History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences, Part 16

Author: Pease, Ora Merle Hawk, 1890-
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1260

USA > Missouri > Livingston County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 16
USA > Missouri > Caldwell County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 16

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The next morning the bodies had changed, and were changing fast. They must be buried. There were not enough men in the place to dig graves, and it could not be determined when relief would come. There was a large unfinished well at the place, and the bodies were gathered up, the women assisting, and borne, one at a time, all gory and ghastly, to this well and slid in from a large plank. All of the corpses were disposed of in this way ; then some hay or straw was strewn over the ghastly piles and then a thin layer of dirt thrown on the hay.

Soon after the burial was over, the same day, Comstock's company

1 Founder and owner of the mill.

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was sent back to give the dead a decent sepulture. Seeing what had been done already, they rode away, glad to be relieved from the job. The next February Mr. Charles R. Ross moved into the house and oc- cupied the property to which the well belonged. Soon after his arrival some warm days came, and an offensive smell arose from the well. Mr. Ross at once set to work and filled up the loathsome sepulcher, even making a good sized mound over it. In time this mound was leveled, and now it is almost impossible to fix the exact location of the pit.

Whatever of merit there was in the attack on Haun's Mill, and whatever of glory attaches to the famous victory, must be given to Col. Wm. O. Jennings mainly. He made the attack on his own responsi- bility, without orders from Gov. Boggs, or any other superior author- ity, although the Governor afterwards approved what was done. True, Jennings' subordinates must be given their share, in proportion to the part they bore, but Col. Jennings stands among them all as a Saul among his fellows, the Ajax Telamon of the contest, the Hector of the fight !

It is but proper that both sides of the story of the affair at Haun's Mill - fight, skirmish, massacre, or butchery, whatever it was - should be given. The best Mormon account extant is embodied in an affidavit of Joseph Young, a brother of Brigham Young, made at Quincy, Ill., the June following the occurrence. This affidavit, much of which is undoubtedly true, is yet among the Mormon records, and a copy has been furnished for use in this history by F. D. Richards, the Mormon custodian of records. Following is the copy : -

SWORN STATEMENT OF JOSEPH W. YOUNG.

On the 6th day of July last I started with my family from Kirtland, Ohio, for the State of Missouri, the county of Caldwell, in the upper part of the State, being the place of my destination. On the thir- teenth day of October I crossed the Mississippi at Louisiana, at which place I heard vague reports of the disturbances in the upper country, but nothing that could be relied upon.

I continued my course westward till I crossed Grand river, at a place called Compton's Ferry, at which place I heard, for the first time, that if I proceeded any further on my journey I would be in danger of being stopped by a body of armed men. I was not willing, however, while treading my native soil and breathing republican air, to abandon my object, which was to locate myself and family in a fine healthy country, where we could enjoy the society of our friends and connections. Consequently, I prosecuted my journey till I came to Whitney's Mills, situated on Shoal creek, in the eastern part of Caldwell county. [Southwestern part of Livingston. - COMPILER. ]

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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.

After crossing the creek and going about three miles, we met a party of the mob, abont forty in number, armed with rifles and mounted on horses, who informed us that we could go no farther west, threatening us with instant death if we proceeded any farther. I asked them the reason of this prohibition ; to which they replied that we were " Mormons; " that every one who adhered to our religious faith would have to leave the State in ten days or renounce their religion. Accordingly they drove us back to the mills above mentioned. Here we tarried three days, and on Friday, the 26th, we reerossed the creek, and following up its banks we succeeded in eluding the mob for the time being, and gained the residence of a friend in Myers' settlement.

On Sunday, the 28th of October, we arrived about twelve o'clock at Haun's Mill, where we found a number of our friends collected together, who were holding a council and deliberating upon the best course for them to pursue to defend themselves against the mob, who were collecting in the neighborhood under the command of Col. Jen- nings, of Livingston, and threatening them with house burning and killing. The decision of the council was that our friends should place themselves in an attitude of self-defense. Accordingly about twenty- eight of our men armed themselves and were in constant readiness for an attack of any small body of men that might come down upon them.

The same evening, for some reason best known to themselves, the mob sent one of their number to enter into a treaty with our friends, which was accepted, on the condition of mutual forbearance on both sides, and that each party, as far as their influence extended, should exert themselves to prevent any further hostilities upon either party. At this time, however, there was another mob collecting on Grand river, at William Mann's, who were threatening us, consequently we remained under arms.

