A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri

This 1996 dissertation demonstrates that the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Missouri in 1838-1839 was “entirely unwarranted and illegal.” Analyzing the history of the seven military episodes of this conflict, especially in terms of the traditional roles of local militias in the United States, Alexander L. Baugh shows that Latter-day Saints as United States citizens “had every right to take up arms to defend themselves, particularly when local and state officials failed or refused t...