with approbation

Joseph Smith in a Short speech Sanctioned what had been Said by Rigdon though said he I don’t want the brethren to act unlawfully but will tell them one thing Judas was a traitor and instead of hanging himself was hung by Peter, and with this hint the subject was dropped for the day having created a great excitement and prepared the people to execute anything that should be proposed.

Sidney Rigdon’s final words on July 4th, were chilling and would have a far reaching impact:

We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn all men in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more forever. For from this hour, we will bear it no more, our rights shall no more be trampled on with impunity. The man or the set of men, who attempts it, does it at the expense of their lives. And that mob that comes on us to disturb us; it shall be between us and them a war of extermination; for we will follow them till 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 houses, and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed.—Remember it then all MEN.

While the Mormons were building up the town of DiAhman (as it was called), those who had been outed (the dissenters) began to be alarmed by the language being used by Smith and Ridgon. Reed Peck described those events:

On the next Tuesday these dissenters as they were termed were informed that preparations were being made to hang them up and if they did not escape their lives would be taken before night, and perceiving the rage of their enemies they fled to Ray County leaving their families and property in the hands of the Mormons[.] The wrath of the presidency and the threats of han[g]ing &c. were undoubtedly a farce acted to frighten these men from the county that they could not be spies upon their conduct or that they might deprive them of their property[,] and indeed the proceedings of the presidency and others engaged in this affair fully justify the latter conclusion, for knowing the probable result, Geo W. Robinson Son in law of S. Rigdon had prior to their flight sworn out writs of attachment against these men by which he took possession of all their personal property, clothing & furniture, much of which was valuable and no doubt very desirable leaving their families to follow to Ray County almost destitute–That the claims by which this property was taken from these men were unjust and perhaps without foundation cannot be doubted by any unprejudiced person acquainted with all parties and circumstances and no testimony has ever been adduced to show that the men were ever guilty of a crime in Caldwell County[.] These unlawful and tyrannical measures met with the censure of John Corrill[,] W. W. Phelps, John Clemenson myself and a few others but we were soon made sensible that we had excited suspicion, and perhaps endangered ourselves by venturing to speak unfavourably of these transactions[.]

To help facilitate the fight against the dissenters, Joseph organized a company of men who he described in his diary on July 27th:

Thus far, according to the order /revelation/ of the Danites. We have a company of Danites in these times, to put TO PUT RIGHT PHYSICALLY that which is not right, and to clense the Church of very great evil[s] which has hitherto existed among us inasmuch as they cannot be put to right by teachings and persuasyons. This company or a part of them exhibited on the fourth day of July [ – ] They come up to consecrate, by companies of tens, commanded by their captain over ten[.]

Reed Peck affirmed Joseph’s involvement with the Danites:

At a meeting for the organisation of the Danites Sampson Avard presented the society to the presidency who blessed them and accepted their Services as though they were soon to be employed in executing some great design[.] They also made speeches to the Society in which great military glory and conquest were represented as awaiting them, victories in which one should chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight, were portrayed in the most lively manner, the assistance of Angels promised and in fine every thing was said to inspire them with Zeal and courage and to make them believe that God was soon to “bring to pass his act, his strange act” or by them as instruments to perform a marvelous work on the Earth[.] In the fore part of July the “brother of Gideon” or Jared Carter Capt Genl of the Danites having complained to Joseph Smith of some observations made by Sidney Rigdon in a Sermon, was tried for finding fault with one of the presidency and deprived of his station and Elias Higbee was appointed in his stead

Carter’s punishment according to the principles of the Danites Should have been death[.] In the evening after the trial I was in company with Maj Genl Sampson Avard Dimick B Huntington Capt of the Guard, Elias Higbee the new capt Genl and David W. Patten one of the twelve apostles and member of the high counsel of the church all of whom had sat with the presidency on the trial. D. B. Huntington stated that Joseph declared during the examination that he should have cut Carters throat on the spot if he had been alone when he made the complaint[.] Huntington also Said that on his trial Carter came within a fingers point of losing his head Sampson Avard related at the same time the arrangements that had been made by the presidency and officers present at the trial respecting the dissenters.–Said he, “All the head officers are to be furnished by the presidency with a list of dissenters both in Ohio and Missouri and if for example I meet with one of them or who is damning and cursing the presidency, I can curse them too and if he will drink I can get him a bowl for brandy and after a while take him by the arm and get him one Side in the brush when I will into his guts in a minute and put him under the Sod. When an officer had disposed of a dissenter in this way he shall inform the presidency, and them only with whom it shall remain an inviolable Secret[.] In July the law of consecration took effect which required every person to give up to the bishop all surplus property of every description, not necessary for their present support[.] Sampson Avard the most busy actor and sharpest tool of the presidency informed John Corrill and My self that “all persons who attempted to deceive and return property that should be given up would meet with the fate of Ananias and Saphira who were Killed by Peter”

Joseph would later deny their existence in a City Council meeting at Nauvoo in 1844, but admitted that he had named them:

The Danite system never had any existence. The term grew out of a term I made [in] an off[ice] when the brethren prepared to defend themselves from the mob in Far West [Missouri]. [It was] the in reference to the stealing of Macaiah images, [that] if the enemy comes[,] the Danites will be after them, meaning the brethren in self defense.

Yet, Joseph’s own diary entry (which was later crossed out) indicates that Joseph was lying about their existence, and that he knew all about them. What is interesting is that Smith takes credit for naming them here. Alexander Baugh writes about the consequences caused by the Church’s actions against the dissenters:

The episode involving the dissenters’ expulsion produced several consequences. From the Church’s standpoint, their removal assured the hierarchy that the general membership of the Church would no longer be influenced or corrupted by the actions, attitudes, and opinions. Furthermore, the First Presidency felt confident that they would no longer be threatened with vexatious lawsuits, at least in the Mormon-dominated Caldwell County. On the negative side, the dissenters’ disaffection from Mormonism and forced departure from Far West opened the door for further troubles between Mormons and non-Mormons. Following their flight, these former insiders were quick to spread the news of their alleged mistreatment. Their reports of abuse at the hands of the Mormon hierarchy and their pawns was evidence to non-Mormons that Joseph Smith and his associates were full of corruption. Furthermore, it reconfirmed in the minds of the Missourians that the Latter-day Saints posed a genuine threat to the peace and safety and security of the region.

These tensions reached the boiling point during the elections in Gallatin which took place on August 6, 1838. Rollin J. Britton would later write that,

So auspiciously did the career of Adam-ondi-Ahman begin that Joseph H. McGee informs us that it had over five hundred inhabitants when Gallatin had but four houses, and it threatened to rival Far West and probably would have done so had not a state of civil strife ensued that resulted in the expulsion of all of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from the State of Missouri.

The election day fracas at Gallatin was started by one of the candidates for office, William Penniston, who was a militia colonel in the county who had courted the Mormon vote, but learned that the Mormons favored the Democrats, not the Whig party that Penniston was a member of. He was also influenced by the fiery speech given by Sidney Rigdon on July 4, which spoke of “a war of extermination” against the enemies of the Mormons.

Penniston was also an old enemy to the Mormons who had gained some notoriety from his outspoken support for the expulsion of the Mormons from Clay County in 1836.

According to John D. Lee, Penniston got up on a whiskey barrel and started haranguing against the Mormons by claiming that “the leaders of the Church was a set of horse thieves, liars, counterfeiters, etc.” Peniston also “appealed to the people, adding: If we suffer such men as those to vote, you will soon lose your suffrage.” About the actual battle, Rollin J. Britton quotes Joseph H. McGee who witnessed the events that day:

“My first visit to Gallatin was in 1838, August 6th. My father and I came to town to attend the general election held on that day. This proved to be a historical day as the great knock down between the Mormons and the Missourians took place on that day. I had been with my father at many an election in Ohio, but I never saw him so peaceably inclined at an election before.

“There was a big pile of house logs piled up in front of the little cabin where they were voting. My father and I climbed to the very top of that pile of logs and witnessed the whole battle. I had witnessed many knock downs in my time, but none on so grand a scale. Pistols were not used. Rocks and clubs were in demand, and an occasional butcher knife slipped in. Men dropped on all sides.

“I saw one poor Mormon trying to make his escape from two Missourians who were pursuing him. He had a butcher knife sticking between his shoulders. They would no doubt have succeeded in capturing him had not another Mormon by the name of John L. Butler seized a big club and rushing in between them and their victim dealt them such blows that he felled them both to the earth and allowed the Mormon, whose name was Murphy, to escape. The Missourians proved victorious and the Mormons had to leave. After the fight was over my father and I got into our wagon and returned home. This was my first debut in Gallatin. All the Mormons who took part in this fight left the county that night and moved their families to Far West in Caldwell County — this being the stronghold of the Mormons.”

The Mormons also claimed victory at Gallatin and according to Reed Peck:

An exaggerated account of a bloody massacre of some of the Mormons was rapidly circulated through Caldwell County early next morning, the warriors marshalled and by 12 o Clock 150 Danites with J Smith and S. Rigdon at their head were marching for Daviess county breathing vengeance against “the mob” for the attack made the previous day on their brethren At their approach the inhabitants of Daviess County not being sufficiently strong to oppose the Mormons of Caldwell and Daviess Counties then in array against them fled from their houses to make the woods their covert until the storm should pass or assistance be procured to expel what they termed a band of invaders The forces from Caldwell county remained in Daviess two days and in the time compelled one individual to sign an article binding him to keep the peace with the Mormons and attempted to frighten a justice of the peace to sign the same but he drew one himself and signed it which was satisfactory Warrants were issued against J Smith L. Wight and many others engaged in this affair and cause found sufficient to put them under bonds for their appearance at court Representations of these hostile movements of the Mormons were Sent by express to the neighboring counties which created considerable exitement and but a short time elapsed before it was rumoured that the inhabitants of Daviess county were determined that the Mormons should be expelled from that county as it would be impossible to live in peace with them[.]

After the melee in Gallatin, Joseph subsequently (August 8th) took a large company of men (including Sampson Avard) and went to the home of Adam Black, a justice of the peace, (who lived about a mile from the city of Diahman) and compelled him to sign a statement that he would not molest the Mormons. William Swartzell, a member of the Danites claimed that Black was told to “sign it or die”, but Black refused and instead wrote his own statement which he subsequently signed.

The Mormons who confronted Black told him that they would soon be visiting other state authorities and this alarmed Black who hastened to Richmond (with a small company of men) where he reported what had happened to Austin A. King, judge of the 5th judicial circuit, and issued a formal complaint. Unfortunately, one of Black’s company was William Penniston, which eroded his credibility and caused others to doubt the veracity of his account.

Word of these events soon alarmed the citizens of various neighboring counties. This led to many exaggerated rumors that proved to be instrumental in fomenting the later violence that took place.

On August 11, Smith and other Mormon leaders arrived in Diahman where over a hundred Mormons met them. Smith reportedly told them to be obedient to the laws of Missouri, but this was not received well by Danites like Lyman Wight, who defiantly stated that he didn’t care anything for the law, since it had failed to protect him.

Joseph Smith now believed all issues in Daviess County to be resolved. Unaware of any developing problems, he returned to Daviess County to visit his newly arrived and settled Canadian Mormon converts. He warned them not to settle beyond the safety of Adam-ondi-Ahman, except at their own risk. The warning went unheeded; the Canadian Mormons continued to pour into Daviess County, further angering the original settlers. On August 11, 1838, while Smith was away in Daviess County, a delegation of officials from Ray County arrived in Far West to barter a peace deal. They had come after receiving copies of Penniston’s affidavit and were concerned about Smith’s intimidating visit to Adam Black’s house. A meeting was organized with Bishop Edward Partridge and George Robinson in lieu of Smith and his group of presidential leaders. No resolution was reported from the meeting and the Ray County delegation had returned to Richmond by the time Smith returned to Far West on August 13. Smith reported that on his way back to Far West he had been chased by a group of angry residents. Smith received word, just eight miles from Far West, of a warrant for his own arrest based on Penniston’s affidavit.

In response to the Adam Black affair, a warrant was issued for Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight, who refused to submit to any trial in Daviess County, Joseph claiming that the people there “were exasperated with him.”

Brandon Kinney writes that,

The affidavits and warrant achieved their desired goal for those opposed to the Mormons. On August 30, 1838, Adjutant General B. M. Lisle in Jefferson City ordered the militia called up to immediate “readiness.” The order went out to Major Generals John B. Clark, Samuel D. Lucas, David Willock, David R. Atchison, Lewis Bolton, Henry W. Crawther, and Thomas D. Grant. Each was ordered to call up four hundred mounted men, armed and equipped as infantry or riflemen. General Lisle suggested that each commander use propriety and a manner calculated to produce as little excitement as possible. There was alarm in Jefferson City, but not to the point that martial law would be required. General Lisle described the reason for mustering the troops: “indications of Indian disturbances on our immediate frontier, and the recent civil disturbances in the counties of Caldwell, Daviess and Carroll.” He continued that such actions rendered “it necessary, as a precautionary measure, that an effective force of the militia be held in readiness to meet either contingency.”

Governor Lilburn W. Boggs also began receiving reports from citizens in various counties. Among these reports were accusations that the Mormons were going to ally with the Indians to accomplish the work of destroying their non-Mormon neighbors. These reports did not help the situation which was already tense:

Another former Mormon turned dissenter, this time from Daviess County, added his report to the growing number of alarms being sent to Governor Boggs. His name was John N. Sapp and he reported the Mormons were “building . . . fortifications for the protection of themselves and families in time of war.” He further explained that their plan was to make provision for enough food for their families by their labor, but should they fall short of their need, they “are to take the balance from the Missourians.” Sapp also mentioned the Mormon paramilitary group to the governor. He described the Danite band as a group between “eight and ten hundred men well armed and equipped who have taken an oath to support Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight in opposition to the State of Missouri.” Sapp claimed that “Sidney Rigdon and Lyman Wight say . . . their object was to induce the Indians to join them [Mormons] in making war upon the Missourians this fall or next spring at farthest.”

Residents of Daviess and Livingston counties added their concerns about the Mormons by writing letters to Governor Boggs. They were apprehensive about an imminent Mormon war and requested state-supplied firearms and powder for their county militia. The state sent forty-five rifles, two hundred pounds of lead and several kegs of powder. As the supplies were being transported through Caldwell County they were intercepted by the Mormons and confiscated, and three of the couriers were taken prisoner (on September 10) and held by the Mormons for several weeks.

The Mormons claimed that the arms had been stolen, and were being taken to mobbers, and therefore had every right to confiscate them. On September 10, the three Missourians taken into custody–John B. Comer, Allen Miller and William L. McHaney were arraigned before a Mormon justice of the peace. The Mormons wrote to Justice Austin King asking for recommendations but instead of waiting for a reply, the men were tried by Albert Petty and found guilty and held without bail.

Justice of the peace William Dryden issued an affidavit to the governor, confirming the Mormons were holding prisoners. Dryden had issued the warrant for the Mormons listed in Adam Black’s affidavit other than Joseph Smith, namely Andrew Ripley, George Smith, Ephraim Owens, Harvey Umstead, Hiram Nelson, A. Brown, John L. Butler, Cornelius Lott, John Woods, H. Redfield, Riley Stewart, James Whiteacre, Andrew Thon, Amos Tubbs, Dr. Gourge, and Abram Nelson. In his affidavit Dryden also explained that the persons named in his Daviess County arrest warrant were being withheld from justice by means of a large armed force. He calculated the Mormon numbers in Daviess County to be 1,500, now out-numbering other county residents. Dryden had appointed deputy Nathaniel H. Blakely and authorized ten guards to execute the writ, but they had been driven from Mormon settlements in Daviess County by force. Concluding his plea for help, the beleaguered justice of the peace observed that Daviess County was without power to enforce civil or criminal process against the Mormons and asked the governor to send a sufficient number of troops to execute the laws of the land.

At Diahman, “The Mormons had torn down cabins and constructed block houses, built a breastwork to prevent penetration of mounted troops into the city, and gathered food and supplies for a siege.”

On September 12, Major General Atchison sent a letter to the Governor, describing events and confirming an insurrection:

[Atchison] explained himself to the governor by stating, “upon the urgent solicitations of Citizens of both counties [Daviess and Caldwell] and also upon the petitions of Citizens of the adjoining counties I have deemed it my duty to order out an armed force to put down such insurrection and to assist the civil officers in the execution of the laws also to prevent as far as possible the effusion of blood and to restore quiet if possible to the community.” Atchison explained to the governor, “this I have done by the advice of the Judge of this Circuit.” General Atchison ordered four companies of fifty men each from the militia of Clay County and a like number from the militia of Ray County. He reasoned with Governor Boggs that “the citizens of Daviess County and Caldwell County are under arms so that it is deemed dangerous for peaceable citizens to pass through said counties.” The state had another problem on its hands: “Citizens of other counties were flocking in to the Citizens of Daviess County and the Mormons were flocking to the assistance of the Mormons in those counties so that . . . there cannot be less than 2,000 men in arms without any legal authority.” Atchison concluded, “It is very much feared that if once a blow is . . . struck there will be a general conflict the termination of which God only knows.”

In his reply Boggs mentioned the Dryden affidavit and that he wanted Smith arrested on the Daviess County warrant.

On September 15, Brigadier General Doniphan wrote a letter to Atchison:

“On arriving at that place I found Comer, Miller and McHaney, the prisoners mentioned in your order. I demanded of the guard who had them in confinement to deliver them over to me, which he promptly done. I also found that the guns that had been captured by the Sheriff and citizens of Caldwell had been distributed and placed in the hands of the soldiery and scattered over the country; I ordered them to be immediately collected and delivered up to me.

“When my command arrived, the guns were delivered up, amounting to forty-two stand; three stand could not be produced, as they had probably gone to Daviess County. I sent these guns under a guard to your command in Ray County, together with the prisoner Comer; the other two being citizens of Daviess, I retained and brought with me to this county, and released them on parole of honor, as I conceived their detention illegal. At eight o’clock a. m. we took up the line of march and proceeded through Millport in Daviess County, thirty-seven miles from our former encampment, and arrived at the camp of the citizens of Daviess and other ad- joining Counties, which amounted to between two and three hundred, as their commander. Dr. Austin of Carroll informed me.

Your order requiring them to disperse, which had been forwarded in advance of my command, by your aid, James M. Hughes, was read to them, and they were required to disperse. They professed that their object for arming and collecting was solely for defense, but they were marching and counter marching guards out; and myself and others who approached the camp were taken to task and required to wait the approach of the sergeant of the guard. I had an interview with Dr. Austin, and his professions were all pacific. But they still continue in arms, marching and countermarching. “I then proceeded with your aid, J. M. Hughes, and my aid Benjamin Holliday, to the Mormon encampment commanded by Colonel Wight. We held a conference with him, and he professed entire willingness to disband and surrender up to me every one of the Mormons accused of crime, and required in return that the hostile forces, collected by the other citizens of the county, should also disband. At the camp commanded by Dr. Austin I demanded the prisoner demanded in your order, who had been released on the evening after my arrival in their vicinity. “I took up line of march and encamped in the direct road between the hostile encampments, where I have remained since, within about two and a half miles of Wight’s Encampment, and sometimes, the other camp is nearer, and sometimes farther from me. I intend to occupy this position until your arrival, and deem it best to and preserve peace and prevent an engagement between the parties if kept so for a few days they will doubtless disband without coercion.

On Saturday, October 6, 1838 Albert Rockwood (who had recently arrived in Missouri) wrote to family members:

About this time the Sherriff of Caldwell county took 40 stands of armes that were on the road to arm the mob. The Missourians gathered from all the upper Counties to join the mob to the number of several hundreds, they continued to incamp in various places for several miles round Adam-ondi-aman for about 2 weeks, taking some prisoners, robing and insulting in various ways many of the Brethren, and driving many from their homes that were scattered about the county, but those at the City of Adam-ondi-aman were not molested only threatened[.] They were constantly under arms and on the watch[.] The brethren went from this plase by hundreds to their relief. Far West was in a state of constant alarm for several days[.] The common was almost constantly covered with armed men, who were determined to maintain their rights even at the expense of life. [p. 1]

Leland Gentry writes that by mid-September,

Events in Daviess county led to a standoff. To maintain control and prevent bloodshed General Doniphan stationed his troops squarely between the warring factions and declared his intention to remain there until both sides disbanded and went home. He was assisted by Lieutenant General Hiram Parks and a hundred men

Both Diahman and Far West were well fortified and the Mormon prophet continued to counsel the members in outlying settlements to relocate there for safety and protection.

Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight retained Generals Doniphan and Atchison (who were law partners) on September 4, to negotiate a surrender so they could appear for a hearing. They both appeared before Austin A. King on September 7, and the hearing was conducted by William Penniston (the prosecuting attorney) close to the Caldwell/Daviess County line, in a field near the farm of John Raglin. The Mormons were suspicious and so had a couple of hundred of their number armed and ready for action just across the Caldwell County border, in case anything went amiss at the trial. The Mormon’s fears were groundless, and Smith and Wight were discharged by King.

King though ruled that there was sufficient evidence to warrant further investigation, an so ordered the defendants to stand trial at the next examination of the grand jury.

On September 20, Atchison again reported to Governor Boggs, writing that all unauthorized settler troops from Daviess and adjoining counties had been dispersed. Also, all unauthorized Mormon forces had returned to their homes. He considered the insurrection for the present to be at an end. He reported that the arms taken by the Mormons and the prisoners were both given up on demand, but warned that “from the state of feeling in the county of Daviess and adjoining counties it is very much to be feared, that it [violence] will break out again, and if so, without the interposition of the commander-in-chief the consequences will be awful.”

General Parks wrote to the Governor from Diahman on September 25 that,

“I am happy to inform you that there is not any necessity to use a larger force here at present [100 men]—than now under my command.” He added, “There has been so much prejudice and exaggeration concerned in this matter, that I have found things on my arrival here, totally different from what I was prepared to expect.”

The “Saints” at Diahman, (which included the Eliza Snow family) were safely being protected by General Parks and his men. No “mobbers” had attacked the city and none ever did. But events were to take a turn for the worse in short order. Governor Boggs though, upon receiving these auspicious reports from his Generals,

…ordered Adjutant General Lisle on the 24th to order the disbanding of the militia. “The commander-in-chief having this morning received information by express that the civil disturbance in the counties of Daviess and Caldwell have been quieted and order restored to the country. He therefore orders that the troops under your command destined for that service be immediately discharged.” The order was sent out to Generals Bolton, Lucas, Clark, and Atchison, thereby disbanding any and all forces called up in the mustering order of August 30. This reaction would turn out to be premature.

In his September 20th missive to the Governor, Atchison had written about the Mormons:

Most of them [are] equipped with a good rifle or musket, a brace of large belt pistols, and broadsword; so that from their position, their fanaticism and their unalterable determination not to be driven, much blood will be spilt, and much suffering endured, if a blow is once struck.

Atchison’s words proved to be prophetic. A blow would soon be struck, and it wouldn’t be by the Mormons. But once again, the words of Sidney Rigdon would come back to haunt the Mormons.

The Mormons living beyond the borders of Caldwell County were also soon confronted by armed bands of Missouri settlers that had begun prowling about. They would set fire to haystacks and granaries and steal horses and cattle. They even whipped Mormon farmers who attempted to put up a fight. As time progressed it was no longer safe for Mormons to live outside the larger settlements of Adam-ondi-Ahman in Daviess County and DeWitt in Carroll County. As their provisions ran out, each city received word from the land agents from whom the Mormons had originally bought their land that they were willing to buy it back so that the Mormons could leave peaceably. The very thought of selling their land was unbearable to the Mormons, who remembered their exit from Jackson County only six years before.

While events were unfolding in Daviess County which had supposedly brought an end to the insurrection, this could not be farther from the truth. In neighboring Carroll County the Missourians had begun planning to oust the Mormons soon after word spread about Sidney Rigdon’s Fourth of July speech. In August the non-Mormon citizens of Carroll County made a formal demand on the Mormons of the City of DeWitt to leave and return to Caldwell County by October 1st. DeWitt was located near the junction of the Missouri and Grand Rivers and was crucial to the Mormons as it was their only port city. George Hinkle and John Murdock in turn rightly informed the Carroll County Committee that the Mormons as American Citizens would settle where they pleased and would not be forced from their homes. On August 7, the non-Mormon citizens met and voted to remove the Mormons by force of arms.[72]

The citizens of Carroll County were well aware that before Rigdon’s fourth of July speech he had authored another document that was signed by 84 prominent members of the church, including another member of the First Presidency, Hyrum Smith. In that letter (addressed to former members of the church now deemed “dissenters”) Rigdon wrote:

“FAR WEST, June, 1838.

“To Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, William W. Phelps, and Lyman E, Johnson, greeting:

Whereas, the citizens of Caldwell County have borne with the abuses received from you at different times and on different occasions until it is no longer to be endured, neither will they endure it any longer, having exhausted all the patience they have. We have borne long and suffered incredibly, but we will bear nor suffer any longer, and the decree has gone forth from our hearts and shall not return unto us void. Neither think, gentlemen, in so doing we are trifling with either you or ourselves for we are not.

There are no threats from you, no fear of losing our lives by you, or anything you can say or do will restrain us, for out of the county you shall go and no power shall save you, and you shall have three days after you receive this our communication to you, including twenty-four hours in each day for you to depart with your families peaceably, which you may do undisturbed by any person. But in that time, if you do not depart, we will use the means in our power to cause you to depart, for go you shall. …

Vengeance sleeps not neither doth it slumber; and unless you heed us this time, and attend to our request, it will overtake you at an hour when you do not expect it and at a day when you do not look for it, and for you there shall be no escape; for there is but one decree for you which is, depart, depart, or else a more fatal calamity shall befall you.”

Reed Peck reported that,

S[idney] Rigdon in a public discourse explained satisfactorily no doubt to the people the principles of republicanism (After informing them as an introduction that “some certain characters in the place had been crying you have broken the law–you have acted contrary to the principles of republicanism” he said that “when a country, or body of people have individuals among them with whom they do not wish to associate and a public expression is taken against their remaining among them and such individuals do not remove it is the principle of republicanism itself that gives that community a right to expel them forcibly and no law will prevent it” He also said that it was not against the principles of republicanism for the people to hang the gamblers in Vick’sburgh as it was a matter in which they unanimously acted”

Taking their cue from the Mormons themselves, the citizens of Carroll County used the same argument against the “Saints”. The Mormons of course, felt justified when they forced the dissenters from their homes, but feigned outrage when the Missourians used the same tactic on them. In both cases it was unconstitutional and illegal. But that didn’t stop either side from doing so, the Mormons with the dissenters and “unfriendlies” in Daviess County, and the “old settlers” with the Mormons.

Acting without orders, the Carroll County militia lay siege to DeWitt. A Mormon witness, Smith Humphrey, remembered the events: “On the morning of the 19th of August 1838 I being in DeWitt I was returning home and was met by an armed force of men I supposed nearly one hundred commanded by Colonel [William Claud] Jones and by force took and kept me prisoner about two hours during which time they made many threats against the people called Mormons such as that they were determined to drive them from that County.” On and off for the next two months Carroll County vigilantes attacked Mormons, burning their homes and stables, until the only refuge was behind a barricade around DeWitt. Smith decided, in reaction, to send 200 newly arrived Canadian converts to reinforce the Mormon defenders.16 Mormons in DeWitt also sent a petition to Governor Boggs on September 22 pleading for state assistance to stay in their homes and stop the lawless acts of the Carroll County settlers. They described the situation in the following terms:

That whereas your petitioners have on the 20th inst. been sorely aggrieved by being beset by a lawless mob certain inhabitants of this and other counties to the injury of the good citizens of this and the adjacent places, that on the afore said day came from one hundred to one hundred and fifty armed men & threatened with force & violence to drive certain peaceable citizens from their homes in defiance of all law & threatened them to drive said citizens out of the county. But on deliberation concluded to give them said citizens till the first of October next to leave said County, & threatened if not gone by that time to exterminate them without regard to age or sex and destroy their chattels [livestock], by throwing them in the river-We therefore pray you to take such steps as shall put a stop to all lawless proceedings. The governor took no acts to stop the Carroll County settlers from expelling the Mormons and left them to defend themselves. In fact by the time he received the request the governor had already declared the insurrection at an end and issued orders to disband the militia that had been called up at the end of August.

Albert Rockwood wrote on October 14 that,

“…an express came from that Place here a week last Thursday night [4 October] r[e]questing asistance & Council. [.] Friday morn Capt. Brunson started with 42 men all mounted and well armed, he was hailed by the Mob that were encamped near De Witt but they passed on and arrived in safety at De Witt[.] On Friday afternoon another company started under Brother Joseph.

The attack [1 October] was made on De Witt by taking Elder Humphreys family and
burning his house[.] He lived about 1 1/2 miles from the landing which is head
quarters, several scattering shots were made at the brethren during 3 or 4 of the
first days, no damage save making holes in their Clothing. [p 8] One heavy
charge was received from the mob when the brethren returned the fire and killed
4 Missourians, The Campaign lasted about a week when a treaty of peace was
made with the mob and the brethren have left the place De Witt was not an
appointed stake of Zion, but was designed as a Port of Landing on [the] Missouri
river[.] It contained about 10 or 12 families of the brethren when I passed through
on my way to this place.”

In a letter to the Governor on October 3, General Samuel Lucas (who had gone to investigate the rumored disturbance), wrote that a fight had taken place and several persons were killed.” This turned out to be inaccurate, no one was killed though there had been an exchange of gunfire by both parties.

Even though his own Generals wrote to the Governor pleading with him to send in the Militia to stop the aggression of the Carroll County settlers or come himself, Boggs did nothing. Kinney writes that,

Even Captain Bogart of the Missouri militia, who was not engaged in the action at DeWitt, observed that each time they met a Mormon, “he is armed in best manner and continually throwing out his threats.” Bogart described his company’s next movements. “We were ordered to DeWitt in Carroll County. When we arrived at Carrollton we were informed that the people of Carroll and the Mormons, who were mostly Canadians, were assembled within a mile of each other, ready for battle.” In a later report, Bogart explained, “Mormons from Caldwell were on their way to DeWitt.” Captain Bogart requested his company be allowed to move across the road between Far West and DeWitt and intercept the Mormon reinforcements, forcing them back to Caldwell. General Parks, writing from Daviess County, denied his request and Mormon reinforcements were allowed to freely pass into DeWitt, swelling the number of defenders. General Parks did order his troops to move closer to DeWitt after the reinforcements arrived but made no efforts to disperse the combatants; Bogart was infuriated. After two days of encamping his force outside DeWitt, Parks ordered his troops home. He left over two hundred well-armed Mormons in DeWitt that had come from Caldwell, disobeying the express orders of General Atchison to quell the uprising. The conditions in DeWitt were dire. The Mormons had no food to eat or kindling to build fires. Attempts to forage for food and firewood resulted in vigilantes beating any Mormons who ventured out of the town. The women and children were even harried within their homes by volunteer gunmen who rode up within two hundred yards of the town, spraying the buildings with gunfire.

As Albert Rockwood wrote, Joseph Smith had secretly entered DeWitt under the cover of darkness with about two hundred mounted men. Upon his arrival he learned that anyone caught outside the town were being beaten with hickory hearts so they could not forage for supplies, and anyone trying to leave the city was being fired upon. With no supplies coming in, the strength to continue fighting was fading fast. Smith would have to attack an armed force of unknown size, or agree to leave the city and fight another day when the odds were in his favor. On October 10, Smith surrendered the city to the Carroll County settlers. A meeting was held to discuss terms and compensation to the Mormons, and when an agreement was made, the Mormons left DeWitt and departed from Carroll County.

At Diahman, John Smith (Joseph Smith’s uncle) wrote in his diary on Sunday, October 14, that,

…this day we heard our Brethren who had been surrounded by a mobb in east [Carroll] county have agreed to leave the county.

The departure of the Mormons from Carroll County emboldened the settlers in other counties. Residents in Daviess County soon rejected Alexander Doniphan’s offers to settle things amicably and soon word began to spread and the cry went up, “To Hell with Doniphan’s peace settlement!”[81] The Mormons were getting a taste of their own medicine, but unlike the dissenters they had numbers and arms, and they were determined to fight back.

On October 14, Smith announced, “General Doniphan has authorized this body to act as a regiment of the state militia under the command of Col. Hinkle.” Kinney writes that:

Doniphan had procured a militia unit for Caldwell County; however, its use was subject to the orders of the governor just as it was in all other Missouri counties. Smith did not have authority to call up the Caldwell militia to readiness and Governor Boggs never issued an order asking them to deploy. Despite his disdain for Missouri law Smith quickly confirmed: “We are therefore acting within the law. All who are with me will meet tomorrow to march to the defense of Adam-ondi-Ahman.” He reminded his followers, “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his brethren.” Smith’s tone darkened as he noted missing dissenters from the meeting, “Brother Rigdon likes to call them ‘Oh don’t men!’ In this time of war we have no need for such. A man must declare himself friend or enemy. I move a resolution that the property of all ‘Oh don’t men’ be taken over to maintain the war.” The crowd burst into shouting and adulation. Sidney Rigdon, eyes blazing, jumped up and shouted, “I move that the blood of the backward be spilled in the streets of the Far West!” Smith silenced him saying, “No, I move a better resolution. We’ll take them along with us to Daviess County, and if it comes to battle, we’ll sit them on their horses with bayonets and pitchforks and make them ride in front!” In closing Smith declared, “If the people will let us alone, we will preach the gospel in peace. But if they come on us to molest us we will establish our religion by the sword. We will trample down our enemies and make it one of gore and blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.” He prophesied, “I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Qur’an] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us—Joseph Smith or the Sword!”

After Smith made his declaration on October 14 in Far West, he took 100 armed and mounted men and rode to DiAhman where he joined Lyman Wight and his force of 250 men. The plan was now to drive the Missourians from Daviess County.

In DiAhman, John Smith wrote on October 15 that he,

…met this morning in general conference entered? into a joint firm the whole church appointed our officers and every man went to work at his respective occupations business seems to go on well the prospects one pleasing the heavens smiles to all appearence upon us

On the 16th, John Smith recorded that,

…our brethren came here from far west with an armed force a hundred and fifty or 200 men the mob had left earle and had sworn to drive us out of Davis county th<e>y were coming on with all speed with a pieces of cannon this is the third time we have been called to arms this summer to defend ourselves against the mobb have not been able to even build houses and now many of us live in tents and not a finished house in the city the Lord knows when we shall be delivered from these calamities help they servants o Lord...

The next day Mormon Danites began to disarm the Missouri settlers that lived in the vicinity of DiAhman. Though John Smith had written that no building was being done because of mob activity, on the 17th he recorded in his diary that “all labour as building or farming etc suspended we have the motion of the mob it is thought best to whip out the mob at all events they are gathering their forces and moving their families out of the Co[unty] and other hostile movements”

It seems clear that those within the city were being told that there were mobs ready to attack them, when in fact most of the Missouri settlers had left the area or were forced out. Eliza Snow thought that the Daviess County settlers leaving was some kind of ploy:

Not long after our young missionaries left us, [Lorenzo Snow and Abel Butterfield] very early one morning, we were utterly astonished with the announcement that all of our neighbors, the “old settlers,” including those of whom our father had purchased, had fled the country. On entering some of the vacated houses, clocks were seen ticking the time, coffee-pots boiling the coffee, and everything indicating a precipitate and compulsory flight. What could be the cause, and what the meaning of this unprecedented and really ominous movement was veiled in the deepest mystery, until the reaction solved it by bringing to light the most cruel perfidy. We soon learned that those unscrupulous hypocrites had scattered abroad through- the settlements, arousing a mob feeling against the Latter-day Saints, by reporting that the “Mormons” had driven them from their homes, they having barely escaped with their lives at the expense of all they possessed.

On October 18, companies of Danites left DiAhman and raided the settlements of Gallatin, Millport, and Grindstone Fork. John Smith wrote that they were “watching the enemy today and taking measures to disperse the mob”

The “mob” were simply the non-Mormon citizens of Daviess County and the militia. One resident, Henry Lee was visited by a company of Mormons who ordered him to leave his house. They told him they were going to take all of his property and that he better get away. He left his home in the hands of the Mormons and reported the incident to justice of the peace Adam Black.

Kinney writes that,

One company of approximately one hundred men was ordered to attack Gallatin under the command of David Patten, code-named Captain Fearnought. At the same time another company of one hundred men under the command of Col. Lyman Wight was given the task of attacking Millport. A third company of one hundred men under the command of Seymour Brunson attacked Grindstone Fork. The first objective was to take provisions for the winter and compensation for Mormon losses in Jackson and Carroll counties. The second objective was to drive all non-Mormons from the county. The Mormons rounded up all horses, cattle, and hogs they could find and brought them back to Adam-ondi-Ahman. A young Mormon by the name of Oliver Huntington, who was not allowed to participate in the raids because of his age, had climbed up to Adam’s altar, the highest point in Adam-ondi-Ahman, to see what he could've the fighting. He recollected of the day: “I saw the smoke rising toward heaven, which filled me with ambition.” The following day the youth reported, “I went to Bishop Knight’s house and saw the plunder . . . and heard them tell in what order they took the place,

D. Michael Quinn in The Mormon Hierarchy, Origins of Power explains:

In retaliation for raids against isolated Mormon farms, Mormon forces (primarily, if not exclusively, Danites) pillaged two non-Mormon towns. “There is no question,” writes Brigham Young University professor William G. Hartley, “that Latter-day Saint rangers burned buildings at Millport and Gallatin,” including the U.S. post office and county treasurer’s office. In the most candid account ever written by a Utah Mormon historian about the Missouri Danites, he also acknowledges: “It is certain that some Danites played the thief, and it is possible, although unproven, that one or two were murderers.” Horrified by what was happening, the Quorum of Twelve’s president Thomas B. Marsh prepared a formal affidavit against these Mormon depredations, for which he was excommunicated and classed as an apostate. His co-signer was Apostle Orson Hyde who remorsefully returned to the church within a year and received again his position in the Twelve.

As Quinn explains, this kind of behavior was too much for Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde, who withdrew from the church and gave statements on the 24th of October:

At the request of a committee of the Citizens of Ray county I make the following statement in relation to the recent movements, plans & intentions of the Mormons in the Counties of Caldwell & Daviess – Shortly after the settlement of the difficulties at Dewitt in Carroll County , a call was made by the Mormons at Far West, in Caldwell County for volunteers to go to Daviess County , to disperse the mob, as they said. on the day before this Joseph Smith the prophet, had preached in which he said, that all the Mormons, who refused to take up arms, if necessary, in difficulties with the citizens, should be shot, or otherwise put to death; and as I was there with my family, I thought it most prudent to go, and did go with my wagon, and as the driver.

We marched to Adamondeomon, and found no troops or mob in Daviess County Scouting parties frequently went out & brought in intelligence that they had seen from three to five men­ We got to Diamon on tuesday evening, [October 16] & on the next day a company of about eighty of the Mormons, commanded by a man, fictitiously name Captain Fearnot, [Apostle David W. Patton] marched to Gallatin ­They returned and said they had run off from Gallatin twenty or thirty men and had taken Gallatin ­ had taken on prisoner and another had joined the company.

I afterwards learned from the Mormons, that they had burned Gallatin, and that it was done by the aforesaid company that marched there. The Mormons informed me that they had hauled away all the goods from the store in Gallatin; and deposited them at the Bishop’s store houses. at Adam on diahmon­ On the same day Lyman Wight marched about eighty horsemen for Mills­ ­Port­ He returned before night and called for Joseph Smith & Hiram Smith, to report to them (said Hiram being counsellor of said Joseph the prophet) and Said Wight reported that he had been in sight of Millport­ saw no one to fight, but that the people generally had gone & left their houses and property­

The prophet on hearing the property was left, commenced a reply & said “We had better see to it”, When Wyght stopped him by saying never mind, we will have a private counsel, and Smith replied very well. The private counsel. I did not hear­ The men were dismissed to go to their camps­

The same evening a number of footmen came up from the direction of Millport, laden with property, which, I was informed, consisted of beds, clocks, & other household furniture­ The same night, I think, about three wagons were despatched for about forty bee gums, & the next day saw several gums, where they were splitting them up & taking the honey & burning the gums, in which business of taking out the honey, but few were engaged, for fear, as they said, they would be called on as witness against them. When Wyght returned from Millport & informed Smith that the people were gone & the property left, Smith asked him if they had left any of the negroes for them & Wyght replied no. Upon which some one laughed and said to Smith, you have lost your negroe [ ]­

During the same time a company, called the fur company, were sent out to bring in fat hogz & cattle­ calling the hogs, bears & the cattle, buffaloe. They brought in at one time seven cattle, & at another time four or five belonging to the people of Daviess­ 2 hogs were brought in dead, but I know not how many, I saw only two.

They have among them a company consisting of all that and considered true Mormons, called the Danites, who have taken an oath to support the leader of the Church in all things, that they say or do, whether right or wrong, many however of this band are much dissatisfied with this oath, as being against moral and religious principles. On Saturday last I am informed by the Mormons, that they had a meeting at Far West at which they appointed a company of twelve by the name of the destruction company, for the purpose of burning & destroying & that if the people of Buncombe came to do mischief upon the people of Caldwell. & committed depredations on the Mormons. they were to burn Buncombe & if the people of Clay & Ray made any movements against them, this destroying company were to burn Liberty & Richmond . This burning was to be done secretly by going as incendiaris.

At the same meeting I was informed they passed a decree that no Mormon dissenter should leave Caldwell county alive & that such as attempted to do it should be shot down & sent to tell their tale in eternity. In a conversation between Doct. Avard & other Mormons, said Avard proposed to start a pestilence among the gentiles as he called them by poisoning their corns, fruit &c. and saying it was the work of the Lord­ and said Avard advocated lying for the support of their religion, & said it was no harm to lie for the Lord. The plan of said Smith, the prophet, is to take this State, & he professes to his people to intend taking the U.S. & ultimately the whole world­ This is the belief of the Church & my own opinion of the prophet’s plan & intentions It is my opinion that neither said Joseph Smith the prophet nor any one of the principal men who is firm in the faith, could be indicted for any offence in the County of Caldwell .

The prophet inculcates the notion, & it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smiths prophecies are superior to the law of the land. I have heard the prophet say that he should yet tread down his enemiez & walk over their dead bodies

That if he was not let alone he would be a Mahamet to this generation, & that he would make it it one gore of blood, from the Rocky mountains to the Atlantic ocean . That like Mahamet, whose motto, in treating for peace was the Alcoran, or the sword. So should it be eventually with us. Jo Smith or the sword These last statements were made during the last summer. The number of armed men at Adamondiamon, was between three & four hundred

The most of the Statements in the foregoing desclosures of Thomas B. March, I know to be true the remainder I believe to be true.

Richmond . Oct: 24 th . 1838

Orson Hyde sworn to and subscribed before me on the day above written Henry Jacobs J. P. The undersigned committee on the part of the Citizensz of Ray County have no doubt, but that Thomas B. Marsh & Orson Hide, whose names are signed to the foregoing certificates have been memberz of the Mormon church, in full fellowship until very recently, when they voluntarily abandoned the Mormon.

On October 22, Major General Atchison wrote to Governor Boggs:

Liberty Oct. 22 nd. 1838. To his Excellency the Commander in Chief Sir, Almost every hour I receive information of outrage and violence; of burning, and plundering in the county of Daviess ; it seems that the Mormons have become desperate and act like mad = men, they have burned a store in Gallatin , they have burnt Millport, they have it is said plundered several houses and have taken away the arms from Diverse Citizens of that county. A cannon that was employed in the siege of De Witt in Carroll County , and taken for a like purpose to Daviess County , has fallen into the hands of the Mormons, it is also reported that the anti Mormons have when opportunity offered disarmed the Mormons, and burnt several of their houses. The great difficulty in settling this matter seems to be in not being able Identify the offenders; I am convinced that nothing short of driving the Mormons from Daviess County will satisfy the party opposed to them, and this I have not the power to do as I conceive legally. There are no troops at this time in Daviess County; nor do I deem it expedient to send any there.___for I am well convinced that it would but make matters worse, for Sir I do not feel disposed to disgrace myself, or permit the troops under my command to disgrace the State, and themselves, by acting the part of a mob. If the Mormons are to be drove from their homez let it be done without any color of law, and in open defiance thereof; let it be done by volunteerz acting upon their own responsibilitiez. However I deem it my duty to Submit these matters to the commander in chief, and will conclude by Saying it will be my greatest pleasure to execute any order your Excellency Should think proper to give in this matter with promptnesz and to the very letter. I have the honor to be your Excellenceys Most Obt. Servt. David R. Atchison Major Genl. 3 rd. Dvis M. M.

The Governor also received other reports, but still refused to intervene. Kinney writes:

Colonel William P. Penniston, the anti-Mormon agitator, reported to the governor, “It’s unheard of and unprecedented the conduct and high-handed proceedings of the Mormons.” On October 15 they had learned “the Mormons were collecting in Far West, for the purpose of driving, what they term the mob, from this county.” The Mormons used that term to include all the citizens of Daviess County who were not Mormons. Colonel Penniston went on to describe the actions of the Mormons: “They have plundered and robbed and burned every house in Gallatin,” including the county treasury office. The Mormons “have driven almost every individual from the county, who are now flying before them with their families, many of whom have been forced out without necessary clothing–their wives and children wading, in many instances, through the snow without shoes.” Penniston continued to describe the ghastly conditions the Daviess County settlers suffered at the hand of the Mormons. “When the miserable families are then forced out, their houses are plundered and then burned.” The Mormons “are making this universal throughout the county.” The colonel reminded the governor, “these facts are being made known to you . . . hoping that your authority will be used to stop . . . this banditti of Canadian refugees and restore us to our lost homes.” Penniston concludes his letter to the governor by discrediting the reports of Mormon sympathizing leaders. “Can such proceedings be submitted to in a government of laws? I think not— notwithstanding the political juggling of such men as David R. Atchison and some others, whose reports and circulations setting the conduct and character of the Mormons more favorably before the community, are believed by the people of this county to be prompted by the hope of interest.” Here was yet another report discrediting Atchison to the governor, hastening his replacement as field commander-in-chief.

Encountering little to no resistance, the Mormons sacked the entirety of Daviess County, threatening any of the settlers (they deemed unfriendly) with death if they stayed. The Mormons also made incursions into Livingston County. The residents of Daviess County fled in fear, leaving all of their possessions behind. Others were forced by the Mormons to leave, and their homes and property burned after the Mormons took what they could. Kinney writes,

On October 18, after the weather had calmed and his men had had a chance to resupply at their homes, Captain Bogart recalled his company. He settled his command in a clearing twelve miles north of Elkhorn, which lay near the line dividing Caldwell and Ray counties. Mormon troops had been spotted patrolling the area in force. Bogart informed General Atchison that the Mormons had turned their threatening posture toward Ray County. “They have threatened to burn Buncombe and Elkhorn.” Captain Bogart had, on his own direction, ordered his company, which numbered fifty men, to prevent any such outrage from occurring. The militia troops were going to be grossly outnumbered. Realizing his precarious situation the captain earnestly sought additional assistance from General Atchison. He warned the general, “the people of Ray are going to take the law into their own hands and put an end to the Mormon War.”44 Bogart was correct; on the 23rd, the same day he sent his dispatch to Atchison, the citizens of Ray County held a committee meeting in Richmond for the purpose of deciding what should be done about the recent threats and events. They determined that a final demand for assistance must be sent to the governor. The fallback measure would be for Ray County citizens to volunteer and defeat the Mormons before they were allowed to sack and pillage the county. In their petition to the governor the committee confirmed that they received confirmation of the fact Gallatin and Millport had been burned and sacked, that all non-Mormon residents of Daviess had fled for either Livingston or Ray counties, that the Mormons had taken the firearms of all the Daviess County residents, including a cannon. Summing up, the committee reported, “the news . . . reaches us hourly that they are destroying the property of the citizens that they cannot carry away, all that they can carry away they take; blood and plunder appears to be their object. All those who do not join with them . . . are banished from Caldwell and all those from other counties who are opposed to them are threatened.

The Mormons were enacting their revenge for what they suffered in DeWitt and Jackson County years earlier. On October 23, Thomas C. Burch, a Richmond prosecuting attorney on the Fifth Circuit also sent a report to Governor Boggs. He wrote,

The Mormon difficultiez are arrising and have arisen here to an alarming height. It is Said (and I believe truly) that they have recently robbed and burned the Stone house of Mr. I. Stollingz in Gallatin Daviesz County , and that they have burned Several dwelling houses of the Citizens of Daviesz taken their arms from them, and have

taken Some provisions. Mormon dissenters are daily flying to this county for refuge from the ferocity of the Prophet Jo. Smith, who they say threatens the lives of all Mormons who refuse to take up arms at his bidding, or to do his commands. Those dissenters (and they are numerousz) all confirm the reports Concerning the Danite band of which you have doubtlesz heard much; and Say that Jo. infuses into the minds of his followers a Spirit of insubordination to the laws of the Land, telling them that the Kingdom of the Lord is come, which is Superior to the institutions of the earth, and encourages them to fight and promises them the Spoilz of the battlez. A respectable Gentleman of my acquaintance from Livingston is here now who informz me that the Mormons are robbing the citizens of Livingston, on the borders of Caldwell of their corn and whatever else they want; that they have taken a cannon from Livingston County , and are prowling about the country, a regularly formed banditti. That the Prophet Jo. Smith has persuaded his church that they are not, and ought not to be amenable to the laws of the land, and is Still doing it I have no doubt.­ The Danite band as I am informed by numbers of the most respectable of the Mormons (who are now dissenters) bind them to support the high council of the Mormon church, and one, another in all things whether right or wrong, and that even by false swearing. I have taken much pains to be informed correctly about this Danite band, and am well Satisfied that my information as above Stated is correct, I have no doubt but that Jo. Smith is az lawlesz and consumate a Scoundrel as ever was the veiled Prophet of [Chorassin].­ I believe the criminal law in Caldwell county cannot be enforced upon a Mormon. Grand Iurys there will not indict. Jo. declarez in his public addressez that he can revolutionize the U.S. and that if provoked, he will do it. This declaration has been heard by Col.Williams of this place and other Gentlemen of equal veracity. I have hoped that the civil authoritiez would prove Sufficient for the exigency of the case; but I am now convinced that it is not, So long as indictmentz have to be found by a Jury of the County in which the Offence may be committed. I do not pretend to have wisdom enough to make a Suggestion as to what Your Excellency should do. The evil is alarming beyond all doubt. I suggest the foregoing facts for Your consideration.

I am Respectfully year. Obt. Servt. Th. C. Burch

Reed Peck reported that,

On the night of the 24th Oct this company under command of Capt Bogart was encamped on Crooked River 12 miles South of Far West and two miles south of the line of Caldwell county[.] Information was received in Far West about midnight that this company had taken some prisoners and burned some Mormon houses

David W. Patten was immediately placed at the head of 75 or 100 volunteers and proceeded within two miles of the militia or “mob” as the Mormons called them where they left their horses with a Small guard and march silently on foot till hailed by the Sentinal with. “Who comes there[?]”

Capt Patten answered “friends,” Sentinel “Are you armed[?] Patten: “We are —–” Sentinel. “Then lay down your arms” Patten to his men “Fire” Some of the foremost men attempted to shoot but their pieces “snapped”

The sentinel shot one of the “Friends” through the hip and ran into Camp closely followed by the Mormons

Day had just began to dawn when they rushed upon their enemies echoing their war cry “God and liberty.” A few minutes decided the contest in favor of the Mormons The militia soon fled leaving their horses and baggage in camp[.] One of their number was killed on the ground several wounded and one taken prisoner by the Mormons

Gideon Carter brother of Jared (6) was killed in the battle and David W. Patten and one other of eight that were wounded of the Mormons died the following day Early in the morning intelligence of this battle was received in Far West and the presidency and Lyman Wight rode out to meet the victorious Mormons and marched at their head back to town

The prisoner taken by the Mormons was released on their march back with instructions to follow a certain path which was pointed out to him but being suspicious of treachery he travelled in it but a short distance and left it for a Safer way in the woods Certain movements convinced him that an ambush had been placed to cut off his return and he no sooner left the path than he discovered a man in the act of shooting To save himself he “bent forward, ran crooked and dodged behind trees” but the cold hearted villain (I know him well) [Parley P. Pratt] deliberately sent a ball through his hip and left him, thinking perhaps he had given him his death wound

The horses taken in the battle were distributed among the Mormons and receipted for to Coln Hinkel In Richmond the first information received of this battle was that the whole company of 50 or 60 men was massacred and before the report was corrected Amos Rees and Wily C. Williams were far on their way to the Governor with this intelligence

Immediately after the battle of Crooked River nearly all Caldwell County were astir removing their families and effects to Far West as a place of Safety.

D. Michael Quinn:

Danites who maintained lifelong loyalty to the LDS church later wrote of what they did to defenseless “gentiles” during this “Mormon War” in Missouri. For example, twenty-year-old Benjamin F. Johnson participated a raid that Danite captain Cornelius P. Lott led against an isolated settlement:

My sympathies were drawn toward the women and children, but I would in no degree let them deter me from duty. So while others were pillaging for something to carry away, I was doing my best to protect, as far as possible, the lives and comfort of the families who were dependent on getting away upon horseback….While others were doing the burning and plunder, my mission was of mercy so far as duty would permit. But of course I made enemies at home, and became more known by those who were our avowed enemies. Before noon we had set all on fire and left upon a circuitous route towards home.

The LDS publishing house of the Central States Mission printed that uncomfortable acknowledgement of Mormon depredations. However, Oliver B. Huntington offered no apology, and this lifelong Mormon wrote decades later that he and other Danites had “the privilege of retaking as much as they took from us.” And sometimes the property of gentiles who had been friendly to their Mormon neighbors was plundered by Mormons who did not know them.

James Bracken, also a devout Mormon, acknowledged that during 1838 “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.” He noted that Joseph Smith had not authorized such stealing. Bracken may not have been a Danite, but Justus Morse was and had listened to Smith authorize a Danite meeting (apparently after the Gallatin fight) to “suck the milk of the gentiles.” Morse, who remained loyal to the prophet throughout his life, added that Smith explained “that we had been injured by the mob in Missouri, and to take from the gentiles was no sin,” merely retribution. The Mormon prophet had unleashed the fury of the Danites by his published endorsement of “taking vengeance” in the event of hostilities and by his private instructions for the Danites to “suck the milk of the gentiles.” Thus, a recent history by the LDS church acknowledges that “Danite depredations, both real and imagined, intensified hostilities” with Missouri authorities. In addition, despite their participation in such Danite raids against civilians, Smith later advanced both Lott and Johnson to his theocratic Council of Fifty.

Nevertheless, there is evidence that Smith and leaders like Brigham Young disapproved of Sampson Avard’s instructions to Danites that plundering all non-Mormons should be standard procedure and to kill any Danite who faltered in that obligation. Danite Lorenzo D. Young later wrote of his opposition to those teachings and of his brother Brigham’s warning to beware of Avard. Lorenzo’s autobiography implied this meant he also rejected Danite affiliation. To the contrary, he later described taking orders from Seymour Brunson (a Danite officer) for Lorenzo and Albert P. Rockwood (another Danite) to “patrol the country every night” and to demand the “countersign” (which Shurtliff described as Danite). Avard also testified in court that “I once had a command as an officer, but Joseph Smith removed me from it.” Since that happened before Mormon forces surrendered and [p.99] before Avard turned state’s evidence, there is good reason to believe that he promoted an extreme interpretation of Sidney Rigdon’s sermons of June-July 1838, which were radical enough in themselves.

However, it is anachronistic to apply Smith’s later rejection of Avard to the Danite general’s actions four months earlier. In the early summer of 1838, Avard was the stalking-horse for the First Presidency. The Danite constitution specified: “All officers shall be subject to the commands of the Captain General, given through the Secretary of War.” Joseph Smith had held the latter position “by revelation” in the church’s “war department” for three years, and had been commander-in-chief of the Armies of Israel for four years. What the Danites did militarily during the summer and fall of 1838 was by the general oversight and command of Joseph Smith.

In the skirmishes that both sides called “battles,” Mormons used deadly force without reluctance. Benjamin F. Johnson wrote that Danite leader (and future apostle) Lyman Wight told his men to pray concerning their Missouri enemies: “That God would Damn them & give us pow[e]r to Kill them.” Likewise, at the beginning of the Battle of Crooked River on 25 October 1838, Apostle David W. Patten (a Danite captain with the code-name “Fear Naught”) told his men: “Go ahead, boys; rake them down.” The highest ranking Mormon charged with murder for obeying this order was Apostle Parley P. Pratt who allegedly took the careful aim of a sniper in killing one Missourian and then severely wounding militiaman Samuel Tarwater. This was after Apostle Patten received a fatal stomach wound. In their fury at the sight of their fallen leader, some of the Danites mutilated the unconscious Tarwater “with their swords, striking him lengthwise in the mouth, cutting off his under teeth, and breaking his lower jaw; cutting off his cheeks…and leaving him [for] dead.” He survived to press charges against Pratt for attempted murder.

Captain Bogart fell back after the Mormon attack but held fast the northern half of Ray County. The initial express messenger to Richmond reported all but three of the fifty to sixty militiamen had been massacred in the attack. In fact only one militia soldier had been killed. It was also reported that Bogart had been overrun by three hundred Mormons and that most if not all of the unit was captured. Ray County’s citizen committee, despairing the imminent raid on Richmond, immdediately sent dispatches to the governor and the surrounding counties asking for immediate assistance in repelling the Mormon invasion. Major Amos Rees and Colonel Wiley Williams sent a dispatch to General John B. Clark at midnight on the 25th reporting the attack and other Mormon atrocities in Daviess County, lamenting the prospect that all of the men of Bogart’s command taken prisoner would be killed by the “wretched desperadoes” of Caldwell. The Mormons were reportedly planning an attack on Richmond the following night and the city was in a panic. The women and children were being shipped down to Lexington and other surrounding cities. Lafayette County Judge E. M. Ryland sent Rees and Williams instructions to alert the governor of the situation and all the counties along the way. Richmond “is expected to be sacked and burned [by Mormons but that] we sent one hundred well-armed and daring men.” Ryland was confident the Lafayette County men would “give the Mormons a warm reception in Richmond, tonight.” He concluded with urgency, “haste must be made in order to stop the devastation menaced by these infuriated fanatics. The volunteers must be prepared to expel or exterminate the Mormons from the State. Nothing but this can give tranquility to the Public . . . and reestablish the law.” Once again the extermination wording first coined by Sidney Rigdon in his July 4th address and distributed by Smith all over northern Missouri would come back to haunt them.

Upon hearing the news the Governor’s reaction was extreme. On the 27th of October 1838 Lilburn W. Boggs issued Order No. 44 to General Clark, in which he wrote that he had received reports “of the most appal[l]ing character which entirely changes the face of things and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and armed defiance of the laws And of having made war upon the people of this State. Your orders are therefore to hasten your operation with all possible speed.” Boggs then gave an order that no Governor had ever given in the history of the United States:

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. If you can increase your force you are authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary.

Though much has been said about how the word “exterminate” should be interpreted, it is obvious that the Governor wanted the Mormons to leave the state, and if they would not, he would have his Generals use deadly force against them.

D. Michael Quinn observed in The Mormon Hierarchy that “Mormon marauding against non-Mormon Missourians in 1838 was mild by comparison with the brutality of the anti-Mormon militias.”

Quinn continues:

Three days after Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued a military order that the Mormons “must be exterminated, or driven from the State,” a Missouri militia unit attacked the LDS settlement at Haun’s Mill on 30 October 1838. They shot at and wounded thirteen fleeing women and children, then [p.100] methodically killed eighteen males, including two boys (ages nine and ten). When one of the Missouri militiamen found ten-year-old Sardius Smith’s hiding place, he put “his rifle near the boy’s head, and literally blowed off the upper part of it,” testified survivor and general authority Joseph Young shortly thereafter. Other Missourians used a “corn-cutter” to mutilate the still-living Thomas McBride. When the survivors found the elderly man, his corpse was “literally mangled from head to foot.” Aside from Young’s status as a near-victim along with his wife and children, Haun’s Mill struck at the heart of other general authorities: Sardius was a nephew of former Seventy’s president Sylvester M. Smith whose brother also died in the massacre, and recently appointed apostle Willard Richards lost a nephew there.

A generally unacknowledged dimension of both the extermination order and the Haun’s Mill massacre, however, is that they 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 county clerk wrote the day after the battle. “For God’s sake give us assistance as quick as possible.” Correspondingly, the attack on state troops 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.

Concerning the surrender of Joseph Smith at Far West, Richard Bushman writes,

The war rapidly concluded after the Haun’s Mill massacre. On October 30, Joseph Smith found an army of Missouri militia men drawn up a mile and a half south of Far West, temporarily under the command of Samuel Lucas of Jackson County, the ranking officer until General Clark arrived. Joseph spoke bravely of taking a stand, but when he got news of the Haun’s Mill attack, he foresaw the same fate for Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. John Corrill, Reed Peck, and George Hinkle from the Mormon side entered into negotiations with Alexander Doniphan acting for Lucas. Both Peck and Corrill claimed Joseph was eager to sue for peace. Corrill said he was told “to beg like a dog for peace, and afterwards [Joseph] said he would rather go to States-prison for twenty years, or would rather die himself than have the people exterminated.”

On October 31, Lucas presented terms to Hinkle and required him to bring Joseph and other key leaders into the Missourian camp. Failing that, Lucas threatened to reduce Far West to ashes. As legal support for the threat, he showed the Mormons the governor’s order. Lucas gave them an hour to decide and prepared his 2,500 men for battle. Seeing the Missouri forces approaching, the Far West leaders hurriedly complied. Near sunset, Joseph and four others walked the six hundred yards between the Mormon lines and the advancing militia and put themselves into the hands of their enemies.

