Customer Reviews

The Mountain Meadows Massacre

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Juanita Brooks, a life-long southern Utahn, used her considerable native talent, her drive for the truth, and many years of effort to compile this first exhaustive, honest examination of the Mountain Meadows massacre. It is especially impressive given the fact that Ms. Brooks wasn't by vocation a historian or scholar. Her narrative is lucid and complete. Her analysis has proven, in the context of additional investigation, to be principally correct. Throughout it all, Ms. Brooks remained also a faithful LDS (Mormon) woman, in spite of her disappointments with her contemporary LDS church leadership as it related to her investigation. This should be a starting point for any serious student of the Mountain Meadows massacre. Ms. Brooks shows us a world of grays with very human characters whom she places into a carefully resurrected context.

This was a hard story to tell. The Mountain Meadows Massacre is one of Mormondom's most infamous stories, and one which members have steered clear of for years. It is amazing that this book was written so long ago, and yet so many of us are still uninformed on what happened.

What Ms. Brooks has done is recreate the context in which this terrible act occurred. The Mormons of the southern colonies were in a highly aroused state knowing that the army of the United States was marching their way. The emigrant party was overly boisterous, deriding the Mormons, their leaders, and threatening to raise an army in California to return to destroy Utah. The Indians wanted some "action" against the "Merrycats" (Americans) in retaliation for the poisoning death of some of their tribe, and the Mormons new they needed the alliance of the Chiefs if they were to offer any kind of effective resistence to the army that would arrive that next spring. All of this contributed to a sense of mob action that every one of the participants would later regret. What is important about this book, however, is that it helps you understand that it was not a mere malicious act of vengence or wickedness; it came in the context of war, among a group of frightened farmers who had been driven from their homes by violent mobs at least two or three times in the past 15 years. Of course, it doesn't minimize the heinous act.....

It is also important in understanding the apparently diliberate sacrifice of John D. Lee, the only participant who was ever brought to trial, and who was ultimately executed at the Mountain Meadows. His loyalty to Brigham Young and the Church ultimately set him up to be the scapegoat, with the Church relying on the Book of Mormon phrase "it is better that one man should perish than a whole nation dwindle in unbelief." They knew that a fair trial would drag the upper eschelons of the Church hierarchy through the mud, and the preservation of the Church depended on that not happening.

While there are those who will criticize this work for some of its statistical inaccuracies (how many died in the Fancher party...), it is important to keep in mind that this book was written at a time when Mormon History was very difficult to obtain. It is remarkable that the story could be so well researched at all, and if there are errors, they certainly seem excusable to me. This book is still the standard for anyone who studies the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

This was the book that first got me interested in the Mountain Meadow Massacre, what I called the 9-11 of 19th Century. It was one of the biggest mass murders in the history of the American west and ironically speaking, the killers were white men, murdering white people in cold blood. With considerable courage, the author painted a very clear picture of what this massacre was all about and within her limited means, gave a cause and effect of the incident. I used that term "limited means" because the author was (now deceased) a member of LDS and she probably compromised some of more inflamatory elements of the massacre so other writers like Will Bagley and Sally Denton can go at it. Her defense of John D. Lee was bit surprising to me but I figured that she knew that Lee was nothing more then a scrapgoat for the Mormon Church. But she did not take any inroads to the actual responsibility of the massacre. Like I wrote in the earlier reviews on books written by Bagley and Denton, I would considered this book to be a valuable first book of three that honestly deal with the Mountain Meadow Massacre.

Brooks, although not a professional historian, did throuough research and offered a balanced view of the massacre even though she was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well. The book's conclusions are well argued and the documents are used in a fair and balanced way. Brooks also does an effective job of discussing the background of the massacre with clear chapters on the "Mormon War" of 1857 that was coming. Unlike many authors, Brooks overcomes the tendancy to become emotional or polemical about the massacre. Instead of using the book to further her own agenda, (either to be an apologist or what is called an "Anti-Mormon" and tear down the church), Brooks attempts to bring to light not only the massacre itself but the motivations behind it and the cover-up that happened afterwards. Anyone studying the Mountain Meadows Massacre need to read this book first or at least second or their research is woefully incomplete!

