When word of the events in Missouri reached Joseph in Kirtland, he was devastated. At first he counseled the Saints to work through legal channels to try to redress their wrongs. He even suggested that the Saints themselves were to blame for the events which had transpired, due to their lack of faith. But when legal redress appeared increasingly futile, Joseph decided to organize a Mormon military force to march to their rescue.

The Mormon militia was dubbed "Zion's Camp." It took them approximately two months to march to Missouri, where they rendezvous'd with a smaller force from Michigan, and then, 200 strong, marched on to Clay County where the Saints from Jackson County had taken refuge. When word reached the Missourians that the Mormons had organized a military expedition, it caused a panic across the state. Prominent Missourians who had expressed sympathy for the Saints prior to the arrival of Zion's Camp condemned Joseph's actions and demanded that Zion's Camp disband at once and leave the state. The Missourians countered by organizing their own militia.

Bad weather conspired against the Missourians, preventing them from crossing the Missouri River in order to attack the Mormons. Then cholera struck in Zion's Camp. A series of negotiations ensued, but without success for the Mormons. The Missouri Saints were forced to abandon Jackson County and remain in Clay County, while Zion's Camp disbanded and returned to their homes in the east without ever having fought a single battle.

Though Zion's Camp was widely seen as a failure, it counted among its members many of the men who later guided the Saints on their trek to Utah, including a devout disciple of Joseph Smith by the name of Brigham Young.

Also significant for later events in Mormon history, during the march Joseph Smith ordained as a successor David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon.