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."*
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.
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."
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.
The business scandals in Ohio had not affected the reputation of the church leaders with their followers in Missouri (where the bank bills had not circulated) and Smith and Rigdon received a hearty welcome, their coming being accepted as a big step forward in the realization of their prophesied Zion. It proved, however, to be the cause of the expulsion of their followers from the state.
While the church, in a material sense, might have been as prosperous as Corrill pictured, Smith, on his arrival, found it in the throes of serious internal discord. The month before he reached Far West, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer, of the Presidency there, had been tried before a general assembly of the church,* and almost unanimously deposed on several charges, the principal one being a claim on their part to $2000 of the church funds which they had bound the Bishop to pay to them. Whitmer was also accused of persisting in the use of tea, coffee, and tobacco. T. B. Marsh, one of the Presidents pro tem. selected in their places, in a letter to the prophet on this subject, said:—
"Had we not taken the above measures, we think that nothing could have prevented a rebellion against the whole High Council and Bishop; so great was the disaffection against the Presidents that the people began to be jealous that the whole authorities were inclined to uphold these men in wickedness, and in a little time the church undoubtedly would have gone every man his own way, like sheep without a shepherd."
On April 11, Elder Bronson presented nine charges against Oliver Cowdery to the High Council, which promptly found him guilty of six of them, viz. urging vexatious lawsuits against the brethren, accusing the prophet of adultery, not attending meeting, returning to the practice of law "for the sake of filthy lucre," "disgracing the church by being connected with the bogus [counterfeiting] business, retaining notes after they had been paid," and generally "forsaking the cause of God." On this finding he was expelled from the church. Two days later David Whitmer was found guilty of unchristianlike conduct and defaming the prophet, and was expelled, and Lyman E. Johnson met the same fate.* Smith soon announced a "revelation" (Sec. 114), directing the places of the expelled to be filled by others.
It was in the June following that the paper drawn up by Rigdon and signed by eighty-three prominent members of the church was presented to the recalcitrants, ordering them to leave the county, and painting their characters in the blackest hues.* This radical action did not meet the approval of the more conservative element, which included men like Corrill, and he soon announced that he was no longer a Mormon. Not long afterward Thomas B. Marsh, one of the original members of the High Council of Twelve in Missouri, and now President of the Twelve, and Orson Hyde, one of the original Apostles, also seceded, and both gave testimony about the Mormon schemes in Caldwell and Daviess Counties. Cowdery and Whitmer considered their lives in such danger that they fled on horseback at night, leaving their families, and after riding till daylight in a storm, reached the house of a friend, where they found refuge until their families could join them.
The most important event that followed the expulsion of leading members from the church by the High Council was the formation of that organization which has been almost ever since known as the Danites, whose dark deeds in Nauvoo were scarcely more than hinted at,* but which, under Brigham Young's authority in Utah, became a band of murderers, ready to carry out the most radical suggestion which might be made by any higher authority of the church.
Corrill, an active member of the church in Missouri, writing in 1839 with the events fresh in his memory, said* that the members of the Danite society entered into solemn covenants to stand by one another when in difficulty, whether right or wrong, and to correct each other's wrongs among themselves, accepting strictly the mandates of the Presidency as standing next to God. He explains that "many were opposed to this society, but such was their determination and also their threatenings, that those opposed dare not speak their minds on the subject.... It began to be taught that the church, instead of God, or, rather, the church in the hands of God, was to bring about these things (judgments on the wicked), and I was told, but I cannot vouch for the truth of it, that some of them went so far as to contrive plans how they might scatter poison, pestilence, and disease among the inhabitants, and make them think it was judgments sent from God. I accused Smith and Rigdon of it, but they both denied it promptly."
Robinson, in his reminiscences in the Return in later years, gave the same date of the organization of the Danites, and said that their first manifesto was the one directed against Cowdery, Whitmer, and others.
We must look for the actual origin of this organization, however, to some of the prophet's instructions while still at Kirtland. In his "revelation" of August 6, 1833 (Sec. 98), he thus defined the treatment that the Saints might bestow upon their enemies: "I have delivered thine enemy into thine hands, and then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness;... nevertheless thine enemy is in thine hands, and if thou reward him according to his works thou art justified, if he has sought thy life, and thy life is endangered by him, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified."
What such a license would mean to a following like Smith's can easily be understood.
The next step in the same direction was taken during the exercises which accompanied the opening of the Kirtland Temple. Three days after the dedicatory services, all the high officers of the church, and the official members of the stake, to the number of about three hundred, met in the Temple by appointment to perform the washing of feet. While this was going on (following Smith's own account),* "the brethren began to prophesy blessings upon each other's heads, and cursings upon the enemies of Christ who inhabit Jackson County, Missouri, and continued prophesying and blessing and sealing them, with hosannah and amen, until nearly seven o'clock P. M. The bread and wine were then brought in. While waiting, I made the following remarks, 'I want to enter into the following covenant, that if any more of our brethren are slain or driven from their lands in Missouri by the mob, we will give ourselves no rest until we are avenged of our enemies to the uttermost.' This covenant was sealed unanimously, with a hosannah and an amen." **
The original name chosen for the Danites was "Daughters of Zion," suggested by the text Micah iv. 13: "Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thine hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate thy gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth." "Daughters" of anybody was soon decided to be an inappropriate designation for such a band, and they were next called "Destroying (or Flying) Angels," a title still in use in Utah days; then the "Big Fan," suggested by Jeremiah xv. 7, or Luke iii. 17; then "Brothers of Gideon," and finally "Sons of Dan" (whence the name Danites,) from Genesis xlix. 17: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backward."*
Avard presented the text of the constitution to the court at Richmond, Missouri, during the inquiry before Judge King in November, 1838* It begins with a preamble setting forth the agreement of the members "to regulate ourselves under such laws as in righteousness shall be deemed necessary for the preservation of our holy religion, and of our most sacred rights, and the rights of our wives and children," and declaring that, "not having the privileges of others allowed to us, we have determined, like unto our fathers, to resist tyranny, whether it be in kings or in the people. It is all alike to us. Our rights we must have, and our rights we shall have, in the name of Israel's God." The President of the church and his counsellors were to hold the "executive power," and also, along with the generals and colonels of the society, to hold the "legislative powers"; this legislature to "have power to make all laws regulating the society, and regulating punishments to be administered to the guilty in accordance with the offence." Thus was furnished machinery for carrying out any decree of the officers of the church against either life or property.
The Danite oath as it was administered in Nauvoo was as follows:—"In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I do solemnly obligate myself ever to regard the Prophet and the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as the supreme head of the church on earth, and to obey them in all things, the same as the supreme God; that I will stand by my brethren in danger or difficulty, and will uphold the Presidency, right or wrong; and that I will ever conceal, and never reveal, the secret purposes of this society, called Daughters of Zion. Should I ever do the same, I hold my life as the forfeiture, in a caldron of boiling oil."*
John D. Lee, who was a member of the organization, explaining their secret signs, says,* "The sign or token of distress is made by placing the right hand on the right side of the face, with the points of the fingers upward, shoving the hand upward until the ear is snug up between the thumb and forefinger."
It has always been the policy of the Mormon church to deny to the outside world that any such organization as the Danites existed, or at least that it received the countenance of the authorities. Smith's City Council in Nauvoo made an affidavit that there was no such society there, and Utah Mormons have professed similar ignorance. Brigham Young, himself, however, gave testimony to the contrary in the days when he was supreme in Salt Lake City. In one of his discourses which will be found reported in the Deseret News (Vol. VII, p. 143) he said: "If men come here and do not behave themselves, they will not only find the Danites, whom they talk so much about, biting the horses' heels, but the scoundrels will find something biting THEIR heels. In my plain remarks I merely call things by their own names." It need only be added that the church authority has been powerful enough at any time in the history of the church to crush out such an organization if it so desired.
A second organization formed about the same time, at a fully attended meeting of the Mormons of Daviess County, was called "The Host of Israel." It was presided over by captains of tens, of fifties, and of hundreds, and, according to Lee, "God commanded Joseph Smith to place the Host of Israel in a situation for defence against the enemies of God and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."
Another important feature of the church rule that was established at this time was the tithing system, announced in a "revelation" (Sec. 119), which is dated July 8, 1838. This required the flock to put all their "surplus property" into the hands of the Bishop for the building of the Temple and the payment of the debts of the Presidency, and that, after that, "those who have thus been tithed, shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever."
Ebenezer Robinson gives an interesting explanation of the origin of tithing. *In May, 1838, the High Council at Far West, after hearing a statement by Rigdon that it was absolutely necessary for the church to make some provision for the support of the families of all those who gave their entire time to church affairs, instructed the Bishop to deed to Smith and Rigdon an eighty-acre lot belonging to the church, and appointed a committee of three to confer with the Presidency concerning their salary for that year. Smith and Rigdon thought that $1100 would be a proper sum, and the committee reported in favor of a salary, but left the amount blank. The council voted the salaries, but this action caused such a protest from the church members that at the next meeting the resolution was rescinded. Only a few days later came this "revelation" requiring the payment of tithes, in which there was no mention of using any of the money for the poor, as was directed in the Ohio "revelation" about the consecration of property to the Bishop.
This tithing system has provided ever since the principal revenue of the church. By means of it the Temple was built at Nauvoo, and under it vast sums have been contributed in Utah. By 1878 the income of the church by this source was placed at $1,000,000 a year,* and during Brigham Young's administration the total receipts were estimated at $13,000,000. We shall see that Young made practically no report of the expenditure of this vast sum that passed into his control. To Horace Greeley's question, "What is done with the proceeds of this tithing?" Young replied, "Part of it is devoted to building temples and other places of worship, part to helping the poor and needy converts on their way to this country, and the largest portion to the support of the poor among the Saints."
As the authority of the church over its members increased, the regulation about the payment of tithes was made plainer and more severe. Parley P. Pratt, in addressing the General Conference in Salt Lake City in October, 1849, said, "To fulfil the law of tithing, a man should make out and lay before the Bishop a schedule of all his property, and pay him one-tenth of it. When he hath tithed his principal once, he has no occasion to tithe again; but the next year he must pay one-tenth of his increase, and one-tenth of his time, of his cattle, money, goods, and trade; and, whatever use we put it to, it is still our own, for the Lord does not carry it away with him to heaven."* Millennial Star, Vol. XII, p. 134.
The Seventh General Epistle to the church (September, 1851) made this statement, "It is time that the Saints understood that the paying of their tithing is a prominent portion of the labor which is allotted to them, by which they are to secure a future residence in the heaven they are seeking after."* This view was constantly presented to the converts abroad.
At the General Conference in Salt Lake City on September 8, 1850, Brigham Young made clear his radical view of tithing—a duty, he declared, that few had lived up to. Taking the case of a supposed Mr. A, engaged in various pursuits (to represent the community), starting with a capital of $100,000 he must surrender $10,000 of this as tithing. With his remaining $90,000 he gains $410,000; $41,000 of this gain must be given into the storehouse of the Lord. Next he works nine days with his team; the tenth day's work is for the church, as is one-tenth of the wheat he raises, one-tenth of his sheep, and one-tenth of his eggs.*
Under date of July 18, came another "revelation" (Sec. 120), declaring that the tithings "shall be disposed of by a Council, composed of the First Presidency of my church, and of the Bishop and his council, and by my High Council." The first meeting of this body decided "that the First Presidency should keep all their property that they could dispose of to advantage for their support, and the remainder be put into the hands of the Bishop, according to the commandments."* The coolness of this proceeding in excepting Smith and Rigdon from the obligation to pay a tithe is worthy of admiration.
Smith had shown his dominating spirit as soon as he arrived at Far West. In April, 1838, he announced a "revelation" (Sec. 115), commanding the building of a house of worship there, the work to begin on July 4, the speedy building up of that city, and the establishment of Stakes in the regions round about. This last requirement showed once more Smith's lack of judgment, and it became a source of irritation to the non-Mormons, as it was thought to foreshadow a design to control the neighboring counties. Hyde says that Smith and Rigdon deliberately planned the scattering of the Saints beyond the borders of Clay County with a view to political power.*
In accordance with this scheme, a "revelation" of May 19 (Sec. 116), directed the founding of a town on Grand River in Daviess County, twenty-five miles northwest of Far West. This settlement was to be called "Adam-ondi-Ahman," "because it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet." The "revelation" further explains that, three years before his death, Adam called a number of high priests and all of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there blessed them. Lee (who, following the common pronunciation, writes the name "Adam-on-Diamond") expresses the belief, which Smith instilled into his followers, that it "was at the point where Adam came and settled and blessed his posterity, after being driven from the Garden of Eden. There Adam and Eve tarried for several years, and engaged in tilling the soil." By order of the Presidency, another town was started in Carroll County, where the Saints had been living in peace. Immediately the new settlement was looked upon as a possible rival of Gallatin, the county seat, and the non-Mormons made known their objections.
With Smith and Rigdon on the ground, if these men had had any tact, or any purpose except to enforce Mormon supremacy in whatever part of Missouri they chose to call Zion, the troubles now foreshadowed might easily have been prevented. Every step they took, however, was in the nature of a defiance. The sermons preached to the Mormons that summer taught them that they would be able to withstand, not only the opposition of the Missourians, but of the United States, if this should be put to the test.*
The flock in and around Far West were under the influence of such advice when they met on July 4 to lay the corner-stone of the third Temple, whose building Smith had revealed, and to celebrate the day. There was a procession, with a flagpole raising, and Smith embraced the occasion to make public announcement of the tithing "revelation" (although it bears a later date).
The chief feature of the day, and the one that had most influence on the fortunes of the church, was a sermon by Sidney Rigdon, known ever since as the "salt sermon," from the text Matt. v. 13: "If the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." He first applied these words to the men who had made trouble in the church, declaring that they ought to be trodden under foot until their bowels gushed out, citing as a precedent that "the apostles threw Judas Iscariot down and trampled out his bowels, and that Peter stabbed Ananias and Sapphira." It was what followed, however, which made the serious trouble, a defiance to their Missouri opponents in these words: "It is not because we cannot, if we were so disposed, enjoy both the honors and flatteries of the world, but we have voluntarily offered them in sacrifice, and the riches of the world also, for a more durable substance. Our God has promised a reward of eternal inheritance, and we have believed his promise, and, though we wade through great tribulations, we are in nothing discouraged, for we know he that has promised is faithful. The promise is sure, and the reward is certain. It is because of this that we have taken the spoiling of our goods. Our cheeks have been given to the smiters, and our heads to those who have plucked off the hair. We have not only, when smitten on one cheek, turned the other, but we have done it again and again, until we are weary of being smitten, and tired of being trampled upon. We have proved the world with kindness; we have suffered their abuse, without cause, with patience, and have endured without resentment, until this day, and still their persecution and violence does not cease. But from this day and this hour, we will suffer it no more.
"We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn all men, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more for ever, for, from this hour, we will bear it no more. Our rights shall no more be trampled on with impunity. The man, or set of men, who attempt it, DOES IT AT THE EXPENSE OF THEIR LIVES. And that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them A WAR OF EXTERMINATION, FOR WE WILL FOLLOW THEM TO THE LAST DROP OF THEIR BLOOD IS SPILLED, OR ELSE THEY WILL HAVE TO EXTERMINATE US; for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses, and their own families, and one party or the other SHALL BE UTTERLY DESTROYED. Remember it then, all men.
"We will never be aggressors; we will infringe on rights of no people; but shall stand for our own until death. We claim our own rights, and are willing that all shall enjoy theirs.
"No man shall be at liberty to come in our streets, to threaten us with mobs, for if he does, he shall atone for it before he leaves the place; neither shall he be at liberty to vilify or slander any of us, for suffer it we will not in this place.
"We therefore take all men to record this day, as did our fathers. And we pledge this day to one another, our fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honors, to be delivered from the persecutions which we have had to endure for the last nine years, or nearly that. Neither will we indulge any man, or set of men, in instituting vexatious lawsuits against us to cheat us out of our just rights. If they attempt it we say, woe be unto them. We this day then proclaim ourselves free, with a purpose and a determination that never can be broken, no never, NO NEVER, NO NEVER."
Ebenezer Robinson in The Return (Vol I, p. 170) says:—
"Let it be distinctly understood that President Rigdon was not alone responsible for the sentiment expressed in his oration, as that was a carefully prepared document previously written, and well understood by the First Presidency; but Elder Rigdon was the mouthpiece to deliver it, as he was a natural orator, and his delivery was powerful and effective.
"Several Missouri gentlemen of note, from other counties, were present on the speaker's stand at its delivery, with Joseph Smith, Jr., President, and Hyrum Smith, Vice President of the day; and at the conclusion of the oration, when the president of the day led off with a shout of 'Hosannah, Hosannah, Hosannah,' and joined in the shout by the vast multitude, these Missouri gentlemen began to shout 'hurrah,' but they soon saw that did not time with the other, and they ceased shouting. A copy of the oration was furnished the editor, and printed in the Far West, a weekly newspaper printed in Liberty, the county seat of Clay county. It was also printed in pamphlet form, by the writer of this, in the printing office of the Elders' Journal, in the city of Far West, a copy of which we have preserved.
"This oration, and the stand taken by the church in endorsing it, and its publication, undoubtedly exerted a powerful influence in arousing the people of the whole upper Missouri country."
At the trial of Rigdon, when he was cast out at Nauvoo, Young and others held him alone responsible for this sermon, and declared that it was principally instrumental in stirring up the hostilities that ensued.
A state election was to be held in Missouri early in August, and there was a good deal of political feeling. Daviess County was pretty equally divided between Whigs and Democrats, and the vote of the Mormons was sought by the leaders of both parties. In Caldwell County the Saints were classed as almost solidly Democratic. When election day came, the Danites in the latter county distributed tickets on which the Presidency had agreed, but this resulted in nothing more serious than some criticism of this interference of the church in politics. But in Daviess County trouble occurred.
The Mormons there were warned by the Democrats that the Whigs would attempt to prevent their voting at Gallatin. Of the ten houses in that town at the time, three were saloons, and the material for an election-day row was at hand. It began with an attack on a Mormon preacher, and ended in a general fight, in which there were many broken heads, but no loss of life; after which, says Lee, who took part in it, "the Mormons all voted."*
Exaggerated reports of this melee reached Far West, and Dr. Avard, collecting a force of 150 volunteers, and accompanied by Smith and Rigdon, started for Daviess County for the support of their brethren. They came across no mob, but they made a tactical mistake. Instead of disbanding and returning to their homes, they, the next morning (following Smith's own account)* "rode out to view the situation." Their ride took them to the house of a justice of the peace, named Adam Black, who had joined a band whose object was the expulsion of the Mormons. Smith could not neglect the opportunity to remind the justice of his violation of his oath, and to require of him some satisfaction, "so that we might know whether he was our friend or enemy." With this view they compelled him to sign what they called "an agreement of peace," which the justice drew up in this shape:—
"I, Adam Black, A Justice of the Peace of Davies County, do hereby Sertify to the people called Mormin that he is bound to suport the constitution of this state and of the United States, and he is not attached to any mob, nor will not attach himself to any such people, and so long as they will not molest me I will not molest them. This the 8th day of August, 1838.
"ADAM BLACK, J.P."
When the Mormon force returned to Far West, the Daviess people secured warrants for the arrest of Smith, L. Wight, and others, charging them with violating the law by entering another county armed, and compelling a justice of the peace to obey their mandate, Black having made an affidavit that he was compelled to sign the paper in order to save his life. Wight threatened to resist arrest, and this caused such a gathering of Missourians that Smith became alarmed and sent for two lawyers, General D. R. Atchison and General Doniphan, to come to Far West as his legal advisers.* Acting on their advice, the accused surrendered themselves, and were bound over to court in $500 bail for a hearing on September 7.
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."*
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.* 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 militiamen. 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."
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 reenforcements 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 ignored, 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."* Cattle and hogs that could not be driven off were killed.** 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." ***
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.*