In June 1838, church members organized settlements in Missouri’s Daviess and Carroll counties, provoking violent attempts to drive the Saints from both counties. In October 1838, antagonists expelled church members from Carroll County and signaled their intention to repeat the action in Daviess County. When it became apparent that civil and militia authorities would not intervene to protect the Saints, church members organized militarily to defend themselves and launched preemptive attacks on Daviess County towns that were reportedly havens for the church’s antagonists. Latter-day Saint men burned buildings, confiscated goods, and expelled those who were not members of the church from Daviess County. Later that month, a skirmish broke out near the southern border of Caldwell County. Three Latter-day Saints were killed, along with one militiaman who was not a member of the church. After receiving exaggerated reports of the Saints’ military operations, Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs declared that “the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary” and directed the state militia to “operate against the Mormons.” (Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; “Part 2: 8 July–29 October 1838”; “Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839.”)

Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

In October 1838, Missouri state militia commanders arrested JS and other church leaders outside of Far West, the principal Latter-day Saint settlement in Caldwell County, Missouri. In November the prisoners were taken to Richmond, Missouri, where they were charged with several crimes allegedly committed during the October conflict between the Saints and their antagonists, including treason against the state of Missouri. Later that month, Judge Austin A. King of the Fifth Judicial Circuit presided at a preliminary hearing to evaluate the evidence against them. King held that there was probable cause to believe that JS and five other Latter-day Saints had committed treason, and they were incarcerated in the jail of Clay County, Missouri, in December 1838 to await a spring trial. (“Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839”; Historical Introduction to State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason.)

Insertion in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.

Missouri state militia officials estimated that forty Latter-day Saints were killed during the 1838 conflict between the Saints and their antagonists, including seventeen men and boys at Hawn’s Mill on 30 October. One Missourian who was not a member of the church was also killed. During winter 1838–1839, Far West, Missouri, became a makeshift refugee camp. State militiamen foraged among the livestock and fields of Latter-day Saints in Far West, and antagonists among the state militiamen ransacked church members’ homes and committed acts of sexual violence against Latter-day Saint women. In spring 1839, approximately eight to ten thousand church members began the nearly two-hundred-mile journey out of the state, finding refuge in neighboring Illinois and Iowa Territory. (“Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839”; Hartley, “Saints’ Forced Exodus from Missouri,” 347–356.)

Hartley, William G. “The Saints’ Forced Exodus from Missouri, 1839.” In Joseph Smith: The Prophet and Seer, edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson, 347–389. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010.

JS and other Latter-day Saint prisoners were in Missouri state custody from 31 October 1838 until 16 April 1839, spending about four months of that time in the Clay County, Missouri, jail. In early April 1839, they were removed from the jail and transported to Daviess County, where a grand jury indicted them for treason and other crimes allegedly committed during the 1838 conflict in Missouri between the Saints and their antagonists. The prisoners were then granted a change of venue, and while en route to Boone County, Missouri, their guards allowed them to escape on 16 April; they arrived in Illinois on 22 April without injury. (“Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839”; see also Historical Introduction to Promissory Note to John Brassfield, 16 Apr. 1839.)

While in Missouri, JS claimed exemption from militia service due to his ordination as a minister. He was therefore not part of the Caldwell County regiment of the Missouri state militia, nor did he hold a military position in the Danite society, a private militia composed of Latter-day Saint men in Missouri. Although JS was aware of the Danites, he was not briefed in all of their plans and activities. During church members’ October 1838 military operations in Daviess County, Missouri, JS did not have command in the field, although witnesses testified at the November 1838 hearing that he directed the expeditions from Adam-ondi-Ahman, the church’s primary settlement in the county. (Missouri Constitution of 1820, art. 13, sec. 18; Petition to George Tompkins, between 9 and 15 Mar. 1839; see also Historical Introduction to Constitution of the Society of the Daughter of Zion, ca. Late June 1838; and testimonies of Sampson Avard, George M. Hinkle, John Cleminson, Reed Peck, and William W. Phelps, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”)

Missouri Constitution, 1820. Record Group 5, Office of the Secretary of State. MSA.