The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 16

On the strength of the representations made in Davies county, the Governor, on the 26th of October, issued an order to General John B. Clark of the First Division, Missouri Militia, to raise four hundred men from each of five divisions of the militia of the State, and take the field with all the trappings and paraphernalia of war. The Governor had not yet heard the story of the reported massacre of Bogart's company. The next day, when the intelligence arrived, upon no other evidence than this report, which subsequently proved to be without a particle of truth, he ordered the expulsion of the Mormons from the State. The following is the official document which he issued:

"Headquarters Militia, City of Jefferson, October 27th, 1888.

"Sir—Since the order of the morning to you, directing you to cause four hundred mounted men to be raised within your division, I have received, by Amos Rees, Esquire, and Wiley S. Williams, Esquire, one of my aides, information of the most appalling character, which changes the whole face of things and places the Mormons in the attitude of open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made open war upon the people of this State. Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operations and endeavour to reach Richmond, in Ray county, with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated, or driven from the State if necessary for the public good. These outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may think necessary. I have just issued orders to Major General Wallock, of Marion county, to raise five hundred men, to march ​

MASSACRE OF MORMONS AT HAUN'S MILL.

​them to the northern part of Davies, and there to unite with General Doniphan, of Clay, who has been ordered with five hundred men to proceed to the same point for the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the Mormons to the north. They have been directed to communicate with you by express; you can also communicate with them if you find it necessary. Instead, therefore, of proceeding, as before directed, to reinstate the citizens of Davies in their homes, you will proceed immediately to Richmond, and there operate against the Mormons. Brigadier-General Parks, of Ray, has been ordered to have four hundred men of his brigade in readiness to join you at Richmond. The whole force will be placed under your command.

"L. W. Boggs, Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

"To General Clark."

The whole country was in a terrible state of excitement, and one by one the quasi friends of the Mormons were forced to take sides for them or against them. Some cowardly brethren followed the example of the " apostate" apostles, and that increased the conviction of the Missourians that the Mormons were unfit to live among them. Volunteers rushed to the standard of the militia generals, and mobocracy was now legalized. There were burning and destruction of property everywhere. General Atchison, in the moment of trial, also turned against the Mormons, and, with General Lucas, urged the commander-in-chief to come to the "seat of war immediately, "for the Mormons had committed outrages which rendered civil war inevitable. They had set the laws of the country at defiance, and were in open rebellion." Such language from General Atchison, who had before done his utmost to defend Joseph and the Mormons from the attacks of the mob, confirmed more and more their enemies as to the propriety of what was being done, and increased the determination to expel them from the State. Of course the Mormons were not slow to find a reason for the defection of General Atchison—his popularity was at stake. But, if such had been the incentive, it was now too late to change. The Governor had the day before superseded him by the appointment of General Clark to the supreme command, on learning which, some days after, he resigned his command and retired from the war.

General Clark was eminently fitted to carry out the Governor's plans of extermination or expulsion; he was in perfect ​harmony with his Excellency from the first outbreak of the trouble. General Atchison's first reports, favourable to the Mormons, induced the conclusion that he was unsuited for the radical work that was determined upon. Atchison had seen the facts, and his personal acquaintance with the Mormon leaders had too easily impressed him.

The mob and militia, before General Clark arrived, had increased to about twenty-five hundred, and encamped at Richmond. He was on his way with about a thousand more. The work to be accomplished was now commanded by the Governor, the men in arms were constituted a militia, and from them there was no mercy to be expected. The tug of war had come and the brutality of vindictiveness had full license. On the 30th of October a body of the militia under the command of Colonel Ashley, said to have been between two and three hundred men, began the savage work at Haun's Mills, on Shoal Creek, in the eastern part of Carroll county. This body of men was under the immediate command of Captain Nehemiah Comstock, who had given assurances the previous day that the Mormons there would be protected from the attacks of the mob that were threatening to destroy their property. Comstock had now received a copy of the Governor's order of extermination from the colonel, and with that he commenced the bloody work.

