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The Mountain Meadows massacre was a mass killing of Arkansas emigrants by Mormon Nauvoo Legion militia and Paiutes on Friday, September 11 1857. The murders took place at Mountain Meadows, a stopover along the Old Spanish Trail in southwestern Utah. Sources estimate that between 100 and 140 men, women and children were killed. The causes and circumstances remain highly controversial.

Fancher party

In the spring of 1857 approximately forty families of European ancestry, mostly from Marion, Benton, Carroll and Johnson counties in Arkansas, set off on an emigration to southern California. After being joined by other Arkansas trains and making its way west, it was soon called the Fancher train (or party) after Alexander Fancher who, having already made the journey to California twice before, had become its main leader. Fancher, an experienced leader and cattle driver, had traveled from Arkansas to California in 1850 at the height of the Gold Rush and again in 1853. By contemporary standards the Fancher party was prosperous, carefully organized and well-equipped for the journey.

The Mountain Meadows monument in Harrison, Boone County Arkansas (1955) indicates that the Fancher party was made up of several emigrant groups. The Fancher train departed from Benton County under the leadership of Alexander Fancher, as did the Huff train. The Poteet-Tackett-Jones train along with the Cameron and Miller trains left from Johnson County while the Mitchell, Dunlap and Prewitt trains began their treks from Marion County. The Baker train departed from Beller's Stand near Harrison in Carroll County (today Boone County). Each party left on different dates and was led by individual wagon masters. The families had many reasons for heading west. Some had sold their homes and property in Arkansas and were planning to settle in California. Others (like Fancher) were driving cattle west for profit. The lure of gold may have motivated some of the the young single men. Along their way westward other wagon trains merged with them, broke off, or rejoined the group. These included the Poteet-Tackett train, the Crooked Creek train, the Campbell train, the Parker train and the John S. Baker train. Families and individuals from other states may have joined up with the them.

Travel through Utah

The Fancher party arrived in Utah Territory in July with over 900 head of cattle but were running low on some supplies when they reached the Salt Lake City area on August 3 1857. The main Fancher train waited outside Salt Lake City for more than a week as other trains caught up with them. The Baker Train (named for Captain John Twitty Baker) was the last to arrive. Meanwhile the settlers had to decide which route to take across the Great Basin. The northern route meant traveling the Humboldt River Road west across the desert and Sierra Nevada mountains, then southward through California. The southern route, which involved less risk of the emigrants becoming snowbound in the mountains this late in the season, would carry them through the settlements in southern Utah, to the Mohave Desert and on to Los Angeles. At least one couple chose to take the northern route while others from the woman's family went south with the Fancher party towards southwestern Utah and Mountain Meadows.

Rumors and Antagonism

Only days before, Mormon leader and Utah Territorial Governor Brigham Young had declared martial law in response to potential hostilities with the United States government. President James Buchanan had ordered United States Army troops to advance towards Utah, beginning what would later be called the Utah War.

The Mormons they encountered along the way were suspicious of non-Mormons and most declined to trade with them for several reasons, including Young's declaration of martial law, his orders discouraging the trading of food with immigrants and his orders forbidding people from traveling through the territory without a pass, which the Fancher party did not have. However, the train's leadership may not have been aware of Young's martial law order since it was not made public until September 15.

The Fancher party may have been joined by a group of eleven miners and plainsmen who called themselves "Missouri Wildcats". There is debate on whether the Missouri Wildcats stayed with the slow-moving Fancher party after leaving Salt Lake City, or even existed. Though the conduct and/or existence of the Wildcats is now questioned, rumors about them at the time antagonized the local population. The most severe accusations about the Missouri Wildcats included: poisoning wells, bragging of participating in Haun's Mill massacre, and threats to return to Utah with an army to wipe out the Mormon population.. At least one account further claimed that Wildcats bragged they had the gun that "shot the guts out of Old Joe Smith".

Also, Popular Mormon leader Parley P. Pratt had been murdered in Arkansas a few months earlier (by the ex-husband of one of Pratt's plural wives) and news of his death had only recently begun to arrive in the area.. These rumors, martial law, threats of war and limited supplies all likely influenced individual Mormons who didn't sell food to the Fancher party.

Cedar City meetings

On September 1 in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young (who held the title of Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Utah) met with Indian chiefs from the Southern Territory, which included the area around Mountain Meadows. During a one-hour meeting, Young complained that the Americans had come to kill both Mormons and Indians. He told the chiefs that if they fought the Americans, he would give them all the cattle on the Southern California Trail.

As the Fancher party approached Mountain Meadows, several meetings were held in Cedar City and nearby Parowan by local LDS ("Latter-Day Saints") leaders pondering how to implement Young's declaration of martial law. They decided to "eliminate" the Fancher wagon train, but hesitated and sent a rider to Salt Lake City (a six-day round trip on horseback) for Brigham Young's advice. Meanwhile, organization among the local Mormon leadership reportedly broke down.

Mountain Meadows

The hungry, somewhat dispirited Fancher party found water and fresh grazing for its livestock after reaching grassy, mountain-ringed Mountain Meadows, a widely known stopover on the old Spanish Trail, in early September. They anticipated several days of rest and recuperation there. On September 7 the party was attacked by a group of Native American Paiutes and Mormon militiamen dressed as Native Americans. The Fancher party defended itself by encircling and lowering their wagons, wheels chained together, along with digging shallow trenches and throwing dirt both below and into the wagons, which made a strong barrier. Seven emigrants were killed during the opening attack and were buried somewhere within the wagon encirclement. Sixteen more were wounded. The attack continued for five days, during which the besieged families had little or no access to fresh water or game food and their ammunition was depleted.

On Friday, September 11 two Mormon militiamen approached the Fancher party wagons with a white flag and were soon followed by Indian agent and militia officer John D. Lee. Lee told the battle-weary emigrants he had negotiated a truce with the Paiutes, whereby they could be escorted safely to Cedar City under Mormon protection in exchange for leaving all their livestock and supplies to the Native Americans. Accepting this, they were split into three groups. Seventeen of the youngest children along with a few mothers and the wounded were put into wagons, which were followed by all the women and older children walking in a second group. Bringing up the rear were the adult males of the Fancher party, each walking with an armed Mormon militiaman at his right. Making their way back northeast towards Cedar City, the three groups gradually became strung out and visually separated by shrubs and a shallow hill. After about 2 kilometers the prearranged order, "Do Your Duty!" was given. Each Mormon then turned and killed the man he was guarding. All of the men, women, older children and wounded were massacred by Mormon militia and Paiutes who had hidden nearby. A few who escaped the initial slaughter were quickly chased down and killed.

Two teenaged girls, Rachel and Ruth Dunlap, managed to clamber down the side of a steep gully and hide among a clump of oak trees for several minutes. They were spotted by a Paiute chief from Parowan, who took them to Lee. Eighteen-year-old Ruth Dunlap reportedly fell to her knees and pleaded, "Spare me, and I will love you all my life!" By one account, both girls were raped before they were killed. However, Lee denied this and other accounts contradict this story.

All of the Mormon participants in the massacre were then sworn to secrecy and blame the attack on the Paiutes. The many dozens of bodies were hastily dragged into gullies and other low lying spots, then lightly covered with surrounding material which was soon blown away by the weather, leaving the remains to be scavenged and scattered by wildlife.

Surviving children

Approximately seventeen children were deliberately spared because of their young ages. In the hours following the massacre Lee directed Philip Kingensmith and possibly two others to take the children (a few of whom were wounded) to the nearby farm of Jacob Hamblin, a local Indian agent. Later Jacob Forney, the non-Mormon Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah, ordered that the children be placed in the care of local Mormon families pending an investigation of the matter and notification of kin. However, some accounts relate that Lee sold or bartered the children to whatever Mormon families would take them. Sarah Francis Baker, who was three years old at the time of the massacre, later said, "They sold us from one family to another."

Aftermath

The Paiutes reportedly received a portion of the Fancher party's significant livestock holdings as compensation for their part in the massacre. Many of the murdered emigrants' other belongings (including blood stained and bullet-riddled clothing stripped from the victims' corpses) were brought to Cedar City and stored in the cellar of an LDS warehouse as "property taken at the siege of Sebastopol." There are conflicting accounts as to whether these items were auctioned off or simply taken by members of the local population. Some of the surviving children subsequently claimed to have seen Mormons wearing their dead parents' clothing and jewelry.

In 1859, two years after the massacre, Brevet Major James Henry Carleton arrived in the area to investigate. At Mountain Meadows where he found women's hair tangled in sage brush and the bones of children still in their mothers' arms. Carleton later said it was "a sight which can never be forgotten." After gathering up the skulls and bones of those who had died, Carleton's troops buried them and erected a rock cairn inscribed with the words, Here 120 men, women, and children were massacred in cold blood early in September, 1857. They were from Arkansas, along with a cross bearing the words, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.

