Firsthand Accounts of the "Mormon Wars," including the Hawn's Mill Massacre

Roughly sixty years after Americans had shed their blood to assert—in the War for Independence—that they would be ruled by none but God, a small religious group is violently assaulted by mobs. They are disarmed, their houses are burned to the ground, their leaders are unjustly imprisoned, their lands, animals, crops, and belongings are stolen. Men, women, and children are murdered or die from exposure after being driven out in the middle of winter. Authorities do nothing because they were either involved or afraid to take a stand. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called Mormons by their enemies, wondered how such things could take place in a fledgling republic supposedly created to protect the rights of every man.

This volume brings together several important texts published in the 1800s. Sidney Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt provide firsthand accounts—their own and others'—of events surrounding the so-called "Mormon War" in Missouri, including the well-known Hawn's Mill Massacre. Various additional texts provide further context, including the miraculous healing of seven-year-old Alma Smith who was shot in the hip at gunpoint, and remarks by Heber C. Kimball promising heavenly retribution upon those involved.

Massacres, Mobs, and Miracles belongs in the library of anyone who values freedom and liberty. It is a warning about prejudice, a reminder of what happens when we allow rights to be trampled, even for those we disagree with. It is a call to action.

Carefully transcribed and annotated. 196 pages.