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, the 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.