--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Thomas J. Howells collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 3 number: 11 published: 1900-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Thomas J. Howells, "The Expulsion from Missouri," *Improvement Era* 3, no. 11 (September 1900): 829–834.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera311unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera311unse start_page: 829 end_page: 834 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1900-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera311unse publication_year: 1900 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1900, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Expulsion from Missouri THE EXPULSION FROM MISSOURI. BY THOMAS J. HOWELLS, ONE OF THE FIVE SPEAKERS AT THE Y. M. M. I. A. ORATORICAL CONTEST, SALT LAKE STAKE OF ZION. The records of the great military monarchies supply comparatively little in the annals of history to the growth, power, sufferings, and persecution of the ancient Saints and Christians. It is not necessary, however, to search the archives of ancient history, among the catacombs of Rome, the caves of Greece, or the temples of ancient Egypt, but here in this boasted land of religious liberty* in the nineteenth century, among the fertile hills and valleys of Missouri, are found the stern realities of religious intolerance. Among the foremost of those who frequented the stream of western emigration, and settled in the State of Missouri, were a rough class of hardy people, principally from the mountainous portions of the Southern States. They had settled among the timbered lands, overlooking the broad-stretching, fertile prairies, lived in cabins, with dingy, smoked, log walls, unadorned by pictures or ornaments. They cared not for education or social advancement, yet were jealous of those who sought to obtain better homes and cultivate higher ideals. The old settlers were lovers of office, and the honors, powers, and emoluments arising therefrom; and on account of the rapid increase of the Saints, they feared the powers which they so highly prized, would be wrested from them. As early as the spring of 1832, their displeasure was made manifest. Windows were broken, bay stacks burned, and people insulted with abusive language. In 830 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the spring of the same year, three hundred old settlers met at Independence, to consider the plan of immediate removal, or destruction, of the "Mormon" people from Jackson County. This mass-meeting, however, only terminated in a drunken row. But the cloud of persecution still hung low, and sectarian priests fanned more vigorously the flame of public prejudice, until» by action of another mobocratic mass-meeting, a document was passed setting forth the alleged grievances of the mob, and binding all who signed it to assist in removing the "Mormons." They said that civil law did not afford sufficient guarantee against this people, who were idle and degraded, had the audacity to claim revelation from God, to heal sick by laying on of hands, speak in unknown tongues by inspiration, to perform miracles, and have prophets and apostles of God, all of which this document claimed is, "derogatory of God and religion, and subversive of human reason." Some of the charges were happily true, the Saints did receive revelations, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and in many cases direct from God, they did speak in tongues, they did heal the sick by the laying on of hands, and they did have inspired prophets and apostles. How all this can be derogatory of God and true religion, or subversive of human reason, can only be comprehened by a blood-thirsty Missouri mob, seeking in vain for an excuse to destroy an unoffending people. Nor was it long until the cloud of persecution burst. A few days later Bishop Edward Partridge and Elder Charles Allen were dragged to the public square, there stripped of their clothing, and a solution of acid and tar applied to their skin, covered with feathers, and set free to the fury of the angry mob. Clergymen, magistrates, state and county officials, men who had sworn to honor and sustain the law, alike looked on and participated in the outrage. The Saints were told that they would be given until the first of April to leave the country, and until then they would be unmolested; but, alas! how untrue! The fiendish hate of their enemies had not yet reached its climax. They sought the leaders of The Church, and with horrid yells and loud cursings, dragged them through the maddened crowd which abused and insulted them on the way to the public square. There they were given their choice, either to renounce their faith in the Book of Mormon, or THE EXPULSION FROM MISSOURI. 831 leave the country forthwith. Three days later, the mob came dashing into Independence, bearing red flags,and flourishing guns and knives, making the air hideous with their yells, "We will rid Jackson County of the 'Mormons,' peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must. If they will not go, we will whip and kill the men, ravish their women,and destroy their children." The mob proceeded to the Whitmer settlement, and whipped several of the men nigh unto death, drove helpless women and children into the cold, damp forest, in the middle of the night. Sectarian preachers, men whose breasts were supposed to be filled with the milk of human kindness, were found leading armed bands of marauders from place to place, stimulating the cowardly desire to assult the defenseless. One company of Saints, numbering nearly two hundred, with but three men among them, the remainder helpless women and children, were driven by that ferocious mob thirty miles across a snowcovered prairie, their trail being easily traced by the blood which flowed from their torn feet. One of these was a man whose blood had stained the snow that terrible winter at Valley Forge, where he had followed the Father of our Country, to protect our Constitution, which the Saints believed had been formed by divine inspiration yet now it stained the sleet and slush of Missouri, before a maddened, vicious, although unprovoked mob. On the west bank of the Missouri, were men, women, and children waiting for passage. Night was coming on, dark clouds were rising in the west; husbands were looking for wives, and they for their husbands; parents for their children, and they for their parents. Picture in your mind's eye that scene. The dismal, dark Missouri rolling on to the Father of Waters, while rain in torrents poured down from heaven, the blackness of night being broken only by serpent lines of lightning. Why were these helpless people thus exposed to the fury of the elements? What had they done? What laws divine or human had they broken? Poverty, superstition, unity, unpopular belief, these were their crimes. Where is the law in any land of civil and religious liberty that could reach them? Oh! were it not for that still small light that burned within their bosoms, and illumined their souls, with uplifted hands to heaven, they might have cried, Man! Country! God! Why have you forsaken us? 832 IMPROVEMENT ERA. In the fall of 1833, exiled from Jackson County at the bayonet's point, they settled among the hospitable and kindly disposed people of Clay County. Here they were permitted to remain for a period of three years, but alas! they were then on the eve of another exodus; the foul winds from Jackson County had breathed anew the breath of contention, the same charges, but more modified, had grown into a feeling of hostility, the first spark of which might ignite into the horrors of a civil war. Again they surrendered their dearest rights as American citizens, and settled in the Shoal Creek region. Here in this isolated wilderness, away from their former persecutors, they purchased land, almost entirely unoccupied, the primeval forest yet unaccustomed to the sound of the rifle or the woodman's ax. In response to a petition, the legislature of the State of Missouri, incorporated this region as a separate county, to which the name of Caldwell was given. Prosperity, good will, and unity existed here, and the city of Far West was founded. But conditions must soon change. The geyser only slept, for beneath the fair, frail crust of outside seeming, still boiled and rumbled, echoed and reechoed, the roaring of its dreadful waters, about to burst forth in renewed effort, upon the hapless Saints. Old charges were again revived. History oft repeats itself; men were whipped, women insulted, and property destroyed. They appealed for protection, and a redress of grievances, from sheriff, justice, judge; to secretary and governor. An answer was given, when, on the 20th of October, Governor Boggs issued an order placing it in the hands of Major General Clark at the head of three thousand men, to proceed to Far West and put it into execution. Was this an order for the protection of the abused Saints? No! it was an order for the extermination, or permanent exile, from the State of Missouri. In the afternoon of October 27, a soldier-mob, bearing the order of Missouri's first executive, fell upon the little settlement of Haun's Mill and murdered in cold blood, without warning or provocation, nearly a score of honest, true and virtuous American citizens. Among the number was one Thomas McBride, a soldier of the Revolution, who for his country had suffered untold hardship, hunger, and fatigue, who had volunteered his life for the benefit, protection and advancement of THE EXPULSION FROM MISSOURI. 833 humanity, was shot in cold blood by the mob; and before the black hand of death had hurled him on to immortality, the mobber, seeing a corn knife near, hacked his yet conscious body to pieces. Corn fields were robbed, thousands of acres of grain destroyed, cattle shot in their pens for sport. Then followed the advance upon Far West; finally the compromise that the Saints would lay down their arms, the leaders surrender themselves for the protection of their families, and the confiscation of their property to defray the expenses of the vast mob, incurred in committing these crimes and depredations. About seventy of the men were held prisoners and sentenced to death by a court which forbade their presence at the trial. Notices were placed in conspicuous places, that Joseph Smith and companions were to be put to death on the public square, the rest permitted to leave the state on pain of death. Major General Lucas handed down the following sentence: "Brigadier General Doniphan, Sir: You will take Joseph Smith and other prisoners into the Public Square of Far West, and shoot them at 9 o'clock to-morrow morning." Doniphan, possessing a knowledge of law and a kindness for humanity, replied that as it was cold-blooded murder, he would not obey the order, and the lives of the prisoners were saved. Again the work of extermination was begun. The sick were torn from their beds, thrust out into the midnight air, and compelled to seek safety in some bleak forest. There were shivering little children and infants there, homeless but for a mother's arms, couchless, but for a mother's breast; and in such distress, pursued by merciless oppressors, they fled from vile Missouri. Homeless, heart-broken and plundered they sought shelter among the uninhabited plains of Illinois. Such is the exodus from Missouri, such is a story of trial, persecution, and death, that would make the cheek of the savage flush, and the tale of the 'Exile of the Acadians" pale in comparison. The very thoughts of it tend to harrow up our soals, and make our blood boil with indignation and disgust. But the same Omnipotent God who governs and controls the mighty forces of earth, and guides the orbs of heaven in their prescribed courses, alike governs and shapes the destiny of man, and better, perchance a thousand times better, thai theirs was the life of privation and suffering, for thrice greater is their 834 IMPROVEMENl ERA. reward in heaven. And what a great and living testimony of the divinity of this work! how it stands out in bold relief against the unbelieving world; for never yet in the annals of profane or sacred history did people lay down their lives and all that was dear to them, suffer untold persecutions, privation and death for the doctrine of a man-shaped religion! How it should instil into our lives the righteous desire to uphold and promulgate the word of God and reverence his servants in charge! and how, with minds filled with reverence, love, and admiration, do we contemplate the sufferings of those connected with the exile from Missouri; and with up-lifted hands to heaven, we should thank our God, that we are considered worthy of the work which they so nobly carried through the expulsion from dark Missouri. As the light of day follows the darkest night, so after the long lapse of trial, persecution, exile and death, the path of the Saints should yet be lighted by a zenith sun. For what is man, that God should be mindful of him!