Haun's Mill massacre
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The Haun's Mill massacre was an important event in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement. It occurred on October 30, 1838 when a renegade militia unit from Livingston County attacked a Mormon settlement in eastern Caldwell County, Missouri. By far the bloodiest skirmish in the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, the events have been long remembered by the Latter Day Saints.
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[edit] Haun's Mill
Haun's Mill was a mill established on the banks of Shoal Creek in Fairview Township, Caldwell, County Missouri in 1835-1836 by early Latter Day Saint settler, Jacob Haun. By October of 1838 there were approximately 75 Mormon families living along the banks of Shoal Creek, about 30 of them in the immediate vicinity of Haun's Mill and the blacksmith shop.[1]
[edit] Missouri Militia
The militia was led by Colonel William Jennings, Sheriff of Caldwell County. At the time of the attack it consisted of 240 men from Daviess, Livingston, Ray, Carroll, and Charlton counties and included prominent men such as Charles Ashby of the state legistature and Thomas O. Byron, Clerk of Livingston County.[2]
Although the massacre took place a few days after Missouri's governor, Lilburn Boggs, issued his infamous Extermination Order, most historians have now concluded that the militia unit had gone renegade and had neither the time nor the opportunity to have received news of the order.[3]
[edit] Truce
There was considerable concern among the settlers at Haun's Mill due to the threat of the growing militia. On Sunday, October 28th a council was held to discuss how to defend themselves. It was decided to organize a defense and 28 men were armed and held themselves in readiness for an attack. That same evening, one of the militia groups sent a representative who negotiated a truce with the settlers. Monday the 29th and most of Tuesday the 30th passed without incident.[4]
[edit] Massacre
The militia rode into town at approximately 4:00pm on October 30th. David Evans, a leader in the community ran towards the militia, waving his hat and calling for peace. Alerted to the militia's approach, most of the Latter Day Saint women and children fled into the woods to the south —while most of the men stayed behind to fight, entrenching themselves in the blacksmith shop. Tragically, the building was a particularly vulnerable entrenchment as the widely-spaced logs made it easy for the militiamen to fire inside. The shop became a deathtrap, as the Missourians gave no quarter, discharging about one hundred rifles. After the initial attack, several of those who had been wounded or had surrendered were shot at point blank range. Members of the militia entered the shop and found ten-year-old Sardius Smith hiding under the blacksmith's bellows. One man put the muzzle of his gun against the boy's skull and blew off the upper part of his head. The man later explained, "Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon."[5] Several bodies were mutilated or clothing stolen. Houses were robbed, wagons, tents and clothing were stolen, and horses and livestock were driven off, leaving the surviving women and children destitute.
By the end of the skirmish at least eighteen Mormons were dead, including seventy-eight year old Thomas McBride and a boy of ten (Sardius Smith). Thirteen more had been injured including a woman and nine year old child. A non-Mormon ally was also killed. Three of the 250 Missourians were wounded, but none fatally. After the fighting, the dead were buried together in an unfinished well, and the remaining Mormons and their wounded gathered to Far West for protection.[6]
[edit] Aftermath
Although participants in the massacre boasted of their attrocities for years, none of the Missourians were ever brought to trial for their part in the massacre,[7] and the Latter Day Saints efforts at receiving justice in the Missouri courts were in vain. Several of the Mormon participants in the Mountain Meadows Massacre cited vengeance for the injustice of Haun's Mill as key among their motives.[citation needed]
Today, the grounds of the massacre are maintained as a historic site by the Community of Christ church. The church is also conducting ongoing archaeological research to identify the former buildings and grounds of the Haun's Mill settlement.
This event was dramatized in the Latter-day Saint film Legacy.
[edit] References
- ^ Historical Record, Jenson, Vol. 7 & 8, p 671
- ^ History of the Church, Vol. III, pp 182-186
- ^ Hartley, William G. (2001). "Missouri's 1838 Extermination Order and the Mormons' Forced Removal to Illinois". Mormon Historical Studies 2 (1): 6.
- ^ History of the Church, Vol. III, pp 182-186
- ^ Andrew Jenson, The Historical Record, Dec. 1888, p. 673.
- ^ History of the Church, Vol. III, pp 182-186
- ^ History of the Church, Vol. III, pp 182-186
