CHAPTER III.
The Expulsion From Jackson County--The Army Of
Zion
Rapid Influx of Mormons--Result of the Publication of the Revelations--First Friction with their Non-Mormon Neighbors--Manifesto of the Mormons' Opponents--Their Big Mass Meeting--Demands on the Mormons--Destruction of the Star Printing-office--The Mormons' Agreement to leave--Smith's Advice to his Flock--Repudiation of the Mormon Agreement and Renewal of Hostilities--The Battle at Big Blue--Evacuation of the County--March of the Army of Zion--An Inglorious Finale
THE efforts of the church leaders to
check too precipitate an emigration to the new Zion were not entirely
successful, and, according to the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1833, the
Mormons with their families then numbered more than twelve hundred, or about
one-third of the total population of the county. The elders had been pushing
their proselyting work throughout the States and in Canada, and the idea of a
land of plenty appealed powerfully to the new believers, and especially to
those of little means. The branch of the church established at Colesville, New
York, numbering about sixty members, emigrated in a body and settled twelve
miles from Independence. Other settlements were made in the rural districts,
and the non-Mormons began to be seriously exercised over the situation. The
Saints boasted openly of their future possession of the land, without making
clear their idea of the means by which they would obtain title to it. An open
defiance in the name of the c hurch appeared in an article in the Evening
and Morning Star for July, 1833, which contained this declaration: --
"No matter what our ideas or notions
may be on the subject; no matter what foolish report the wicked may circulate
to gratify an evil disposition; the Lord will continue to gather the righteous
and destroy the wicked, till the sound goes forth, IT IS
FINISHED."
With even greater
fatuity came the determination to publish the prophet's "revelations" in the
form of the "Book of Commandments." Of the effect of this publication David
Whitmer says, "The main reason why the printing press {at Independence} was
destroyed, was because they published the 'Book of Commandments.' It fell into
the hands of the world, and the people of Jackson County saw from the
revelations that they were considered intruders upon the Land of Zion, as
enemies of the church, and that they should be cut off out of the Land of Zion
and sent away."1
1 "Address to All Believers in Christ," p. 54.
Corrill says of the causes of friction between the
Mormons and their neighbors: -- 2
"The church got crazy to go up to Zion,
as it was then called. The rich were afraid to send up their money to purchase
lands, and the poor crowded up in numbers, without having any places provided,
contrary to the advice of the Bishop and others, until the old citizens began
to be highly displeased. They saw their country filling up with emigrants,
principally poor. They disliked their religion, and saw also that, if let
alone, they would in a short time become a majority, and of course rule the
county. The church kept increasing, and the old citizens became more and more
dissatisfied, and from time to time offered to sell their farms and
possessions, but the Mormons, though desirous, were too poor to purchase
them."3
2 Corrill's" Brief History of the
Church," p. 19.
3 After the survey of
Jackson County, Congress granted to the state of Missouri a large tract of
land, the sale of which should be made for educational purposes, and the
Mormons took title to several thousand acres of this, west of Independence.
The active manifestation of hostility toward the
new-comers by the residents of Jackson County first took shape in the spring
of 1832, in the stoning of Mormon houses at night and the breaking of windows.
Soon afterward a county meeting was called to take measures to secure the
removal of the Mormons from that county, but nothing definite was done. The
burning of haystacks, shooting into houses, etc., continued until July, 1833,
when the Mormon opponents circulated a statement of their complaints, closing
with a call for a meeting in the courthouse at Independence, on Saturday, July
20. The text of this manifesto, which is important as showing the spirit as
well as the precise grounds of the opposition, is as follows: --
"We, the undersigned, citizens of
Jackson County, believing that an important crisis is at hand, as regards our
civil society, in consequence of a pretended religious sect of people that
have settled, and are still settling, in our county, styling themselves
Mormons, and intending, as we do, to rid our society, peaceably if we can,
forcibly if we must; and believing as we do, that the arm of the civil law
does not afford us a guarantee, or at least, a sufficient one, against the
evils which are now inflicted upon us, and seem to be increasing, by the said
religious sect, we deem it expedient and of the highest importance to form
ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment of our
purpose -- a purpose, which we deem it almost superfluous to say, is justified
as well by the law of nature, as by the law of self preservation.
