A nation called Deseret

The History of the Latter-Day Saint Movement

The Kirtland Safety Society (KSS) was a quasi-bank organized in 1836 by the leaders and followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was intended to serve the banking needs of the growing Mormon community in Kirtland, Ohio. However, to their misfortune, the Panic of 1837 hit the nation. Nearly four-hundred banks had to close. Smaller, privately held financial institutions, like the KSS, failed in droves. The Kirtland Safety Society fell horribly, with vigorous repercussions. A five-year depression followed throughout the United States.

This had a profound effect on the growing Mormon Church. It weakened the people's trust in their prophet, and caused many dissensions. Former follower's blamed Joseph Smith for the depression and the soaring unemployment trend. Some of the founding members and leaders of the Church became disillusioned and left the Church, including Warren Parish and Martin Harris, who would drag many with them. Heber C. Kimball later recalled that "not twenty persons on earth" remained faithful to Smith after the disaster. Later, Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon would be chased out of Kirtland, to relocate in Clay County and Far West, to join with the members there and rebuild the Church of the Latter-Day Saints.

However, the Church leaders had been through a difficult and exhausting process to create the Kirtland Safety Society. The Ohio legislature hindered every move by the Mormon church to attain a bank charter.

The KSS was a blunder from the start. It only focused attention on the Mormons, earning them public scorn throughout Ohio and Kirtland, and did little to help any of them economically. Many higher-ups jailed and fined Smith and Rigdon for their 'illegal' bank, though larger quasi-banks were very prominent throughout Ohio and the surrounding areas.

So...

What if Joseph Smith did not feel so enthusiastic about the Kirtland Safety Society?

Joseph Smith Jr. was a prophet, and like all such individuals falling into the category, was severely influenced by hunches and inspirations.

Sydney Rigdon and Orson Hyde would still try to request a bank charter, and Joseph Smith would go along with their idea at first. However, feeling a little uneasy after the difficulties they would suffer from the Ohio legislature, Joseph Smith would ask the two to call off the project.

The year continues very much the same. The Church's money problems are still present, but there isn't a bank to muddle the situation.

In 1837, the National Bank Crisis hits the country, and the depression followed. Many members lost their jobs during the record unemployment bout, and poverity spread. In the end, many still became disillusioned of Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church.

The Prophet would call his Church together many times, preaching that only harmony with one another would bring about the end of the depression. Efforts were made to provide jobs, and the Mormon church dispersed to new areas to find prosperity. There was no quick fix, however. Nearly half of the Church in Kirtland would leave during those troubled times, especially during 1838-1839.

June, 1938
When in one month, nearly one hundred members leave the Church, with some publically announcing their disappointment with the Church, non-Mormon vigilantes believe their chance has come. In the troubled times, many had become opposed to the Mormons, blaming members for stealing jobs throughout Kirtland. Violence hits the city, and twenty-four members are lynched, to add to the month.

Joseph Smith calls the membership to relocate to Caldwell County, in Far West, where another host of Mormons had grown in considerable influence. The Prophet would announce that the Second Coming was close at hand, and set up many policies binding the Church and the state. He announced his intention to set up the city of Far West as the new Church headquarters.

August - More than a thousand Mormon members make it through the trek to Far West in the First March to the West. The more apathetic and unfaithful members would remain in Kirtland.

A group of zealous Mormons begin to meet together in Far West under the leadership of Sampson Avard, Jared Carter, and George W. Robinson to discuss the problem of the dissenters. The group organized under the name "The Daughters of Zion," but they would soon became known as the "Sons of Dan," after the warrior tribe of Israel, or the "Danites."

September - Leadership conflicts with David Whitmer come to a stand-off. David wants to continue to preside over the Church in Missouri. When they are also charged with multiple crimes for keeping Church funds for themselves, Whitmer and his followers (including notable W. W. Phelps) are excommunicated, and leave for Richmond, Missouri.

Democrat Judge Josiah Morin

October - The Church engages in colonialism in neighboring counties, which had not been done under the Whitmerites. Smith founds the settlements Adam-ondi-Ahman and DeWitt in nearby counties.

Danites hunt down and threaten dissenters, eager to move them from Mormon lands. Many flee to Richmond and Liberty, Missouri.

Oliver Cowdery, Second Elder of the Church, is excommunicated after he requests resignation.

November - Joseph Smith renames the Mormon Church to the 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints '.

December - The Prophet initiates the 'Law of Tithing', encouraging members to give a tenth of all of their produce and profit to the Church.

1839
January - W. W. Phelps is rebaptized into the Church after Joseph Smith affirms his repentance. However, having lost his standing, he will become a missionary for a few years.

February - Anti-Mormon mobs begin to gather in nearby counties. Mormon settlement has been extremely rapid, and many are feeling choked by their presence. New jobs are made with the greater population, but many more jobs are taken. Presiding in the county seat is Colonel Peniston, an avid anti-Mormon. Though he has not taken a vigorous stance, his attitude and notable snide comments have begun to galvanize the public against the Mormon wave.

