Day of Recompence
by Borson M. Hugilhoff
Those that are familiar with the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know of the persecutions that the saints traversed and suffered within the states of Ohio, Missouri and Illinois. Most people though, are unaware of the divine retribution that fell upon the perpetrators of these crimes that were committed against the saints. Crimes that the judicial system of the time were compelled to ignore or subverted from within to act out against the saints.
It was from Ohio that a growing church relocated to the needed space and farm land that Missouri provided. Missouri afforded the saints a place wherein they could: live their religion, cultivate land, raise their families and be productive citizens of the Republic. Yet from that state, there were those who were called ruffians; individuals that were settled in the same western counties that the saints purchased land in. These ruffians almost immediately became a constant force of opposition to them.
One of the places the saints settled was at Independence, Missouri which was identified as the center place of Zion (D&C 57:3). A temple site was dedicated there on August 3, 1831. Independence is located within Jackson County and is a border or satellite city to Kansas City. In 1833 organized mobs compelled the saints to leave Jackson County.
Joseph Smith organized an expedition, which consisted of the leadership of the church and called it Zion's Camp. They traveled from Kirtland, Ohio, to Missouri in 1834 and camped at Fishing River in Missouri to restore the Jackson County saints to their land. It was revealed on the banks of this river what is now D&C 105.
Far West was the largest settlement for the saints in Missouri. A site for a temple was dedicated at this location (D&C 115). It was here on July 8, 1838 that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles received a call from the Lord to serve missions in the British Isles (D&C 118).
The Lord identified a place in upper Missouri as the site where a future great gathering will take place when Jesus Christ comes to meet with Adam and his righteous posterity and named it Adam-ondi-Ahman (D&C 78:15; 107:53-57; 116).
Joseph Smith and others were unjustly imprisoned at Liberty Jail in Clay County, Missouri from December 1838 to April 1839. In the midst of troubled times for the Church, Joseph called on the Lord for direction and received the revelation that is recorded in sections 121-123 in the Doctrine and Covenants.
In addition to the historic importance of these events to the church, particular indictments and petitions were presented to government officials concerning the mistreatment of the saints and detailing the loss of their property by other settled groups within Missouri throughout this period. In a petition to the Governor of the state of Missouri, Daniel Dunklin, dated September 28, 1833 the saints list a number of abuses that they suffered by the hands of their fellow Missourians.
This petition details that the saints purchased lands within the state and that in 1832, "some persons" in the late "hours of the night, commenced stoning or brick-batting some of our houses, and breaking in our windows, disturbing ourselves, our wives, and our children" (HC vol. 1, pg. 411). The saints neighbors then would gather in meetings on how to remove the saints from the area. They then turned to setting stacks of hay on fire and shooting at their houses. They would then revert back to throwing bricks at the saints houses and breaking in the windows of their homes. Then in 1833 a mob of between 400 and 500 persons gathered at the town center at Independence to demand that the saints forfeit their constitutional right of freedom of the press by ceasing to print the church publication known as the Evening and Morning Star within Jackson County. In addition, it was also determined that the saints need to agree to remove themselves from the county. This mob then proceeded to raze to the ground the printing office and personal home of W. W. Phelps. The mob then proceeded to destroy the store-house and goods of Gilbert, Whitney and Co. and then took Bishop Edward Partridge and a Mr. Allen and instructed them to strip themselves of their coats, vests and hats and tarred and feathered them (HC vol. 1 pg. 412).
In 1838, Missourians formed themselves into a mob and conspired to drive the Mormons from their property and lands for the purpose of dispossessing the saints. It was agreed because of the "land sales" that were scheduled to take place in the state, that Missourians could take possession of all of the saints purchased land as "lands entitled to pre-emptions" if they were abandoned.
To protect their lands a number of saints agreed to defend their lands by not allowing the mob to run them out. In Davies county, the mob set fire to a number of the saints houses. The mob then drove off their horses and farm animals. The saints remaining had to flee for the protection of their lives because of the inclement weather and snowstorm. The mob then gave false reports to the governor of Missouri that the saints were inflicting upon the citizens of Missouri what in fact the mob was inflicting upon the saints. This gave Gov. Lilburn Boggs hearsay evidence to move against the saints.
The apostle David Patten took a number of men to quell the mobs from further advancement against them and was gunned down by them and lost his life.
Governor Boggs then proceeded to give his extermination order against all Mormons within the state of Missouri. Boggs ordered that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state." Ironically, Gov. Boggs order also directed the armed men that he raised up to march quickly "for the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the Mormons to the north" (HC vol. 3 pg 175). Which is hardly driving them from the state, but halting them from doing so.
As Gov. Boggs militias moved north they entered into Haun's Mill on Shoal Creek where a number of saints were pressured to flee to. On October 30, 1838 the militia gunned down eighteen members of the church. The tragedy has become known as the Haun's Mill Massacre.
In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord Jesus Christ counseled the saints to importune to the judicial and governmental officials for the wrongs committed against the saints. In Doctrine and Covenants section 101 the Lord tells the saints the following:
"Let them importune at the feet of the judge; and if he heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the governor; and if the governor heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the president; and if the president heed them not, then will the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and in his fury vex the nation." D&C 101:86-89
The saints followed this counsel with affidavits to county court houses, petitions to multiple governors throughout the period and across state lines as persecutions continued in Illinois. Then Joseph Smith personally went to "importune at the feet of the president" as Joseph Smith records even to the President of the United States and the U.S. Congress.
Journeying to Washington D.C., late in October, 1839, the Prophet presented the petition of the saints to both the Congress and the President of the United States. In his journal, he reports the disappointing results of his efforts.
"During my stay I had an interview with Martin Van Buren, the President, who treated me very insolently, and it was with great reluctance he listened to our message, which, when he had heard, he said: "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you;" and "If I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri." His whole course went to show that he was an office-seeker, that self-aggrandizement was his ruling passion, and that justice and righteousness were no part of his composition" (HC vol. 4 pg. 80).
"I also had an interview with Mr. John C. Calhoun, whose conduct towards me very ill became his station (Calhoun was a member of the Senate.) I became satisfied there was little use for me to tarry, to press the just claims of the Saints on the consideration of the President or Congress, and stayed but a few days..." (HC vol. 4 pg. 80).
"We believe our case will be brought before the House, and we will leave the event with God; He is our Judge, and the Avenger of our wrongs" (HC vol. 4 pg. 40).
Joseph Smith returned to Nauvoo, Illinois and was gunned down by a mob less than five years later in June 1844 at Carthage jail in the state of Illinois.
When the prophet was brutally gunned down, it was made known by the opposing forces that the saints must leave Illinois. Just as it was made clear that they must do concerning Missouri during the previous decade. Less than two years after the prophets martyrdom, advance parties began to leave Nauvoo for the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains. The period from 1847 - 1860 seen the bulk of the members of the church cross the plains west, over 1300 miles, to the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon Pioneer Memorial at Nauvoo lists approximately 2,000 names of those that died on this forced exodus from Illinois. The total figure is quite higher.
In 1852 Orson Pratt was assigned to Washington D.C. by the First Presidency of the Church "to preside over the affairs of the Church throughout the United States and the British Provinces of North America" (Pratt, Orson, The Seer, pg. 2). Pres. Brigham Young in his Letter of Appointment states the duties of Orson Pratt are to "write and Publish Periodicals, Pamphlets, Books, etc., illustrative of the principles and doctrines of the Church" (ibid. pg 2). In addition, Elder Pratt "is authorized to collect tithing of the Saints through all his field of labors; and we request the Elders and other officers and members of the Church to give diligent heed to his counsels as the words of life and salvation" (ibid. pg. 2).
