Missouri Executive Order 44

Missouri Executive Order 44 (known as the Mormon Extermination Order) was a state executive order issued by Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs on October 27, 1838, in response to the Battle of Crooked River. The clash had been triggered when a state militia unit from Ray County seized several Mormon hostages from Caldwell County, and the subsequent attempt by the Mormons to rescue them.^[1]

Based on exaggerated reports of the battle and rumors of Mormon military plans, Boggs claimed that the Mormons had committed "open and avowed defiance of the law" and had "made war upon the people of Missouri".^[2] Governor Boggs directed that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description".^[3]

The order was directed to General John Bullock Clark, and it was implemented by the state militia to forcefully displace the Mormons from Missouri. In response to the order, the Mormons surrendered and subsequently sought refuge in Nauvoo, Illinois. In 1976, citing its unconstitutional nature, Missouri Governor Kit Bond formally rescinded it.