Missouri bicentennial: Mormon order of 1838 'one of the saddest stories in American political history'

This is the fourth of a series of articles with Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation board chairman Frank Nickell, an emeritus faculty member of Southeast Missouri State University, commenting on Show Me State history on the 200th anniversary of Missouri being received as America’s 24th state in 1821.

Frank Nickell calls the 1838 extermination order directed at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), issued by then-Gov. Lilburn Boggs, “one of the saddest stories in American political history.”

The order, officially Executive Order 44, was issued Oct. 27, 1838, after the Battle of Crooked River, a clash between a unit of the Missouri State Militia and Mormons in Ray County, Missouri.

Boggs, who served just a single term as Show Me State governor, called for the LDS to be driven from the state by what the order called “open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this State (and) 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.”

Nickell’s analysis of this dark period of political intolerance is summed up in a single word: jealousy.

“(Mormons) were known to be extremely passionate, dedicated, hard-working, were savers, were very successful in raising crops and they had isolated themselves,” Nickell said.

“Missouri in the 1830s was still a rough state and the Mormon life philosophy was in conflict with the frontier mentality,” he added.

Backstory

The State Historical Society of Missouri recounts the following:

“Members of the (LDS) arrived in Jackson County in the early 1830s led by a vision of their leader, Joseph Smith, who described it as the ‘New Zion.’ By 1833, about 1,200 Mormons had settled in Jackson County, roughly one-third of the county’s population. The Mormons sent missionaries into present-day Kansas to convert the indigenous tribes. (The LDS) also opposed slavery. Non-Mormon settlers feared the growing number of Mormon families and that its leadership would dominate politics, business and religion in the Kansas City area and tensions grew between both groups. Violence broke out when an anti-Mormon mob destroyed the Mormon printing office and threw its press into the Missouri River. The mob attacked homes and shops and tarred and feathered two prominent (LDS) leaders. Continued threats forced the Mormons to agree to abandon the county by 1834 and eventually settled in newly created Caldwell County. The number of Mormons grew there and further attacks evolved into the 1838 ‘Mormon War.’”

Boggs’ order

Gov. Boggs served from 1837 to 1840, and was not a disinterested observer. Boggs, who was 41 years old at the time of his infamous 1838 order, had a home in Jackson County and was himself part of the anti-Mormon resistance. When LDS leader Smith and other Mormon leaders were captured by the Missouri Militia, Boggs ordered their executions.

Doniphan’s ‘no’

Brig. Gen. Alexander William Doniphan, for whom the city of Doniphan in Ripley County is named, refused Boggs’ directive, calling it “cold-blooded murder.” Doniphan, who was also an attorney, represented Smith in court and is generally credited with saving the Mormon leader’s life.

“Smith’s followers made their way to a sanctuary in Illinois before eventually locating their church headquarters in Utah. While in jail, Smith and the other Mormon prisoners (in Missouri) escaped to Illinois and rejoined their members,” according to www.missouri2021.org.

Assassination attempt

After he left Missouri’s governorship, Boggs was shot in May 1842 through a window of his Independence, Missouri, home while reading a newspaper in his study. Boggs was hit by buckshot in four places: two balls lodged in his skull, another lodged in his neck and a fourth entered his throat. A man named Rockwell, identified as a close associate of Joseph Smith, was tried and acquitted of the crime. Boggs made a full recovery, moved to Sonoma, California, in 1846 and was elected to that state’s senate in 1852. Boggs died in 1860.

Order finally rescinded

Nearly 138 years after Boggs’ order was announced, it was rescinded by Gov. Christopher “Kit” Bond on June 25, 1976, accompanied by an official apology, which expressed “deep regret” for “undue suffering” caused by the directive of Bond’s long-deceased predecessor.

Nickell’s reflection

Before his 43-year tenure on the faculty of Southeast Missouri State University, Nickell taught seven years in a New Mexico high school.

At Sandra High School in Albuquerque, the educator said he had “a lot” of Mormon students.

“I did not see a more dedicated group of believers in my teaching career (than Mormons),” Nickell said.

“One of the two best and most hard-working students I had in 50 years of teaching was a Mormon,” he added.