Orson Pratt then proceeds to give a stark prophetic warning to the saints and inhabitants of the United States. It is 1852 and almost a decade before the first shots of the Civil War of the United States would begin and Elder Orson Pratt by inspiration of the Holy Ghost and the authority of the priesthood of his apostolic office declares, "Awake then, O awake! flee to the mountains for refuge! For a day of trouble is at hand - a day of fierce battle and war - a day of mourning and lamentation for widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers shall fall in battle: it shall be the day of the Lord's controversy for His people - a day of recompence for the innocent blood of prophets and saints which has been shed among this nation" (Pratt, Orson, The Seer, pg. 3).
Wilford Woodruff, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ also prophetically warned the following:
"The American Nation is doomed to destruction and no power can save it. It is decreed that the measure which they have meted out unto the saints shall be meted unto them. And they are hastening unto their work of desolation, war, bloodshed and destruction. And wo, wo is their doom. The Spirit of prophecy would cry - O Lord hasten thy work. Let the wicked slay the wicked. Until the whole land is cleansed."
The Lord counseled the saints to seek redress for the wrongs and crimes committed against them. The judicial system of the United States failed them from the county court house all the way to the highest offices of the land. The saints did their part and the Lord warned that if the saints petitions went unheeded then, "will the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and in his fury vex the nation."
One can say what they will about the Civil War and it's causes, but during the summer of 1863 some of the most horrific fighting that involved the average citizen were fought in Missouri and Eastern Kansas. During the fighting of the Civil War back east there were few civilian casualties. The battles of the war were restrained between armies of the military on each side. In the west along the Kansas and Missouri border it was a different story. "In Kansas and Missouri, both sides waged relentless guerilla warfare on innocent civilians as well as rival armies." -John H. Guion
In Western Missouri, where the saints were persecuted, plundered and driven from the state, resided what is known as "border ruffians." A description of these ruffians has been detailed as follows: "Imagine a man standing in a pair of long boots. The handle of a large bowie knife projecting from one or both boot tops. A leather belt buckle around his waist on each side of which is fastened a large revolver. Imagine such a picture of humanity. Who can swear any given number of oaths in any specified time, drink any quantity of bad whiskey without getting drunk and boast of having stolen a half dozen horses and killed one or more abolitionist and you will have a pretty fair conception of a border ruffian as he appears in Missouri and in Kansas (Burns, Ken & Ives, Stephens, The West, Ep. 4, Death Runs Riot).
It was from Ohio that a growing church relocated to the needed space and farm land that Missouri provided. Missouri afforded the saints a place wherein they could: live their religion, cultivate land, raise their families and be productive citizens of the Republic. Yet from that state, there were those who were called ruffians; individuals that were settled in the same western counties that the saints purchased land in. These ruffians almost immediately became a constant force of opposition to them.
One of the places the saints settled was at Independence, Missouri which was identified as the center place of Zion (D&C 57:3). A temple site was dedicated there on August 3, 1831. Independence is located within Jackson County and is a border or satellite city to Kansas City. In 1833 organized mobs compelled the saints to leave Jackson County.
Joseph Smith organized an expedition, which consisted of the leadership of the church and called it Zion's Camp. They traveled from Kirtland, Ohio, to Missouri in 1834 and camped at Fishing River in Missouri to restore the Jackson County saints to their land. It was revealed on the banks of this river what is now D&C 105.
Far West was the largest settlement for the saints in Missouri. A site for a temple was dedicated at this location (D&C 115). It was here on July 8, 1838 that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles received a call from the Lord to serve missions in the British Isles (D&C 118).
The Lord identified a place in upper Missouri as the site where a future great gathering will take place when Jesus Christ comes to meet with Adam and his righteous posterity and named it Adam-ondi-Ahman (D&C 78:15; 107:53-57; 116).
Joseph Smith and others were unjustly imprisoned at Liberty Jail in Clay County, Missouri from December 1838 to April 1839. In the midst of troubled times for the Church, Joseph called on the Lord for direction and received the revelation that is recorded in sections 121-123 in the Doctrine and Covenants.
