The Mormon Battalion’s Movement to Western America - Part 3: Mexican-American War

The story of the Mormon Battalion remains an enduring legend. Recruited by the U.S. government from among those heading to Utah to gather with Brigham Young, this group of some 500 men plus women and children undertook a trek across the American Southwest during the Mexican-American War. The battalion is usually consigned to a footnote in the story, but it is a story which looms large in the settlement of California. In that context, the legend of the battalion and how it has found a truly revered place in the history of the Mormon faithful is significant. In part 3, Marvin McCrary looks at how the battalion fought in the war and how it reached San Diego.

You can read part 1 on the origins of the Mormon Battalion here, and part 2 on the battalion’s movement across the western US here.

Philip St. George Cooke.

When John Charles Frémont was tasked with leading expeditions to the west in 1842, his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont, became intensely interested in the details of his travels. Jessie became his recorder, making notes as he described his experiences. Eventually, she wrote and edited the reports into best-selling stories. The stories captured the national imagination as Frémont’s dashing heroism was met with great enthusiasm. The account of the Great Basin was so vivid, that it has been alleged that Brigham Young was convinced that he had found the land long-envisioned by the Saints after reading about it.

The Saints suffered from disease, hunger, and cold while at Winter Quarters in the waning months of 1846, but the unfriendly circumstances merely served to strengthen their resolve. Throughout the spring, the Saints conferred with traders, mountain men, and travelers who were familiar with the Far West. It was decided that a forward expedition would be organized to go to the Great Basin and determine the best place in which to settle. Brigham Young deliberated over the matter, and received inspiration in regards to how the Saints should organize themselves for the journey. The company would be divided into small groups, each with an assigned leader, with special attention given to the poor, the widowed, and to those families which were bereft of a father. Famous frontiersmen such as Jim Bridger and “Black” Moses Harris, who were among those whom church leaders had consulted, noted that the trials the Saints had previously faced would prepare them for greater difficulties which lay ahead.

Exhaustion

In September of 1846, the men of the battalion were facing exhaustion on the long march to Santa Fe. For 3 days, the battalion marched in the unrelenting heat without any water at all, and when water was available, it was often brackish and unsanitary. Complicating the situation were the frequent threats and abuse inflicted upon them by Lieutenant Smith and Dr. Sanderson. The Santa Fe Trail was proving to be perilous, filled with wolves, hostile natives, and the occasional downpour. General Stephen Watts Kearney had met with no resistance from the Mexican forces on his march to Santa Fe, and he ultimately occupied it on August 18, 1846. Kearney had sent word to the Mormon Battalion, asking them to take a faster, more direct route, although it would prove to be more difficult. Despite the  harsh and unyielding conditions in which they found themselves, the men continued their march towards Santa Fe. Eventually, the circumstances would prove too much for some, and Smith ordered a group of fifteen sick families he believed could not make the trek to remain at Pueblo in Colorado. There was already a group of Mormons at Pueblo who had chosen to settle there, hoping to wait out the winter under the leadership of John Brown, who had led a group from the South to the Mountain West. Having to leave family behind was hard on those who would have to endure separation, Smith informed the men that Kearney had ordered that the battalion would be discharged unless they reached Santa Fe in a timely manner.

On October 9th, the weary soldiers were met with salutations of cannon and gunfire as they entered the town. Smith ordered that those who were too feeble would enter the town three days later. The tribute had been organized by General Alexander Doniphan who had assisted the Mormons at a crucial time when they were suffering persecutions eight years earlier in Missouri. The battalion was probably relieved when Lieutenant Smith and Dr. Sanderson departed their company at Santa Fe. It would be Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, another graduate of the military academy,  who would become their new commander. Unfortunately, Cooke was not too much of a departure from Smith, as he was also disappointed at having to lead a group of inexperienced volunteers. In one of his surviving journal entries, Cooke observes that there were too many families, women, and the number of supplies available was meager. General Kearney had already departed the town for California before the arrival of the battalion, with Cooke being given orders by the general to forge a wagon trail from Santa Fe to California. The rigorous pace wore heavily on battalion members, and in November another group of weak and tired soldiers turned back for Pueblo. While Cooke grew increasingly doubtful about the battalion’s capabilities, historian Dwight L. Clarke writes that it was felt that the Mormons still had a hidden, greater potential that had yet to be seen.

After his departure from Santa Fe, half of Kearney's army fought their way through the Mexican province of Chihuahua, and marched three thousand miles to link up with Zachary Taylor's army at Monterrey. Taylor was already beginning to enjoy rising popularity, and had earned his nickname of “Old Rough and Ready” for his significant victories over larger forces. On September 16, 1846, at the Battle of Monterrey, Taylor overcame a substantial Mexican force and declared an armistice, much to President James K. Polk’s consternation. Polk, a Democrat, was growing increasingly anxious about Taylor’s popularity amongst the Whigs. Taylor would go to engage General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's fifteen-thousand-man army at Buena Vista on February 22, 1847. When the smoke finally cleared, Taylor's five thousand men had dealt Santa Anna's army a crushing blow. When news of Taylor's victory reached the capital, his popularity soared even higher, and the Whigs began to publicly discuss his name as a possible candidate for the presidency.

Great Basin

In the meantime, things did not get easier for the pioneer company which had decided to set out for the Great Basin. The passes had become increasingly treacherous, and Brigham Young became sick with mountain fever. When the group of long-suffering pioneers arrived at the Salt Lake River Valley in July of 1847, Young asked to have his carriage turned so he could see the whole of the valley. Young rose from his sickbed and deemed that they were in the right place, according to Wilford Woodruff, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Upon Brigham Young’s return to Winter Quarters in the fall of 1847 from his expedition to the Great Basin, he found the remaining Saints had built a thriving settlement. However, Young anticipated the need to abandon it, as the lease on the tribal land would expire in a few months. The Saints then began moving east across the river, and back into Iowa, eventually naming their new headquarters Kanesville in honor of Thomas L. Kane. The emigration of the Saints to the Utah Territory would continue over the course of the next several years.

When the battalion finally arrived at San Diego on 24 January, 1847, the men recorded their joy at sighting the Pacific Ocean, knowing their travail would finally be at an end. The original plan had been for the Battalion to follow Kearney’s route as closely as possible, however Kearney later advised Cooke that it would behoove them to make their way along a southern route. The battalion had covered nearly 2,000 miles, making the march one of the longest in United States military history. The men had walked so much their shoes were worn out.  They had been forced to resort to burlap, pieces of wagon covers, and animal hides to wrap around their feet for protection from the rocks and cold.  The sun was hot in the day and cold at night through the desert, difficult for people with little to no covering. It was described that at times, the ground was so soft and deep that when they lay down to sleep, half of their bodies sank into the cold mud.

Despite having been tasked with the capture the city of Tucson, and being asked to protect Pauma natives in Temecula, the battalion did not see conflict, exactly as Bringham Young had said. The worst incident came when a herd of wild bulls charged the soldiers while they stopped for water at the San Pedro River in the Rio Grande Valley. Aside from a few injuries and loss of some mules, the soldiers walked away intact.

California

The war in California having effectively ended by the time of their arrival, the battalion soldiers were assigned to garrison duty in San Diego, San Luis Rey, and Los Angeles. The town residents were initially against the idea because of the false information which they had heard about them. The men of the battalion built houses and dug wells, using the knowledge about irrigation they had acquired. Previously, the people had to travel a long way for water from a well only 1 foot in depth. The new wells were 30 feet deep and were lined with bricks to keep them in place. When the time came for the Battalion to move on, the town people went to the Army and asked for more "Mormonitos" to come help them.  Most of the soldiers would reach Utah Territory–where Brigham Young and the main body of the Saints had settled–in the late 1840s and early 1850s. Historian Leonard L. Richards estimates that roughly 80 stayed and worked at Sutter’s Mill.  Sutter found the Mormons to be amongst the best laborers, although more expensive than the natives whom he had rented from Maidu tribal leaders. In 1848, gold was discovered by Sutter’s foreman, John W. Marshall. Henry Bigler, a veteran of the battalion, was at Sutter’s Mill at the time and recorded the date of the gold discovery in his journal. There had been a great deal of exaggeration surrounding gold discovery previously, and thus the excitement was met with an understandable degree of skepticism, even amongst the workers themselves. The Mormons tested the minerals, even biting it to check if it was real.  Word reached outgoing President Polk who endorsed the discovery, and thus the Gold Rush would begin in earnest.