Juanita Brooks must be commended for writing as thorough a history of the Mountain Meadows massacre as she has; it seems she spent decades gathering and sifting information, including affidavits, personal letters, newspaper accounts, and documents from the LDS archives, to present as accurate a picture as possible. And still so much is lost or buried in history and irretrievable today. How many people were actually killed remains in dispute, the number ranging anywhere from 60-something to 120. The causes of the near-hysteria exhibited by the southern Utah Mormons at the time, and the fact that the well-stocked Fancher wagon train was their target, are many and varied: fear of attack by the US army, fear that through-trains would incite Californians to attack the Mormon settlements, a desire to avenge recent Mormon murders in the States, and the Fancher party's own intimidating behavior toward the Mormon's in the villages they passed through, have all been forwarded as causes.

The role of the Indians involved is vague; they at first were expected to do all the killing while the whites looked on; this isn't what happened, though some Indians did participate and did much looting of the wagons afterward. Finally the role of Brigham Young in what appeared at first would be a complete "cover-up" only to have one man, John D. Lee, take the blame for everything - perhaps because he was the leader of the attackers and certainly because it would help keep the high officials of the church from appearing guilty, is explored by Brooks. It took a hundred years, but in 1961 John D. Lee was finally "reinstated to membership and former blessings" by the LDS supreme council. The Mountain Meadows tragedy is a fascinating story where somewhat cloudy intelligence got mixed up with fear and paranoia, allowing circumstances to get beyond control. It wasn't the first time something like it happened, and it won't be the last. Brooks's account of it is superb historical writing, however.

Mrs. Brooks performed an invaluable service when she wrote "The Mountain Meadows Massacre." She dared to go where no member of the LDS church had dared go before. It has been said that her work has stood the test of time. Unfortunately, that is not true. Because her book is far from clear about the location of the events of the massacre, I began to search the information contained in her bibliography. She is wrong on several points. To her dying day she believed the men's grave was located at the original monument. Major Carleton's report reveals there were three graves. The remains at the monument are those found scattered around the valley. Two other graves were put in place by a Captain Campbell a couple of weeks before Major Carleton came on the scene. Mrs. Brooks uses Rachel Lee's diary as evidence that John D. Lee went to Cedar City for his meeting with Isaac Haight on Sunday, September 6, 1857. The entry says Lee left on an expedition "south". Even a cursory examination of a map shows Cedar City to be north of New Harmony, Lee's home. Further, why would she characterize a visit to town as "an expedition"? In fact, Lee was on his way to Mountain Meadows that day. Also, because of this book, several names appear on the monument that have no documentary justification for being there. Several people from places other than Arkansas are mentioned. Since all of the surviving children are from Arkansas, what are the odds that none of these phantom families had any children that survived? The extra names listed are based on hearsay only by people who thought they had met the Fancher wagon train coming across the plains. That's not good research, and cannot be considered accurate history. The death toll is placed at 120, but there is no evidence other than the Mitchell report that names all those who left Arkansas in the Spring of that year. All of the surviving children are on that list. Between Major Carleton and Captain Campbell, the remains they buried totalled less than seventy-five..... Obviously, the full story has never been told, but this book is a brave attempt at the truth. Too bad it doesn't quite hit the mark.






























Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com. I've included a summary of
your order below.

For future reference, you can view the status of your account and your
orders online at any time by clicking the "Your Account" link at the
top of our home page. You may also use this link to cancel or modify
orders that have not entered the shipping process.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Order #102-9014304-8494545 - placed 07/12/2001
Status: confirmed by customer

1 "Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Food and Drugs, Revised As
of April 1, 2001 (Code of Federal Regulations. Title 21, 2001, Pts
1 99) (vol. 1)"
Item #: 9990992541
Order time availability: 4-6 weeks
Amazon.com price: $37.00

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Items subtotal: $37.00
Shipping: $5.47
Tax: $0.00
-
-
Total: $42.47
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Please let us know if you have any further questions, and thanks for
shopping at Amazon.com!

