On this day 173 years ago, Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issued Executive Order 44, referred to by many as the Mormon Extermination Order. It commanded General John B. Clark of the state military to slaughter any Mormons he should encounter in an attempt to completely erase their influence from the state.
The order was issued during the Mormon War of 1838, which lasted from August to November. During that time, tens of thousands of Mormons were migrating farther west. Missouri was so attractive because Joseph Smith Jr. had prophesied that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would be in Jackson County, and that his followers would inherit the land. The Mormons quickly fell out of favor with the earlier settlers for a variety of reasons:
1. Cohesion between the Mormons allowed them to dominate the local economy
2. They were sympathetic to the abolitionists
3. They often voted in blocks, which led to accusations of voter fraud
4. They believed that the Natives were descendants of Israel
Mob violence forced the Mormons out of Jackson County in 1833. They relocated north, mainly in Clay County. When hostility once again started appearing in 1836, a law was pushed through creating a new county just for the Mormons: Caldwell. This brought a time of relative peace, but soon, the Mormons were buying land and establishing colonies outside Caldwell. In neighboring Davies County, their population grew to the point where, once again, they could determine elections. This was seen by non-Mormons as a violation of the compromise.
In August of 1838, a candidate for state legislator warned that Mormons were "not allowed to vote any more than negroes." When thirty or so Mormons showed up anyway, a fight broke out. This sparked a number of similar mob-style evictions from several towns across Missouri. The Latter Day Saints began launching a series of preemptive strikes to protect other, sympathetic religions branches nearby. This forced the state military to get involved.
The Extermination Order came after the Battle of Crooked River, in which Mormon units defeated a group of militia. Exaggerated reports of an imminent Mormon invasion of Missouri reached Govenor Boggs, who signed the act.
But no wide-spread extermination ever took place. Other than the Haun's Mill Massacre (in which 17 Mormons died), the war only saw a total of 22 Mormon deaths (although numerous beatings and destruction of property, crops and livestock were rampant). Smith and other church leaders were eventually captured after the fall of the Mormon stronghold at Far West, and sentenced to death by court martial. However, soldiers refused to carry out the order. Smith managed to escape prison in 1839 and took the majority of the Mormons into Illinois.
Boggs' political career died with his order. Most of his colleagues felt he had failed to intervene before the crisis got out of hand, and when he DID intervene, it was a horrid over-reaction. Even staunch anti-Mormons were appalled by the conduct of the state militia and mob-violence. The town of Quincy passed a resolution that stated he had "brought lasting disgrace over the state he presides." One contemporary critic wrote, "Mormonism is a monstrous evil; and the only place where it ever did or ever could shine, this side of the world of despair, is by the side of the Missouri mob." In 1842, he was shot in the head by a suspected Mormon sympathizer Orrin Rockwell, but survived. He died in obscurity in 1860 after moving to California. Although arrested and tried, Rockwell was acquitted of all charges.
The Extermination Order wasn't rescinded officially until 1976.
