Extermination Order

The Extermination Order was a military order signed by Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs on October 27, 1838, directing that the Mormons be driven from the state or exterminated. It read:

"Headquarters of the Militia,"

City of Jefferson, Oct. 27, 1838.

General John B. Clark:

Sir Since the order of this morning to you, directing you to cause four hundred mounted men to be raised within your division, I have received by Amos Reese, Esq., of Ray county, and Wiley C. Williams, Esq., one of my aids, information of the most appalling character, which entirely changes the face of things, and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this state. Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operation with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace--their outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary. I have just issued orders to Maj. Gen. Willock, of Marion county to raise five hundred men, and to march them to the northern part of Daviess, and there unite with Gen. Doniphan, of Clay, who has been ordered with five hundred men to proceed to the same point for the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the Mormons to the north. They have been directed to communicate with you by express, you can also communicate with them if you find it necessary. Instead therefore of proceeding as at first directed to reinstate the citizens of Daviess in their homes, you will proceed immediately to Richmond and then operate against the Mormons. Brig. Gen. Parks of Ray, has been ordered to have four hundred of his brigade in readiness to join you at Richmond. The whole force will be placed under your command.

I am very respectfully,

your ob't serv't,

"L. W. Boggs,

Commander in Chief."

The governor's action was a reaction to information relayed to him that day by two men from Richmond, Missouri. The information concerned conflicts between Mormons and Missourians in northwest Missouri and falsely alleged that Mormon militias were pillaging and burning Missouri towns. The Saints had already been driven out of Jackson County in 1833, Clay County in 1836, and Carroll County two weeks before the Extermination Order (Harley, p. 6). Carroll County had already issued its own extermination order against the Saints, threatening to "exterminate them without regard to age or sex" if they did not leave the county by October (Anderson, 27 - 83). Jealousies of the Missourians had been aroused by the anti-slavery stance of the Church, the Church's avowed goal to establish Zion in Missouri, the Saints' tendency to gather in groups and trade mostly among themselves, the Church population's continuing growth, and religious bigotry fanned by Protestant leaders. What was called by Missourians the "Mormon War" had broken out in the summer of 1838. The Mormon War entailed "shooting, house burning, pillaging of crops and livestock, and a skirmish called the Battle of Crooked River on 24 October in which a handful lost their lives, and the Haun's Mill Massacre on 30 October [probably before the news of the Extermination Order had reached Missourians] in which some seventeen innocent Mormons were brutally shot to death and fourteen others wounded by more than two hundred Missouri vigilantes" (Hartley, p. 6).

Boggs, acting in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Missouri militia, ordered General John B. Clark to march to Ray County with a division of militia to carry out operations against armed Mormons. The order described the Mormons as being in "open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this State." It stated that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description."

A copy of the order reached General Samuel D. Lucas of the state militia by the time he encamped outside the LDS town of Far West, in Caldwell County, on October 31. Lucas gave a copy to the LDS Colonel George M. Hinkle and other Church representatives, to whom he dictated terms of surrender, and they showed it to Joseph Smith. It was probably a significant factor in the Prophet's decision to surrender to Lucas.

Following Joseph Smith's surrender, arrest, and imprisonment, the governor's order was carried out by a combination of militia troops and vigilantes. It culminated in the forcible removal from Missouri of virtually all members of the Church during the winter and early spring of 1838-1839.

The legality and propriety of Boggs' order were vigorously debated in the Missouri legislature during its 1839 session. The order was supported by most northwest Missouri citizens, but was questioned or denounced by others. However, no determination of the order's legality was ever made.

On June 25, 1976, Governor Christopher S. Bond issued an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, recognizing its legal invalidity and formally apologizing in behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused the Latter-day Saints.

References and Links

Richard L. Anderson, "Clarification of Boggs' 'Order' and Joseph Smith's Constitutionalism," Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint History:Missouri, Arnold K. Garr and Clark V. Johnson, eds. William G. Hartley:"Missouri's 1838 Extermination Order and the Mormon's Forced Removal to Illinois" Brigham Young University LDS FAQ, "What was the Extermination Order"?