Juanita Brook's book was objective on both sides, pointing out the atmosphere among the LDS people at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre while also showing the inconsistencies in some of the LDS explanations. If there is one clear point in the book it is that in times of prejudice and war, even good people will do horrific things. This does not justify the massacre but does attempt to explain the paranoia and fear which existed in Southern Utah at that time. I find Juanita's research to be very fair and quite accurate. It parallels the research done by Josiah F. Gibbs in his book which was printed in 1910, much closer to the time of the massacre. Mr. Gibbs is not LDS and it is obvious he does not like the LDS, but certainly his book verifies that the research which Juanita performed was very accurate. Having read many of the books and information regarding this massacre, I believe Juanita has done her research well and attempted to get the truth out. One painfully obvious truth which comes out is the quickness with which the U.S. Government took action in trying to find the guilty parties. Perhaps if they had taken such quickness with the killings and mobbings upon the LDS in Missouri, Illinois and other states, this massacre could have been avoided.

'The Mountain Meadows Massacre' is a story in which multiple factors came together at exactly the same time to produce an epic tragedy. If one or two of these factors hadn't been present, it wouldn't have happened. First, there was the antipathy of the Mormons for the 'gentiles': Second there was the antipathy of the settlers for the Mormons: Third, there was the immense of a war between the Mormons and the Union: Fourth, there was abusive language directed at Mormon leaders: Sixth, there was lethal opporunism on the part of Utah Indians: and Seventh, there was the willingness of John D. Lee and members of the Iron County militia to placate the Indians and destroy Mormon enemies. All of these things added up to produce one of the most destructive pioneer massacres in the history of the nation.

Still, all of the above doesn't quite explain what happened. Civilized white men--under the guise of protectors--gunned down civilized white men, women and children. How did it happen? Fear of an Indian war? Hatred for the anti-Mormon settlers? Anger at the government? I really don't know.

Years ago, while traveling through Southern Utah, I decided to visit the massacre site. Asking locals the location, I only got hard stares. Using Brooks' book, however, I located it. I had to open gates and drive through grassy pastures with little trace of anything resembling even a dirt track. When I arrived at my destination, there were a couple of old picnic tables--nothing more. Maybe seventy-five yards away there was a rock cairn. I remembered Juanita Brooks telling that the bodies of the settlers, when discovered by the owner of the property, were gathered together into a mass grave and buried under a rocky cairn. Sure enough, on the other side of the cairn there was a tiny plaque giving a totally erroneous account of the fight. It went something like this "On such and such a date in 1857, 150 California settlers were killed here, in their fighting pits, in a battle against the Indians."

Nope. That's not what happened at all. Propaganda. I understand that the battle/massacre ground has now been developed with a more accurate description of events. I wouldn't know. I haven't been back since.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Briefly, even 50 years on, there has been much printed on the topic of the Mountain Meadows Massacre (MMM), much of it worthless, such as the discussion in "Under the Banner of Heaven: a story of violent faith." 50 years on, Brook's book on the MMM is one of, if not the best analysis of this tragic event. For those interested in Mormon history, this book is a must, alongside "The Mormon Experience" by Arrington and Bitton.

This book is a not un-biased account of the Old West massacre of over 120 men, women, and children by Mormon (and possibly Indian) citizens of early Utah Territory. It was written by a Mormon with obvious Mormon sympathies, and that's okay.
But it was also written a long time ago, and a lot of new information has since resurfaced. I think if Juanita Brooks were alive today, with today's resources, she would write THE definitive work on this sad episode, and we could all be free to talk about things that we can actually do something about.
But, she's dead.
We do have her book though, and it is a good account of this incident--of this massacre. It dwells a little too hopefully on the vague possibility that maybe the murdered wagon train provoked it (basing such notions on rumors), and it places too much blame on the Indians and not enough on the Mormons, but it's a good read, especially when paired with other more recent books on the subject.