On September 16, 1845, Phineas Wilcox is stabbed to death by
fellow Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois, because he is believed to be a spy. The
murder of Wilcox reflected the serious and often violent conflict between the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the surrounding communities.
Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon Church in 1830, had been living with his
followers in Missouri, where they had various conflicts with locals, including
an armed skirmish with the state militia. In 1838, Governor Lilburn Boggs
signed a military order directing that the Mormons be expelled or exterminated:
"The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven
from the state, if necessary, for the public good." Smith and the Mormons
fled across the Mississippi to Nauvoo, Illinois, which quickly became the
second most populous town in the state, but there were conflicts and tensions
in Nauvoo as well. When a local newspaper printed editorials claiming that the
religious leader was a fraud, Smith sent a group of followers to destroy the
newspaper office. He was then arrested and sent to jail, where a lynch mob
tracked him down and killed him. Brigham Young, who quickly took over the
church, tried to stifle dissent and banished rivals. The killing of Phineas
Wilcox was part of his consolidation of power. Tensions with other communities
continued to escalate, and, a year later, over 2,000 armed anti-Mormons marched
on Nauvoo. Young decided that it no longer was wise to stay in the area. He led
his flock west and settled in the Salt Lake Valley, where he and his followers
would become instrumental in founding the state of Utah.
Michael Thomas Barry is a
columnist at www.crimemagazine.com
and the author of Murder
& Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California 1849-1949. The book
can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment