Lieutenant General Joseph Smith Addresses the Nauvoo Legion
Military Units
Caldwell County Militia
Danite
Lot Smith Cavalry Company
Mormon Battalion
Nauvoo Legion
Spartan Band
State of Deseret Territorial Militia
Utah Territorial Militia
Whistling and Whittling Brigade
Zion's Camp
Conflicts
1838 Mormon War
Battle at Fort Utah
Battle of Crooked River
Battle Creek massacre
William McBride Massacre (1851)
Morrisite War
Mormon War (Illinois)
Utah War
Wakara's War
Mountain Meadows Massacre
Black Hawk War (1865–1872)
Notable leaders
George M. Hinkle
Joseph Smith
Brigham Young
Sampson Avard
John C. Bennett
Daniel H. Wells
William H. Dame
Lot Smith
Related Topics
Expulsion of Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri
Missouri Executive Order 44
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The Danites were a fraternal organization founded by Latter Day Saint members in June 1838, in the town of Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri. During their period of organization in Missouri, the Danites operated as a vigilante group and took a central role in the events of the 1838 Mormon War. They remained an important part of Mormon and non-Mormon folklore, polemics, and propaganda for the remainder of the 19th century, waning in ideological prominence after Utah gained statehood. Notwithstanding public excommunications of Danite leaders by the Church and both public and private statements from Joseph Smith referring to the band as being both evil in nature and a "secret combination" (a term used in the Book of Mormon to signify corruption within a group of people such as gangs, organized crime, and politics, as well as used in general parlance to signify unlawful conspiracy), the nature and scope of the organization and the degree to which it was officially connected to the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) are not agreed between historians. Early in the group's existence, Joseph Smith appeared to endorse its actions, but later turned against it as violence increased and the actions of the Danites inspired a hysteria in Missouri that eventually led to the Extermination Order. According to an essay on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), "Historians generally concur that Joseph Smith approved of the Danites but that he probably was not briefed on all their plans and likely did not sanction the full range of their activities."[1]
In 1834, during the march of Zion's Camp, a military expedition from Kirtland, Ohio, to Clay County, Missouri, Joseph Smith organized the first Mormon militia known as the "Armies of Israel,", which pre-dated the Nauvoo Legion by eight years, to protect his community. Some historians have alleged this earlier militia to be the original formation of the Danite band. After the 1838 Missouri Mormon War, the term "Danite" was often connected with Latter Day Saint peacekeeping, including the Nauvoo, Illinois police, the bodyguards of Joseph Smith, and the "whistling and whittling brigades". Although some members of these later groups had been Danites in the Missouri period, leadership of the 1838 secret society, which came to be known as "Destroying Angels" in particular under group founder Sampson Avard, was not associated with leadership of the peace-keeping militias commonly referred to by the same name.
^"Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Danites were a fraternal organization founded by Latter Day Saint members in June 1838, in the town of Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri. During...
also reported the existence of the Danite group among the Mormons and repeated a popular rumor that a group of Danites was planning to attack and burn Richmond...
were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. The most celebrated Danite was Samson, a Danite judge from the period of settlement in the lands allotted by...
descended from these Danites. Some Beta Israel, however, assert that their Danite origins go back to the time of Moses, when some Danites parted from other...
may refer to: Nine Sons Of Dan, an Australian band from the Gold Coast Danite, a Mormon group This disambiguation page lists articles associated with...
of these rumors[which?] were centered around a group called the Danites. The Danites were a fraternal organization which was founded by a group of Latter-day...
The priestly service of Gershom's descendant Jonathan on behalf of the Danites was illegal, because, although he was a Levite, he was not of Aaron's family...
21:25; cf. Ruth 1:1) as in the following chart: Chapters 17–18 record a Danite founding narrative that gives insight into Israelite early religious lives...
Mormon War. Non-Mormon vigilantes raided and burned Mormon farms, while Danites and other Mormons pillaged non-Mormon towns. In the Battle of Crooked River...
steeped in kidnapping, murder and enslavement, he said: "all I said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot withdraw that, though it...
"provoked the animosity of the Mormon faithful" and that "all I said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot withdraw that though it is...
who lived outside the central hill country were tenuously identified as Danites, Asherites, Zebulunites, Issacharites, Naphtalites and Gadites. These inhabitants...
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Hickman was reputedly a member of the Danites. In April 1854, Hickman was asked by Young to go to Green River and establish...
1990 novel by Kwame Anthony Appiah Avenging Angel, a member of the Mormon Danite An early moniker for Warren Worthington III, an antihero in the Marvel Comics...
Orrin Porter Rockwell (June 28, 1813 or June 25, 1815 – June 9, 1878) was a figure of the Wild West period of American history. A lawman in the Utah Territory...
the Philistines". Manoah was an Israelite from Zorah, descended from the Danites, and his wife had been unable to conceive. The Angel of the Lord appears...
Treatment and Caged. In 1948, director Cecil B. DeMille cast her as Miriam, the Danite girl who loves Samson, in his film Samson and Delilah. In his autobiography...
Jones, Allen H. (1975). Bronze Age Civilization: The Philistines and the Danites. Public Affairs Press. pp. VI. ISBN 978-0-685-57333-4. Vogazianos, Stephanos...
Latter-day Saint farms and homes, the sacking and burning of Gallatin by the Danites, and the taking of Latter-day Saint hostages by Captain Samuel Bogart and...
one of the founders and leaders of the Mormon vigilantes known as the Danites, which existed in Missouri during the Missouri Mormon War in 1838. Sampson...
inciting a riot. Mormons have also been involved in acts of violence. The Danites, a vigilante group sanctioned by Mormon leaders, burned and looted Davies...
instruction to the Danites, a secret vigilante group. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Danite Manifesto The Danite Manifesto, a letter...
maintained power through a paramilitary organization called the Danites. The Danites were formed by a group of Mormons in Missouri in 1838. Most scholars...
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