I stand in Far West, a rather obscure place in northern Missouri, and as far as I can see, where once there was a bustling community of Latter-day Saints with homes, shops and a school, there are only empty fields. What happened to the people who once were here and why is only silence left behind? How could it possibly be that a sitting governor could order an extermination order on a group of people? Here in America? Unthinkable. It’s a human, heart-breaking story that gives us context for today’s lesson.
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Scot
I stand in Far West, a rather obscure place in northern Missouri, and as far as I can see, where once there was a bustling community of Latter-day Saints with homes, shops and a school, there are only empty fields. What happened to the people who once were here and why is only silence left behind? How could it possibly be that a sitting governor could order an extermination order on a group of people? Here in America? Unthinkable. It’s a human, heart-breaking story that gives us context for today’s lesson.
Maurine
Hello and welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast where today we are studying Doctrine and Covenants Sections 115-120 and the story of the Latter-day Saints who were warred upon in Far West. Before we launch in, Meridian’s 2022 Come Follow Me calendars on the Old Testament have just arrived and now is the time to get them for your home and for your friends for Christmas. One person just bought 45—because they are the perfect gift for your Latter-day Saint friends and neighbors—those you serve with, minister to, your children who have their own families. Scot’s stunning photography of the Old Testament sites immerses you into this ancient world and week-by-week Come Follow Me assignments are featured. The places of the Old Testament are right there on the wall to inspire you. Someone just wrote, “I’m excited about this calendar. It’s so beautiful and genuinely makes me want to dig into the Old Testament.” Learn more about it at latterdaysaintmag.com/2022. That’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2022
Scot
When the Latter-day Saints were driven from Independence, Missouri at the end of 1833, they found temporary shelter in Clay County. “Though the citizens of Clay County were at first hospitable and kind to the Saints, it was not long before they began to feel that these spiritual refugees needed to find homes and work elsewhere. Citizens met in Clay, Ray, Clinton, and other counties, plotting to deprive the Saints of their rights and drive them from the counties.
“Finally, Alexander Doniphan, a state legislator and loyal friend to the Saints, introduced a bill for the creation of two small counties in the northern part of large Ray County, one to be a home for the Mormons. A buffer some six miles between the counties was created where no one would be allowed to settle. After being homeless for nearly three years, the Saints flowed into Caldwell and also Daviess counties by the thousands, seeking refuge and strength in the security of their numbers.
Maurine
“W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer located a site for a city in the northern prairie of Ray County, naming it Far West. Using money that had been collected from branches of the Church for ‘bleeding Zion,’ they purchased land for a town site.
“The Lord told Joseph in Far West [in Section 115] ‘that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath. . . . Let the city, Far West, be a holy and consecrated land unto me. . . . It is my will that the city . . . should be built up speedily by the gathering of my saints.’ (D&C 115:6-7, 17.)
Scot
“The plat for the city of Far West was a pattern for Zion, given to the Saints by the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was laid out with one square mile of land, with streets aligned to the compass, running north and south, east and west, and forming 3.6-acre blocks. A temple would be built in the center of the city, and all the locations in the town would be measured by their distance away from this central block.
“What had once been a lonely prairie, where the winds blew through the grasses, became almost overnight a bustling community. As persecutions increased in Ohio, Kirtland Saints streamed in. Homeless Missouri Saints came looking for stability, and in March 1838, Joseph and six-months-pregnant Emma joined the members thronging to Far West.
“’Joseph’s presence was a solace and a sustaining power to the Saints. He animated them by the courage of his presence and taught them patience by his own tenacity and endurance,’ said George Q. Cannon. ‘He was not there as a warrior; he did not bear arms; and yet he was a tower of strength to his people.’
Maurine
“This was a time for the Saints, with unflinching spirit, to begin again, plowing fields and laying cornerstones, establishing other settlements at Haun’s Mill and DeWitt.
