Utah abuzz over 1857 mountain massacre

The Washington Times ^ | 9/21/02 | C.G. Wallace

[hoosierskypilot]

SALT LAKE CITY

[hoosierskypilot]

I read about this in 1982 in a book called "Mormonism, Shadow or Reality" by Jerald and Sandra Tanner of the Utah Lighthouse Ministry. Fascinating reading. Hard to believe it's just now hitting the airwaves.

[widowithfoursons]

Paragraphs are your friends.

[alaskanfan]

Put on your asbestos underwear and nomex coveralls.

[hoosierskypilot]

"Paragraphs are your friends.."

Yea. It's late. I'm tired. And I've been studying Data Based Management Systems all day.

Funny, it looked o.k. on the preview.

[Gigantor]

SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly a century and a half after California-bound pioneers were slaughtered by Mormon settlers and their Indian allies, a new book blaming the massacre on church leader Brigham Young is causing a sensation in the Mormon community.

Church historians vehemently disagree with the premise of "Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows." But author Will Bagley says circumstantial evidence points to Young's involvement.

"Claiming that Brigham Young had nothing to do with Mountain Meadows is akin to arguing that Abraham Lincoln had nothing to do with the Civil War," Mr. Bagley writes. "His own words reveal that both before and after the massacre, Brigham Young recognized the likely results of his acts."

On the shelves since late August, Mr. Bagley's book is a best seller in Salt Lake City, headquarters of the Mormon Church. Sam Weller's Books, which specializes in Western and Mormon history, has sold more than 400 copies, said store manager Dennis Evans.

"I have not seen anything quite like it in terms of [Mormon] history," Mr. Evans said. On the heels of Mr. Bagley's work, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now is planning to publish its own book on the killings. This comes after years of church leaders insisting that the Sept. 11, 1857, massacre should be a closed chapter in Utah history.

Author Richard Turley, the church's chief historian, said his book will make clear that Brigham Young did not plan the murders. The victims of the Mountain Meadows massacre were a group of men, women and children on their way from Arkansas to California. Mr. Young at the time was the church's prophet and president, its second, and the man who brought the faith's headquarters to the West in 1847 after founder Joseph Smith was murdered in Illinois.

Under Young's leadership, the territory that would become Utah operated as a "theo-democracy." Ten years after the Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, however, the Army was preparing to squelch Utah's resistance to federal control and its practice of polygamy, Mr. Bagley writes. As troops drew closer, Utah trained its own military and stockpiled guns, ammunition and food.

In the midst of growing war hysteria, wagon trains continued to move through the territory on the way to California, including the pioneers from northwest Arkansas. About the same time, tales also began to spread about the death of a Mormon leader, Parley Pratt, in Arkansas. Rumors made their way around Utah that members of the Arkansas wagon train were involved.

Mr. Bagley, who writes a state history column for the Salt Lake Tribune, said this coincidence helped seal the pioneers' fates. "Brigham Young considered this a righteous act of vengeance," said Mr. Bagley. But he said Young also wanted to send a message to the United States that he controlled the road to California.

Mr. Bagley said the massacre was planned and organized before the Arkansas group — traveling through Utah from north to south — reached the southern part of the territory. The Mormon settlers and Indians ambushed the wagon train of 40 men, 30 women and 70 children. The pioneers circled their wagons and dug in, surrendering days later when the Mormon settlers promised them safety if they disarmed.

Instead, the Mormon militia and Indians killed them. Seventeen children under the age of 7 were spared and adopted into the community. It wasn't until two decades after the murders that anyone was held accountable for the slaughter: John D. Lee, whom Mr. Bagley and many others believe was the Mormon Church's scapegoat.

Moments before a firing squad executed Mr. Lee, the condemned man sat on the edge of his coffin and denounced Young. "'I studied to make this man's will my pleasure for 30 years. See, now, what I have come to this day! I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner,'" Mr. Bagley quotes Mr. Lee as saying.

Mr. Turley announced in May he was writing his own chronicle of the massacre. His book, to be titled "Tragedy at Mountain Meadows," is tentatively set for publication in 2003 by the Oxford University Press. Mr. Turley maintains Young had no part in the massacre, calling it an independent plan by an isolated group of settlers.

Those in southwest Utah had heard stories about the bad behavior of the approaching wagon train. The community, however, was divided about what to do with the travelers, and decided to send a message to Salt Lake City and ask Brigham Young for guidance, Mr. Turley said. But before the messenger could leave, the emigrants were ambushed.

[hoosierskypilot]

"Put on your asbestos underwear and nomex coveralls.."

Say, bro, I didn't write the book. I just posted the article.

Probably won't make much difference though, will it? (They're not a real objective bunch.)

Some years back, when Mormons revised their Book of Mormon, they set out to retrieve all copies of the earlier versions. Too incriminating.

Anyway, they sent some to a private college in Arkansas which had a pretty impressive historical book collection.
These guys asked to exchange the old copies with a new and improved version. The librarian said no, and promply called security.

Kind of funny, though, that the book of Mormon has been corrected so many times. It is supposed to have come directly from God (on the golden tablets which no one but Smith saw) and then God told Smith verbatim what the tablets said. And still, had all those mistakes.

Guess Smith didn't have his spell checker on.

[hoosierskypilot]

O.K., Mr. Wizard. You made your point. ;)

[Savage Beast]

Hey, I thought they had a list of certified witnesses who saw those golden tablets and signed affadavits and all.

[glorgau]

Never trust someone who swears off drinking before they even touch a drop... ;-)

[alaskanfan]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not oposed to the validity of what you are posting. I've been flamed in the past for making anti-lds statements.

I grew up in southern and central Idaho (more mormons per capita than Utah) and witnessed their hypocrisy first hand.

I will say that the largest percentage of Mormons are good people. I just fail to understand how they can believe the hogwash surrounding the founding of their doctrines.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[tet68]

See the power of faith, first I heard they were copper and
now they've turned to gold, simply amazing.

[Free the USA]

fyi

[AppyPappy]

And still, had all those mistakes

Name the mistakes please.

[doosee]

Some years back, when Mormons revised their Book of Mormon, they set out to retrieve all copies of the earlier versions. Too incriminating.


I would like to know why the LDS copyrighted their Book of Mormon and sue people who quote from it? Something to hide maybe?

[restornu]

Some years back, when Mormons revised their Book of Mormon, they set out to retrieve all copies of the earlier versions. Too incriminating.


What do you mean by incriminating?

BTW I have an a copy of the first Book of Mormon as well as thousands of others LDS you could get in the 80's leathred bound at $4.95 before all the punctuations and grammar was corrected.

[restornu]

Who sued?

[Wrigley]

FYI ping

[gcruse]

. I just fail to understand how they can believe the hogwash
surrounding the founding of their doctrines.

It was my questioning of their beliefs that led
me to question my Christian beliefs, as well.
That's why I am an atheist today.  It's all hogwash.

[gcruse]

. I just fail to understand how they can believe the hogwash
surrounding the founding of their doctrines.

It was my questioning of their beliefs that led
me to question my Christian beliefs, as well.
That's why I am an atheist today.  It's all hogwash.