Good news for the Mormons, is that the expansion into neighboring counties has provided a good bout of conversion.

March – Anti-Mormon mob converges on the house of David Brown, a Danite, who had been stirring up Millsport by quoting passages of the Book of Mormon in a beer hall. His walls are shot up, including his horse, and a stack of hay torched, but there are no casualties. Word quickly passes to the Danites. Sydney Rigdon converges on this topic in his Resistance Sermon, preaching that the Mormons will not continue to endure these tragedies.

The Missourian Mormon War
April – A council in Carroll County is called to decide on the Mormon question, with many Mormon settlers inside of the county already. Everyone votes in favor of forceful retaliation. An envoy is sent to tell the Mormons to leave. Many do not hear the message.

When they do not witness a mass exodus, Vigilante mobs form throughout Carroll County, attacking Mormon homes, and converging on the prospering settlement of DeWitt. Stables and houses are torched, and people killed.

June – Vigilantes encircle DeWitt, encamp outside, and continue a siege. Mormons, especially Danites, lead raids into the forests, killing many of the vigilantes.

July – After many structures are burned to the ground, Mormon leaders call for members to leave the settlement of DeWitt, beginning a major exodus back to Caldwell County.

August – Colonel Dunn leads militia against the Mormons in Daviess County.

After this organized assault on the Mormons, Colonel Hinkle takes up arms and with backing from the Mormon leaders and the Danites, begins to engage in vigilante activities. Marching in four groups, they would capture Millsport, Gallatin, Grindstone Fork of Daviess County, and force Colonel Dunn to retreat. Missourian families, vastly outnumbered, fled as best as they could in the cold to other counties. The Mormons plundered and guttered each settlement, and in the capital of Gallatin, not one building was left in a functional state, either burnt down or pillaged entirely.

As a marching, de facto militia, the Mormons would recapture DeWitt from the vigilantes. But they would not stop there. In the grips of the Danites, the Mormons would move to Richmond, engaging local dissident Mormons and pushing them out, plundering the city, and then begin a systematic razing of the city, complete with torching. News of this horrendous act known as the Burning of Richmond would travel quickly throughout Missouri. The same treatment would be given to Liberty, though many more buildings would survive intact.

The Mormons under the Danites had begun a reign of revenge and terror in the region. Even so, many feared retribution, gathering in strong points such as Adam-ondi-Ahman and DeWitt and beginning fortifications.

August 24 - 27 – Colonel Samuel Bogart leads a militia into an undefended area of Caldwell County, attacking unarmed Mormons and burning homes to the ground. Church leaders call for retribution from the ‘vigilante mobs’ and a force is quickly sent to challenge them. The Mormons capture the militia group unaware, killing more than half, delivering a fatal shot to Bogart, and taking the rest to a prison in Far West.

September 2 – After hearing reports of the capture of Bogart’s militia, Generals Atchison, Doniphon and Parks decided they needed to call out the militia to prevent further violence. Missouri’s governor, Lilburn Boggs, however, feared the worse and issued an Extermination Order, making it legal for any citizen of Missouri to kill, steal from, or rape a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

September 6 – Colonel Jennings of northern Livington County assembles 275 militiamen to strike back at the Mormons. Moving into eastern Caldwell County, unprotected, they assemble to attack Haun’s Mill. The soldiers opened fire for a surprise attack, sending the 80 Mormon families there fleeing for the hills. Women and children attempted to make it into the woods, while the boys and men set up to defend the settlement. Though they managed to kill seven of the militiamen, they were all eventually shot down in the end. In all, 39 Mormons were killed in what would become the Haun’s Mill Massacre, in addition to the 7 militia.

News would soon reach Far West, where an enraged populace would begin to assemble a militia for revenge. However, the Mormons were now clearly on the defensive.

***

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_War#The_Gallatin_Election_Day_Battle

Sorry for cutting you guys off at the last moment there, but I've really got to get some shut-eye.

Look forward for more!

Can you say crusade? the Mexican government isn't going to like protestant heretics and the US won't be happy about the Desereti practice of polygamy.

Yeah, the Mormons were a prosecuted lot... But, hey, just watch as things unravel. It'll work out.

It'll be interesting to see how the loss of the so-called Mormon Battalion will effect the structure of Kearny's forces during the Mexican-American War. Plus, without the Battalion working to forge the Santa Fe trail, mostly as a discaplinary action, gold rush era immigration patterns could shift to follow just the more difficult California trail.

I await the rest of this TL.

Aaron

1839 (continued)
September 9 – 13 - An army of 200 Mormons is assembled in Far West, and under David Patten, move out towards the Haun’s Mill area. However, Colonel Jennings was nowhere to be found. After a few days of searching, however, the brigade’s camp was found, further west. When reports give evidence of a greater host of militia than first supposed, the Mormons decided that only a quick raid would suffice. Firing their guns from the cover of the forest, the Mormons were able to kill 17 men before Patten would order their retreat. Only two Mormons would die from the returned gunshot wounds.

September 21 - Major General Samuel D. Lucas marches the state militia to Far West to begin the siege of the Mormon headquarters. Once again, inexperienced Mormon militia are unable to prevent the entry of the anti-Mormons in their heartland.

September 22 – Joseph Smith requests Colonel Hinkle to seek terms with Major General Lucas, asking for a treaty on any terms except for bloodshed. Many Mormons, especially Danites, still continued fighting. In Adam-ondi-Ahman, soldiers were assembled to attempt to reinforce Far West. However, they were set about by vigilantes as well, and no salvation was to be found.

September 23 - 24 – Lucas demanded harsh terms for peace. The Latter-day Saints were to give up their leaders for trial and to surrender all of their arms. Every Mormon who had taken up arms was to sell his property to pay for the damages to Missourian property and for the muster of the state militia. Finally, the Mormons and the entire Church were to leave the state.

When Smith was told that the Mormons would be expected to leave the state, the prophet replied that "he did not care" and that he would be glad to get out of the "damnable state" anyway. Smith and the other leaders rode with Hinkle back to the Missouri militia encampment. The militia promptly arrested Smith and the other leaders. Smith and the other leaders were held at Lucas’ camp overnight, and would be imprisoned in Liberty jail for several months ahead.

October – December – The Latter-day Saints sell all of their lands to the determined Missourians for near nothing in return, and make another trek to Quincy, Illinois, where the kind townspeople offer them food and shelter for the winter.

In other news
The novel by Etienne Cabet, “Travel and Adventures of Lord William Carisdall in Icaria”, is published, a year earlier than in OTL. It would be quite a bit more popular than originally.

In June, while in Houston, former President of Texas Sam Houston contracts yellow fever. Sam dies later that month. His peaceful, pro-American faction holds a huge celebration in Austin (vacating Houston because of the yellow fever going through the city) in which many Texans join in to celebrate their fair leader. Meanwhile, current President Lamar and his nationalist party is quietly enjoying this great blow against his opponent’s party.

1840
The Church, regrouping in Quincy, Missouri, is confronted by land agent Isaac Galland, who offers to sell them land in Hancock County, Illinois, which would include the near-abandoned town of Commerce, as well as land in Lee County in Iowa Territory. Church leaders buy the land immediately and begin in the spring of 1840 to settle the land with the Latter-Day Saints.

Israel Barlow, an enthusiastic member of the Church, was credited within the first month of the settling of Hancock County of telling others of a dream of ‘death lurking in the swamps’. He would lead a team to purchase equipment to drain the swamp within the next month, though he would die of malaria a week before the deadly, disease-bearing mosquitoes in the swamps could be purged. It would end up saving many lives from possible cholera, malaria, and typhoid epidemics.

April – Weak from months of mistreatment, Smith and the other prominent Church leaders held at Liberty jail are allowed to escape, and make their way back to the Church in Hancock County. Joseph Smith names the city “Nauvoo”, meaning “to be beautiful”, referenced in the book of Isaiah.

Construction would begin promptly. Joseph Smith would develop a ‘Plat of Zion’ for the city, involving a generally orderly grid system with ample room for gardens, orchards, and grazing plots.

May – John C. Bennett, the Quarter Master General of the Illinois State Militia, joins the Church. With his experience, the Church is able to craft a city charter for Nauvoo. The document would give the city a number of important powers, including the establishment of municipal court, a university, and an independent militia unit.

The Illinois state government, at that time, was equally balanced between Democrats and Whigs. Both parties were eager to attract Mormon votes and passed the city charter, naming John Bennett as the city’s mayor.

The city grew quickly as Mormons flooded the area. Many were immigrants from England, the result of a successful mission there. Before long, the City of Joseph would become home to more citizens than Quincy’s or Springfield’s.

In other news
January - The Republic of the Rio Grande is organized with the states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.

February – Learning that Mexican General Mariano Arista was organizing an army to attack the Republic, General Rosillo arrives in Austin, Texas, meeting with President Lamar to ask for aid. General Rosillo rashly agreed to forcing the Republic to make no claims passed the Rio Grande, in order to gain a few small Texan regiments and weapons.

March - The local Congress approves a declaration of independence of Yucatán, to form the Republic of Yucatan. Representatives from the Santa Anna administration settle the situation peacefully with a treaty.

April – Mexican General Arista meets the Rio Grande Republicans in the Battle of Morales. General Rosillo is able to wage a deadlock in the battle, but after coming close to turning the tide, is forced to retreat.

May – General Rosillo arrives in San Antonio, Texas, looking for Texan volunteers to assist in the Republic’s survival.

July – The army of the Republic of the Rio Grande crosses the river and captures Ciuadad Victoria, the capital Tamaulipas, without resistance. His army is nearly a thousand strong with Texan volunteers.

September – General Rosillo bashes the Mexican army at San Luis Potosi, yet flees before victory is won, heading towards Saltillo, Coahuila. Both sides suffer considerable casualties.

December – General Rosillo of the Rio Grande Republic and Mexican General Arista discuss the war at a meeting. Arista tries to tempt Rosillo into defecting and abandoning the cause of the Rio Grande Republic, with an offer of a high military rank in his army. The General declines and returns to his men, only to find many Texans have deserted.

The 1840 presidential election for the United States of America results in a clear win for President William "Tippecanoe" Harrison and Tyler over Democratic candidate Martin Van Buren.

1841

February – Mexican forces attack Saltillo, in the dissident Republic of the Rio Grande, where General Rosillo is unable to beat them back. The Army of the Rio Grande, a good part Texan, is mauled pretty badly and forced to retreat. The Texan regiments decide the leave for home, during the night. Rosillo decides not to try and get Texan volunteers any more.

March 4th – Martin Van Buren, President of the United States, is succeeded by William Henry Harrison. During his inaugural address, he is saved from the cold and windy day when one of his aides gives him an overcoat. He would never catch a cold or pneumonia.

March 5th – The Nauvoo Legion, a militia unit of the City of Joseph, drills in a great parade to honor the laying of the cornerstone of the new temple, Sydney Rigdon gives the dedicatory speech.

April 20th – Through the designs of Texan President Lamar, a large caravan departed for Sante Fe, New Mexico, to try and fortify their claim to their borders by raising the 80,000 New Mexicans into a revolution against the Mexican Governor Manuel Armijo. It would include a military escort of 390 men, and a civilian component of sixty-one persons.

May – General Rosillo of the Republic of the Rio Grande launches an attack at Saltillo against the Mexican forces occupying the city. However, it is an ambush, and Rosillo is captured, sounding the trumpet of the demise of the Republic of the Rio Grande.

May 9th – The House and Senate of Texas pass a bill, allowing the Franco-Texienne Company bring in 8,000 families and build twenty forts from the Red River and the Rio Grande. The settlers would be exempted from all taxes and tariffs for twenty years. The company would receive three million acres of land. This would significantly aid ties with France, and would develop the area economically and militarily at a moderately low coast.

June – The first Masonic Lodge is erected in Nauvoo.

June 28 – The Texan Sante Fe expedition reaches the capital of New Mexico, but not before clashing with Armijo’s forces at the outskirts. With Armijo’s men rushing to defend the city from the 390 soldiers who decided to fight instead of surrender, some of the citizenry decide to rise up. A vigilante band in particular storms an outpost, taking twenty Mexican soldiers hostage, and claiming their right as Texans. The Battle of Sante Fe eventually has Governor Armijo surrendering to the Texans and the citizenry who rises up against his small forces. The casualties are horrible, though, for the expedition, with more than half of the military escort dead.

After a lax few days of planning and celebration, messengers are sent throughout New Mexico’s Texan areas, claiming union with Texas, and gathering people for the defense of Sante Fe. Armijo’s Mexican soldiers are marched with part of the expedition to be held prisoner in Houston, to be released the following November.

July – John Bidwell leads the Bidwell-Bartleson Party, exploring, charting, and improving on the California Trail.

July 7th – William Henry Harrison passes a bill establishing ‘the Third Bank of the United States’ righting the wrong that had been made by Andrew Jackson years before. The Whigs are overjoyed.

August – President Cardenas of the Republic of Rio Grande announces its dissolution from Victoria, Texas. It was a resistance movement that lasted a year and a half, and did a good deal of damage against Mexico for its small size and poor organization. In no way was there any lethal blow, but more thousand Mexican soldiers were killed, with many more wounded, and the area did not produce anything for the country for a year and a half.

August 30th – William Peters receives authorization to settle 600 families in northern Texas.

September 16th – President Lamar sends the Texan navy to protect the Yucatan during their rebellion.

October – With a victory caravan arriving in Houston with Mexican prisoners and even former Governor Armijo himself, there is a huge boost in morale for the Republic of Texas. President Lamar arranges for another few hundred Texan soldiers to be sent into New Mexico to aid their resistance against Mexico. The Mexican prisoners are immediately sent to be returned to Mexico in an attempt to soothe hostilities.

October – Sydney Rigdon’s relationship with Smith has deteriorated. Shortly after his speech at Nauvoo, he decided to leave to serve in a local church presidency in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, he catches influenza, and in his bad health, dies very quickly. His body would be taken back to Nauvoo, where a lavish funeral would be held in his honor.

October 22nd – Facing an Afghan revolt in Kabul, with Mohammed Akbar Khan leading disaffected Afghan tribes against the British garrisons, General William Elphinstone decides to stay and put up a strong resistance against them, instead of fleeing. Defending their puppet government led by Shah Shuja, the 4,500 British soldiers and their 12,000 camp followers begin a defense of Kabul. A small detachment of 70 are sent out secretly to make a desperate attempt to reach Jalalabad to send for reinforcements. Meanwhile, the British face low ammunitions, low supplies, and a constant wall of aggressors closing in.