“Caldwell County in 1836 was a wilderness. By the spring of 1838 the population was more than 5,000 of which more than 4,900 were Latter-day Saints with the greater concentration at Far West which by this time had 150 houses, four dry goods stores, three family groceries, half-a-dozen blacksmith shops, a printing establishment and two hotels. A large and comfortable schoolhouse had been built in 1836 and served also as a church and courthouse.
Scot
“Having lost the temple in Kirtland, Joseph had uppermost in his mind the goal of building another temple. Upon the Lord’s command, cornerstones were laid July 4, 1838, with great fanfare and hope.” (Scot Facer Proctor, Maurine Jensen Proctor, Witness of the Light, A Photographic Journey in the Footsteps of the American Prophet, Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book).
“During the few untroubled days at Far West, important revelations were given to the young Church. The law of tithing was reintroduced from the ancient times, which was a giving of one-tenth of one’s increase (income) annually to the Lord.
Maurine
Anciently the Lord had said, Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings…Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (3 Ne. 24:8,10).
We’ve heard this often, and Elder Bednar, gives us a unique view. “The imagery of the ‘windows’ of heaven used by Malachi is most instructive. Windows allow natural light to enter into a building. In like manner, spiritual illumination and perspective are poured out through the windows of heaven and into our lives as we honor the law of tithing.”
Scot
The blessings, Elder Bednar notes are often subtle, but significant. “We may need and pray for help to find suitable employment. Eyes and ears of faith (see Ether 12:19) are needed, however, to recognize the spiritual gift of enhanced discernment that can empower us to identify job opportunities that many other people might overlook—or the blessing of greater personal determination to search harder and longer for a position than other people may be able or willing to do. We might want and expect a job offer, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to act and change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else.
Maurine
“We may appropriately desire and work to receive a pay raise in our employment to better provide the necessities of life. Eyes and ears of faith are required, however, to notice in us an increased spiritual and temporal capacity (see Luke 2:52) to do more with less, a keener ability to prioritize and simplify, and an enhanced ability to take proper care of the material possessions we already have acquired. We might want and expect a larger paycheck, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else.” (David A. Bednar, Windows of Heaven, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/10/the-windows-of-heaven?lang=eng
Scot
We pay our tithing sometimes from scanty means, not because we are expecting a check to compensate us for our offering, but because it is our way of expressing that we are God’s people and He is our God. It is our privilege to pay tithing, and the detailed discipline and revelation that follows is priceless. We can be assured, that at least in this commandment, we can do it with exactness. It is a foundational security. We are giving to the Lord, what is already His, since He is the creator of the whole earth and everything in it.
Elder Ronald E. Poelman said, “May tithing be regarded as a sacrifice? Yes, particularly if we understand the meaning of the two Latin words from which the English word sacrifice is derived. These two words, sacer and facere, taken together mean ‘to make sacred.’ That which we return to the Lord as tithing is indeed made sacred, and the obedient are edified.
“Much earlier, the Lord emphasized the sacredness of tithing to Moses in these words, recorded in the book of Leviticus: “And all the tithe of the land … is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord” (Lev. 27:30).
Maurine
Once in a while, the subtle blessings of paying tithing do become obvious. Elder Poelman said, “As a young married couple, my wife and I were expecting the birth of our first child. I was studying law at the university and working nights in a gasoline station. We had very little money. We had furnished our small basement apartment with some used furniture and many wooden boxes.
“As the time of the birth approached, we had assembled everything we would need, except we had no bed for the baby and no money to buy one.
“It was our practice at that time to pay our tithing each month on fast Sunday. As that day approached, we discussed the possibility of postponing the paying of our tithing so that we could make an initial payment on a baby bed. In the spirit of the fast, and after praying, we decided to pay the tithing and trust our Heavenly Father.
Scot
“A few days later, I was walking in the business district of the city and unexpectedly met my former mission president, who asked if I was in school or working at a job. I replied that I was doing both.
“Was I married? ‘Yes!’
“’Did we have children? ‘No, but our first child will be born in just a few weeks.’
Maurine
“’Do you have a bed for the baby?” he asked. “’No,’” I replied reluctantly, startled by the direct question.
“’Well,’” he said, “’I am now in the furniture business, and it would please me to have a baby bed delivered to your apartment as a gift.’”
“A great feeling of relief, gratitude, and testimony came over me.
“The gift filled a temporal need but is still a poignant reminder of the spiritual experience that accompanied it, confirming again that the law of tithing is a commandment with a promise.” (Ronald E. Poelman, Tithing: A Privlege, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1998/04/tithing-a-privilege?lang=eng)
Scot
In the early decades of the Church, leaders continued to affirm that tithing was a commandment and obligation. In 1882, tithing payment became a requirement for temple attendance. Finally, in May of 1899, Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of the Church was worried about the debt and steep financial obligations of the Church. He prayed and did not receive an immediate answer but he did receive a prompting that he should visit the towns in southern Utah where there had been a terrible drought as it hadn’t rained in months. As he traveled south, President Snow saw the thirsty plants and animals, the arid ground that could not grow the crops necessary to feed the people.
Maurine
Then at a stake conference in St. George, Utah, he paused as he spoke. “The room was still as everyone waited for him to speak. When he started talking again, his voice was strong, and the people could tell that he was speaking under the inspiration of the Lord. He said, ‘The word of the Lord is: The time has now come for every Latter-day Saint … to do the will of the Lord and to pay his tithing in full. That is the word of the Lord to you, and it will be the word of the Lord to every settlement throughout the land of Zion’. (quoted in LeRoi C. Snow, “The Lord’s Way Out of Bondage,” p. 439) He told the Saints that the Lord was displeased with them because they had not been paying their tithing and he promised them that if they paid their tithing, rain would begin to fall and their crops would grow.
Scot
As he traveled back to Salt Lake City, he stopped at many settlements to preach the law of tithing. He told the Church: “The poorest of the poor can pay tithing; the Lord requires it at our hands. … Everybody should pay tithing. … The law shall be observed. … And we shall pay our debts. … God bless you” (quoted in Carter E. Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored, p. 546).
The part of this story that we don’t usually hear is that it rained as the Lord promised—but it didn’t come for two months! It is not as if the rain began gushing and the rows filled with water as people turned in their first tithes. They had to act on great faith and we may find this in our lives. Blessings, even vital ones, may not come in our time or in our way, but we can trust if we obey the law, the windows of heaven will be opened to us. The strict adherence to this sacred law, first given in Far West in this dispensation would later free the debt-laden Church from all encumbrances of the world, but Joseph would not live to see that day.
Maurine
Another vital revelation given in Far West was the official name of the Church.
“For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” (D&C 115:4.) At the time of the ministry of the Savior upon the earth, too, his church was called after his name, with members referred to as “Saints.”
Who names something defines it. And the Lord did. It is not inconsequential that over the years we slid into calling ourselves Mormons, a name that enemies of the Church had once given us derisively. When President Russell M. Nelson announced a course correction for the Church, he said, “I did this because the Lord impressed upon my mind the importance of the name He decreed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Scot
He said, “As you would expect, responses to this statement and to the revised style guide have been mixed. Many members immediately corrected the name of the Church on their blogs and social media pages. Others wondered why, with all that’s going on in the world, it was necessary to emphasize something so ‘inconsequential.’ And some said it couldn’t be done, so why even try? Let me explain why we care so deeply about this issue. But first let me state what this effort is not:
- It is not a name change.
- It is not rebranding.
- It is not cosmetic.
- It is not a whim.
- And it is not inconsequential.”
(President Russell M. Nelson The Correct Name of the Church, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-correct-name-of-the-church?lang=eng).
It is so consequential.
When the Savior visited the Americas, He said, “Ye shall call the church in my name…And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel” (3 Nephi 27:8.).
Maurine
When President Nelson asked us to use the correct name of the Church, people said it was impossible and awkward. How can you rebrand something like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, when that name has been used on air since 1929? What do you do about your websites and missionary efforts that have all been branded “Mormon”? For me, it is so grounding to know that the Lord cares what His church is called and no other consideration is as important. Early on, we gave Meridian Magazine, the url ldsmag.com, so it could be simple for people, but we didn’t have to think twice about changing the url to latterdaysaintmag.com to align ourselves with what the Lord said His church should be called.
