I've done a fair amount of research on the mob violence against Mormons.
I haven't run across a single historical incident of intentional murder of Mormon women or young children, with the exception of the murder of a 10-year old boy at Haun's Mill.
To be sure, it's quite possible women and children died in crossfire as collateral damage. And no doubt at all that they died from hardships associated with being driven from their homes.
But baby-brain-bashing?
Citation please.
It doesn't help the Mormon case to bring up the whole murder of women and children thing, as we do know that dozens of women and children were treacherously murdered in cold blood by the Mormon militia at Mountain Meadows.
What version of the Haun's Mill massacre have you been reading? Here is the information from a website (the Church of Christ owns Haun's Mill now.) (Some of this information is from the Church of Christ's website, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some of it came from my great-great-great grandfather's journal.) Story of Haun's Mill A Tragic Episode in American Religious History
230 Missourians against 35 men in a mill? 17 died, 19 escaped, and of those 19, only four weren't shot. Three boys were hiding and shot.Haun's Mill Massacre3 Missourians were injured. The mob looted the mill and tossed 14 dead bodies into a well. (3 of the wounded Mormons later died.) Within days, the survivors of the Haun's Mill Massacre were driven out of the state of Missouri.
The saddest part about the whole affair was that it could have been avoided. The Mormons who lived around Haun's Mill were urged to go to Far West where there would be safety in numbers. However, most wanted to stay and guard their property and Haun wanted to guard his mill. So they asked the captain of the Mormon Militia for his advice. He told them to go to Far West and abandon their homes and businesses. They didn't like that answer and so the captain told them to go ask Joseph Smith. They did so and received the same answer (go to Far West.) Sad to say, they did not follow Joseph Smith's advice, returned to Haun's Mill and were slaughtered.
Certain deaths were particularly offensive to the Saints. Seventy-eight-year-old Thomas McBride surrendered his musket to militiaman Jacob Rogers, who shot him, then hacked his body with a corn knife. William Reynolds discovered ten-year-old Sardius Smith hiding under the bellows and blew the top of the child's head off.An estimated three hundred Church members lost their lives during these troubled times in Missouri when the Missouri settlers drove them out of the state at gunpoint. After a century and a half of study and reflection, it can be seen that some of their sorrows could have been avoided by the use of more discretion and meekness. The native Missourians were frightened by the talk of the Mormons saying that the 2nd Coming of Christ would be in Jackson County.