Meanwhile Carleton and others gathered up the surviving children from local families after which they were united with extended family members in Arkansas and other states. Several Mormon families claimed and received financial compensation from the federal government for the children's care and even protested that the amounts paid were insufficient although the conditions some of the children lived under were severely criticised.

Carleton issued a scathing report to the United States Congress, blaming local and senior church leaders for the massacre, however years later only Lee was charged with murder for his involvement. Lee's first trial ended in a mistrial but he was convicted on re-trial and executed by firing squad at Mountain Meadows.

The causes and circumstances of the Mountain Meadows Massacre remain contested and highly controversial. Although there is no evidence that Brigham Young ordered or condoned the massacre, what roles Cedar City church officials took in ordering the murders and Young took in concealing evidence in their aftermath are still questioned. Moreover, while by all accounts native American Paiutes were present, historical reports of their numbers and the details of their participation are contradictory. Paiute leaders stated in 2001 that the tribe's oral history denies any involvement in the massacre itself but does admit to many watching from a distance and pillaging the Fanchers' property after the massacre. Young's use of often inflammatory and violent language in response to perceived Federal colonialism has also been cited as having contributed to the tense atmosphere that helped precipitate the attack.

Memorials

Starting in 1988 descendants of both the Fancher party victims and the Mormon participants collaborated to design and dedicate a monument to replace the neglected and crumbling marker on the site. There are now three monuments to the massacre. Two of these are at Mountain Meadows. Mountain Meadows Association built a monument in 1990 which is mantained by the Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation. In 1999 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built and agreed to maintain a second monument. A monument in Arkansas is a replica of Carleton's original marker maintained by the Mountain Meadows Massacre Monument Foundation Inc.

A commemorative wagon train assembled at Beller Spring, Arkansas on April 21-22, 2007, with some participants in period dress, to honor the sesquicentennial of their ancestors' having embarked on its ill-fated journey.

Depictions in media

• The semi-autobiographical travel book Roughing It (1872) by Mark Twain within its Appendix B comments on the massacre based upon public perceptions of Americans during the late nineteenth century.
• The play Fire In The Bones (1978) by Thomas F. Rogers is a depiction of the massacre from the perspective of John D. Lee, and is based heavily on Juanita Brooks' research.
• The play Two-Headed (2000) by Julie Jensen depicts two middle-aged Latter Day Saint (Mormon) women reflecting on the massacre that occurred when they were children.
• The novel Red Water (2002) by Judith Freeman is a fictionalized account of John D. Lee's role in the massacre from the perspective of three of his nineteen wives.
• The documentary film Burying the Past: Legacy of the Mountain Meadows Massacre (2004) contains footage of forensic analysis of human remains from the massacre.
• The film September Dawn (2007), scheduled to open June 22, 2007,directed by Christopher Cain, is described by a press release as fictionalizing the "point of view held direct descendants ... that the iconic Brigham Young had complicity in the massacre, a view denied by the Mormon Church." Reportedly, the film depicts a love story set at the time of the massacre.
• The PBS documentary The Mormons (2007), is scheduled to air on PBS in two parts on April 30th and May 1st, 2007.