Scot
Now we return to the story of the tragedy of Far West, which is important to understand, because it profoundly marked the sensibilities of the Latter-day Saints and Joseph Smith in the years that followed.
“While Joseph was laying out this city, apostasy began to rage within the ranks of the Church. Jealousies, pride, and insurrections overcame some of the most powerful leaders of the Church, including David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, Luke Johnson, and others, some of whom had been charged with using Church funds to obtain personal profit. [Some of them had used the Church’s funds to buy personal property.] Joseph’s heart broke to see many of these once-loyal friends turn against him and the Church, to see them excommunicated. Joseph’s life now was nearly always in danger from without and within the Church.” (See Proctor, Witness)
William Phelps, who had written “The Spirit of God like a Fire is Burning” for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple” and had the printing press that was destroyed in Independence turned against the Church.
Maurine
“Affidavits and letters that apostate William Phelps had written led to much suffering and hardship for the Saints in Far West. When he later came back repentant, desiring to have full fellowship again with the Saints, Joseph wrote to him with compassion and charity: “It is true, that we have suffered much in consequence of your behavior—the cup of gall, already full enough for mortals to drink, was indeed filled to overflowing when you turned against us. One with whom we had oft taken sweet counsel together, and enjoyed many refreshing seasons from the Lord—’had it been an enemy, we could have borne it. . . . ‘
“’However, the cup has been drunk, the will of our Father has been done. . . . I shall be happy once again to give you the right hand of fellowship, and rejoice in the returning prodigal. . . .
‘Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, For friends at first, are friends again at last.’ William Phelps ever remembered the kindness and loving forgiveness of the Prophet and the Lord.
Scot
As the Saints began to assemble in Far West, “the war clouds began again to lower with dark and threatening aspect,” recorded Parley P. Pratt. “Those who had combined against the laws in the adjoining counties, had long watched our increasing power and prosperity with jealousy, and with greedy and avaricious eyes. It was a common boast that, as soon as we had completed our extensive improvements, and made a plentiful crop, they would drive us from the state, and once more enrich themselves with the spoils.”
One day the Prophet was at his parents’ home writing letters. “While he was thus engaged,” his mother recorded, “I beheld a large company of armed men advancing . . . eight of them came into the house. . . . ‘We have come here to kill Joe Smith and all the “Mormons.”‘ . . . ‘I suppose,’ said I, ‘you intend to kill me, with the rest?’ ‘Yes, we do,’ returned the officer. ‘Very well,’ I continued, ‘I want you to act the gentleman about it, and do the job quick. Just shoot me down at once, then I shall be at rest; but I should not like to be murdered by inches.’ ‘There it is again,’ said he. ‘You tell a “Mormon” that you will kill him, and they will always tell you, “that is nothing—if you kill us, we shall be happy.”‘
“Joseph, just at that moment finished his letter, and, seeing that he was at liberty, I said, ‘Gentlemen, suffer me to make you acquainted with Joseph Smith, the Prophet.’ They stared at him as if he were a spectre. He smiled, and stepping towards them, gave each of them his hand, in a manner which convinced them that he was neither a guilty criminal nor yet a hypocrite.” Joseph spoke to them at length about the things the Saints had suffered and then “he said, ‘Mother, I believe I will go home now—Emma will be expecting me.’ At this two of the men sprang to their feet, and declared that he should not go alone, as it would be unsafe—that they would go with him, in order to protect him.” At the doorway, Lucy heard the conversation of the remaining guards about Joseph: “Did you not feel strangely when Smith took you by the hand? I never felt so in my life.” “I could not move. I would not harm a hair of that man’s head for the whole world.” “This is the last time you will catch me coming to kill Joe Smith, or the ‘Mormons’ either.”
