tile militia outnumbered them five to one. It was at this time
that General Atchison retired from command.
With such disparity of numbers and equipments, the Mor-
mons could not have entertained any great hopes of success.
The Prophet doubtless counted upon heavenly aid as well as
upon the desperation of his brethren fighting as they were
for their families and firesides. It is an ever-recurring feature
in religious history that repeated evidences of defeat are never
accepted as lessons of premonition. On the contrary, as failure
succeeds failure and the cause seems hopelessly lost, faith rises
with increased grandeur, and the believer expects every instant
to witness a Eed Sea victory over again. The whole spirit and
genius of Joseph's life was this abounding confidence.
At this time temporary success to the Mormons was possi-
ble ; but it would have demanded an unfailing series of miracles
to have made it available. The whole country was in sympa :
thy with the mob, the militia, and the Governor. Temporary
7
104 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
defeat then to the militia was certain to have insured their
ultimate success. Unless the heavens had truly decreed the
overthrow- of all things that opposed the Saints, there was lit-
tle chance of victory, and the " treason " of Colonel Hinkle
was from that standpoint an opportune ram in the thicket.
This officer was an elder in the Church and in the command
of the Caldwell militia. He had faced the mob when it was
purely mob, and had exhibited no lack of personal devotion.
When he saw the Governor's officers surrounding Far West, it
is due to him to suppose that his time for second sober thought
had been reached. He sought an interview with General Lucas
on the morning of the 31st. The General and the principal
officers met him. Col. Hinkle wanted to know if there could
not be some compromise or settlement of the difficulty without
a resort to arms. General Lucas made him acquainted with
the Governor's orders for extermination or expulsion from the
State, and submitted to him the following propositions :
1. To give up their [the Church's] leaders to be tried and punished.
2. To make an appropriation of their property, all who have taken
up arms, to the payment of their debts, and indemnify for damage done
by them.
3. That the balance should leave the State, and be protected out by
the militia, but to be permitted to remain under protection until further
orders were received from the Commander-in-Chief.
4. To give up the arms of every description, to be receipted for.
Colonel Hinkle asked for time to consider these proposi-
tions, and General Lucas gave him till the following morning
to decide, requiring of him in the mean time to deliver over
Joseph Smith, Junr., Sidney Kigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley P.
Pratt, and George W. Robinson, as hostages for his faithful
compliance with the terms. On his part the General pledged
himself and his officers that in the event of the Colonel declin-
ing to accept those terms, the hostages should be returned in
the morning ; but in case the terms were accepted, that the
hostages would be held for trial as a part of the first stipula-
tion. To bring the persons called for, Col. Hinkle was allowed
till " one hour by sun in the evening," and the troops were or-
dered to be ready to march against Far West half an hour
earlier. The afternoon was already advanced.
"TREASON" OF COLONEL HINKLE. 105
Colonel Hinkle waited upon the Prophet and his friends
named, and informed them that the officers of the militia de-
sired to talk with them, hoping that the difficulty which threat-
ened would be settled without having occasion to carry into
effect the exterminating orders of the Governor. Joseph and his
friends immediately complied with, this request, and, accompanied
by Colonel Hinkle, went out to the place of rendezvous with
General Lucas. They were immediately seized as prisoners.
It is asserted by the Mormon historian that Col. Hinkle,
when he met with General Lucas, said : " Here are the prison-
" ers I agreed to deliver to you." Henceforth he was branded
as a traitor by the Mormons.
, "With a full knowledge of the facts occurring at the time, a
modification of this charge may be entertained. Col. Hinkle
was evidently satisfied that "the Lord" was not going to fight
the battles of the Saints, and he was as fully convinced that
General Lucas would fight those of Missouri. Aware of the
numerical superiority and advantages of his enemies, with no
possibility of final success on the part of his friends, there was
nothing left him but to surrender. M!ost persons would have
preferred to have acquainted Joseph and the leading Mormons
with the terms submitted by the Missouri generals, and to
have left the decision and responsibility with them ; Colonel
Hinkle's contrary course was probably prompted by the con-
viction that the Saints would never consent to give up their
leaders, and that within two hours the fight would commence
in which helpless women and children would be slaughtered in
the general vengeance with which they were threatened.
Colonel Hinkle had previously exhibited no cowardice; he
gained nothing by giving up the leaders, but knew well that
he would lose all by doing so, and from the fact that the Mor-
mon authorities, with all their undying hate against him, have
never affixed other crime to his name, it is pretty certain that
Colonel Hinkle was not corrupted by the hopes of personal
advantages.
