[On Oct. 27, 1838, Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs issued an extermination order, directing that Mormons be driven from the state or exterminated. By 1839, virtually all Mormons had been driven from the state.]
This is exactly the kind of half assed history that needs to be debated on Free Republic and NOT censored. You darn well know that Sydney Rigdon’s “Salt Sermon” to the Danite Mormon vigilantes contained an anti-Gentile extermination order PRIOR to Gov. Boggs order. And you very well know that the Mormons went on a rampage burning through Davies County after Rigdon and Smith incited the burning of Gentile towns. And you very well know that there was a battle at Crooked River where the Mormons ambushed a state militia troop. And you very well know that at Far West, the entire defending camp of 1000 Mormons could have been “exterminated” BUT WERE NOT!
And the reason they WERE NOT exterminated was in part because Smith was coerced or cajoled into surrendering, because he would have let his whole congregation die. And the other reason there was no extermination carried out, was because Bogg’s order WAS CONSIDERED DEFENSIVE, and despite the animosity of Gentiles who had been burned out, the State Militia General in charge just wanted the Mormon followers freed from being led like sheep by the megalomaniac Smith. In fact, if there was a true extermination order in place from Boggs, Joseph Smith, Sydney Rigdon, Parley Pratt, and a bunch of others would have been executed instead of being sent to Liberty jail.
But of course, the Anti-Gentile groups of Mormon apologists here such as yourself are rarely called to account for leaving out three quarters of the history so they can promote their agenda that they are always the victims and that all Gentiles are murderous bigots.
Hummm, a replay of what went on at Far West and Nauvoo is occurring here, less the bloodletting. At Nauvoo Smith tried to silence the press, just as jveritas is trying to silence the press here.
Now, if left up to jveritas, your ‘nasty, vicious insinuation’ would never be challenged because I would be banned for pointing out the historical facts (and yes, I have tons of original citations if anyone is interested). Which is all well and fine, but Hillary doesn’t play by your rules, Mitt’s beliefs will all be fair game if he can’t defend them (Huckabees too).
You are simply fanning the hatred for perverse reasons of your own.
Do you think the pogrom at Haun's mill (3 days after the extermination order was signed) which resulted in 18 deaths was a defensive action?
Furthermore, was Missouri wrong in 1976 to express a "deep regret for the injustice" of the extermination order?
Do you really want to discuss the persecution of the mormons in Missouri?
If so, lets start at the beginning with the Mormons moving into Jackson county. The Mormons were largely from the North East, and were opposed to slavery. The people of Missouri supported slavery. The people of Jackson County quickly decided that they didn’t like mormons, and proceeded to drive them out of the county, burning their homes, killing their livestock, etc.
The Mormons petitioned the governor of the state for redress to which he replied that he had no power to protect them.
The Mormons left Jackson County for Clay County, where they remained until they were compelled to leave. After Clay County, they moved to Far West in Caldwell County. After some time in Caldwell County, the citizens of Missouri decided that they still didn’t like the Mormons, and organized to drive them out of the state for good.
In support of this effort, two apostate mormons signed affidavits asserting the existence of a secrete Band of Mormons that were planing on razing America. This group, however, was not supported by the LDS church, and its leader was excommunicated as soon as his secret group was discovered by church leadership.
As tensions built, rumors were spread of Mormons destroying property throughout Davies County. The Missouri milita was called out to prevent civil war. Upon traveling to the area, it was the opinion of the militia’s leader, General Parks, that the Mormons were peaceful and law-abiding and were not guilty of the claimed offenses.
Later, after seeing the destruction of the home of Don Carlos Smith, General Parks ordered Colonel Lyman Wight (an officer in the Missouri milita) to suppress mob violence. Under this authority, Lyman Wight and David W. Patten led men of the Missouri militia to disperse mobs formed against the mormons at the battle of Crooked river.
Now, since every man in Missouri presumably belonged to the milita, you could honestly state that Wight and Patten attacked men who belonged to the militia and were illegally gathered. But, at the end of the day, Wight and Patten acted with the authority of the state of Missouri, and thus they were the Missouri militia.
So, Davies County was not razed as you claim. Nor could the mormons have ambushed the Missouri militia at the Battle of Crooked river because they were the Missouri militia and they did not ambush themselves.
The only half-assed history that I am seeing here is what you have written.