Maurine
“To the great chagrin of the Saints, however, their avowed enemy in Jackson County, Lilburn W. Boggs, was elected governor of the state. In “Diahman” (short for Adam-ondi-Ahman), the members of the Church wanted to be sure that they elected their own representative to serve in state government. Local resident William Peniston was a staunch foe of the Saints and desired to be elected against a far greater ratio of Mormons to non-Mormons.
“The day of the election arrived, August 6, 1838, and Peniston addressed a crowd of voters in Gallatin (four miles south of Diahman), which at that time was a small row of ‘ten houses, three of which were saloons.’ Hoping to excite the crowd against the Mormons, he shouted, ‘The Mormon leaders are a set of horse thieves, liars, counterfeiters, and you know they profess to heal the sick, and cast out devils, and you all know that is a lie.’ With this kind of a speech, emotions ran high, and Dick Welding, a mob bully, punched one of the Saints to the ground. A fight broke out on all sides, with Mormon John Butler grabbing an oak stake from a woodpile and striking Missourians to the ground. Many people on both sides were seriously injured. Though few Mormons braved voting that day, Peniston still lost the election.
Scot
“After the election-day incident, relations between the Latter-day Saints and their anti-Mormon neighbors deteriorated rapidly. The Prophet tried to calm the hostility that had arisen in the area, visiting Adam Black, the newly elected judge for Daviess County, and pleading with him to sign an agreement of peace.
“It was a worthless scrap of paper whose promise lasted less than twenty-four hours. Distorted stories spread like a prairie fire, further enflaming the mob spirit. ‘Smith has organized an army of five hundred men to exterminate the old settlers,’ they said.
“Smoldering emotions turned to violence against the Saints. Hyrum Smith testified in an affidavit that several Mormons were whipped and that their bodies were lacerated with hickory withes, as well as being tied to trees and deprived of food. Joseph noted families scattered from their homes and said, ‘My feelings were such as I cannot describe when I saw them flock into the village, almost entirely destitute of clothes.’”
“When the Saints appealed to Governor Boggs for relief, he said, ‘The quarrel was between the Mormons and the mob,’ and that they ‘might fight it out.’
Maurine
“Emboldened by the governor’s apathy, a mass of anti-Mormon forces marched on Caldwell and Daviess counties to force the Mormons out.
“As dawn approached on October 25, 1838, the militia from Far West engaged in battle at Crooked River, and three of the Mormons, including David W. Patten of the Council of the Twelve, were killed. The clash gave Boggs, a longtime enemy of the Saints, the excuse he had been waiting for. He claimed that the Saints had initiated hostilities, therefore, he wrote by executive order, ‘The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good.’
“Parley P. Pratt complained of the order: ‘It said nothing of criminals; it made no allusion to punishing crime and protecting innocence; it was sufficient to be called a “Mormon.” A peaceable family just emigrating, or passing through the country; a missionary going or coming on his peaceable errand of mercy; an aged soldier of the American revolution on his death bed . . . a widow with her babes; the tender wife, or helpless orphan; all were included in this order of wholesale extermination or banishment.’
Scot
“Extermination began, just three days after the governor’s order, at Haun’s Mill, a small settlement, where at 4:00 P.M. children were playing on either side of the creek and mothers were involved in domestic duties. Suddenly the sound of one hundred rifles crashed through the air as the mob shot mercilessly at everything in sight. Amanda Barnes Smith and her daughters saved their lives by running to the woods with bullets whistling by ‘like hailstones.’ But when she crept back to the mill, she saw her husband and ten-year-old son ‘lifeless upon the ground.’ Then she found another son shot in the head under the blacksmith’s bellows where he had attempted to hide. Nineteen people were massacred.”
Can you imagine the hard-heartedness of someone who would point guns through the trees and turn them on peaceful families going about their every day work on a sunny afternoon?
Maurine
On October 31, 1838, the anti-Mormon, official state militia, numbering up to three thousand gathered around Far West, ready to attack. Now, we have our own Benedict Arnold, a Latter-day Saint by the name of George M. Hinckle who was a colonel of the Mormon-controlled Caldwell County Militia. He made a secret deal with Commanding General Lucas of the state militia to turn over Joseph Smith for trial and punishment.
He also agreed that Mormon property would be confiscated for damages and that the Saints would surrender their arms and leave the state.
Scot
“In Far West, [the traitor] Hinckle told Joseph, Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt, and others, that Lucas wanted a peace conference with them. When they met together, however, Lucas instantly ordered his guard to surround the Mormon leaders. Whooping and yelling like bloodhounds let loose upon their prey, they swore oaths and mocked the men throughout the night: ‘Come, Mr. Smith, show us an angel. Give us one of your revelations. Show us a miracle!’” Their intent was to murder them without trial the next morning.
“Parley Pratt wrote, ‘No pen need undertake to describe our feelings during that terrible night, while there confined—not knowing the fate of our wives and children, or of our fellow Saints, and seeing no way for our lives to be saved except by the miraculous power of God. But, notwithstanding all earthly hopes were gone, still we felt a calmness indescribable. A secret whispering to our inmost soul seemed to say: ‘Peace, my sons, be of good cheer, your work is not yet done; therefore I will restrain your enemies, that they shall not have power to take your lives.’’
Maurine
Lucy Mack Smith wrote of her experience that night: “At the time when Joseph went into the enemy’s camp, Mr. Smith and myself stood in the door of the house in which we were then living, and could distinctly hear their horrid yellings. Not knowing the cause, we supposed they were murdering him. Soon after the screaming commenced, five or six guns were discharged. At this Mr. Smith, folding his arms tight over his breast and grasping his sides, cried, groaning with mental agony, ‘Oh, my God! my God! they have murdered my son and I must die, for I cannot live without him!’
“I was unable to answer him. In all our other troubles I had been able to speak a word of consolation to him, but now I could do nothing but mingle my cries and groans with his. Still, the shrieking and screaming continued. No tongue can ever express the sound that was conveyed to our ears nor the sensations that were produced in our hearts. It was like the screeching of a hundred owls mingled with the howling of an army of bloodhounds and the screaming of a thousand panthers all famishing for the prey which was being torn piecemeal among them.
“My husband was immediately taken sick and never regained his health afterwards, although he lived two more years.” (Lucy Mack Smith, author; Scot Facer Proctor, Maurine Proctor, editors. The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book).
Scot
General Alexander Doniphan received an order from his superior, General Lucas, to execute the prisoners the next morning in the public square, he saved their lives, saying, “It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty tomorrow morning, at 8 o’clock; and if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God.”
General Doniphan saved Joseph, Hyrum and the other church leaders with his refusal to shoot them, but as they left the next morning, they knew their lives were in great danger.
Maurine
Lucy said, “When our sons were to be taken away, a messenger came and told us that if we ever were to see our sons alive again, we would have to go immediately to them, as they were in the wagon to be driven to Independence and would be gone in a few minutes. My husband was then too ill to be able to go, but Lucy and I started alone, for we were the only well ones of the family.
Lucy said, “When we came within about four hundred yards of the wagon, we could go no farther because they were surrounded by men.‘I am the mother of the Prophet, I cried, ‘and is there not a gentleman here who will assist me through this crowd to that wagon that I may take a last look at my children and speak to them once more before they die?’ One individual volunteered to make a pathway through the army, and we went on through the midst of swords, muskets, pistols, and bayonets, threatened with death at every step, until at last we arrived at the wagon. The man who accompanied me spoke to Hyrum, who was sitting in the front, and told him his mother was there and wished him to reach his hand to her. He did so, but I was not permitted to see him, for the cover of the wagon was made of very heavy cloth and tied closely down in front and nailed fast at the sides.
We merely shook hands with him and the other prisoners who sat in the forepart of the wagon, before several of the men in the mob exclaimed, ‘Drive over them,’ calling to us to get out of the way, swearing at us and threatening us in the most dreadful manner.
