CHAPTER VIII.
A State Of Civil War
Calling out of the Militia-- Proposed Expulsion of the Mormons from Carroll County--The Siege of De Witt--The Prophet's Defiance--Work of his "Fur Company"-- Gentile Retaliation--The Battle of Crooked River--The Massacre at Hawn's Mills--Governor Boggs's "Order of Extermination"
ALL peaceable occupations were now at an end in Daviess County. General Atchison reported to the governor that, on arriving there on September 17, he found the county practically deserted, the Gentiles being gathered in one camp and the Mormons in another. A justice of the peace, in a statement to the governor, declared, "The Mormons are so numerous and so well armed [in Daviess and Caldwell counties] that the judicial power of the counties is wholly unable to execute any civil or criminal process within the limits of either of the said counties against a Mormon or Mormons, as they each and every one of them act in concert and outnumber the other citizens." Lee says that an order had been issued by the church authorities, commanding all the Mormons to gather in two fortified camps, at Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman.The men were poorly armed, but demanded to be led against their foes, being "confident that God was going to deliver the enemy into our hands."1
1 "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 78.
Both parties now stood on the defensive, posting sentinels, and making other preparations for a fight. Actual hostilities soon ensued. The Mormons captured some arms which their opponents had obtained, and took them, with three prisoners, to Far West. "This was a glorious day, indeed," says Smith.2 Citizens of Daviess and Livingston counties sent a petition to Governor Boggs (who had succeeded Dunklin), dated September 12, declaring that they believed their lives, liberty, and property to be "in the most imminent danger of being sacrificed by the hands of those impostorous rebels," and asking for protection. The governor had already directed General Atchison to raise immediately four hundred mounted men in view of indications of Indian disturbances on our immediate frontier, and the recent civil disturbances in the counties of Caldwell, Daviess, and Carroll." The calling out of the militia followed, and General Doniphan found himself in command of about one thousand militia-men. He seems to have used tact, and to have employed his force only as peace preservers. On September 20 he reported to Governor Boggs that he had discharged all his troops but two companies, and that he did not think the services of these would be required more than twenty days. He estimated the Mormon forces in the disturbed counties at from thirteen hundred to fifteen hundred men, most of them carrying a rifle, a brace of pistols, and a broadsword; "so that," he added, "from their position, and their fanaticism, and their unalterable determination not to be driven, much blood will be spilt and much suffering endured if a blow is at once struck, without the interposition of your excellency."
2 Smith's autobiography, at this point, says: "President Rigdon and I commenced this day the study of law under the instruction of Generals Atchison and Doniphan. They think by diligent application we can be admitted to the bar in twelve months." Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, p. 246.
The people of Carroll County began now to hold
meetings whose object was the expulsion of the Mormons from their boundaries,
and some hundreds of them assembled in hostile attitude around the little
settlement of Dewitt. The Mormons there prepared for defence, and sent an
appeal to Far West for aid. Accordingly, one hundred Mormons, including Smith
and Rigdon, started to assist them, and two companies of militia, under General
Parks, were hurried to the spot. General Parks reported to General Atchison on
October 7 that, on arriving there the day before, he found the place besieged
by two hundred or three hundred Missourians, under a Dr. Austin, with a
field-piece, and defended by two hundred or three hundred Mormons under G. M.
Hinckle, "who says he will die before he is driven from thence."
Austin expected speedy reinforcements that would enable him to take the place
by assault. A petition addressed by the Mormons of Dewitt to the governor, as
early as September 22, having been ignor ed, and finding themselves
outnumbered, they agreed to abandon their settlement on receiving pay for their
improvements, and some fifty wagons conveyed them and their effects to Far
West.
A period of absolute lawlessness in all that section of
the state followed. Smith declared that civil war existed, and that, as the
state would not protect them, they must look out for themselves. He and his
associates made no concealment of their purpose to "make clean work of
it" in driving the non-Mormons from both Daviess and Caldwell counties.
When warned that this course would array the whole state against them, Smith
replied that the "mob" (as the opponents of the Mormons were always
styled) were a small minority of the state, and would yield to armed
opposition; the Mormons would defeat one band after another, and so proceed
across the state, until they reached St. Louis, where the Mormon army would
spend the winter. This calculation is a fair illustration of Smith's judgment.
Armed bands of both parties now rode over the country,
paying absolutely no respect to property rights, and ready for a
"brush" with any opponents. At Smith's suggestion, a band of men,
under the name of the "Fur Company," was formed to
"commandeer" food, teams, and men for the Mormon campaign. This
practical license to steal let loose the worst element in the church
organization, glad of any method of revenge on those whom they considered their
persecutors. "Men of former quiet," says Lee, who was among the
active raiders, "became perfect demons in their efforts to spoil and waste
away the enemies of the church."3 Cattle and hogs that could
not be driven off were killed.4 Houses were burned, not only in the
outlying country, but in the towns. A night attack by a band of eighty men was
made on Gallatin, where some of the houses were set on fire, and two stores as
well as private houses were robbed. The house of one McBride, who, Lee says,
had been a good friend to him and to other Mormons, did not escape: "Every
article of moveable property was taken by the troops; he was utterly
ruined." "It appeared to me," says Corrill, "that the love
of pillage grew upon them very fast, for they plundered every kind of property
they could get hold of, and burnt many cabins in Daviess, some say 80, and some
say 150."5
3 Lee naively remarks, "In
justice to Joseph Smith I cannot say that I ever heard him teach, or even
encourage, men to pilfer or steal little things." --
"Mormonism Unveiled," p. 90.
4 W. Harris's "Mormonism
Portrayed," p. 30.
5 "Brief History of the Church,"
p. 38.
The Missourians retaliated in kind. Mormons were
seized and whipped, and their houses were burned. A lawless company (Pratt
calls them banditti), led by one Gilliam, embraced the opportunity to make
raids in the Mormon territory. It was soon found necessary to collect the
outlying Mormons at Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman, where they were used for
purposes both of offence and defence. The movements of the Missourians were
closely watched, and preparations were made to burn any place from which a
force set out to attack the Saints.
One of the Missouri officers, Captain Bogart, on
October 23, warned some Mormons to leave the county, and, with his company of
thirty or forty men, announced his intention to "give Far West thunder and
lightning." When this news reached Far West, Judge Higbee, of the county
court, ordered Lieutenant Colonel Hinckle to go out with a company, disperse
the "mob," and retake some prisoners. The Mormons assembled at
midnight, and about seventy-five volunteers started at once, under command of
Captain Patton, the Danite leader, whose nickname was "Fear Not," all
on horseback. When they approached Crooked River, on which Bogart's force was
encamped, fifteen men were sent in advance on foot to locate the enemy. Just at
dawn a rifle shot sounded, and a young Mormon, named O'Barrion, fell mortally
wounded. Captain Patton ordered a charge, and led his men at a gallop down a
hill to the river, under the bank of which the Missourians were drawn up. The
latter had an advantage, as they were in the shade, and the Mormons were
between them and the east, which the dawn was just lighting. Exchanges of
volleys occurred, and then Captain Patton ordered his men to rush on with drawn
swords -- they had no bayonets. This put the Missourians to flight, but just as
they fled Captain Patton received a mortal wound. Three Mormons in all were
killed as a result of this battle, and seven wounded, while Captain Bogart
reported the death of one man.6
6 Ebenezer Robinson's account in The Return, p. 191.
The death of "Fear Not" was considered by the Mormons a great loss. He was buried with the honors of war, says Robinson, "and at his grave a solemn convention was made to avenge his death." Smith, in the funeral sermon, reverted to his old tactics, attributing the Mormon losses to the Lord's anger against his people, because of their unbelief and their unwillingness to devote their worldly treasures to the church. The rout of Captain Bogart's force, which was a part of the state militia, increased the animosity against the Mormons, and the wiser of the latter believed that they would suffer a dire vengeance.7
7 Corrill's "Brief History
of the Church," p. 38.
This vengeance first made itself felt at a
settlement called Hawn's Mill (of which there are various spellings), some
miles from Far West, where there were a flour mill, blacksmith shop, and other
buildings. The Mormons there were advised, the day after the fight on Crooked
River, to move into Far West for protection, but the owners of the buildings,
knowing that these would be burned as soon as deserted, decided to remain and
defend their property.
On October 30 a mounted force of Missourians appeared
before the place. The Mormons ran into the log blacksmith shop, which they
thought would serve them as a blockhouse, but it proved to be a slaughter-pen.
The Missourians surrounded it, and, sticking their rifles into every hole and
crack, poured in a deadly fire, killing, some reports say eighteen, and some
thirty-one, of the Mormons. The only persons in the town who escaped found
shelter in the woods. The Missourians did not lose a man. When the firing
ceased, they still showed no mercy, shooting a small boy in the leg after
dragging him out from under the bellows, and hacking to death with a corn
cutter an old man while he begged for his life. Dead and wounded were thrown
into a well, and some of the wounded, taken out by rescuers from Far West,
recovered. "I heard one of the militia tell General Clark," says
Corrill, "that a well twenty or thirty feet deep was filled with their
dead bodies to within three feet of the top."8
8 Details of this massacre will be found in Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled," pp. 78-80; in the Missouri "Correspondence, Orders, etc.," p. 82; the Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, p. 507, and in Greene's "Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri," pp. 21-24.
The Mormons have always considered this "massacre," as they called it, the crowning outrage of their treatment in Missouri, and for many years were especially bitter toward all participants in it. A letter from two Mormons in the Frontier Guardian, dated October, 1849, describing the disinterred human bones seen on their journey across the plains, said that they recognized on the rude tombstone the names of some of their Missouri persecutors: "Among others, we noted at the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains the grave of one E. Dodd of Gallatin, Missouri. The wolves had completely disinterred him. It is believed that he was the same Dodd that took an active part as a prominent mobocrat in the murder of the Saints at Hawn's Mill, Missouri; if so, it is a righteous retribution." Two Mormon elders, describing a visit in 1889 to the scenes of the Mormon troubles in Missouri, said, "The notorious Colonel W. O. Jennings, who commanded the mob at the {Hawn's Mill} massacre, was assaulted in Chillicothe, Missouri, on the evening of January 20, 1862, by an unknown person, who shot him on the street with a revolver or musket, as the Colonel was going home after dark."9 They are silent as to the avenger.
9 "Infancy of the Church" (pamphlet).
Governor Boggs now began to realize the seriousness of the situation that he was called to meet, and on October 26 he directed General John B. Clark (who was not the ranking general) to raise, for the protection of the citizens of Daviess County, four hundred mounted men. This order he followed the next day with the following, which has become the most famous of the orders issued during this campaign, under the designation "the order of extermination": --
"HEADQUARTERS OF THE MILITIA,
"CITY OF JEFFERSON, Oct. 27, 1838.
Sir: -- Since the order of this morning to you, directing you to cause four hundred mounted men to be raised within your Division, I have received by Amos Rees, Esq., of Ray County and Wiley C. Williams, Esq., one of my aids, information of the most appalling character, which entirely changes the face of things, and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this state. Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operations with all possible speed.
"The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace -- their outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary. I have just issued orders to Maj. Gen. Willock, of Marion County, to raise five hundred men, and to march them to the northern part of Daviess, and there unite with Gen. Doniphan, of Clay, who has been ordered with five hundred men to proceed to the same point for the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the Mormons to the north. They have been directed to communicate with you by express; you can also communicate with them if you find it necessary.
"Instead therefore of proceeding, as at first directed, to reinstate the citizens of Daviess in their homes, you will proceed immediately to Richmond and then operate against the Mormons. Brig. Gen. Parks, of Ray, has been ordered to have four hundred of his brigade in readiness to join you at Richmond. The whole force will be placed under your command.
"Your ob't serv't,
"L. W. Boggs, Commander-in-chief."
The "appalling information" received by the governor from his aids was contained in a letter dated October 25, which stated that the Mormons were "destroying all before them"; that they had burned Gallatin and Mill Pond, and almost every house between these places, plundered the whole country, and defeated Captain Bogart's company, and had determined to burn Richmond that night. "These creatures," said the letter, "will never stop until they are stopped by the strong hand of force, and something must be done, and that speedily."10
10 For text of letter, see "Correspondence, Orders, etc.," p. 59.
The language of Governor Boggs's letter to General
Clark cannot be defended. The Mormons have always made great capital of his
declaration that the Mormons "must be exterminated," and a man of
judicial temperament would have selected other words, no matter how necessary
he deemed it, for political reasons, to show his sympathy with the popular
cause. But, on the other hand, the governor was only accepting the challenge
given by Rigdon in his recent Fourth of July address, when the latter declared
that if a mob disturbed the Mormons, "it shall be between us and them a
war of extermination, for we will follow them till the last drop of their blood
is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us." What compromise
there could have been between a band of fanatics obeying men like Smith and
Rigdon, and the class of settlers who made up the early Missouri population, it
is impossible to conceive. The Mormons were simply impossible as neighbors, and
it had become evident that they could no more remain peaceably in the state
than they could a few years previously in Jackson County.
General Atchison, of Smith's counsel, was not called on
by the governor in these latest movements, because, as the governor explained
in a letter to General Clark, "there was much dissatisfaction manifested
toward him by the people opposed to the Mormons." But he had seen his
mistake, and he united with General Lucas in a letter to the governor under
date of October 28, in which they said, "from late outrages committed by
the Mormons, civil war is inevitable," and urged the governor's presence
in the disturbed district. Governor Boggs excused himself from complying with
this request because of the near approach of the meeting of the legislature.
General Lucas, acting under his interpretation of the governor's order, had set out on October 28 for Far West from near Richmond, with a force large enough to alarm the Mormon leaders. Robinson, speaking of the outlook from their standpoint at this time, says, "We looked for warm work, as there were large numbers of armed men gathering in Daviess County, with avowed determination of driving the Mormons from the county, and we began to feel as determined that the Missourians should be expelled from the county."11 The Mormons did not hear of the approach of General Lucas's force until it was near the town. Then the southern boundary was hastily protected with a barricade of wagons and logs, and the night of October 30-31 was employed by all the inhabitants in securing their possessions for flight, in anticipation of a battle the next day.
11 The Return, Vol. I, p.
189.