mountain meadows massacre (mormon massacre) 11 september 1857

[niyad]

Mountain Meadows massacre
Location: Mountain Meadows, Utah Territory, United States
Date: September 7–11, 1857
Fatalities: 100–140 members of the Baker–Fancher wagon train
Injuries: Around 17
Perpetrators: Utah Territorial Militia (Iron County district), Paiute Native American auxiliaries
Weapons: Guns, Bowie knives

The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857, with the mass slaughter of most in the emigrant party by members of the Utah Territorial Militia from the Iron County district, together with some Paiute Native Americans.
The wagon train—composed almost entirely of families from Arkansas—was bound for California on a route that passed through the Utah Territory during a conflict later known as the Utah War. After arriving in Salt Lake City, the Baker–Fancher party made their way south, eventually stopping to rest at Mountain Meadows. While the emigrants were camped at the meadow, nearby militia leaders, including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, made plans to attack the wagon train.

The militia, officially called the Nauvoo Legion, was composed of Utah's Mormon settlers (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church). Intending to give the appearance of Native American aggression, their plan was to arm some Southern Paiute Native Americans and persuade them to join with a larger party of their own militiamen—disguised as Native Americans—in an attack. During the militia's first assault on the wagon train, the emigrants fought back and a five-day siege ensued. Eventually fear spread among the militia's leaders that some emigrants had caught sight of white men and had likely discovered the identity of their attackers. As a result militia commander William H. Dame ordered his forces to kill the emigrants.

. . .

Following the massacre, the perpetrators hastily buried the victims, leaving the bodies vulnerable to wild animals and the climate. Local families took in the surviving children, and many of the victims' possessions were auctioned off. Investigations, temporarily interrupted by the American Civil War, resulted in nine indictments during 1874. Of the men indicted, only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law. After two trials in the Utah Territory, Lee was convicted by a jury, sentenced to death, and executed by Utah firing squad on March 23, 1877.

. . .


At the time of the Fanchers' arrival, the Utah Territory was organized as a theocratic democracy under the lead of Brigham Young, who had established colonies along the California Trail and Old Spanish Trail. President James Buchanan had recently issued an order to send troops to Utah. Rumors spread in the territory about the motives for the federal troop movement. Young issued various orders, urging the local population to prepare for the arrival of the troops. Eventually Young issued a declaration of martial law.[4]


. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre


http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mountainmeadows/leeaccount.html


http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mountainmeadows/leetrial.html


http://1857massacre.com/


http://archive.archaeology.org/online/news/mormons.html

[El Supremo]

1. That's why I wonder why the Mormons honor Brigham Young so much.

He was just a con man like Joseph Smith.

[niyad]

2. con man is a polite term for him

[niyad]

3. a little bit on the man

. . .


Though polygamy was practiced by Young's predecessor Joseph Smith, the practice is often associated with Young. Some Latter Day Saint denominations, such as the Community of Christ, consider Young the "Father of Mormon Polygamy".[22] In 1853, Young made the church's first official statement on the subject since the church had arrived in Utah. He spoke about the issue nine years after the purported original revelation of Smith, and five years after the Mormon Exodus to Utah.

One of the more controversial teachings of Young was the Adam–God doctrine. According to Young, he was taught by Smith that Adam is "our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do". According to the doctrine, Adam was once a mortal man who became resurrected and exalted. From another planet, Adam brought Eve, one of his wives, with him to the earth, where they became mortal by eating the fruit of the Garden of Eden. After bearing mortal children and establishing the human race, Adam and Eve returned to their heavenly thrones where Adam acts as the god of this world. Later, as Young is generally understood to have taught, Adam returned to the earth to become the biological father of Jesus. The LDS Church has since repudiated the Adam–God doctrine.

Young is generally credited with having instituted a church ban against conferring the priesthood on men of black African-descent, who had been treated equally in this respect under Joseph Smith's presidency.[23] After settling in Utah in 1848, Young announced the ban,[23] which also forbade blacks from participating in Mormon temple rites such as the endowment or sealings. On many occasions, Young taught that blacks were denied the priesthood because they were "the seed of Cain",[24] but also stated that they would eventually receive the priesthood after "all the other children of Adam have the privilege of receiving the Priesthood, and of coming into the kingdom of God, and of being redeemed from the four quarters of the earth, and have received their resurrection from the dead, then it will be time enough to remove the curse from Cain and his posterity."[25] In 1863, Young stated "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so."[26] These racial restrictions remained in place until 1978, when the policy was rescinded by LDS Church president Spencer W. Kimball,[27] and the LDS Church subsequently "disavow[ed] theories advanced in the past" to explain this ban,[28] thereby "plac[ing] the origins of black priesthood denial blame squarely on Brigham Young."[29]

. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young

[bullwinkle428]

4. So at his core, Brigham Young was really nothing more than a

vicious white supremacist. Disgusting.

[niyad]

5. not to mention a sexist asshole.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. You're supposed to be "white and delightsome".

According to their history.

Mark Twain spelled it out that women are usually ready for sex three out of four weeks of the month, and women should have multiple husbands to satisfy them, if we went by biological capacity for sex. However, because of patriarchy men are allowed in some societies to have multiple wives.

[shanti]

6. i'm into genealogy

and recently discovered that my first cousin's ancestor was involved in this. said cousin also has a mormon ancestor that lived in colonia dublan, the polygamist community in mexico where mitt romney's father was born.

[niyad]

7. wow-- quite some branches on the old family tree there!

[shanti]

8. yes

but our mothers are/were sisters, so it's not really MY branch, thank god! my cousin's ancestor was samuel jukes/jewkes.

[niyad]

9. cannot do anything about our ancestors/relatives, alas.

one of my favourite expressions: "your friends are god's way of apologizing for your relatives"

[BillZBubb]

10. Do romney and his clan dress up like native Americans to celebrate the Mormon victory?

Killing immigrants seems to be popular with the right wing these days, so maybe it would help his credibility with the teabaggers.

[demosincebirth]

11. there was a movie made about the masacre about five, six years ago. It didn't last long at

the theaters. I forgot who was in it, but it was pretty vivid. Title was "September Dawn."

[Scout]

13. Jon Voight was very evil in that film. Played his character well. n/t

[geek tragedy]

14. Brigham Young was the Yasser Arafat of his time nt