This is the sixth volume of an epic series on family and Mormon history, covering perhaps the darkest year in this history. In 1838 the Mormons in Missouri--led by Joseph Smith--violated an 1836 pledge to reside only in Mormon-designated Caldwell County, establishing settlements in Daviess and Carroll counties. When vigilante groups attempted to remove these settlements, the Mormons responded in a very aggressive manner militarily, even engaging in widespread arson and looting. This set off a civil war that quickly resulted in the total expulsion from Missouri of all Mormons loyal to Joseph Smith This volume describes these events in great detail and thoroughly examines the lively debate among historians as to how to interpret them.

This is the fifth volume of an epic series, The Quest for the New Jerusalem: A Mormon Generational Saga, combining ancestral, Mormon, and American history. It focuses upon events from the fall of 1835 to January 1838, when the "Kirtland period" of Mormon history ends. Describing the activities of the author's Carter ancestors, it looks at authoritarianism in the Church, the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the Church's April 1836 anti-abolitionist and pro-slavery doctrine, the establishment of Mormon Caldwell County in Missouri, the first very successful mission to England, and the mass apostasy of high-ranking Mormon leaders following the failure of Joseph Smith's illegal Kirtland Safety Society bank.