Legal Events

September 18, 1838

Joseph Smith was at home with an illness when Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued orders to General David R. Atchison of the state militia to march into Daviess and Caldwell Counties in Missouri and assist in the apprehension of certain Church leaders.

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September 26, 1838

A committee of the Church related to Joseph Smith that it had entered into an agreement with a mob to purchase the lands of all non-Mormon citizens wishing to leave Daviess County.

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October 6, 1838

Joseph Smith arrived in De Witt and found the Saints surrounded by an armed mob.

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October 9, 1838

An armed mob held the Saints in De Witt under siege for a period of days, during which time Joseph Smith saw several brethren die from starvation.

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October 15, 1838

Halsted, Haines and Co. v. Granger: William H. Halsted and others requested a writ of summons against Jared Carter and others to appear at the Geauga Court of Common Pleas to answer an assumpsit plea of Halsted, Haines, and Co.

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October 15, 1838

Joseph Smith traveled to Adam-ondi-Ahman with a militia company of about 100 men under the command of Colonel George M. Hinckle to protect the Saints from the Daviess County mob.

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October 25, 1838

At the Battle of Crooked River, David W. Patten received a fatal gunshot wound. Joseph Smith attended to him as he was dying.

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About October 27, 1838

Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued an extermination order concerning the Saints: "The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state."