Extermination Order in Missouri

There was an extermination order against the Mormons in Missouri. It was an executive order by Governor Lilburn Boggs in 1838 and it was technically in effect until 1976.

More on all that here. Something leads me to believe that the story of the Mormon War is relevant to today. Anyway, you might want to read up when you have some time.

Maybe you all knew about it, but I was unaware of that executive order until recent months. Hat tip; Glenn Beck

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8 thoughts on “Extermination Order in Missouri

  1. Any wonder why LDS members are so well armed?

    Any wonder why certain elements of society want them to be disarmed.

    I’m not a member of LDS or any other religion. I could care less what they believe or choose to do in their personal day-to-day. I do know every LDS member I know are among the nicest people I know.

    Also while I despise Mitt Romney for his politics, I was appalled by the treatment of his faith by the Left in his various political campaigns. The left that also happens to be against the right to keep and bear arms.

  2. LDS people are among the most peace loving of the Christian faith, but from hard experience have learned that the government, whether state or federal, will not protect their religious freedom. As a group they are among the staunchest defenders of the Constitution. In most of their eyes Harry Reid is an abomination.

    Many, but not all, have developed a belief very similar to the Jews and Masada, “Never Again”.

    James Hendricks was shot through the neck at the Battle of Crooked River and was partially paralyzed the rest of his life and was still being carried on a stretcher when his family was forced to flee Missouri. His wife, Drusilla Dorris Hendricks cared for him until he was able to move around again. They were my wife’s 4th or 5th great grandparents. Their son William was 16 when he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion.

    Zadok Knapp Judd was 17 when he enlisted in the Battalion. He was another of my wife’s great grandfathers.

    If you don’t know about the Battalion, its a great story that includes the longest infantry march in US history, among others. Mormons have been protecting the country almost from the start of the religion, even while being persecuted and while the state and federal governments have refused to protect them.

    • Thanks for sharing, It’s important for people to know the connections they have with important historical events, even if it was just as an ordinary foot soldier.
      Without that connection we are just clothes-wearing tool-using animals with opposeable thumbs, who can talk about trivial stuff that happened last month. Without that connection we are susceptible to believing the lie that we cannot rise to the occasion and act heroically, being just ordinary, not rich, and all that. What was the name of the American black actor who was amazed to learn that an ancestor of his was a US Senator from some Southern state during reconstruction? I recall it really impressed him that an ancestor of HIS did such a thing. We all have such stories in our families, we just have to preserve them.

  3. But the only thing anyone knows about that is the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Sort of like the only thing people know about the Indian Wars is the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

    I forget where I read it, likely someplace pre-internet, but someone said that the Mormons were the Jews of North America. They work hard and punch above their weight class economically, and are generally reviled.

    We have in the public school canon, stories about being a child during the Revolutionary times, ie, Johnny Tremaine, or a slave in the antebellum South, ie North to Freedom, and others about being Indian on the reservation (sorry, no example). What we don’ have are stories for teens about the Battle of Athens Tennesee, or Shay’s Rebellion, (until now, thanks to Glenn Beck), or any awareness of the details of how and why the Mormons left Nauvoo Ilinois and came to settle by the Great Salt Lake. What a teen knows about John Brown is negligible, and to not know is to be ignorant of the causes of the Civil War.
    John Brown is another one whose story is highly relevant to issues of who is human today.
    History books are bunk, and that’s about the only thing I can wholeheartedly agree with that ever came out of the mouth of that old anti-Semite, Henry Ford.

  4. Wendy, so very true. As a family we’ve worked hard so our children and children in law understood their ancestors contributions, but there is so much great history and so little time to share it with them.

    Shays Rebellion is too little known, as is the Battle of Athens, though there have been some films made about Athens, at least. Glenn Becks book is wonderful, but only tells a tiny part.

    Mountain Meadows is poorly understood, and will never be completely documented because so many that took place were ashamed of their actions and never documented anything. Their actions were despicable, but too few people understand that some of those that took action had been persecuted by Missourians, and had watched children and women molested and killed by them. They took it out on a group that really hadn’t any part in what had happened back east. It doesn’t excuse their actions, but it does help make it a bit more understandable. There was a tremendous bitterness about Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and New York, where those people had been driven from their homes time after time. It was a hard time, and some of the people became hard and forgot their Christian values and beliefs.

    Mormons believe some very basic things when it comes to temporal success: You can make yourself succeed to higher levels than others achieve, you haven’t yet done the best that you can do, and you must demonstrate control over your life and emotions. That doesn’t make mormons better, it just makes them work harder, and thats being conservative at its most basic level.

  5. As a member of the LDS church, this is exactly why I have the attitude of “No more boxcars. Ever. For anyone.” It was used against my people. I refuse to see it used against any other peoples.

    • And so “my people” would mean all people then? And yet strictly speaking no one is owned by any other.

  6. I’m currently reading the biography of my 4th great grandfather, who was an officer in the Mormon Militia during the Mormon War in Missouri. He played a significant role in the election fight at Gallatin, where Missourians tried to prevent local Mormons from voting. He had to evacuate with his family, leaving his farm and property behind. At the conclusion of the war, he had to flee the state in the dead of night to escape death threats. Years later when he had to travel through Missouri, a group of men gathered to kill him upon learning that he was coming. He had to travel through the state clandestinely, avoiding any settlements.

    According to his autobiography, one of the hardest things he ever had to do was surrender his arms at the conclusion of the war. This act left the Mormons at the mercy of the hostile Missourians, and they were expelled from the state shortly thereafter, in winter, under penalty of death. My 4th great grandfather and the other Mormons were welcomed warmly by the citizens of Illinois until public opinion changed and they were forced out of that state by armed mobs.

    His story and that of other groups who have been similarly persecuted has etched in my mind the understanding that public opinion changes easily and is not to be trusted. Political will likewise changes easily. Even an honorable and trustworthy politician’s word (if such exists) is only good while he is in office. Once he is replaced, his promises are only as good as his replacement wants them to be.

    We are seeing this throughout the country as pension plans that had been promised to public employees for decades are changing or being rescinded because of budget pressure. Most strikingly, we’re seeing this right now in Ukraine, which dismantled its nuclear weapons deterrent in exchange for guarantees of military aid should the Russians attack. It looks unlikely that those treaties will be honored.

    The experience of my Mormon ancestors remind me (and I think most Mormons) that government is only as good as its leaders and it is up to all of us to protect our rights and freedom.

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