The Story of the Mormons:

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The governor sent them a written reply under date of October 19,
in which, after expressing sympathy with them in their troubles,
he said: "I should think myself unworthy the confidence with
which I have been honored by my fellow citizens did I not
promptly employ all the means which the constitution and laws
have placed at my disposal to avert the calamities with which you
are threatened.... No citizen, or number of citizens, have a
right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or
imaginary, into their own hands. Such conduct strikes at the very
existence of society." He advised the Mormons to invoke the laws
in their behalf; to secure a warrant from a justice of the peace,
and so test the question "whether the law can be peaceably
executed or not"; if not, it would be his duty to take steps to
execute it.

The Mormons and their neighbors were thus brought face to face in
a manner which admitted of no compromise. The situation naturally
seemed rather a simple one to the governor, who was probably
ignorant of the intentions and ambition of the Mormons. If he had
understood the nature and weight of the objections to them, he
would have understood also that he could protect them in their
possessions only by maintaining a military force.

His letter gave the Mormons of Jackson County new courage. They
had been maintaining a waiting attitude since the meeting of July
23, but now they resumed their occupations, and began to erect
more houses, and to improve their places as if for a permanent
stay, and meanwhile there was no cessation of the immigration of
new members from the East. Their leaders consulted four lawyers
in Clay County, and arranged with them to look after their legal
interests.

This evident repudiation by the Mormons of their part of their
agreement with the committee incensed the Jackson County people,
and hostilities were resumed. On the night of October 31, a mob
attacked a Mormon settlement called Big Blue, some ten miles west
of Independence, damaged a number of houses, whipped some of the
men, and frightened women and children so badly that they fled to
the outlying country for hiding-places. On the night of November
1, Mormon houses were stoned in Independence, and the church
store was broken into and its goods scattered in the street. The
Mormons thereupon showed the governor's letter to a justice of
the peace, and asked him for a warrant, but their accounts say
that he refused one. When they took before the same officer a man
whom they caught in the act of destroying their property, the
justice not only refused to hold him, but granted a warrant in
his behalf against Gilbert, Corrill, and two other Mormons for
false imprisonment, and they were locked up.* Thrown on their own
resources for defence, the Mormons now armed themselves as well
as they could, and established a night picket service throughout
their part of the county. On Saturday night, November 2, a second
attack was made by the mob on Big Blue and, the Mormons
resisting, the first "battle" of this campaign took place. A sick
woman received a pistolshot wound in the head, and one of the
Mormons a wound in the thigh. Parley P. Pratt and others were
then sent to Lexington to procure a warrant from Circuit Judge
Ryland, but, according to Pratt, he refused to grant one, and
"advised us to fight and kill the outlaws whenever they came upon
us."**

* Corrill's letter, Evening and Morning Star, January, 1834.

** Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 105.

On Monday evening, November 4, a body of Missourians who had been
visiting some of the Mormon settlements came in contact with a
company of Mormons who had assembled for defence, and an exchange
of shots ensued, by which a number on both sides were wounded,
one of the Mormons dying the next day.

These conflicts increased the excitement, and the Mormons,
knowing how they were outnumbered, now realized that they could
not stay in Jackson County any longer, and they arranged to move.
At first they decided to make their new settlement only fifty
miles south of Independence, in Van Buren County, but to this the
Jackson County people would not consent. They therefore agreed to
move north into Clay County, between which and Jackson County the
Missouri River, which there runs east, formed the boundary. Most
of them went to Clay County, but others scattered throughout the
other nearby counties, whose inhabitants soon let them know that
their presence was not agreeable.

The hasty removal of these people so late in the season was
accompanied by great personal hardships and considerable
pecuniary loss. The Mormons have stated the number of persons
driven out at fifteen hundred, and the number of houses burned;
before and after their departure, at from two hundred to three
hundred. Cattle and household effects that could not be moved
were sold for what they would bring, and those who took with them
sufficient provisions for their immediate wants considered
themselves fortunate. One party of six men and about one hundred
and fifty women and children, panic-stricken by the action of the
mob, wandered for several days over the prairie without even
sufficient food. The banks of the Missouri River where the
fugitives were ferried across presented a strange spectacle. In a
pouring rain the big company were encamped there on November 7,
some with tents and some without any cover, their household goods
piled up around them. Children were born in this camp, and the
sick had to put up with such protection as could be provided. So
determined were the Jackson County people that not a Mormon
should remain among them, that on November 23 they drove out a
little settlement of some twenty families living about fifteen
miles from Independence, compelling women and children to depart
on immediate notice.