"It is more than two years since the first of
these fanatics, or knaves, (for one or the other they undoubtedly are,) made
their first appearance amongst us, and, pretending as they did, and now do, to
hold personal communication and converse face to face with the Most High God;
to receive communications and revelations direct from heaven; to heal the sick
by laying on hands; and, in short, to perform all the wonder-working miracles
wrought by the inspired Apostles and Prophets of old.
"We believed them deluded fanatics, or weak
and designing knaves, and that they and their pretensions would soon pass
away; but in this we were deceived. The arts of a few designing leaders
amongst them have thus far succeeded in holding them together as a society;
and, since the arrival of the first of them, they have been daily increasing
in numbers; and if they had been respectable citizens in society, and thus
deluded, they would have been entitled to our pity rather than our contempt
and hatred; but from their appearance, from their manners, and from their
conduct since their coming among us, we have every reason to fear that, with
but few exceptions, they were of the very dregs of that society from which
they came, lazy, idle, and vicious. This we conceive is not idle assertion,
but a fact susceptible of proof, for with these few exceptions above named,
they brought into our county little or no property with them, and left less
behind them, and we infer that those only yoked the mselves to the Mormon car
who had nothing earthly or heavenly to lose by the change; and we fear that if
some of the leaders amongst them had paid the forfeit due to crime, instead of
being chosen ambassadors of the Most High, they would have been inmates of
solitary cells.
"But their conduct here stamps
their characters in their true colors. More than a year since, it was
ascertained that they had been tampering with our slaves, and endeavoring to
rouse dissension and raise seditions amongst them. Of this their Mormon
leaders were informed, and they said they would deal with any of their members
who should again in like case offend. But how specious are appearances. In a
late number of the Star, published in Independence by the leaders of
the sect, there is an article inviting free negroes and mulattoes from other
states to become Mormons, and remove and settle among us. This exhibits them
in still more odious colors. It manifests a desire on the part of their
society to inflict on our society an injury, that they knew would be to us
entirely insupportable, and one of the surest means of driving us from the
county; for it would require none of the supernatural gifts that they pretend
to, to see that the introduction of such a caste amongst us wou ld corrupt our
blacks, and instigate them to bloodshed.
"They
openly blaspheme the Most High God, and cast contempt on His holy religion, by
pretending to receive revelations direct from heaven, by pretending to speak
unknown tongues by direct inspirations, and by divers pretences derogatory of
God and religion, and to the utter subversion of human reason.
"They declare openly that their God hath given
them this county of land, and that sooner or later they must and will have the
possession of our lands for an inheritance; and, in fine, they have conducted
themselves on many other occasions in such a manner that we believe it a duty
we owe to ourselves, our wives, and children, to the cause of public morals,
to remove them from among us, as we are not prepared to give up our pleasant
places and goodly possessions to them, or to receive into the bosom of our
families, as fit companions for our wives and daughters, the degraded and
corrupted free negroes and mulattoes that are now invited to settle among us.
"Under such a state of things, even our
beautiful county would cease to be a desirable residence, and our situation
intolerable! We, therefore, agree that, if after timely warning, and receiving
an adequate compensation for what little property they cannot take with them,
they refuse to leave us in peace, as they found us -- we agree to use such
means as may be sufficient to remove them, and to that end we each pledge to
each other our bodily powers, our lives, fortunes, and sacred honors.
"We will meet at the court-house, at the Town
of Independence, on Saturday next, the 20th inst., to consult ulterior
movements."4
4 Evening and Morning Star, p. 227; Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 516.
Some hundreds of names were signed to this call, and the meeting of July 20 was attended by nearly five hundred persons. There is no doubt that it was a representative county gathering. P. P. Pratt says that the anti-Mormon organization, which he calls "outlaws," was "composed of lawyers, magistrates, county officers, civil and military, religious ministers, and a great number of the ignorant and uninformed portion of the population."5 The language of the address adopted shows that skilled pens were not wanting in its preparation.
5 "Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 103.
