"Mountain Meadows Massacre" by Juanita Brooks
Above: Mountain Meadows Massacre - Juanita Brooks - 291 Pages
2. That this particular company met disaster was due to a most unhappy combination of circumstances: they were the first to pass when the war frenzy was at its height; their own attitude was such as to fan that frenzy and provoke added violence. Had they been of the temperament of the group immediately following, they would likely have escaped unharmed, although short of provisions and robbed of their cattle. But the reckless boasts and acts on the part of those who called themselves "Missouri Wildcats" culminated in disaster for the whole train.
I completed reading this book today. Second reading. I first read the book over twenty years ago.
My recent and regular trips to southern Utah brought this topic back to top of mind.
In early September 1857 some 120 members of a California bound wagon train were killed by white Mormon settlers and local Indians as they passed through southern Utah.
At the time, Utah was in a state of siege. Twenty-five hundred Federal troops were bearing down on Utah, coming from the East, to make sure that Brigham Young knew that Utah was a Federal territory, and, that though he had dual designation of LDS Church President and Utah Territorial Governor, US law trumped any scheme he (Young) was cooking up to set up a jurisdiction not beholden to US authority.
In anticipation of a fight, Young had steeled up the resolve of Church members throughout Utah to resist the Federal "invasion" of Zion. Church members were admonished to husband their resources, identify escape routes into the mountains, cache food and to be wary of, and not transact with, "gentiles" passing through in California bound wagon trains. Young also instructed his charges to make sure they preserved cooperative relations with the local Indian tribes.
Into this tense environment came the 140 strong, 15 wagon, 600 head of cattle Fancher wagon train from Carrol County, Arkansas. Where, prior to the Utah War Mormon mobilization, wagon trains traveling through Salt Lake City usually traded with the friendly locals, the
Fancher train members found stand-offish-ness and resistance. The tension worsened when the Mormons learned that there were numerous Fancher train members from Missouri, a state, whose governor, Lilburn Boggs, had issued an extermination order against the Mormons, who were later driven out of Missouri in the late 1830's.
Fancher train related Incidents were reported, down territory, after the Fanchers left Salt Lake City, California bound. Like..." the Fanchers poisoned an Indian well resulting in the death of several Indian cattle and a few Indians!" Or, "Fanchers yelled from the train, to the effect: 'Hey, I'm from Missouri! I was in Carthage, Illinois when old Joe Smith (martyred Mormon leader) was shot! I fired one of the shots that killed him!'" And... so on, Fanchers fanning flames, as it were.
By the time the California bound Fanchers reached southern Utah, three weeks after leaving Salt Lake City, local Mormon militias were mobilizing to be ready for the US military threat coming from the East. Word had reached the local Mormon militia leaders, via the Indians and Mormon express riders, that the Fanchers were trouble makers... and de facto, if not de jure, partners with the US effort to subdue them.
A September 3 attack on the Fancher Train at Mountain Meadows, near Cedar City, by the local Piute Indians, likely encouraged, if not orchestrated, by the local Mormon militia, ended in a five day stalemate. During the siege, the Fanchers had become aware of white people watching the battle and seemingly cooperating with the Indians.
The local Mormon militia had sent an express rider to Salt Lake City to get Brigham Young's opinion on what should be done, but local officials decided that they had no other option but to eliminate the Fancher group, and blame the massacre on the Indians, before receiving Young's answer, lest their own culpability in sponsoring the ambush should be revealed.
Brigham Young's reply, received after the massacre had started, told local authorities to leave the train alone, but, also said, to the effect, "there is nothing we can do about the Indians." Hmmm. Supporters of Young, including Brooks, have used this late arriving "express" to absolve Brigham Young of culpability for the massacre.
After five days of siege, the Fanchers were lured out of their redoubt with promises by Mormon militia members to keep them safe from Indians. Seeing no other option, the Fanchers agreed to leave their stronghold. As they came into the open, they were summarily murdered by Mormon militia members and Indians.
Sixteen young children, who were deemed too young to remember what happened that day, were spared. Those children were put in the care of nearby Mormon households. Two years later federal authorities retrieved the children and returned them to surviving relatives in Arkansas.
Obviously, there is no justification for killing innocent people in cold blood. That the killings were facilitated by a deceitful stratagem, renders the crime doubly heinous. But, there are some lessons to be learned, offered up by author Brooks (directly quoted from the book, below), that militate against easy, black and white, answers to describe this tragedy.
1. While Brigham Young and George A. Smith, the church authorities chiefly responsible, did not specifically order the massacre, they did preach sermons and set up social conditions which made it possible.
2. That this particular company met disaster was due to a most unhappy combination of circumstances: they were the first to pass when the war frenzy was at its height; their own attitude was such as to fan that frenzy and provoke added violence. Had they been of the temperament of the group immediately following, they would likely have escaped unharmed, although short of provisions and robbed of their cattle. But the reckless boasts and acts on the part of those who called themselves "Missouri Wildcats" culminated in disaster for the whole train.
3. While he did not order the massacre, and would have prevented it if he could, Brigham Young was accessory after the fact, in that he knew what had happened, and how and why it happened. Evidence of this is abundant and unmistakable, and from the most impeccable Mormon sources.
While many local Mormons were involved in the massacre, only one was brought to justice... twenty years later. John D. Lee. Lee was the man on the spot who orchestrated the strategy of deceit that resulted in the death of the Fanchers.
Delays in resolving the case were due to the intervening Civil War. The book chronicles the life of Lee and his family in the twenty year interim between the massacre and his execution. Soon after giving his report on the massacre to Brigham Young, Lee was advised by Church authorities to make himself scarce. With one of his wives he repaired to a Colorado River crossing in northern Arizona and ran a ferry to enable Arizona based Mormon Church members to reach the LDS temple in St. George, UT. That crossing is now referred to as Lee's Ferry. Today it is a principal access point for rafting trips down the Colorado River. As pressure mounted to prosecute Lee, he was excommunicated from the LDS Church. Lee was pressured by authorities to implicate others, including Brigham Young, as perpetrators of the massacre. Though he felt victimized by being the sole person tried for the atrocity, Lee refused to implicate others, including Young. A number of prominent people in modern times are direct, lineal, descendants of John D. Lee. Rex Lee, Solicitor General for the United States under President Ronald Reagan. Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior for President John F. Kennedy. Tom Udall, US Senator, New Mexico, 2009 to 2021. Mike Lee, US Senator, Utah, 2011 to 2021.
Author Brooks, a Mormon, was raised in Southern Utah during the early part of the twentieth century. She grew up hearing hushed stories, from elderly people, alive during her youth, about a tragedy that occurred in 1857. As she researched the book, she received resistance from ordinary Church members and Church officials who would have rather seen this event not publicly documented. Still, on publication of "The Mountain Meadows Massacre" in 1950, the LDS Church did not comment, and, Juanita Brooks remained a Church member in good standing.
In 1988, almost four decades after publication of Brooks' book, descendants of the Mormon pioneers involved in the massacre and descendants of the victims came together and set in motion activities that would lead to a sanctification of Mountain Meadows. They commissioned a granite monument on which a complete listing of all the known names of the victims and survivors would be inscribed. President Gordon B. Hinckley, a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke at the monument's dedication.
A number of other books have been written on the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I've read the official LDS Church account, "Massacre," by Walker, Turner and Leonard, and "Blood of the Prophets," by Will Bagley. However, Brooks' book, marvelously researched, has stood the test of time and remains the seminal read on this topic.