Dark History Chapter Six "Salt and Blood"

SALT AND BLOOD:

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." - Gospel According to St. Matthew Chapter 5 verse 13 KJV

After the formation of the Sons of Dan in June1838 many disaffected Mormons fled Far West, however many others stayed on to guard their property, most noticeably Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, William.W. Phelps, and Lyman E. Johnson. These detractors of Joseph Smith's prophetic calling became the subjects of a "thinly veiled threat" disguised as a speech given by Sidney Rigdon in June 1838.

On 17 June 1838,(1) "crusty, bombastic, vengeful, and a master manipulator of behind the scenes intrigues,"(2) Sidney Rigdon, delivered an address known as the "Salt Sermon" in which dissidents were warned that they would not be tolerated any longer in Far West. Rigdon "mounted the speaker's stand in the town square and exhorted his listeners to crush dissension and apostasy with cruel determination".(3) Rigdon was using as his text a parable from the Gospel of St. Matthew, which he then applied to Mormon Apostates. Rigdon's oration made it clear to the "Apostates" that they would soon be forced into exile from the Mormon stronghold in Caldwell County on pain of death.

"In his direct and powerful way, President Rigdon applied the text to the dissenters, and the implication was obvious. They must either leave or face the consequences."(4) Jedediah Grant Morgan, later a counselor to Brigham Young and an eyewitness to the event, wrote, "In June he (Sidney Rigdon) preached what he called his 'Salt Sermon,' in which he called the dissenters the salt that had lost its savor, hence, said he, 'they are good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot.' The dissenters made capital of his sermon, using it to prejudice the people in the adjoining counties against the Saints..."(5)

Mormon Church historian Brigham H. Roberts concurred that Rigdon's sermon was widely publicized. "The doctrine of the text, the speaker applied to the dissenting brethren and intimated that the 'trodden under foot of men' should be literal, much to the scandalizing of the church, since the dissenters made capital of it to prejudice the minds of the non-'Mormons' of the surrounding counties." (6)

Another witness to the speech was the Danite Reed Peck who described the effect of Rigdon's discourse: From this Scripture (Rigdon) 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 have a set of men among them that have dissented from the church and were doing all in their power to destroy the presidency, laying plans to take their lives etc., 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 (Rigdon) will assist 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 Vicks burgh and it would be an act at which the angels would smile with approbation."(7)

Peck's reference to the "the gamblers of Vicksburg"(8) is a most compelling evidence that this speech occurred and was a clear signal that the church's First Presidency was ready to implement a lynch law in Far West against those considered enemies to themselves.(9)

Alarmed by the direction the Latter Day Saints were now heading and at the risk of personal safety, Bishop John Corrill sought out his old friend John Whitmer and warned him of the extreme danger of remaining in Far West. The church historian however could not conceive that his former friends and brethren would turn on him and refused to leave his home. Instead Whitmer, using his prestige as one of the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, went to Joseph Smith and asked what could be done "to calm the storm of ill-feeling aroused by Rigdon's enflaming speech."(10) Smith seized the opportunity to ruin his former "witness" by requiring him to turn over all his property to Smith in order to quiet things down.

Whitmer, stunned and hurt, told Smith that he preferred to control his own property and to take his chances being governed by "the laws of the land" rather than by the Mormon Kingdom's edicts. The Smith dismissed Whitmer to his fate by stating to the church historian, "Now you wish to pin me down to the law,"(11) making it abundantly clear that the Mormon prophet believed that he was above the laws of the land.

The day after the Salt Sermon, the prominent dissenters were handed an ultimatum drafted by Rigdon ordering them to leave Far West or "we will use the means in our power to cause you to depart; for go you shall."(12) The ultimatum accused the disaffected members of stirring up "much prejudice and even violence against the Saints." The edict claimed that Oliver Cowdery, Lyman Johnson and David Whitmer had "united with a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, liars and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to deceive, cheat, and defraud the Latter Day Saints out of their property, by every art and stratagem which wickedness could invent…"(13)

John Whitmer and William W. Phelps were accused of "assisting to prepare the way to throw confusion among the saints at Far West". Rigdon even added that the dissidents desire to defend their families from the "Saints" was a crime, for he wrote: "For the insult, if nothing else, (of) your threatening to shoot us if we offered to molest you, we will put you from the county of Caldwell."(14)

Eight-three men, including Porter Rockwell, Hyrum Smith, and Joseph Smith's uncle John Smith, signed the letter. "The roster comprised a veritable "Who's Who" of Mormondom" and were mostly chartered members of the Danite Society.(15) Ironically the wording of the document was reminiscent of the Jackson County's old settler's resolution justifying the removal of the Latter Day Saints from their community.

Fearing for their lives at the hands of their former colleagues, the men fled to the safety of the Gentile communities for protection. Away from the clutches of his former friends, John Whitmer, told anyone who would listen that that the real reason for the banishment of the dissenters, "as they termed those who believed not in their secret bands, in fornication, adultery or midnight machinations", was "reprisal for refusing to obey Smith." Whitmer also told how Joseph Smith had "called a council of the leaders together, in which council he stated that any person who said a word against the heads of the Church, should be driven over the prairies as a chased deer by a pack of hounds," the pack of hounds being the Sons of Dan.(16)

John Whitmer's brother, David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Golden Plates, also believed that Joseph Smith had exceeded his authority by altering the revelations recorded in the Book of Commandments. Whitmer implored the Latter Day Saints to listen to the dissidents. "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to 'separate myself from among the Latter-day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so should it be done unto them."(17)

Book of Mormon Scribe, Oliver Cowdery and Lyman E. Johnson fled Far West north to the village of  Liberty in Daviess County out of the reach of Joseph Smith. There they filed a lawsuit against the Mormon church leaders at Far West hoping to obtain legal address against their death threats. Upon returning to the Mormon stronghold at Far West, Cowdery and Johnson found that their families had been driven out of their homes and cast out into the street with all their belongings. Cowdery, the Whitmer brothers, and other dissidents, wisely removed themselves from Far West that day and found sanctuary at the home of Dr. William E. McLellin in nearby Richmond, county seat of Ray County, Missouri. One of the expelled Mormons, Lyman E. Johnson, was the nephew of Dr. McLellin's wife. Other less prominent dissidents stayed on in Far West, however ceasing all criticism of church authorities until eventually one by
one, "the suspected and disaffected slipped out of Far West" to the safety of the Gentile neighbors.

