Children of the Massacre: Misc. Texts #1

Extract from Chs. Brewer (1859) pp. 1-2

THE MASSACRE AT MOUNTAIN
MEADOWS, UTAH TERRITORY.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
________

The story of so horrible a human butchery as that which occurred at the Mountain Meadows, Utah Territory, in the autumn of 1857, has by this time, no doubt, reached the States; but as no account which I have yet seen can in the slightest degree approximate to a description of the hideous truth, being myself now on the ground, and having an opportunity of communicating with some who were no doubt present on the occasion, I deem it proper to send you a plain and unvarnished statement of the affair as it actually occurred.

A train of Arkansas emigrants, with some few Missourians, said to number forty men, with their families, were on their way to California, through the Territory of Utah, and had reached a series of grassy valleys, by the Mormons called the Mountain Meadows, where they remained several days recruiting their animals. On the night of September 9, not suspecting any danger, as usual they quietly retired to rest, little dreaming of the dreadful fate awaiting and soon to overtake them. On the morning of the 10th, as, with their wives and familes, they stood around their camp-fires passing the congratulations of the morning, they were suddenly fired upon from an ambush, and at the first discharge fifteen of the best men are said to have fallen dead or mortally wounded. To seek the shelter of their corral was but the work of a moment, but there they found but limited protection.

To enable you to appreciate fully the danger of their position, I must give a brief description of the ground. The encampment, which consisted of a number of tents and a corral of forty wagons and ambulances, lay on the west bank of, and eight or ten yards distant from, a large spring in a deep ravine running southward; another ravine, also, branching from this, and facing the camp on the southwest; overlooking them on the northwest, and within rifle-shot, rises a large mound commanding the corral, upon which parapets of stone, with loopholes, have been built. Yet another ravine, larger and deeper, faces them on the east, which could be entered without exposure from the south and far end. Having crept into these shelters during the darkness of the night, the cowardly assailants fired upon their unsuspecting victims, thus making a beginning to the most brutal butchery ever perpetrated on this continent.

Surrounded by superior numbers, and by an unseen foe, we are told the little party stood a siege within the corral of [five or seven days], sinking their wagon-wheels in the ground, and during the darkness of night digging trenches, within which to shelter their wives and children. A large spring of cool water bubbled up from the sand a few yards from them, but deep down in the ravine, and so well protected that certain death marked the trail of all who had dared approach it. The wounded were dying of thirst; the burning brow and parched lip marked the delirium of fever; they tossed from side to side with anguish; the sweet sound of the water, as it murmured along its pebbly bed, served but to heighten their keenest suffering. But what all this to the pang of leaving to a cruel fate their helpless children? Some of the little ones, who though too young to remember in after years, tell us that they stood by their parents, and pulled the arrows from their bleeding wounds.

Long had the brave band held together; but the cries of the wounded sufferers must prevail. For the first time, they are (by four Mormons), offered their lives if they will lay down their arms, and gladly they avail themselves of the proffered mercy. Within a few hundred yards of the corral faith is broken. Disarmed and helpless, they are fallen upon and massacred in cold blood. The savages, who had been driven to the hills, are again called down to what was denominated the "job," which more than savage brutality had begun.

Women and children are now all that remain. Upon these, some of whom had been violated by the Mormon leaders, the savage expends his hoarded vengeance. By a Mormon who has now escaped the threats of the Church we are told that the helpless children clung around the knees of the savages, offering themselves as slaves; but with fiendish laughter at their cruel tortures, knives were thrust into their bodies, the scalp torn from their heads, and their throats cut from ear to ear.

I am writing no tale of fiction; I wish not to gratify the fancy, but to tell a tale of truth to the reason and to the heart. I speak truths which hereafter legal evidence will fully corroborate. I met this train on the Platte River on my way to Fort Laramie in the spring of 1857, the best and richest I had ever seen upon the plains. Firtune then beamed upon them with her sweetest smile. With a fine outfit and every comfort around them, they spoke to me exultingly of their prospects in the land of their golden dreams. To-day, I ride by them, but no word of friendly greeting falls upon my ear, no face meets me with a smile of recognition; the empty sockets from their ghastly skulls tell me a tale of horror and of blood. On every side around me for the space of a mile lie the remains of carcasses dismembered by wild beasts; bones, left for nearly two years unburied, bleached in the elements of the mountain wilds, gnawed by the hungry wolf, broken and hardly to be recognized. Garments of babes and little ones, faded and torn, fluttering from each ragged bush, from which the warble of the songster of the desert sounds as mockery. Human hair, once falling in glossy ringlets around childhood's brow or virtue's form, now strewing the plain in masses, matted, and mingling with the musty mould. To-day, in one grave, I have buried the bones and skulls of twelve women and children, pierced with the fatal ball or shattered with the axe. In another the shattered relics of eighteen men, and yet many more await their gloomy resting-place.

Afar from the houses of their childhood, buried in the heart of almost trackless deserts, shut up within never-ending mountain barriers, cut off from all communication with their fellow-men, surrounded by overpowering numbers, harmless citizens of our land of hustice and freedom, with their wives and families, as dear to them as our own to us, were cooly, deliberately, and desihnedly burchered by those professing to be their own countrymen.

I pause to ask one calm, quiet question, Are these facts known in the land where I was born and bred?

I have conversed with the Indians engaged in this massacre. They say that they but obeyed the command of Brighan Young, sent by letter, as soldiers obey the command of their chief; that the Mormons were not only the instigators but the most active participants in the crime; that Mormons led the attack, took possession of the spoil; that much of the spoil still remains with them; and still more, was sold at the tithing office of the church.

Such facts can and will be proved by legal testimony. Sixteen children, varying from two to nine years of age, have bean recovered from the Mormons. These could not be induced to utter a word until assured that they were out of the hands of the Mormons and safe in the hands of the Americans. Then their tale is so consonant with itself that it cannot be doubted. Innocence has in truth spoken. Guilt has fled to the mountains. The time fast approaches when justice shall be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. (Charles Brewer, Harper's Weekly, Aug. 13, 1859 -- view an enlargement of the 1859 cover illustration.

