Massacre at Mountain Meadows : an American tragedy / Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, Jr., Glen M. Leonard.

Title:

Author:

Walker, Ronald W. (Ronald Warren), 1939-2016

Additional Author(s):

Turley, Richard E.

Leonard, Glen M.

ISBN:

9780195160345

0195160347

9780199747566(pbk.)

0199747563

(pbk.)

Publication Info:

New York : Oxford University Press, 2008.

Description:

xvi, 429 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

General Note:

Maps on lining papers.

Subject(s):

Mountain Meadows Massacre, Utah, 1857.

Holds: Copies (not including on-order items):

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Library	Material Type	Call Number	Shelf Location	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Regional History and Genealogy	SC-Book	979.202 W183M	Spec Coll History Book Stack	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable
Searching... Library 21c	Book	979.202 W183M	Nonfiction	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

On September 11, 1857, a band of Mormon militia, under a flag of truce, lured unarmed members of a party of emigrants from their fortified encampment and, with their Paiute allies, killed them. More than 120 men, women, and children perished in the slaughter. Massacre at Mountain Meadows offers the most thoroughly researched account of the massacre ever written. Drawn from documents previously not available to scholars and a careful re-reading of traditional sources, this gripping narrative offers fascinating new insight into why Mormons settlers in isolated southern Utah deceived the emigrant party with a promise of safety and then killed the adults and all but seventeen of the youngest children. The book sheds light on factors contributing to the tragic event, including the war hysteria that overcame the Mormons after President James Buchanan dispatched federal troops to Utah Territory to put down a supposed rebellion, the suspicion and conflicts that polarized the perpetrators and victims, and the reminders of attacks on Mormons in earlier settlements in Missouri and Illinois. It also analyzes the influence of Brigham Young's rhetoric and military strategy during the infamous "Utah War" and the role of local Mormon militia leaders in enticing Paiute Indians to join in the attack. Throughout the book, the authors paint finely drawn portraits of the key players in the drama, their backgrounds, personalities, and roles in the unfolding story of misunderstanding, misinformation, indecision, and personal vendettas. The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands as one of the darkest events in Mormon history. Neither a whitewash nor an exposé, Massacre at Mountain Meadows provides the clearest and most accurate account of a key event in American religious history.

Author Notes

Ronald W. Walker is an independent historian and writer of Latter-day Saint history living in Salt Lake City. Richard E. Turley, Jr. is Assistant Church Historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Glen M. Leonard is former Director of the LDS Museum of Church History and Art.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

On September 11, 1857, more than 120 men, women and children traveling from Arkansas to California were butchered by Mormon militiamen and Paiute Indians at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. This study of the tragedy, by three LDS historians, utilizes previously unavailable archival documents to answer the question, "How could basically good people commit such a terrible atrocity?" The authors find responsibility almost everywhere: in the escalating tensions between the federal government and Mormon authorities, in the 19th-century American culture of violence, in the barbarism of the emigrants and in the unchecked hunger for vengeance the Mormon militiamen felt toward Americans who had opposed their faith. John D. Lee, a fanatical militia leader, receives much of the blame, while church president Brigham Young gets a pass. This first volume covers the massacre itself, not the coverup that some historians have alleged was masterminded by the LDS Church; the authors leave the door open for a possible sequel. But the book's evocative portrayal of the moments leading to the massacre and its careful reconstruction of the lives of the victims makes an important contribution. This is an absorbing, if unsettling, read. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Coauthors Walker, Turley, and Leonard provide the fullest account yet of the darkest chapter in Mormon history: the massacre of a wagon train of California-bound immigrants passing through southern Utah in 1857. Readers relive the grim days when local Mormon leaders besieged the immigrants with a force of white militiamen and Paiute warriors and then brutally butchered all but a few young children. To account for the barbarism of attackers who professed a religion of love, Walker, Turley, and Leonard recount the Mormons' turbulent history in Missouri and Illinois, where government officials allowed mobs to kill unarmed Mormons and drive others from their homes. Determined to protect their new communities, Utah Mormons seethed with passion when, in 1857, President Buchanan announced plans to send troops to quell a supposed Mormon insurrection. Those passions surged when some immigrants boasted of involvement in earlier depredations against Mormon settlements and threatened worse. The drama leading up to the massacre brings to view a score of memorable personalities. But the most famous namely, Brigham Young plays a role of surprising impotence, as his urgent letter directing the militia to let the immigrants pass in peace leaves a Mormon captain lamenting, too late, too late. An essential acquisition for any western history collection.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2008 Booklist

Library Journal Review

Verdict: The Mountain Meadows massacre remains a horrific topic in early Mormon history. In an effort to illuminate this dark deed, three Latter-day Saints (LDS) historians have collaborated to produce an objective, definitive historical resource. Highly recommended for all research collections of LDS and American history in public and college libraries. Background: The role of church leaders in planning a mass murder of overland emigrant families from Arkansas is still debated (see Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets), and new forensic evidence of the victims has been unearthed (see Sally Denton's American Massacre). Walker (Wayward Saints: The Godbeites and Brigham Young), Richard E. Turley Jr. (assistant church historian, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and Glen M. Leonard (former director, LDS Museum of Church History and Art) present new information unavailable to earlier writers, discovered by retranscribing shorthand transcripts of 19th-century investigations. This amazing work is so heavily documented that the main text barely fills half of the pages.--Nathan E. Bender, Univ. of Idaho Lib., Moscow (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Preface	p. ix
Prologue: A Picture of Human Suffering: Mountain Meadows, May 1859	p. 3
1 Exiles from Freedom: New York to the Iowa Plains, 1830-1846	p. 6
2 Peals of Thunder: Utah, 1847-1857	p. 20
3 No More Submit to Oppression: Silver Lake, July 24, 1857	p. 33
4 Avoid All Excitement, But Be Ready: Salt Lake City to Parowan, July 24-August 8, 1857	p. 41
5 Preaching a Military Discourse: Southern Utah, August 9-21, 1857	p. 54
6 A Splendid Train: Arkansas to Utah, Emigration Season, 1857	p. 74
7 Restless and Excited Beings: Northern Utah, July-August 1857	p. 89
8 We Have Better Claim: Salt Lake to Fillmore, August 1857	p. 101
9 Men Have Magnified a Natural Circumstance: Corn Creek to Parowan, Late August-Early September 1857	p. 116
10 Make It an Indian Massacre: Cedar City, July 24-September 5, 1857	p. 129
11 A Fearful Responsibility: Cedar City and Southwest, September 5-7, 1857	p. 149
12 Finish His Dirty Job: Parowan to Mountain Meadows, September 7-10, 1857	p. 166
13 Decoyed Out and Destroyed: Mountain Meadows, September 10-11, 1857	p. 187
14 Too Late to Back Water: Mountain Meadows to Cedar City, September 11-13, 1857	p. 210
Epilogue: Under Sentence of Death: Beaver to Mountain Meadows, March 20-23, 1877	p. 227
Acknowledgments	p. 233
Appendix A The Emigrants	p. 243
Appendix B The Emigrants' Property	p. 251
Appendix C The Militiamen	p. 255
Appendix D The Indians	p. 265
Abbreviations Used in Notes	p. 271
Notes	p. 281
Index	p. 409

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