Mormon War

[onejayhawk]

My wife is ex several things: Mormon, Church of Christ, Catholic. I keep telling her there is no perfect church, but she keeps looking.

Her last calling in LDS was as Director of Family Preparedness, if that means anything to you. I literally have 200 candles in the house, 10 laterns, oil, gas, kerosene, a treadle sewing machine, water barrel, gas stove, . 600 pounds of kernal wheat, and 200 pounds of corn, plus three mills, 10-12 meat/sausage grinders, more than 500 jars of canned goods, an overflowing regular pantry and so on. Plus she has a room full of cookbooks and her own recipe site, www.triedandtruefeast.org.

Oh yes. No jello. She does aspic, with tomato juice and shredded cabbage. Yuck. Truth is that she is fond of Papa Johns pizza delivery.

J

 

[Vrylakas]

Andrewgprv alluded to this aspect but Mormonism went through a bizarre period in its early Utah years whereby it existed as a virtual police state, visiting extreme violence upon unheeding (or unpaying) members. I read an article somewhere claiming that the movement almost collapsed into a civil war over these theocratic police.

 

[onejayhawk]

This is true. Andrewgprv may know more than I do, but when he made allusions to Brigham Young being authoritarian, this is what he meant.

Originally posted by andrewgprv
Yes he was a genius. He also did not tolerate disent and ruled with an iron fist that is for sure, he shares much in common with many of the great leaders of history.

There was a group of men called the "Danites", appearantly from a passage in the book of Daniel, who were the muscle of the Army of Zion. The official church website would have us believe taht they were founded and disbanded in 1838. Whether this is factual or not, the leagend of the Danites, and the fear of reprisal persists today.

Also you will note that the map of the proposed state of Deseret is bordered on all sides by mountains, and has no access to the sea. This may have entirely military reasons behind it. The following is and excerpt of an article found here

However, once this violence [attacks on members of the church and their homesteads] had escalated beyond four attacks, the Mormon theocratic state took a militaristic turn. When the US Government refused to intervene on behalf of the embattled Mormons in Missouri, Joseph Smith organized Zion's Camp in Kirtland and led a group of armed men to Missouri to avenge the attacks on settlers there. While the effort was unsuccessful, it was a portent of things to come in Nauvoo. Mormons were becoming a militaristic church.

The next step in Mormon self defense was the organization of the Danites. These men were extremely loyal Mormons who organized themselves into groups of fifties and hundreds to protect the settlers from violence and exact retribution from the perpetrators. The Danites further escalated the tensions into the "Mormon War," until Mormon leaders eventually agreed to move their people to Illinois.

Once the Mormons moved to Nauvoo, the theocratic state became a very powerful entity, controlling the church and wielding power in the state as well. The theocracy in Nauvoo ran both religious, civil and military affairs. The Mormon army grew to a third the size of the United States Army, and Joseph Smith remained in charge of the entire apparatus. Garn LeBaron Jr.

After the move to Utah, Brigham Young had no rivals to his authority over every aspect of life. With a regimented society going back to the move from Missori to Illinois, his power became nearly total. This endured for the balance of his life, and only after his death were major changes contemplated, largely because of the debt he amassed.

J

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Interesting stuff - I've never read of these before.

 

[onejayhawk]

I must admit that having a private citizen in charge of a military 1/3 the size of the US Army was news to me also. All concentrated in one state as well.

J

PS to those who have lived abroad, what is the perception of Mormonism. Is it considered a seperate religion, a splinter of Christianity, or something else?

 

[Esckey]

I consider it separate of all the rest. There is something very different about them. It's like they celebrate Jesus's life while the others mourn and sulk over it.


Anyways, this is incredibly interesting! I've never heard of 3/4 of this stuff and I consider(well use to at least) to be a history buff. The only stuff I know about was the persicution while in the lower states. Wonder how many of my mormon friends actually know about this.

 

[onejayhawk]

Originally posted by Esckey
Anyways, this is incredibly interesting! I've never heard of 3/4 of this stuff and I consider(well use to at least) to be a history buff. The only stuff I know about was the persicution while in the lower states. Wonder how many of my mormon friends actually know about this.

Interestingly enough the LDS church almost goes out of its way to bury much of this. Too combative I suppose. The church has always seemed to know which side of the bread was buttered.

BTW I was not kidding about their scripture getting shorter. I have a recent copy of the Book of Mormon and one from the 1950's. My wife compares them more than I do, but she tells me things are missing in the new one. As to why this is so, I cannot say. suffice to say it is observed.

J