A recent letter to the editor of the Warsaw Signal used the inflammatory term “extermination” in proposing a solution to the Mormon problem. The writer claimed that the expulsion of dissenters and others from Nauvoo by the whistling and whittling companies justified the expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois: “If it is right for the Mormons to drive men from their peaceable homes, in the city of Nauvoo, and to wage an exterminating war on the gentiles there, is it not lawful for any old citizen to kill any Mormon when ever an opportunity presents? The right that the Mormons can drive a man from Nauvoo, implies the right to exterminate any old citizen in Hancock county. This matter can only be settled in one way, and that is, the Mormons must leave or be driven. They have commenced the work of extermination, and the consequences must fall on their own heads.” (Nauvoo, IL, 24 Mar. 1845, Letter to the Editor, Warsaw [IL] Signal, 2 Apr. 1845, [2], italics in original.)

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

The night that Morley arrived in Nauvoo with news that Amos Cox, Joseph Huff, Abraham Losee, and Warren Snow had been arrested, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other church leaders “met together to pray and ask God to thwart the plans of the mob and deliver the brethren out of their hands.” (Clayton, Journal, 14 Feb. 1845.)

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.