Many historians note that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon's expulsion of the prominent dissidents eventually proved to be short sighted and self-defeating; for without the tempering voice of opposition, the remaining Latter Day Saints "interpreted the prophecies of Joseph Smith literally and recklessly." The zealots who remained in Far West announced "that the great day of Armageddon was at hand, and that if the Gentiles resisted the ordinances of God, blood would flow even to the horses bridle-bits." Sidney Rigdon warned the Gentiles of Caldwell and neighboring counties "that they had better sell out and leave, for the Lord was "about to clean up his threshing floor and make a way for the Saints", and by doing so he encouraged the religious fanatics in Far West to act out to do the bidding of the First Presidency.(18)

The storm clouds of war came boiling to a head on the 4th of July 1838, when the Latter Day Saints of Caldwell County and other outlying Mormon settlements gathered in Far West. They came by the thousands to witness the laying of the corner stone of the Far West temple. Joseph Smith allowed Sidney Rigdon to give the dedicatory address and Rigdon, at this the solemnest of occasion, uttered the first mention of "extermination" in what soon became the Missouri Mormon War.

The Mormon church's First Counselor, instead of preparing an address suited for the reverent occasion, mesmerized the Latter Day Saints by fuming against his critics, and pronouncing that a war of extermination was soon to commence upon the enemies of the Saints. Rigdon exhorted, "We take God to witness and 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. The man or the set of men who attempt it, do at the expense of their lives; and the mob that comes on us to disturb us, there 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 war to their own houses, and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed."(19)

Rigdon may have been using the 19^th Century the meaning of the word extermination which did not imply mass murder but rather the removal of a people by force. However Rigdon’s fiery rhetoric did imply the concept of modern warfare where civilian populations were to be targeted. (20) The 4th of July extermination sermon was the first public indication that the use of force would be used to prevent "apostates" and "gentiles" from vexing the Mormon Kingdom. 

Sidney Rigdon's call for a "war of extermination" against apostates and the Missouri Gentiles preceded Missouri Governor Liliburn W. Boggs' own infamous the "Extermination Order" by nearly four months. Mormon histories often portray the Latter Day Saints as innocent victims of religious persecution during the Missouri Conflict of 1838-1839. They point to Bogg's official response to the Mormon threat of civil war as evidence however rarely is mentioned the church's own "extermination order".

Joseph Smith approved of his counselor's belligerent message and leapt to his feet. He led the assembled Saints at Far West in a rousing shout of "Hosanna and Amen."(21) The Latter Day Saints having been worked into frenzy by Rigdon's oration and by Smith's charismatic charm, felt as if they "could successfully resist the world." (22) Later on the same occasion, church leaders conducted a review of the proud Mormon Militia as it paraded through the streets of Far West. The festive mood of the grand occassion was only dampened when lightning struck the town's flag pole.

That Joseph Smith supported his counselor's 4th of July address cannot be disputed. Smith even had the church's own publication, "The Elder's Journal,"(23) print the entire speech "and encouraged all church members to purchase a copy and read it." The official History of the Church, however, omits details of the speech which  was published in the August 1838 The Elders' Journal.

Not all Latter Day Saints agreed with Sidney Rigdon's views. The Danite General Jared Carter(24) foolishly complained to Joseph Smith of the speech's excesses and was demoted in rank. Danite Reed Peck wrote of this incident. "In the forepart of July 1838 the brother of Gideon, or Jared Carter, Captain General 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.(25)

Another Danite, Demick B. Huntington, remembered that Jared Carter almost loss more than his rank for the criticism of Rigdon, which amounted to treason in the Mormon encampment. Huntington claimed that Carter "came within a fingers point of losing his head."

Sidney Rigdon was never criticized for his extermination speech by the church's rank and file until the counselor had fallen from "grace". In 1846, Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde, he himself once an apostate in 1838 and one of the objects of Sidney Rigdon's fulmination, vilified the first counselor by saying that Rigdon was the "cause of our troubles in Missouri".  Forgotten by Hyde was the fact that Joseph Smith had sanctioned all of Rigdon's speeches.

Within days of the Independence Day Sermon, on July 8, Joseph Smith received a revelation that the Latter Day Saints needed to "consecrate" all their surplus property to his church, known today as the law of tithing, in order "to build the house of the Lord, to lay the foundation of Zion," and pay off the First Presidency's debts. (26) Church members however were reluctant to part with their property, therefore Sidney Rigdon prophesized that if the reticent Saints did not voluntarily part with a surplus of their property they would eventually be compelled to "consecrate" all of what they had to the church.(27)

A Danite Commander, Dr. Sampson Avard, was sent to advise the Latter Day Saints to comply and follow the First Presidency's counsel in the matter. Dr. Avard informed Bishop John Corrill and Reed Peck that "all persons who attempt to deceive and retain property that should be given up will meet the fate of Ananias and Saphira", who were killed by Saint Peter according to Joseph Smith's interpretation of Biblical events.(28)

By the end of July 1838 rumors of a secret Mormon militia coercing  church members to turn their property over to the Latter Day Saints Church gave the Gentiles of Missouri reasons to fear being subjected to Joseph Smith's theocratic leadership. Additionally fleeing dissidents spread word of increasing Mormon militancy fanning the fires of animosity towards the Latter Day Saints. among the Gentiles.  When news of the content of Rigdon's Sermon reached the Gentile communities "great alarm spread through much of northern Missouri. Rumors that Gentiles were to be "cut off" and their lands appropriated for the inheritance of Latter Day Saints were increasingly recounted in frontier newspapers. By late summer, the strain between Mormon and Gentile neighbors increased to a point where conflict was inevitable.

