Gallatin, Daviess Co., Mo., September 16, 1888.
Editor Deseret News:
Leaving Far West, The Haun's Mill site, our next stop, was nearly twenty-two miles the way the roads now run, and there is no railway connection, we found it necessary yesterday to hire a team in Kingston, the county seat of Caldwell, and travel to the little village of Catawba, in Farview Township, where we put up for the night.
Early this morning we set out on foot going in a northerly direction toward Shoal Creek. After walking a mile and a half, we turned aside to the house of Mr. James G. Mackey, who proved to be a good-hearted old Kentuckian, for as soon as we had asked him to direct us to the old Haun's Mill site, he kindly volunteered to accompany us to the spot.
Says he: "Gentlemen, I belive in equal rights, I have been oppressed and imposed upon myself, and I know how it is, and I never did approve of the way your people were treated in this country." He took us through the woods and fields direct to the old mill-site, and where "Mormontown," as the Missourians called the now extinct town, was situated on the left bank or north side of Shoal Creek.
This stream is the largest in Caldwell County, and is about three rods wide where the mill stood. At present there is but a very little water in it, but judging from the high water marks everwhere visible on its banks, and the narrow strip of low-lands on the north side, we whould judge it capable of rising at least twenty feet during the rainy season. As a remnant of the old mill-dam there are still five large pieces of timber left in the middle of the creek.
On the south bank the mill-dam originally rested upon a solid ledge of rock, which, of course, is still there. The mill stood on the opposite bank.
We had no difficulty in crossing the creek dry-shod, and after doing so we began to search for the old well into which the bodies of nineteen of our bretren were thrown, after being cruelly murdered by the mob on the day of the massacre, Oct. 30, 1838. By the assistance of a neighbor we soon fund the place, which is designated by an old mill-stone, formerly belonging to Jacob Haun's mill.
This was placed there last fall by a Mr. Fuller, of Adair County, Mo., a son of Josiah Fuller, one of the brethren killed at the massacre. This Mr. Fuller came to hunt his father's resting place, being accompanied by Mr. Charles R. Ross, of Cowgill, Caldwell County, who assisted in burying the bodies, or at least in filling up the well, some time after the massacre took place. Mr. Ross knew where the place was, but in order to be sure he and Mr. Fuller dug down a few feet until they became satisfied that it was the right spot.
They then moved the old mill-stone, which had been lying for more than forty years near the old mill-site, and placed it edgewise on the memorable grave. We made a thorough survey of the premises and found the well to be just ninety-four yards northwest of the old mill-dam, and in the shade of four young elm trees, overgrown with wild grapevines. We also took particular notice of a high bank of yellow clay on the south side of the creek, immediately below the mill-site. Hence, if the few remaining timbers of the old dam should entirely disappear, this landmark could easily determine the exact location.
Mr. Mackey also showed us the spot where, at the time of the massacre, the old blacksmith shop stood, in which so many of our brethren wre butchered in the most merciless manner, and the place where Mr. Rogers literally cut to pieces Thomas McBride, the old Revolutionary soldier with a corn-cutter. Our guides also pointed out the direction from which the mob came, where they first opened fire as they approached the little settlement from the north, and where the defenceless women and children fled up the opposite bank of the stream. "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth."
The grounds on the north side of Shoal Creek where the settlement stood is now owned by Mr. John B. [Mc]Lallen, who lives about a quarter of a mile northwest from the mill-site. The only building standing on or near the old town site is a small frame house, once owned by the above named Charles R. Ross, of Cowgill.
The region around Shoal Creek, where Haun's Mill stood, is much heavier timbered than it was fifty years ago, and a fine grove of locust trees now covers the site of old "Mormontown." A resident of Kingston, who yesterday pointed out to us a number of farms once owned by the Saints, said, that in going through Caldwell County, he could always distinguish the old "Mormon" homesteads from all others. We asked him to describe to us the difference between "Mormon" farms and others. "Well," said he, "nearly every one of the Mormons planted locust trees around their buildings which was somethign the Missourians never thought of doing, and these have now grown and spread, until there are locust groves nearly on every farm wher the Mormons resides."
Nearly all who participated in the massacre are now dead, or have moved away, so that their whereabouts, if alive, are not known. Some of the murderers have died in disgrace and shame, haunted by their consciences until their last hours. Others have boasted of their dastardly deeds, until they have been smitten with sickness and misery, in the midst of which they would curse God and die.
The nortorious Col. Wm. O. Jennings, who commanded the mob at the massacre, was assassinated in Chilicothe, Livingston County, Mo., in the evening of Jan. 30, 1862, by an unknown person, who shot him on the street with a revolver or musket as the colonel was going home after dark. He died the next day in great agony. The shooting occured on Clahoun street, a little northwest of the present county jail in Chilicothe. Nehemiah comstock, another leader of the mob who committed the murders, expired years ago in Livingston county as a good-for-nothing drunkard. His mother was also a drunkard and died a pauper and in the midst of misery in a Kentucky poorhouse.
After offering our prayers by the rude tombstone on the ground of the massacre, and having made proper entries in our memoranda books, we left the fatal spot on Shoal Creek and traveled partly by team and partly on foot to Breckenridge, a fine little town in the northeast corner of Caldwell County. From there we took train to Chilicothe, Livingston County, and thence to Gallatin, Daviess County, where we arrived about sundown...
EDWARD STEVENSON,
ANDREW JENSON,
JOSEPH S. BLACK
[Collection of letters by Andrew Jenson and Edward Stevenson, Infancy of the Church (Salt Lake City, 1889), 17-19.] See also: Andrew Jenson, Autobiography of Andrew Jenson (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938);
Andrew Jenson, ed., The Historical Record, Vol. 6 (Salt Lake City, 1888), 83-84.
Vol. 7: 671.
Note: This account provides the most precise information currently available about the location of Haun's Mill and its burial well. Scholars continue to seek clues to confirm or disprove the locations herein described. While these descriptions appear precise, they have proven insufficient for current students to definitively identify the sites and relationships suggested.
Jenson, Stevenson and Black apparently also identified what they belived to be the locations of the Blacksmith Shop, the site of the assult of Thomas McBride, and the direction from which the community was besieged. In addition, they were clearly made acquainted with the location house of Charles R. Ross, who lived near the well. Unfortunately, to the loss of subsequent generations of scholars, the authors failed to impart descriptive or relational information about these sites.
While the travel narratives of these historians provide an invaluable historical record of great benefit to subsequent generations, some attitudes voiced in above recital, are not now recognized as reflective of advanced scholarly understandings. Jenson, Stevenson and Black adopt a polemical perspective that has negatively influenced the use of history by subsequent generations of followers of Joseph Smith, Jr. Indeed, the intolerance expressed by these authors toward "others," not of the Latter-day Saint faith, have tended to perpetuate misunderstandings that have hindered an acceptance of an authentic past by impacted communities and efforts toward a meaningful reconcilliation.
Concluding recitals of God's retribution against perceived antagonists may only be seen as justified if one chooses to believe in a God who in addition to being a Just God, is also a being of vengence and wrath.
The underlying events, that define Haun's Mill, represent a tragic episode in American Religious history. Viewed at its best of possibilities, it may be seen as "a testament to an enduring need for greater understanding and tolerance between peoples of differing ideologies, including religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds."
[Haun's Mill Stone Interpretive Marker, Breckenridge City Park, Caldwell County, Missouri.]
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