November 2nd – President Harrison passes a protective tariff bill, pushing rates to 45 percent on dutiable goods. It would significantly cut international trade, more than halving all imports and lowering exports by 30%. Britain and France begin to invest much more heavily in the Republic of Texas, with their slowly developing cotton fields, cattle, rice and sugar cane. Within only a few months, imports and exports in the Republic of Texas from these two European powers would rise by 20%, helping the Texan economy that was hurting due to the expensive militarization, colonization, and Native American eradication of the Lamar administration. Then again, Texas would have to turn to Europe for manufactured goods, with its American neighbor so unwilling to do business, increasing shipping overseas.

November – In Illinois, anti-Mormon sentiment spreads when a local newspaper in Warsaw declares that there were nearly “twelve thousand Mormons” in Nauvoo. Certainly, the population in Nauvoo was even higher, already bustling with thirteen thousand Mormons, all devoted to building up the city and the surrounding areas. The population was growing so fast buildings could not be erected in time. Little Nauvoo, also named Lehi, would be built in Iowa Territory to hold in the surplus.

December 13th – Kenneth L. Anderson of the Houstonite faction runs against Edward Burleson of the Lamarite faction. Anderson is able to claim the position of the President of the Republic of Texas.

--- Summary ---

What we are seeing here is a Mormon movement that is both larger in size and more united. Without the Kirtland Bank disaster, the Church would be much stronger, with nearly twice the population by the end of 1841 than in OTL. The death of Sydney Rigdon would call an end to his faction of anti-polygamists. However, the population growth is also a sore point, with anti-Mormon passions flaring only a year after the foundation of Nauvoo.

The United States under Harrison is bowing to the Whigs, and while they are devoting much of their time to internal development and reform, the higher tariffs don't exactly return the fortune what the Whigs expected. The US is also developing little of its expansionist streak with the Whigs in power and Harrison at their head.

Texas is doing much better, with the Republic of Rio Grande and the Republic of Yucatan diverting attention from Mexico. With higher US tariffs, Texas receives a small boom in international trade. An expedition returns impressive results with widespread rebellion in New Mexico, centered in Santa Fe. With Houston out of the way, and with these fortunate experience, a stronger nationalist feeling is developing in Texas.

As a side note, butterflies have resulted in the Icarian movement in Europe growing much faster... the same movement that inspired Marx to write about his ideas of communism. The First Anglo-Afghan War is taking a different turn, with no disasterous decision to evacuate every British man, woman and child through the wintery gorges of Afghanistan, which in OTL would lead to the death of 16,000.

1842

With the results of very successful missions in Britain, and abroad in America, the Latter-day Saint movement booms. Some say that Nauvoo is home to 15,000, while Lehi (‘Little Nauvoo’) is climbing steadily as well to 8,000. This is agitating anti-Mormons in Carthage and Warsaw, but it won’t really begin until plural marriage enters the religion with the new teachings from Joseph Smith. Surely, a few thousand do leave when plural marriage enters the spectrum, but some rumor that as many as 40,000 members have been counted, so it is little to lose. Mormon colonialism reminiscent from the Missouri days begins once more, with settlements appearing all along the Mississippi, in Iowa and Illinois.

January 27th – The rebels of Tabasco join with the Yucatan in their revolution against Mexico and Sant Anna. The Yucatan, after

February 5th – A Mexican force of more than 600 men, led by Rafael Vasquez, invade Texas for the first time since the revolution. They cross the Rio Grande and occupy San Antonio.

February 22nd – William Kennedy, an Englishman, and Frenchman Henri Castro receive permission from Texan President Anderson to settle 600 or more immigrants between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. Castro would send 500 colonists that year, primarily from Alsace, to settle on the Medina River at Castroville. Kennedy and his associates decided to wait until the recent conflicts calmed down to begin colonization.

March – After numerous attempts to uproot the Mexicans from San Antonio, the Mexican soldiers leave by their own designs, without any battle having been fought over the city. They take thirty prisoners with them.

March 12th – John J. Greenough patents the sewing machine.

April – Joseph Smith begins spreading the teachings of plural marriage, polygamy, in Nauvoo.

April 15th – The Adelsverein or Association of Noblemen, compromising twenty-five German noblemen, obtain a grant from Texan President Anderson to colonize areas between the Llano and the Colorado Rivers, compromising of nearly four million acres. They would bring more than 1,000 Germans into Texas before the years end, and would begin on the work of the city New Braunfels.