Mormon militancy took a new direction after the threat of internal Mormon dissention was largely removed in July when the Far West dissidents scattered. The Sons of Dan were evolving by late summer 1838 into a secret paramilitary force to subject non-believers to the will of the first presidency.

As Caldwell County, Missouri began to fill up with Mormon converts, Joseph Smith directed the colonists to spread out into neighboring counties. This alarmed the Gentile populations fearful of Mormon domination. In Daviess County, just to the north of Caldwell, the Latter Day Saint town of "Adam Ondi Ahmen" rivaled the county seat of Gallatin in population.

Adam Ondi Ahmen, according to Joseph Smith was a sacred location in his belief that Missouri was the original location of the Garden of Eden. The town attracted hundreds of Latter Day Saints and it was not long before older settlers of Daviess County felt that the religious fanatics new comers would displace them. Joseph Smith fanned these fears in early August by holding a church conference at Adam Ondi Ahmen where a military force called the ‘Host of Israel’ was publicly organized. The size of "the number of armed men …[being] between three and four hundred". (29) All Mormon males, of eighteen years and over, were required to participate and according to John D. Lee: "Every man obeyed the call" (30)

In attendance at Adam Ondi Ahmen were two dissident Mormon Apostle, Thomas Marsh and Orson Hyde. According to Marsh and Hyde, Joseph Smith had organized the Army of Israel as well as his secret assassination corps, the Sons of Dan, in order to accomplish his aim of world domination. Marsh and Hyde would later swear in an affidavit that Joseph Smith had at this time announced his intentions to wage war against the Gentiles. These dissidents wrote: "The plan of said Smith, the Prophet, is [not only] to take this state; [but]…professes to intend to take [also] the United States and ultimately the whole world."(31) Marsh and Hyde after witnessing the formal formation of Joseph Smith’s army went directly to Henry Jacob, Justice of the Peace for Ray County and warned that the Saints "have among them a company considered true Mormons, called the Danites, who have taken an oath to support the heads of the Church in all things that they say or do, whether right or wrong. (32)

The Apostles also let the Justice of the Peace know that not all Mormons supported Joseph Smith in his quest of worldwide conquest. They stated: "Many, however, of this [Danite] band are much dissatisfied with this oath (to support Smith right or wrong), as being against moral and religious principles…"

Mormon Bishop John Corrill, one of those who found the oath morally repugnant and later left the church, testified, "I was afterwards invited to one of these [Danite] meetings where an oath … was administered. At the second or last meeting I attended, the Presidency (to wit, Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon) was present. The Presidency pronounced blessings upon each member of the society. Smith threatened at this meeting to be a second Mahomet [Mohammed]."(33)

Thomas B. Marsh, a former President of the Twelve Mormon Apostles, collaborated Bishop Corrill's allegations of Joseph Smith's vision of being a second Mohammed and using the Sons of Dan to fulfill this purpose. He testified: "I heard the Prophet say: `that he would yet tread down his enemies and walk over their dead bodies and that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, and that if he was not let alone he would be a second Mahomet to this generation."(34) Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde also supported Marsh's statements by testifying that he knew most of the allegations to be true.

With Joseph Smith massing a holy army, distrust and discord within and without the Latter Day Saint Church set the stage for the final confrontation between nearly 15,000 Missouri Mormons and the Gentiles. The spark that seemly ignited the conflagration occurred in Daviess County three days after the formal organizing of the Mormon Army. On August 6, 1838, general county elections were being held at the county seat of Gallatin where the Gentiles, fearful that if the Latter Day Saints were allowed to vote, "the Mormons would vote as a block and elect Mormon officials" who then would `rule the county".

The Gentiles were resolute that they would not live under the tyranny of a theocratic administration. However the Sons of Dan assembled in Daviess County to ensure that Mormons were allowed to vote and violence exploded when a Gentile struck a Danite who then flashed the Danite sign of distress. The Sons of Dan fought like furies and drove off the Gentiles after a brief skirmish.

When Joseph Smith and Colonel Lyman Wight,(35) head of the Caldwell Mormon Militia, heard of the confrontation in Daviess County and that Mormons had been attacked there, they went and sought out Adam Black, a local Justice of the Peace. The Mormon leader demanded that Judge Black sign a bond to secure that the Gentiles would keep the peace. Colonel Lyman Wight boldly told Judge Black that they were going to visit every civil and military officer in the county and those who would not sign a bond securing the peace, "would be shot down."(36)

Judge Black however refuse to be coerced into signing the writ until Dr. Sampson Avard arrived with an army of nearly one hundred Danites. Judge Black was again ordered to sign the bond after having been warned: "Refuse and you'll be cut down." The plucky judge however wrote out his own bond notice and told Joseph Smith that he better "damn well take it or leave it." Judge Black's own bond stated: "I, Adam Black, a Justice of the Peace of Daviess County, do hereby certify to the people, called Mormon, that he is bound to support the Constitution of the State, and of the United States, and he is not attached to any mob, nor will attach himself to any such people, and so long as they will not molest me, I will not molest them. This is the 8th day of August, 1838"(37)

After the Mormon militia left with their coerced certificate, Judge Black rode to another circuit judge of the county and obtained a writ for the arrest of Smith and Wight. Judge Black charged in the complaint that the Mormon leaders had coerced him by threats of violence into signing the agreement. Judge Black affadavit read: "A hundred and fifty-four armed men had surrounded his house and family, and threatened with instant death if he did not sign a certain instrument of writing binding himself as the Justice of the Peace for said county of Daviess, not to molest the people called Mormons; and threatened the lives of myself and other individuals, and did say they intended to make every citizen sign such obligation, and further said they intended to have satisfaction for abuse they received on the Monday previous and they would not submit to the laws."(38)

The Judge's complaint also accused Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight of directing a large body of armed men in Daviess County, "whose movements were of a highly insurrectionary character…to take vengeance for some injuries, or imaginary injuries done to their friends, and to intimidate and drive from the county all the old citizens and possess themselves of their lands or to force such as do not leave to come into their measures and submit to their dictation." (39)

Rumors of an armed Mormon insurrection had Missouri Gentiles from eleven surrounding counties organizing to arrest Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight by force, if necessary, feeling certain that the Mormon leaders would resist an arrest warrant. When Jackson County attorney, Liliburn W. Boggs, now governor of Missouri, was apprised of the situation, he immediately authorized four hundred mounted Missouri militiamen to arrest the Mormon lawbreakers. This troop was under the command of D. R. Atchison, Major General of the 3rd Division Missouri's state militia.

Governor Boggs, fearing a repeat of the Jackson County civil war, gave General Atchison cart blanc "to act where wanted in Caldwell, Daviess, and Carroll Counties." When confronted with the superior forces of General Atchison, Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight wisely surrendered and agreed to be brought before Judge Austin A. King of Ray County. Smith and Wight, after securing bail, were released with the Gentiles complaining to the state authorities that the writs could not have been served on the Mormons leaders without military assistance.

Hard feelings between the Saints and Gentiles over the arrest of Smith and Wight, and the scuffle at Gallatin were escalating tension on both sides. Gentiles were increasingly angry over the looting of their livestock and property by Latter Day Saints who were taught by Smith’s revelations that Gentile goods were a part of their "inheritance" for being a member of the Kingdom of God.

During the month of August in Daviess County, Mormon Danites slaughtered between "100 and 200 hogs and a number of cattle, took a number of honey stands, and at the same time destroyed several fields of corn" of their Gentile neighbors.(40) Innocent Mormons, in turn, were being beaten for the outrages committed by the Sons of Dan and had their own property robbed in retaliation. Incivility on both sides of the conflict escalated quickly to the point where compromise and reason was "inevitably and irretrievable lost"

The Second Missouri Gentile and Mormon Civil War officially erupted in September 1838 when Joseph Smith sent a "raiding party" to intercept a shipment of guns and ammunition intended for the Missouri militia. Joseph Smith wrote, "This was a glorious day indeed. The plans of the mob were frustrated in losing their guns, and all their efforts appear to be blasted."(41)

The Danite's actions, however, indicated to an alarmed Liliburn Boggs that the Mormons were indeed intent to mount an insurrection in northern Missouri. The governor issued an executive order, "declaring a state of insurrection" in Daviess and Caldwell counties. General Atchison, however, reporting to the governor from the scene of the conflict, stated that he felt that his troops were not required to further "disperse combatants on either side" and disbanded all troops under his command. The governor however chose to ignore his field commander's advise and sent General Samuel D. Lucas of the Fourth Division to Daviess County with an additional four hundred mounted militia men, precipitating a larger scaled civil war. Governor Boggs was ready to place nearly one thousand Missourians in the field to put down any Mormon insurrection. By October of 1838 tensions were so high that both sides were ready to torch the countryside.

With General Atchinson's militia disbanded, the  Host of Israel returned to Gallatin, the Gentile county seat of Daviess. Stores were plundered after whih the entire town was put to the torch and burned including all the county records.

About the same time as Gallatin was being torched, the Gentile village of Millport, at the time containing ten dwellings, three stores, a blacksmith shop and a gristmill, and the village of Grindstone Fork were also plundered by the Mormon militia and partially burned. The intent was to drive the Gentile families from Daviess County.  The Mormon militia was poised to strike fear into the hearts of the Gentiles in their own villages.

Danite Captains Lyman Wight, David W. Patten, and Seymour Brunson returned to Far West with wagonloads of stolen property plundered from the Gentiles. However the sight was so offensive that several disgusted Saints "apostatized" and secreted their families at night away from the Mormon stronghold. Among the "defectors" were two Mormon Apostles, Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde. The "apostles" fled to Richmond, in neighboring Ray County and informed authorities of the treason being hatched in Far West.

Marsh signed an affidavit that stated: "Joseph Smith, the prophet, had preached, in which he said, that all the Mormons, who refuse to take up arms, if necessary in difficulties with the citizens, should be shot or put to death…I thought it most prudent to go… a company of about eight of the Mormons, commanded by a man fictitiously named Capt. Fearnaught [David W. Patten] marched to Gallatin. They returned and said they had run off from Gallatin twenty or thirty men, and had taken Gallatin, had taken one prisoner, and another had joined the company. I afterwards learned from the Mormons they had burnt Gallatin, and that it was done by the aforesaid company that marched there…They have among them a company consisting of all that are considered true Mormons, called Danites, who have taken oaths to support the heads of the church in all things that they say or do, whether right or wrong… 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 and destroying, and that if the people of Buncombe came to do mischief upon the people of Caldwell, and committed depredation upon the Mormons, they were to burn Buncombe; and if the people of Clay and Ray made any movement against them, this Destroying Company were to burn Liberty and Richmond…they pass a decree that no Mormon dissenter should leave Caldwell county alive…Avard proposed to start a pestilence among the Gentiles…by poisoning their corn, fruit, &c., and saying it was the work of the Lord….The plan of said Smith, the prophet, is to take this state, and he professes to his people to intend taking the United States, and ultimately the whole world…I have heard the prophet say that he should yet tread down his enemies, and walk over their dead bodies; that if he was not let alone he would be a second Mahomet to this generation, and that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean; like Mohamet, whose motto, in treating for peace, was `the Alcoran [Koran], or the Sword' so should it be eventually with us, `Joseph Smith or the Sword'"(42)

Sidney Rigdon upon learning of the desertion and betrayal of former members of the Quorum of Twelve apostles bristled. W. W. Phelps later would testify that Mormon Apostle David W. Patton heard Sidney Rigdon say: "If any man attempted to move out of the(Caldwell) county, any man seeing him attempt to pack his goods, should kill him and haul him aside into the bush and that all the burial he should have should be a Turkey Buzzard's guts."(43)

In retaliation for the destruction of Gallatin and Millport, Missouri Gentiles descended on the Mormon settlement of Dewitt in neighboring Carroll County. The town was under siege for ten days before the Mormons there surrendered. The Saints were permitted to salvage their goods and then told to evacuate the town, which was burned, to the ground to prevent the Mormons from returning.

