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Many people, both members and nonmembers of our church, are unaware of the tragedy known as the Hawn’s Mill Massacre.  On the afternoon of October 30, 1838 a mob consisting of more than 200 men descended upon Jacob Hawn’s small settlement. Many of the Saints ran into the blacksmith shop where members of the mob placed their rifles in the cracks between the logs and opened fire while women and children fled across the stream and into the woods for safety.  

Two days prior to this horrific scene, Missouri Governor Boggs declared an “Extermination Order” for all Mormons if they failed to leave the state.  Tensions were high and Joseph Smith called all the members to gather in Far West for safety.  Word was sent with Jacob Hawn (not a member of our church) to tell the residents living at the Hawn’s Mill settlement but he did not perceive the threat of violence to be valid and failed to inform his Mormon residents.

The Hawn’s Mill Massacre is one of the saddest chapters of LDS history.  17 Mormons were brutally murdered at the hands of an angry mob.  Among the casualties is that of my fifth great grandmother’s family, the family of Amanda Barnes Smith.  The mob killed her husband Warren and her son Sardis, and had shot her son Alma in the hip.  Warren and Sardis succumbed to their casualties.  Willard, Amanda’s eleven-year-old son, left an amazing record, years later, where he stated that he was able to aid others in their escape, during the gunfire. He was the first to return to the scene where he searched and found his dead father and two little brothers. Amanda recorded in her journal, “The two boys were mine. One of them had his brains all shot out, and the other his hip all shot to pieces. Realize for a moment, my dear readers, nothing but horror and distress.”

Most of the dead were buried in an open well at Hawn’s Mill and although no other markings declare it’s prominence, it is still hallowed ground where much bloodshed and brutality occurred.    There is a special and quiet reverence found in this secluded area of Missouri.  We were so blessed to be there and to feel of the spirits of those laid to rest there.