In November 1833, ruthless mobs of local settlers drove over a thousand church members out of Jackson County, Missouri, plundering their property and burning their homes to dissuade them from ever returning.

These battered and scattered saints took refuge that winter in various nearby counties,

while local church leaders sent desperate letters to Ohio to seek the counsel of the prophet Joseph Smith.

As the prophet petitioned the Lord's guidance on the matter, he was told, among other things,

to have those scattered Saints petitioned

government leaders for help, which they did. In fact, Missouri Governor Daniel Dunklin

was quite sympathetic to the Saints' plight and expressed his willingness to provide a military

guard to escort the Saints back to their lands and property in Jackson County. The only

problem, he said, was that

he could not authorize a standing army to be stationed there for the ongoing protection of the

Saints. This essential piece of news would soon factor heavily into the decision of Joseph

Smith and over 200 saints from the east to march nearly a thousand miles to Missouri in

what would become known as

Zion's Camp.

Their aim was to join the governor's military escort of the Saints into Jackson County,

and then become that standing army who would ensure the resettlement and safety of their

scattered friends once Governor Dunclan's troops withdrew.

In this episode of Church History Matters, we dig into some of the ins and outs of Zion's

camp and discuss what the march of a quasi-military group of Latter-day Saints led by a prophet of God

might teach us about peace and violence among Latter-day Saints.

I'm Scott Woodward, and my co-host is Casey Griffiths, today, Casey and I dive into our third episode in this series on peace and violence in

Latter-day Saint History.

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