Mountain Meadow Massacre

February 3, 2007 9:43 AM

Mountain Meadow MassacreWhen I left Los Angeles, the 23rd ultimo, General Clarke, commanding the Department of California, directed me to bury the bones of the victims of that terrible massacre which took place on this ground in September, 1857. The fact of this massacre of (in my opinion) at least 120 men, women and children, who were on their way from the State of Arkansas to California, has long been well known. I have endeavored to learn the circumstances attending it, and have the honor to submit the following as the result of my inquiries on this point:
posted by Falconetti (21 comments total)

Testimony in the trials of John D. Lee, including a deposition taken of Brigham Young

Last confession of John D. Lee

Last words of John D. Lee, as reported by his attorney William W. Bishop

Sermons by Brigham Young on the doctrine of blood atonement

Refutation of falsehoods appearing in the Illustrated American, January 9, 1891

Thurston v. US, 232 U.S. 469 (1914) (denial of claim to recover property by estate of victim of massacre)

In Memorium

Here to help.
posted by Falconetti at 9:44 AM on February 3, 2007

Yay mormons - and then there's the racism.
posted by 2sheets at 10:40 AM on February 3, 2007

[fixed links]
posted by jessamyn at 10:42 AM on February 3, 2007

Excellent post. The Brevet Major's account is fascinating. The roots of Mormomism as paranoid cult led by charlatans with persecution complexes is mind boggling - and noteworthy that, in the end, Mormomism flourishes and was allowed to flourish and promote intolerance even as these settlers were massacred. How close we are in time to Shia vs Sunni, Midwest Edition.
posted by Rumple at 11:03 AM on February 3, 2007

I just woke up, my coffee hasn't kicked in yet, and when I blearily read the first few sentences of this post, I was somehow thinking it was an Ask-Mefi post instead of an FPP. "Damn, Falconetti," I thought to myself, "It's horrible that you had to go through all that.

Needless to say, I'm glad the original poster didn't in fact have to go through all that, but thank you for an excellent post.
posted by infinitywaltz at 11:30 AM on February 3, 2007

What horror you have dragged me through, Falconetti.

Terrific post.
posted by jamjam at 11:34 AM on February 3, 2007

Excellent post.

and noteworthy that, in the end, Mormomism flourishes and was allowed to flourish

Tell me about it. The whole damn West is full of these people. The ignominious doctrine and history of their church ought to be much more widely known, if you ask me...
posted by vorfeed at 11:41 AM on February 3, 2007

So much for getting along with your Mormon neighbors.
posted by srboisvert at 12:49 PM on February 3, 2007

They should have joined the ward meetings.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 1:10 PM on February 3, 2007

When I was about nine or ten, my younger brother (six or seven at the time) came home from school and asked my dad what he knew about the "Meadow Muffin Massacre".
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:14 PM on February 3, 2007

Of course, that wasn't the only pre-Civil War massacre in the West.
posted by dw at 1:17 PM on February 3, 2007

What fantastic paradoxes American history is made of.

Mountain Meadows led directly to the Utah War -- and oddly, the Pony Express.

Today the Church operates the Mountain Meadows Association, which maintains a granite monument at the site and a wall of names added in 1990. A marker was added in 1999 to the cairn marking the gravesite, built by US Army troops some two years after the massacre (which looks disturbingly like a pile of skulls).
posted by dhartung at 1:19 PM on February 3, 2007

BTW, I didn't type "here to help." My links were initially messed up and someone redid them for me and wrote "here to help" in their post. Jessamyn helpfully replaced my faulty links with the correct ones, but the "here to help" remained as an artifact. I am explicitly not here to help any one. Fend for yourselves.
posted by Falconetti at 3:57 PM on February 3, 2007

Early Mormon muscle? — Brigham Young and Wild Bill Hickman, referring to the book:

Brigham's Destroying Angel

BEING THE
LIFE, CONFESSION, AND STARTLING DISCLOSURES
OF THE NOTORIOUS
BILL HICKMAN,
THE DANITE CHIEF OF UTAH.

Written by Himself, with Explanatory Notes by
J. H. BEADLE, ESQ.,
OF SALT LAKE CITY.

ILLUSTRATED.

Salt Lake City, Utah:
SHEPARD PUBLISHING COMPANY, PUBLISHERS,
272 STATE ST., OPPOSITE HOTEL KNUTSFORD,
1904.

A refutation of the above.
posted by cenoxo at 6:49 PM on February 3, 2007

I just spent 2 1/2 hours looking at all the posted links and then some. Thanks for a great post, Falconetti.
posted by deborah at 12:57 AM on February 4, 2007

absolutely disgusting.
posted by subaruwrx at 1:10 AM on February 4, 2007

Two chapters in and looking forward to the rest. Great post, thanks.
posted by Shave at 5:21 AM on February 4, 2007

Utah playwright Julie Jensen's,"Two Headed" tells the story of two young mormon girls growing up during the time.
posted by hortense at 9:34 AM on February 4, 2007

Slaughter of Native Americans? Racism towards indigenous cultures, slave races, and any others who are different or a hurdle towards expansion?

Easy to blame ALL Mormons, but never our own ancestors, is it. Still, hypocrisy is also strikingly American.
posted by artifarce at 7:03 PM on February 4, 2007

Eliminationism in America, Part IX: The Structural Legacy
posted by homunculus at 8:25 PM on February 4, 2007

My dead ancestors don't knock on my door early in the morning to sell me their silly belief system.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 8:28 PM on February 4, 2007