Missouri Executive Order 44

Text of the order

Missouri Executive Order Number 44, read as follows:

Background

Executive Order 44 was issued during the 1838 Mormon War, which was caused by friction between the Mormons and their neighbors due to the economic and electoral growth of the Latter-day Saint community and Joseph Smith's vocal opposition to slavery. Smith, who later became the first United States Presidential Candidate to be assassinated, proposed the redemption of slaves by selling public lands and decreasing the size and salary of Congress; the closure of prisons; the annexation of Texas, Oregon, and parts of Canada; the securing of international rights on high seas; free trade; and the re-establishment of a national bank.

However, the religious and political views of the Mormons did not sit well with the non-Mormon citizens of the state. Tensions had been steadily rising due to 1833 newspaper articles written in Independence, Missouri, which culminated in a manifesto published by many Missouri public officials.

On the same day, July 20th 1833, the W.W. Phelps printing press, which published The Evening and the Morning Star in Independence, was destroyed by a mob.

The destruction was also in retaliation for the publication of portions of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, particularly that of the book of Genesis, in The Evening and the Morning Star in August 1832 and in March and April 1833.

Early July 1833, the Star announced: “At no very distant period, we shall print the book of Mormon and the [New] Testament, and bind them in one volume.” However, hopes for this were postponed when the printing press in Independence was destroyed.

The 1838 Mormon War ended with the expulsion of nearly all Latter-day Saints from the state of Missouri.

Executive Order 44 is often referred to as the "Extermination Order" due to the phrasing used by Governor Boggs.

The Latter-day Saints had been given a county of their own (Caldwell County) in 1836, following their expulsion from Jackson County in 1833. However, the increasing influx of new church converts moving to northwestern Missouri led them to begin settling in adjacent counties. Other settlers, who had operated under the assumption that the Latter-day Saints would remain confined to Caldwell County, became angry due to these new settlements.

On 4 July 1838, church leader Sidney Rigdon delivered an oration in Far West, the county seat of Caldwell County. While not desiring or intending to start any trouble with his non-church neighbors, Rigdon wanted to make clear that the Latter-day Saints would meet any attacks on them—such as had already occurred in Jackson County during the summer and fall of 1833, resulting in their forced expulsion from their homes in that locale—with force:

Far from settling tensions, Rigdon's oration had the opposite effect: it terrified and inflamed the residents of surrounding counties. By the Fall of that same year these tensions escalated into open conflict, culminating in the looting and burning of several Latter-day Saint farms and homes, the sacking and burning of Gallatin by the "Danites", and the taking of hostages by Cpt. Samuel Bogart and his militia, operating in northern Ray County (to the south of Caldwell). When the Latter-day Saint militia from the town of Far West moved south to the militia camp on the Crooked River, causing rumors of a planned full-scale invasion of Missouri that ran rampant throughout the summer and aroused terror throughout the western part of the state. These rumors only increased as reports of the Battle of Crooked River reached the capital at Jefferson City, with accounts of Latter-day Saints allegedly slaughtering Bogart's militia company, including those who had surrendered. Further dispatches spoke of an impending attacks on Richmond, county seat of Ray County, though in fact no such attack was ever contemplated. After hearing these reports Governor Boggs chose to act.

Previously, Governor Boggs had received word that Latter-day Saints had driven several citizens of Daviess County (north of Caldwell) from their homes. He had then appointed General John Bullock Clark to lead the state militia in assisting those citizens to return. But after hearing these reports, Governor Boggs issued new orders directing Clark to commence direct military operations and issued Missouri Executive Order 44

Deaths

While the Saints never made a full accounting of their casualties, their various reports listed rape, gunshot wounds, beatings and exposure. The historical facts are clear and irrefutable: persecutions against Mormons during the 19th century were often violent, vicious, and cruel. Many Mormons were murdered and hundreds of surviving refugees died fleeing their persecutors during the Missouri War.

General Clark cited Executive Order 44 soon after the Latter-day Saints surrendered in November 1838, saying that violence would have been used had they chosen not to surrender. Clark furthermore stated,

The Latter-day Saints had every reason to trust this threat, considering recent activities involving other members of the state militia. Therefore, 15,000 Mormons consisting of men, women and children fled for Illinois immediately in harsh winter conditions. Even still, the question of whether anyone was killed as a direct result of the Extermination Order between October 27 (the date of its issuance) and November 1, 1838 (the date of the Latter-day Saint surrender), has been hotly debated among Latter-day Saints and historians. Most historians state that there is no evidence of any militiamen or other participants using it to justify their behavior during that period;

Haun's Mill

Many people connect Governor Boggs' order directly to the Haun's Mill massacre. At least one firsthand account asserts local Guardsmen referred to an order issued by the governor that sounds similar to Order 44 as justification for the Haun's Mill massacre. The Haun's Mill massacre was launched by Missouri State Guardsmen from Livingston County on the settlement of Haun's Mill, located in eastern Caldwell County near the Livingston County line, which resulted in the deaths of 18 men and boys, some of whom were murdered after surrendering. The firsthand account explains soldiers stated the governor had ordered their expulsion or extermination if they did not leave at once.

