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Submitted: 12/27/18 • Approved: 12/27/18 • Last Updated: 12/30/18 • R816019-G0-S3
Below is a very brief description of what was a very dark time in Missouri history. Please view additional entries for the names of those purportedly buried in the cemeteries in Far West and Haun's or Hawn's Mill.
The 1838 Mormon War, also known as the Missouri Mormon War, was a conflict between Mormons and non-Mormons in Missouri from August to November 1838, the first of the three "Mormon Wars".
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by Joseph Smith had gradually migrated from New York to northwestern Missouri since 1831, mainly settling in Jackson County, where tensions with non-Mormon residents led to episodes of anti-Mormon violence. The Mormons were evicted from Jackson County in 1833 and resettled in new counties nearby, where tensions grew again and attempts to evict them resumed. On August 6, 1838, the war began following a brawl at an election in Gallatin, resulting in increased organized violence between Mormons and non-Mormons backed by the Missouri Volunteer Militia in northwestern Missouri. The Battle of Crooked River in late October led to Lilburn Boggs, the Governor of Missouri, issuing the Missouri Executive Order 44 ordering the Mormons to leave Missouri or be killed. On November 1, 1838, Smith surrendered at Far West, the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ending the war. Joseph Smith was charged for treason but escaped in custody and fled to Illinois with the remainder of the estimated 10,000 Missouri Mormons, establishing the new settlement of Nauvoo.
During the conflict 22 people were killed (three Mormons and one non-Mormon at Battle of Crooked Creek, one Mormon prisoner fatally injured while in custody, and 17 Mormons at Haun’s Mill) and an unknown number of non-combatants died due to exposure and hardship as a result of being expelled from their homes in Missouri. All of the conflicts in the Mormon War occurred in a corridor 100 miles (160 km) to the east and northeast of Kansas City.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Mormon_War#Siege_of_Far_West_and_capture_of_church_leaders
Contributed on 12/27/18 by tslundberg
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Record #: 816019