The Mexican-American War served as a proving ground for issues which would later come to the fore during the Civil War. Slavery remained an enduring specter which would prove difficult to exorcise, especially as those on both sides of the debate become further entrenched in their views. Zachary Taylor would win the election in 1848, becoming the second of two Whigs (the first being William Henry Harrison) to become president. Unfortunately, just like his predecessor, Taylor died during his term. Brigham Young would become the second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847, and served until 1877. It would be under his steady leadership that the Mormons are to be credited as one of the single most important agencies in the settlement of the American West. The march of the Mormon Battalion serves as a vital page to the historical expansion of the United States. They opened roads of great value to the nation, and made influential friends for the Saints. Their determined self-sacrifice demonstrated an unsurpassed loyalty to their country, their people, and their faith.

Let us know what you think of Mormon Battalion below.

Now read about when Mormon founder Joseph Smith met the president here.

Author’s Note: I would like to dedicate this article series to Sterling and Judy Hill, dear friends who continue to embody the pioneer spirit. My sources have been  journal entries written by those who traveled with the battalion, but I am also thankful to friends who graciously shared their family histories with me. The utilization of secondary sources was meant to provide a greater context to the events surrounding the march of the battalion. It should be stated that this was not meant to be an exhaustive study of the Mormon Battalion, and it is more than conventionally necessary to apologize for any shortcomings. It is hoped, however, that this will serve as inspiration for future study.

Sources

Arrington, Leonard J. Brigham Young: American Moses. New York: Knopf, 1985.

Clarke, Dwight L. Stephen Watts Kearny: Soldier of the West. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.

Cowan, Richard, and William E. Homer. California Saints. Utah: Bookcraft Publishing, 1996.

Richards, Leonard L. The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Vintage, 2008.

Ricketts, Norma Baldwin. The Mormon Battalion. Utah: Utah State University, 1996.

The Mormon Battalion’s Movement to Western America - Part 2: The Journey West

The story of the Mormon Battalion remains an enduring legend. Recruited by the U.S. government from among those heading to Utah to gather with Brigham Young, this group of some 500 men plus women and children undertook a trek across the American Southwest during the Mexican-American War. The battalion is usually consigned to a footnote in the story, but it is a story which looms large in the settlement of California. In that context, the legend of the battalion and how it has found a truly revered place in the history of the Mormon faithful is significant. In part 2 below, Marvin McCrary explains the progress of the battalion as they made their way across the west.

You can read part 1 on the origins of the Mormon Battalion here.

Mormon Battalion Monument in Presidio Park, San Diego, California, available here.

In the decades before the Civil War, the concept of Manifest Destiny energized the nation. It would be President James K. Polk, upon his election in 1844, who would take it upon himself to pursue a more aggressive foreign policy than his predecessors, including war with Mexico in 1846. At the height of this fervor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had begun their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois. Persecution and mob violence had made it impossible for them to stay. Under the direction of Brigham Young, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, they would leave their homes and most of their belongings behind. Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who was friendly to the Saints and sympathetic to their plight, advocated on their behalf with the national government. President Polk authorized U.S. Army officials to recruit Saints to enlist and join the Army of the West to conquer California.

Colonel Kane accompanied Elder Little as far as St. Louis, carrying Polk’s orders to Colonel Stephen W. Kearney, who commanded the troops at Fort Leavenworth. At the time, the Saints were building temporary settlements in the Missouri River Valley when an army expedition under Captain James Allen met up with them. Allen worked with Brigham Young to recruit the necessary volunteers. The battalion would consist of five companies, each with approximately 100 men. Upon the arrival of Colonel Kearney at Council Bluffs, the battalion was enrolled into service, and Allen became Lt. Colonel of Infantry. Allen mustered them into the service of the United States Army for the period of one year. The first four companies left July 21, 1846, and the fifth left two days later. Thirty-five women and forty-two children, most of whom were families of the soldiers, would accompany the battalion on their journey.