Joseph thought he went to negotiate, as the head of the opposing forces, but Lucas wanted prisoners charged with crimes against the state. He had told Hinkle that Joseph would be taken captive if the peace terms were accepted; if they were turned down, he would be returned to Far West and the Mormons would take the consequences. Instead of negotiating, as he should have since the terms were not yet accepted, Lucas dealt with Joseph like a prisoner of war. A guard of fifty men escorted the Mormons through lines of jeering soldiers, who were delighted to have captured the infamous Prophet. As Joseph said, “Instead of being treated with that respect which is due from one citizen to another, we were taken as prisoners of war, and were treated with the utmost contempt.” Parley Pratt said that “these all set up a constant yell, like so many bloodhounds let loose upon their prey.” A Missourian later remembered the five Mormons “were about as badly scared set as I ever saw,” save for Lyman Wight, who “stood like a lion . . . without a sign of fear about him.” That night Joseph slept in the rain on the ground, surrounded by an armed guard. That was far from what he expected, and he ever after thought that Hinkle had betrayed him.

Seeing no alternative, Joseph acceded to Lucas’s terms. The Mormons were to give up their arms and leave the state. Those accused of crimes were to be surrendered and tried. Mormon property in Missouri was to be confiscated to reimburse the Daviess citizens whose houses had been burned. The Mormons were to give up everything except their lives. Hinkle thought the demands beyond reason and wanted to seek better. He argued they were being asked to give up “their most sacred rites as citizens of a republican state.” Joseph, with little faith in republican rights, sent word to comply anyway. With 2,500 Missouri militia men camped outside of Far West, he had no stomach for battle. The Mormons were to give up their Zion.

John Corrill wrote about the events after Smith agreed to surrender Far West:

This [Extermination] order greatly agitated my mind. I expected we should be exterminated without fail. There lay three thousand men, highly excited and full of vengeance, and it was as much as the officers could do to keep them off from us anyhow; and they now had authority from the executive to exterminate, with orders to cut off our retreat, and the word Mormons, I thought, included innocent as well as guilty; so of course there was no escape for any. These were my first reflections on hearing the order. But General Lucas soon said that they would be more mild than the order required; that if we would give up the heads of the Church to be punished; surrender our arms; give up all our property, (those who had taken up arms,) to pay the debts of the whole Church and the damages done in Davies and elsewhere; and then all leave the state forthwith, except those retained to be punished, they would spare our lives, and protect us out of the state.

The sun was then about two hours high, and he gave us till sunset to make up our minds and deliver the prisoners. A gentleman of note told me that if these men were suffered to escape, or if they could not be found, nothing could save the place from destruction and the people from extermination. We knew that General Lucas had no authority, and his requirements were illegal; for he was out of the bounds of his division, and the Governor’s order was to General Clark, and not to him; but there was no other way for the Mormons but to submit. We immediately went into town and collected Joseph Smith, Jr., Sidney Rigden , Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, and George W. Robertson together, and told them what the Governor’s order and General Lucas required. Smith said if it was the Governor’s order, they would submit, and the Lord would take care of them. So we hurried with them as fast as possible to the place appointed. We met General Lucas, with his army, but a short distance from town. He had made every arrangement to surround and destroy the place; but the prisoners delivered themselves up, and General Lucas, with the army and prisoners, returned to their camp. These prisoners were to be retained as hostages till morning, and then, if they did not agree to the proposals, they were to be set at liberty again. I suppose they agreed to the proposals, for they were not set at liberty.

Next morning, General Lucas marched his army near to town, and Colonel Hinkle marched out the Mormons, who gave up their arms, about six hundred guns, besides swords and pistols, and surrendered themselves as prisoners.

I would here remark, that a few days previous to this, news had frequently come to Far West that they were soon to be attacked, and Caldwell County destroyed; so the judge of the county court had ordered Colonel Hinkle, with the militia, to guard the county against invasion. They turned out and organized under this order, and in this situation surrendered to General Lucas. A guard was placed around Far West to keep all things secure, and General Parks, with an army, was sent to Adamondiaman, where were about one hundred and fifty armed Mormons, who surrendered to him and gave up their arms. The five prisoners who first surrendered, together with Amasa Lyman and Hiram Smith, who had been added to them, remained in the camp until Friday morning, When General M. Wilson, of Jackson, started the prisoners and arms to Independence. The troops were then discharged except a guard around town.

On Saturday evening or Sunday morning, General Clark arrived with fourteen hundred mounted men, and said there were six thousand more within a day’s march, but they were turned back. Previous to the arrival of General Clark, the Mormons were gathered together and about five hundred made to sign a deed of trust, in which five commissioners were appointed, to whom they deeded all their property in trust for the use of all the creditors of the Church, and also to pay all the damages done by the Danites, and the overplus, if any, was to be refunded. General Clark ratified what General Lucas had done, and kept the town well guarded, and permitted none to go out, except now and then one to see their families and then return again. However, in a day or two, he gathered up all the Mormon prisoners and selected forty or fifty, such as he thought, from the best information he could get, ought to be punished, and put them in a store and had them guarded overnight. He then withdrew the guard from town and let the remainder go free, but the next day marched with the prisoners to Richmond, where General Lucas had been previously ordered to return the prisoners and arms he had taken to Independence.

It was when General Lucas’s main body of Militia was disbanded and he was left with only a small detachment to guard Far West that most of the accusations of abuse began to circulate. Since there was no watch kept around the town at this time, many of the Mormons who had taken part in the Battle of Crooked River, or despoiling Daviess County escaped. The Mormons that remained at Far West had to endure horrible conditions, as the Militia had replenished their supplies from Mormon storehouses and the crops surrounding Far West. Many families had nothing to eat but a little corn and many went hungry. When General Clark arrived conditions improved. He placed a guard around the town and shared militia rations with the Mormons.

The Mormons who Joseph Smith had chosen to broker a deal with the Missourians would write about the treatment of the “Saints” at Far West:

“Certificate of Mormons as to the conduct of Gen. Clark and his troops.

“Richmond, November 23, 1838. “Understanding that Maj. Gen. Clark is about to return with the whole of his command from the scene of difficulty, we avail ourselves of this occasion to state that we were present when the “Mormons” surrendered to Maj. Gen. Lucas at Far West, and remained there until Maj. Gen. Clark arrived; and we are happy to have an opportunity as well as the satisfaction of stating that the course of him [Clark] and his troops while at Far West was of the most respectful kind and obliging character towards the said Mormons; and that the destitute among that people are much indebted to him for sustenance during his stay. The modification of the terms upon which the “Mormons” surrendered, by permitting them to remain until they could safely go in the spring, was also an act that gave general satisfaction to the Mormons. We have no hesitation in saying that the course taken by Gen. Clark with the Mormons was necessary for the public peace, and that the “Mormons” are generally satisfied with his course, and feel in duty bound to say that the conduct of the General, his staff officers and troops, was highly honorable as soldiers and citizens, so far as our knowledge extends; and we have heard nothing derogatory to the dignity of the state in the treatment of the prisoners.”

Respectfully, &c.
W. W. PHELPS,
GEO WALTER,
[Signed] JOHN CLEMINSON,
G. M. HINKLE,
JOHN CORRILL,

Of course the above was contested by the Mormon leadership on the grounds that Corrill and Phelps were “bitter enemies” of Church leadership, but this is not borne out in later events. Joseph Smith characterized George M. Hinkle, John Corrill, Reed Peck, and other witnesses as men “who are so very ignorant that they cannot appear respectable in any decent civilized society, and whose eyes are full of adultery, and cannot cease from sin.” [At their trial in Richmond, Hyrum Smith lied about the Danites when he testified that,

“Many people came to see. They saw the houses burning; and, being filled with prejudice, they could not be made to believe but that the “Mormons” set them on fire; which deed was most diabolical and of the blackest kind; for indeed the “Mormons” did not set them on fire, nor meddle with their houses or their fields.”

Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young and Parley Pratt were also willing to lie about Joseph Smith to defend him. Brigham Young stated that Joseph Smith “was in no way connected with the Militia of that state [Missouri], neither did he bear arms at all, nor give advice.” Hyrum Smith asserted that his brother “never bore arms, as a military man, in any capacity whatever, whilst in the state of Missouri, or previous to that time; neither has he given any orders or assumed any command in any capacity whatever.” Parley P. Pratt further contended that the Prophet “never bore arms or did military duty, not even in self defense.” The testimony that Joseph Smith played a leading role in Mormon military operations, these men asserted, was false.

We know from the diaries and accounts of the Mormons themselves that the above testimonies are false. As for Smith carrying arms, he had been doing so since 1834 according to Wilford Woodruff, who stated that when he “first met him and his brother Hyrum they were coming in from target shooting with pistols, which they held in their hands. Bro. Joseph remarked that he was intending to go up to Missouri, and thought he would have to do some shooting, and wanted first to see if he could hit anything.”

Albert Rockwood wrote this journal entry on October 28, 1838:

Now Father, come to Zion and fight for the religion of Jesus[.] many a hoary head is engaged here, the Prophet goes out to battle as in days of old. he has the sword that Nephi took from Laban. is not this marvellous? well when you come to Zion you will see <& learn> many marvellous things, which will strengthen your faith, and which is for the edification of all the saints. The Prophet has unsheathed his sword and in the name of Jesus declares that is shall not be sheathed again untill he can go unto any County or state in safety and in peace.

Although some Mormons began leaving the state soon after the surrender, most remained in Far West or on their Caldwell County farms, hoping they would not be expelled from the state. By late January, however, Mormon leaders realized that the Missouri legislature would not act on their behalf. In addition the longer they remained, the greater was the animosity of local citizens, who watched jealously for any indications that the Mormons might break their treaty agreement. Local officials showed little inclination to protect the Saints from mobs that continually harassed them. Many Mormons also came to believe that Joseph Smith and the other Mormon prisoners were being held simply to insure that the Mormons left that state: the prisoners’ release would not occur until the expulsion was completed. Eventually the Mormons decided they must leave Missouri.

On January 29, at a meeting held in Far West, the Mormons agreed to abide by a proposal made by Brigham Young:

On motion of President Brigham Young, it was resolved that we this day enter into a covenant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our abilities in removing from this state, and that we will never desert the poor who are worthy, till they shall be out of the reach of the exterminating order of General Clark, acting for and in the name of the state.

