Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Richard E. Turley (Author), Glen M. Leonard (Author)
Key Phrases: splendid train, decoyed out, emigrant cattle, Cedar City, Mountain Meadows, Salt Lake City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On September 11, 1857, more than 120 men, women and children traveling from Arkansas to California were butchered by Mormon militiamen and Paiute Indians at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. This study of the tragedy, by three LDS historians, utilizes previously unavailable archival documents to answer the question, How could basically good people commit such a terrible atrocity? The authors find responsibility almost everywhere: in the escalating tensions between the federal government and Mormon authorities, in the 19th-century American culture of violence, in the barbarism of the emigrants and in the unchecked hunger for vengeance the Mormon militiamen felt toward Americans who had opposed their faith. John D. Lee, a fanatical militia leader, receives much of the blame, while church president Brigham Young gets a pass. This first volume covers the massacre itself, not the coverup that some historians have alleged was masterminded by the LDS Church; the authors leave the door open for a possible sequel. But the book's evocative portrayal of the moments leading to the massacre and its careful reconstruction of the lives of the victims makes an important contribution. This is an absorbing, if unsettling, read. (Aug.) ""
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Coauthors Walker, Turley, and Leonard provide the fullest account yet of the darkest chapter in Mormon history: the massacre of a wagon train of California-bound immigrants passing through southern Utah in 1857. Readers relive the grim days when local Mormon leaders besieged the immigrants with a force of white militiamen and Paiute warriors and then brutally butchered all but a few young children. To account for the barbarism of attackers who professed a religion of love, Walker, Turley, and Leonard recount the Mormons’ turbulent history in Missouri and Illinois, where government officials allowed mobs to kill unarmed Mormons and drive others from their homes. Determined to protect their new communities, Utah Mormons seethed with passion when, in 1857, President Buchanan announced plans to send troops to quell a supposed Mormon insurrection. Those passions surged when some immigrants boasted of involvement in earlier depredations against Mormon settlements—and threatened worse. The drama leading up to the massacre brings to view a score of memorable personalities. But the most famous—namely, Brigham Young—plays a role of surprising impotence, as his urgent letter directing the militia to let the immigrants pass in peace leaves a Mormon captain lamenting, “too late, too late.” An essential acquisition for any western history collection. --Bryce Christensen

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Second printing edition (August 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195160347
• ISBN-13: 978-0195160345
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #63,151 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Open & Honest = Superb Scholarship, August 13, 2008

By	M. Crawford "MAC" (Layton, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After I read this book I attended a book signing where all three authors were present. Apart from signing the book, they gave a 45 minute lecture. Richard Turley informed the audience that when Ronald Walker was approached, 7 years ago, to begin work on this book, he (Ron) said that he would not be involved with the project unless complete disclosure of the massacre was the proposed goal of the book. That goal was achieved.

Massacre at Mountain Meadows is, as has been pointed out by other reviews, written by 3 faithful Mormons. However, they do not hide any fact, no matter how poorly it reflects on the Mormons of the time. For instance, concerning Brigham Young they write: "We believe errors were made by . . . Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders, . . . and most of all by settlers in southern Utah who set aside principles of their faith to commit an atrocity. At each point along the chain of acts and decisions--especially in Iron and Washington Counties--a single personal choice or policy might have brought a different result" (p. xiv). The "errors" committed by "Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders" are not glossed over, or hidden behind the skirts of any LDS public relations committee. The men who wrote this book completely admit and demonstrate, through their writing, that the culpability for the murders can never be placed at the feet on one particular person. Indeed, the writers allow the reader to determine, by a full disclosure of facts, how much blame Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders deserve for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Though the three men who wrote this book are faithful LDS members, they condemn the Mormon murderers and absolve the Arkansas emigrants: "The emigrants did not deserve what eventually happened to them at Mountain Meadows. The massacre was not inevitable. No easy absolution for the perpetrators is possible. Their later posturing and rationalization could never overcome one irrefutable fact: All the purported wrongs of the emigrants--even if true--did not justify the killing of a single person" (p. 115).

This book is one of the best researched and well written books on an aspect of Mormon Church and American History. The writing is superb, the flow of the text and ideas are very readable, the ending--though known to the reader beforehand--is as gripping as any novel on today's market.

Those who simply focus on the culpability of Brigham Young in the massacre miss the undercurrents that were at work in Utah during the 1850s. One man, not even if he is prophet of a Church, "during a time of uncertainty and possible war" (p. 115), hundreds of miles away from the actual killing site, in an era where the fastest way to convey information was via horse and letter, could cause so many followers to violently kill men, women, and children. The proof is in the pages of this book. There were forces at work that we, in the comfort of our air conditioned homes and relatively peaceful surroundings, cannot possibly understand. This book gives us a glimpse at how "some of the Mormons, like other men and women throughout history, did not match their behavior with their ideals" (p. 115).

In conclusion, for those clamoring to know the truth surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre need to read this book. Those who accuse the LDS Church of withholding facts and figures to keep their members in a trance of belief need to read this book. Mormons believe that truth aleviates suspense and doubt and this book of truth does just that.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A clear and dispassionate timeline strips away the myths and reveals evil, September 20, 2008

By	Mary G. Longorio "Texasbookgirl" (Eagle Mountain, UT) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In a recent radio interview one of the authors of Massacre at Mountain Meadows remarked that the book was written more like a textbook than many of the recent histories marketed for mass appeal. Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr., and Glen M. Leonard have taken a scholarly approach to the most shameful chapter in Mormon history and have carefully sifted through mountains of materials to back their findings. The authors had complete access to church archives (Turley and Leonard have worked for the church as historians) and available records from the era. In a quiet methodical fashion the timeline is set and the contributing factors are outlined, given context and attributed to persons involved. Massacre at Mountain Meadows lacks the overwrought prose of some recently published books and the authors have no agenda other than presenting the information gleaned from these sources. That is the strength of this book.

The facts as presented...and understandably, they are more than a century after the fact, often obscured by finger pointing and slanted to shift the blame from self to another, are more horrific than fiction can possibly portray. In the year 1857 a large wagon train of emigrants were slaughtered by a group of perfectly ordinary Mormon men and Indians they has recruited, acting on their fears, and trying to shield themselves with their religion. It was a evil and inexcusable act that took the lives of innocent men, women , and children, and allowed their murderers to claim their belongings and to take their young children to raise as their own. No behaviour by the wagon party could justify this slaughter and the participants tried the rest of their lives to justify, excuse, or deny their crimes. The horrors of that September 11th are that much more horrific because they were carried out by ordinary men. Only one man was actually tried, found guilty and executed. All other participants carried their shame to the grave. For too many years, the facts have been clouded by anger and shame and fear. Opening them to examination and reflection is to hopefully recognize the chain of events that allowed this to happen and reconcile the present with the past.

29 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very important contribution, August 7, 2008

By	Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Mountain Meadows massacre of September 1857 where more than 120 men, women and children traveling from Arkansas to California were killed by Mormons and their Indian allies is one of the great massacres of American history, up there with Waco, the Oklahoma Federal Building, 9/11, some of the famous massacres of striking workers and of course, Little Big Horn. It was indeed a viscious massacre and since it took place much blame has been tossed at Mormons in general in a series of Xenophobic books that seek to indict the church and its leaders. This is not surprising as the hatred for the travellers who were killed at Mountain Meadows was an anger felt across the Mormon country of Utah, but the savage outburst of butchery was carried out by individuals, not a collective.

It is to these individuals and the culture of the times that three LDS authors have turned, using church archives, to paint a fair pciture of what took place that day and in the time leading up to it. The Mormons had been persecuted when they had lived peacefully in Missouri and the old Northwest. There different ways, of polygamy, and their new religion, set them apart. Their prophet was murdered and their people driven from one place to another. When Utah beckoned as a promised land it was no surprise that many were annoyed to find that following close on their heals were the same people who had driven them out of Nauvoo and other settlements.

Anger and resentment turned to revenge, against people who certainly did not deserve revenge. This book paints a good picture of this clash of cultures and the massacre that resulted. A truly important contribution to the history of the American West.

Seth J. Frantzman