Hawn's Mill Tragedy

This painting depicts the original Hawn's Mill in Missouri circa 1838. I was invited to create several paintings that will be used in the upcoming commemoration of the tragedy that occurred there in early church history.

Though such a sad part of LDS history, many have risen above it and the healing balm of the Savior allows for such a commemoration now. I am honored to have had the opportunity to participate.

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The Hawn's Mill settlement circa 1838

This piece depicts what the Hawn's Mill settlement may have looked like in the fall of 1838. In 1835, Jacob Hawn, not a Mormon, built and operated the mill located on Shoal Creek, a tributary of the Grand River in Western Missouri. Jacob seemed to welcome the Mormons when no one else would because he viewed them as new clientele. History suggests that there were several structures built by the Mormon settlers, along with several other temporary shelters scattered about the settlement. This settlement is where the tragic Hawn's Mill Massacre occurred on October 30, 1838.

I have had the opportunity to participate as an artist in the upcoming Commemoration of the Hawn's Mill massacre of 1838.This piece is one of three that I have provided for the cause.

Sacred Burial Site @ Hawn's Mill

This is perhaps the most sobering and heart-rendering scene I have ever tried to paint. After that excruciating night of terror at the Hawn's Mill settlement in October 1838, 17 men and boys were found murdered in and around the blacksmith's shop. Several others were badly wounded. The remaining survivors were in fear for their lives and thus had to remain in hiding for some time afterward.

They didn't have the means or manpower to properly bury the dead. No funeral services were performed, nor could they be buried with customary decency. The lives of those, who in terror performed the last duty for the dead, were in jeopardy. Every moment they expected to be fired upon by the fiends who they supposed to be lying in ambush waiting for the first opportunity to dispatch the remaining few who had escaped the slaughter of the remaining day.

So in the hurry and terror of the moment, the survivors placed the bodies of the slain in a dry well and buried them with dirt, straw and rocks. They later returned to place a stone painted red atop the mass grave. Eventually all of the Mormon settlers were driven from Missouri on the extermination orders of Governor Wilburn Boggs. All this death and tragedy simply because of their faith.