The Mormon Wars

Abstract This chapter examines the violent conflicts between the Latter-day Saints and their neighbors from the 1830s to the 1850s, beginning with the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri that culminated in the Hawn’s Mill massacre and the expulsion of Mormons from the state. It traces the origins of hostility to tensions over religion, race, and politics as Joseph Smith’s followers settled in Missouri, showing how fears of political domination, abolitionism, cultural difference, and state complicity dro