Alexander Doniphan

Far West Plot

The Church in Northern Missouri 1836-38

The Saints found an area that they could settle in the prairie area of North-western Missouri.

The Missourians thought that the land wasn’t any good.

The agreement was that their would be a county set apart just for the Mormons to live. The idea was that they would not be left alone.

The area set aside was Caldwell County.

The Saints also spread into Davis and Carroll County.

The bulk of members of the church lived in Caldwell County. At the center of the county was “Far West.”

In just a year and a half Far West grew to about 5,000 people, of which most were Mormons.

According to the “Reed Peck Manuscript,” Far West was the location where Cain killed Abel.

So, if that is true, the first murder on this earth took place at Far West. It is fairly close to Adam-ondi-Ahman.

It is of interest to note that the greatest butchery of the Latter-day Saint people also took place at Far West.

There is a temple site there that has been dedicated.

Far West Temple Site

There are two scriptures on the monuments at the Far West Temple site:

1.D&C 115:4

“The official name of the Church”

The name was given eight years after it was organized.

The Church had basically been called by four different names to this point:

1. The Latter-day Saints

2. The Church of Christ

3. The Church of God

4. The Mormonites (School of the Elders, 1834)

2. D&C 119:4 “Tithing”

B.H. Roberts said, “that if this Church ever told all that was done to the Saints in Far West, the world would call us liars and would not believe it.”

The land sold for $1.25 an acre.

Two thousand different farms were started with the Church paying right around $318,000 for the land (northern Missouri).

The Saints owned 250,000 acres of land in northern Missouri.

Joseph arrived at Far West in 1838.

David Whitmer was the Stake President.

Joseph discovered that the Stake Presidency had been making a profit for themselves by selling the land in dishonest ways.

David Whitmer was immediately released and Thomas B. Marsh was called as the new Stake President. His counselors were David W. Patton and Brigham Young.

“Dissenters”

W.W. Phelps:

Returned after a period of time and remained faithful for the rest of his life (he returned in 1840).

John Whitmer:

Never came back to the Church. John took the History of the Church that he had written with him. He later offered it to the Church for a sum of money. The Church declined the offer. The Church eventually made arrangements with the Re-Organized Church (now the Community of Christ) to get a copy of his work.

Oliver Cowdery:

Sought to destroy the character of Joseph (1838). Oliver was guilty of adultery and not attending his meetings. He came back to the Church during the Winter Quarters time period.

In 1840 Joseph called Orson Hyde to dedicate the Holy Land and asked Oliver to go with him. Oliver declined. Oliver was not ready to bury his pride.

David Whitmer:

Left the church in 1838. He did not live the Word of Wisdom and denied that the revelation was from God.

He was serving as a Stake President at the time which created some real problems for the Church.

Lyman Johnson:

Excommunicated because he severely beat Phineas Young (Brigham’s younger brother) over a quarrel. He also got a man drunk and stole his farm from him. He was a member of the Twelve when he did both of those things. He never returned to the Church.

The Salt Sermon:

The Salt Sermon was given on June 17th, 1838. It called for all dissenters to leave Caldwell County. Sidney taught that if the salt was not good, the Saints would cast it out. Some people left and joined with the enemies of the Church in Richmond.

The July 4th Oration:

Also given in 1838. It was an eloquent speech and was approved by Joseph Smith who read the talk prior to the meeting.

There was one little paragraph at the end of the talk that Sidney added on without the approval of the Prophet.

It had to do with those who had dissented and caused quite a furor.

Those two sermons caused major problems for the Church.

The Charles Rich/ Sara Pea Courtship (And yet another love story!)

Charles C. Rich was a prominent man in the Church and later settled the Bear Lake area in Utah.

He was a member of the Twelve.

Charles had learned about a family who had a daughter named Sarah Pea. Sarah had been taught by the missionaries and had heard much about Charles Rich.

Three different sets of missionaries told Sara about Charles C. Rich and indicated that she should get to know him and that they would be perfect for each other.

They boldly declared that Charles ought to be her husband. It was through “the missionaries” that they both felt that they should marry each other.

Charles wrote,

“It is a pleasure that I at this time pen a few lines to you, although a perfect stranger to you. I trust that these few lines may be received by you and may be the beginning of a happy acquaintance with you.

I will now let you know the reason for my boldness in writing you is because Elder George M. Hinckle and others have highly recommended you as a Saint of the last days, and as being worthy of my attention.

I think I should be happy to get a good companion, such as one as I could take comfort with through life and such a one as could take comfort with me.

