The Missouri Persecutions

by B. H. Roberts

At various times through the summer the mob had threatened the saints in and around De Witt, but it was not until the 20th of September that any serious demonstration of mob violence occurred. On that day about a hundred, perhaps a hundred and fifty men, rode into the settlement and threatened the people with death if they did not agree at once to leave the State, but after some deliberation, they gave them until the 1st of October in which to make their departure. The action of the mob was promptly reported to the governor, and he was asked by the saints to take such steps as would put a stop to all lawless proceedings. The petition making this prayer was signed by over fifty of the brethren living at De Witt, but the governor gave no heed to their prayers for the suppression of lawlessness.

The saints at De Witt of course paid no attention to the demand of the mob made on the 20th of September, that they leave the State by the first of October. So, on the 2nd of that month, early in the morning, about fifty men rode into De Witt and began firing upon the peaceful inhabitants of the place. Henry Root made out an affidavit to the foregoing effect, and at once went to General Parks with it, who was still in the vicinity of Diahman with his two companies of militia. Leaving Colonel Thompson in command at Diahman, General Parks at once ordered two companies of militia under the command of Captains Bogart and Houston to arm and equip, as the law directed, with six days' provisions and fifty rounds of powder and ball. With these companies he marched for De Witt. Just before leaving he sent a messenger to a Colonel Jones, of Carroll County, to call out three companies of the militia and join him at Carrollton, the county seat of Carroll County. This order, however, was ignored.

In his report to General Atchison, General Parks says that when he arrived at De Witt he found the place surrounded by Dr. Austin's men, to the number of some three hundred, provided with a piece of artillery ready to attack the "Mormons" gathered in De Witt. But he expressed the opinion that the "Mormons" could beat Austin even if he had five hundred troops. In the meantime his own forces were mutinous, and refused to act against the mob; hence he had sent word to General Doniphan to raise companies from Platte, Clay, and Clinton counties, as he had no faith that troops ordered from Livingston and other counties would come.

During the time that trouble was threatened at Diahman, which for the time was happily suppressed by General Atchison, Governor Boggs, in addition to the militia ordered out under Atchison, Doniphan and Parks, had directed General S. D. Lucas, of the fourth division of the Missouri militia, to march with four hundred men to join General Atchison at Diahman. Orders similar in their nature were issued to Major-Generals Lewis Bolton, John B. Clark and Thomas D. Grant. But the success of General Atchison in scattering the mob forces about Diahman led to the disbanding of the militia under the generals just named.

This apparently was not relished at all by S. D. Lucas, who, it will be remembered, took an active part in connection with Governor Boggs against the saints in the Jackson County troubles. Hearing of the difficulty arising at De Witt, he thought it another opportunity to strike a blow at the defenseless people he before had assisted in murdering and driving from their homes. He passed down the Missouri River, near where De Witt was located, about the time the actual hostilities began there, and reported the situation to Governor Boggs, and in concluding his letter he says:

If a fight has actually taken place, of which I have no doubt, it will create excitement in the whole of upper Missouri, and those base and degraded beings (the "Mormons") will be exterminated from the face of the earth. * * * It is an unpleasant state of affairs. The remedy I do not pretend to suggest to your Excellency. My troops were only dismissed subject to further orders, and can be called into the field at an hour's warning.

While Lucas pretended in the above not to suggest a remedy to the governor, he really does so, and plainly offers to carry out the plan. General Lucas says: "Those base and degraded beings (the saints) will be exterminated from the face of the earth," and then follows that statement up by saying that his troops, amounting to four hundred, had only been dismissed subject to further orders, and could be called out at an hour's warning! This act on the part of Lucas was in reality a suggestion to Governor Boggs to exterminate the saints, and an offer on his part to do the job, if he only had orders to call out the men he had but a few days before disbanded. The circumstance is the more significant since his covert suggestion was subsequently acted upon by Governor Boggs.

The people of Chariton County were again asked to assist against the "Mormons," this time to drive them from De Witt; and again the people of that county held a public meeting on the question, and sent a committee of two to inquire into the situation and report. As their report is a complete vindication of the action of the saints in this instance, I make an extract from it:

We arrived at the place of difficulties on the fourth of October, and found a large portion of the citizens of Carroll and adjoining counties assembled near De Witt well armed. We inquired into the nature of the difficulties. They said there was a large portion of the people called "Mormons," embodied in De Witt, from different parts of the world. They are unwilling for them to remain there, which is the cause of their waging war against them. To use the gentleman's language, they are waging a war of extermination, or to remove them from the said county. We also went into De Witt, to see the situation of the "Mormons." We found them in the act of defense begging for peace, and wishing for the civil authorities to repair there and as early as possible settle the difficulties between the parties. Hostilities have commenced, and will continue until they are stopped by the civil authorities.

As soon as word was brought to Joseph that the saints were shut up by mob forces in De Witt, he at once started for the scene of the trouble to allay, if possible, the excitement among the people. He had some difficulty in getting there, as the mob had all the roads strongly guarded, and allowed neither ingress nor egress to the place they were actually besieging. But by going unfrequented roads and through the woods, he arrived at the besieged town, and found the saints surrounded by a host of their enemies, with their provisions nearly exhausted, and no prospects of obtaining more.