Monday passed away without molestation from any quarter. On Tuesday, the 30th, that bloody tragedy was acted, the scenes of which I shall never forget. More than three-fourths of the day had passed in tranquility, as smiling as the preceding one. I think there was no individual of our company that was apprised of the sudden and awful fate that hung over our heads like an overwhelming torrent, which was to change the prospect, the feelings and circumstances of about thirty families. The banks of Shoal creek on either side teemed with children sporting and playing, while their mothers were engaged in domestic employments, and their fathers employed in guarding the mills and other property, while others were engaged in gathering in their crops for the winter consumption. The weather was very pleasant, the sun shone clear, all was tranquil and no one expressed any apprehension of the awful crisis that was near us - even at our doors.

It was about four o'clock, while sitting in my cabin with my babe in my arms, and my wife standing by my side, the door being open, I east my eyes on the opposite bank of Shoal creek, and saw a large

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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.

company of armed men, on horses, directing their course towards the mills with all possible speed. As they advanced through the scatter- ing trees that stood on the edge of the prairie they seemed to form themselves into a three square position, forming a vanguard in front.

At this moment, David Evans, seeing the superiority of their num- bers (there being 240 of them according to their own account ), swung his hat and cried for " peace." This not being heard, they continued to advance, and their leader, Mr. Nehemiah Comstock, fired a gun, which was followed by a solemn pause of ten or twelve seconds, when all at once, they discharged about 100 rifles, aiming at a blacksmith's shop into which our friends had fled for safety ; and charged up to the shop, the cracks of which between the logs were sufficiently large to enable them to aim directly at the bodies of those who had there fled for refuge from the fire of their murderers. There were several fami- lies tented in rear of the shop, whose lives were exposed, and who, amidst a shower of bullets, fled to the woods in different directions.

After standing and gazing on this bloody scene for a few minutes, and finding myself in the uttermost danger, the bullets having reached the house where I was living, I committed my family to the protec- tion of heaven, and leaving the house on the opposite side, I took a path which led up the hill, following in the trail of three of my breth- ren that had fled from the shop. While ascending the hill, we were discovered by the mob, who immediately fired at us, and continued so to do till we reached the summit. In descending the hill, I secreted myself in a thicket of bushes, where I lay till eight o'clock in the evening, at which time I heard a female voice calling my name in an undertone, telling me that the mob was gone and there was no dan- ger. I immediately left the thicket and went to the house of Benja- min Lewis, where I found my family ( who had fled there ) in safety, and two of my friends mortally wounded, one of whom died before morning. Here we passed the painful night in deep and awful reflec- tions on the scenes of the preceding evening.

After daylight appeared some four or five men, with myself, who had escaped with our lives from the horrible massacre, repaired as soon as possible to the mills to learn the condition of our friends, whose fate we had too: ruly anticipated. When we arrived at the house of Mr. Haun we found Mr. Merrick's body lying in rear of the house. Mr. McBride's in front was literally mangled from head to foot. We were informed by Miss Rebecca Judd, who was an eye-witness, that he was shot with his own gun after he had given it up, and then cut to pieces with a corn cutter by : Mr. Rogers, of Daviess county, who keeps a ferry on Grand river, and who has since repeatedly boasted of this act of savage barbarity. Mr. York's body we found in the house, and after viewing these corpses we immediately went to the blacksmith's shop, where we found nine of our friends, eight of whom were already dead, the other, Mr. Cox, of Indiana, struggling in the agonies of death, who expired. We immediately prepared and carried them to the place of interment. This last office of kindness, due to the relics of departed friends, was not attended with the customary

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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.

ceremonies or decency, for we were in jeopardy every moment, ex- pecting to be fired upon by the mob, who we supposed were lying in ambush waiting for the first opportunity to dispatch the remaining few who were providentially preserved from the slaughter of the preceding day. However, we accomplished without molestation this painful task. The place of burying was a vault in the ground, formerly in- tended for a well, into which we threw the bodies of our friends pro- miscuously. Among those slain I will mention Sardius Smith, son of Warren Smith, about 12 years old, who, through fear, had crawled under the bellows in the shop, where he remained till the massacre was over, when he was discovered by a Mr. Glaze, of Carroll county, who presented his rifle near the boy's head and literally blowed off the upper part of it. Mr. Stanley, of Carroll, told me afterwards that Glaze boasted of this fiend-like murder and heroic deed all over the country.