As the volunteers readied for their departure, Church leaders met privately with the men. Those whose families would not be joining them in the march were promised that their families would be cared for by the Church. In what was likely to have been of reassurance and comfort to the men, Brigham Young told them that if they were faithful and kept to the commandments, they would not face any battles. Furthermore, Young prophesied that the actions taken by the Saints would leave an indelible mark upon military history. Each man in the battalion received forty-two dollars in clothing allowance, as well as wages for service. The women were also paid for doing laundry for the group. Members of the battalion donated a portion of their clothing allowance to the Church, and thereby provided essential funds for the planned trek to the Rocky Mountain West. This contribution on behalf of the battalion would prove to be of great value, and President Young said they were the "present and temporal salvation" of the Saints. A farewell ball was held,  and although they had  no proper floor on which to dance, Lt. Colonel Allen observed the mirth and merriment of the occasion.

Go West

The prior hardships faced by the Saints would have prepared them for the difficulties they would inevitably face in the journey ahead. When Horace Greely wrote “Go West, young man,” the west he was referring to was wild and untamed, and held a fascination for the adventurous soul. There was fertile farmland available for those who possessed a strong arm, a stout heart, and the willingness to work hard for the opportunity. This was especially attractive to those who hoped to escape the rampant poverty and unemployment which plagued the big cities of the East. However, settlement would prove to be a mixed blessing. While many would find new opportunities in the West, this would displace other groups including Native American tribes and Mexicans. Brigham Young hoped that the participation of the Saints in the war would not only grant free transportation to the West, but that it  would also “let the Mormons be the first [United States soldiers] to set their feet on the soil of California.”

The battalion took a ferry across the river, and then marched to Fort Leavenworth, arriving on August 1, 1846. They were given munitions and arms, and every soldier was able to sign his own name on the payroll, much to the surprise of the paymaster, as only a third of the previous recruits who had enlisted had been able to do so. The battalion would quarter at Fort Leavenworth for two weeks, during which time Colonel Kearney’s regiment had already embarked for Santa Fe to conquer New Mexico for the United States. The men of the battalion continued to hold religious services and strict moral conduct, unusual for soldiers. The days were extremely hot, and Colonel Allen himself became gravely ill. Allen did not recover by the time the Saints left Leavenworth on their way to Santa Fe, and thus was the battalion placed under the command of Captain Samuel Hunt. The road was not easy, and Wiliam Coray remarks that the heat and close quarters lended itself to further discomfort. He observed that “the suffering of the sick [was] intolerable…The cause of sickness I attributed mostly to the plums and green corn which we used [to eat] so freely at the Fort.”

Allen’s death

On August 26th, the men received news that Colonel Allen had succumbed to his illness. Allen’s death struck the men hard; William Hyde wrote that it “struck a damper to our feelings. We considered him a worthy man and looked upon him as a friend.” It was assumed that Captain Hunt would be appointed officially, however it was not to be. In his place, Lieutenant Andrew Jackson Smith, a 1838 graduate of the military academy, was appointed by Polk. This was met with dismay, as Polk had issued a direct order that the battalion could nominate their own officers, and Hunt had endeared himself to the men. In addition to Smith, the battalion was joined by Dr. Sanderson, a surgeon from Fort Leavenworth. In the nineteenth century there were two disciplines, the surgeon and the physician. The surgeon used tools for amputation and lancing, and the physician used herbs, plant material, and minerals to treat disease. Balancing the humors was still in practice by 1846, with puking, purging, or bleeding being the prescribed standard treatment for illness. Sanderson, who was highly-regarded for his progressive methods, practiced purging, and this brought him in conflict with the men of the battalion. 