Gentile forces also raided Adam Ondi Ahmen and whipped Mormon men there who were reported to have belonged to the Danite Band. By the middle of the month the town was put to the torch, and the refugees fled to Far West. The angry Missourian Gentiles swore, "to drive the Mormons from Daviess to Caldwell and from Caldwell to hell."(44)

The Latter Day Saints now feeling the full fury of the Missourian's wrath after the destruction of Gallatin, appealed to General Atchison for relief from Missouri mobs seeking retribution. However General Atchison, "unable to quell the passion to drive the Mormons from Daviess County" suggested that they appeal to Governor Boggs for aid. The governor refused any redress stating that as the Saints had brought the war upon themselves, they must fight their own battles, and not look to him for help

.

Among the Missouri Militia were a few rogue officers, most noticeably Captain Cornelius Gilliam, a leader of a band of brigand Missourians, who burned the houses of Mormons in Daviess County simply in order to loot them.

General Alexander Doniphan, one of the few Gentile officers sympathetic to the suffering of the Latter Day Saints, advised the Mormons to mobile their county militia and march to Daviess County to defend the Saints there against Gilliam's onslaught. A General Parks also ordered the Mormon Militia to Daviess County to disperse the brigand forces under Captain Gillam. The Missourians under the command of Gilliam were finally defeated but while scattering, they spread the news that Mormons themselves were killing people and burning property.

In late October 1838 one of the Saints' most fearsome adversary, a Methodist preacher named Samuel Bogart, attacked Mormons, for their theology as much as for the criminal actions of their leaders. Bogart, as a captain in the Missouri militia, had captured some Danites accused of stealing from Gentile farms in Ray County and held them prisoners at his camp near Crooked River. Soon afterward the Mormon Militia having returned to Caldwell County from the conflict with Captain Gillam, were informed by Mormon spies that Bogart was plundering and burning Mormon settlements in Ray County. The Mormon militia also learned that Bogart was intent on joining forces with Captain Gillam "to shower Far West with thunder and lightning".

Unlike when state militia officers authorized and commanded the Mormon Militia to enter Daviess County, the armed Saints entered Ray County on their own initiative. There Joseph Smith ordered Danite General Elias Higbee to direct Mormon Apostle David W. Patten, "Captain Fearnaught", to attack Captain Bogart's command and retake the Danite prisoners. More than sixty Danites (45) "saddled up" and followed the Mormon Apostle to the river arriving before dawn on the morning of October 25th.

Gentile sentries managed to surprise the invading Danites, killing one of the attackers, which led Captain Fearnaught to charge Bogart’s me with the battle cry of "The Sword of God and Gideon". During the heated battle at Crooked River the Mormon Apostle David Patten was fatally wounded. Neverthe less the Mormons pressed on slashing at the enemy. Lorenzo D. Young, Brigham Young's brother, wrote of the slaughter, "as my enemy fell, his sword dropped from his grasp; I seized it and dealt him three desperate blows to the neck."(46) Mormon Apostle Parley P. Pratt also claimed to have killed a militiaman and severely wounding another, named Samuel Tarwater. Tarwater, who was badly wounded from Pratt weapon, was felled upon by the Danites who, "hacked him almost to pieces with their knives and swords. One cheek was cut off and his jaw broken, most of his lower teeth knocked out, a rib broken and at least twenty flesh wounds on his body"

Tarwater, who was left for dead, recovered and "lived to a good old age."(47) When news of the vicious battering of Tarwater, defenseless from already being wounded, was spread about, it enflamed many of his neighbors and friends who vowed to "cruelly treat all the Mormons they captured," in same manner." In fact the war seemed to have been conducted on both sides with "great barbarity."(48)

The death of the Mormon Apostle "Captain Fearnaught on the battle field forced Charles C. Rich to assume command. Rich broke the Missouri Militia's ranks and forced Bogart's men to flee across the river. The Mormon "victory" at Crooked River however claimed the lives of Patterson O'Bannion, Gideon Carter, and David W. Patten.

The death of the seemly invincible "Captain Fearnaught" was a blow to the morale of the Latter Day Saints at Far West, probably none so much as Joseph Smith's. Danite John D. Lee wrote of the affect Patten's death had in the Mormon camp. "I had considered that I was bullet proof, that no Gentile ball could ever harm me, or any Saint, and I had believed that a Danite could not be killed by Gentile hands. . . I thought one Danite could chase a thousand Gentiles, and two could put ten thousand to flight. Alas! My dreams of security was over."(49)

Upon hear the news of the Mormon victory at the Battle of Crooked River, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, faced with an escalating civil war between Mormon and Gentile Missourians, acted in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Missouri militia, and signed a military order directing that the Joseph Smith and his Latter Day Saints be "exterminated,"; meaning driven from the state.(50) Governor Boggs, signed the executive order on October 27, 1838, two days after the Battle of Crooked River.

As with Sidney Rigdon’s use of the word exterminate at the dedication of the Far West Temple, to best understand Bogg's military extermination order in its historical context, one must look at the meaning of the word extermination in the dictionaries from the 1820's. Then the more common usage of the noun "extermination" implied "to remove from within one's border," not wholesale murder. Sidney Rigdon and Liliburn Boggs both used the word extermination most certainly to mean the forceful removal of unwanted citizens rather than full scale genocide.

The justification Governor Bogg's used for issuing such an executive order was that the Mormons were in "open and avowed defiance of the laws," and had "made war upon the people of this State." Boggs therefore concluded that "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."(51) Governor Bogg's rash measure however was based on exaggerated field reports that he "totally trusted …that came to him in Jefferson City." Relying heavily on these partisan reports Governor Boggs issued his infamous proclamation when he should have investigated the conflict himself by going to the field of action.