Extract from Calif. Mag. (1860) pp. 345-49

THE MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE.

It will be remembered that some of the heart-sickening details of this terrible massacre appeared at different times in the public journals of the day. By the kindness of a friend we are enabled to place before the reader two illustrations of the scenes, and in connection therewith a brief narrative of that fearfully cold-blooded slaughter. Perhaps we ought here to remark that the numerous statements are so very conflicting that we find it next to impossible to give a succinct and reliable history of the sad event; but from the various sources from whence information has been received the following will be found nearly to approximate to correctness.

"A train of Arkansas emigrants, with some few Missourians, said to number forty men, with their families, were on their way to California, through the Territory of Utah, and had reached a series of grassy valleys, by the Mormons called the Mountain Meadows, where they remained several days recruiting their animals. On the night of September 9, not suspecting any danger, as usual they quietly retired to rest, little dreaming of the dreadful fate awaiting and soon to overtake them. On the morning of the 10th, as, with their wives and familes, they stood around their camp-fires passing the congratulations of the morning, they were suddenly fired upon from an ambush, and at the first discharge fifteen of the best men are said to have fallen dead or mortally wounded. To seek the shelter of their corral was but the work of a moment, but there they found but limited protection.

"To enable you to appreciate fully the danger of their position, I must give a brief description of the ground. The

[Calif. Mag., 1860: p. 346]
encampment, which consisted of a number of tents and a corral of forty wagons and ambulances, lay on the west bank of, and eight or ten yards distant from, a large spring in a deep ravine running southward; another ravine, also, branching from this, and facing the camp on the southwest; overlooking them on the northwest, and within rifle-shot, rises a large mound commanding the corral, upon which parapets of stone, with loopholes, have been built. Yet another ravine, larger and deeper, faces them on the east, which could be entered without exposure from the south and far end. Having crept into these shelters during the darkness of the night, the cowardly assailants fired upon their unsuspecting victims, thus making a beginning to the most brutal butchery ever perpetrated on this continent.

"Surrounded by superior numbers, and by an unseen foe, we are told the little party stood a siege within the corral of several days, sinking their wagon-wheels in the ground, and during the darkness of night digging trenches, within which to shelter their wives and children. A large spring of cool water bubbled up from the sand a few yards from them, but deep down in the ravine, and so well protected that certain death marked the trail of all who had dared approach it. The wounded were dying of thirst; the burning brow and parched lip marked the delirium of fever; they tossed from side to side with anguish; the sweet sound of the water, as it murmured along its pebbly bed, served but to heighten their keenest suffering. But what all this to the pang of leaving to a cruel fate their helpless children? Some of the little ones, who though too young to remember in after years, tell us that they stood by their parents, and pulled the arrows from their bleeding wounds.

"Long had the brave band held together; but the cries of the wounded sufferers must prevail. For the first time, they are (by four Mormons), offered their lives if they will lay down their arms, and gladly they avail themselves of the proffered mercy. Within a few hundred yards of the corral faith is broken. Disarmed and helpless, they are fallen upon and massacred in cold blood. The savages, who had been driven to the hills, are again called down to what was denominated the 'job,' which more than savage brutality had begun.

"Women and children are now all that remain. Upon these, some of whom had been violated by the Mormon leaders, the savage expends his hoarded vengeance. By a Mormon who has now escaped the threats of the Church we are told that the helpless children clung around the knees of the savages, offering themselves as slaves; but with fiendish laughter at their cruel tortures, knives were thrust into their bodies, the scalp torn from their heads, and their throats cut from ear to ear. * * *

"To-day, I ride by them, but no word of friendly greeting falls upon my ear, no face meets me with a smile of recognition; the empty sockets from their ghastly skulls tell me a tale of horror and of blood. On every side around me for the space of a mile lie the remains of carcasses dismembered by wild beasts; bones, left for nearly two years unburied, bleached in the elements of the mountain wilds, gnawed by the hungry wolf, broken and hardly to be recognized. Garments of babes and little ones, faded and torn, fluttering from each ragged bush, from which the warble of the songster of the desert sounds as mockery. Human hair, once falling in glossy ringlets around childhood's brow or virtue's form, now strewing the plain in masses, matted, and mingling with the musty mould. To-day, in one grave, I have buried the bones and skulls of twelve women and children, pierced with the fatal ball or shattered

[Calif. Mag., 1860: p. 347]
with the axe. In another the shattered relics of eighteen men, and yet many more await their gloomy resting-place. * * *

I have conversed with the Indians engaged in this massacre. They say that they but obeyed the command of Brighan Young, sent by letter, as soldiers obey the command of their chief; that the Mormons were not only the instigators but the most active participants in the crime; that Mormons led the attack, took possession of the spoil; that much of the spoil still remains with them; and still more, was sold at the tithing office of the church.

Such facts can and will be proved by legal testimony. Sixteen children, varying from two to nine years of age, have bean recovered from the Mormons. These could not be induced to utter a word until assured that they were out of the hands of the Mormons and safe in the hands of the Americans. Then their tale is so consonant with itself that it cannot be doubted. Innocence has in truth spoken. Guilt has fled to the mountains. The time fast approaches when justice shall be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet."

On sending a statement to Utah Territory, in April last, Brigadier General Clarke directed the officer in command, Major J. H. Carleton, 1st Dragoons, to collect and decently to bury the remains of the victims of the Mountain Meadow Massacre.

Arriving at Mountain Meadows, Maj. Carleton found that the General's wishes had been in part anticipated by Captain R. Campbell, 2nd Dragoons, who, "on his way down," says Major Carleton, "passed this spot, and before my arrival caused to be collected and buried the bones of twenty-six of the victims."