In September, as the battalion entered Comanche territory where the native were hostile, many of the men took ill. Dr. Sanderson treated the men with calomel, a mercury chloride mineral which was widely known to effectively purge the system. The men had been told by Church leaders that they were to keep to their strict dietary observance, and to not take the medicine.  The system used in Nauvoo favored the usage of herbs, and gentler methods. Lieutenant Smith believed that the men were being disrespectful, and would even pull the sick and ailing out of their tents if they did not report to the doctor for treatment. While harsh, there was a limited supply and the journey was long, and Sanderson could not afford to waste anything. Complicating matters was the fact that Sanderson was a Missiourian, and the men were wary of his intentions, due to the anti-Mormon violence which occurred in Missouri in 1833. These were merely a few of the difficulties the battalion would have to endure the march to California.

Winter Quarters

In the summer of 1846, President Young had hoped the rest of the Saints would make it all the way to the Great Basin, but mud and sickness had taken its toll, and he determined that they must procure temporary settlement in anticipation of the coming winter. The Ote and Osage natives had agreed to let the pioneers use some of the lands across the river from Council Bluffs. In September, they began building a town which would be called Winter Quarters. Young divided the town into wards, and he appointed worthy men to be bishops over each of these wards, with the responsibility of caring for the townsfolk. While the Saints were in Winter Quarters, Brigham Young received inspiration concerning their journey to the West.

Let us know what you think of Mormon Battalion below.

Now read part 3 about the Mexican-American War and the end of the journey here.

Bibliography

Arrigton, Leonard J. Brigham Young: American Moses. New York: Knopf, 1985.

Brands, H.W. Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West. New York: Basic Books, 2019.

Cowan, Richard, and William E. Homer. California Saints. Utah: Bookcraft Publishing, 1996.

LDS Church. Saints Volume 2: No Unhallowed Hand. Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2020.

Ricketts, Norma Baldwin. The Mormon Battalion. Utah: Utah State University, 1996.

The Mormon Battalion’s Movement to Western America - Part 1: The Journey Begins

The story of the Mormon Battalion remains an enduring legend. Recruited by the U.S. government from among those heading to Utah to gather with Brigham Young, this group of some 500 men plus women and children undertook a trek across the American Southwest during the Mexican-American War. The battalion is usually consigned to a footnote in the story, but it is a story which looms large in the settlement of California. In that context, the legend of the battalion and how it has found a truly revered place in the history of the Mormon faithful is significant. Part 1 here look at how the journey began.

A painting of the Mormon Battalion arriving at the Gila River in Arizona in December 1846.

The origins of the battalion lay in the wider context of the Mexican-American War. Also known as the Mexican War, it was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. The concept of Manifest Destiny held that the United States had the providential right to expand to the Pacific Ocean. The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, which had won independence from Mexico in the Texas Revolution of 1835. Diplomatic efforts to establish an agreement on the Texas-Mexico border, and to purchase the territories of California and New Mexico had failed. President James K. Polk had sent an envoy to Mexico with an offer of up to $20,000,000 ($739,863,157.89 in 2022) in return for California and New Mexico. No Mexican leader would be willing to cede half his country and still have the ability to stay in power, therefore Polk’s envoy was not received. To bring pressure, Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to the disputed area along the Rio Grande. When the Mexicans fired on the troops in April of that year, Polk had found the rationale he needed to justify an attempt to seize the land by force. In a written message to Congress in 1846, Polk explained that “war exists between the two countries because the Mexican government has at last shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil.”

War

The prospect of war imbued Americans with a strong sense of patriotism, as it was among the few things in which both Northerners and Southerners could agree upon at the time. In the decades preceding the Civil War, the issue of slavery remained divisive. According to Jay Sexton, Polk believed that westward expansion would serve to accomplish his goal of settling the question of slavery, as Manifest Destiny presented expansion in racial and territorial terms. Polk's agenda during his presidency, unlike that of his two immediate predecessors, would be largely driven by foreign policy considerations. In the nineteenth century, quarrels and conflict with the European powers, most notably the British Empire, were still a matter of concern. However, American leaders believed that their destiny  was to become an imperial power, while also aiming for a more inspired purpose than their European cousins. 

As the national government made its preparations for war, despite the varied hardship of having to navigate political differences, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was experiencing difficulties of its own. Known by the pejorative term of “Mormon” due to their belief in the Book of Mormon, since its founding in 1830, members of the Church frequently had conflicts, misunderstandings and difficult relations due to their religious beliefs. Hostile sentiment had caused them to be forced out of New York, Missouri and Illinois. In 1844, the Church’s founder, Joseph Smith, was killed at Carthage. The death of their leader raised questions about the Church’s survival as the Saints faced increased persecution. In 1846, tensions reached their peak, and the Saints were once again forced to move. Brigham Young succeeded to the position of president, and he sought to move the Saints from Nauvoo to the Mountain West.

To the West

Under the leadership of Young, the Saints believed in their own manifest destiny to settle in the West. Norma Ricketts points out that there were some 20,000 saints who embarked to cross the prairie, carrying only what they could in wagons and carts, along with their livestock. During the Winter of 1846, Latter-day Saint leaders in Winter Quarters laid plans for the continued migration of the large number of Saints. Upon their arrival in Iowa, Elder Jesse C. Little was tasked with asking the government for help in securing safe passage to the West. Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles saw this as an opportunity to recruit men from among the Saints to participate in Polk’s War. It was at this time that Young first met Thomas L. Kane from Philadelphia with deep personal connections to the Polk administration. 

The Polk Administration initially questioned the loyalty of the church, as it was thought that if the Saints moved West, they may potentially join forces with a foreign power and make themselves a threat. The relations between the Church and the government had been fraught with tension, as the government expressed a hostile indifference to their struggles. Kane, who had become friendly to the Saints, advocated for them, assuring the Polk Administration that they “retained American hearts, and would not side with Mexico.” There were many among the Saints who were reluctant to enlist, still suspicious of the government's intentions. At the behest of Polk, James Allen was sent to Mt. Pisgah, to a camp of homeless Latter-day Saints who had been driven from their homes by anti-Mormon mobs, to recruit a battalion of 500 men to fight. After he met with Brigham Young, Young endorsed the plan, saying that while the goal was not patriotism in itself, participating would hopefully allay the suspicions of the people as the Church endeavored to move West. 

Let us know what you think of Mormon Battalion below.

Now read part 2 about the journey west here.

An important date? When Mormon founder Joseph Smith met the president

Joseph Smith was the founder of the Mormon faith, a group who suffered at the hands of attackers in the years after the faith was founded. This led Joseph Smith to seek the support of President Martin Van Buren. But following meetings with the president, Smith decided to take action into his own hands – and started a tradition that continues to this day… William Bodkin explains.

A painting of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon faith, from the early 1840s.

When asked his opinion of Martin Van Buren, Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon faith, said that his dog was better suited to be president.  Smith felt his dog would at least make an effort to protect his abused and insulted master.  Van Buren, however, could not bother to lift a finger to help the oppressed.  Smith was not alone in his dislike for Van Buren.  The eighth president of the United States is often described as the least loved national politician of his time.  This was with good reason.  Van Buren was the original Frank Underwood, or Francis Urquhart, in “House of Cards”.  Van Buren relentlessly schemed and plotted his way to the Oval Office, casting aside all in his path while ingratiating himself to Andrew Jackson.  Without Jackson’s endorsement, Van Buren’s chances of winning the White House were slim to none. 

But Jackson owed his Presidency to Van Buren’s pure political pragmatism.  Van Buren had clawed his way to the top of New York State politics as head of the “Albany Regency”, the first political machine in the United States.  Then, while representing New York State as a Senator, he masterminded Jackson’s comeback victory in the 1828 presidential election by turning Jackson’s nickname of “Old Hickory” into the first presidential brand name.

The story behind Smith’s feelings about Van Buren lies in an often overlooked part of American history.  In late 1839, these two men who had begun their distinctive American success stories from the vast expanse of Upstate New York met at the White House.  Smith, the son of a farmer from Palmyra, sought from Van Buren, the son of a tavern keeper from Kinderhook, justice for the Mormons following the war the state of Missouri had waged on them.

Missouri versus the Mormons

One of the Mormon faith’s founding tenants was the idea that Jesus Christ had appeared to Native Americans and that America would be the place for the Second Coming.  Jesus would return in Western Missouri, near the City of Independence.  Smith, a formidable preacher, and to some, a prophet, sent a few missionaries to Missouri.  The Mormon faithful soon followed, hoping to build their Zion.