As you have been recommended to me as such, I would be very happy to see you and converse with you on the subject.

I should be happy to see you in Zion in the spring and hope that these lines are received with the same feelings that I write them.

I trust that you will be single and unengaged when I arrive.

When this letter comes to land and after you have read and meditated upon it, I should be glad if you would write me an answer to it. If so, you can direct your letter to Liberty, Clay County, Missouri…. No more at present but I remain yours with the best of respects.

Charles C. Rich

That was his proposal and this was her answer:

To Mr. Charles C. Rich,

“Entreat me not to leave thee or return from following after thee. For whether thou goest, I will go and where thou lodgest, I will lodge, thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God. Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also if ought that death part me and thee. With great respect I remain yours truly Sara Pea.”

That was her answer. They eventually met and soon after were married!

(See how easy it is!)

GallatinThe Battle at Gallatin:

It occurred on election day in August of 1838.

Gallatin was the county seat for Davies County. It was 6-8 miles from Adam-ondi-Ahman. The election was for the legislature and the man who wanted the office was named William Peniston.

Peniston had a long black beard and Joseph said that he was a coward.

The Prophet once put his hand on Peniston’s shoulders and said, “Your heart is as black as your beard!”

Peniston knew that he would have no chance of winning the election if the Mormons voted, so he tried to prevent it from happening.

On the day of the election he stood on top of a whiskey barrel and preached against the Mormons. He then passed out liquor and got most of the men drunk.

Later that day Samuel Brown, a Mormon tried to vote when the town bully Dick Weldon stopped him from doing so.

A fight ensued and Weldon beat Samuel Brown without mercy.

Another Mormon named Perry Durfey grabbled with Weldon and then thirty men joined in against the three Mormons.

The third Mormon was Riley Stewart and he came up behind Weldon and hit him with a board that split his skull open.

Another man put a knife into Riley Stewart’s shoulder, which hit his bone and bent the knife so that it could not be pulled out.

Weldon’s brother got involved and one of the Mormons took a large rock and slammed it into his face, knocking his teeth out.

Peniston ran away (King Noah-like) from the conflict so he wouldn’t get hurt.

Then came a man named John Butler. John saw the thirty men fighting against the three Mormons. John was a Mormon and he said that he looked for the closest stake (baseball bat like) he could find.

He found one lying by a building that he later said, “fit his hands perfectly.” He started up and down the street and started to hit the men with one blow.

Before he hit them he would yell “peace” and then whack them.

Right after he hit them he would say, “Oh God, don’t let me kill one.”

He did this over and over until all thirty men were laying on the street in the dirt with bloodied heads, moaning and groaning. He literally cleaned house on all of them.

John Butler was not a big man but he was infuriated at what he saw taking place.

Another man named Brother Ohlmstead was involved with his sack of bowls and dishes. He started hitting people on the head as well. He said that when he was done all that was left in his sack was powder.

It was a miraculous day in many ways which ended with Peniston losing the election.

As a result Peniston started vicious rumors about how the Mormons and how they attacked him and the people in Gallatin.

It lead to open confrontations against the Mormons by the mobs (burnings, pillaging and so forth).

The dissenters went into Richmond following the battle at Gallatin and spread rumors that the Mormons had killed dozens of men at the election.

In 1838 Adam-ondi-Ahman was set up. It was first settled by Lyman Wight in 1836. Wight built a cabin at the bottom of Spring Hill. He later built another home at the top of Tower hill.

The Prophet and others explored the valley and received D&C 116.

There is a spring at Spring Hill.

On January 28th, 1838 a Stake was organized. John Smith was called to be the Stake President (he was an uncle to Joseph Jr.).

Far West 1838

Lucy Mack Smith recorded that her son-in-law Mr. McLeary went out with some to meet the mob of “three thousand men” that stationed themselves at Salt Creek. The State Militia told him and the others that they would soon commence an indiscriminate butchery of men, women, and children, that their orders were to convert Far West into a human slaughtering pen and never quit while there was a lisping babe or a deceitful old woman breathing within its bounds.

There was, however, three persons that they wished brought forth before they began their operations. They desired to preserve their lives, as some of them were related to one of the mob officers.

They were Adam Lighter, John Cleminson and his wife.

After a short interview, John Cleminson, who was not a member of the Church, replied that they had lived with the Mormons and knew them to be innocent people, “and if,” he said, “you are determined to destroy them, and lay the city in ashes, you must destroy me also, for I will die with them” (366).

