There are a lot of LDS folks who think that it was a tragedy how the early Saints were expelled from Nauvoo. While there was a lot of heart ache and misery and tragedy, I consider it far less tragic than what occurred in some of the areas and to some of the people that did the driving early on.
During the Civil War, the Lord exacted a tithing of sorts on those who remained in Babylon in that approx 10% of the males that remained out East were killed or maimed in that civil action. And much as the promise went for those who were sent to 'fight' in the Mexican American War in 1846, we (as a people) came off unscathed. In fact, those who did make it through the mobbings and scourgings and trials came out a much better people - so I say "Thank you very much, Boggs and company...". My ancestors were better off because of your vileness.
As for those who did the driving, I feel for you. You have to pay double - once here to relieve you of your ill-gotten worldly gains and once in the Spirit-pokey to pay for your complete lack of morals and character and for following after the children of hell that led you into the mess you found yourselves in. I have always been astounded to find that it was the pastors and spiritual leaders who were often at the head of the mobs rallying everyone. You would think they would have been crying for moderation or cooler heads to prevail. But they were out there making their adherents into twice the children of hell they were. GOOD JOB folks..... But then, the M.O. is the same as that used in Christ's day.
So what has gotten me spun up? My wife is subbing for Seminary tomorrow and called me and asked me what I knew about Order No. 10 (and the subsequent General Order #11). Most brain-dead members and non-members who just watch sports for a living would know everything about the "Border War" between the Jayhawks and Ol' Mizzou - but what they may not realize is that there is some history there and that "ol' Joe Smith" uttered a few prophetic words in that regard previous to their troubles in the Civil War. This is what he said:
The excerpt below is taken from B. H. Roberts, New Witnesses for God , Vol. 1, p.298:
The following prophetic incident is given upon the authority of Mr. Leonidas M. Lawson, now of New York City, formerly a resident of Clay county, Missouri, and a brother-in-law of General Doniphan. "In the year 1863," says Mr. Lawson, "I visited General A. W. Doniphan at his home in Liberty, Clay county, Missouri. This was soon after the [Civil War] devastation of Jackson county, Missouri under what is known as 'Order No. 11.' This devastation was complete. Farms were everywhere destroyed, and the farm houses were burned. During this visit General Doniphan related the following historical facts and personal incidents." Then follows in Mr. Lawson's account a recital of the treatment meted out to the Saints in Missouri from the time of their first arrival in 1831, to their expulsion, including recitals of the personal relations of General Doniphan and Joseph Smith, including the following incident which occurred during the Prophet's imprisonment in Liberty jail: "On one occasion General Doniphan caused the sheriff of the county to bring Joseph Smith from the prison to his law office, for the purpose of consultation about his defense. During Smith's presence in the office, a resident of Jackson county, Missouri, came in for the purpose of paying a fee which was due by him to the firm of Doniphan & Baldwin, and offered in payment a tract of land in Jackson county. "Doniphan told him that his partner, Mr. Baldwin, was absent at the moment, but as soon as he had an opportunity he would consult him and decide about the matter. When the Jackson county man retired, Joseph Smith, who had overheard the conversation, addressed General Doniphan about as follows: "'Doniphan, I advise you not to take that Jackson county land in payment of the debt. God's wrath hangs over Jackson county. God's people have been ruthlessly driven from it, and you will live to see the day when it will be visited by fire and sword. The Lord of Hosts will sweep it with the besom of destruction. The fields and farms and houses will be destroyed, and only the chimneys will be left to mark the desolation.' "General Doniphan said to me that the devastation of Jackson county forcibly reminded him of this remarkable prediction of the Mormon Prophet. . . . In a letter from Mr. A. Saxey of Spanish Fork, Utah to Mr. Junius Wells treating further of the fulfillment of this prophecy, so well attested, Mr. Saxey under date of August 25, 1902 says:
"In the spring of 1862 my regiment went south, and it was during that time that "Order No. 11" was issued, but I was back there again in 1864, during the Price raid, and saw the condition of the country. The duty of executing the order was committed to Colossians W. R. Penick's regiment, and there is no doubt but that he carried it into effect, from the howl the copperhead papers made at the time. I went down the Blue river, we found houses, barns, outbuildings, nearly all burned down, and nothing left standing but the chimneys which had, according to the fashion of the time, been built on the outside of the buildings. I remember very well that the country looked a veritable desolation."
So, when trouble is heaped upon you by the wicked that you are surrounded by, take heart (but do not glory in their tragedy - just in the power of God's word), because the Lord is sure and true and will back you if you are.
Payback is a beast - here is some more:
The following account is a portion of a manuscript written by Quantrill's Lieutenant, William H. Gregg after the war.
