The Cane Creek Massacre (also known as Tennessee's Mormon Massacre) was a violent attack on the worship service of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that occurred on August 10, 1884, in Lewis County, Tennessee. The assault by an armed mob resulted in five deaths and marked one of the most serious incidents of anti-Mormon violence in the Southern United States.
Latter-day Saint missionaries had achieved considerable success converting residents in Lewis County despite facing harsh resistance from the local non-Mormon population. Opposition was particularly intense in the Cane Creek area, where hostility toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints manifested in several ways. Local opponents burned down the Mormon meetinghouse and directly threatened the missionaries with death if they continued preaching.
Two factors particularly inflamed local sentiment against the Mormons. First, non-Mormons staunchly opposed the church's practice of polygamy. Second, a newspaper article published in the Salt Lake Tribune that was circulated in Lewis County significantly intensified anti-Mormon feelings throughout Lewis County.
Despite the threats, the missionaries continued their work in the area. On August 10, 1884, while attending a church service at the home of James Conder, a group of armed men launched their attack. The mob killed four people: two missionaries (John H. Gibbs and William S. Berry) and two local church members (Martin Conder and J.R. Hutson). During the violence, the mob's leader, David Hinson, was also killed, and Malinda Conder suffered a gunshot wound to the hip.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 38-40.
No trial was ever held for the perpetrators of the massacre.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 55. Local newspapers generally expressed sympathy for the mob's actions rather than condemning the violence. Mormon leader Brigham H. Roberts traveled to Cane Creek in disguise to recover the bodies of the slain missionaries. Some church members interpreted the massacre as part of a broader anti-Mormon conspiracy. The violence achieved its intended effect of driving Mormons from the area. Many Mormon families around Cane Creek eventually relocated after receiving continued violent threats.Wingfield, "Tennessee's Mormon Massacre," 35-36.
Background
Prior to the Cane Creek Massacre, the United States government passed several anti-polygamy laws criminalizing the practice, including the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act and the Edmunds Act. Mormons believe that polygamy was instituted by God through a revelation to the church's founder, Joseph Smith, in the 1840s. Antagonism towards the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been building in the south for years, and some missionaries had been attacked and driven away. On July 21, 1879, a missionary named Joseph Standing was shot and killed by a mob in Georgia.
On March 15, 1884, the Salt Lake Tribune published the "Red Hot Address," an entirely fabricated sermon attributed to a Latter-day Saint bishop in Juab, Utah, that called for war against the "Gentiles" and the assassination of Utah Governor Eli Murray.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 53. The article surfaced in Lewis County before the massacre, and was used by a local Baptist preacher named John Clayborn Vandiver to foment hostility towards the Mormon missionaries.Wingfield, "Tennessee's Mormon Massacre," 20-21.
Elder John Henry Gibbs, a Welsh Latter-day Saint convert who lived in Paradise, Utah, found great success in Tennessee. In April and May 1884, Gibbs had baptized twenty-six people in the Cane Creek area.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 45. Josie Turner, a girl noted for her intelligence, and her sister Ada were the daughters of a prominent member of the community and were baptized in April, causing anxiety in the area. At Josie Turner's baptism, Elder Gibbs reprimanded members of the congregation, including community leaders, for wearing their hats during the service. Elder William Jones, who was teaching with Gibbs, later pointed to Josie Turner's baptism as the point where the community turned against them.
Latter-day Saint missionaries faced harsh opposition in Tennessee leading up to the massacre.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 38. Many in Lewis County were angered by Gibbs' preaching success and his refusal to yield to their threats and intimidation.Crow, A Land of Strangers, 52-53. On May 4, 1884, Elder Gibbs found the newly-constructed church meetinghouse in Cane Creek burned to the ground and a note that warned the missionaries to stop preaching in the area, under threat of death.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 35.
In the summer of 1884, missionaries John Gibbs and William Jones taught a series of public lectures in Tennessee and Mississippi to improve public opinion of the church.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 35-36. They also distributed some United States congressional speeches about religious liberty to prominent individuals in the region in response to anti-polygamy sentiments.Roberts, Autobiography, 137-138. At this time there was great antagonism towards the church, and its missionaries were frequently accused of degeneracy and sexual immorality, often connected to their practice of polygamy.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 47. Many non-Mormons were worried that their sisters, daughters, or wives would convert and start practicing polygamy. Missionaries were cautious about teaching polygamy and mostly focused on fundamental gospel principles; discussion about plural marriage typically only arose because of questions or comments from the audience.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 36-37 Elder Gibbs' and Jones' lecture series did not improve the church's public image, but added to the southerners' uneasiness toward the Mormons.
Elders Henry B. Thompson and William S. Berry arrived in Cane Creek on August 5, 1884, and Elders John Gibbs and William Jones on August 6.Crow, A Land of Strangers, xi.
August 10th Massacre On the morning of August 10, 1884, Latter-day Saint elders Henry Thompson, William Berry, and John Gibbs left the home of Thomas Garrett, a local non-Mormon friend, for a Sunday worship service. The Cane Creek branch of the church met in the home of James Conder after their meetinghouse was destroyed. Another elder, William Jones, left the home a little later after reading copies of sermons that had arrived from Salt Lake City. En route to the Conder home, Jones was ambushed by a masked mob of twelve to fifteen men.Sillito, B. H. Roberts, 98.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 39. Brigham H. Roberts later said that the men wore "Ku Klux Klan garb."Roberts, Autobiography, 139.
The mob forced Jones into a nearby cornfield, beat him, and interrogated him, demanding to know where Elder Gibbs was. They then set out for the Conder farm and left Jones with an armed guard. The guard, a man named Ruben Mathis, had "always been a friend to the Mormons," and let Jones escape.Sillito, B. H. Roberts, 98-99.
At the Conder home, the Elders were singing hymns before the service began when the mob rushed through the gates of the farm. As the mob assaulted him, James Conder yelled for his son, Martin Conder, and stepson, J.R. Hutson, to grab their guns. The leader of the mob, a local farmer named David Hinson, reached for a shotgun over the fireplace at the same time as Martin Conder, and the two grappled for possession of it. Hinson reached for his pistol to fire at Martin Conder, but the gun misfired, so Hinson clubbed Martin in the head with it.Crow, A Land of Strangers, 109. Hinson then turned and shot Elder Gibbs, striking him just below the arm and killing him instantly.
Another member of the mob aimed at Elder Thompson, but the barrel of his shotgun was pushed down by Elder Berry, allowing Thompson to escape out the back door and into the woods. Berry was then shot in the waist and killed by other members of the mob. Martin Conder recovering from the blow to his head, was shot and killed by another member of the mob.
As Hinson and the mob turned to leave, J.R. Hutson rushed down the stairs armed with a gun. The mob tried to restrain him, but he managed to fire at the fleeing Hinson, killing him. A member of the mob fired back and hit Hutson, who died an hour later. As they left, the mob fired a volley through the windows of the house into the body of Elder Berry. Malinda Conder, the mother of Martin and J.R., was hit in the hip with buckshot, severely wounding her. The mob then fled with Hinson's body.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 40.
Aftermath Reaction Mormons generally viewed the massacre as an intentional act of murder, whereas non-Mormons saw it as an attempt to drive out the Mormons that had escalated, done in self-defense.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 54-55. Newspapers generally sympathized with the actions of the mob because of the perceived threat that Mormonism posed.Sillito, B. H. Roberts, 109. The New York Times noted that the general public impression was that no action would be taken to find the perpetrators of the massacre.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 42.
The Daily American newspaper praised David Hinson, the mob leader who had killed Gibbs, as a hero.Ricketts, "Tennessee's 1884 'Mormon Massacre,'" 227. On August 19, 1884, an article in the Daily American from an anonymous author claimed that Elder Gibbs had engaged in inappropriate conduct with several young women.Sillito, B. H. Roberts, 107. Gibbs did not practice polygamy and there is no evidence that he was dishonest or adulterous.Crow, A Land of Strangers, 26. No other claims against Gibbs were ever publicly made, and he maintained a very positive reputation among Mormon converts. Additionally, an incognito missionary named Willard Bean interviewed Lewis County citizens in 1895, all of whom said that the Salt Lake Tribune's "Red Hot Address" article caused the massacre. Jack Wells and Ruben Mathis, who had participated in the mob, also said that the article started it all.
Nearly two weeks after the massacre, and following criticism, Tennessee Governor William Bate offered a $1,000 reward if the killers were apprehended and convicted, though it was never claimed. Elder Jones believed that Governor Bate was not concerned at all with bringing the murderers to justice.Sillito, B. H. Roberts, 111. Eli Murray, the federally appointed Utah governor, had sent a telegram to Bate condemning the murders, but also suggesting that the murdered missionaries were "representatives of organized crime" that were trying to recruit emigrants to Utah. Over two months after the massacre a grand jury was assembled, but no arrests were made and no trial was ever held.
Strong anti-Mormon sentiments and vigilante practices remained prevalent in Tennessee. In 1885, the Tennessee legislature passed a law making it illegal to teach the principle of polygamy in the state or urge others to emigrate elsewhere to practice it. The penalty was a $500 fine and two years in prison, though a later failed bill would have increased the sentence to eight years.Mason, The Mormon Menace, 55-56.
Brigham H. Roberts, acting president of the church's Southern States Mission at the time of the massacre, wrote that other missionaries in the southern states were taken from their homes at night and beaten, shot at, and threatened with meeting the same fate as Elders Gibbs and Berry if they did not leave.Roberts, Autobiography, 156. There was uncertainty if the Southern States Mission would continue to operate, and church leaders discussed the possibility of ending missionary work in the region.Sillito, B. H. Roberts, 125. Ultimately it was decided that missionaries would stay in the south. Church President John Taylor affirmed that the mission would continue, urging the missionaries to be cautious.Roberts, Autobiography, 157.
Retrieving the Bodies