The following account found in Samuel Bannister Harding's 1904 book, Life of George R. Smith: Founder of Sedalia, MO., provides some interesting insights into views of the 1838 Mormon War from a Non-Mormon point of view.  It is informative, for example, to realize the sometime great distances county militias were called from to fight against the Latter-day Saints.  For the time it was written (1904), this account can also be considered a very balanced treatment in regards to the amount of blame assessed to the parties involved. 

Truly American in this respect, he [George R. Smith] was equally American in his disregard of his personal business consideration when higher issues were in question.  This trait he exemplified, on a small scale, in the miniature civil war which broke out in Missouri in 1838--the so-called "Mormon War," which resulted in the expulsion of the Mormon from the State.  Joseph Smith, the "Seer, Revelator, Translator and Prophet" of this faith, had settled with his followers, in 1831, in the western part of the State, near the town of Independence.  They had been driven thence, in a couple of years. And had then settled north of the Missouri river in Clay and Carroll counties; and from this region again they had been forced, and had settled in what became Caldwell county, where they built a town called Far West.  In this and adjoining counties they are said to have opened two thousand farms; and the most conservative estimate places their number in Caldwell county in 1838 at four thousand persons, the whole population of the county being not more than five thousand.  A thinly disguised hostility--founded in part, it was said, on the desire of some of the Gentiles to get possession of the Mormons' lands—continued to mark the relations of the two parties, until, in 1838, the attack of an armed mob (according to the Mormon's view) or of a sheriff's posse, in the execution of due process of the courts (according to the Gentile version), precipitated an armed conflict. 

Once begun, the conflict was made the occasion to expel the Mormons entirely from Missouri soil.  The militia was called out by Gov. Boggs; the Mormons resisted, and at first gained some slight successes.  Then a proclamation was issued calling for volunteers from central and western Missouri; and in the face of overwhelming numbers against them, the Mormons were obliged to surrender their arms, give up their leaders for trial, and withdraw from the State.

Blame for the outbreak of the struggle must be shared in fairly equal parts by Mormon and Gentile; But the tenets and practices of these "Latter Day Saints" were so obnoxious to the people of Missouri that, when the struggle was once began, a wave of enthusiasm for the war swept over the State.  In central Missouri the response to the call for volunteers was particularly marked.  In Pettis county a company of cavalry was raised, and in this Mr. Smith enrolled as a private, refusing any higher post.  The company twice marched to Carroll county[2] and back, and endured some hardships; it was not engaged in action, for the Mormon surrender took place the very day the Pettis county troop arrived in camp.  The company was kept under arms for a month, after which it was disbanded.  In order to be better prepared for future emergencies, Gov. Boggs reorganized the state militia; and George R. Smith was offered and accepted the position of Brigadier-General in command of the troops of Cooper, Benton, Pettis, and Saline counties.  This organization was largely due to the fear that the Mormons would not quietly abide by their agreement.  Though this fear proved groundless the militia organization was kept up for many years, meeting regularly on the "muster days," which not only served as occasions for drilling the troops, but as a means to facilitate social intercourse among the farmers of the sparsely settled county. (pages 59-60).