The first business of the meeting was the appointment of a committee to prepare an address stating the grievances of the people with somewhat greater fulness than the manifesto above quoted. Like the latter, it conceded at the start that there was no law under which the object in view could be obtained. It characterized the Mormons as but little above the negroes as regards property or education; charged them with having exerted a "corrupting influence" on the slaves;6 asserted that even the more intelligent boasted daily to the Gentiles that the Mormons would appropriate their lands for an inheritance, and that their newspaper organ taught them that the lands were to be taken by the sword. Noting the rapid increase in the immigration of members of the new church, the address, looking to a near day when they would be in a majority in the county, asked: "What would be the state of our lives and property in the hands of jurors and witnesses who do not blush to declare, and would not upon occasion hesitate to swear, that they have wrought miracles, and have been the subjects of miraculous and supernatural cures, have conversed with God and his angels, and possess and exercise the gifts of divination and of unknown tongues, and are fired with the prospect of obtaining inheritances without money and without price, may be better imagined than described." That this apprehension was not without grounds will be seen when we come to the administration of justice in Nauvoo and in Salt La ke City.
6 The Mormons never hesitated to change their position on the slavery question. An elder's address, published in the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1833, said: "As to slaves, we have nothing to say. In connection with the wonderful events of this age, much is doing toward abolishing slavery and colonizing the blacks in Africa." Three years later, in April, 1836 the Messenger and Advocate published a strong proslavery article, denying the right of the people of the North to interfere with the institution, and picturing the happy condition of the slaves. Orson Hyde, in the Frontier Guardian in 1850 (quoted in the Millennial Star, Vol. XIII, p. 63), said: "When a man in the Southern states embraces our faith and is the owner of slaves, the church says to him, 'If your slaves wish to remain with you, and to go with you, put them not away; but if they choose to leave you, and are not satisfied to remain with you, it is for you to sell them or to let them go free, as your own conscience may direct you. The church on this point assumes not the responsibility to direct.'" Horace Greeley quoted Brigham Young as saying to him in Salt Lake City, "We consider slavery of divine institution and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants" ("Overland Journey," p. 211).
The address closed with these demands: --
"That no Mormon shall in future move
and settle in this county.
"That those now
here, who shall give a definite pledge of their intention within a reasonable
time to remove out of the county, shall be allowed to remain unmolested until
they have sufficient time to sell their property and close their business
without any material sacrifice.
"That the
editor of the Star (W. W. Phelps) be required forthwith to close his
office and discontinue the business of printing in this county; and, as to all
other stores and shops belonging to the sect, their owners must in every case
strictly comply with the terms of the second article of this declaration; and,
upon failure, prompt and efficient measures will be taken to close the same.
"That the Mormon leaders here are required to
use their influence in preventing any further emigration of their distant
brethren to this county, and to counsel and advise their brethren here to
comply with the above regulations. "That those who fail to comply with the
requisitions be referred to those of their brethren who have the gifts of
divination and of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits
them"7
7 Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 487-489.
A recess of two hours was taken in which to permit
a committee of twelve to call on Bishop Partridge, Phelps, and Gilbert, and
present these terms. This committee reported that these men "declined giving
any direct answer to the requisitions made of them, and wished an unreasonable
time for consultation, not only with their brethren here, but in Ohio." The
meeting thereupon voted unanimously that the Star printing-office
should be razed to the ground, and the type and press be "secured."
A report of the action of this meeting and its
result was prepared by the chairman and two secretaries, and printed over
their signatures in the Western Monitor of Fayette, Missouri, on August
2, 1833, and it is transferred to Smith's autobiography. It agrees with the
Mormon account set forth in their later petition to Governor Dunklin. It
particularized, however, that the Mormon leaders asked the committee first for
three months, and then for ten days, in which to consider the demands, and
were told that they could have only fifteen minutes.
What happened next is thus set forth in the,
chairman's report: --
"Which resolution
(for the razing of the Star office) was with the utmost order and the least
noise and disturbance possible, forthwith carried into execution, as also
some other steps of a similar tendency; but no blood was spilled nor any
blows inflicted."
Mobs do not
generally act with the "utmost order," and this one was not an exception to
the rule, as an explanation of the "other steps" will make clear. The first
object of attack was the printing office, a two-story brick building. This was
demolished, causing a loss of $6000, according to the Mormon claims. The mob
next visited the store kept by Gilbert, but refrained from attacking it on
receiving a pledge that the goods would be packed for removal by the following
Tuesday. They then called at the houses of some of the leading Mormons, and
conducted Bishop Partridge and a man named Allen to the public square.
