The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 18

General Clark, entrusted with the superior command of the militia of Missouri, arrived at Far West on the 4th of November, too late to participate in the glories of General Lucas. But there was much yet to be done to carry out the Governor's order of expulsion or extermination. From first to last, the troops sent to Far West under the different commands were probably altogether six thousand men. Before his departure for Independence, General Lucas disbanded nearly all the militia. General Clark arrived with sixteen hundred others. The Mormon militia here, about five hundred in number, had already given up their arms. They were now called out of their houses and ordered into line. From a paper that had been furnished to General Clark, the names of fifty-six of their number were read, and as they answered they were called out and sent to Richmond jail (Ray county), without being informed of what they were accused. Before they departed, the General made the following speech:

"Gentlemen—You whose names are not attached to this list of names, will now have the privilege of going to your fields, and of providing corn, wood, etc., for your families. Those who are now taken will go from this to prison, be tried, and receive the due demerit of their crimes; but you (except such as charges may hereafter be preferred against) are at liberty as soon as the troops are removed that now guard the place, which I shall cause to be done immediately. It now devolves upon you to fulfil a treaty that you have entered into, the leading items of which I shall now lay before you. The first requires that your leading men be given up ​to be tried according to law; this you have already complied with. The second is that you deliver up your arms; this has been attended to. The third stipulation is that you sign over your properties to defray the expenses of the war. This you have also done. Another article yet remains for you to comply with, and that is that you leave the State forthwith. And whatever may be your feeling concerning this, or whatever your innocence, it is nothing to me. General Lucas (whose military rank is equal with mine) has made this treaty with you; I approve of it. I should have done the same had I been here. I am therefore determined to see it executed. The character of this State has suffered almost beyond redemption, from the character, conduct, and influence that you have exerted; and we deem it an act of justice to restore her character to its former standing among the States by every proper means. The orders of the Governor to me were that you should be exterminated and not allowed to remain in the State. And had not your leaders been given up, and the terms of the treaty complied with, before this time you and your families would have been destroyed, and your houses in ashes. There is a discretionary power vested in my hands, which, considering your circumstances, I shall exercise for a season. You are indebted to me for this clemency. I do not say that you shall go now, but you must not think of staying here another season or of putting in crops, for the moment you do this the citizens will be upon you; and if I am called here again in case of a non-compliance of a treaty made, do not think that I shall do as I have done now. You need not expect any mercy, but extermination, for I am determined the Governor's order shall be executed. As for your leaders, do not think, do not imagine for a moment, do not let it enter into your. minds that they will be delivered and restored to you again, for their fate is fixed, their die is cast, their doom is sealed. I am sorry, gentlemen, to see so many apparently intelligent men found in the situation that you are; and oh! if I could invoke that Great Spirit, the unknown God, to rest upon and deliver you from that awful chain of superstition, and liberate you from those fetters of fanaticism with which you are bound, that you no longer do homage to a man. I would advise you to scatter abroad and never organize yourselves with bishops, presidents, etc., lest you excite the jealousies of the people, and subject yourselves to the same calamities that have now come upon you. You have always been the aggressors, you have brought upon yourselves these difficulties by being disaffected, and not being subject to rule. And my advice is that you become as other citizens, lest by a recurrence of these events you bring upon yourselves irretrievable ruin."

After Joseph had been with his fellow-prisoners a few days in Independence, Colonel Sterling G. Price brought orders from General Clark and took them to Richmond, Ray county. There they were chained by the ankles and had ​to sleep together in a row upon their backs and without any covering.

General Clark was zealous and left nothing undone. In a dispatch to Governor Boggs, dated November 10th, he reveals the complexion of his mind on the Mormon question:

"There is no crime, from treason down to petit larceny, but these people, or a majority of them, have been guilty of—all, too, under the counsel of Joseph Smith, Junr., the Prophet. They have committed treason, murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, and perjury. They have societies formed under the most binding covenants in form and the most horrid oaths to circumvent the laws, and put them at defiance; and to plunder and burn and murder, and divide the spoils for the use of the Church."^[1]

Everything was now against the Mormons; the leaders of the first mob had triumphed, and they were now sitting in judgment over the prisoners and dictating terms to the Saints. The Governor was resolved to make a final work of it. He instructed General Clark "to settle the whole matter completely." If the Mormons as a body were disposed to voluntarily leave the State, he was to favour that course; but upon no account to allow "the ringleaders to escape the punishment they deserve." They were to be made an example to the others.

