The Danites, and two Missouri towns burned in 1838
ContestedLDS scholars have a real answer here. Say so before your friend does.
What the Danites were
A secret armed band of Mormons in Missouri, in 1838. Sampson Avard set it up.
They bullied church dissenters and drove them out. The Danite Manifesto named names.
It threatened Oliver Cowdery, the Whitmers and others.
What they did
In the fighting of October 1838, Mormon forces raided and burned two towns that were not Mormon. Gallatin and Millport.
Danites rode with them.
What is actually in dispute
How much Joseph Smith knew, and how much he told them to do. Avard testified that Smith was the mastermind.
Stephen LeSueur argues that Smith backed the Danites and gained by them. Scholars close to the church argue that Avard ran his own show.
Their answer, at full strength
Avard was a self-serving opportunist who turned state's witness to save himself, and was excommunicated in 1839. That makes his testimony the least reliable kind.
Leland Gentry and Alexander Baugh trace three phases: a legitimate community defence that Avard corrupted into secret oaths and plunder, without Smith's authorisation. And the context was existential.
Mormons were being burned out. Governor Boggs's Extermination Order and the Haun's Mill massacre followed within weeks.
Mormon violence was real, and it was a fraction of what was done to them.
How strong is this argument?
Genuinely arguable, and honest historians divide here. The Danites, the expulsions and the raids are not disputed.
Smith's personal authorisation rests largely on Avard's compromised word. Smith praised Danite leaders publicly and rode the wave.
Operational command is not established.
What to say
"How much do you think Joseph knew about the Danites? Historians don't agree either."
How they answer this — at its strongest
Avard turned state's witness to save himself, which makes his word the least reliable.
Avard was a self-aggrandising opportunist who turned state's witness to save himself. That makes his 'Smith was the mastermind' testimony as self-serving as testimony gets. He was excommunicated in 1839.
Leland Gentry and Alexander Baugh trace three phases. It began as legitimate community defence. Avard then corrupted it into secret oaths and plunder, without Smith's authorisation.
The 1838 setting was a fight for survival. Mormons were being burned out. Governor Boggs's Extermination Order and the Haun's Mill massacre followed within weeks. Mormon violence, while real, was a fraction of what was done to them.
And the church's own history topics acknowledge the Danite excesses.
The verdict
Arguable both ways. The raids are not disputed, but Smith's own orders are not shown.
The Danites existed. Dissenters were driven out. Gallatin and Millport were raided and burned. None of that is disputed.
The load-bearing claim is that Smith told them to. That rests largely on Avard's tainted word, and serious historians divide. Stephen LeSueur on one side. Gentry and Baugh on the other.
Smith praised Danite leaders in public and rode the wave. Command of the operation is not shown. Contested is the honest grade.
Sources
- Joseph Smith Papers: Sampson Avard biography
- Stephen C. LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri (overview)
- FAIR: Mormonism and persecution/Danites