May – Responding to a group of soldiers that make it to Jalalabad reporting the attacks at Kabul, British soldiers have returned an entire army from Kandahar and Peshawar to reinforce the garrison. They find the group nearly decimate;d half of them dead, the survivors starving. Aging General Elphinstone is dead as well, and the British soldiers were on the verge of either eating the dead or making a mad dash to India. In retaliation, the new army storms the Great Bazaar, burning it to the ground, and begins to locate and wipe out continuing Afghan resistance. The good news is that Shah Shuja is still alive, and still in power. The British East India Company decides to continue the venture, however unprofitable it is turning to be.

May 8th – A Mexican army of 400 men are sighted approaching Sante Fe. The city’s militia awakens to defend the city from the soldiers, rallying a force nearly 1,000 men strong, though they have little more than 200 actual soldiers. The Mexican army has better equipment and training. The Battle of Sante Fe begins with a siege to rival the Alamo.

May 19th – After eleven days of laying siege to Sante Fe, enduring modest casualties, Vasquez orders a retreat from the city. A few towns and villages in New Mexico are looted, in no way strengthening the friendship between Mexico and western Texas.

June 29th – To strengthen frontier defense, President Anderson signed a contract with Alexandre Bourgeois d'Orvanne and Armand Ducosqv to settle 700 French families on the headwaters of the Medina and Frio rivers and 600 families along the lower Rio Grande.

September 21st – Led by Adrian Woll, 1,300 Mexican troops capture San Antonio once again. They retreat very soon, taking seventy-two prisoners with them to Mexico City, enraging Texan passions.

October 24th – A Mexican force of 700 soldiers storm into Tabasco to quell the rebellion. They fight there way with little casualties all the way to Campeche, where there the Yucatecans put up significant resistance. The defiant Mexican leader does not wish to retreat, however, and half of his force is killed by Yucatecan militia after a week on the offensive. They finally begin a retreat, but not until another 200 are captured and imprisoned.

---

1842 is a slow year. The Mormons are growing much more quickly than in OTL. The Yucatan revolution is more successful, with Tabasco joining the peninsula in rebellion against Mexico. Texan President Anderson continues a profitable campaign of colonization, having foreign settlers build up forts within his country for him in exchange for living room. And, the British have not been ousted from Afghanistan, yet. Shah Shuja is alive, and a much more plentiful force is now located in the country.

The Mexican government welcomed Mormons into the Arizonac lands- they weren't using them.

During the Mexican War, some Mormons tried to act in loyalty to the Mexican government, even.......

Many Mormons were very displeased with the United States, after continued hostility against their practices. Some, even, after the Mexican-American War, traveled south into Mexico to live there! These guys, however, were part of the more of the radical sects of Mormonism.

1843
"The Death of the Prophet, the Crisis in Illinois, and the Westward Plan"

January – Farmer and carpenter James W. Marshall is converted into the Mormon Church. He begins to plot to head upriver to Little Nauvoo.

February - William Mason, an inventor interested in firearms, steam pumps and power looms, joins the Mormons in Illinois.

March 10th – A great gathering was announced in Carthage, Illinois, purporting to be a “wolf hunt”, though it was known that the “wolves” were actually Mormons. Governor Ford of Illinois sends militia to break up the disturbance; however, the militias join the party instead. Much of their anger against the Mormons is because of rumors that Nauvoo was the largest city in Illinois, which it was. Even more threatening was the idea that the Mormons were trying to make their own Mormon state and were going to rob land from Illinois, which they were not. The provocation from merely the Mormon’s population caused several other arguments to appear, challenging them as Protestants, Christians, and even Americans.

March 13th - By the time Governor Ford arrives in Carthage to try and force order in the city himself, much of the group has left for Nauvoo. Over six hundred men assail settlements outside of Nauvoo.

March 14th – Joseph Smith forces Elder John C. Bennett, mayor of Nauvoo, to declare martial law. John C. Bennett gives power over to Joseph and the First Presidency for this war-time status. 9,000 militia-men in the Nauvoo Legion arm themselves and are sent throughout the Mormon towns to capture or kill vigilantes.

March 15th – 700 militia-men of the Nauvoo Legion join 400 Carthage vigilantes in battle near a stream. The anti-Mormons retreat, to be pursued by the organized force. However, within the woods, the 400 meet up with another ground 100 or so strong. They do battle again, with more than 300 casualties on both sides, before the Mormons retreat.

Though there are only 100 dead on the side of the Nauvoo Legion, a recent practice of ‘blood oaths’ ignites the population in Nauvoo. ‘Blood oaths’, said to derive from practices in the Old Testament, allow religious permission to kill the murderers of a family member or friend. The Mormons grow angry very easily.

March 17th – Another major clash erupts about fifty miles north of Nauvoo, with 200 dead. Many of the vigilantes have returned to their homes, no less pacified, but unwilling to fight now that the powerful Nauvoo Legion is patrolling the forests.

