Yes. It must be terrible when the governor of a state issues an order for you to be exterminated ...
Before you beat that drum too loudly, you should consider the following facts:
If the people [of Missouri] come on us to molest us, we will establish our religion by the sword. We will trample down our enemies and make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Quran or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us – Joseph Smith or the Sword – October 14, 1838 - History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 167.
- The Extermination Order came in direct response to Joseph Smith's declaration of a Jihad against the citizens of Missouri, and the subsequent slaughter of four Missouri guardsmen (and the mutilation of their corpses) at the Crooked River Battle on October 15, 1838.
... 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 operations 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. - Missouri Executive Order 44, the Extermination Order, issued by Missouri Governor Liburn W. Boggs on October 27, 1838
- There were additional reasons for the Extermination Order. Following the Saints surrender at Far West on October 31, 1838, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt (Mitt Romney's great-great grandfather) and other Mormon leaders were charged with treason, murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, and perjury and ordered held without bail. These charges were based on solid evidence.
- In 1838, the word exterminated also meant expelled. This definition is clearly laid out in the text of the order and is, in fact, exactly what transpired - there was no Mormon genocide; the Saints merely migrated to another location (Illinois).
- On May 6, 1842, Governor Boggs was almost killed in an assassination attempt. He was shot in the back by Porter Rockwell (who later confessed to the crime) after Smith prophesied Boggs' death and offered a $500 reward for causing the prophecy to come true.