Alexander Doniphan's Defiance of the Extermination Order

In the fall of 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his infamous Executive Order 44, declaring that the Latter-day Saints must be "exterminated or driven from the state." Emboldened by this extermination order, state militia forces laid siege to the Latter-day Saint settlement of Far West. Through betrayal, Joseph Smith and several other Church leaders were taken prisoner. Acting under the spirit of Boggs's decree, Major General Samuel D. Lucas convened a hasty, illegal court-martial and condemned the Prophet and his associates to death. Lucas issued a written order to Brigadier General Alexander W. Doniphan, commanding him to execute Joseph Smith and the others in the public square of Far West the following morning at 9:00 a.m. In a miraculous moment of divine protection and immense moral courage, Doniphan—who was not a Latter-day Saint—flatly refused to carry out the execution. He sent a defiant reply to his superior officer: "It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty tomorrow morning, at 8 o'clock; and if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God." Doniphan's bold and legally perilous defiance paralyzed the militia's leadership. Lucas backed down, preventing the execution of the Prophet. The Saints recognized Doniphan's intervention as the hand of God protecting His prophet from Boggs's extermination efforts, preserving Joseph Smith's life to continue his ministry.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in History of the Church, Volume 3, Chapter 13):

Yielding to the pressure upon him, it is alleged that General Lucas, at about midnight, issued the following order to General Doniphan, in whose keeping the hostages were: 'Brigadier-General Doniphan: Sir:—You will take Joseph Smith and the other prisoners into the public square of Far West, and shoot them at 9 o'clock to-morrow morning. Samuel D. Lucas, Major-General Commanding.' But General Doniphan, in great righteous indignation, promptly returned the following reply to his superior: 'It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty tomorrow morning, at 8 o'clock; and if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God. A. W. Doniphan, Brigadier-General.' The prisoners somehow heard of the order, and kneeled in prayer, and prayed fervently that it might not be executed. And it was not. Flagrantly insubordinate as was General Doniphan's refusal, he was never called to account for it.