Mormonism: Haun's Mill Massacre

The Latter-day Saints were gathering to Missouri to establish Zion there in the 1830's.  The Missourians were uncomfortable about both the number of saints, and their beliefs.  There were some scuffles, and threats, but then the Missourians, driven to anger and blood lust by Satan, formed a mob and began to persecute the church with theft, beatings, and threats of murder.  In 1838, Governer Boggs gave the infamous extermination order that said that the "Mormons" should be exterminated or driven from the state.  Many Missourians saw this as an opportunity to murder the saints and get away with it. This became a turning point the the history of mormonism.
In Haun's Mill, where 75 families lived, they received word from the prophet Joseph Smith to head to Far West and to get away from Haun's Mill.  Before that however, those settling at Haun's Mill talked with the mob and made a truce with them. They did not heed the prophet's warning and decided to stay. 
Several days later however, (historians deduced that the mob did not know of the Governor's order of extermination but was purely coincidence) 240 men marched to Haun's Mill.  The leader of the community of Haun's Mill waved his hat and called for peace, while women and children ran into the woods and most of the men ran into the blacksmith shop when they saw the militia.  The militia attacked, receiving orders to give no quarter (take no prisoners) and they fired many shots between the log spaces in the shop.  The men in the militia enjoyed the killing, and brutally mutilated some of the bodies and took clothes from the deceased, robbed the homes, stole wagons and tents, drove off the animals and they abused the women and children.  Any saints who surrendered were shot.   Some of the militia entered the shop after filling it with bullets.  One of the men, William Reynolds, found a ten-year-old boy hiding under the bellows.  He put his musket against the boy's head, and blew it away.  He would later comment, "Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon." Another one of the militia named Jacob Rogers, who entered the shop found a seventy-eight year old man named Thomas McBride.  Thomas surrendered his musket to Jacob, who then shot Thomas and hacked his body apart with a knife.
The saints suffered many casualties.  The saints suffered 19 dead, and 10 wounded, while the militia only suffered three wounded.   Joseph Smith would later say, "Up to this day God had given me wisdom to save the people who took counsel. None had ever been killed who abode by my counsel." Then he recorded that innocent lives could have been saved at Haun's Mill had his counsel been followed.

Mormonism and Dating

In Mormonism,dating is important for all youth.  It helps relieve stress from individuals, helps them to be more social, and even creates friendships.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has policies and restrictions for dating.  For example; when your 16, you should only go on group dates.  The Church recommends that teens 18 and up should not date often because while on a mission, said missionary has a chance of thinking more about his/her "date," than the mission itself.
The Church strongly recommend that teens should not go on dates that takes them to a remote area, drive to a mountain, or even in their own home while no one is home, because teens that are alone with each other and are unsupervised have a greater chance of breaking the law of chastity.  Dates should happen with multiple people, and that they should go on a group activity, like bowling, an appropriate dance, or even just play games.  You don't have to spend a ton of money to make a group date fun and successful.  Avoid going on dates where you know the others are going to an inappropriate dance, places where there will be drugs and/or alcohol, and places that take the spirit away.  Another plus in group dating is there is safety in numbers.  The chances of being mugged, beaten, raped, or even killed drop dramatically when you go on group dates.  This doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't go on couple dates (dates with only two people of opposite genders).  It is all about timing.  You should go on couple dates when you come back from your mission, and for non-members to wait until you are a little older and more mature. 

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What was the Mormon Pioneer's Diet?

The Mormon Pioneer's diet was like any pioneers; their food had to last a long time, and most of it was either bland or salty.  The only exception was they didn't drink any alcohol, tea, or coffee.  Their main foods was hardtack, a well known food that uses only flour, water, and salt.  It makes a cracker or wafer that can last indefinitely and lives up to it's name.  Hardtack is really hard and brittle, some pioneers saying that it broke their teeth.  Another food is corn.  They had corn mush, cream of corn, dried corn, and cornbread.   They would also eat salted pork, which is different than smoked.  It stays white, it lasts a long time salted and is stored in barrels which is given the name, "the pork barrel."  It is similar to bacon, but it has not been cooked nor smoked.  They have to wash the pork a few times because it is to salty to eat at first.  They would also eat beans.   One famous cookware the saints (Mormon Pioneers) would use is the dutch oven.  Widely still used in the 21st century with campers, the dutch oven is a simple way to cook meals over a fire.  It is heavy, but it will last a good long time.
when the saints were low on food, they would have to resort to eating rawhide.  They would scrape any hair off, boil the hide in water, throw out water, and boil again until the hide turned into a jelly, then it would be eaten with a little sugar.
That isn't all the saints would eat.  They would take every advantage they had when they would come across a river, stream, spring, or any area with any food or water.  They would drink and fill up containers with water, they would hunt for any animals, they would fish when they had the chance, and they would search for any edible plants, including wild vegetables and berries.  There would be a chance though that someone would mistake a poisonous plant for an edible plant, and there were people in other pioneering treks that have died from eating poisonous plants. 


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