Mormons were greeted with suspicion and derision by Missourians.  They thought Mormonism could not be compatible with democracy since, to them, Mormons seemed obedient only to Smith.  Armed bands of Missourians began roaming the countryside, terrorizing Mormons.  In 1836, the Missouri Legislature created a new county, Caldwell, in the northwest corner of the state for the Mormons.  The solution proved short-lived.  Mormon immigrants and converts arrived daily, causing the population to spill over Caldwell’s borders into adjoining Daviess County.

The 1838 War began over the Mormon right to vote.  William Peniston, a Whig politician and a colonel in the Daviess County militia, had sought Mormon support in his campaign for the state legislature.  When the Mormons supported his Democratic opponent instead, Peniston gave a fiery speech denouncing them.  Peniston’s supporters tried to stop Mormons from voting on Election Day, with one man stating that Mormons had no more right to vote than “Negroes”.  A melee ensued, ending only when the Mormons withdrew.

The violence continued.  Mormons were murdered and assaulted. Mormon houses were burned to the ground.  Mormon livestock was set free.  Finally, the Mormons resolved to fight back.  On October 24, 1838, at Crooked River, a band of Mormon men encountered what they thought was an armed mob out for blood. Unfortunately, they were the local militia.  In the resulting exchange of gunfire, three Mormons were killed.

When word of Crooked River reached Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs, he declared the Mormons to be in “defiance of the laws of the state.”  On October 27, 1838, Boggs issued an order directing that the Mormons must be “exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace.”  Shortly after Boggs issued this order, a militia unit from Livingston County descended on a Mormon settlement at Haun’s Mill in Caldwell County.  The militia killed, in cold blood, eighteen Mormon boys and men despite their efforts to surrender.  One militiaman who dragged a wounded ten-year-old boy from his hiding place to shoot him justified it by saying that “nits make lice, and if he had lived, he would have become another Mormon.”

Surrender and Petitioning for Justice

After the Haun’s Mill massacre, the Mormons surrendered.  Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders were arrested for treason against the State of Missouri based on the Crooked River skirmish, even though Smith was not there.  The Mormon leadership languished in jail for months, however, before being formally charged.  Smith began to suspect that his imprisonment was an embarrassment to the state.  After six months in prison, in the spring of 1839, Smith and the others were permitted to escape by a friendly sheriff who graciously agreed to get drunk and look the other way.  The leaders fled, and joined the Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois where they had taken refuge.

After his escape, Smith considered petitioning the federal government for compensation for the lives and land lost in the Missouri war.  Smith, in truth, had great faith in the Constitution and in democratic government.  He decided to go to Washington, D.C. himself so that he might make the case to Van Buren and to Congress.  Smith arrived in the nation’s capital on November 28, 1839.  The next day, Smith and two other Mormon leaders, accompanied by Congressman John Reynolds of Illinois, went to the White House.  Smith carried with him petitions outlining the Mormon’s grievances.

Van Buren smiled as Reynolds introduced Smith as a Latter Day Saint, but his visage quickly turned to stern business as Smith presented the Mormons’ grievances.  Reportedly, Van Buren looked at the party and exclaimed, “What can I do?  I can do nothing for you! If I do anything, I shall come in contact with the whole state of Missouri.” 

Reports of what happened next vary.  Some say Van Buren agreed to reconsider.  Smith and his party then left to present their case to Congress.  They received help from Illinois’ congressional delegation, who were all too aware of the presence of this growing block of voters in their state.  The Mormons presented to the United States Senate 678 petitions seeking compensation for losses in Missouri ranging from 63 cents to $505,000.  The petitions were referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they met stiff opposition from Missouri’s Congressional delegation. The Committee, not wishing to offend Missouri’s delegation, decided that the petitions were not for the federal government to consider, but were a matter for the Missouri courts.

During this time, Smith apparently met a second time with Van Buren, who was more diplomatic but still unmoved.  Approximately a week or so following the first meeting, the Whigs, for the 1840 election, re-nominated the surprisingly popular William Henry Harrison, who had narrowly lost to Van Buren in 1836.  With an election on his mind, Van Buren allegedly told Smith words that would reverberate throughout Mormon history: “Your cause is just, but I cannot help you.  If I help you, I will lose the vote of the state of Missouri.”

Smith realized what he was up against.  He knew the Mormons would never receive a fair trial in Missouri. He believed strongly that Missourians who understood this had helped him escape.  But Van Buren’s callousness shook Smith at a deeper level.  Smith wrote that Van Buren was merely “an office-seeker, that self-aggrandizement was his ruling passion, and that justice and righteousness were no part of his composition.”

What the future held

It is a reflection of the magnitude and scope of presidential power that a brief meeting with a president can have a major impact on Americans, whereas to the president, it may have been of minor significance.  The mostly Mormon scholars who have attempted to research this episode have found that the meeting between Smith and Van Buren was not mentioned in Van Buren’s papers.  But for the Mormons, the meeting was a pivotal event, which can be seen from Smith’s reaction to it.

After the meeting, Smith came to the same realization that every other group new to America does, that the best way for Mormons to gain the protection of the government was to seek public office themselves.  Smith worked with the Illinois legislature to build protections for Mormons into Nauvoo’s City Charter, held office in Nauvoo himself, and, in 1844, Smith ran for president.  With patience and in time, the Mormons have followed Smith’s lead and flourished.

As of writing this, Utah’s United States Senator Orrin Hatch, a Mormon, is President Pro-Tempore of the Senate.  By law, Hatch is third in line for the presidency following the Vice-President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.  In 2012, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney headed the Republican Party’s ticket and was the first Mormon major-party nominee for president.  Governor Romney surprised many by publicly considering a run for the presidency again in 2016.  And while Mr. Romney ultimately decided to pass on standing for the presidency again, it could not have been an easy decision in light of Mormon history and Mr. Romney's knowledge that he has represented, in his lifetime, the best hope of a Mormon becoming president and perhaps gaining an increased acceptance for a faith that remains frequently misunderstood.

Van Buren, despite not offending Missouri, lost the 1840 election to William Henry Harrison.  It cannot be said that his treatment of the Mormons played any role in his loss.  The reality is that Van Buren’s loss likely had more to do with the Panic of 1837 and the economic depression that followed, and the growing factionalism in America that pit the North against the South and both of them against the West.

Missouri, for its part, did eventually acknowledge its wrongs.  In 1976, the state finally formally rescinded Governor Boggs’ extermination order.  In his order, Governor Christopher Bond expressed deep regret on behalf of all Missourians for the injustice and undue suffering caused to Mormons in 1838.

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William's previous pieces have been on George Washington (link here), John Adams (link here), Thomas Jefferson (link here), James Madison (link here), James Monroe (link here), John Quincy Adams (link here), and Andrew Jackson (link here).

Author’s Note:  The author gratefully acknowledges the research guidance of Latter Day Saints Elizabeth Vogelmann and Dr. Steven C. Harper in preparing this article.  Any errors in summarizing Mormon belief are solely the author’s own.

Sources

Miller Center of the University of Virginia, American President Martin Van Buren (http://millercenter.org/president/vanburen).

• Fire and Sword: A History of the Latter-Day Saints in Northern Missouri, 1836-1839, Leland H. Gentry and Todd M. Compton (Greg Kofford Books, 2010).  See, Chapters 9 & 10.
• Rough Stone Rolling: The Life of Joseph Smith, Richard Lyman Bushman (Random House 2007).  See, Chapters 19-22.
• Running for President: The Candidates and Their Images: 1789-1896 (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Ed.) “1836,” Daniel Feller, author.
• Missouri State Archives: The Missouri Mormon War (http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/mormon.asp).
• Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, Richard Neitzel Holsapfel and Kent P. Jackson, eds. “1839-1840: Joseph Smith Goes to Washington,” Ronald O. Barney, author (Deseret Book, 2010).  Taken from online source: (http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/joseph-smith-prophet-and-seer/joseph-smith-goes-washington-1839-40).