The number killed and mortally wounded in this wanton slaughter was 18 or 19, whose names, as far as I recollect, were as follows.1

Miss Mary Stedwell, while fleeing, was shot through the hand, and, fainting, fell over a log, into which they shot upwards of 20 balls.

To finish their work of destruction this band of murderers, com- posed of men from Daviess, Livingston, Ray, Carroll and Chariton counties, led by some of the principal men of that section of the upper country (among whom, I am informed, were Mr. Ashley, of Chariton, member of the State Legislature ; Col. Jennings, of Livingston county ; Thomas R. Bryan, clerk of Livingston county ; Mr. Whitney, Dr. Randall, and many others), proceeded to rob the houses, wagons and tents of bedding and clothing, drove off horses and wagons, leav- ing widows and orphans destitute of the necessaries of life, and even stripped the clothing from the bodies of the slain. According to their own account, they fired seven rounds in this awful butchery, making upwards of 1,600 shots at a little company of men, about 30 in number. I hereby certify the above to be a true statement of facts, according to the best of my knowledge.

JOSEPH YOUNG.

Subscribed and sworn to by Joseph Young, June 4, 1839, before C. M. Woods, clerk of the circuit court of Adams county, Ill., at Quiney, in said county.

Let us hear now the story as told by Mrs. Amanda Smith, whose husband, Warren Smith, and little 10 year old son, Sardius Smith, both perished in the massacre. 1

STATEMENT OF AMANDA SMITH, WIDOW OF WARREN SMITH.

To whom this may concern: I do hereby certify that my husband, Warren Smith, in company with several other families, were moving from Ohio to Missouri. We came to Caldwell county. Whilst we

1 See preceding page, as also for the names of the wounded. - Compiler.

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HISTORY' OF CALDWELL COUNTY.

were traveling, minding our own business, we were stopped by a mob; they told us that if we went another step, they would kill us all. They took our guns from us ( as were going into a new country, we took guns along with us) ; they took us back five miles, placed a guard around us, there kept us three days and let us go.

I thought : Is this our boasted land of liberty? For some said we must deny our faith, or they would kill us ; others said we should die at any rate. The names of this mob, or the heads, were Thomas R. Brien, county elerk, Jefferson Brien, Wmn. Ewell, and James Austin, all of Livingston county. After they let us go, we traveled ten miles, came to a small town composed of one grist mill, one saw mill, and eight or ten houses belonging to our brethren ; there we stopped for the night.

A little before sunset a mob of 300 came upon us. The men hal- looed for the women and children to run for the woods ; and they ran into an old blacksmith shop, for they feared if we all ran together, they would rush upon us and kill the women and children. The mob fired before we had time to start from our camp. Our men took off their hats and swung them, and cried " quarter" until they were shot. The mob paid no attention to their cries nor entreaties, but fired in- cessantly.

I took my little girls - my boys I could not find - and started for the woods. The mob encircled us on all sides but the brook. I ran down the bank, across the mill pond on a plank, up the hill into the bushes. The bullets whistled all the way like hail, and cut down the bushes on all sides of us. One girl was wounded by my side, and fell over a log, and her clothes hung across the log ; and they shot at them, expecting they were hitting her ; and our people afterwards cut out of that log 20 bullets.

I sat down to witness the dreadful scene. When they had done firing, they began to howl, and one would have thought that all the infernals had come from the lower region. They plundered the prin- cipal part of our goods, took our horses and wagons, and ran off, howling like demons.

I came down to witness the awful scene. Oh horrible ! what a sight ! My husband, and one son 10 years old, lifeless upon the ground, and one son 7 years old, wounded very bad; the ground cov- ered with the dead. These little boys crept under the bellows in the shop; one little boy 10 years old had 3 wounds in him ; he lived 5 weeks and died; he was not mine.

Realize for a moment the scene : -- It was sunset ; nothing but hor- ror and distress ; the dogs, filled with rage, howling over their dead masters ; the cattle caught the scent of innocent blood, and bellowed ; a dozen helpless widows, 30 or 40 fatherless children, screaming and groaning for the loss of their fathers and husbands; the groans of the wounded and dying - all these were enough to have melted the heart of anything but a Missouri moh.

