Mormons in Missouri
Anticipating a general gathering of members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons), Jacob Haun, moved to northern Missouri in 1835. Haun purchased 40 acres containing a good mill in Caldwell County, Missouri. As other church members gathered to the vicinity, a small farming settlement developed around the site. Life in the settlement was good.
Relations between church members and Missouri citizens began a downward spiral following the arrival of Joseph Smith and church leaders from Ohio in 1838. A clash of cultural attitudes and events set the stage for a horrific outcome at Haun's Mill.
The Missourians and Mormons represented vastly dissimilar political, economic and religious cultures. Both saw themselves in economic competition for control of a significant portion of the upper Missouri region. From the beginning, they had different expectations over whether church settlement activities were to be confined to Caldwell County.Distorted reports and rumors were circulated by non-Mormon settlers in the region. Mormons were blamed for many things in particular Missourians believed that Mormons would vote as a block, as such given their large numbers they believed non-Mormons would lose their voice in local government. In addition, many Mormons were opposed to the practice of slavery. Many local Missourians were worried that the Mormons would work to stop the practice of slavery. Many Missourians blamed the Mormons for stealing (converting) their family and friends to a religion and way of life that they did not understand. Lastly Mormon male leaders were sometimes viewed in the popular media of the time as greedy, lascivious and predatory. Some Missourians were worried for the “virtue” of their daughters, and their own economic safety.
Even as Missourians purposed to drive the Mormons from the state, Church members from outlying settlements began gathering from throughout the region into the church's central community at Far West. In light of non-member threats to burn the mill, Jacob Haun encouraged church members in Fairview Township to stay for the purpose of defending their homes and the mill. Isaac Leany wrote,
"some of the neighbours [sic] wanted to leave their homes and run off but having only about seven waggons [sic] to twenty three or four families we had to stay and defend ourselves
On 28 October 1838 a group of Missouri regulators, led by Col. William Jennings of Livingston County, negotiated a peace pact with the Saints. Though church defenders hoped this would forestall local violence, it was anticipated they should be prepared to defend the hamlet. The militia involved in the massacre was led by Colonel William Jennings, Sheriff of Livingston County. At the time of the attack it consisted of 240 men from Daviess, Livingston, Ray, Carroll, and Chariton counties and included prominent men such as Charles Ashby of the Missouri state legislature and Thomas O. Byron, Clerk of Livingston County.
Although the massacre took place a few days after Missouri's governor, Lilburn Boggs, issued his infamous Extermination Order, most historians have now concluded that the militia unit had neither the time nor the opportunity to have received news of the order
The threat posed by the growing strength and animosity of the Missouri militia caused considerable concern among the Mormon settlers at Haun's Mill. They held a council on Sunday, October 28, and decided to organize a defensive force. 28 men were armed and held in readiness against an attack. That same evening, one of the militia groups sent a representative who negotiated a truce with the settlers. Monday the 29th and most of Tuesday the 30th passed without incident.
On October 30 at approximately 4 p.m., the militia rode into the community. David Evans, a leader in the community, ran towards the militia, waving his hat and calling for peace. Alerted to the militia’s approach many women and children sought cover in streambed and distant forest, while most of the men headed to the blacksmith shop. Unfortunately, the building was a particularly vulnerable structure as the widely spaced logs made it easy for the attackers to fire inside. The shop became a deathtrap, since the militia gave no quarter, firing about two hundred rifle and musket shots into the building.
After the initial attack, several of those who had been wounded or had surrendered were shot dead. Members of the militia entered the shop and found ten-year-old Sardius Smith, eight-year old Alma Smith, and nine-year-old Charles Merrick hiding under the blacksmith's bellows. Alma and Charles were shot (Charles later died), and William Reynolds put his musket against Sardius's skull and blew off the top of his head, killing him. Reynolds later explained:
"Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon."
Ellis Ames' wife, Olive, left her own detailed account of the tragedy, written in 1896:
, "... two of the brethren, Mr. Rial Ames (my husband's brother) and Hyrum Abbott were sitting just outside the door, one cutting the other's hair, they rose from the chair and remarked. . . It's the mob right on us... I rushed out of the house... soon found myself and little ones hidden away down under the bluff in a little nook by the creek." "No sooner had I concealed myself... than my husband, Mr. Ames, and old Father McBride ran past hunting a place of concealment... Isaac Laney crossed the creek above me. The mob saw him and began firing. I saw him fall, then rise and climb the hill. He escaped death.... but Father McBride tried to surrender to Jacob Rogers of Daviess County, Rogers shot him in the chest and slashed his head, face and shoulders with a corn knife, leaving him lying in the creek to die.”
Several other bodies were mutilated or clothing stolen, while many women were assaulted. Houses were robbed, wagons, tents and clothing were stolen, and horses and livestock were driven off, leaving the surviving women and children destitute. The Missourians stopped firing after the last group of Mormons left the shop. Inside regulators stripped the wounded and dead of their clothing and boots. Three boys were found hiding and were shot. While some succeeded in escaping with their lives, seventeen defenders were killed outright or mortally wounded. Thirteen more had been injured, including a woman and nine-year-old child. A non-Mormon sympathizer was also killed. Three of the 250 militiamen were wounded, but none fatally. After the massacre, the dead were placed in an unfinished well and covered with dirt and straw. The survivors and their wounded gathered at Far West for protection.
Although participants in the massacre boasted of their acts for years, none of the Missouri attackers were ever brought to trial, and the Latter Day Saints' efforts at receiving justice in the Missouri courts failed. Through 2012 the grounds of the massacre are maintained as an historic site by the Community of Christ. In May 2012 it was announced that the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had acquired the property from the Community of Christ.