Lucy Smith wrote about events in Far West after the surrender and her account is fairly typical of what most of the Mormons went through:

As soon as william was able to stir about a little he besaught his father to leave the place and move <move> to Illinois but Mr Smith would not consent to do this for he was in hopes that our sons would be liberated and peace be settled again William still expostulated with him but to no effect and he at last de-clared that he would not go away from Far West unless he was called upon to do so by revelation very well Father said William I can give you revelation then and he rehearsed the vision which he had related to me—Mr Smith made answer to this that the family migh might get ready to start and then if we were obliged to go there would be nothing to hinder us—

Our buisness had been trading in corn and wheat as well as keeping a public house and when the state Mob came in we had some corn and wheat on hands but no or very little flour or meal and we sent a young man that lived with us to Mill with some 14 bags of Grain to be ground but he was obliged to leave in consequence of the <mob> who so near at hand that miller deemed it unsafe for him to allow the brethren to remain about his mill least they Militia should burn his premises—We were therefore obliged to blair our corn in a samp mortar to make bread of and it was all the bread stuff we had for a length of time—but there were many who subsisted some time on parched corn for they were all driven in from the country and there was more than an acre of land in front of our house that was covered with beds laying in the open sun where men women and children were compelled to sleep in all weather for these were the last who had got into the city and all the houses were so full that there was no room for them. It was enough to make the heart ache to hear <see> children in the open sun and wind sick with colds and very hungry crying round their mothers for food and their parents destitute of the means of making them comfortable while their houses which lay a short distance from the city were pillaged of every thing eatable their fields thrown open for the horses belonging to mob to lay waste and destroy and their fat cattle shot down and turning to carrion before their eyes while a strong guard which was set over us for the purpose prevented us from making use of a particle of the stock that was killed on every side of us.

There relate samuels The brethren had been warn Many

It may be said that this evil certainly might have been provided against if Joseph Smith had the spirit of prophecy to this I reply that he did all in his power to get the brethren to move into the city before they heard of the mob but they did not hearken to council and let this be an everlasting warning to the saints not to reject the councill of the authorities of the church because they do not understand the reason of its being given you —if the brethren at at Hauns Mill had observed to do what they were advised repeatedly to do their lives would no doubt have been preserved for they would have been at Far West with the rest of the brethren

William I shall not attempt here to give a detail of facts which h are already published my Mind is loath to dwell upon these days of sorrow and more than is necessary my readers will will find a relation of these many things in the various publications which were writen during that years and the year following the sa that will satisfactory to them an things which I did not see but and therfore shall not attempt to write—

When William began to be able to walk he went to the stable to see after his horse and not finding him he enquired of one of the mob officers where his horse was. And the officers replied that he had sent him with a dispatch to another part of the county and the messenger had taken him William told him that the horse must be returned for he would not have him used in any such way in a little while the despatch came up and William took the horse by the bridle and ordered the rider to dismount and the officer also ca seconding the order it was obeyed and the <was> horse led to the stable In as the saints were now moving from

Soon after this the brethren were compelled to on lay down their arms and sign away their property it was done immediately in front of our house and could hear <Cap> Wilson Gen. Clarks speech <and> when he distinctly in which he declared that my sonsshould must die that “there<ir> die was cast their doom was fixed their fate was sealed and &” and also that “if he could invoke the spirit of the unknown God to rest upon us he would advise us to scatter abroad &c”

And I thought of the words of Paul to the Athenians of the scripture which saith Ye “know not God I speak this to your shame” for Gen. Clark did not know that he could not measure arms with the Almighty or he would not have told so positively what was to befall my imprisoned children Soon after Hyrum left home his youngest son was born this was his second wife’s first child her confinement was considered rather premature being probably brought on by her extreme anxiety about her husband whom she never saw but once afterwards before she left the state in which he was held a prisoner she suffered in her sickness beyond description but in her afflictions her sister stood by her and devoted her whole time to Nursing and comforting her as they were equally alone as respected their husbands for one was imprisoned and the other flying for his life Mor However she gained sufficient strength to accompany Emma to the prison once before they left the state

After this william repaired with his family to Quincy and from thence to Plymouth where he settled himself and sent the team back after us.

Mr Smith sent William <to Joseph and got a revelation> [114] made his arrangements as soon as possible to remove his family to Illinois and in a short time had them comfortably situated in the town of Plymouth and sent back his team for his fathers family but we loaded the waggon with our goods but just before we were ready to start he word came that Sydney rigdons family were ready to start and they must have the waggon thus we were compeled to remain a season longer untill William sent again the waggon was again loaded and again unloaded for another messenger came saying that Emma my sons wife was ready and she must have the waggon however we after a long time succeeded in getting one waggon in which to convey beds and clothing for My own family and 2 of our sons in law and their families and this was our dependance for a place to ride and to convey all our baggage. Don Carlos my youngest son was in company with us he rode with his wife and children in a one horse buggy and the greatest part of their baggage was in our waggon.

In consequence of our crowded situation we left a large stock of provision and most of our furniture losin boxes and barrels in the house—but that was not the worst for our horses were what is termed wind broken and every hill which we came to we were obliged to get out and walk which was bothe tiresome to the patience and the body.

The first day we arrived at the house one Mr. a place called Tinney’s Grove where we lodged in an old log house and spent a rather uncomfortable manner the day after I travelled on foot half the day and at night came to the house of one Mr. Thomas who was then a member of the Church My husband was very much out of health as he had not yet recovered from the shock occasioned by the cature of Hyrum and Joseph and he sufferred much with a sever cough—

the 3thrd day in the afternoon we so it commenced raining when night arrived we stopped at a house and asked permission to stay over night the man of the house showed us a miserable out door house which filthy enough to sicken the stomach even to look at it and told us if we would clean this place out and haul our own wood we might lodge there as to wood that was so far off that at the late hour in which we arrived there it was not possible to get any but we cleaned out the place so that as to be able to lay our beds down and <here we> spent the night without fire the next morning we demanded our kind the land lord charged us 75 cents for the use of this shed

and we went on in the pouring rain we asked for shelter at many places but were refused admitance & untill near night we travelled through the rain and mud without finding any one who was willing to take us in at last we came to another place very much like the one where we spent the night before here we staid all night without fire.

The day after which was the 5 from the time we started we got to Palmira here we stopped just before we came to this place Don carlos called to us and said Father this exposure is too bad and I will not bear it any longer and the first place I come to that looks comfortable I shall drive up to the house and stop go in and do you follow me we soon came to a handsome, neat looking farm <house> which was surrounded with every appearance of comfort. The house stood a short distance from the road but there was a large gate which opened into the field in front of it. Don Carlos opened the gate and drove into the field and then after he had assisted us through he left us and started to see the landlord who met him before he came to the house—Land-lord said D.C. I do not know but I am trespassing but I have with me an aged father who is sick besides My Mother and a number of <women with> small children we have now travelled 2 days and a half in this rain and we shall die if we are compelled to go much farther and <but> if you will allow us to stay with you over night we will pay you any price for our accommodations.

Why what do you mean sir said the gentleman do you not consider us human beings or that do you think that we would turn Any thing that was flesh and blood away from our doors in such a time as this where is your parents drive your waggons to the door and help your wife children out I will attend to the others—he then assisted Mr Smith and myself out into the room where his lady was sitting but as she was not well and he was affraid the dampness of this room might cause her to take cold he ordered a black servant to make her a fire in another room he the took helped each one of the family into the house and hung their cloaks and shawls and as he hung them up to dry he said he never in his life saw a family in so uncomfortable from the effects of rainy weather.

At this house we had every thing that could conduce to our comfort as this gentleman Whose name was Esqr. Man did all that he could do to assist us he brought us milk for our children hauled us water to wash with furnished good beds to sleep in &c. &c. in short he left nothing undone and in the evening he remarked that he had been sent by the people to the as a representative from the county the year before and at the house of representatives he met one Mr Carroll who was sent there from the county where the Mormons resided and said Squire Man if I ever felt like fight any man it was him for he never raised his hand nor his voice in behalf of that abused people once while the house was in session and my blood boiled to hear b how they were treated but I never was a member of the house before and had not sufficient confidence to take a stand in their behalf upon the floor or I would have done it if and had been a man of a little more experience

After spending the night here with this good man we set out again the next morning although it still rained for we were obliged to travel in order to avoid being detained by high water we went on through mud and rain untill we arrived within 6 miles of the Mississipi river here the ground beca was low and swampy so much so that a person on foot would sink in above their ancles at every step here also the weather grew colder and it commenced snowing and hailing but notwithstanding all this we were compelled to go on foot as the horses were not able to draw us als we were were crossing this place Lucy lost her shoes several times and her father had to thrust his cane into the mud to ascertain where they were because they were so completely covered with mud and water

when we came to the river we could not cross nor yet find a place of shelter for there were many saints there waiting to go over into quincy we the snow had now fallen to the depth of 6 inch<es> and was still falling but we were very tired and we we made up our beds on the snow and went to rest with what comfort we might under such circumstances the next morning we were covered with snow as we lay in our beds but b we rose and after considerable pains succeeded in folding up our frozen bedding we tried to light a fire but finding it impossible we resigned ourselves to our situation and waited patiently for some oppertunity to offer itself for crossing the river

soon after samuel came over from Quincy and finding us he with seymore Brunsons assistance obtained permission of the ferryman to have us cross that day and about sunset we a landed in Quincy where samuel had hired a house into which we moved although it was already occupied by <and when we got into it we our household consisted of> five other families name namely Mr Smith and myself with our daughter and henry and Hyran Holt [Hoit?] also the family of Samuel Smith Jenkins Saulsbury Mr. McLery and brother Graves—

[_Lemmie]

Question:

Am I the only one in here who is NOT here to criticize/make fun of the church and those who still believe that it's true?

I really don't want to be barging into an 'ex/critic of/ completely against Mormons and Mormonism" support group.

I mean, that's just rude.

I'm surprised you would summarize the discussion as such. There have been significant factual contributions from historical documents in this discussion, during which multiple errors you have posted were corrected, that you have completely ignored as you moved on. Discussing the facts of the historical and doctrinal (i.e. your errors re: Kolob) topics you bring up is NOT 'criticizing/making fun of.'

I think your conflation of the definitions 'criticize' and 'make fun of' illustrates the problem quite well. In your mind, then, is 'criticizing the LDS church' the same as 'making fun of the LDS church'? I thought your OP stated that you were accepting of critics. Was that not an accurate description of the mindset you brought to this forum?