General Clark strained every nerve to have these prisoners tried before a court-martial; but he had finally to remand them to Austin A. King, of the Circuit Court, and to Adam Black, that justice of the peace whose affidavit against Joseph and Lyman Wight was the commencement of their troubles. The examination lasted three days; and is reported by the Mormons to have been a mere farce, as nearly all the witnesses who might have been of service to the prisoners were thrust into prison, and those who did appear in their behalf were threatened, intimidated, and, in some cases, "actually run out ​of the court." It was the beginning of that "border ruffianism" that afterwards so much disgraced both Kansas and Missouri. At the close of the examination sixty prisoners were "honourably acquitted," or held to bail; but the Prophet, his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin were sent to jail in Liberty, Clay county, to await their trial on the charges of treason and murder.^[2] The "treason," says Joseph, "for having whipped the mob out of Davies county and taking their cannon from them, and 'murder,' for the man killed in the Bogart battle." Having "whipped" the mob, sounds as if Joseph hugely enjoyed that part of his experience. The other prisoners—Parley P. Pratt, Morris Phelps, Luman Gibbs, Darwin Chase and Normon Shearer, were placed in Richmond jail to await their trial on the same charges.

The body of the Saints were to leave the State in the spring, and their labours were devoted to preparation for that exclusively; but it was exceedingly difficult to procure the necessary means. The banditti that roamed through the counties where the Mormons resided, after the militia was disbanded, swept away everything that was valuable, and wantonly destroyed what they could not use.

Some of the leading Mormons sent a memorial to the State Legislature representing the terribly impoverished condition of the Saints, and asking for redress and the rescinding of the Governor's order of expulsion. The documents presented by the Mormons were fairly dealt with by many members of the Legislature who were ashamed at the course of the Governor and for the unconstitutionality of his orders for expulsion; but the majority of the Legislature were against the Mormons, and ​$200,000 was voted to meet the expenses of the war! To aid the people of Davies and Caldwell, $2,000 was ordered to be distributed; but of that the Mormons had a small share.

All hope of receiving aid from the State was now extinguished, and the Saints had to depend upon their own exertions during the winter to provide themselves with the necessary means of travel. Joseph, in the mean time, was busy in prison writing letters of encouragement to the Saints, and attacking with bitterness his enemies, especially the "apostates." His letter of December 16th is a curious mixture of "grace, mercy, and the peace of God abide with you," with severe. and coarse denunciation of the renegade witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and other chief men who had deserted him. It was, in fact, an exhortation to the practice of the highest morality, a general review of the charges against the Saints, a denunciation to the effect that "he or she was a liar" who "represents anything otherwise than what we now write," and a tapering off with the words:

"We commend you to God and the work of His grace, which is able to make us wise unto salvation. Amen.—Joseph Smith, Junr."

Some of the Saints had been greatly shaken by the disasters in Missouri, and upon Brigham Young (then President of the Twelve Apostles) the responsibility of keeping together the Church devolved. In a meeting held at Far West, Brigham expressed himself thoroughly satisfied with the Prophet. Heber's faith was "as good as ever;" Simeon Carter "did not think that Joseph was a fallen prophet," still he thought that "Joseph had not acted in all things according to the best wisdom." Thomas Grover was "firm in the faith," and believed that "the time would come when Joseph would stand before kings and speak marvellous words." Solomon Hancock believed in all the Church books, was satisfied that "brother Joseph was not a fallen prophet, but will yet be exalted and become very high." Another brother was "stronger than ever in the faith," thought that the scourging they had got was necessary; and another brother, following after this one, "felt ready to praise God in prisons, and in dungeons, and in all circumstances." Such might be regarded as a representa​tion of the faith of the people generally at this epoch of their history. They had been greatly afflicted and cast down, had some doubts of the wisdom of their leaders, and acknowledged that the brethren had brought upon themselves much of their trouble; but, nevertheless, Joseph was still their prophet. In his autobiography he views the course of events, closing with the following pointed queries:

"But can they hide the Governor's cruel order of banishment or extermination? Can they conceal the facts of the disgraceful treaty of the generals with their own officers and men at Far West? Can they conceal the fact that twelve or fifteen thousand men, women, and children have been banished from the State without trial or condemnation? And this at the expense of two hundred thousand dollars—and this sum appropriated by the State Legislature, in order to pay the troops for this act of lawless outrage? Can they conceal the fact that we have been imprisoned for many months, while our families, friends, and witnesses have been driven away? Can they conceal the blood of the murdered husbands and fathers, or stifle the cry of the widow or fatherless? Nay! The rocks and mountains may cover them in unknown depths, the awful abyss of the fathomless deep may swallow them up, and still the horrid deeds stand forth in the broad light of day for the wondering gaze of angels and men! They cannot be hid! . . . Thus, in a free land, in the town of Liberty, Clay county, Missouri, I and my fellow-prisoners, in chains, dungeons, and jail, saw the close of 1838."