Others state there is no evidence that the militiamen knew of the Executive Order, and participants in this massacre who spoke of it later never used Governor Boggs' decree to justify their actions. They instead indicate that unnamed church dissenters had told them that the people of Haun's Mill were planning to invade Livingston County. The question of whether the militiamen knew in advance of Boggs' order is still hotly debated today.

A little less debatable is the question of defenseless, unarmed men and boys murdered in cold blood.

Aligning with the firsthand statements regarding having been stripped of all weapons prior to the attack is the lack of casualties or injuries inflicted upon the attackers. In addition, orders explicitly stated the Mormons were to have their weapons removed.

The massacre and Governor Boggs' Executive Order are examples of anti-Mormon sentiment in the area.

Financial Losses

To date, financial reparations for the crimes committed against the Mormons have yet to come to fruition.

"What the total of the pecuniary losses of the Mormons in Missouri was cannot be accurately estimated. They asserted that in Jackson County alone, $120,000 worth of their property was destroyed, and that fifteen thousand of their number fled from the state. Smith, in a statement of his losses made after his arrival in Illinois, placed them at $1,000,000. In a memorial presented to Congress at this time the losses in Jackson County were placed at $175,000, and in the state of Missouri at $2,000,000. The efforts of the Mormons to secure redress were long continued. Not only was Congress appealed to, but legislatures of other states were urged to petition in their behalf. The Senate committee at Washington reported that the matter was entirely within the jurisdiction of the state of Missouri. One of the latest appeals was addressed by Smith at Nauvoo in December, 1843, to his native state, Vermont, calling on the Green Mountain boys, not only to assist him in attaining justice in Missouri, but also to humble and chastise or abase her for the disgraces she has brought upon constitutional liberty, until she atones for her sin.”

To put the dollar numbers in modern context: $1,000,000 in 1838 equals $24,785,600.85 in 2016.

Aftermath

Although the Latter Day Saint leaders surrendered at Far West on November 1, Latter Day Saints (especially in outlying areas) continued to be subject to harassment and even forced ejection by citizens and renegade militia units. The Latter Day Saints in Caldwell County, as part of their surrender agreement, sign over all of their property to pay the expenses of the campaign against them; although this act was later held unlawful, it became clear to them that departure from the state was the only option state officials were going to allow.

Upon his arrival at Far West, General Clark delivered the following speech to the now-captive Latter Day Saints, in which he directly invoked Order 44:

Though Clark had offered to allow the Latter Day Saints to remain in Missouri until the following spring, the Saints decided to leave right away; according to one account, most had departed within ten days of Clark's speech. Although Governor Boggs belatedly ordered a militia unit under Colonel Sterling Price (later to achieve fame as a Confederate Civil War general) to northern Missouri to stop ongoing depredations against the Latter Day Saints, he refused to repeal Order #44. The Missouri legislature deferred discussion of an appeal by Latter Day Saint leaders to rescind the decree, Nearly all of the approximately 10,000 Latter Day Saints left Missouri by the spring of 1839. The Latter Day Saints would not begin to return to Missouri until approximately 25 years later.

Governor Boggs himself was excoriated in certain portions of the Missouri press, as well as those of neighboring states, for his action in issuing this order. General David Atchison, a prominent legislator and militia general from western Missouri who had refused to take part in operations, demanded that the Legislature formally state its opinion of Governor Boggs' order, for "he would not live in any state, where such authority was given". Although his proposal and similar ones by others went down to defeat, Governor Boggs himself saw his once-promising political career destroyed to the point that, by the next election, his own party was reluctant to be associated with him. After surviving an assassination attempt in 1842, Governor Boggs ultimately emigrated to California, where he died in relative obscurity in the Napa Valley in 1860.

Rescission

In late 1975, President Lyman F. Edwards of the Far West stake of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ, invited then Missouri Governor Kit Bond to participate in the June 25, 1976, stake's annual conference as a good-will gesture for the United States Bicentennial. As part of his address at that conference, 137 years after being signed and citing the unconstitutional nature of Governor Boggs' directive, Governor Bond presented the following Executive Order: