The Mountain Meadows Massacre: A Synopsis

                On September 11, 1857, one of the most graphic and horrific massacres to occur on United States soil happened at the Mountain Meadows in Southern Utah.  The Mormon militia and the Paiute Indians attacked the wagon train of the Baker–Fancher party, a group of 120 men, women and children traveling west to settle in California. The Baker–Fancher party needed a place to stop along their trip west in order to rest and resupply. They decided to stop in Salt Lake City which was common practice by the caravans traveling west at the time. But with Buchanan’s decision to send federal troops to Utah in order to insure democracy, Governor Brigham Young instituted Martial Law and mustered all the militias. At the time Utah was a territory and Brigham Young, President of the Church of Latter Day Saints, had been appointed governor by the President of the United Stated. But there was grumblings by federal officials that Young was ordering citizens to disregard federal laws and obstruction of justice was common. So President Buchanan decided to send in federal troops to ensure democracy.

With federal troops on the way and martial law initiated, the Baker–Fancher party decided to travel south on the Old Spanish Trail through the mountain pass of southern Utah. After traveling south the Baker–Fancher party decided to stop at the Mountain Meadows in order to regain strength for the last bit of the journey.  While traveling there many of the local Mormons in Cedar City and other towns met in order to figure out how to implement the martial law that Brigham Young had commanded. These meetings were mostly led by William H. Dame and Isaac C. Haight who were leaders of their militias. The groups came up with the idea of having the Paiute Indians attack the gentiles, as they were called, which would have taken the blame away from the Mormons.  Word was sent to Brigham Young who was claimed to have ordered the wagon train to be unmolested, but either his orders were untrue, disregarded or arrived too late as is claimed.

On September 7^th the Paiute Indians and Mormon militia who was dressed up like Indians began a series of attacks on the wagon train. The Baker–Fancher party responded by encircling themselves in a barricade of their wagons. The attacks lasted for five days until militia leader John D Lee approached the Baker–Fancher party with a white flag. He claimed he had negotiated a truce with the Indians for the travelers. The deal would be that the travelers would give all supplies and livestock to the Indians and that they would follow him back to Cedar City for safety. The Baker–Fancher party agreed and left their fortification, supplies and livestock. John D Lee then led the Baker–Fancher party towards Cedar City but not before having the men separated into one group and the woman and children in another.  After walking a fair ways, the men were shot and killed by the militia that was supposedly protecting them. The Women and children were ambushed by militia that was accompanying them and more that were hiding in the bushes and trees. The order was given to kill all travelers that would be old enough to remember the massacre in order to keep the illusion that it was the Indians that massacred the Baker–Fancher party. Any children that were deemed young enough to not remember were captured and raised by Mormon families until the U.S. Army later took them back to their relatives in Arkansas.

Although the massacre occurred with many people involved, those who participated were sworn into secrecy. But when federal investigators came to identify the people who took part in the massacre it was unanimous that John D. Lee was the main culprit. He would become not only the only person convicted of any wrong doing but also the only one sentenced to death. After years went by a monument was created in honor of the men, women, and children who were slaughtered by those they believed to be helping them. It was a horrific scene that shall go down in history as one of the darkest days in United States history.

References

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

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

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