EXTERMINATING ORDER OF GOVERNOR BOGGS.
In the meantime the messengers from those parties who had burned their
own homes and destroyed their own property at Millport had reached
Jefferson City, and poured into the willing ears of the executive
the villainous falsehoods that the "Mormons" with an armed force had
expelled the old settlers from Daviess County, pillaged and burned
their dwellings, driven off their stock, and destroyed their crops.
They also said that Millport and Gallatin were in ashes, and that all
the records of the county were destroyed. Upon the reception of this
batch of falsehoods and an application from these people to be restored
to their homes and protected in them, Governor Boggs set himself
vigorously at work calling out militia forces to accomplish this object.
One can not help pausing a moment to notice the difference in the
action of the State authorities in two cases that would have been just
alike, provided the report of those parties who fled from Daviess
County, by the light of their burning homes, had been true. In 1833
the saints were driven by brute force and under circumstances the most
distressing, from their possessions in Jackson County. And not only
was their property destroyed, but quite a number of them were killed,
while the number that was exiled amounted to twelve hundred. The State
authorities had the fullest evidence of these outrages--in fact the
very man who at the time of the Daviess County troubles was governor
of the State, was on the ground and knew of all the circumstances
of cruelty and outrage. But when those things came before the State
authorities, it took more than two whole years of correspondence to
come to an understanding of what could and should be done, and then
the decision was that the exiles would do well to move still further
on, in fact, get entirely away from that section of the country where
they had made their homes, as the prejudices of the people were set
against them, and the popular sentiment in this country was _vox Dei!_
But now, when a mere rumor comes that the "Mormons" have been guilty
of inflicting upon the Missourians the outrages which aforetime had
been perpetrated against them, there is no halting on the part of the
authorities, but on the contrary the most vigorous efforts are put
forth to punish the reputed offenders, and reinstate the supposed
exiles!
Governor Boggs, then, began his efforts to restore these reputed
exiles to their homes. He sent an order to General John B. Clark, of
the first division of Missouri militia, directing him to raise two
thousand men from the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and twelfth divisions
of the militia to be mounted and armed as the law directs, provided
with rations for fifteen days, and to rendezvous at Fayette in Howard
County, about eighty miles southeast of Far West, by the third of
November.
This order was dated the twenty-sixth of October, 1838. The next day,
however, Amos Rees and Wiley C. Williams arrived in Jefferson City with
their false report of the battle on Crooked River, and Governor Boggs
changed his orders to General Clark the same day. This letter is Boggs'
exterminating order. He said to General Clark:
Since the order of the morning to you, * * * I have received by Amos
Rees, Esq., and Wiley C. Williams, one of my aids, information of the
most appalling character, which changes the whole face of things and
places the "Mormons" in the attitude of open and avowed defiance of
the laws, and of having made open war upon the people of this State.
Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operations and endeavor to
reach Richmond, in Ray County, with all possible speed. The "Mormons"
must be treated as enemies and _must be exterminated_ or driven from
the State, if necessary for the public good. Their outrages are beyond
description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do
so to any extent you may think necessary.
The governor also ordered Major General Wallock of Marion County, to
raise five hundred men, and join General Doniphan of Clay County, who
had been directed to raise a like number of men, and together they were
to proceed to Daviess County to cut off the retreat of the "Mormons" to
the north. General Parks had been ordered to raise four hundred men and
join Clark at Richmond, and thus the campaign was planned. The troops
were not to reinstate the supposed exiles of Daviess County in their
homes and protect them, but they were to operate directly against the
"Mormons"--in fact, make war upon them--exterminate them, or drive them
from the State.
Up to this time Major General Atchison had apparently exercised his
influence counseling moderation in dealing with the "Mormons." He
was a resident of Clay County when the saints were driven into that
county from Jackson. He, with General Doniphan and Amos Rees, had
acted as counsel for the exiles, and had seen the doors of the temples
of justice closed in their faces by mob violence, and all redress
denied them. He was acquainted with the circumstances which led to
their removal from Clay County, to the unsettled prairies of what
afterwards became Caldwell County. He knew how deep and unreasonable
the prejudices were against the saints. Can it be possible that he did
not know how utterly unjustifiable the present movement against them
was? Whether he was blinded by the false reports about Millport and
Gallatin and Crooked River, or whether his courage faltered, and he
became afraid longer to defend a people against whom every man's hand
was raised, I cannot now determine, but one or the other must have
been the case for I find him joining with S. D. Lucas in the following
communication to Governor Boggs:
SIR:--From late outrages committed by the "Mormons," civil war is
inevitable. They have set the laws of the country at defiance and
are in open rebellion. We have about two thousand men under arms
to keep them in check. The presence of the commander in chief is
deemed absolutely necessary, and we most respectfully urge that your
excellency be at the seat of _war_ as soon as possible.
Your most obedient, etc.
DAVID R. ATCHISON, M. G. 3rd Div.
SAMUEL D. LUCAS, M. G. 4th Div.
General Atchison, however, was afterwards "dismounted," to use a
word of General Doniphan's in relating the incident, and sent back
to Liberty in Clay County by special order of Governor Boggs, on the
ground that he was inclined to be too merciful to the "Mormons." So
that he was not active in the operations about Far West. But how he
could consent to join with Lucas in sending such an untruthful and
infamous report to the governor about the situation in upper Missouri,
is difficult to determine. The saints had not set the laws at defiance,
nor were they in open rebellion. But when all the officers of the law
refused to hear their complaints, and both civil and military authority
delivered them into the hands of merciless mobs to be plundered and
outraged at their brutal pleasure, and all petitions for protection at
the hands of the governor had been answered with: _"It is a quarrel
between the Mormons and the mob, and they must fight it out,"_ what was
left for them to do but to arm themselves and stand in defense of their
homes and families? It is not admitted in the above that the saints
had defied the laws of the country, for it was not so. The movement
on Gallatin by Captain Patten and that on Millport by Colonel Wight
was ordered by General Parks, who called upon Colonel Wight to take
command of his company of men, when the militia under Parks' command
mutinied, and disperse all mobs wherever he found them. Gallatin was
not burned, nor were the records of the county court, if they were
destroyed at all, destroyed by the saints. What houses were burned in
Millport had been set on fire by the mob. The expedition to Crooked
River was ordered by Judge Higbee, the first judge in Caldwell County
and the highest civil authority in Far West, and was undertaken for the
purpose of dispersing a mob which had entered the house of a peaceable
citizen--one Pinkham--and carried off three people prisoners, four
horses and other property, and who had threatened to "give Far West
hell before noon the next day." So that in their operations the acts of
the saints had been strictly within the law, and only in self defense.