March 18th – A group of 120 Nauvoo Legion militia-men, half of them ex-Danites, come into Warsaw, where anti-Mormon passions are strong. Before they are thrown out or confronted, however, they find their target, William D. Cutler, who had commanded a group of anti-Mormons that massacred a small homestead of fifteen Mormons, more than half of them wives. William is shot from a distance of twenty feet, unaware of the Mormons in town, with the utterance of an Old Testament verse. The people of Warsaw converge on the Mormons, and all but 50 of them are shot, the survivors imprisoned. In their stead, the Mormons killed 30 aggressors before they surrendered.

March 21st – A group rallied in Warsaw converges on Little Nauvoo from the south. Before the Nauvoo Legion can force them to flee, another hundred and fifty are dead.

March 25th – Illinois militia by the orders of Governor Ford approach Nauvoo to take into their custody Joseph Smith and a few other members, to be detained. Ford hopes this will appease the anti-Mormons, and be used as a bargaining chip to get the Mormons to accept some tighter laws about colonizing throughout Iowa.

March 27th – While the group of Illinois militia and their Mormon prisoners have settled at a roadhouse, Joseph Smith talks about some of the gospel tenets. This could have been a conversion story, or maybe an escape story, with the Illinois militia letting the Mormon leaders go. Instead, a group of 300 anti-Mormons surround the roadhouse and holler for Joseph Smith to come out so that they can execute him. When he doesn’t they shoot the building up, killing everyone inside.

March 29th – Immediate repercussions to the assassination of their prophet results in small groups of Mormons going out to terrorize nearby non-Mormon settlements. Many Illinoisans are terrified of the repercussions of killing the leader of the Mormons, further vilifying the Mormon and their ‘barbarian wife-city’ in the west. Governor Ford himself approaches Nauvoo to beg for peace, but returns without a treaty, with Mormon leaders gritting their teeth when they say they’ll solve their own problems.

April 10th – A conference is held in Nauvoo to determine the successor to Joseph Smith. The unanimous choice is Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve out of being the most influential personalities. He is elected by the Church leadership as the president of the Church, if not the prophet.

April 18th - Caudell Bralan, a New York Mormon at the age of twenty-five set asail with 360 other Latter-day Saints from New York on the ship Richmond. They'll pass Cape Horn and travel all the way to Yerba Buena (OTL San Francisco), California.

May – President Brigham Young begins to reform the First Presidency, especially with pro-polygamist and pro-peace personalities.

May 4th – Governor Ford is in a predicament. He is not against the Mormons, though he dislikes many of their violent intentions, he respects the majority as peaceful citizens. However, the fact that the Nauvoo area is booming with more Mormons than the capital of Chicago is unsettling. He also fears that the Illinois legislature will vote to repeal the city charter of Nauvoo, putting Illinois into a crisis with Mormon repercussions. Brigham Young reluctantly admits a large force of 1,500 Illinois militia men to jointly hold martial law in Mormon areas with the Nauvoo Legion. Along with this, the Nauvoo Legion would be forced by a presiding lieutenant to downgrade to 5,000 souls, disheartening the Mormons.

June – Joseph Chiles and his caravan travels the California trail of the earlier Bidwell party.

July – The settlers of Willamette Valley in Oregon drafted a constitution that organized the land claim processes in the state. Married couples were allowed to claim up to 640 acres at no cost, while singles could claim 320 acres.

July 13th - Charles Fenton Mercer, contracted in January 1844 to settle 100 families within five years on any unappropriated lands in the Republic of Texas. He would bring more than 600 people into the Republic from America.

August – Many of the Illinois militiamen have been converted during their stay in Nauvoo, as many as 500 individuals. The rest, seeing their friends falling into the clutches of the Church, begin to get panicky, especially when many of the newly-converted militia leave to bring families to Nauvoo. Anti-Mormon factions are still roaming Illinois, somewhat cowed but growing in fervor as numerous shipments leave Chicago for the Nauvoo area, foodstuffs and manufactured goods that are bought up in huge loads for the very communal Latter-Day Saints.

August 19th – A large group of 800 half-drunk anti-Mormons approach Nauvoo, demanding the Illinois militia guard to enter the city to check the Nauvoo temple under construction for evil spirits. The militia let them through, in the middle of the night. They approach to the temple lot, searching it for evil. Many of them have torches. Immediately the Nauvoo Legion confronts them, telling them to put out their torches near their temple, as they are risking to burn it down. A conflict ensues, with the anti-Mormons shooting at the Nauvoo Legion and dashing flames and alcohol onto the temple. The Nauvoo Legion is forced to fire back, awakening the whole city and provoking mass terror. After twenty-five deaths, the inconsolable anti-Mormons order a retreat from the city. The citizens of Nauvoo swarm around the temple, putting out flames, but there is significant damage.

August 20th – The Nauvoo Legion confronts the Illinois militia men, ordering them to leave on grounds of letting vandals into the city. The lieutenant in charge does nothing, though he sends a letter to Governor Ford about the predicament.

August 23rd – The Illinois militia, under orders of Brigham Young, are forced out of the city, with only a few troubles. President Young orders the Nauvoo Legion to be doubled back to pre-May levels.

