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The 1844 Mormon War
Topic Started: May 3 2010, 05:26 PM (269 Views)
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An Empire for Liberty

July 1844

After the 1838 Mormon War, all Mormons were forced to leave Missouri. Many ended up settling in the new town of Nauvoo, Illinois, where Joseph Smith later joined them after being released from state custody. The city grew steadily and at its peak was estimated to number 10,000.

By 1844, tensions once again were smoldering between the followers of Smith and their non-Mormon neighbors. Many Illinoisans had come to fear the Mormons' bloc-voting, which they saw as anti-republican, as well the Mormons' practice of plural marriage. Officials from Missouri also continued to harass Smith and press for his extradition on charges related to the 1838 confrontation, further inflaming anti-Mormon rhetoric.

In mid 1844, a close friend and follower of Joseph Smith named William Law broke with the church and founded a new sect called "The True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." Law set up a printing press and began publishing a newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor, which was very critical of Smith and threatened to expose details about Mormon polygamy. On June 10, Smith held a meeting of the Nauvoo city council and condemned the Expositor as "a public nuisance"; the council then empowered him to destroy the press. A portion of the 5,000-man Nauvoo Legion, Smith's militia, marched into Law's office, wrecked the press and burned every copy of the Nauvoo Expositor that could be found.

Smith's destruction of the printing press provoked great outrage throughout Illinois, in part due to the 1837 incident involving Elijah Lovejoy and locals' determination that such an episode would never be repeated. Calls for action against the LDS church rose to a crescendo and Illinois Governor Thomas Ford mobilized the state militia to disperse the Mormon mob. Vigilantes began attacking Mormon citizens and Governor Ford issued a warrant for the arrest of Joseph Smith and other key church officials. Fearing that his arrest would be followed by a lynching, Smith decided to flee rather than submit to non-Mormon authorities.

Several dozen Mormon leaders did eventually surrender to local constables and were promptly charged with treason against the state of Illinois. While they were being held in the city of Carthage's jail -- under the supposed protection of local militia -- a mob of 200 anti-Mormons stormed the building and shot the prisoners. There was some speculation that Governor Ford himself may have known in advance of this plot, but did nothing to stop it.

The flight of Smith and the deaths of many LDS leaders has triggered a major crisis within the Mormon church, as followers are deeply dispirited and in a state of confusion over how to deal with leadership succession. There are reports of fracture within the community as different men with different interpretations of Smith's dogma have stepped forward to lead, none apparently able to gather a consensus.
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