sept 11 1857--mormon mountain meadow massacre

[niyad]

Mountain Meadows massacre


The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857, with the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local Native Americans.

The wagon train—composed almost entirely of families from Arkansas—was bound for California on a route that passed through the Utah Territory during a turbulent period later known as the Utah War. After arriving in Salt Lake City, the Baker–Fancher party made their way south, eventually stopping to rest at Mountain Meadows. While the emigrants were camped at the meadow, nearby militia leaders, including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, made plans to attack the wagon train. The militia, officially called the Nauvoo Legion, was composed of Utah's Mormon settlers (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church). Intending to give the appearance of Native American aggression, their plan was to arm some Southern Paiute Native Americans and persuade them to join with a larger party of their own militiamen—disguised as Native Americans—in an attack.

During the initial assault on the wagon train, the emigrants fought back and a five-day siege ensued. Eventually fear spread among the militia's leaders that some emigrants had caught sight of white men, and had probably discovered who their attackers really were. This resulted in an order by militia commander William H. Dame for the emigrants' annihilation. Running low on water and provisions, the emigrants allowed a party of militiamen to enter their camp, who assured them of their safety and escorted them out of their hasty fortification. After walking a distance from the camp, the militiamen, with the help of auxiliary forces hiding nearby, attacked the emigrants. Intending to leave no witnesses of complicity by Mormons in the attacks, and to prevent reprisals that would further complicate the Utah War, the perpetrators killed all the adults and older children (totaling about 120 men, women, and children). Seventeen children, all younger than seven, were spared.

Following the massacre the perpetrators hastily buried the victims, leaving their bodies vulnerable to wild animals and the climate. Local families took in the surviving children, and many of the victims' possessions were auctioned off. Investigations, temporarily interrupted by the American Civil War, resulted in nine indictments during 1874. Of the men indicted, only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law. After two trials in the Utah Territory, Lee was convicted by a jury and executed. Today historians attribute the massacre to a combination of factors including both war hysteria and strident Mormon teachings. Scholars still debate whether senior Mormon leadership, including Brigham Young, directly instigated the massacre or if responsibility lies with the local leaders of southern Utah.

. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre

[TwilightGardener]

1. I'd read of this before--what I can't figure out is what made the Mormons

attack a wagon train that was only passing through and did not intend to stay in the territory.

[niyad]

2. further down in the article it goes through some of the reasons.

[Brother Buzz]

3. Purported members of the wagon train fueded with Mormons in Arkansas

That, plus two oxen in the train named "Brigham Young," "Heber Kimbal" didn't help much.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Still wouldn't be enough of a motive

for a handful of men to organize a party to kill 120+ people just passing through--consider that the men in the wagon party were armed and almost certainly would have been able to kill some of the Mormon/Indian attackers. Only one man convicted...church/Brigham Young relatively blame free. This story never made sense.

[newspeak]

5. it was the us army that buried the settlers and put cairns on the burial

twice the burial was desecrated-one when brigham young came down to view it with some of his followers.

the children of the slain settlers were farmed out to mormon families and the families of those slain I read had a difficult time getting them back.

[TwilightGardener]

8. My theory is that the attack was ordered either by Young or from

high up within the church, to be blamed on the Paiutes, and then Young would have expected several things to happen: The US Army would begin to exterminate the Paiutes (thus solving one problem for the Mormons) and wagon trains would no longer pass through Utah territory out of fear of attack (ensuring Utah remained isolated, another problem solved). The plan went awry and the church refused to protect the lower-level participants, choosing to protect the leaders instead.

[Brother Buzz]

7. The feud involved a murder of a church leader and was a catalist

Politically, the Mormons were on a war footing.

[TwilightGardener]

12. That's just a lot of people to murder at once. It was a large effort, took 5-6 days

to accomplish. White men dressing as Indians and risking their own lives, spending significant amounts of time, effort, and ammo to wipe out a wagon party. There had to be something more of a reward promised for the white LDS participants than just satisfying a grudge.