Major Carleton continues: "On the 20th instant, I took a wagon and a party of men and made a thorough search for others amongst the sage bushes for at least a mile back from the road that leads to Hamblin's house. Hamblin, himself, shewed Sergeant Fritz, of my party, a spot on the right hand side of the road where he had partially covered up a great many of the bones. These were collected, and a large number of others on the left hand side of the road, up the slope of the hill, and in the ravines and among the bushes. I gathered many of the disjointed bones of thirty-four persons. The number could easily be told by the number of pairs of shoulderblades, and by lower jaws, skulls, and parts of skulls, etc., etc. These, with the remains of two others, gotten in a ravine to the east spring, where they had been interred at but little depth -- thirty-four in all -- I buried in a grave on the northern side of the ditch. Around and above this grave, I caused to be built of loose granite stones, hauled from the neighboring hills, a rude monument, conical in form and fifty feet in circumference at the base and twelve feet in height.

This is surmounted by a cross, hewn from red cedar wood, from the ground to the top of the cross is twenty-four feet. On the transverse part of the cross, facing towards the north, is an inscription carved deeply in the wood: "VENGENCE IS MINE: I WILL REPAY SAITH THE LORD."

[Calif. Mag., 1860: p. 348]
And on a rude slab of granite, set in the earth and leaning against the northern base of the monument, there are cut the following words:

HERE

120 Men, Women, and Children,
WERE MASSACRED IN COLD BLOOD, EARLY
IN SEPT., 1857.

They were from Arkansas.

"I observed that nearly every skull I saw, had been shot through with rifle or revolver bullets. I did not see one that had been 'broken in with stones.' Doctor Brewer showed me one, that probably of a boy of eighteen, which had been fractured and split, doubtless by two blows of a bowie knife, or other instrument of that character.

"I saw several bones of what must have been very small children. Doctor Brewer says, from what he saw, he thinks some infants were butchered. The mothers, doubtless, had these in their arms, and the same shot, or blow, may have deprived both of life.

"The scene of the massacre, even at this late day, was horrible to look upon. Women's hair, in detached locks, and in masses, hung to the sage bushes and was strewn over the ground in many places. Parts of little children's dresses, and of female costume, dangled from the shrubbery, or lay scattered about; and among these, here and there, on every hand, for at least a mile in the direction of the road, by two miles east and west, there gleamed, bleached white by the weather, the skulls and other bones of those who had suffered. A glance into the wagon, where these had been collected, revealed a sight which can never be forgotten."

The Mormons set up the plea that some of this party poisoned a spring, by which several persons and some stock fell victims. But that so large an amount of poison could be in the possession of an emigrant train is most improbable. On the other hand it seems scarcely probable that plunder alone could be a sufficient inducement to the murderers to sacrifice so great a number of human lives. Indeed, the cause of this wholesale slaughter is to this hour shrouded in mystery. Major Carlton most probably knows it better than any other man, and we much regret that we have not his entire and candid report. That it was committed by Mormons, aided by Indians, there can be no doubt. Judge Cradlebaugh thus brings the matter home to them in his charge to the Grand Jury of Provo City, in March last:

"I may mention to you the massacre at the Mountain Meadows. In that massacre a whole train was cut off, except a few children, who were too young to give evidence in court. It has been said that this offence was committed by the Indians. In committing such an outrage, Indians would not so discriminate as to save only such children as would be unable to give testimony of the transaction in a court of justice. In a general slaughter, if any were to be saved by Indians, they would have been most likely those persons who would give less trouble than infants. But the fact is, there were others there engaged in that horrible crime.

"A large organized body of white persons is to be seen leaving Cedar City late in the evening, all armed, traveling in wagons and on horseback, under the guidance and direction of the prominent men of that place. The object of their mission is a secret to all but those engaged in it. To all others the movement is shrouded in mystery. They are met by another organized band from the town of Harmony. The two bands are consolidated. Speeches are made to them by their desperate leaders in regard to their mission. They proceed in the direction of the Mountain Meadows. In two or three days they may be seen returning from that direction, bearing with them an immense amount of property, consisting of mules, horses, cattle and wagons, and the spoils of their nefarious expedition. Out of a train of one hundred and forty persons, fifteen infants alone remain, who are too young to tell the sad story. That Indians were engaged in it there is no

[Calif. Mag., 1860: p. 349]
doubt: but they were incited to engage in it by white men, worse than demons.

"I might give you the names of the leading white persons engaged, but prudence dictates that I should not. It is said that the Chief Konosh was there. If so he is amenable to law, and liable to be punished. The Indians complain that in the division of the spoils they did not get their share -- that their white brothers in crime did not divide equally with them, but gave them the refuse."

Misc. Excerpts from Early Published Sources

(this web page is still under construction)

1838-1856

1838 ~ July 4 (LDS First Presidency): "We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn all men in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more forever, for from this hour, we will bear it no more, our rights shall no more be trampled on with impunity. The man or the set of men, who attempts it, does it at the expense of their lives. And that mob that comes on us to disturb us; it shall be between us and them a war of extermination, for we will follow them, till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us: for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses, and their own families."

1857

1857 ~ May 19 (ex-Apostle William Smith): "In looking over affairs relating to Utah, and... of the manner in which the late Secretary of the Territory, A. W. Babbit, was murdered on the plains by a band of Mormons... that other officers and friends of the Government have been in a most cruel and murderous manner put out of the way by these Mormons, as each action is in strict keeping with their character. I will here remark also, that all the plans for this Mormon treason against the Government were laid in councils at Nauvoo... Since their removal from Illinois, they have added the Danite and other treasonable oaths and covenants, binding still stronger and stronger the confederacy of traitors in their new and far off Land of Zion, in the Valley of the Mountains. -- I have no doubt whatever of the truth of the charges against the Mormon people of having committed the most wanton and cruel murders in the disguise of Indians... The guilty and treasonable oath which the 40,000 or 50,000 Mormons now in the Salt Lake Valley, and many others scattered in all parts of the country, have taken upon themselves at the hands of Brigham Young and the Danite followers, [reads] as follows: 'You do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God. His holy angels and these witnesses, that you will avenge the blood of Joseph Smith on this nation, and teach the same to your children, and that you will from this time henceforth and forever begin and carry out hostilities against the nation, to keep the same intent a profound secret, now and forever, so help you God.'"

