Does anyone want to talk about the Mountain Meadows Massacre... Finally?

Question

How is it I was a mormon for 21 years and I had never heard of it? What does everyone know about it?

Answer 1

There is all kinds of info about this on the official church website:

Answer 2

I'm not a Mormon, but I'm a historian and have done considerable research on Mountain Meadows.

Seems to me it's naive to ask why LDS isn't overjoyed by the event, isn't proud of it. And there's a body of evidence suggesting there was more complicity in the upper LDS hierarchy than has ever been acknowledged.

Lee was just the fall guy, a person could conclude without being anti-LDS.

But Mountain Meadows didn't happen in a void. Nothing can condone what happened there, but the events leading to the massacre of that particular train leave a person with the feeling that some of the members of the Fancher party were doing their best to provoke what happened.

One even claimed to have been among those who murdered Joseph Smith, the LDS prophet. The Fancher party member claimed he had the firearm that did the killing in his possession.

Mormons in Utah had been driven from their homes, raped, brutalized, robbed in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, all over, before resorting to the long trek to Utah. Likely as not they carried a lot of anger with them.

The Fancher party included a lot of innocent folk, along with the haters. But the people who did the killing, and those who ordered them to do so, made one of those decisions of the 'kill them all and let God sort them out' variety used by a papal emmisary once to initiate the slaughter of 20,000 men, women, and children. Some of those were 'heretics'.

Bad calls are bad calls, no matter who makes them.

But that's a summary of Mountain Meadows unless someone wants to know more about it.

Brigham Young sent the LDS into the hills armed when the US Army approached Utah during the Mormon War. The commander of the unit had made the statement he was going to give Young a 'fair trial', then hang him.

Young's speech to the LDS he was sending into hiding [paraphrased], "Christian charity drove us here, those of us who survived, on foot. We came afoot because Christian charity had robbed us of everything we owned.

"Now they're sending some more Christian charity. Try to save yourselves if you're able."

Answer 3

September Dawn is supposed to open later this Fall. It's supposed to be a docudrama of the MMM, but of course it'll suffer some credibility at the hands of a hollywood plot. Should be interesting nonetheless.

The church maintains Brigham Young had nothing to do with this, but I find it difficult to believe hardworking mormon farmers would shoot women and children point blank in the face without direct orders from the 'prophet' of god.

That's why Romney in the White house would be a terrible mistake.

Answer 4

It's part of Church History, not Church Doctrine, so it is not necessarily something that you will be taught over the pulpit or in Sunday School. It is something that you will most likely find on your own, or by taking a Church History class.

Answer 5

I am in the same boat, just hear about it fromt he PBS show, and i was born in UT and lived there for 18 years. I was always told about the Hans massacre tho.

Answer 6

great question! i would love to know why 125 unthreatening men, women and children were shot by Mormons for no good reason! i think it has something to do with them recieving "revelation" from god, or something. Mormons, i'd love to hear your input!

Answer 7

Not a thing . . .

**Reads two articles**

How horribly sad. Unfortunately, all groups have something tragic like this in their history.

Answer 8

Brand new article about it just for you

Answer 9

i am curious now, but i have never heard of it...