depredations against the Mormons, he refused to repeal Order #44. The Missouri legislature deferred discussion of an appeal by Mormon leaders to rescind the decree. Nearly all of the approximately 10,000 Mormons left Missouri by the spring of 1839, and would not begin to return to Missouri until approximately 25 years later. Governor Boggs himself was excoriated in Mormon portions of the Missouri press, as well as those of neighboring states, for his action in issuing this order. General David Atchison, a legislator and militia general from western Missouri who had refused to take part in operations, demanded that the Legislature formally state its opinion of Governor Boggs' order, for "he would not live in any state, where such authority was given". Although his proposal and similar ones by others went down to defeat, Governor Boggs himself saw his once-promising political career destroyed to the point that, by the next election, his own party was reluctant to be associated with him. After surviving an assassination attempt in 1842, Governor Boggs ultimately emigrated to California, where he died in relative obscurity in the Napa Valley in 1860. Rescission In late 1975, President Lyman F. Edwards of the Far West stake of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, invited then Missouri Governor Kit Bond to participate in the June 25, 1976, stake's annual conference as a good-will gesture for the United States Bicentennial. As part of his address at that conference, 137 years after being signed and citing the unconstitutional nature of Governor Boggs' directive, Governor Bond presented the following Executive Order: See also Latter Day Saint martyrs Mormon Exodus (1846–1857) Pogrom Notes References . . , T, New York, 1877, p. 117 Further reading External links Mormon War Letters, the battle correspondence leading up to, and including, the Extermination Order - presented by LDS historian Mel Tungate. The Missouri Mormon War Executive Orders include both the original Executive Order 44 and the rescinding order as PDFs - presented by the Missouri Secretary of State. Lilburn W. Boggs letter to Joseph Hawkins, Vault MSS 724, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University 1838 Mormon War Christianity and law in the 19th century Latter Day Saint terms Mormonism and law Mormonism-related controversies Legal history of Missouri Religious expulsion orders 1838 documents