The Mormons made further efforts through legal proceedings to
assert their rights in Jackson County, but unsuccessfully. The
governor declared that the situation did not warrant him in
calling out the militia, and referred them to the courts for
redress for civil injuries. In later years they appealed more
than once to the federal authorities at Washington for assistance
in reestablishing themselves in Jackson County,* but were
informed that the matter rested with the state of Missouri. Their
future bitterness toward the federal government was explained on
the ground of this refusal to come to their aid.

* James Hutchins, a resident of Wisconsin, addressed a long
appeal "for justice" to President Grant in 1876, asking him to
reinstate the Mormons in the homes from which they had been
driven.

Meanwhile Smith had been preparing to use the authority at his
command to make good his predictions about the permanency of the
church in the Missouri Zion. On December 6, 1833, he gave out a
long "revelation" at Kirtland (Sec. 101), which created a great
sensation among his followers. Beginning with the declaration
that "I, the Lord," have suffered affliction to come on the
brethren in Missouri "in consequence of their transgressions,
envyings and stripes, and lustful and covetous desires," it went
on to promise them as follows:--

"Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her
children are scattered.... And, behold, there is none other place
appointed than that which I have appointed; neither shall there
be any other place appointed than that which I have appointed,
for the work of the gathering of my saints, until the day cometh
when there is found no more room for them."

The "revelation" then stated the Lord's will "concerning the
redemption of Zion" in the form of a long parable which contained
these instructions:--

"And go ye straightway into the land of my vineyard, and redeem
my vineyard, for it is mine, I have bought it with money.

"Therefore get ye straightway unto my land; break down the walls
of mine enemies; throw down their tower and scatter their
watchmen;

"And inasmuch as they gather together against you, avenge me of
mine enemies, that by and by I may come with the residue of mine
house and possess the land."

This "revelation" was industriously circulated in printed form
among the churches of Ohio and the East, and so great was the
demand for copies that they sold for one dollar each. The only
construction to be placed upon it was that Smith proposed to make
good his predictions by means of an armed force led against the
people of Missouri. This view soon had confirmation.

The arrival of P. P. Pratt and Lyman Wight in Kirtland in
February, 1834, was followed by a "revelation" (Sec. 103)
promising an outpouring of God's wrath on those who had expelled
the brethren from their Missouri possessions, and declaring that
"the redemption of Zion must needs come by power," and that Smith
was to lead them, as Moses led the children of Israel.

In obedience to this direction there was assembled a military
organization, known in church history as "The Army of Zion."
Recruiters, led by Smith and Rigdon, visited the Eastern states,
and by May 1 some two hundred men had assembled at Kirtland ready
to march to Missouri to aid their brethren.*

* There are three detailed accounts of this expedition, one in
Smith's autobiography, another in H. C. Kimball's journal in
Times and Seasons, Vol. 6, and another in Howe's "Mormonism
Unveiled," procured from one of the accompanying sharpshooters.

The Army of Zion, as it called itself, was not an impressive one
in appearance. Military experience was not required of the
recruits; but no one seems to have been accepted who was not in
possession of a weapon and at least $5 in cash. The weapons
ranged from butcher knives and rusty swords to pistols, muskets,
and rifles. Smith himself carried a fine sword, a brace of
pistols (purchased on six months' credit), and a rifle, and had
four horses allotted to him. He had himself elected treasurer of
the expedition, and to him was intrusted all the money of the
men, to be disbursed as his judgment dictated.

According to his own account, they were constantly threatened by
enemies during their march; but they paid no attention to them,
knowing that angels accompanied them as protectors, "for we saw
them."

As they approached Clay County a committee from Ray County called
on them to inquire about their intention, and, when a few miles
from Liberty, in Clay County, General Atchison and other
Missourians met them and warned them not to defy popular feeling
by entering that town. Accepting this advice, they took a
circuitous route and camped on Rush Creek, whence Smith on June
25 sent a letter to General Atchison's committee saying that, in
the interest of peace, "we have concluded that our company shall
be immediately dispersed."

The night before this letter was sent, cholera broke out in the
camp. Smith at once attempted to perform miraculous cures of the
victims, but he found actual cholera patients very different to
deal with from old women with imaginary ailments, or, as he puts
it, "I quickly learned by painful experience that, when the great
Jehovah decrees destruction upon any people, and makes known his
determination, man must not attempt to stay his hand."* There
were thirteen deaths in camp, among the victims being Sidney
Gilbert.

* "Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 86.

Of course, some explanation was necessary to reconcile the
prophet's surrender without a battle with the "revelation" which
directed the army to march and promised a victory. This came in
the shape of another "revelation" (Sec. 105) which declared that
the immediate redemption of the people must be delayed because of
their disobedience and lack of union (especially excepting
himself from this censure); that the Lord did not "require at
their hands to fight the battles of Zion"; that a large enough
force had not assembled at the Lord's command, and that those who
had made the journey were "brought thus far for a trial of their
faith." The brethren were directed not to make boasts of the
judgment to come on the Missourians, but to keep quiet, and
"gather together, as much in one region as can be, consistently
with the feelings of the people"; to purchase all the lands in
Jackson County they could, and then "I will hold the armies of
Israel guiltless in taking possession of their own lands, which
they have previously purchased with their monies, and of throwing
down the powers of mine enemies." But first the Lord's army was
to become very great.

It seems incredible that any set of followers could retain faith
in "revelations" at once so conflicting and so nonsensical.

CHAPTER IV. Fruitless Negotiations With The Jackson County People

Meanwhile, the Mormons in Clay County, with the assent of the
natives there, had opened a factory for the manufacture of arms
"to pay the Jackson mob in their own way,"* and it was rumored
that both sides were supplying themselves with cannon, to make
the coming contest the more determined. Governor Dunklin, fearing
a further injury to the good name of the state, wrote to Colonel
J. Thornton urging a compromise, and on June 10 Judge Ryland sent
a communication to A. S. Gilbert, asking him to call a meeting of
Mormons in Liberty for a discussion of the situation.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 68.

This meeting was held on June 16, and a committee from Jackson
County presented the following proposition: "That the value of
the lands, and the improvements thereon, of the Mormons in
Jackson County, be ascertained by three disinterested appraisers,
representatives of the Mormons to be allowed freely to point out
the lands claimed and the improvements; that the people of
Jackson County would agree to pay the Mormons the valuation fixed
by the appraisers, WITH ONE HUNDRED PER CENT ADDED, within thirty
days of the award; or, the Jackson County citizens would agree to
sell out their lands in that county to the Mormons on the same
terms." The Mormon leaders agreed to call a meeting of their
people to consider this proposition.

The fifteen Jackson County committeemen, it may be mentioned, in
crossing the river on their way home, were upset, and seven of
them were drowned, including their chairman, J. Campbell, who was
reported to have made threats against Smith. The latter thus
reports the accident in his autobiography, "The angel of God saw
fit to sink the boat about the middle of the river, and seven,
out of the twelve that attempted to cross were drowned, thus
suddenly and justly went they to their own place by water."