There were 15 dead and 10 wounded ; 2 died the next day. There were no men, or not enough to bury the dead ; so they were thrown into

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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.

a dry well and covered with dirt. The next day the mob came back. They told us we must leave the State forthwith, or be killed. It was cold weather, and they had our teams and clothes; our men all dead or wounded. I told them they might kill me and my children, and welcome. They sent to us from time to time, if we did not leave the State, they would come and kill us. We had little prayer meetings. They said if we did not stop them, they would kill every man, woman and child. We had spelling schools for our little children ; they said if we did not stop them, they would kill every man, woman and child. We did our own milking, got our own wood ; no man to help us.

I started the 1st of February for Illinois, without money ( mob all the way ), drove our own team, slept out of doors. I had 5 small children; we suffered hunger, fatigue and cold ; for what? For our religion ; where, in a boasted land of liberty, " deny your faith or die " was the cry.

I will mention some of the names of the heads of the mob : Two brothers by the name of Comstock, William Mann, Benj. Ashley, Robert White, one by the name of Rogers, who took an old scythe and cut an old white headed man all to pieces.

I wish further also to state that when the mob came there (as I was told by one of them afterwards), their intention was to kill every- thing belonging to us that had life ; and that after our men were shot down by them, they went around and shot all the dead men over again, to make sure of their lives.

I now leave it with this honorable Government to say what my damages may be, or what they would be willing to see their wives and children slaughtered for, as I have seen my husband, son and others.

I lost in property by the mob -to goods stolen, $50 ; one pocket- book and $50 cash, bank-notes; damage of horses and team, $100; one gun, $10; in short, my all. Whole damages are more than the whole State of Missouri is worth.

Written by my own hand, this 18th day of April, 1839.

AMANDA SMITH.

QUINCY, Adams county, Ill.

Hiram Smith, the brother of the " Prophet," in his "statement " on record in the archives of the church at Salt Lake makes the follow- ing reference to the affair at Haun's Mill : -

Immediately after this, there came into the city a messenger from Haun's Mill, bringing the intelligence of an awful massacre of the people who were residing in that place, and that a force of 200 or 300, detached from the main body of the army, under the superior command of Capt. Nehemiah Comstock, who, the day previous, had promised them peace and protection, but on receiving a copy of the Governor's order to exterminate or to expel, from the hands of Col. Ashley, he returned upon them the following day, and surprised and massacred the whole population, and then came on to the town of

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Far West, and entered into conjunction with the main body of the army. The messenger informed us that he himself with a few others fled into the thickets, which preserved them from massacre, and on the following morning returned and collected the dead bodies of the people, and cast them into a well. There were upwards of 20 ( ?) who were dead or mortally wounded. One of the name of Yocum has lately had his leg amputated, in consequence of wounds he then received. He had a ball shot through his head, which entered near his eye, and came out the baek part of his head, and another ball passed through one of his arms.

EXTRACTS FROM A STATEMENT OF NATHAN K. KNIGHT.

We traveled through the lower part of Missouri without any difficulty, the people treating us kindly and advising us to leave the main road, as mobs were collecting on it. We traveled on by roads and came out at Compton's Ferry, on one fork of Grand river, where we camped. Next day we traveled across a prairie of 30 miles, without inhabitants, and arrived at Whitney's mill, on Shoal creek, Livingston county, Mo. We crossed over the mill pond next morning in a flat boat and started across to Caldwell county, a dis- tance of 14 miles. When we were about two miles out we met a party of 60 men, armed and mounted, led by Thomas Brien, who compel- led us to give up our arms and return to Whitney's mill, where we remained a week. * * While they were drunk and asleep one afternoon, we hitched up, re-crossed the mill pond, told the women living there that we were going back out of the State, and took the back track for two miles, where we halted a few minutes and requested Elder Joseph Young to take the lead of the company, which now numbered 11 wagons and families. He objected, but appointed Bro. Levi Merrick to take charge. We started on, leaving the main road and taking a dividing ridge without any track and traveled on that afternoon and night and halted just before day-break to bury a son of mine, 16 years old, who had just died. * The next day Bro. Walker's son-in-law [of Caldwell county ] piloted us to Haun's mill, where we arrived in the afternoon, found a number of brethren waiting to get grinding done. We remained until next morning, and, as we had been on short rations for a number of days, we purchased some grain, and, as we could not get it ground until late in the day, we concluded to wait till next morning.