[Brother Buzz]

14. It's a cult; they believe their reward will be their own planet stocked with 72 virgin brides.....

Or some nonsense.

[TwilightGardener]

21. Regardless of the merits of the faith, it's worth considering how such a large

and seemingly unnecessary/unprovoked massacre could have happened, especially without leadership and support from the top. Had the federal government been more inclined to pursue charges against church hierarchy, the history of the Western US might be different today. It's just an interesting event in history. Of course, had the attack been successfully pinned on Native Americans, it would have been just one more reason to wipe them out.

[Brother Buzz]

22. C. F. McGlashan, a California investigative journalist would not disagree

There is no evidence in existence, so far as is known, to incriminate him (Brigham Young) as an accessory before the fact, unless it is connected with his military position. It was claimed all the way through that orders had come from headquarters. He was Commander in Chief of the Utah militia, and it hardly seemed possible that the militia would be detailed to do such sanguinary work without some slight sanction from Salt Lake City. - McGlashan

C. F. McGlashan, a California journalist investigated the massacre in 1871 and discover a wider cover-up after interviewing many people that actually participated in the Utah militia, but could not uncover any proof Brigham Young had a direct hand in it. The Mormon cover-up and whitewash mostly worked.

[renie408]

6. Yeah...

I am not sure where this is going, but I think that every race, religion and nationality has some kind of ick in their history.

I think the magic underwear are more of a deal breaker than this.

[TwilightGardener]

9. It's American history. It's not going anywhere. I find it fascinating.

[renie408]

17. Well, from that standpoint, yeah it is interesting.

I guess I made a political mental leap because of it being on the DU. I was trying to figure out if there was some kind of point or if it was more along the lines of 'huh'.

[niyad]

23. you did notice that the attack happened on SEPTEMBER !!, yes?

[cin63]

10. "September Dawn"

Check that movie out. It tells all about it. Better hurry or all the copies will be destroyed.

[Bonhomme Richard]

13. That wacko Jon Voight is in it. n/t

[Generic Other]

24. Just watched it...thanks for the title

Incredibly disturbing. They killed the wagon train in as cowardly an act as I have ever heard of. The church leaders called it Blood Atonement for the death of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. I found it rather telling that President Buchanan pardoned Brigham Young for ordering the killings.

I have been reading about the massacre on a website maintained by relatives of those murdered. Unbelievably, the victims were actually proxy baptized by the church!!

An interesting site for history buffs and those looking into the mindset of Mormons as it relates to outsiders.

http://1857massacre.com/index.htm

[quinnox]

11. ok....

not sure what this is supposed to mean, but if this is the worst the Mormons did, they are freakin' boyscouts compared to say, the Christians and the bloody history of that religion.

[Brother Buzz]

18. Was it worse than Watergate?

The massacre was heinous, and all that, but the attempted cover-up and the Mormon whitewash still stinks.

[JaneyVee]

19. Well yeah, but christianity has a 2000 year head start.

[newspeak]

20. i lived in utah for over five years

have some family members who are mormon and one cousin's grandfather killed by mormons. there was an article in the paper in utah while living there that talked about when SLC was expanding, it was quite embarrassing finding bodies buried in the boonies. as I read, bucking church teachings and questioning got you eliminated.

I have a problem with the "worthiness" concept and those who aren't worthy are usually shown the back door. Then there is the matter of being a "gentile"-now some of those worthy members think there's nothing the least bit wrong of screwing over the "gentiles."

of course, you're right, looking at the atrocities committed by the catholic church, it seems the mormon church is "mild." the catholic church; however, has been in business a lot longer than the mormon church.

[deaniac21]

15. I can't figure out why

they wanted to leave Arkansas.

[FSogol]

16. I just read that chapter in "Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone" by George Black

Good book, btw.