The Prophet and his associates were marched through the
lines of the militia amid yells and whoopings and general re-
joicing. At night they were forced to make their couch on
the earth without either mattress or covering, much to their
106 THE KOCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
chagrin, and correspondingly to the enjoyment of the Missouri-
ans. A Mormon of the name of Carey had "got -his skull
" split " in the morning of this day ; no medical attendance or
anything to assuage the sufferings of this unfortunate were per-
mitted him, but in the evening he was taken home by his
brethren and died in a few hours.
Next morning November 1st Joseph's brother Hyrum
and Amasa Lyman were brought into camp, and a court-mar-
tial was immediately held, composed " of nineteen militia offi-
" cers, and seventeen preachers of various sects, who had served
" as volunteers against the Mormons," * and the Prophet and
his associates were condemned to be shot in the public square
of Far West, in the presence of 'their families and friends !
"While the court-martial was being held, the troops, break-
ing through the feeble restraint that was imposed upon them,
committed all sorts of excesses in Far "West. The General com-
manding had previously demanded the arms of the Mormons ;
they were, therefore, now helpless and unable to resist the in-
sult and outrage of their women, or to protect their own lives.
General Doniphan opposed the decision of the court-mar-
tial to shoot the Prophet and the leaders of the Church, and
to his firmness and the determination that neither he nor his
brigade should take part in "a cold-blooded murder," the
lives of the Mormon chiefs were, fortunately for the honour of
Missouri, at that time spared.f
After gratifying his troops with a march through the streets
of Far West, and to let the Mormons see their force, General
Lucas ordered General Wilson to escort the prisoners to Inde-
pendence, Jackson county, the headquarters of the former.
It was with some difficulty that the Mormon prisoners obtained
permission to bid good-bye to their families ; and, that over,
they were hurried away from their destitute families, and from
the afflicted and sadly grieved Saints.
* Rev. Mr. Caswell's " Prophet of the Nineteenth Century," p. 178.
f " This is the same Gen. Doniphan who, as colonel of a regiment of Missouri
volunteers, afterwards conquered Chihuahua, and gained the splendid victories of
Bracito and Sacramento. Among all the officers of the Missouri militia operating
against the Mormons, Gen. Doniphan was the only one who boldly denounced the
intended assassination of the prisoners under the colour of law. So true it is that
the truly brave man is most apt to be merciful and just." " History of Illinois," p. 260.
THE PROPHET CONDEMNED TO BE SHOT. 107
At a time of such deep affliction it would be heartless cru-
elty to mock the faith of any sincere people, such as" the Mor-
mons have proved themselves to be ; but in an impartial his-
tory of Mormonism it is but proper that a " revelation," given
only six months and a few days preceding that event, concern-
ing that same Far "West, should be placed together with the
narrative of the final expulsion of the Saints from that highly
favoured land.
" Let the city, Far West, be a holy and consecrated land unto me, and
it shall be called most holy, for the ground upon which thou standest is
holy ; therefore, I command you to build a house unto me, for the gather-
ing together of my Saints that they may worship me ; and let there be a
beginning of this work, and a foundation, and a preparatory work this
following summer, and let the beginning be made on the fourth day of
July next ; and from that time forth let. my people labour diligently to
build a house unto my name, and in one year from this day let them re-
commence laying the foundation of my house ; thus let them from that
time forth labour diligently until it shall be finished from the corner-stone
'hereof unto the top thereof, until there shall not anything remain that is
not finished." *
In their efforts at harmonizing the failures of revelation
with facts, the Mormon Apostles apply that other convenient
revelation that tells them how, when " the Lord " commands
the Saints to do anything and their enemies hinder them, He
will not require it at their hands. This explanation is good, so
far as settling with whom rests the responsibility, but it changes
in nothing the inference here of " the Lord's " ignorance of the
forthcoming expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, and His
utter inability to prevent it. At the time when this revelation
was given, the Prophet Joseph was in excellent and robust
faith, and his sentiments on that occasion express his sanguine-
ness in the future. In the same revelation he calls upon the
Saints to
"Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the na-
tions, and that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon
her stakes, may be for a defence, and for a refuge from the storm, and from
wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth."
* " Revelation given at Far West, April 26, 1 838, making known the will of God
concerning Hie building up of this place and of the Lord's House" etc.
108 THE KOOKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
With all these predictions in favour of the future great-
ness of Far West, and the glory that awaited Independence in
the erection of the Great Temple that was to be "recom-
"menced and continued till completion" no ordinary men
could have been carried away prisoners from the one place to
the other without strange questionings about the predictions
of the modern Prophet ; but Joseph was in no way dis-
couraged.
On the 'way to Independence some of the brethren were
cast down and disheartened. On the second morning of their
travels Joseph cheered them with a revelation. " Be of good
" courage, brethren," said he ; " the word of the Lord came
" to me last night, that our lives should be given to us, and
" that, whatsoever we may suffer during this captivity, not one
"of our lives shall be taken."
On their arrival at Independence they were treated kindly
by some and rudely by others. Among the strangers visiting
the Prophet and Apostles some woman asked questions. This
.afforded Joseph the opportunity of preaching to her and her
companions, which the Mormon historian claims was the fulfil-
ment of a prediction " that a sermon should be preached in
"Jackson county by one of our elders before the close of
" 1838." On just as slight a foundation has the fulfilment of
many a prediction been claimed.
CHAPTEE XYIII.
THE MISSOUEIANS TEIUMPHANT. Grandiloquent Speech of Gen. Clark
Mormons ordered to leave the State Examination of the Prisoners The Prophet
not subdued The Legislature memorialized The Saints wavering Joseph re-
views the Situation.
GENERAL CLAUK, entrusted with the superior command of
the militia of Missouri, arrived at Far "West on the 4th of No-
vember, 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 mi-
litia. General Clark arrived with sixteen hundred others. The
Mormon militia here, about five hundred in number, had al-
ready 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 num-
ber 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 provid-
ing 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
110 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
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 ex-
penses 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 in-
nocence, 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 re-
demption, from the character, conduct, and influence that you have ex-
erted ; 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 fami-
lies would have been destroyed, and your houses in ashes. There is a
discretionary power vested in my hands, which, considering your circum-
stances, 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 w r ill 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 / 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, gen-
tlemen, 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, Kay
county. There they were chained by the ankles and had
GENERAL CLARK'S MAGNILOQUENT SPEECH. m
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 peo-
ple, or a majority of them, have been guilty of all, too, under the coun-
sel of Joseph Smith, Junr., the Prophet. They have committed treason,
murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, and perjury. They have soci-
eties formed under the most binding covenants in form and the most hor-
rid oaths to circumvent the laws, and put them at defiance ; and to plun-
der and burn and murder, and divide the spoils for the use of the
Church."*
Everything was now against the Mormons ; the leaders of
the first mob had triumphed, and they were now sitting in judg-
ment over the prisoners and dictating terms to the Saints. The
Governor was resolved to make a final work of it. He in-
structed General Clark " to settle the whole matter complete-
ly." If the Mormons as a body were disposed to voluntarily
leave the State, he was to favour that course ; but upon no ac-
count 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
* This has always been represented by the Mormon writers as a totally un-
founded charge and the work of a bitter partisan seeking the blood of the Saints ;
but the perusal of the testimony taken before Judge Austin A. King, at that very
time, supports General Clark in this representation. The answer of a Mormon
apologist that the testimony referred to was given by men who had left the Church
and apostatized, could be of no weight with him. There were doubtless exaggerations
on both sides, but General Clark's letter to the Governor was a faithful reflex of what
he heard ; and he witnessed enough to partially confirm it. Vide Senate Document
112 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
" 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 " honour-
" ably 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.*
The "treason," says Joseph, "for having whipped the mob
" out of Davies county and taking their cannon from them,
" and k ' murder,' for the man killed in the Eogart battle."
Having " whipped " the mob, sounds as if Joseph hugely en-
joyed that part of his experience. The other prisoners
Parley P. Pratt, Morris Phelps, Luman Gibbs, Darwin Chase
and JSTormon 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 coun-
ties where the Mormons resided, after the militia was dis-
banded, swept away everything that was valuable, and wan-
tonly 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
* The evidence given during this examination revealed the most disgraceful con-
duct on the part of some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and this evi-
dence, too, was given by the orthodox Mormons in fellowship with Joseph Smith. A
document draughted by Sidney Rigdon, and subscribed by eighty-four Mormons,
addressed to Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Wm. W. Phelps, and
Lyman E. Johnson, exhibits these witnesses, and apostles, and their associates, to
have been unmitigated scamps. " The Lord " could not well have chosen a more
despicable set of thieves and liars than they were taking the testimony of their
brethren as evidence. Mormonism did little for them in the way of reformation and
grace. They must have been " a hard lot " before they accepted the new revelation.
MORMONISM BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE. 113
$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 extin-
guished, and the Saints had to depend upon their own exer-
tions during the winter to provide themselves with the neces-
sary means of travel. Joseph, in the mean time, was busy in
prison writing letters of encouragement to the Saints, and at-
tacking 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 moral-
ity, a general review of the charges against the Saints, a de-
nunciation to the effect that " he or she was a liar " who " rep-
" resents 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 disas-
ters 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, Brig-
ham expressed himself thoroughly satisfied with the Prophet.
Heber's faith was u 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 wis-
" dom." 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 be-
lieved in all the Church books, was satisfied that " brother Jo-
"seph 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 ,m prisons, and in dungeons, and in
" all circumstances." Such might be regarded as a representa-