Mountain Meadows Massacre

On the day of September 11, 1857, an emigrant party camped at Mountain Meadows was brutally killed by the Mormon militia aided by Indians. This essay examines two viewpoints regarding the massacre found in Sally Denton’s “American Massacre” and in “Massacre at Mountain Meadows” by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Turley. September 7, 1857, the emigrants of the Fancher-Baker train were just awakening and preparing for the day when gunshots were sounded. The emigrants were caught by surprise and immediately fortified themselves with their wagons. For days they were harassed, lacking food and water. Finally a Mormon leader by the name of John D. Lee came to them with a white flag. The Fancher-Baker party was desperate and had no other choice than to trust the Mormon militia men. They were led out of the safety of their wagons unarmed and helpless. Later that day, they were brutally slaughtered by the milita, including women and children. In all, about “one hundred butchered bodies lay strewn across a half-mile of an upland meadow” (Walker, Turley, Leonard ix). Only seventeen would be survivors, all of which were children at the time. In the end, only one man would be tried and found guilty, John D.Lee. Claiming the church had abandoned him, Lee was later sentenced to death by a firing squad. This tragic event affected history for all time and eternity, leaving uncertanties and unanswered questions. Sally Denton’s viewpoint is best described on the back cover of her book, “In this riveting tale of religious fanaticism, paranoia, and greed, Denton traces the extraordinary history of the Mormons…” (italics added for emphasis). She views the massacre as caused by religious zeal and corruptness. Throughout her book, she writes of secret societies within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (L.D.S. church), and beliefs of fanatic church leaders. She believes that the massacre was part of a huge conspiracy created by church leaders

Cited: Denton, Sally. American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Print. Walker, Ronald W., Richard E. Turley, Jr., and Glen M. Leonard. Massacre at Mountain Meadows. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.