James D. Hunt, in his 1844 book, Mormonism: Embracing the Origin, Rise, and Progress of the Sect, wrote the following in the introduction:
The Mormons now claim to number one hundred thousand in the United States
and Canadas, besides a vast number in Europe, and each successive season adds
its swarms of paupers to their church. They now number eighteen thousand at
Nauvoo; have the State arms in possession; have been in war and blood since
their organization, and now engaging in new difficulties with the citizens of Illinois.
Joe says he will be to the people of this generation what Mahommed was to the
people of his day, and that he will yet make it a gore of blood from Maine to the
Rocky Mountains. (James D. Hunt, Mormonism:
Embracing the Origin, Rise, and Progress of the Sect With an Examination of the
Book of Mormon; Also Their Troubles in Missouri, and Final Expulsion from the
State [St Louis: Ustick & Davies, 1844]. v)
The author got
this from the testimony of “George Walter” (sometimes referred to as George
Walton in some articles I have read) from November 1838, which he reproduced on
p. 217 of his book (I will quote from
the version found on The Joseph Smith Papers website):
George Walters, a witness produced, sworn, and examined for the
State deposeth & saith: Soon after the dissenters were driven away, from
Caldwell county, I was in Far-West in Correl [John Corrill]s store, <perhaps
the last of June last> & heard Jos Smith Jr say that he believed
Mahommet was an inspired man, and had done a great deal of good, & that he
intended to take the same <course> Mahommed did— that if the people would
let him alone he would after a while die a natural death, but if they did not.
he would make it one gore of blood from the rocky Mountains to <the>
State of Maine, . . .
Another “hostile
witness” the following from October 24, 1838:
I have heard the prophet say that he should yet tread down his
enemies, and walk over their dead bodies; that if he was not let alone he would
be a second Mahomet to this generation, and that he would make it one gore of
blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean; that like Mahomet,
whose motto, in treating for peace, was” the Alcoran or the Sword,” so should
it be eventually with us, “Joseph Smith or the Sword.” These last statements
were made during the last summer. (Affidavit
of Thomas B. Marsh, Richmond, Missouri, October 24, 1838, repr. Document
Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &C. in Relation to the Disturbances
with the Mormons; and the Evidence Given Before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge
of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Court-House in
Richmond, in a Criminal Court of Inquiry, Begun November 12, 1838, on the Trial
of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Others for High Treason and Other Crimes Against the
State [Fayette, Miss.: Boon’s Lick Democrat, 1841], 58-59; cf. David
Grua, “From
the Archives: Joseph Smith or the Sword!?,” The Juvenile Instructor,
November 17, 2007)
While more work
needs to be done on this, perhaps the references to “the Rocky Mountains” is
evidence, from hostile witnesses, that Joseph Smith did teach a potential move
of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains in the then-future.
Further
Reading:
