Massacre at Mountain Meadows

by Walker, Ronald W.; Turley, Richard E.; Leonard, Glen M.

• ISBN13: 9780195160345
• ISBN10: 0195160347
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 settlersin 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 JamesBuchanan 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'srhetoric 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 inthe 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 expose, Massacre at Mountain Meadows provides the clearest and most accurate account of a key event in American religious history.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

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