Brigham Young

Brigham Young has become the face of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Joseph Smith was certainly the founder but Brigham Young is arguably the face of the church. He is sometimes called the American Moses for his leading of the persecuted Mormons to their promised land of Utah.

Brigham Young was born in Whittington, Virginia in 1801. He was first raised Methodist but after reading the book of Mormon he converted. Young then joined a Mormon establishment in Kirtland, Ohio. After joining the Mormons of Kirtland, Ohio, Young was made an ordained member of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1835. This was Young’s first leadership position in the Church of Latter Day Saints. While in Jail for treason in 1844, Joseph Smith, Leader of the Church, was murdered by an angry mob who thought that the church’s beliefs were unmoral. Then after two year of argument over who was best suited to be the successor to Joseph Smith, Brigham Young was named President of the church.

After continued conflict between the Mormons and gentiles, as they would be called by the Mormons, Young would move his people west to the territory of Utah. Utah was then part of the Country of Mexico who was more tolerable of the Mormons than that of the United States.  After moving to Utah, the territory was made part of the United States after the Mexican American War. Brigham Young petitioned for Utah to become a state. He lobbied for the state to be called Deseret which means honey bee in the book of Mormon. But with the compromise of 1850, Utah was installed as a territory rather than a state though he was named governor of the territory.  But after becoming governor, there began to be conflicts between the federal officials and Brigham Young. Federal officials were accusing the Mormons of obstructing justice and operating an autocracy rather than a democracy. In response to this President James Buchanan sent a non-Mormon replacement to Utah along with federal troops to occupy the forts. Young ordered a militia to be formed and attack the federal troops. The troops were kept at bay for a winter but Brigham Young decided to step down and in doing so Buchanan pardoned him.

Brigham Young’s connection to the Mountain Meadows Massacre is that of speculation. He was the supreme ruler of the church and any decisions would have come through him. He would have heard about the Baker–Fancher party crossing into the Utah Territory and any plan among the members of the church would have had to have been approved by him.  According to the Mormons, Brigham Young had issued an order that the Baker–Fancher party was supposed to be able to pass through the territory unmolested though the order arrived two days too late. One issue in the story of events was that after the massacre had occurred the church seemed to have attempted a cover up. This can be further hypothesized by the results of the trial of John D. Lee, a key member of the militia of the Mormons at the Mountain Meadows Massacre.  John D. Lee was the only person to be convicted of the massacre and during his trial not one Mormon came to his defense.  In essence he was the scape goat.  Brigham Young also cited his age as reasoning for not attending the trial.  These clues would suggest that something is being hidden from history.

References

1.       Arrington, Leonard J. Brigham Young: American Moses. New York: Knopf, 1985

2.       Bagley, Will. Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.

3.       "Brigham Young Portrait." Digital image. Brigham Young Family Association. Accessed April 22, 2013. http://www.brighamyoungfamily.org/.

4.       Brooks, Juanita. The Mountain Meadows Massacre. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.

5.       Denton, Sally. American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

6.       Walker, Ronald W., Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Leonard. Massacre at Mountain Meadows. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.