A thrilling statement of this terrible butchery is made by Joseph Young (brother of Brigham), who was an eye-witness. Joseph is a truthful, honest, quiet, unoffending man, esteemed and beloved by Gentile as well as Saint. With his family and others he had just reached the home of the Saints in Missouri, from Kirtland. He had been over three months en route, and had not yet reached the "headquarters" of Zion. As he neared the goal of his hopes and prayers, the mob prohibited his advance, and he, with others, temporarily halted at Haun's Mills the day preceding the tragedy. His statement is as follows:

"On Tuesday, the 30th, that bloody tragedy was acted, the scenes of which I will never forget. More than three-fourths of the day had passed in tranquillity as smiling as the preceding one. I think there was no individual in our company that was apprised of the sudden and awful fate that hung over our heads like an overwhelming torrent which was to ​change the prospects, the feelings and circumstances of about thirty families. The banks of Shoal Creek on either side teemed with children sporting and playing while their mothers were engaged with domestic employments, and their fathers employed in guarding the mills and other property, while others were engaged in gathering in their crops for their consumption. The weather was very pleasant, the sun shone clear, all was tranquil, and no one expressed any apprehension of the awful crisis that was near us—even at our doors.

"It was about four o'clock, while sitting in my cabin, with my babe in my arms, and my wife standing by my side, the door being open, I cast my eyes on the opposite bank of Shoal Creek, and saw a large company of armed men on horses directing their course towards the mills with all possible speed. As they advanced through the scattering trees that stood on the side of the prairie, they seemed to form themselves into a three-square position, forming a vanguard in front.

"At this moment, David Evans, seeing the superiority of their numbers (there being two hundred and forty of them, according to their own account), swung his hat and cried for peace. This not being heeded, they continued to advance, and their leader, Mr. Nehemiah Comstock, fired a gun, which was followed by a solemn pause of ten or twelve seconds, when all at once they discharged about one hundred rifles, aiming at a blacksmith's shop into which our friends had fled for safety; and charged up to the shop, the cracks of which between the logs were sufficiently large to enable them to aim directly at the bodies of those who had there fled for refuge from the fire of their murderers. There were several families tented in rear of the shop, whose lives were exposed, and amidst a shower of bullets fled to the woods in different directions."

The narrator and others fled and secreted themselves in a thicket of bushes till the militia had retired and darkness concealed them. Of the results of the firing, he says:

"After daylight appeared, some four or five men, with myself, who had escaped with our lives from the horrid massacre, repaired as soon as possible to the mills to learn the condition of our friends, whose fate we had but too truly anticipated. When we arrived at the house of Mr. Haun, we found Mr. Merrick's body lying in rear of the house, Mr. McBride's in front, literally mangled from head to foot. We were informed by Miss Rebecca Judd, who was an eye-witness, that he was shot with his own gun after he had given it up, and then cut to pieces with a corn-cutter by a Mr. Rogers, of Davies county, who keeps a ferry on Grand River, and who has since repeatedly boasted of this act of savage brutality. Mr. York's body we found in the house, and after viewing these corpses, we immediately went to the blacksmith's shop, where we found nine of our friends, eight of whom were already dead; the other, Mr. Cox, of Indiana, was struggling in the agonies of death, and soon expired. We immedi​ately prepared, and carried them to the place of interment. This last office of kindness due to the relics of the departed was not attended with the customary ceremonies or decency, for we were in jeopardy, every moment expecting to be fired upon by the mob, who we supposed to be lying in ambush waiting for the first opportunity to despatch the remaining few who were providentially preserved from the slaughter of the preceding day. However, we accomplished without molestation this painful task. The place of burying was a vault in the ground, formerly intended for a well, into which we threw the bodies of our friends promiscuously. Among those slain I will mention Sardius Smith, son of Warren Smith, about nine years old, who through fear had crawled under the bellows in the shop, where he remained till the massacre was over, when he was discovered by a Mr. Glaze, of Carroll county, who presented his rifle near the boy's head and literally blowed off the upper part of it. Mr. Stanley, of Carroll county, told me afterwards that Glaze boasted of his fiend-like murder and heroic deed all over the country.

"The number of killed and mortally wounded in this wanton slaughter was eighteen or nineteen. Miss Mary Stedwell, while fleeing, was shot through the hand, and, fainting, fell over a log, into which they shot upwards of twenty balls.

"To finish this work of destruction, this band of murderers, composed of men from Davies, Livingston, Ray, Carroll, and Chariton counties, led by some of the principal men of that section of the upper country. proceeded to rob the houses, wagons, and tents of bedding and clothing; drove off horses and wagons, leaving widows and orphans destitute of the necessaries of life, and even stripped the clothing from the bodies of the slain. According to their own account, they fired seven rounds in this awful butchery, making upwards of sixteen hundred shots at a little company of men about thirty in number, etc., etc."

A younger brother of the boy who was dragged from underneath the bellows, and killed, was wounded in the firing, but lay perfectly still and feigned himself dead. When the mob left, he was the only one that answered to the call of his mother. His father and brother were both lying dead beside him.^[1] He is now in Utah, a very respectable citizen.