Mormon War ( Eng. Illinois Mormon War ) - clashes between Mormons and residents of Hancock County, Illinois , USA , (1844–1846).
| Mormon War in Illinois | |||
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| Main Conflict: Mormon War | |||
| date | 1844 - 1846 | ||
| A place | Illinois | ||
| Cause | The growing influence of Mormons on the local population of Illinois The assassination of Hyrum Smith and Joseph Smith | ||
| Total | US victory. Exile of Mormon in Utah. | ||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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Content
Reasons and background
At first, the local population warmly welcomed the Mormons, who founded a settlement in Nauvoo in 1839, but soon, frightened by the growing influence of the religious community, they became suspicious of them.
Reason
In June 1844, passions became heated, Mormons put the militias under arms, and local residents gathered a detachment of 1,500 people. Trying to save the situation, the Mormon leader Joseph Smith surrendered to the authorities, but on June 27 in the prison he and his brother Hyrum were killed by an angry mob.
The course of the war
State police struggled to contain the warring parties. In the fall of 1845, Mormons promised to leave Illinois next spring. They did not have time to get to the deadline, and in the autumn of 1846 an attack was committed on their village, several dozen people died. After Smith's death, Brigham Young became the new Mormon leader. Under his leadership, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left Illinois and began to relocate to the West. The clashes ceased only in mid-December, when all the Mormons went west along the so-called Mormon Trail .