As Governor Boggs was ordering the state Militia to remove Mormons from the state of Missouri, leading Saints, desperate to avoid the impending catastrophe brought upon by Joseph Smith’s desire to create a religious empire in the western United States, deserted him and swore out affidavits against the willful incitement of Smith of his people to crimes against non believers. Thomas Marsh, the first President of the Mormon Twelve Apostles, and Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde, imperiled their lives when they signed affidavits against Smith.(52)

Within three days of Governor Bogg's executive order, an act of incomprehensible atrocity occurred against male members of the Latter Day Saint Church at Haun’s Mill in Caldwell County. On October 30th 1838, three companies of Missouri Militia men from neighboring Livingston County, under the command of Colonel Thomas Jennings, sheriff of Livingston attacked the Haun's Mill settlement and slaughtered nearly 17 Mormon men and boys. "One Mormon named Isaac Laney,(53) fled toward the blacksmith shop. He was caught in a shower of lead which pierced his body through and through, but miraculously he survived the onslaught."(54) A young 10 year old Mormon named Sardius Smith was said to have begged for his life from the militiaman who literally blew off the boy's skull.(55)

Some Mormons argue that the Haun's Mill Massacre was a direct result of carrying out Bogg's extermination act, however this is simply not true. The Haun's Mill Massacre was the result of local vengeance due to the horrible mutilation committed upon Samuel Tarwater by Danites, as well as other crimes committed by the Latter Day Saints under the belief that "Milking the Gentile" was no crime in the sight of God. The anti-Mormons were, however, inexcusably and inhumanly brutal in taking out their revenge for the Tarwater outrage on the seventeen Mormon men and boys who were shot and hacked to death at Haun's Mill.(56)

As Jennings' company was massacring Mormons at Haun’s Mill, General John B. Clark with a Missouri militia division marched to Ray County on Governor Boggs' orders to attempt to subdue the Mormon insurrection there. However before General Clark could reach Ray County, Governor Bogg's edict reached General Samuel D. Lucas, who was encamped outside of Far West. At dawn 31 October 1838, after reading the proclamation, General Lucas stated that he was "ready to raze the settlement if the Mormons offered the least resistance." The Missouri
general demanded a meeting with Far West's military commanders and church representatives, where he presented them a copy of Boggs' executive order. Reed Peck was one of the delegates selected by Joseph Smith to meet General Lucas said he was instructed to "beg like a dog for peace."(57)

Under a flag of true, the Mormon delegation were told by Lucas that Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley Pratt and other church leaders were to give themselves up as "hostages" while the treaty negotiations were on the way. The church leaders agreed to the stipulations, however Joseph Smith "later denied that he had ever surrendered, claiming his capture was an act of treachery perpetrated by Danite Colonel George M. Hinkle, who was the ranking Mormon officer at Far West." (58)

Joseph Smith was charged with high treason and was ordered to be executed by the officers of the Missouri Militia on 2 November 1838. However Smith's life was spared due to the intervention of General Doniphan who had. Joseph Smith and his cohorts were taken from Far West in chains so he could be tried for treason.  Smith  was imprisoned for the next five months in various jails across the state of Missouri for the crime of inciting an insurrection against the state of Missouri.

After church leaders were arrested, the Missouri State Militia discovered in Far West the "loot" accumulated by the Danites from "Milking the Gentiles" and redistributed it as best as they could. Danite Oliver B. Huntington scornfully described the redistribution of the treasure in his journal: "we came to see them (the Gentiles) pick out personal property from the confused mass that filled and surrounded the plunder house, for every man thought the property he lost was the best, or at least everyone nearly took and claimed the best he saw, that was of the kind he had; so that the poorest property was left to them that came last.."(59)

John D. Lee described the bitter defeat of the Saints in Far West stating: "We were to give all of our real estate, and to give a bill of sale of all our personal property, to pay the expenses of the war that had been inaugurated against us; that the committee of twelve should be appointed, one from Far West and one for Adam-on-Diamond, who were to be the sole judges of what would be necessary to remove each family out of the State, and all of the Mormons were to leave Missouri by the first of April A.D. 1839, and all the rest of the property of the Mormons was to be taken by the Missouri troops to pay the expenses of the war. When the committee examined into the affairs and made the assignment of property that the Mormons were to retain, a pass would be given by the committee to each person as an evidence that he had gone through the investigation both as to his conduct and property. The prisoners at Far West were to be retained and not allowed to return home until the committee had reported and given the certificate that all charges had been met and satisfied."
(60)

Leaderless the Latter Day Saints were "exterminated" or expelled from the state of Missouri pursuant to their participation in the insurrection and their "purloining from the Gentile citizens of Missouri". Homeless during the winter of 1839 hundreds died as they waited for instructions from imprisoned leaders as to where they were to resettle. Governor Boggs' extermination order was carried out by a combination of Missouri militia troops and vengeful Gentile and Apostate vigilantes. The extermination directive culminated in the forcible removal from Missouri of virtually all members of Joseph Smith's church during the winter and early spring of 1838-1839. Between 12,000 and 14,000 Mormon settlers left the state for Illinois under the most trying of circumstances while Smith, whom the Gentiles viewed as the perpetrator of the suffering of the Saints, languished in Missouri Jail cells along with Parley P. Pratt, Sidney Rigdon, and others.

On 12 April 1839 Joseph Smith and his cohorts were returned to the rebuilt village of Gallatin, Missouri where they were charged before a Grand Jury with "murder, treason, burglary, arson, larceny, theft, and stealing." Three days later Joseph Smith and his indicted compatriots escaped from Missouri after bribing Sheriff William Morgan, who after news of his part in the escape of the Mormon prophet was found out, was ran out of town on a rail.  A few weeks later,  a Latter Day Saint named Ebenezer Robinson stated  he saw the William Morgan  in Quincy, Illinois talking to Joseph Smith who was returning the horse that the Sheriff had provided in the get away."(61)

Before leaving the state that the LDS Church claims is the land of the Garden of Eden, Mormon legend claims that Joseph Smith placed a curse on the state,(62) before fleeing to Illinois where he tried to build another Mormon Kingdom of God. Within a few years, Illinois would too soon regret their grand gesture of enerosity towards Joseph Smith and his Latter Day Saints.

As for the Danites, Mormon apologists today maintain that the "Sons of Dan" were a short-lived, secretive band of rogue Mormons organized by the sinister Dr. Sampson Avard, unbeknown to Joseph Smith. These Danites took their blood oaths to support each other and kill the enemies of the First Presidency very seriously many feeling they had never been released from what they believed were sacred covenants. After the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, many of the men who had taken the Danite Oath to follow the orders of the First Presidency ended up on the payroll of Nauvoo’s police. Many of these men followed the Quorum of Twelve to Utah Territory where Brigham Young mentions the existence of them in Utah as late as 1857. John D. Lee and William A. Hickman both continued to refer to themselves as members of the secret society well into the Utah period now known as Destroying Angels. Porter Rockwell, Howard Egan, William Kimball, and Ephraim Hanks were all referred to in Utah as "Destroying Angels". Many Saints in Utah are said to have gone to their graves true to the Danite oaths sworn to in Missouri.

A former editor of the Deseret News, Thomas Stenhouse wrote:"The intelligent Mormon knows to-day(1871)that though there may be no bona fide organization called the Danites, there have been in church fellowship, from the days of Avard up to the present, men who have done deeds charged to the Danites, ready to execute the dirtiest and most diabolical plans ever human or demoniac vindictiveness could conceive."(63)

Footnotes:
1.James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1976), p 121 They give the date of the Salt Sermon as June 19.

2.Harold Schindler, Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder, Revised Second Edition (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1983), p 25 (All believing Mormon can not bring themselves to ever criticize Joseph Smith or his motives, however as an apostate Sidney Rigdon has always been fair game)

3.Ibid pp 26-27

4.Ibid p. 27

5.Jedediah Morgan Grant, A Collection of Facts Relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon in the States of Ohio, Missouri,Illinois and Pennsylvania. Bountiful, Utah: Restoration Research, 1984 - reprint of 1844 Philadelphia, Pa. edition, p 3

6. Brigham Henry Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol.1 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1965), p 438. (Roberts called the section of the chapter in which these comments were recorded, "The Error of the Salt Sermon." It is not clear what in the Salt Sermon Elder Roberts considered to be an error, however, its doctrine or its results. Roberts also had a footnote at the end of the material quoted here and gave his sources as J. M. Grant's pamphlet as well as Bishop John Corrill's history.)

7.Reed Peck, Mormons So Called. Quincy, Adams County, Ill September 18, 1839 MS pp 24-25

8. The city of Vicksburg in Mississippi drew the attention of the nation when residents executed five gamblers by hanging them in 1835. Afterwards in every large town, at every crossroads settlement along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, vigilantes assisted or took over the authority of the police. They called themselves Rangers, Regulators, Committees of Safety, and, when necessary, were savage in their methods of driving out undesirables. Signs in public squares ordered gamblers to leave; citizen groups met harried sporting men at town limits and told them to move on. Mobs in St. Louis, Nashville, Louisville, and Memphis hunted them.

9. Mormon apologists have tried to dispute that the Salt Sermon had ever occurred; that enemies of the church had made up false allegations to embarrass the church. Witnesses in support of the Salt Sermon, who either by written or given as oral testimony under oath include: Jedediah M. Grant in his Collection of Facts, (1844); John Cook Bennett, in History of the Saints (1842); William Harris in Mormonism Portrayed (1841); George Montgomery West (1841); Practical
Christian and Church Chronicle (1841); John Corrill in his Brief History (1838); Reed Peck both in his 1839 manuscript and, earlier still, in his testimony at the Preliminary Hearing of the case against Joseph Smith, before Judge Austin A. King in November of 1838; John Whitmer's History; John Cleminson in that same Preliminary Hearing in November 1838; and Danite Brigadier General Sampson Avard, also in the Preliminary Hearing. In addition, there is the account of the Salt Sermon by George W. Robinson, in "The Scriptory Book of Joseph Smith Jr." written in either July or August of 1838, just a month or two after the event.

10. Schindler p 27

11. Ibid p 28

12. The prominent dissidents to whom the letter was directed were Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, W.W. Phelps, and Lyman E. Johnson. Among these dissidents were several of the original "witnesses" to the Book of Mormon. The letter read in part: "There are no threats from you-no fear of losing our lives by you, or by anything you can say or do, will restrain us; for out of the county you shall go and no power shall save you…. We have solemnly warned you, and that in the most determined manner, that if
you did not cease that course of wanton abuse of the citizens of this county, that vengeance would overtake you sooner or later, and that when it did come it would be as furious as the mountain torrent, and as terrible as the beating tempest; …there is but one decree for you, which is depart or a more fatal calamity shall befall you. "

13. Documents Containing the Correspondence, Orders, etc., in Relation to the Disturbances With the Mormons; and Evidence Given Before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Court-House in Richmond, In a Criminal Court of Inquiry, Begun November 12, 1838, On the Trial of Joseph Smith, Jr. And Others, for High Treason, and Other Crimes Against the State. (Published by order of the General Assembly, Fayette, Missouri 1841 Correspondence Orders, etc. pp 103-6

14. Ibid

15. Schindler p 28

16. Correspondence, Orders, Etc. Testimony of John Whitmer pp 103-6

17. David Whitmer, Address to All Believers in Christ: By a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Richmond, Mo 1887 p 27

18. Schindler p 30

19. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah. San Francisco, Ca. 1890 p 120

20. Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary Description: EXTERM'INATE, v.t. [L. extermino; ex and terminus, limit.] Literally, to drive from within the limits or borders. Hence, 1. To destroy utterly; to drive away; to extirpate; as, to exterminate a colony, a tribe or a nation; to exterminate inhabitants or a race of men. 2. To eradicate; to root out; to extirpate; as, to exterminate error, heresy, infidelity or atheism; to exterminate vice. 3. To root out, as plants; to extirpate; as, to exterminate weeds. 4. In algebra, to take away; as, to exterminate surds or unknown quantities.) Noah Webster used the Bible as the foundation for his definitions.