Trials January--July 1838A New Zion

Hoping to be left alone, the Mormons moved on to less desirable lands. The Mormons meanwhile bought out all the non-Mormon settlers in Caldwell, including the “bee men” who hunted wild honey on the prairies (An 1838 dispute about the state boundary in northern Missouri was called “The Honey War”).

Lyman Wight operated a ferry at the bottom of Tower Hill. Joseph spotted “an old Nephitish altar and Tower,” and then received a revelation and said that Spring Hill was named by the Lord “Adam-ondi-Ahman,” because “it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of days shall sit as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet.” The name of the site, Adam-ondi-Ahman, meant “the place where Adam dwelt,” presumably after the expulsion from the Garden.

By May the habitable parts of Caldwell were mostly settled, and there were 150 houses in Far West. In June, Joseph organized a stake at Adam-ondi-Ahman in Davies, and by October, 200 houses had been built. One observer said the city had 500 people in it before Gallatin, the county seat of Davies, had five houses. The expansion beyond Caldwell proved to be fatal.

Although Joseph’s own position was never seriously threatened, after repeated struggles with the Kirtland dissenters he had lost patience with the opposition.

He did what he could to end controversy, but when reconciliation failed, he cut his brethren off to preserve “union and peace and love.”

He would tolerate failings in his closest followers, but not disloyalty.

The Danites

The “Danites” were organized in June of 1838 to drive out dissenters, using violence if necessary. They were a secret society -vigilante group, several hundred strong (maybe as many as 900).

The leader was Sampson Avard. Some historians have depicted the Danites as Joseph’s private army. Avard was an ambitious adventurer who formed a band of ruffians who harassed dissenters at his command and not the Prophet’s. Unfortunately the secrecy of the organization and the obscurity of the records hindered efforts to distribute blame between the two.

The situation was further complicated by George Robinson, Sidney’s son-in-law and keeper of Joseph’s journal. Being a Danite supporter Robinson may have exaggerated the First Presidencies backing.

Reed Peck said someone proposed “to kill these men that they would not be capable of injuring the church.”

Peck assumed Joseph and Rigdon knew about it. Joseph said repeatedly, “I don’t want the brethren to act unlawfully.” Avard formed the Far West activist into a society bound by oaths, backing one another to the death.

Joseph on the other hand wished to do nothing unlawful, and, if the people would let him alone, he would preach the gospel and live in peace.

Although Avard may have concealed the Danite oaths, Joseph certainly favored evicting dissenters and resisting mobs.

Joseph had indeed grown impatient with what he called “vexatious lawsuits,” and repeatedly said he would not submit to such harassment any longer.

Should they allow themselves to be forced out again as before? What should they do in the face of an aggressor who is annoyed, harassed, and attacked?

The Saints lived in a world where rioters acted with impunity.

War---August— December 1838

Joseph seemed to favor resistance to the mobs, but others took the lead.

The Mormons constituted at least a third of the voters in Daviess County in 1838, and more were coming.

Joseph “was very plain and pointed in his remarks, and expressed a determination to put down the mob or die in the attempt.” Enemies only were to be attacked.

In Gallatin, the company under David Patten removed the goods from Stolling’s store and the building was burned. A tailor’s shop received similar treatment. Elsewhere, fifty buildings were burned. Within four days, Joseph’s uncle John Smith reported that “we have driven most of the enemy out of the County.”

It was said that some of our troops, exasperated to the highest degree, retaliated in some instances by plundering and burning houses, and bringing the spoil to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, whose provisions and clothing had been robbed from them; and upon the whole I am rather inclined to believe it was the case; for human nature cannot endure all things.

The Church’s representative at the U.S. Senate hearings a few years later admitted that “small parties on both sides were on the alert, and probably had done some damages.” Many witnessed Mormon forces raiding enemy supplies for the bishop’s storehouse in Adam-ondi-Ahman, in retaliation for the previous destruction of Mormon property.

Lyman Wight and others continued to plunder non-Mormon houses. They had been hungering for war since Zion’s Camp.

John D. Lee later said Daviess fell into chaos for a week: “The burning of houses, farms, and stacks of grain was generally indulged in by each party. Lawlessness prevailed, and pillage was the rule.”

The skirmish at Crooked River led to the charge of treason against Joseph Smith and the Mormon leaders.

Joseph disappeared from view during the military action. Joseph did not command troops or bear arms. The military bands were led by Patten, Wight, and Seymour Brunson.

Lilborn W. Bogg’s was married to the granddaughter of Daniel Boone (I just thought you would like to know that).

At a hearing before Judge King in Richmond, a military officer estimated that “the whole number of Mormons killed through the whole difficulty, as far as he could ascertain was about 40, and several wounded. There had been one citizen killed, and about 15 badly wounded.