1857 ~ July 3 (Apostle George Q. Cannon): "By this mail was brought the melancholy and heart sickening intelligence of the murder of our beloved brother, President Parley P. Pratt. This diabolical transaction will no doubt be the signal for a general jubilee... among all those who hate the servants of God. Their triumphing, however, will be but short. God will, ere long, come out of his hiding place and vex the nations... for blood. He will require the lives of His servants at the hands of their murderers. He has sent them Apostles and Prophets and they have slain them, crying, 'their blood be upon us and our children.' Their request will be granted."

1857 ~ July 9 (Hector McLean): "Whether the hot blood which must now be seething and boiling in the veins of Brigham Young and his satellites, in Salt Lake is to be cooled by the murder of Gentiles who pass through their territory, whether the 'destroying angels' of Mormondom are to be brought into requisition to make reprisals upon travelers, [or] whether, as has been done before, saints disguised as Indians are to constitute themselves the supposed ministers of God's vengeance in this case, we are not informed, but have no doubt that... such intentions are prevalent among those saintly villains, adulterers, and seducers of Salt Lake, who, did they receive their just deserts, would be where Parley Pratt is now, in a world where hypocrisy and saintly fraud will not pass current."

1857 ~ July 3 (Apostle George A. Smith): "Uncle Sam... is sending out 2500 troops, with ministers and schoolmasters to regulate things in Utah... They are determined to send who they please for Governor, who they please for Judges, and who they please for our Territorial officers, and to permit those men whom they send to place their interpretation upon the acts of our Territorial Legislature, and upon the condition of things as they surround us, and I care but little what comes next... Report says that the plan is deep, and it is laid with the intention of murdering every man that will stand up for 'Mormonism,' but the evil which they design towards us will fall upon their own heads, and it will grind them to powder.

1857 ~ Sept. 13 (Apostle George A. Smith): "We pursued our visit to the Mountain Meadows and... then proceeded to Cedar the next day; they had heard they were going to have an army of 600 dragoons come down from the East on to the town; the Major seemed very sanguine about the matter. I asked him, if this rumor should prove true, if he was not going to wait for instructions; he replied, There was no time to wait for any instruction; and he was going to take his battalion and use them up before they could get down through the kanyons; for, said he, if they are coming here, they are coming for no good.... There was only one thing that I dreaded, and that was a spirit in the breasts of some to wish that their enemies might come and give them a chance to fight and take vengeance for the cruelties that had been inflicted upon us in the States; they did feel that they hated to owe a debt and not be able to pay it, and they felt like an old man that lives at Provo, br. Jameson, who has carried a few ounces of lead in his body ever since the Haun's Mill massacre in Missouri; and he wants to pay it back with usury; and he undertook to preach at Provo, and prayed that God would send them along; for he wanted to have a chance at them. -- Now I never felt so, but I do not know but it is on account of my extreme timidity, for I would a great deal rather the Lord would fight the battles than me, and I feel to pray that he will punish them with that hell which is to want to and can't, and it is my prayer and wish all the time that this may be their doom. This is what I want to inculcate all the time, and at the same time if the Lord brings us in collision with them, and it is his will, let us take hold, not in the spirit of revenge or anger, but simply to avenge God of his enemies."

1857 ~ Sept. 29 John D. Lee informs Brigham Young of the Mountain Meadows massacre, saying that eight to ten children in the emigrant train had been spared.

1857 ~ Sept. 30 Indian Agent George W. Armstrong sends a letter to Brigham Young regarding the Mountain Meadows massacre, but does not mention the survivor children.

On September 30, 1857, A Mormon Indian agent wrote to Brigham Young from Provo, with information on the massacre. In his account, the emigrants gave the Native Americans poisoned beef. After many Native Americans died, they "appeased their savage vengeance" by killing fifty-seven men and nine women. There was no mention of survivors.

1857 ~ Oct. 3 (Los Angeles Star): "Rumored Massacre on the Plains -- We have just been informed... that a whole train of emigrants from Salt Lake city, for San Bernardino... men and women, had been cruelly massacred on the road... the property of the company had been carried off, and only the children left, who were picked up on the ground, and were being conveyed to San Bernardino.

1857 ~ Oct. 10 (Los Angeles Star): "Horrible Massacre of Emigrants... Confirmation of the Report -- the massacre of a large party of emigrants on their way to this State by Great Salt Lake City... the report has been confirmed... only fifteen infant children were saved. The account was given by the Indians themselves to the Mormons at Cedar City, to which place they brought the children, who were purchased from them by the people of that city.... The Indians state... that one man was making his escape with a few children, and they followed him, killed him, and took the children, fifteen in number, the eldest under five years of age.... letter from Mr. J. W. Christian, of San Bernardino... the fullest report of the massacre... seems to indicate that the Mormons will be held responsible for the murder, and in this respect he is fully borne out by present implications, for a general belief pervades the public mind here that the Indians were instigated to this crime by the "Destroying Angels" of the church, and that the blow fell on these emigrants from Arkansas, in retribution of the death of Parley Pratt, which took place in that State.... Santa Clara tribe of Indians.... immediately rushed in and slaughtered all of them, with the exception of fifteen infant children, that have since been purchased with much difficulty by the Mormon interpreters...."

