Civil War, as Realized in the Desolation of the Border Counties of Missouri, During the Operation of General Orders No. II.

To many readers of the IMPROVEMENT ERA, the fulfilment of a prophecy is not required to establish their faith. They have received the more excellent testimony of the Spirit, by which they have come to know the voice of inspiration, and that it cannot err. But to the youth and others who are incredulous of things prophetic, it is of interest and value to read the record of inspired words spoken by the Prophet of God, and of their historical fulfilment, as chronicled by those who are not his followers.

It was in November, 1833, when the mobocracy of Jackson county, Missouri, culminated in the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from their homes in that county. Scenes of utmost cruelty and inhumanity had marked the treatment of the Saints by the old time residents and their associates of the border ruffian order, from the time that the thrift of the "Mormon" people began to convert the country into beautiful homes and well-stocked and culti

vated farms. It was the avarice of cunning scoundrels, the envy of thriftless farmers, and the jealousy of poorly paid but hireling ministers of other faiths, combined with the demagoguery of run-down politicians, which formed the combination of thieving robbers and mobocrats bent on despoiling the Saints and stealing their property. This combination became successful when the power and authority of the state and local governments were at length perverted to the accomplishment of its devilish purposes.

The people were literally driven from their homes, wives and children separated from their husbands and fathers, their homes broken into and often burned. Legal remedies, taken at the instance of the governor, (in which the name of Doniphan first appears as one of the attorneys employed by the Saints,) were rendered abortive by the double-dealing rascality of official associates, with Lieutenant-Governor Boggs at their head. The war

fare was relentless, and the forced evacuation, without recourse or remedy, of the whole "Mormon" people was complete. They fled in peril of their lives, sacrificing homes and lands, and all their possessions, into the adjoining counties.

They were welcomed and treated kindly for a time in Clay county, where they remained until 1836. Then, for the sake of peace, and, it was claimed, to prevent civil war among their neighbors, and the possible re-enactment of the reign of terror that had been experienced in Jackson county, they removed westward, and located in Caldwell county, where they built up the town of Far West. They were prospered here, and in the counties of Daviess and Carroll, until the fall of 1838.

By this time, the spirit of relentless hatred of the mobocratic classes that had prevailed against the Saints in Jackson and Clay counties had worked upon the prejudices of all neighboring non"Mormon" communities, and had so dominated the officials of the state that the lives and liberties of the "Mormon" leaders and people were in constant jeopardy from attacks made upon them by lawless bands of renegades and ruffians, with whom were associated others having claims to respectability, but whose ignorance and prejudice made them little less dangerous.

The state militia was called out to quell the mob. It was commanded, in part, by men notoriously anti-"Mormon," but there

were some exceptions. In particular is the name of Colonel A. W. Doniphan, held in honored remembrance. He was in command of about five hundred men from Clay county, who had been ordered by the governor to operate with the commands under Generals Clark, Lucas and Wilson, ostensibly for the purpose of protecting the peaceable citizens, and dispelling the mob; really for the purpose of carrying out the infamous order of extermination, which the governor had already issued to General Clark, and in which he had used the words: "The 'Mormons' must be treated as public enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state." These troops, numbering over two thousand, approached Far West, and demanded the capitulation of the town upon the following conditions:

ished.

First-To give up all the Church leaders to be tried and pun

Second-To make an appropriation of their property, all who have taken up arms, to the payment of the debts, and indemnity for damage done by them.

Third-That the balance should leave the state, and be protected out by the militia, but to remain until further orders were received from the commander-in-chief.

Fourth--To give up their arms of every description, to be receipted for.

Colonel Hinkle, in command of the "Mormon" forces who were themselves a lawfully organized part of the state militia, betrayed the leaders of the Church, and, by a strategem, delivered them into the custody of General Lucas, accepting for his people the above terms of surrender, without consulting their leaders; and practically condemning the latter to prison, if not to death, and their followers to the confiscation of all their property, and themselves to exile from the state.

In briefly narrating these events, from the history of the Missouri persecutions, it is for the purpose of directing attention to an occasion when the valorous friendship of General Doniphan was fairly put to the test, and his love of fair play-of the principles of human liberty upon which our government is founded, and his courage in protesting against their abuse, were conspicuously displayed.