On June 21 the Mormons gave written notice to the Jackson County
people that the terms proposed were rejected, and that they were
framing "honorable propositions" on their own part, which they
would soon submit, adding a denial of a rumor that they intended
a hostile invasion. Their objection to the terms proposed was
thus stated in an editorial in the Evening and Morning Star of
July, 1834, "When it is understood that the mob hold possession
of a large quantity of land more than our friends, and that they
only offer thirty days for the payment of the same, it will be
seen that they are only making a sham to cover their past
unlawful conduct." This explanation ignores entirely the offer of
the Missourians to buy out the Mormons at a valuation double that
fixed by the appraisers, and simply shows that they intended to
hold to the idea that their promised Zion was in Jackson County,
and that they would not give it up.*

* The idea of returning to a Zion in Jackson County has never
been abandoned by the Mormon church. Bishop Partridge took title
to the Temple lot in Independence in his own name. In 1839, when
the Mormons were expelled from the state, still believing that
this was to be the site of the New Jerusalem, he deeded
sixty-three acres of land in Jackson County, including this lot,
to three small children of Oliver Cowdery. In 1848, seven years
after Partridge's death, and when all the Cowdery grantees were
dead, a man named Poole got a deed for this land from the heirs
of the grantees, and subsequent conveyances were made under
Poole's deed. In 1851 a branch of the church, under a title
Church of Christ, known as Hendrickites, from Grandville
Hendrick, its originator, was organized in Illinois, with a basis
of belief which rejects most of the innovations introduced since
1835. Hendrick in 1864 was favored with a "revelation" which
ordered the removal of his church to Jackson County. On arriving
there different members quietly bought parts of the old Temple
lot. In 1887 the sole surviving sister and heir of the Cowdery
children executed a quit claim deed of the lot to Bishop
Blakeslee of the Reorganized Church in Iowa, and that church at
once began legal proceedings to establish their title. Judge
Philips, of the United States Circuit Court for the Western
Division of Missouri, decided the case in March, 1894, in favor
of the Reorganized Church, but the United States Court of Appeals
reversed this decision on the ground that the respondents had
title through undisputed possession ("United States Court of
Appeals Reports," Vol. XVII, p. 387). The Hendrickites in this
suit were actively aided by the Utah Mormons, President Woodruff
being among their witnesses. This Church of Christ has now a
membership of less than two hundred.

Two Mormon elders, describing their visit to Independence in
1888, said that they went to the Temple lot and prayed as
follows: "O Lord, remember thy words, and let not Zion suffer
forever. Hasten her redemption, and let thy name be glorified in
the victory of truth and righteousness over sin and iniquity.
Confound the enemies of the people and let Zion be free:'
--"Infancy of the Church," Salt Lake City, 1889.

On June 23 (the date of Smith's last quoted "revelation"), the
Mormons presented their counter proposition in writing. It was
that a board of six Mormons and six Jackson County non-Mormons
should decide on the value of lands in that county belonging to
"those men who cannot consent to live with us," and that they
should receive this sum within a year, less the amount of damage
suffered by the Mormons, the latter to be determined by the same
persons. The Jackson County people replied that they would "do
nothing like according to their last proposition," and expressed
a hope that the Mormons "would cast an eye back of Clinton, to
see if that is not a county calculated for them." Clinton was the
county next north of Clay.

Governor Dunklin, in his annual message to the legislature that
year, expressed the opinion that "conviction for any violence
committed against a Mormon cannot be had in Jackson County," and
told the lawmakers it was for them to determine what amendments
were necessary "to guard against such acts of violence for the
future." The Mormons sent a petition in their own behalf to the
legislature, which was presented by Corrill, but no action was
taken.

CHAPTER V. In Clay, Caldwell, And Daviess Counties

The counties in which the Mormons settled after leaving Jackson
County were thinly populated at that time, Clay County having
only 5338 inhabitants, according to the census of 1830, and
Caldwell, Carroll, and Daviess counties together having only 6617
inhabitants by the census of 1840. County rivalry is always a
characteristic of our newly settled states and territories, and
the Clay County people welcomed the Mormons as an addition to
their number, notwithstanding the ill favor in which they stood
with their southern neighbors. The new-comers at first occupied
what vacant cabins they could find in the southern part of the
county, until they could erect houses of their own, while the men
obtained such employment as was offered, and many of the women
sought places as domestic servants and school-teachers. The
Jackson County people were not pleased with this friendly spirit,
and they not only tried to excite trouble between the new
neighbors, but styled the Clay County residents "Jack Mormons," a
name applied in later years in other places to non-Mormons who
were supposed to have Mormon sympathies.