Notes

1. William P. MacKinnon, Loose in the Stacks, A Half-Century with the Utah War and its Legacy, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Vol. 40 No. 1) page 60
2. James Lynch, in sworn testimony (1859), stated that there were 140 victims "murdered in cold blood". Indian Superintendent Jacob Forney stated about 115 people had been killed . The monument erected in 1932 stated that the company consisted of about 140 emigrants and that all but 17 small children were killed. Brooks (1991), in the introduction of her paperback version of Moutain Meadows Massacre, concludes, "the number 123 people killed is greatly exaggerated" and cites several sources giving estimates less than 100. The monument erected in 1990 lists the names of 82 victims who have been identified by the research of descendents of the survivors (see and Bagley (2002)), but states that there were also "others who are unknown."
3. See map (posted at a Mountain Meadows Massacre Descendants webpage)
4. Bagley (2002), pp. 55-68; Finck (2005).
5. Bagley (2002) pp. 57; 1850 San Diego County, CA census Roll: M432_35; Page: 280; Image: 544
6. Fancher family correspondence, Lynn-Marie Fancher and Alison C. Wallner, 1857: An Arkansas Primer To The Mountain Meadows Massacre", 2006
7. Bancroft (1889) p. 545; Linn (1902) Chap. XVI, 4th full paragraph.
8. William C. Mitchell, List of the Mountain Meadows Massacre Victims, Letter to A. B. Greenwood, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. April 26, 1860. See also: http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/arkansasemigrants.htm
9. Lynn-Marie Fancher and Alison C. Wallner, 1857: An Arkansas Primer To The Mountain Meadows Massacre", 2006
10. Bagley (2002) pp. 62-65
11. Lynn-Marie Fancher and Alison C. Wallner, 1857: An Arkansas Primer To The Mountain Meadows Massacre", 2006
12. Lynn-Marie Fancher and Alison C. Wallner, 1857: An Arkansas Primer To The Mountain Meadows Massacre, 2006
13. Bancroft (1889) p. 544; Gibbs (1910) p. 12.
14. Salt Lake City became a major resupply destination for emigrants, traveling to CA., shortly after the California Gold Rush. See , Old Spanish Trail] .
15. See Malinda (Cameron) Scott Thurston Deposition 3,1857
16. Bagley (2002) pp. 97
17. Bagley (2002) pp. 99
18. See the deposition made years later by Melinda Cameron.
19. See Young, Brigham (August 5, 1857). Proclamation by the Governor. Salt Lake City: Territory of Utah. Alternate location.
20. Bagley (2002), pp. 95-99; Denton (2003), pp. 114-115.
21. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 5
22. Salt Lake City: Territory of Utah. Alternate location.
23. Brooks 1991, page xxi.
24. Bagley (2002), p. 280, refers to the "Missouri Wildcats" story as "Utah mythology"
25. See http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/program/episodes/four/mountain.htm and http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no88.htm and http://www.youknow.com/chris/essays/misc/mtnmeadows.html
26. Mountain Meadows Massacre in Tietoa Mormonismista Suomeksi.
27. "Pratt was called on a mission to the southern states and while he was on this mission, a lawsuit was filed by one Hector McLean, who accused Pratt of causing an estrangement between himself and his former wife, Eleanor. Although Pratt was exonerated by the court, McLean and two accomplices pursued Pratt to Alma, Arkansas, where they fired at and stabbed him. He died on 13 May 1857 and was quietly buried at what is now Fine Springs, Arkansas." Hector was unhappy with the result of the lawsuit and was later convicted of Pratt's murder. See also http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/mtn_meadows/9.html and http://www.prattconference.org/area_info.htm.
28. Bagley (2002), pp. 68-72, 80-81.
29. See Brooks, Chapter 3, pp 140-142. See Bagley. Chapter 6. pp 113-114. See Denton. Chapter 11. p158.
30. Shirts (1994), Paragraph 6
31. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 6 "In the meantime, things got completely out of hand. Orders and counterorders were misinterpreted, deliberately or otherwise."
32. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 8
33. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 8 "By Friday, 11 September, low on water and ammunition, they were in a helpless condition."
34. Lee was a scribe for the Council of 50 and a friend of both Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young, in both of whose service Lee had performed duties as a law enforcement and security officer and was rumored to have been an Avenging Angel (a territorial operative or enforcer) as well.
35. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 9
36. http://www.xmission.com/~country/reason/lee_mm.htm,
37. Gibbs (1910) p. 36.
38. Gibbs (1910), Part 3 under heading "The Massacre", paragraphs 16-19
39. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 11 "Appalled by what had been done, and in fear of possible repercussions, an effective cover-up plan was put into force. It blamed the entire episode on the Indians, and continued to be maintained for the next few years in the face of outside outrage and investigation."
40. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 10
41. Multiple sources claim that Lee protested and prohibited the death of all children that were assumed to be under the age of eight, and directed that they be placed in the care of one who was not involved in the massacre. See for example, http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/jdlconfession.htm. Not all of the young children were spared, however; at least one infant was killed in his father's arms by the same bullet that killed the adult man.
42. John D. Lee's Confessions state that he directed Knight and McMurdy to take charge of the children as well
43. Testimony of Philip Klingensmith (July 23 - 24, 1875). First Trial of John D. Lee.
44. Bagley (2002), Chapter 13, page 237 also Brooks (1950), Appendix X
45. Carleton (1859), "Lee told Brigham that the Indians would not be satisfied if they did not have a share of the cattle. Brigham left it to Lee to make the distribution."
46. Carleton (1959).
47. Weekly Stockton Democrat; 5 June 1859. As quoted at this website http://1857massacre.com/MMM/WeeklyStocktonDemocrat.htm. "Both and a boy named Miram recognized dresses and a part of the jewelry belonging to their mothers, worn by the wives of John D. Lee, the Mormon Bishop of Harmony. The boy, Miram, identified his father's oxen, which are now owned by Lee.
48. Fisher, Alyssa (2003-09-16). "A Sight Which Can Never Be Forgotten". Archaeology. Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved 2007-01-07. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
49. After the massacre, the decision was made to take the children to the nearby Hamblin home; however, Hamblin was gone at the time of the killings. Hamblin's testimony in this regard is as following (Q=attorney in Lee's trial; A=Hamblin): "Q: What became of the children of those emigrants? How many children were brought there? A: Two to my house, and several in Cedar City. I was acting subagent for Forney. I gathered the children up for him; seventeen in number, all I could learn of. Q: Whom did you deliver them to? A: Forney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah." Also, see the Carelton report, referenced elsewhere in this article.
50. Carleton (1859), "these Mormons ...dared even to come forward and claim payment for having kept these little ones barely alive..."
51. Shirts, (1994) Paragraph 11
52. Smith, Cristopher (2001-01-21). "Forensic Study Aids Tribe's View Of Mountain Meadows Massacre". Salt Lake Tribune. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help) Fee required.
53. MacKinnon, (2007) p. 7.
54. Shirts (1994). See pictures on 1990 Monument and 1999 Monument
55. Kirkman, Frank. Photos of 2006 Meeting, page 6. Frank Kirkman's Mountain Meadows Massacre Site. Last accessed 2007-03-25.
56. "Mountain Meadows relatives mark 150th anniversary" - April 24, 2007 Deseret News.
57. MacDonald, G. Jeffrey, "Debating History: Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?" Washington Post, Saturday, April 28, 2007; Page B09. retrieved April 28, 2007
58. Press release (2007-03-26).
59. See Farms review, Variety , or Politico.com.

