The Mountain Meadows Massacre

'The Mountain Meadows Massacre' is a story in which multiple factors came together at exactly the same time to produce an epic tragedy. If one or two of these factors hadn't been present, it wouldn't have happened. First, there was the antipathy of the Mormons for the 'gentiles': Second there was the antipathy of the settlers for the Mormons: Third, there was the immense of a war between the Mormons and the Union: Fourth, there was abusive language directed at Mormon leaders: Sixth, there was lethal opporunism on the part of Utah Indians: and Seventh, there was the willingness of John D. Lee and members of the Iron County militia to placate the Indians and destroy Mormon enemies. All of these things added up to produce one of the most destructive pioneer massacres in the history of the nation. <br /> <br />Still, all of the above doesn't quite explain what happened. Civilized white men--under the guise of protectors--gunned down civilized white men, women and children. How did it happen? Fear of an Indian war? Hatred for the anti-Mormon settlers? Anger at the government? I really don't know. <br /> <br />Years ago, while traveling through Southern Utah, I decided to visit the massacre site. Asking locals the location, I only got hard stares. Using Brooks' book, however, I located it. I had to open gates and drive through grassy pastures with little trace of anything resembling even a dirt track. When I arrived at my destination, there were a couple of old picnic tables--nothing more. Maybe seventy-five yards away there was a rock cairn. I remembered Juanita Brooks telling that the bodies of the settlers, when discovered by the owner of the property, were gathered together into a mass grave and buried under a rocky cairn. Sure enough, on the other side of the cairn there was a tiny plaque giving a totally erroneous account of the fight. It went something like this "On such and such a date in 1857, 150 California settlers were killed here, in their fighting pits, in a battle against the Indians." <br /> <br />Nope. That's not what happened at all. Propaganda. I understand that the battle/massacre ground has now been developed with a more accurate description of events. I wouldn't know. I haven't been back since. <br /> <br />Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico <br /> <br />

To be honest, I was hesitant to read "Mountain Meadows Massacre" by Juanita Brooks as she was a life-long mormon and, frankly, I was skeptical that she would treat the slaughter of 120 to 150 innocent souls with anything that even remotely resembled with candor; after all, the cult has an extremely well-established history of censoring and covering up even the most benign (but certainly well deserved) criticisms of their so-called religion. I was also rather puzzled by other authors on the subject who frequently referred to Brook's book and finally decided to find out why. I certainly was not disappointed. <br /> <br />While Brooks' work is now dated (it was originally published in 1950) and later researchers have uncovered additional horrors regarding the brazen butchering of so many people, she actually does an outstanding job of reporting on this horrible tragedy. Considering the amount of research she did, most likely from nearly all of the documentation that was available at the time, she does an extraordinary job in piecing together the details of this infamous blight on American history. Brooks assembled a large number of resources obtained from numerous interviews, newspaper accounts written at the time, court documents, affidavits, and even Congressional records to provide a chilling account of the massacre. At first, I felt that she treated some of those responsible (especially Brigham Young) with kid gloves but as the work progressed, she eventually placed most of the blame where it belonged - I'm rather stunned (as apparently was Brooks) that she was never excommunicated by the cult. Interestingly, she goes so far as to state that she even attempted to interview, as well as tried to schedule an appointment with, David O. McKay, the cult's "president", about the massacre only to be turned away - even though she offered to stay in Salt Lake City indefinitely in order to speak with him. <br /> <br />Interestingly, Brooks also makes no bones about the fact that the only fanatic punished for the atrocity, John D. Lee, was clearly used as a scapegoat for the barbaric behavior of so many other members of the cult that joined him in the carnage of September 11, 1857. <br /> <br />Of course, not all that Brooks wrote is gold. There were times when I felt as if she tried to minimize certain things - she never fully ascribes all of the responsibility that Brigham Young deserves (although there can be no question that he was an evil participant who sacrificed his "adopted son," John D. Lee), she tries to claim that the cult members involved may have been subject to "mob psychology" or "war hysteria" who lead otherwise "ordinary" lives, and that the cult now owns that property and had previously "given their approval" to build a "monument" on the site. Disturbingly, Brooks notes that attempts to turn over even a small portion of Mountain Meadows over to the U.S. Forest service or other Federal agencies have failed. Even now, 150 years later, the cult refuses to turn over the site, refuses to put a cross on the current monument (because the cult is not Christian), and continues to deny reality by accepting responsibility for the massacre. Even Gordon B. Hinckley, their current "president" (i.e., Satan incarnate on Earth) has stated "that which we have done here [at Mountain Meadows] must never be construed as an acknowledgment on the part of the church of any complicity in the occurrences of that fateful and tragic day." Some things never change. . . <br /> <br />It's only too bad that Brooks never gave up her cult - how anyone could continue to support such an evil institution, especially after uncovering so much iniquity, is almost unfathomable.

This book is for anyone interested in Mormon or religious history. Mormonism is not the only religious sect with a dark history.