Hey guys we're gonna talk about
something pretty heavy today. Historian
Richard Turley summed up the issue well: "On September 11th, 1857, some 50 to 60
local militiamen in southern Utah, aided
by some American Indians, massacred about
a hundred and twenty immigrants who were
traveling by wagon to California. The
horrific crime, which spared only 17
children aged six and under, occurred in
a Highland Valley called the Mountain
Meadows roughly, 35 miles southwest of
Cedar City." We're gonna cover this issue
in two parts. In this episode we're just
going to talk about what happened and in
the next episode we'll talk about the
aftermath of the event and we'll answer
some common questions. Cue the intro.
Latter-day Saints by 1857 were no
strangers to persecution. They thought
they'd be safe under their own system of
government in Utah which at the time
they settled there was safely outside of
the United States until the
mexican-american war ended and Utah was
annexed. The Saints drove out some
federal appointees and sent a
legislative message demanding greater
control of the territory. Considering
their actions rebellious US President
James Buchanan sent a large part of the
US Army to seat and protect a new set of
officers including a non Latter-day
Saint governor to replace Brigham Young.
This marks the beginning of the Utah War.
"War. You call that a war." Brigham
Young and the Saints, recalling past
maltreatment at the hands of some
government officials on all levels,
thought incoming soldiers meant an
invasion and they intended to fight back.
Young instructed the saints to stockpile
their grain and other supplies in
preparation for war instead of trading
goods out to immigrant trains passing
through. That was understandably
frustrating to an immigrant train that
tried with a little success to resupply
in Cedar City. Tensions ran high and a
few emigrants made some idle threats
against the saints. "Hey Bro. You're cruisin for a brusin."
Enter stage right Isaac Haight, the mayor
of Cedar City, also a militia major and
stake president. One account said that
cursing and drunk men went to Haight's
house and demanded that he come out. If
he was a man. The men also yelled threats
about sending an army from California to
seize Young, Haight, Dame who we'll meet in
a moment and every other Mormon in the
country. Haight tried to have these men
arrested for intoxication and disturbing
the peace but was forced to back down
when he didn't have enough policemen to
carry out the order. So
Major Haight appealed to the district
militia commander William Dame, also a
state president in nearby Parowan for
permission to call out the militia
against the wagon train to make those
arrests and likely charge some fines.
Dame convened a council which told Haight
to ignore the threats. "Words are but wind,
they injure no one." But Haight and some
others angry and probably afraid
wouldn't let things go so they concocted
a terrible, totally unjustifiable plan.
With the help of
militia Major John D Lee, they planned to
rile up local Native Americans and have
them attack the wagon train that had
since left town. Under no-one's authority
but their own, they set the wheels of
their plan in motion. On Sunday September
6th Haight again brought up the question
of the wagon train at a local council
meeting but withheld the fact that the
cogs of his plan were already turning. The council decided a rider should be
sent to Brigham Young to seek his advice
on what to do but it was too late. John D
Lee led the first attack on the
immigrants on Monday morning. The immigrant
train circled the wagons and hunkered
down for the siege. To make matters worse
there were two immigrants who had been
off looking for lost cattle at the time
of the attack - two white militia leaders
tracked them down and tried to kill them
before they became privy to the
situation and went for help. But one of
the immigrants survived and made it back
to the wagon circle. Now the immigrants
knew that white men Latter-day Saints
were involved in the attack. The
conspirators were faced with a haunting
dilemma. If the party was allowed to live,
they'd surely spread word of the attack
which could bring down the wrath of the
United States down on them and their
families. The other option was
unimaginably evil: to kill everyone old
enough to tell stories about what had
happened but to do that they need more
help from the militia and for that they
need permission from the commanding
officer William Dame. Isaac Haight met in
Council with Dame and other Parowan
leaders on Wednesday September 9th. The
council decided to send the militia to
help the emigrants gather their
scattered cattle and continue on to
California but Haight met privately with
Dame after the council hoping to reverse
the decision. "This is a secret meeting."
It's not totally clear what happened at
that meeting but Haight left feeling like
he had permission to call out the
militia to deal the final blow which he
did. On September 11th under a white flag
John Daly convinced the emigrants to lay
down their arms, promising that the
militia would escort the party back to
Cedar City. About a mile down the trail
at a predetermined signal the militiamen
launched an attack in which everyone in
the party except 17 young children was
killed.
Two days later the reply from Brigham
Young arrived which said "In regard to
immigration trains passing through our
settlements we must not interfere with
them until they're first notified to
keep away.
You must not meddle with them. If those
who are there will leave, let them go in
peace." When Isaac Haight read the message
he reportedly sobbed saying, "Too late, too
late." Now this has been a very brief
description of this event. If you want to
dive deeper, I highly recommend this book
which is extremely thorough. The Mountain
Meadows Massacre was a shameful tragedy
and there are still lots of questions
and conspiracy theories about this event
that we're gonna look at in the next
episode.
Once that episode is up we'll link it in
the description check out the other
links and notes below while you're at it
and have a great day.