Partridge told his captors that the saints had been subjected to persecution
in all ages; that he was willing to suffer for Christ's sake, but that he
would not consent to leave the country. Allen refused either to agree to
depart or to deny the inspiration of the Mormon Bible. Both men were then
relieved of their hats, coats, and vests, daubed with tar, and decorated with
feathers. This ended the proceedings of that day, and an adjournment as
announced until the following Tuesday.
On
Tuesday, July 23 (the date of the laying of the corner-stone of the Kirtland
Temple), the Missourians gathered again in the town, carrying a red flag and
bearing arms. The Mormon statement to Governor Dunklin says, "They proceeded
to take some of the leading elders by force, declaring it to be their
intention to whip them from fifty to five hundred lashes apiece, to demolish
their dwelling houses, and let their negroes loose to go through our
plantations and lay open our fields for the destruction of our
crops."8 The official report of the officers of the
meeting9 says that, when the chairman had taken his seat, a
committee was appointed to wait on the Mormons at the request of the latter.
8 Greene, in his "Facts Relative
to the Expulsion of the Mormons from the State of Missouri (1839), says that
the mob seized a number of Mormons and, at the muzzle of their guns, compelled
them to confess that the Mormon Bible was a
fraud.
9 Millennial Star Vol.
XIV, p. 500.
As a result of a conference with this committee, a
written agreement was entered into, signed by the committee and the Mormons
named in it, to this effect: That Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, W. E.
McLellin, Edward Partridge, John Wright, Simeon Carter, Peter and John
Whitmer, and Harvey Whitlock, with their families, should move from the county
by January 1 next, and use their influence to induce their fellow-Mormons in
the county to do likewise -- one half by January 1 and all by April 1 -- and
to prevent further immigration of the brethren; John Corrill and A. S. Gilbert
to remain as agents to wind up the business of the society, Gilbert to be
allowed to sell out his goods on hand; no Mormon paper to be published in the
county; Partridge and Phelps to be allowed to go and come after January 1, in
winding up their business, if their families were removed by that time; the
committee pledging themselves to use their influence to prevent further
violence, and assuring Phelps that "whene ver he was ready to move, the amount
of all his losses in the printing house should be paid to him by the
citizens." In view of this arrangement there was no further trouble for more
than two months.
The Mormon leaders had,
however, no intention of carrying out their part of this undertaking. Corrill,
in a letter to Oliver Cowdery written in December, 1833, said that the
agreement was made, "supposing that before the time arrived the mob would see
their error and stop the violence, or that some means might be employed so
that we could stay in peace."10 Oliver Cowdery was sent at once to
Kirtland to advise with the church officers there. On his arrival, early in
August, a council was convened, and it was decided that legal measures should
be taken to establish the rights of the Saints in Missouri. Smith directed
that they should neither sell their lands nor move out of Jackson County, save
those who had signed the agreement.11 It was also decided to send
Orson Hyde and John Gould to Missouri "with advice to the Saints in their
unfortunate situation through the late outrage of the mob."12
10 Evening and Morning
Star, January, 1834.
11 Elder
Williams's Letter, Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 519.
12 Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p.
504.
To strengthen the courage of the flock in Missouri, Smith gave forth at Kirtland, under date of August 2, 1833, a "revelation" (Sec. 97), "in answer to our correspondence with the prophet," says P. P. Pratt,13 in which the Lord was represented as saying, "Surely, Zion is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fail, neither be moved out of her place; for God is there, and the hand of God is there, and he has sworn by the power of his might to be her salvation and her high tower." The same "revelation" directed that the Temple should be built speedily by means of tithing, and threatened Zion with pestilence, plague, sword, vengeance, and devouring fire unless she obeyed the Lord's commands.
13 Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 100.
The outcome of all the deliberations at Kirtland
was the sending of W. W. Phelps and Orson Hyde to Jefferson City with a long
petition to Governor Dunklin, setting forth the charges of the Missourians
against the Mormons, and the action of the two meetings at Independence, and
making a direct appeal to him for assistance, asking him to employ troops in
their defence, in order that they might sue for damages, "and, if advisable,
try for treason against the government."
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 aright 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 locke d up.14 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 pistol shot 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."15
14 Corrill's letter, Evening
and Morning Star, January, 1834.
15
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,16 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.
16 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.17
17 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."18 There were thirteen deaths in
camp, among the victims being Sidney Gilbert.
18 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 lan ds, 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.