References

• Template:Harvard reference. The New York Review of Books review and Sunstone Magazine review.

• Template:Harvard reference.

• Template:Harvard reference.

• Template:Harvard reference.

• Template:Harvard reference. First published federal report on the massacre.

• John Cradlebaugh, elected delegate of the territory of NV. Speech on the admission of Utah as a State given before the 37th Congress, 3rd Session, February 7, 1863, titled "UTAH AND THE MORMONS." http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=063/llcg063.db&recNum=798

• Template:Harvard reference. Washington Post review and Letter to the editor in response to the review.

• Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, Editorial Board. Template:Harvard reference.

• Template:Harvard reference (Alternate link, GoogleBooks).

• Template:Harvard reference. Gutenberg version

• Template:Harvard reference. Aslo included in Brooks (1991) Appendix XII.

• Template:Harvard reference. BookReporter.com review.

• Template:Harvard reference.

• Template:Harvard reference

• Template:Harvard reference.

• Template:Harvard reference.

• Template:Harvard reference

• Newspaper Articles
  • Los Angles Star(3 October 1957),(10 October 1957),(4 March 1958)
  • Western Standard(13 October 1957)
  • Mountain Democrat(17 October 1957),(31 October 1957)
    • http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/CA/misccal1.htm
  • Corinne Reporter. ARGUS. see Stenhouse XLIII
  • Deseret News(1 December 1869)
  • Valley Tan((5 March 1859),(29 February 1860,see Brooks Appendix XI)
    • http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/

See also

• List of members of the Fancher party

• Mormon War (1838, Missouri)
• Extermination Order (1838, Missouri)
• Illinois Mormon War (1844-1845)
• Mormon Exodus (1846-1857)
• Mormon Reformation (1856-1858, Utah)
• Utah War (1857-1858)

External links

• Mountain Meadows Association – "An unusual mix of historians and descendants of massacre victims and perpetrators" (The Salt Lake Tribune).
• An account of the Mountain Meadows Massacre from the Court TV Crime Library
• Background articles from Comprehensive History of the Church, Messages of the First Presidency - President Wilford Woodruff, and The Restored Church
• Images of the current Mountain Meadows monument and surrounding area
• Resources and Links from the Mountain Meadows Association

• 1857 in the United States
• Archaeological sites in the United States
• History of Arkansas
• History of the American West
• History of the Latter Day Saint movement
• History of Utah
• Massacres by Native Americans
• Massacres in the United States
• Religiously motivated violence in the United States
• Religious scandals
• Mormonism-related controversies