September – Unrest continues after the expulsion of the Illinois militia. A few heady Mormons venture out of their area, facing conflicts in larger cities as they seek those who organized the attack on the temple. Larger vigilante groups, such as the Carthage Grays and the Warsaw Whites, conduct operations around Nauvoo, terrorizing settlements far from Nauvoo.

September 14th – A group of more than 1,000 anti-Mormons march through the night from Warsaw to Nauvoo. They engage the Nauvoo Legion in the Battle of Nauvoo. Though both sides are little more than militia, they employ crude tactics and show modest organization. The anti-Mormons are well-equipped, however, and are able to kill many of the Legion. The battle continues through the night for an hour and a half. There are more than 1700 casualties on both sides, with 400 Mormon soldiers dead, and 350 vigilante corpses littering the outskirts of the city. The anti-Mormons retreat back to Warsaw, where they make a declaration of war.

September 22nd – Brigham Young fears intervention from Illinois, or for that matter, the United States. He believes that the enemies of God will send armies to purge the saints from the land. He and his First Presidency hold a week of fasting for guidance on the issue. On the seventh day, President Brigham Young claims to his First Presidency that God directed him to call the Saints to organize and head westward, beyond the border of the United States, into Mexico.

September 25th – Brigham Young meets with Governor Ford at Chicago, and signs a treaty recognizing the Mormon’s intentions to abandon Nauvoo and their areas in Illinois, in return for another detachment of militia in the hinterlands to protect their interests, and for the freedom of the Mormons to purchase goods throughout Illinois for their move, and to sell their lands.

October – The process of planning for the migration to the west begins. Brigham Young buys many maps of the West, including California, Mexico, Oregon, and the Great Basin. He sends members to find guides and explorers who have been on those trails. He also orders for the entire Church to mobilize in the selling of land and the movement to Iowa to prepare for a move west.

October 11th - Caudell Bralan and the 360 other Mormons land in Yerba Buena, California, more than doubling its population. Bralan would seek to open up a store within New Helvetia, near Sutter's Fort.

November – By now, more than 700 immigrants have arrived in Willamette Valley in Oregon, following free land.

Hey, is any of this turning out implausibly? I'm being careful, but I'm wondering if you're buying it all.

It seems fairly good so far.

Too meticulous? Too long? Not informative enough? Doesn't follow the butterfly effect enough? Anything?

I'm liking it so far. I'll be honest, I read everything to do with the Mormon movement so far but have skimmed the Texan/Mexican stuff. Not to say it's not good though. I found myself wanting to find out what happened to the Mormons more than the other stuff.

Are you going to be including any kind of map with this once the Mormons move West?

Oh, definitely. There are some territorial changes already, with Afghanistan staying British... but once Texas becomes a de jure independent nation, I'll create a map for the entire world. The next territorial change will probably come in the form of Deseret.

Actually, its funny that you posted here, right now. Just two hours ago I made a major decision to stop my work on Berwick (in my signature, where a Puritan Commonwealth gets set up in North America) and start on cleaning up this ATL, which I call Sidney (over Sidney Rigdon's initial POD in not pushing the Kirtland Safety Society so far).

I have the initial trappings of a serious alternate universe here. A more powerful Mormon movement. An earlier Mormon exodus. America under Harrison, creating an economical drop-out that could lead to the favor of Texas. A less expansionist America.

Only a few more events and all of this build-up could spiral into a radically different situation. An independent Deseret, an independent Texas, both under the protection of more powerful European empires, and a United States confined to the east. Its a cliche that has never really been focused upon and developed.

Anyway, thanks for making your first post in my thread! I'm glad you enjoyed everything.

I pictured a lot of what you mentioned through reading your TL. I thought it would make a really interesting read.

I forgot to mention Afghanistan in my previous post. I thought that that part of the story was also interesting. I'd also enjoy hearing how that could affect the entire region.

As to posting in your thread as a first. It is definetly my first in anything but the Chat forum. I have posted there a few times. I started lurking on the board a loooong time ago. But I had to leave for 6 months or so. I'm back now and we'll see how I go about posting. I'm usually better at lurking and reading everything by everyone else.

Edit: I don't know if you want to let the cat outta the bag early but I was wondering if any of the Mormons are going to settle the Pacific North-West. That's one of the first things that entered my mind. I have no idea about the history of this time period or how that'd work out. I just thought that would also change things a lot if they had better land to work with ports easily available to them. With mountains also seperating them from everyone else. Or maybe that's where you were going with that San Francisco thing. I'll definetly be checking back to see where you go with this.

I think your French Settlements are a little much, Much more likly to have Germans, As France didn't go in for the emmigration as much as the rest of Europe. Other than that It seems plausible enuff.

Go to this site. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/mzr2.html

Then search up 'French'.

I think that those French colonies actually did happen in OTL. Probably a few hundred more families tacked on in my ATL where Texas is seen more favorably, but otherwise it really did happen.