The 175th Anniversary of the Haun's Mill Massacre

Through the Eyes of David Lewis

    The Haun’s Mill Massacre took place on October 30, 1838.[1] Days earlier, Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs illegally issued an extermination order which declared that Latter-day Saints “must be exterminated or driven from the state.”[2] The massacre was the single “most tragic event, in terms of loss of life and injury, enacted by an anti-Mormon element against the Latter-day Saints in [the] entire Church’s history.”[3] 
    On the day of the massacre, “all was tranquil, and no one expressed any apprehension of the awful crisis that was near.”[4] In the afternoon, two hundred armed men approached Haun’s Mill on horseback.[1] David described the mob as “coming with great speed and falling upon us with the ferocity of tigers.”[5]

     

       The Saints “were forced to take shelter under the cover of an old log building, used as a blacksmith's shop, which was neither chinked nor mudded.” David said, “When men ran out and called for peace they were shot down; when they held up their hats and handkerchiefs and cried for mercy, they were shot down; when they attempted to run, they were cut down by the fire of guns.”[5] David was standing by the first man that fell. He wrote, “All the pain and misery that I ever witnessed in a poor soul, in him seemed to excel.” Some of the Saints tried to defend themselves, but they were clearly outnumbered by the Missourians.[1]

          In all, 17 people were killed and 14 injured.[3] The morning after the massacre, David returned to the mill to find out the fate of his friends. David witnessed the horrific outcome of the massacre. Among the dead were two small boys. David expressed his great sorrow for what had happened. He wrote, “How painful it is when I think upon it. My heart is filled and my eyes are ready to drip with tears to see my friends and near neighbors falling around me...; to see the widows tears, to hear the orphans cry, to see the helpless babes a weeping, standing by.”[1]

       David helped bury the dead in a well. He wrote, “This was the most heartrending scene that my eyes ever witnessed.” In a poem, he recorded:

Quite strange to tell, their graves a well,

No one their friends to cheer,

The tears in streaks, rolled down the cheeks,

Of wives and sisters dear.”[1]

                                                                         Buried in Well
                                                                    By Julie Rogers. Used with permission. 

      The mob captain and several of his men later returned to the mill and took it over. David wrote, “There were ten widows in the neighborhood whose husbands they had killed, and many helpless orphans who were dependent on going to these wicked wretches for their meal and flour. There were many exposed to the cold, and that were left destitute of means to subsist on. There were many lying wounded, and no one scarcely to attend to their wants. Their lives were daily threatened.”[1]

      Many years later, Missouri Governor Christopher Bond rescinded Governor Boggs' extermination order. He wrote, “Governor Boggs' order clearly contravened the rights to life, liberty, property and religious freedom as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States....” Governor Bond also expressed “on behalf of all Missourians...deep regret for the injustice and undue suffering which was caused by the 1838 order.”[2]

Sacred to the memory of the victims 

and survivors of the Haun's Mill Massacre.

References

1. David Lewis’s Journal (1854). LDS Church Historical Department. Transcribed by Carol Harless, Los Altos CA. Typed by David B. Grammar editing and editing by Devin McFarlane.
2. Missouri Extermination Order. Retrieved from http://www.quaqua.org/extermination.htm
3. Jensen, E. (30 May 2010) Setting the record straight on the ‘Hawn’s’ Mill Massacre. Deseret News. Grammar editing by Devin McFarlane. Retrieved from Deseret News.com.
4. Pratt, P. (1985). Parley P. Pratt autobiography. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
5. An appeal to the American people. Retrieved from http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/1840RigA.htm. Editing and grammar editing by Devin McFarlane.
1st Painting: Haun's Mill. C.C.A. Christensen.
2nd Painting: Buried in Well. By Julie Rogers. Used with permission.