312 



MOKMONS 



millennium was nigh at hand, lliat the Indian!) 

 would noon be converted, and that tin- new 

 Jerusalem, the Zioii of the last da\-. where tin' 

 Saints would liinillv Anther l prepare fur I In- rum 

 ill}; of tin- l.i ml in Li- glory, wa " l " '"' '""I' in the 

 heart <>f tin- American continent. America, they 

 claimed, wax the land of Joseph, liestowed upon 

 him iiiul lii- po-tcrity for ever l>v the blessing of 

 tin- patriarch Jacob, a8 recorded" in Genesis and 

 Deuteronomy. The prophet's house wan frequent I v 

 beset by inolw and 'evil-designing persons;' 

 several times he was shot at aim very narrowly 

 escaped ; but Ins courage and zeal continual 

 to bring him disciples, ami on April 6, 1830, the 

 Church (if .le-u- Christ cif Latter-day SabliVW 

 legally onudndf with six members, at the house 

 <>f I'eter Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, New 

 York. Several month.s prior to this the Aaronic 

 priesthood, restored by an angel who snid that he 

 was John the Baptist, was conferred ti|>on Joseph 

 Smith and Oliver C'owderv, and later they were 

 ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood by the 

 apostles Peter, James, and John. The new 

 religion spread rapidly and gained many converts. 

 Branches of the church were established in New 

 York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, the Hritish provinces, 

 and the New Knghind states. The prophet was 

 fiercely attacked by the leaders and preachers of 

 the other religious denominations, but held his 

 ground (irmly. Though but poorly educated, he 

 was a formidable ii|i|><nirnt in the polemical Held. 

 In January 1831, in compliance with revelation, 

 the church removed westward and established its 

 headquarters at Kirtland, Ohio, where it began 

 to thrive amazingly. In the summer of 1831 a 

 colony from Kirtland migrated to Missouri, where 

 they purchased lands in Jackson county, which 

 had been revealed to the Mormon prophet as the 

 chosen site for the city of Zion. At a place called 

 Independence his colonists concentrated them- 

 selves, established a printing-press, started a 

 monthly periodical, the Evening nnil Murnintj 

 Slur, and continued to preach zealously and 

 make proselytes to their faith. Their success 

 and rapiil increase here, as elsewhere, raised 

 up enemies. Secret societies were formed to 

 expel them from Missouri, their houses were 

 attacked by mobs, their periodicals were stopped, 

 their printing-press confiscated, their bishop tarred 

 ami feathered, and numberless other outrages com- 

 mit ted against them. Finally, in the autumn of 

 1833, the entire community, numbering about 

 1500 souls, were driven from their homes, whip|ied, 

 plundered, many of them killed, and the sur- 

 vivors expelled from Jackson and scattered through 

 the adjoining counties. The main Ixtdy of the 

 refugees found a resting-place and kindly welcome 

 in ( 'lay county. 



Meanwhile the Saints in Ohio had suffered some 

 IM-rxecution. On the night of March 5, 1832, at 

 Hiram, Portage county, a mob broke into a house 

 where the prophet was sleeping, tore him from the 

 arms of his wife, hurried him loan adjoining meadow, 

 tarred and feathered him, and forced aqua fort is 

 into his month Sidney Kigdon, his associate, was 

 similarly handled and rendered temporarily insane. 

 Later on Smith was assailed by divers \e \aiiuus pro- 

 secutions, but each time came oil' victorious. He set 

 up a mill, a store, and a bank in Kirtland, and con 

 inm-d hi- propagandist labours with great success. 

 In June IH.'L't the building of a temple in Kirtland 

 was commenced. Shoitly afterwards a printing- 

 press was establishi-d in the city, and ( (liver Cowdei v 

 recommenced the publication of the />/ H<I //'/ 

 Miiriiiiitf Ktnr. In July 1834 the Mormon prophet 

 \i-ited for the third time his people in Missouri. 

 He was accompanied by 204 persons, mostly young 

 men. This was the 'Zion's Camp' expedition, the 



object of which was to relieve the wants of their 

 afflicted hid In en who hail been driven from their 

 homes in Jackson county, and, if possible, died 

 a reconciliation lictween them and their former 

 neighbour*. They purchased lands in Caldwell 

 county. .Missouri, where thev settled and founded 

 the city of Far West. At Kirtland on February 

 14, 1835, the Twelve A postles of the church w.i.- 

 chosen, and soon after the council of the Seventies. 

 their co-lalxiurers in the ministry, was called into 

 existence, and sent forth with the ajMistles to liegin 

 the work of 'pruning the Lord's vineyard for the 

 last time.' 



In June ls:(7 llcbcr ( '. Kimliall, Orson Hyde, 

 Willard Richards, .lo-cph Fielding, and othcis 

 left Kirtland for Kngland. and landed at Liver- 

 pool, July 20. Three days later they liegan 

 preaching in Preston, and met with such remark- 

 able success that within the next eight months, .-it 

 the expiration of which time Kimball and Hyde 

 returned to Ameiiea. they had converted and bap 

 ti-ed aliout 'JOIN) |x'ojile. The Hritish mi ion wa-- 

 the first foreign mission ol the Mormon Chinch. 



On account of a|Hwtasy and |>ersecution Kirtland 

 was now pretty much abandoned by the Saint*, tin- 

 main bom ol them with the prophet and other 

 leading eiders migrating to the new 'Stake of 

 /ion ' in Missouri. They settled in Caldwell, 

 Kaviess. Clinton, Carroll, nnd Itay counties, where 

 they iKHight land and improved it. At Far West, 

 Caldwell county, the corner stone of a temple was 

 laid, a printing ollire \\ a- established, and a monthly 

 paper, called Tin l-'.ldrr'.-, .luiiriinl, published. lint, 

 an election riot in August 1838, in (allatin, Daviess 

 county, where attempts were made to prevent the 

 Mormon- from voting, and some of them were 

 obliged to defend themselves against assailants, was 

 made the pretext for further acts of violence and 

 rapine, from which the Saints in the outlying settle- 

 ments were sufferers. The mob even burned the 

 houses and laid waste the property of some of their 

 own sympathisers in order to make it appear the 

 work of the Mormons, who were falsely accused of 

 deeds similar to those of which they were the 

 victims. The result was a general uprising. The 

 militia of the state was called out to suppress the 

 liois, but took side with the mob against the un- 

 popular Mormons. Governor Hoggs i--ued an 

 order for them to l>e 'exterminated or driven from 

 the slate.' and commanded Major-general Clark 

 with several thousand troops to proceed at once to- 

 Far West and execute the decree. To this over- 

 whelming force the inhabitants of I lie city peaceably 

 surrendered, though compelled to look on and see 

 their city sacked and pillaged, their wives and 

 daughters outraged and insulted, and a niiinlier of 

 their brethren killed by the mob and the soldiery. 

 The Mormon leader and about seventy others were 

 retained as prisoners, and the liody of their followers, 

 on penally of death, ordered to leave the state forth- 

 with. From twelve to fifteen thousand peojde in 

 the autumn and winter of I S3S cro-sed the Mi 

 sippi. and were kindly received in the neighlMiiiring 

 state of Illinois. Joseph Smith and the other pris- 

 oner- were tried by court martial I November 1) 

 and condemned to IK- shot, but escaped execution. 



The Mormon prophet next rallied his people on 

 the banks of the Mississippi, principally at or near 

 Commerce. Hancock county, Illinois, where they 

 again purchased homes and founded the city ot 

 Nauvoo d|.v. i. This region though naturally 

 fertile was then a mere wilderness, but Mormon 

 thrift and industry siton made it 'blossom as the 

 rose.' The legislature of Illinois granted a liberal 

 charter to Nauvoo, and a body of Mormon militia 

 was formed under the name of the 'Namoo Legion,' 

 with the prophet himself as its commander. Mean 

 time the Twelve Apostles, with Itrigham Young at 