Some thought the brethren were hunted as wild game and shot down, women ravished and houses rifled.

Sampson Avard said the Danite society was all of Joseph’s doing.

Reprise

The letter gave clear evidence of Joseph’s willingness to do battle against the attacking Missourians and of his impatience with dissenters among the Saints. One could also picture him arousing the Militia to defend themselves against the invading mob in October. “Go tell the army to retreat in five minutes or we’ll give them hell.”

When he was insulted, betrayed, or attacked, anger poured from his heart.

How aggressive he wanted his troops to act in Gallatin and Millport is unclear. He believed his people could rightfully confiscate property in compensation for their own losses to the Missourians.

As the December letter said, he believed the Missourians burned their own houses and blamed it on Mormons.

Rockwood wrote his father that “the Prophet has unsheathed his sword and in the name of Jesus declared that it shall not be sheathed again until he can go unto any county or state in safety and in peace.

Had the Presidency known of these corruptions, Joseph insisted, “they would have spurned them and their authors from them as they would the gates of hell. But by giving them places of honor at the July 4th celebration, he acknowledged their legitimacy.

For half a century, the war poisoned Mormon memory.

The Prophet’s Answer to Sundry Questions:

I answered the questions which were frequently asked me, while on my last journey but one from Kirtland to Missouri, as printed in the Elder’s Journal, Vol. 1, Number II, pages 28 and 29 as follows:

1. Do you believe the Bible?

If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do.

2.Wherein do you differ from other sects?

We believe the Bible while all other sects profess to believe the interpretations of the Bible and their creeds.

3. Will everybody be damned but Mormons?

Yes, and a great number of them unless they repent and work righteousness.

4. How and when did you obtain the Book of Mormon?

Moroni who deposited the plates in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County New York, being dead and raised again there from (so we knew that he was not translated but resurrected), appeared unto me and told me where they were and gave me directions as how to obtain them. I obtained them and through the Urim & Thummim which was with them and were the means by which I translated the plates and thus came the Book of Mormon.

5. Do you believe Joseph Smith Jr. to be a prophet?

Yes, and every other man who has the testimony of Jesus, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

6. Do you Mormons believe in having all things in common?

No!

7. Do the Mormons believe in having more wives than one?

No, not at the same time.

But we believe if their companion dies they have a right to marry again. We do disapprove of the custom in the world (and which has been practiced amongst us to our great mortification) in marrying five or six weeks, or even two to three months after the death of their companion.

8. Can they, the Mormons, raise the dead?

No, nor can any other people that now live or ever did live, but God can raise the dead through man as an instrument.

9.What signs does Joseph Smith give of his divine mission?

The signs which God allows men to give according to His wisdom so that He may judge the world according to His own plan.

10. Was not Joseph Smith a money digger?

Yes, but it was never a very profitable job as I only received $14 dollars a month for it.

11. Did not Joseph Smith steal his wife?

Ask her, she was of age, she can answer for herself.

12. Do the people have to give up their money when they join your church?

13. Are the Mormons abolitionists?

No, unless delivering the people from priest craft should be considered abolition. We believe in setting the Negro’s free.

14. Do they stir up the Indians to war and commit depredations?

No and they who reported the story knew it was false when they put it into circulation. These and similar reports are palmed upon the people by the sectarian priests.

15. Do the Mormons baptize in the name of Joseph Smith?

No, but if they did, it would be as valid as the baptism administered by the sectarian priests.

16. If Mormon doctrine is true, what has become of all those who died since the days of the Apostles?

All those who have not had an opportunity of hearing the gospel and being ministered unto by an inspired man in the flesh must hear if hereafter before they can be finally judged (This was in 1838 but it was not fully introduced until August 1840).

Joseph was always ahead of what he was giving to the Saints. He was having visions of this great work years before he was unfolding it. He would reveal it when God told him to do so.

17. Does not Joseph Smith profess to be Jesus Christ?

No, but professes to be his brother, as all other Saints have done and now do.

18. Is there anything in the Bible which licenses you to believe in revelation now days?

Is there anything in the Bible that does not authorize us to believe so? If there is, we have as yet not been able to find it.

19. Is not the canon of scripture full?

If it is, there is a great defect in the book as it would have said so.

20. What are the fundamental principles of your religion?

Joseph briefly summarized the beliefs of the Church.

I published the foregoing answers to save myself the trouble of repeating the same a thousand times over and over again (May 8, 1838, D.H.C. 3:28-30, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,119-121).