1857 ~ Oct. 13 (Apostle George Q. Cannon): "Massacre of Emigrants -- Reckless and Malignant Slanders -- The fact that the massacre occurred somewhere within the boundaries of Utah, and the fact also that the train was from Missouri and Arkansas -- States against which, we are gratuitously informed, the 'Mormons' entertain the most intense hatred -- are deemed a sufficient foundation upon which to base an accusation of the guilt against the Mormons. It is incredible... "Mormons" could not be charged as the instigators of the massacre.... it is a practice of common occurrence on the plains, especially among 'border ruffians,' to shoot down every Indian they can get sight at, and to leave the poisoned carcasses of cattle as a means of entrapping the unsuspecting savage.... -- Since the arrival of the last Utah mail, there has been considerable speculation among our contemporaries, in regard to the result of the Utah expedition.... If blood be shed, if a collision take place, and a war be commenced, a large share of the blame must fall upon the heads of leaders of public journals throughout the country. They have done all in their power to bring about such a consummation.... -- Talk about the people of Deseret declaring their independence; they have had sufficient provocation years ago, to declare themselves free and independent, not of the Constitution, laws and institutions of their fathers and of the land that gave them birth, but of the corrupt and partial administrators of those laws. They have never experienced such treatment as they ought, in common justice, to have received. They have been abused, vilified and wronged in the most outrageous manner -- called murderers, thieves and every thing else that was vile... These are facts which can not be truthfully disputed, and they are facts, too, which the world know to be true."

1857 ~ Oct. 15 (San Francisco Herald): "The Emigrant Massacre -- ...San Bernardino, at which place Hyde recently arrived, with an escort of thirty men, from Salt Lake, and where his letter was written to a brother Mormon here... he left Salt Lake just two days after the unfortunate emigrant train passed that place, and overtook them in time to save the children remaining alive -- fifteen infants only... Orson Hyde... arriving at the spot just in time to gather up the fifteen infants, which he brought into San Bernardino. Hyde is going directly back to Salt Lake..."

1857 ~ Oct. 17 (Los Angeles Star): "The Late Horrible Massacre -- ...we have obtained the statements of Messrs. Powers and Warn... which contain the nearest approach to an account of the massacre that can be given at present... Mr. George Powers, of Little Rock, left Arkansas, and with his train arrived at Salt Lake in August. He says: -- We found the Mormons making very determined preparations to fight the United States troops, whenever they may arrive.... The Mormons declared to us that no United States troops should ever cross the mountains; and they talked and acted as if they were willing to take a brush with Uncle Sam.... We came on the Buttermilk Fort... The people had refused to sell that [Fancher] train any provisions, and told us they were sorry they had not killed them there; but they knew it would be done before they got in. They stated further that they were holding the Indians in check until the arrival of their chief, when he would follow the train and cut it to pieces.... We came on to Parowan, and here we learned that the train ahead had been attacked by the Indians, at the Mountain Meadows... Mr. Dame, President of Parowan, informed me that the attack on the train commenced on Monday, the 14th of September. I asked him if he could not raise a company and go out and relieve the besieged train. He replied that he could go out and take them away in safety, but he dared not -- he dared not disobey counsel.... Mr. Dame and Mr. Haight and their men seemed to be on the best of terms with the Indians... On the 1st October, we arrived at San Bernardino... I heard many persons express gratification at the massacre. At the church services, on Sunday, Capt. Hunt occupied the pulpit, and, among other things, he said that the hand of the Lord was in it; it was right! The prophecies concerning Missouri were being fulfilled, and they would all be accomplished. Mr. Matthews said the work had just begun, and it should be carried on until Uncle Sam and all the boys that were left should come to Zion and beg for bread.... -- It is supposed that one hundred and eighteen (118) persons were killed of whom fifty six (56) were men, and that fifteen (15) children were taken back to Cedar City -- of whom, not one was over six years old.... Mr. Warn arrived at Salt Lake, via Independence, on the 7th of April... He states, that on his journey through the settlements, which was a week or ten days subsequent to the passage of the murdered train, he every where heard the same threats of vengeance against them, for their boisterousness and abuse of Mormons and Mormonism, as was reported, and these threats seemed to be made with the intention of preparing the mind to expect a calamity, and also when a calamity occurred, it should appear to fall upon transgressors, as a matter of retribution.... Mr. Warn states... a Mormon told him that one of the little girls who was taken back, and who is about six years old, said that she saw her mother killed by an arrow, and that her father had escaped to California...." Mr. Warn states that, two days before arriving at San Bernardino, a man named Bill Hyde, whom he learned was a noted Danite, and who is badly reported of in this town, joined the train, having come through with the mail. This Hyde reported that he went and saw the bodies lying scattered about upon the ground, most of them stripped naked -- only a few of them being partially clothed. Dame and Haight, he said, staid there to bury the dead..."

1857 ~ Oct. 17 (Alta California): "The Immigrant Massacre -- Los Angeles, October 14, 1857.... the Arkansas companies, consisted of Faziers, Camerons and the two Dunlaps, and perhaps Bakers. They were from the counties of Marion, Harrol and Johnson... The two Dunlaps had each nine children, some of them well grown. If these are the persons who were slaughtered, who can be so blind as not to see that the hands of Mormons are stained with this blood. How could so large a company remain among them for two months and they not learn one name? and why would the Indians kill every being, except those that were too young to communicate anything...

1857 ~ Oct. 24 (Los Angeles Star): "More Outrages on the Plains!! -- S. B. Honea, of Arkansas, recently arrived at Los Angeles.... At Fort Bridger, he... had a conversation with one of the Mormon soldiers, an Englishman, who... referred in bitter terms to the treatment the Mormons had received in Illinois and Missouri, reflected on the unjustness and tyranny of the people of the Unoted States, and said that the time was come to get even.... Another Mormon, named Killian... spoke bitterly against the United States, denounced Judge Drummond, and all the Federal officers, and rejoiced that the time had come when the saints would be avenged on their enemies... He also stated that Governor Brigham Young had ordered the people to prepare for war; that they should not sell emigrants anything... On the 17th Aug. Mr. Honea passed through the city of Salt Lake.... Had a conversation with a merchant, a Gentile, who stated that on the previous Sunday Brigham Young had declared in the Temple [sic - Tabernacle?], that henceforth Utah was a separate and independent Territory, and owed no obedience or allegiance to any form or laws, but those of their own enactment..."