Gregg, a fierce fighter, was also very accomplished writer. The following is an excerpt from "A Little Dab of History Without Embellishment".
"...About the 18th of February, 1863 Col. Bill Penick stationed a Independence whose men were part Missourians and part Kansans sent a scout of about seventy five men sixteen miles south of Independence to the houses of Col. Jim Saunders and Uncle Jeptha Crawford, the scout arriving at the house of Saunders first, divided, one half going to Crawford's.
Mrs. Saunders and her daughter prepared dinner for the half staying there, the Col. furnished feed for their horses, all went well until dinner was over, ( mind you that the snow was fourteen inches deep with the mercury 10 degrees below zero when Col. Saunders was placed under guard, the house burned, the women not allowed a bonnet or shawl. On leaving Saunders place, they told the wife they were going to take Col. to Independence and make him take the oath.
On the arrival of this party at Crawford's practically the same scenes were enacted, except they snatched a lace cap from the head of Mrs. Crawford and they threw it in the flames of the burning building, they also told Mrs. Crawford that the men would not be hurt. On their way to Independence arriving at the house of James Burris, they dismounted Crawford and Saunders and shot them to death.
It was such dastardly acts as the forgoing that caused the raid on Lawrence..."
Here is a little more:
Bingham was in the epicenter of Kansas City, Missouri at the time of the issuance and execution of Order 11 and personally witnessed the carnage - where he accordingly describing the events:
"It is well-known that men were shot down in the very act of obeying the order, and their wagons and effects seized by their murderers. Large trains of wagons, extending over the prairies for miles in length, and moving Kansasward, were freighted with every description of household furniture and wearing apparel belonging to the exiled inhabitants. Dense columns of smoke arising in every direction marked the conflagrations of dwellings, many of the evidences of which are yet to be seen in the remains of seared and blackened chimneys, standing as melancholy monuments of a ruthless military despotism which spared neither age, sex, character, nor condition. There was neither aid nor protection afforded to the banished inhabitants by the heartless authority which expelled them from their rightful possessions. They crowded by hundreds upon the banks of the Missouri River, and were indebted to the charity of benevolent steamboat conductors for transportation to places of safety where friendly aid could be extended to them without danger to those who ventured to contribute it."
Thereupon after witnessing the attrocity and previously appealing to Ewing; Bingham set out on his masterpiece of historical importance. With the simple words of "It will be adequate", Bingham brushed the famous painting "Order Number 11."
Kansans were angry over Quantrill's Lawreence raid that was pay back for the September 23, 1861 massacre and burning of Osceola. Ewing's order came from radical Senator James Lane to lead a jayhawking raid through Missouri that would destroy more than four Missouri counties. On September 9, 1863, Lane gathered nearly a thousand Kansans at Paola, Kansas, and marched towards Westport, Missouri, with an eye towards destruction of that town. Ewing also sent several companies of his old Eleventh Kansas to help Lane's advance. For whatever reason, Lane Stopped that attack.
Ewing ordered his troops to engage in looting and other depredations, and the jayhawkers were simply nothing short of barbarous and savage. Most were Kansas volunteers who regarded all Missourians as "rebels" to be punished. Animals and farm property were stolen or destroyed; houses, barns and outbuildings burned to the ground. The four counties became a devastated "no-man's-land", with only charred chimneys and burnt stubble showing where homes and thriving communities had once stood.
Ewing's order was allowed to stand, and Schofield would later describe it as "wise and just; in fact, a necessity."
For the ages and future generations to see, George Caleb Bingham painted a masterpiece of Ewing's evil and cruel war crime. Legendary guerrilla Frank James commented upon seeing the painting, "This is a picture that speaks."
In this famous work General Thomas Ewing is seated on a horse watching the Red Legs destroy the innocent people of Missouri..
The historical painting, which is centered around General Ewing, complete with his "red legs", is a scene that no human should have ever endured. The painting depicts the horror, tragedy, suffering, death & destruction of innocent Missourians who General Ewing demonically terrorized.
This painting is one of the most stirring and haunting works ever laid to canvas. It shows the extreme means in which the innocent men, women and children of Missouri were treated by such scoundrels as General Ewing.
And so you have the blueprint for the next great Civil War to occur shortly on our soil. This one will not be county against county but will be, as the Savior said, Mother against daughter, etc where it is an individual thing brought about by the breakup of the family and the moral fabric of society. There is a thin veneer of civility indeed that keeps us cohesive as a people. When that thin veneer and what little of the Spirit of the Lord remains in this people has evaporated under the withering sun of poverty and lost hope, it will be wrenching even for the strongest people to endure. Only those who possess a Zion spirit will be strong enough to stand - and then only in groups bound together in love and necessity.
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