Comments on: Mountain Meadow Massacre

Mountain Meadow Massacre

Falconetti — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 09:43:54 -0800

Mountain Meadow Massacre When 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:

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 09:44:00 -0800

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.

By: 2sheets

2sheets — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 10:40:47 -0800

Yay mormons - and then there's the racism.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 10:42:07 -0800

[fixed links]

By: Rumple

Rumple — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:03:01 -0800

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.

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:30:16 -0800

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.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:34:47 -0800

What horror you have dragged me through, Falconetti. Terrific post.

By: vorfeed

vorfeed — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:41:08 -0800

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...

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 12:49:52 -0800

So much for getting along with your Mormon neighbors.

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 13:10:00 -0800

They should have joined the ward meetings.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 13:14:32 -0800

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".

By: dw

dw — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 13:17:46 -0800

Of course, that wasn't the only pre-Civil War massacre in the West.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 13:19:04 -0800

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).

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 15:57:55 -0800

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.

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:49:24 -0800

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.

By: deborah

deborah — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:57:43 -0800

I just spent 2 1/2 hours looking at all the posted links and then some. Thanks for a great post, Falconetti.

By: subaruwrx

subaruwrx — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 01:10:41 -0800

absolutely disgusting.

By: Shave

Shave — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 05:21:18 -0800

Two chapters in and looking forward to the rest. Great post, thanks.

By: hortense

hortense — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 09:34:40 -0800

Utah playwright Julie Jensen's,"Two Headed" tells the story of two young mormon girls growing up during the time.

By: artifarce

artifarce — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:03:15 -0800

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.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:25:24 -0800

Eliminationism in America, Part IX: The Structural Legacy

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:28:16 -0800

My dead ancestors don't knock on my door early in the morning to sell me their silly belief system.