1857 ~ Nov. 6 (Apostle George Q. Cannon): "Killing of Immigrants -- Mormons falsely Accused... fter this, we presume, there will not be a white man killed, or an emigrant train attacked between the Sierra Nevada and the Western or Southern States, on any route, at what will be credited to the Mormons.... Trains have been attacked by Indians led on by white men, and the white men were, of course, concluded to be Mormons. One statement says, that they were known to be Mormons, because they swore. The statement made by Mr. Honea, who came by way of the Southern Utah route, via San Bernardino, and whose testimony is adduced as evidence that the Mormons were the instigators, if not the perpetrators of the massacre at Mountain Meadows... If they were Mormons disguised as Indians, and they considered such disguise necessary for the concealment of their identity, they would be very sure to let nothing escape them that would cause suspicion to fall upon them; but if they were rascals who wished suspicion to be diverted from themselves and to fall upon the Mormons, it is quite reasonable to suppose that the would disguise themselves as Indians, and also be sure to let some expression fall from them that would lead those whom they assailed and whose minds were already filled with suspicion and fear about the Utah, to suppose that the Mormons were leading on and instigating the Indians to plunder and murder them.... Mountain Meadows: No sooner was it known that a massacre had taken place, than it was charged to the Mormons. Innocent or guilty, it made not a particle of difference, they had to bear the onus of the butchery. With such a state of feeling -- such a pre-disposition to saddle them with the bloody deed whether or no, testimony of a damning character was not long wanting to fully confirm all that they had been charged with.... It is said that the Mormons killed or caused this train to be killed, because they were from Arkansas and Parley P. Pratt was murdered in Arkansas. It is said that the train was blotted out because they had property, and the Mormons coveted it. It is said that they were Gentiles, and that the Mormons had said they would be the means of killing every Gentile -- of cutting off every train. Who are the witnesses that testify that the Mormons committed this bloody deed, or were the instigators of it? Are they not Gentiles? Did not the majority of them come from Arkansas?"

1857 ~ Nov. 7 (Los Angeles Star): "..[William Webb's affidavit:] ... On leaving the train we were told by the Captains and the company, that on arriving in San Bernardino, we must say nothing against the Mormons, as that city was composed of Mormons, and that we must not excite them, as they might cut them all off before they could get in... I have read the statement made by Mr. Honea... and that statement is true, and not exaggerated. I have no hesitation in saying, that from my knowledge and belief, the late horrible massacre and robberies, perpetrated upon emigrant trains in Utah Territory, were committed by the Mormons and Indians under Mormon influence.... -- [John Aiken's affidavit:]... Echo Canyon, forty miles distant from Salt Lake City: We saw a number of Mormon soldiers in the canyon, guarding that pass, secreted in the brush; they made no fire at night, and said that the United States army was not to pass them. They had great confidence in their allies, the Indians... that, provided the army should enter the settlements, every city, town and village in the States of California, Missouri and Iowa should be burned immediately; that they had men to do this who were not known to be Mormons! And that they would cut off all the emigrant trains, army stores, stock, etc.; that no man, woman or child should hereafter cross the plains without being scalped! That they depended upon and expected the Indians to perform this infernal and cowardly part of their designs.... [Salt Lake City:] I found here amongst the people of the city the most hostile feeling and bitter sentiments that the heart of man could possibly conceive...."

1858
1858 ~ Feb. 1 (Brigham Young) As ex officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Utah Territory, Young completed in his annual report for 1857: "Sir: On or about the middle of last September a company of emigrants traveling the southern route to California, poisoned the meat of an ox that died, and gave it to the Indians to eat, causing the immediate death of four of their tribe, and poisoning several others. This company also poisoned the water where they were encamped. This occurred at Corn creek, fifteen miles from Fillmore City. This conduct no enraged the Indians that they [immediately] took measures for revenge." [submitted to James W. Denver, commissioner of Indian affairs]

1858 ~ Feb. 1 A "Public Meeting" of concerned citizens is held in Carrollton, Arkansas, with the objective of petitioning Congress to recover the young survivors of the Mountain Meadows massacre.

1858 ~ Mar. 6 (A. P. Greenwood) "Sir: I have just received the published proceedings of a public meeting held in Carroll county, Arkansas, in relation to the massacre of their friends and relations on the Plains, last summer, by the Mormons and Indians... these barbarous wretches have now in their custody some fifteen children, whose lives were spared, according to their information; and they earnestly invoke the aid of the government to enable them to recover the children alleged to be in their custody." [sent to John. B. Floyd, Secretary of War]

1858 ~ Mar. 18 Congress begins consideration of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and orders an inquiry into the matter.

1858 ~ March 11, 1858 (John B. Floyd, Secretary of War): "Sir: I have received your letter of the 6th instant, inclosing the published proceedings of a public meeting held in Carrollton, Arkansas, the 1st ultimo, relative to the massacre of a party of emigrants from Arkansas, by Mormons and Indians, in the month of July last. This department has, at present, no information respecting the massacre alluded to, or the probable fate of the survivors; but the news paper slip accompanying your communication will be transmitted at the earliest practicable moment to Colonel Johnston, commanding the troops in Utah, with instructions to adopt such measures for the recovery of the children said to be still in captivity, as in his judgment may appear to be best calculated to attain this most desirable object; and should his efforts be successful, to send the persons rescued, at a suitable time, and under proper protection, to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, whence they can be readily returned to their friends in Arkansas." [sent to Ark. Rep. A. B. Greenwood]"

1858 ~ May 5, 1858 (S. Cooper, Adjutant General): "Sir: I have the honor herewith to transmit a newspaper slip, giving the proceedings of a public meeting held in Carroll county, Arkansas, some time ago, in relation to the massacre of a party of emigrants from Arkansas, by Mormons and Indians... it may be in your power to gain information respecting the children supposed to be still in captivity, and, perhaps, adopt some measures which may eventually lead to their recovery from the Indians." [sent to Jacob Forney, via F. J. Porter, Assistant Adjutant General]"

1858 ~ May 27 (Arkansas State Gazette): "Public Meeting of the People of Carroll County -- ...held in Carrollton, on the 1st day of February, 1858... The painful intelligence has reached us that, in July last, an emigrant train with 130 persons from Arkansas was attacked by the Mormons and Santa Clara tribe of Indians near the rim of the Great Basin, and about fifty miles from Cedar City, in Utah Territory, and that all of the emigrants, with the exception of 15 children, were then and there massacred and murdered -- that the children thus saved from the dreadful fate of their parents and the rest of their company were delivered over to the custody of the Mormons of Cedar city... [we] do hereby petition, and call upon the government of the United States to have thoroughly investigated the affair of said dreadful tragedy... as it appears from reliable information, there were spared and saved from destruction as many as fifteen infant children, in said massacre, that we hereby call on the general government for assistance and aid in rescuing said children from their captors, and restoring them to their relations and friends in Arkansas."

1858 ~ June 18 LDS Apostle George A. Smith takes Jacob Hamblin with him, to a private meeting witn Brigham Young. Hamblin says that white men were among the perpretrators of the Mountain Meadows massacre. Young instructs Apostle Smith to meet with the new Utah Governor, Alfred Cumming, in order to initiate a formal investigation. Cumming reportedly was reluctant to conduct an investigation, due to the recent issuing of his mass pardon to the citizens of Utah.

1858 ~ July 29 While on his investigative visit to Mountain Meadows, Apostle George A. Smith writes of the Fancher party men, that they "had run away and left the women;" thus implicitly blaming the emigrant men for allowing the killing of their women and children.

1858 ~ Aug. 6 Apostle George A. Smith begins writing his report on the massacre. In it he blames the Fancer party for antagonizing the Indians, and thus causing the emigrants; own deaths.

1858 ~ Sept. 10 (Jacob Forney): "Sir: Your polite note, inclosing a letter from the Adjutant General in regard to the massacre of Arkansas emigrants near Cedar City, in this Territory, was duly received, and in reply I would say that I have found ten of the children, who are now in my possession, and am using every endeavor to ascertain the whereabouts of the others, with prospects of success." [sent to F. J. Porter, Assistant Adjutant General]

1859

1859 ~ Feb. 15 (Valley Tan): "In relation to the children rescued from that terrible slaughter, we refer to the following letters by which it will be seen 15 have been rescued from the savages: -- Santa Clara, Dec. 9, 1858.... I think I have discharged my duty faithfully as to gathering the unfortunate children I have now fifteen of them in my possession.... As regards the children and our journey to California, I intend to go with you according to your request, I have engaged a nurse. You can travel in the winter season, after you pass the rim of the Basin, better than in summer... Jacob Hamblin [sent to Dr. Jacob Forney] -- Fort Clara, Dec. 11, 1858... Seventeen of the lost children are safe and well provided for. Mr. Hamlin is ready to take them through as soon as you arrive. Yours with respect, Thales H. Haskell [sent to Dr. Jacob Forney]"

1859 ~ Apr. 9 (Lowell Daily Citizen): "More Knavery -- At the last session of Congress Senator Johnson of Arkansas smuggled into some bill as appropriation of $10,000 for removing from Utah to Arkansas several children of emigrants who had been slain by Indians on the route."

1859 ~ Apr. 27 (Gen. A. S. Johnston): "I have the honor to report that Captain R. P. Campbell marched for Santa Clara on the 21st instant, in command of one company of dragoons and two of infantry... to give protection to the numerous travelers who will pass over the southern route during the spring, and merchants' trains, and also to make inquiries respecting murders, which were said to have been perpetrated by Indians last fall. Should it be ascertained what Indians committed the murders, I will order a severe chastisement to be inflicted.... In the course of the debate in the Senate, which is reported in the Globe of the 9th of March, on an amendment of the army appropriation bill, offered by Mr. Sebastian, for "defraying the expense of ransom, recovery, and restoration to their homes of the children surviving the massacre by the Indians of the emigrant train from Arkansas, in the fall of 1857, $10,000," Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas says: 'I have understood that instructions were sent out from the War Department and The Interior Department for an investigation and an inquiry, but I must say that I have not been satisfied that proper, earnest investigation has been made into this horrible transaction, which the case merited at the hands of the government.' ... I was then of the opinion that those children were in the possession of the Mormons who live in the district of country where the massacre was perpetrated, and I was apprised that Dr. Forney, Indian superintendent of this Territory, had gone to visit the Indians of that district... I presumed that the recovery of the children, whether in the hands of the Indians or Mormons, could be best accomplished through the agency of the superintendent... I send his... statement that he 'had found ten of the children.' (He does not say that he received them from the Indians, and I presume he did not.) He has now seventeen, who are supposed to be all who survived the horrible slaughter of men, women, and children at the Mountain Meadows." [sent to Gen. Winfield Scott via Lieut. Col. L. Thomas]"

1859 ~ May 4 (Farmer's Cabinet): Arrival of the Overland Mail -- (under construction)

1859 ~ May 5-6 (Judge Cradlebaugh and U.S. Army troops visit the massacre scene and the Judge writes to President Buchanan, reporting the Mountain Meadows murders were committed by local Mormons, acting "by order of council."

1859 ~ May 11 (Deseret News): "VISIT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS TO SOUTHERN UTAH.... 'I say in the beginning of the of my letter that I purposed bringing to this city certain children remaining of the Mountain Meadow massacre. These children, sixteen in number, I have now in my possession. Thirteen I got in Santa Clara, at Mr. J. Hamblin's, who collected them in pursuance to my directions, and three I got in Cedar City on our way home, who were left there by Mr. Hamblin. I am pleased to say that Mr. Hamblin has Ms discharged his duty in relation to the collection and keeping of those children.'"

1859 ~ May 26 (Hornellsville Tribune): The Mountain Meadows Massacre -- (under construction)

1859 ~ May 31 (San Francisco Bulletin): "The Mountain Meadows Massacre: Surviving Children of the Murdered fix the Crime upon the Mormons -- ...John Lynch, who accompanied Dr. Forney, the Utah Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to Mountain Meadows, on his recent trip in search of the surviving children of the Mountain Meadows massacre. It is the clearest and most interesting narrative of facts, in connection with that terrible tragedy, which has yet been given:... When I arrived at Nephi, I was overtaken by Dr. Forney, the Indian Superintendent, who was going to the Mountain Meadows for the thirteen surviving children of the Mountain Meadows massacre... we proceeded to the residence of the man Hamblin, a Mormon, in whose possession the children were. We found them in a most wretched condition, half starved, half naked, filthy, infested with vermin, and their eyes diseased from the cruel neglect to which they had been exposed. After three days at Santa Clara, where clothing was made for the children, we returned with Hamblin and ten of the children to Cedar City... Among the children are some who retain a very vivid impression of much connected with the massacre. A very intelligent little girl, named Becky Dunlap, pointed out to me at Santa Clara an Englishman named Tellus [sic - Tullis?], whom she says she saw murder her father. She also states that Hamblin's Indian boy killed her two sisters.... The boy, Miram stated, that after the massacre was over, he saw the Bishop of Coal Creek washing the paint from his face, which he had used to disguise himself as an Indian...."

1859 ~ Aug. 13 (Fort Wayne Weekly Times): A letter received from Dr. Forney, Supt. of Indian affairs in Utah, states that 2 of the children who were spared from the Mountain Meadow Massacre have been detained by the United States Dist. Attorney of the Territory as witnesses against certain white men who are strongly implicated in the commission of that crime. The other children will arrive at Leavenworth about the 15 August, where Wm. C. Mitchell, whose two sons and their wives were among the murdered emigrants, will receive and return them to their friends in Arkansas. The initatory steps for their recovery were taken by Mr. Mix, the former commissioner, and Mr. Greenwood has zealously consummated that humane purpose.

1859 ~ Aug. 17 (Daily National Intelligencer): "The Mountain Meadows Children -- Special Agent Jarvis, who came eastward with the children saved from the Mountain Meadows massacre, has arrived in this city and reported himself to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He left the children at Fort Laramie, and reports that they will not arrive at Leavenworth before the 6th of September."

1859 ~ Aug. 27 (Leavenworth Herald): "Yesterday morning at 10 o'clock a train of fourteen wagons arrived... Accompanying the train are also fifteen of the children who escaped the terrible massacre at Mountain Meadows... Early last spring, through the vigilance of Dr. Forney, the Indian agent for Utah, the children were all obtained and properly cared for. Although most of them are very young, they were enabled to detail with considerable intelligence nearly all the particulars of the terrible massacre they had witnessed.... An agent from Arkansas -- said to be a relative of some of the children, most of whom are supposed to belong to Johnson county, in that State -- is expected here to take charge of the children and conduct them to their friends."

1859 ~ Aug. 27 (Fort Wayne Daily Times): "The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Greenwood has received a dispatch announcing the arrival at Leavenworth of the children who were spared at he Mountain Meadow Massacre. They will at once be taken to Carrolton, Arkansas, near the point from which they were taken, and will there be restored to their friends.

1859 ~ Sept. 15 (Green Bay Advocate): "Leavenworth, Aug. 29, 1859 -- A train of fourteen Government wagons accompanied by several U. S. officers and fifteen of the Mountain Meadow children which left Salt Lake City on the 26th of June last, arrived at the Fort on the morning of the 25th inst.... The Leavenworth Daily Herald in making a mention of the arrival of the train, says of the children: 'We saw the children at the Fort yesterday morning when they arrived -- ten are girls, and five boys. The oldest girl did not appear to be over ten years of age, and the majority are much younger. All were comfortably clothed -- in good health and fine spirits. We saw a little rosy-cheek girl, not over, we should think, four years of age, whose right arm was entirely helpless. At the time of the massacre the child was in its mother's arms, and the bullet that sent its protector to an untimely grave, passed through the little one's right arm, just below the elbow. We saw the sacrs made by the bullet, but received only a smile from the little girl when we inquired if she could use her hand. -- An agent from Arkansas -- said to be a relative if some of the children -- most of whom are supposed to belong to Johnson county, in that State -- is expected here to take charge of the children and conduct them to their friends. -- Two of the little girls [sic] -- the oldest of the seventeen -- are retained in Utah to give testimony in the Courts in relation to the massacre. They will be kindly cared for and sent to Arkansas as soon as the bloody murderers -- several of whom have been detected and apprehended -- are disposed of."

1859 ~ Dec. 12
Indian Superintendent Forney arrives in Washington, D.C. with the two oldest surviving boys from the massacre. Superintendent Forney hopes the boys will be allowed to testify before Congress, but Forney himself is soon dismissed for alleged mismanagement of federal funds.

1860

1860 ~ November (Arkansas Legislature): "[Governor] Elias N. Conway... in his biennial message: The executive and the people of Arkansas are indebted to the courtesy of Brevet Major James Henry Carleton, of the United States army, for a copy of that part of an able report made by him, relative to the horrible massacre at the Mountain Meadows, in Utah Territory, in September, 1857, of one hundred and twenty men, women and children, who were from the State of Arkansas, and had traveled that far on their way to California. There were seventeen small children, only, left alive out of this large emigrating party of about one hundred and forty souls.... The seventeen children were recovered from the Mormons and brought back by authority of the United States, and, by the report of Hon. Wm. C. Mitchell, who, as agent of the government of the United States brought the children from Fort Leavenworth, you will learn their names, ages, and sex, and also the places of their residence in this state.... As special agent of the United States government, I proceeded to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on the 25th of August, 1859, took charge of those children -- fifteen in number -- five males and ten females; and whose names and present residence are stated below. They were brought to Fort Leavenworth from Salt Lake, Utah, in charge of Major Whiting, U.S. army, and arrived there on that day. I reached Carrolton, Carroll county, Arkansas with them, on the 16th of September, 1859."

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