History is full of fascinating characters, but few are as boldly unusual as James Jesse Strang. James was a lawyer, prophet, politician, and self-crowned king. If that sounds like something out of a Netflix mini-series, you’re not wrong. On this day, June 16, 1856, Strang was shot in the back on the docks of Beaver Island. His shooting ended one of the strangest religious-political experiments in American history.
It all began after the assassination of Mormon founder Joseph Smith in 1844. The majority of Latter Day Saints followed Brigham Young westward to Utah. There was a smaller group that declared their loyalty to James Strang, a charismatic and controversial convert from New York. Strang claimed divine succession, supposedly armed with a letter from Smith himself and even an angelic ordination. His leadership was fiercely contested. He found enough who believed and followed him first to Wisconsin and then to Beaver Island. On Beaver Island they would build a kingdom—literally.
The King Who Wasn’t
Strang crowned himself king in 1850 in a coronation that included royal robes, a brass crown, and a throne. His community grew rapidly, drawing thousands of followers. But with power came conflict. Strang ruled with a strict hand, clashing with local non-Mormons (“gentiles”) over land, trade, and religion. His embrace of polygamy further fueled tensions, even among his own people.
Then came June 16, 1856. As Strang waited on the docks of St. James—Beaver Island’s main port—he was ambushed by two former followers, Thomas Bedford and Alexander Wentworth. They shot him in broad daylight, right in front of officers and crewmen of the USS Michigan, who conveniently looked the other way. The wounded Strang was beaten, dragged aboard the Michigan, and later dumped at his former headquarters in Voree, Wisconsin. He died three weeks later, paralyzed and abandoned by most.
Strang’s killers? Never punished. They were taken to Mackinac Island where they were given a slap-on-the-wrist fine and celebrated by locals who had long despised the so-called “King of Beaver Island.”
Fall of His Beaver Island Kingdom
The days that followed saw what historian Byron Cutcheon would later call “the most disgraceful day in Michigan history.” On July 5, 1856, a mob from Mackinac and other surrounding areas sailed to Beaver Island. Strang’s followers—some 2,600 people—were forcibly removed from their homes, robbed, and dumped at various Lake Michigan ports with nothing. The Beaver Island the Strangites had built was effectively wiped off the map.
Though his church never regained the size or influence it had during Strang’s rule, a tiny group of devoted followers keeps his legacy alive. And his impact lingers: from his time in the Michigan legislature to a Smithsonian-published scientific survey of Beaver Island, Strang left a strange but undeniable mark on Michigan’s political and religious history.
Tourist Destination
Today, Beaver Island is a tranquil tourist destination, but its past is anything but peaceful. It’s hard to believe this quiet Lake Michigan isle once hosted America’s only monarchy—and that its king met such a dramatic and tragic end
Learn more about the rich history of the Northwest Lower Peninsula.