In addition to the historic importance of these events to the church, particular indictments and petitions were presented to government officials concerning the mistreatment of the saints and detailing the loss of their property by other settled groups within Missouri throughout this period. In a petition to the Governor of the state of Missouri, Daniel Dunklin, dated September 28, 1833 the saints list a number of abuses that they suffered by the hands of their fellow Missourians.
This petition details that the saints purchased lands within the state and that in 1832, "some persons" in the late "hours of the night, commenced stoning or brick-batting some of our houses, and breaking in our windows, disturbing ourselves, our wives, and our children" (HC vol. 1, pg. 411). The saints neighbors then would gather in meetings on how to remove the saints from the area. They then turned to setting stacks of hay on fire and shooting at their houses. They would then revert back to throwing bricks at the saints houses and breaking in the windows of their homes. Then in 1833 a mob of between 400 and 500 persons gathered at the town center at Independence to demand that the saints forfeit their constitutional right of freedom of the press by ceasing to print the church publication known as the Evening and Morning Star within Jackson County. In addition, it was also determined that the saints need to agree to remove themselves from the county. This mob then proceeded to raze to the ground the printing office and personal home of W. W. Phelps. The mob then proceeded to destroy the store-house and goods of Gilbert, Whitney and Co. and then took Bishop Edward Partridge and a Mr. Allen and instructed them to strip themselves of their coats, vests and hats and tarred and feathered them (HC vol. 1 pg. 412).
In 1838, Missourians formed themselves into a mob and conspired to drive the Mormons from their property and lands for the purpose of dispossessing the saints. It was agreed because of the "land sales" that were scheduled to take place in the state, that Missourians could take possession of all of the saints purchased land as "lands entitled to pre-emptions" if they were abandoned.
To protect their lands a number of saints agreed to defend their lands by not allowing the mob to run them out. In Davies county, the mob set fire to a number of the saints houses. The mob then drove off their horses and farm animals. The saints remaining had to flee for the protection of their lives because of the inclement weather and snowstorm. The mob then gave false reports to the governor of Missouri that the saints were inflicting upon the citizens of Missouri what in fact the mob was inflicting upon the saints. This gave Gov. Lilburn Boggs hearsay evidence to move against the saints.
The apostle David Patten took a number of men to quell the mobs from further advancement against them and was gunned down by them and lost his life.
Governor Boggs then proceeded to give his extermination order against all Mormons within the state of Missouri. Boggs ordered that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state." Ironically, Gov. Boggs order also directed the armed men that he raised up to march quickly "for the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the Mormons to the north" (HC vol. 3 pg 175). Which is hardly driving them from the state, but halting them from doing so.
As Gov. Boggs militias moved north they entered into Haun's Mill on Shoal Creek where a number of saints were pressured to flee to. On October 30, 1838 the militia gunned down eighteen members of the church. The tragedy has become known as the Haun's Mill Massacre.
In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord Jesus Christ counseled the saints to importune to the judicial and governmental officials for the wrongs committed against the saints. In Doctrine and Covenants section 101 the Lord tells the saints the following:
"Let them importune at the feet of the judge; and if he heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the governor; and if the governor heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the president; and if the president heed them not, then will the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and in his fury vex the nation." D&C 101:86-89
The saints followed this counsel with affidavits to county court houses, petitions to multiple governors throughout the period and across state lines as persecutions continued in Illinois. Then Joseph Smith personally went to "importune at the feet of the president" as Joseph Smith records even to the President of the United States and the U.S. Congress.
Journeying to Washington D.C., late in October, 1839, the Prophet presented the petition of the saints to both the Congress and the President of the United States. In his journal, he reports the disappointing results of his efforts.
"During my stay I had an interview with Martin Van Buren, the President, who treated me very insolently, and it was with great reluctance he listened to our message, which, when he had heard, he said: "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you;" and "If I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri." His whole course went to show that he was an office-seeker, that self-aggrandizement was his ruling passion, and that justice and righteousness were no part of his composition" (HC vol. 4 pg. 80).
"I also had an interview with Mr. John C. Calhoun, whose conduct towards me very ill became his station (Calhoun was a member of the Senate.) I became satisfied there was little use for me to tarry, to press the just claims of the Saints on the consideration of the President or Congress, and stayed but a few days..." (HC vol. 4 pg. 80).
"We believe our case will be brought before the House, and we will leave the event with God; He is our Judge, and the Avenger of our wrongs" (HC vol. 4 pg. 40).
Joseph Smith returned to Nauvoo, Illinois and was gunned down by a mob less than five years later in June 1844 at Carthage jail in the state of Illinois.
When the prophet was brutally gunned down, it was made known by the opposing forces that the saints must leave Illinois. Just as it was made clear that they must do concerning Missouri during the previous decade. Less than two years after the prophets martyrdom, advance parties began to leave Nauvoo for the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains. The period from 1847 - 1860 seen the bulk of the members of the church cross the plains west, over 1300 miles, to the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon Pioneer Memorial at Nauvoo lists approximately 2,000 names of those that died on this forced exodus from Illinois. The total figure is quite higher.
In 1852 Orson Pratt was assigned to Washington D.C. by the First Presidency of the Church "to preside over the affairs of the Church throughout the United States and the British Provinces of North America" (Pratt, Orson, The Seer, pg. 2). Pres. Brigham Young in his Letter of Appointment states the duties of Orson Pratt are to "write and Publish Periodicals, Pamphlets, Books, etc., illustrative of the principles and doctrines of the Church" (ibid. pg 2). In addition, Elder Pratt "is authorized to collect tithing of the Saints through all his field of labors; and we request the Elders and other officers and members of the Church to give diligent heed to his counsels as the words of life and salvation" (ibid. pg. 2).
Orson Pratt then proceeds to give a stark prophetic warning to the saints and inhabitants of the United States. It is 1852 and almost a decade before the first shots of the Civil War of the United States would begin and Elder Orson Pratt by inspiration of the Holy Ghost and the authority of the priesthood of his apostolic office declares, "Awake then, O awake! flee to the mountains for refuge! For a day of trouble is at hand - a day of fierce battle and war - a day of mourning and lamentation for widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers shall fall in battle: it shall be the day of the Lord's controversy for His people - a day of recompence for the innocent blood of prophets and saints which has been shed among this nation" (Pratt, Orson, The Seer, pg. 3).
Wilford Woodruff, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ also prophetically warned the following:
"The American Nation is doomed to destruction and no power can save it. It is decreed that the measure which they have meted out unto the saints shall be meted unto them. And they are hastening unto their work of desolation, war, bloodshed and destruction. And wo, wo is their doom. The Spirit of prophecy would cry - O Lord hasten thy work. Let the wicked slay the wicked. Until the whole land is cleansed."
The Lord counseled the saints to seek redress for the wrongs and crimes committed against them. The judicial system of the United States failed them from the county court house all the way to the highest offices of the land. The saints did their part and the Lord warned that if the saints petitions went unheeded then, "will the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and in his fury vex the nation."
One can say what they will about the Civil War and it's causes, but during the summer of 1863 some of the most horrific fighting that involved the average citizen were fought in Missouri and Eastern Kansas. During the fighting of the Civil War back east there were few civilian casualties. The battles of the war were restrained between armies of the military on each side. In the west along the Kansas and Missouri border it was a different story. "In Kansas and Missouri, both sides waged relentless guerilla warfare on innocent civilians as well as rival armies." -John H. Guion
In Western Missouri, where the saints were persecuted, plundered and driven from the state, resided what is known as "border ruffians." A description of these ruffians has been detailed as follows: "Imagine a man standing in a pair of long boots. The handle of a large bowie knife projecting from one or both boot tops. A leather belt buckle around his waist on each side of which is fastened a large revolver. Imagine such a picture of humanity. Who can swear any given number of oaths in any specified time, drink any quantity of bad whiskey without getting drunk and boast of having stolen a half dozen horses and killed one or more abolitionist and you will have a pretty fair conception of a border ruffian as he appears in Missouri and in Kansas (Burns, Ken & Ives, Stephens, The West, Ep. 4, Death Runs Riot).