Peace was maintained, however, for about three years. But the
Mormons grew in numbers, and, as the natives realized their
growth, they showed no more disposition to be in the minority
than did their southern neighbors. The Mormons, too, were without
tact, and they did not conceal the intention of the church to
possess the land. Proof of their responsibility for what followed
is found in a remark of W. W. Phelps, in a letter from Clay
County to Ohio in December, 1833, that "our people fare very
well, and, when they are discreet, little or no persecution is
felt."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 646.

The irritation kept on increasing, and by the spring of 1836 Clay
County had become as hostile to the Mormons as Jackson County had
ever been. In June, the course adopted in Jackson County to get
rid of the new-comers was imitated, and a public meeting in the
court house at Liberty adopted resolutions* setting forth that
civil war was threatened by the rapid immigration of Mormons;
that when the latter were received, in pity and kindness, after
their expulsion across the river, it was understood that they
would leave "whenever a respectable portion of the citizens of
this county should require it," and that that time had now come.
The reasons for this demand included Mormon declarations that the
county was destined by Heaven to be theirs, opposition to
slavery, teaching the Indians that they were to possess the land
with the Saints, and their religious tenets, which, it was said,
"always will excite deep prejudices against them in any populous
country where they may locate." In explanations of the
anti-Mormon feeling in Missouri frequent allusion is made to
polygamous practices. This was not charged in any of the formal
statements against them, and Corrill declares that they had done
nothing there that would incriminate them under the law. The
Mormons were urged to seek a new abiding-place, the territory of
Wisconsin being recommended for their investigation. The
resolutions confessed that "we do not contend that we have the
least right, under the constitution and laws of the country, to
expel them by force"; but gave as an excuse for the action taken
the certainty of an armed conflict if the Mormons remained. Newly
arrived immigrants were advised to leave immediately,
non-landowners to follow as soon as they could gather their crops
and settle up their business, and owners of forty acres to remain
indefinitely, until they could dispose of their real estate
without loss.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 763.

The Mormons, on July 1, adopted resolutions denying the charges
against them, but agreeing to leave the county. The Missourians
then appointed a committee to raise money to assist the needy
Saints to move. Smith and his associates in Ohio had not at that
time the same interest in a Zion in Missouri that they had three
years earlier, and they only expressed sorrow over the new
troubles, and advised the fugitives to stop short of Wisconsin if
they could. An appeal was again made by the Missouri Mormons to
the governor of that state, but he now replied that if they could
not convince their neighbors of their innocence, "all I can say
to you is that in this republic the vox populi is the vox dei."

The Mormons selected that part of Ray County from which Caldwell
County was formed (just northeast of Clay County) for their new
abode, and on their petition the legislature framed the new
county for their occupancy. This was then almost unsettled
territory, and the few inhabitants made no objection to the
coming of their new neighbors. They secured a good deal of land,
some by purchase, and some by entry on government sections, and
began its improvement. Many of them were so poor that they had to
seek work in the neighboring counties for the support of their
families. Some of their most intelligent members afterward
attributed their future troubles in that state to their failure
to keep within their own county boundaries.

As the county seat they founded a town which they named Far West,
and which soon presented quite a collection of houses, both log
and frame, schools, and shops. Phelps wrote in the summer of
1837, "Land cannot be had around town now much less than $10 per
acre."* There were practically no inhabitants but Mormons within
fifteen or twenty miles of the town,** and the Saints were
allowed entire political freedom. Of the county officers, two
judges, thirteen magistrates, the county clerk, and all the
militia officers were of their sect. They had credit enough to
make necessary loans, and, says Corrill, "friendship began to be
restored between them and their neighbors, the old prejudices
were fast dying away, and they were doing well, until the summer
of 1838."

* Messenger and Advocate, July, 1837.

** Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 53.

It was in January, 1838, that Smith fled from Kirtland. He
arrived in Far West in the following March; Rigdon was detained
in Illinois a short time by the illness of a daughter. Smith's
family went with him, and they were followed by many devoted
adherents of the church, who, in order to pay church debts in
Ohio and the East, had given up their property in exchange for
orders on the Bishop at Far West. In other words, they were
penniless.