Scot
Lucy continued, “Our friend then conducted us to the hinder part of the wagon where Joseph was, and said, ‘Mr. Smith, your mother and sister are here and wish to shake hands with you.’ Joseph crowded his hand through between the wagon and cover where it was nailed down to the end board. We caught hold of his hand, but he did not speak to us. I could not bear to leave him without hearing his voice. Oh, Joseph, said I. ‘Do speak to your poor mother once more. I cannot go until I hear you speak.’
“’God bless you, Mother,’ he sobbed out. Then a cry was raised and the wagon dashed off, tearing my son from us just as Lucy was pressing his hand to her lips to bestow upon it a sister’s last kiss-for we knew that they were sentenced to be shot.”
Maurine
Lucy said, “We succeeded in getting to the house again, although we were scarcely able to support ourselves…
“My son-in-law Mr. McLeary went out with some others to meet the mob and ascertain what their business was. They gave the messengers to understand that they would soon commence an indiscriminate butchery of men, women, and children, that their orders were to convert Far West into a human slaughter pen and never quit it while there was a lisping babe or a decrepit old woman breathing within its bounds.
“The people were all driven in from the country, and there was more than an acre of land in front of our house completely covered with beds, lying in the open sun, where men, women, and children were compelled to sleep in all weather. These were the last who had got into the city, and the houses were so full that there was no room for them. It was enough to make the heart ache to see children in the open sun and wind, sick with colds and very hungry, crying around their mothers for food and their parents destitute of the means of making them comfortable, while their houses, which lay a short distance from the city, were pillaged of everything, their fields thrown open for the horses belonging to the mob to lay waste and destroy, and their fat cattle shot down and turning to carrion before their eyes, while a strong guard, which was set over us for the purpose, prevented us from making use of a particle of the stock that was killed on every side of us.
Scot
She continued, “Soon after this the brethren were compelled to lay down their arms and sign away their property. It was done immediately in front of our house, and I could hear General Clark’s speech distinctly in which he declared that my sons must die, that ‘their die was cast, their doom was fixed, their fate was sealed, and also that if he could invoke the spirit of the unknown God to rest upon us, he would advise us to scatter abroad.” (Lucy Mack Smith, Revised).
Maurine
“For some, the flight from Missouri was evidence that the Lord had forsaken the Saints. They had lost their property and had suffered sorely. Their Prophet was jailed, with no prospect for relief. Their dreams of the promised Zion as the center place were indefinitely postponed.
“In fact, the enemies of the Church must have been sure it had been successfully destroyed, once and for all.
“For the less steady, Missouri had been a time of sifting. John Corrill was one who had once thrown himself wholeheartedly into the cause. He had not whimpered at the expulsion from Jackson County; he had offered to be whipped or die for the gospel; he had wandered homeless into Clay County; he had stood by the Prophet in all things—and now it was enough. He had lost his faith in Joseph Smith. He wrote, ‘Calculation after calculation has failed, plan after plan has been overthrown, and our prophet seemed not to know the event till too late. If he said, ‘Go up and prosper,’ still we did not prosper, but have labored and toiled, and waded through trials, difficulties, and temptations, of various kinds, in hope of deliverance. But no deliverance came.’
Scot
“Others, however, did not give up. In the face of great adversity, they grew in faith and courage. Eliza R. Snow, struggling out of Adam-ondi-Ahman in the dead of winter, was taunted by a militiaman, “Well, I think this will cure you of your faith.” Looking him square in the eye, she replied, “No, sir, it will take more than this to cure me of my faith.” Then she, with twelve thousand others who felt the same way, trudged eastward to the Mississippi River. (Proctor and Proctor, Witness).
Maurine
That’s all for today. Don’t forget that the new Come Follow Me calendars that feature Scot’s stunning photography of Old Testament sites is now available. See samples of it at latterdaysaintmag.com/2022. That’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2022
Next week we’ll study Doctrine and Covenants 121-123 in a lesson called, “O God, Where Art Thou?” Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and to our daughter, Michaela Proctor Hutchins who produces this show.
