Prophecies

Joseph Smith Prophesies Missouri's Judgment — Fulfilled in Civil War (c. 1841)

Published March 26, 2026 at 3:50 AM

1840s · 1841
Nauvoo, Illinois
Todd Morgan

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Todd Morgan

Beaumont, CA, 92223

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While acting as prosecuting attorney in Nauvoo against a kidnapper from Missouri, Joseph Smith suddenly left his legal argument and declared prophecy: 'She shall drink out of the same cup, the same bitter dregs we have drunk, poured out, out, out! and that by the hand of an enemy—a race meaner than themselves.' Witnesses reported his face shone 'as if there was a light within him and his flesh was translucent.' Joseph added that he didn't know where the meaner race was coming from, but 'as sure as God ever spoke by me that shall come to pass.' This was literally fulfilled in the Civil War, when Quantrell's Guerillas killed or drove out every family from the area once occupied by the Saints — a generation of lawless men raised after the prophecy was uttered.

In Their Own Words

“When he had just fairly started to set forth the crime that the defendant was arraigned for, he suddenly left the law and declared the word of God with regard to the state of Missouri and its inhabitants. He said that the Lord had spoken to him and said that the state of Missouri should be cursed, and that the inhabitants thereof should be cursed, and that they should be driven from their homes and their lands, and that they should be destroyed, and that they should be wasted away, and that they should be cut off from the face of the earth. A portion of the words of the prophecy I will quote verbatim: 'She shall drink out of the same cup, the same bitter dregs we have drunk, poured out, out, out! And that by the hand of an enemy—a race meaner than themselves.' He said he did not know where the meaner race was coming from, but as sure as God ever spoke by me that shall come to pass. I lived to see that prophecy literally fulfilled in the Rebellion, when every family in that part of the state that the Saints used to occupy was killed or compelled to leave their homes by the Bushwackers or Guerrillas under Quantrell—a generation of vipers raised mostly after that prophecy was uttered. I saw the Prophet when he uttered these words; his face shone as if there was a light within him and his flesh was translucent.”

— Oliver B. Huntington, 'Words and Incidents of the Prophet Joseph's Life,' Young Woman's Journal 2, no. 3 (December 1890): 124–25

Sources & References

Oliver B. Huntington, 'Words and Incidents of the Prophet Joseph's Life,' Young Woman's Journal 2, no. 3 (December 1890): 124–25 (his testimony at Springville, Utah, October 16, 1890), reprinted in Mark L. McConkie, Remembering Joseph: Personal Recollections of Those Who Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith (Deseret Book, 2003), 568–69; Joseph Smith Foundation summary: https://www.josephsmithfoundation.org/joseph-smith-prophecy/ Full first-person account: Oliver B. Huntington, 'Words and Incidents of the Prophet Joseph's Life,' Young Woman's Journal 2, no. 3 (December 1890): 124–25 https://archive.org/details/youngwomansjourn02unse/page/124/mode/2up Full first-person account: Oliver B. Huntington, 'Words and Incidents of the Prophet Joseph's Life,' Young Woman's Journal 2, no. 3 (December 1890): 124–25 https://archive.org/details/youngwomansjourn02unse/page/124/mode/2up

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