Background History-
After expulsion from Jackson County, MO, the Saints had moved up slightly north to Ray County, where tension again began to build. Ray County had been split into three counties-Ray, Caldwell, and Daviess, with the understanding that the Mormons settlements would be in Caldwell and the non-Mormons in Ray, but settlement in Daviess were unsettled. Increases in the Mormon population of County increased the fear of non-Mormon settlers that they would lose political power. At an election at Gallatin, the Daviess count seat, the non-Mormon settlers tried to stop the Mormons from voting. A fight broke out but no one was killed. However, rumors of people being killed were passed along by both sides and both sides took up arms. After a series of attacks by vigilantes groups aimed at driving the Mormons out Daviess county, the Mormons of Caldwell county and Daviess county undertook a series of raids on non-Mormons settlements in Daviess county to drive out their attackers and recoup their losses in animals. This caused the militias of surrounding counties to be called out. At the battle of Crooked River (in Ray County), the group of armed Mormons skirmished with what they thought were a band of vigilantes but turned out to be the Richmond county militia. Three Mormons were killed and one Missourian. This battle was considered treason because the Mormons had attack a state militia. Although Joseph Smith did not lead the military group involved in the battle, by virtue of being the Mormon leader he was considered to have authorized the attack. Governor Boggs issued his infamous extermination order and the Mormon settlement at Haun’s Mill was massacred. The militias surrounded Far West and laid siege. Outnumbered and knowing that all citizens would be massacred if the militias were allowed to attack, Joseph surrendered himself. He and Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley Pratt, Amasa Lyman, Hyrum Smith and George Robinson were taken first to Independence (Jackson Co. seat), then to Richmond (Richmond Co. seat which actually had jurisdiction) and then because of overcrowding to Liberty (Clay Co.) seat. They remained in jail for more than four months awaiting trail before they were transferred. The jail was miserably cold, the food rotten and sickening, and the suffering intense. During their transfer, they were allowed to escape and made their way to Nauvoo where the Saints had sought refugee.
Log-
We reached the visitor center by about 7 pm. Liberty is now pretty much a typical modern bedroom community with the usual assortment of freeway fungus type stores and restaurants. The historic Liberty Jail site is in the older section of the town and has a typical looking Mormon visitor center. Nothing but the floor of the jail is still extant. The jail apparently began to fall apart by the 1850s and the foundation was eventually usd as the starting point for a wealthy person home. This was eventually bought by the LDS Church to serve as a home for local missionaries and then eventually this home torn down and a replica of the original jail built on the original floor/foundation. A viewing rotunda surrounds the replica, which is cut away on the back side so that the interior can be viewed.
Our tour guide was a young sister missionary. She was fairly new and unfortunately probably didn’t have a complete grasp of the history. But she was sweet and attentive to the kids. As part of the presentation, the lights were dimmed and there was some narration which scared ME, so AM had to take her out. Our guide read to us passages from Section 121 and 122, perhaps some of the most eloquent passages in the Doctrine and Covenants.
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