In the late 1850s when it was to be determine whether or not Kansas should be a free state or a state that supported slavery, Western Missourians flooded Eastern Kansas to control the vote. When just as many abolitionist, those that believed in abolishing slavery, challenged the pro-slavery Missourians, hostilities came to a boiling point. With the succession of the Southern States from the United States and the first shots of the Civil War shot in 1861 at Fort Sumpter, South Carolina the hostilities commenced. It was in 1863 that we see the terrible affliction of the war on the average civilian particularly in Missouri and Eastern Kansas.
Julia Louise Lovejoy, whom lived at the time in Eastern Kansas records what she witnessed and the affects the war had upon the people of Missouri and Kansas. Beside the regular armies of the North and South, she describes renegade fighters that would form into guerilla type fighters whose ruthlessness knew no bounds.
In 1863 when the war was fully underway, Lovejoy records, "Guerilla parties are making dreadful slaughter upon the Union men in Missouri. Stealing and destroying their property. The entire route across the state bears the marks of the ravages of war. Anarchy reigns in Missouri."
Union forces, led by James H. Lane, a former Senator from Kansas, wanted to see proslavery Missourians cast into a burning hell. He would haunt the trail of Rebel armies throughout Missouri, ravaging the homes of anyone who dared help them. Then sacking and burning whole towns. Confederate guerillas responded in kind. Union farmers in Missouri and eastern Kansas were warned not to farm their lands because they would not live to harvest them.
Historian Martin Ridge tell us, "If you were a guerilla fighter fighting under the flag of the Confederacy, they impart unto you legitimacy. From the Union point of view these were shear criminals."
In August 1863 Confederate guerillas rode into Lawrence, Kansas. Julia Louise Lovejoy records, "At an early hour, Friday morning, I rushed out and I could see every house this side of Lawrence with a volume of dense smoke arising from it as they advanced. Firing every house in their march of death."
When the guerilla fighters reached Lawrence they declared that Lawrence must be cleansed and the only way to cleanse it is to kill.
Julia Louise Lovejoy tells us that, "All the business houses, banks, stores in the city were robbed and burned save one. And most of the businessmen killed. Mrs. Read put out the fire six times to save her house and they would fire it anew, but she, by almost super human exertions saved it."
After this raid, 183 men and boys were killed only 20 were soldiers and 185 homes were burned. Leaving behind 80 widows and 250 fatherless children.
Again from the writings of Julia Louise Lovejoy, "The fires were still glowing in the cellars. Here in there among the embers were seen the bones of those that had perished. The sickening odor of burned flesh was oppressive."
In retaliation for the Lawrence, Kansas massacre, Federal Union soldiers attacked three and a half of the Western border counties of Missouri. Union soldiers forced every man, woman and child from their homes in these counties. They drove thousands of people out onto the prairie while Union guerillas would sweep in behind them burning and looting the empty houses that were left behind. Then the Union Army allowed the Union supported guerillas to raid the refugee columns, stealing even wedding rings.
"During the course of the Civil War no civilians would suffer more than the people of Kansas and Missouri." The very counties that afflicted the Saints with so much persecution and hatred during the 1830s were now left burning and destroyed during the Civil War in the early 1860s. A divine just recompence indeed. The Lord came out of his hiding place and vexed the nation; in particular, Western Missouri.
Article note: Recompence in relation to this article is the archaic variant of recompense. It is also intended for the reader to use the archaic variant of its definition which is: "to return in kind."