21. Joseph Smith, History of the Church Vol. II, p 165

22. John D. Lee Mormonism Unveiled; Including the Remarkable Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop John D. Lee 1877 St. Louis p 63 23. Elders' Journal vol.1 no.4, (August 1838), 60–61.

24. Schindler p 30 (Jared Carter, commander of the Danites was called "The terrible brother of Gideon" because it was known that he had a brother named Gideon )

25. Peck pp. 47-49

26. Doctrine & Covenants Section 119

27. John D. Lee p 61

28. Peck p. 50-51 The moral of this story was that people should be more than willing to sacrifice their worldly possessions so that others might have the needs of everyday life. Ananias and Saphira, however, were trying to gain respect and glory for themselves while trying to hold back on the sacrifice. BOOK OF ACTS Chapter 5 Verses 1-11

29. Thomas B.H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints," New York, 1873 p 75

30. John D. Lee p 57 (While today Mormons take great pain to delineate between the Host of Israel and the Sons of Dan, in 1838 they did not. The Stake President of Adam Ondi Ahmen, John Smith, Joseph's uncle, wrote that on August 3, 1838, "the Danites met the third time in Adam on diahman since the 22 July.")

31. U.S. Senate Document 189 26th Congress, 2nd Session, 1840 p 20

32. Testimony of Thomas Marsh Sworn in Ray County Richmond 24 Oct 1838 Henry Jacob JP

33. Correspondence Testimony of John Corrill

34. Ibid Testimony of Thomas B. Marsh

35. Stenhouse p 86-7 "Lyman Wight seems to have possessed all the characteristics of a religious "jay-hawker"- a sort of mixture of fanatic and "border ruffian' He was doubtless the inspiring deity of Joseph's revelation that called into existence Zion's Camp and "the Lord's Armies. He was rightly designated "the Wild Ram of the Mountain"

36. Schindler p 42)

37. History of the Church Vol. III pp 59-60

38. Stenhouse p 82

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid pp 89-90

41. Schindler p 43

42. Thomas Marsh Correspondence pp 57-59

43. Millennium Star, Vol. 14, page 488

44. Petition of the Mormons to Congress, 21 December 1840 House Document No. 22 26th Congress, 2nd Session p 81.

45. Quinn Hierarchy pp 480-486 (Among the combatants were David W. Patten, Parley P. Pratt, George Hinkle, Charles Rich, Abraham Hodges, William Hodges, Patterson O'Bannion, Lorenzo Dow Young, Robert B. Thompson, Daniel Avery, Caleb Baldwin, Ethan Barlows, Titus Billings, William B. Bosley, Daniel Carn, Gideon H. Carter, Eli Chase, John Darwin Chase, Benjamin Clapp, Isaac Decker, James Dunn, James Durfee, James Emmett, King Follette, Freeburn H. Gardner, Morgan L. Gardner, Jacob Gates, Luman Gibbs, Stphen H. Goddard, George D. Grant, Addison Green, John P. Green, James M. Henderson, James Hendricks, Isaac Higbee, Curtis Hodge Sr., Joseph Holbrook, Jefferson Hunt, David Judah, Amasa M. Lyman, Arthur Millikin, Ebenezer Page, David Petigrew, Morris  Phelps, Nathan Pinkham, Phineas Richards, Alanson Ripley, James H. Rollins, William S. Seeley, Norman Shearer, Elias Smith, Samuel H. Smith, Hosea Stout, Nathan Tanner, Sidney Tanner, Ferdinand Van Dyke, Oliver Weatherby Ezra G. Williams, Stephen Winchester, Solomon Wixom, Gad Yale, and Phineas H. Young)

46. Biography of Lorenzo Dow Young, edited by J. Cecil Alter Utah Historical Quarterly Vol. XIV (1946) pp 54-55

47. John H. Beadle, Correspondence Tribune. Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, Sept. 28th, 1875

48. Ibid

49. John D. Lee pp 73-75

50. See footnote 20

51. Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 1, Extermination Order by Dale A. Whitman

52. Affidavit of Thomas B. Marsh 24 October 1838

53. Laney and his son moved to Utah with the Brigham Young faction and colonized in Cedar City. They were in Southern Utah at the time of the Mountain Meadow Massacre and may have rekindled memories of the Haun Mill Massacre justifying the slaughter of the Baker-Fancher Party

54. Schindler p 51

55. Quinn Hierarchy p 629

56.Stenhouse p. 88 (Joseph Smith blamed the victims of the massacre for their own destruction. He rebuked the massacre victims saying that "the word of the Lord" had commanded the Saints to gather into the cities some months before, but they had been slow to obey. "This is very characteristic of the Mormon Prophets. The people are always in the wrong and lacking faith. In this manner, Brigham Young is still worse than  Joseph Smith. When any of his schemes failed and many have failed, the responsibility is always saddled upon the people "had they hearkened to counsel all would have been right.")

57. Peck p 103

58. Schindler P 52

59. Oliver Board Huntinton Journal Vol. I p. 37

60. John D. Lee pp 83-84.

61. Schindler p 57n73

62. Beadle Correspondence 28 September 1875. (Beadle ridiculed the "curse" stating that in 1875 "Jackson county has a population nearly equal to that of Utah, and about twice as much wealth. The crops this year are enormous and the general condition prosperous; law and order prevail, and life and property are secure. If the "Lord" has put a "curse" on the country, he has a queer way of
showing it; but as the statute of limitations does not run against Prophets, it may come to a fulfillment any time within the century."

63. Stenhouse p. 93