About 30 minutes past 3 o'clock p. m. that day (October 30) Bro. David Evans, Father Myers and another brother returned from an appointed meeting with the mob, who agreed in writing to let the Saints alone if the Saints would let them alone. Bro. Evans said he did not feel like the mob intended to keep their word, and advised the brethren to keep out a double guard, and while he was organizing it and within half an hour after his return his fears were confirmed. * * I had just finished eating. I caught my gun and hung my powder-horn over my neck, when the buckskin string was eut by a

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ball fired by their leader, which also passed through my vest pocket, taking out my pocket knife. * * The women and children were so terrified that some of them would run in front of the mob's guns and cry, " murder ! murder !" * * As one man was running to help cut him [Esq. McBride] down, swearing as he went, I fired my gun the first time. The ball passed through one hip and lodged in the other. He was always a cripple afterwards. * Two men had Bro. Warren Smith stripped of his coat, hat and boots, and were dragging him around after he was dead and kicking him. * * The first wound I received was in the finger of my right hand. The next in my left leg and the next in my body, the ball entering just above the small of my back and lodging just below the pit of my stomach. The last shot brought me to my hands and knees. I re- covered myself and tried to escape.

I made out to get three- quarters of a mile farther through timber and brush, and secreted myself in some fallen tree tops. I remained about three quarters of an hour. A little after sunset I saw Sister Polly Wood ( formerly Miss Polly Merrill). I motioned for her to come to me, I could not call her, neither could I stand up. She came and tried to lend me back, but I was too weak. She then kneeled down and placed her hands on my wounds and prayed the Lord to strengthen and heal me. I never heard a more powerful prayer. The Lord answered her prayer, and I received strength and walked back to Haun's house by resting three or four times. The mob were all gone, and had taken with them all our horses, wagons, cows and all of our property of every description, both belonging to our camp and the settlement, which numbered a half dozen houses or more. Bro. Haun's house escaped their ravages, but his horses were taken from the stable. I had nothing left but a small trunk ; the contents were gone excepting a bottle of consecrated oil, which they had left on the ground. Sister Haun and my wife passed the night in dressing the wounds and making comfortable, as far as possible, the wounded and dying. Their groans and shrieks made the night hideous and hor- rible beyond description, and the women were the only ones to ad- minister comfort during that night of desolation and suffering; I prevailed on them to sing " Moroni's Lamentation," contained in our hymn book. *

A few days after the massacre the mob returned to the mill, and ground up all the brethren's grain in that region of country. They numbered about 100, and remained about a month, killing hogs, rob- bing bee stands and hen houses. I and my family suffered much for food. At the end of six weeks I began to get around a little, and was again fired upon by a mob of 14. I escaped into the woods unhurt. *

About the first of February I and three or four of the brethren left for Illinois, locating near Lima. The next fall I gathered with the Saints at Nauvoo. In September, 1842, my wife died from injuries and hardships received and endured at Haun's Mill, and during the Missouri persecution.

NATHAN KINSMAN KNIGHT.

HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY. 159

John D. Lee states that many of the wounded Mormons were thrown into the well, and that some who were taken out afterwards recovered ; but this is wholly untrue, although Lee says that his information was obtained from David Lewis, Tarleton Lewis, Isaac Laney and Wm. Laney; they were all Kentuckians, and were in the fight. Isaac Laney was shot seven times and had 13 ball holes in his person ; five shots were in his chest. After being thus frightfully wounded he ran 300 yards to a cabin, where a woman gave him shelter. She raised a loose plank or puncheon in the cabin floor and he crawled beneath the floor and then she replaced the plank. In two hours the militia had left, and Laney was taken out, anointed with oil and prayed over. He said the pain left him, and for two weeks he did not suffer at all. He then took cold and his wounded hip pained him, but another applica- tion of prayer relieved him. Lee says : " I heard Laney declare this to be a fact. I saw him four weeks after the massacre and examined his person."

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Author: Pease, Ora Merle Hawk, 1890- Publication date: 1886 Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company Number of Pages: 1260

Author: Pease, Ora Merle Hawk, 1890-
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1260