The Case for Christian Nationalism

7. The Christian Prince | V. The Christian Prince (Part 2)

Previously:

The Case for Christian Nationalism

My account of the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri is drawn from the book, of that title, by historian Stephen C. LeSueur, written for the University of Missouri; to my knowledge it is the only modern, detailed account not sponsored by the LDS church and, therefore, holds Joseph Smith and his followers well accountable for their part in the conflict. This is important, because, as will become apparent, there are two relevant angles to this story. If his theory was acted out in our time, Wolfe and his compatriots would initially play the part of the belligerent religious minority attempting to colonize areas held by people with other worldviews; should their project succeed, they would likely next take the position of the state, expelling other religious groups, but unable to restrain their troops’ hatred of the religious minority. LeSueur opens his account with a wonderful insight that, for our purposes, highlights how the academic “logical principles” of political theory often crash, head first, into the reality of human behavior this side of the fall:

Perhaps more than anything else the conflict between the Mormons and Missourians reveals the many weaknesses of human nature. Most people in both groups tried to follow a peaceful and moderate course, but rumors, prejudice, fear, and a misconceived devotion to God carried the conflict beyond the control of its participants leading normally law-abiding citizens to commit numerous crimes.¹

In 1835, Joseph Smith, the self-described “prophet-president” of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prophesied that Christ would return in fifty-six years and told his people to prepare for the Second Coming. In 1831, he had located Zion in Jackson County, Missouri, saying that this was where the Garden of Eden had resided; Mormons began settling in the region, mostly coming from New York; some built traditional towns, while others started communes, sharing all things in kind.² Missourians were generally not pleased; as LeSueur writes:

A variety of motives and fears stimulated the Missourians’ opposition to the Mormons. Although most of the older settlers were not particularly religious, they regarded the Mormons’ beliefs as obnoxious. They resented the Saints’ claims to being God’s chosen people and they considered the Mormons to be deluded fanatics, victims of the scheming designs of Joseph Smith and other Church leaders.³

Attempting to find a peaceful arrangement, a new county was created and a gentleman’s agreement was made with the Mormons that they would settle there. Toleration of Mormonism from Missourians now “rested primarily upon the Missourian’s belief that the Mormons would confine themselves to Caldwell County.” Though their main settlement, Far West, was in Caldwell, they very quickly broke the arrangement, spreading into several other counties, including Daviess, where they started the settlement Adam-ondi-Ahman, which Smith claimed was the place where Adam and Eve settled after the fall and whose name meant “the place where Adam dwelt.” This name was based on his claim to have received golden tablets containing a set of hieroglyphics, from an angel named Moroni, which contained a new testament of Jesus Christ. The Mormons began setting up competing businesses where they settled, including an attempted usurpation of the lucrative trade with Fort Leavenworth, just over the Kansas border. By 1838, the Mormon population in Missouri was 10,000; by comparison, Caldwell County’s southern neighbor, Carroll, had only 1,800 residents. Amid increasing tensions, Mormons began a secret society dedicated to protecting their settlements, called the Danites, headquartered in Far West.⁴

When Mormons settled a new town in Carroll County in 1838, emotions quickly boiled over; the citizens of Carroll voted to expel the Mormons and went to the town to demand they leave, but were rebuffed. That summer, a mob of one hundred men “rode into DeWitt and shot up the town, taking prisoners and threatening the Mormon inhabitants.” In response, a “steady stream” of Mormons moved into the town to solidify its defense.⁵ Due to the religious significance of Adam-ondi-Ahman, Mormons heavily settled Daviess County and quickly became the dominant voting block. Rumors swirled that the Whigs were planning violence to prevent Mormons from going to voting locations, putting Mormons in Daviess on edge. On August 6, in the small town of Galleton, after a vitriolic stump speech from the Whig candidate for the state legislature, in which he called Mormons “horse thieves, liars, counterfeiters, and dupes,” a longtime resident of the county, Dick Weldon, assaulted a local Mormon shoemaker, named Samuel Brown. When the Danite signal for distress was given, a full riot broke out, with Mormons and “Gentiles” fighting with “whips, clubs, rocks, and knives.” The next day, Joseph Smith led over one hundred Danites from Far West to Daviess County and threatened a judge whom he accused of anti-Mormon activities; in response, Smith was arrested but later released on bail. These types of engagements spread to most other counties with Mormon settlements, with both sides regularly taking part in vigilante violence.⁶

On August 30, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs ordered 2,800 state troops to stand at the ready. A week and a half later, Circuit Court Judge Austin King ordered state militia general David Atchison to raise four hundred troops to quell violence in Daviess, while, at the same time, vigilantes in Carroll postponed their attack on DeWitt to assist their compatriots in that county. Atchison was able to stop the violence in Daviess by September 20, and the Carroll vigilantes returned home, determined to expel the Mormons in DeWitt. By the beginning of October, the situation had so heavily devolved that vigilantes attacked and burned the home and barn of a settler and were preparing a full scale siege of the town. Governor Boggs attempted to intervene with militia, but the anti-Mormon sentiment of the troops was so significant that their commanding general, Hiram Parks, was forced to pull his men back to keep them from joining the vigilantes. On October 11, the Mormons in DeWitt surrendered, most of them fleeing to Far West.⁷ On the orders of Smith, the Danites and other Mormons attacked multiple towns in Daviess County, “driving settlers from their homes, plundering, and burning.”⁸ As LeSueur describes their mindset:

The desperate crimes committed by the Mormon soldiers can be attributed to several factors. Their militant activities and the belligerent speeches of their leaders during the summer and fall of 1838 had been leading them on a course of increasing lawlessness and violence. Pent-up hostility and frustration, fostered by years of persecution, lay waiting to explode.⁹

The overwhelming Mormon force drove most non-Mormons out of Daviess, and the attackers felt confident that God was behind them. Referencing Deuteronomy 32:30, one member of the party later wrote, “I thought that one Danite could chase a thousand Gentiles, and two could put ten thousand to flight.”¹⁰ Militia generals refused to involve their troops, knowing that they would act no better than the vigilantes. General Atchison informed the governor that vigilantes on both side were acting like “mad-men” and “committing numerous crimes and outrages.” He said that he would not call upon his troops, because they would simply join the non-Mormon side of the fighting.¹¹

Mormons regularly excommunicated those who questioned Smith’s actions, and on October 24, two former “apostles”, signed affidavits describing the continued militant intent of Mormon leadership and their secret Danite society. Under the (reliable) assumption that the Mormons intended to continue their campaign, an openly anti-Mormon captain under General Parks, Samuel Bogart, set camp with his troops at Crooked River, just south of the Caldwell County line, and prepared to march on the main Mormon settlement of Far West.¹²

(To be continued…)

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The Case for Christian Nationalism

1. Stephen C. LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, 1. paperback print., [Nachdr.] (Columbia, Mo: Univ. of Missouri Press, 1996), 5.

2. Ibid., 9, 10, 11.

3. Ibid., 17.

4. Ibid., 25, 29, 35.

5. Ibid., 55-58.

6. Ibid., 60-62, 67-89.

7. Ibid., 88, 90-112.

8. Ibid., 112, 120-121.

9. Ibid., 121.

10. Ibid., 126-127.

11. Ibid., 129.

12. Ibid., 130, 134-137.