Mormon Pioneers

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Between 1847 and 1869, more than 70,000 Saints made the trip across 1,300 miles of trail to Salt Lake City, Utah. Doing so would hopefully give them a place where they could worship freely. Making the journey was taking a stand. Taking a stand means taking a risk for something one believes in. The LDS pioneers took a stand in history when they went west, creating a city where they could worship freely. The early church started off small, but steadily grew in numbers. The church started on April 6, 1830 (LDS). There were only six members at the very first meeting. They started off very small in Palmyra, New York. More than 100 people joined between 1830-1831 (LDS). They grew very quickly in numbers. In 1831, they began to gather in Kirtland, …show more content…

An extermination order was issued in late 1838 (Slaughter 12). It was signed on October 27, 1838 by Liburn W. Boggs (Whitman). The order said that the people would need to be driven from state or exterminated (Whitman). The Missourians wanted the LDS people out of the state. The order reached General Lucas on October 31, 1838 (Whitman). He would be in charge of exterminating them. The order said, “the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from state, if necessary, for the public good.” (Slaughter 12). They ended up being forcefully removed during the winter and spring of 1838-1839 (Whitman). After that, they began to gather in Commerce, Illinois, and renamed it Nauvoo (Slaughter 15). Nauvoo would hopefully be a safer place for them to …show more content…

The attack was on October 30, 1838 (Blair). At the time there was 30 or 40 families living there, so it was not very big (Blair). In the late afternoon, a band of 200-250 men rode into the settlement (Blair). The women and children ran across a stream into the woods to hide, while the men and some boys went into the blacksmith’s shop (Blair). The men from the militia would fire through the large gaps in between the logs the blacksmith’s shop was built of (Blair). They ended up killing everyone inside. In the end, there were 17 Saints killed and 13 wounded (Blair; Slaughter 12). It was an extremely brutal attack. Brigham Young was extremely influential in the pioneers going west. He joined the church in 1832, in the church’s early years (History). He was called to be an apostle in 1835 (History). Brigham was asked to go on a mission to Great Britain during 1840-1841 (History). He continued to remain an apostle until 1844, and after Joseph Smith was murdered, he was chosen as the growing church’s new leader (History). He took charge of the church from then

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