Divine Justice Events

Col. Neal Gillaim, a Missouri Mob Leader, Faces the Very Retribution Joseph Smith Prophesied for Missouri's Persecutors (1848)

Published October 4, 2026 at 6:21 AM

1840s · 1848
Oregon Territory

Contributed by

Millennial Star Research

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During the conflict in Oregon between white settlers and a coalition of Indian tribes, Col. Neal Gillaim, a former anti-Mormon leader in Missouri, is noted as facing the prospect of being exterminated by Indian warriors. The editor points out that this fulfills a prophecy uttered by the martyred Joseph Smith that those who mobbed the Saints in Missouri would, in their turn, be mobbed by a people fiercer than themselves.

Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 10, No. 15, 1 August 1848, p. 234):

Col. Neal Gillaim, who was one of the most bitter persecutors of the Saints in Missouri, and who was instrumental in driving them from that state, is now in Oregon, and is likely to be exterminated by the Indians, who are now at war with the whites in that territory. Thus is the prophecy of Joseph Smith fulfilling, that those who mobbed the Saints in Missouri, would, in their turn, be mobbed by a people fiercer than themselves.

In Their Own Words

“[Col. Neal Gillaim, named in the above article, is well known by the Saints as having been a distinguished anti-Mormon leader of the mob in Missouri. If we mistake not, there was a prophecy uttered by the martyred prophet concerning those who mobbed the Saints in Missouri, of whom Boggs and Gillaim were notorious, that they in their turn should be mobbed by a people fiercer than themselves. It appears that these same men are now afraid of being exterminated by the Indians before help can reach them! — Millennial Star 10:15”

Sources & References

The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 1 August 1848 (Vol. 10, No. 15). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1848-08-01_10_15 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 10, No. 15, 1 August 1848, p. 234 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1848-08-01_10_15

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