Copyright 1913, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

CHAPTER 27

AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS

By the summer of 1857, that first sputtering of the cauldron of intolerance and fanaticism known as the "reformation" had ceased. But the cauldron was still boiling, and the flames at its base were hotter than ever. To all other causes for excitement had now been added that of a definite break between the Mormon kingdom and the federal government. In August of 1857, the new president, James Buchanan, had appointed a Gentile governor of Utah, and even before that date had begun preparing a military force to uphold federal authority in that territory. In the eyes of the Mormons, this was an invasion of their kingdom and their rights. They considered themselves fairly at war with the United States; and some of them were ready to commit any manner of atrocity in prosecuting that war.

Earlier in the summer, a party had been organized in Arkansas to make the overland journey to California. They numbered something more than one hundred and thirty persons, and belonged to about thirty families. The value of their outfit has been exaggerated in most anti-Mormon accounts of their fate; but it seems certain that these emigrants were a little above the average in means. They are credited with having thirty horses and six hundred cattle on their arrival in Utah.

There is no evidence that the emigrants knew of the tension between the Mormon kingdom and the federal government before setting out on their journey, though doubtless they had heard of it during their trip across the plains. They reached the neighborhood of Salt Lake City early in August, with provisions low and animals weary from the long march. They had planned to buy supplies and rest their stock in Utah, as other California-bound emigrants had done for the past eight years; but to their surprise, this privilege was denied them. They were ordered to break camp and continue their march, and when they sought to buy provisions no one had any to sell.

The Arkansans were going to California by the southern route, and marched almost directly southward through Utah. For more than 300 miles they kept on, through a sullenly but passively hostile population that refused to sell them grain or to trade cattle or horses. The emigrants bought thirty bushels of corn from some Indians on Corn creek; but they could not get it ground at any mill. At Cedar City, the last large settlement they were destined to pass through, they were permitted to buy fifty bushels of wheat, which was ground for them at the mill of John Doyle Lee. Fate was in a mood to be dramatic.

Lee was a coarse, violent man, a born fighter, fearless and lawless toward the world at large, but submissive and obedient in all things to his church superiors. He had been one of the active followers of Prophet Joseph Smith, and had gone as a political missionary in Smith's campaign for the presidency of the United States. It was generally understood that when there was a rough piece of work to be done for the kingdom, Lee was a good man to do it.

Associated with him in the work which was to follow were Isaac Haight, president of the Cedar City stake of Zion; Philip Klingensmith, a bishop in the same place; John M. Higbee, William H. Dame, and many persons of less prominence. Dame was president of the stake of Zion at Parowan, and colonel of the militia of Iron county; Higbee was a lieutenant-colonel and Lee a major in the same regiment. They were birds of a feather; narrow, fanatical, violent, and "red hot for the gospel under the influence of the late reformation." Klingensmith is credited with being the man who so kindly cut Rasmus Anderson's throat to save his soul, in the case of blood atonement cited in the last chapter.

From Cedar City, the emigrants moved southwest past Iron creek and Pinto creek, and on Sunday, September 6, 1857, they were camped in the little grassy valley known as Mountain Meadows. Their condition was little short of desperate. They were facing a march of seventy days across some of the worst deserts of North America, with a supply of provisions that would have been scanty for two weeks. Their cattle were so weary that they had consumed five days in coming the last thirty-five miles. It is doubtful if they could have won through to their destination, even if left alone, but the chance was not offered them.

The zealous agents of the kingdom in southern Utah knew of the approaching emigrant train long before it arrived, and seem early to have discussed the advisability of smiting the Gentiles. No final arrangements were made until after the Arkansans had passed Cedar City. Then it was decided to rouse the Indians, and set them to butcher the emigrants. Among those involved in the plot at this stage were Lee, Haight, Klingensmith, Higbee, and, in all probability, William H. Dame. Haight claimed to have Dame's authority for all he did, and Dame's presence at Mountain Meadows immediately after the massacre supports this claim.

The emigrants were camped in an open valley, near a large spring. They anticipated no trouble with the Indians, their wagons were not corralled, and their camp was commanded by the surrounding heights. From these heights, on Monday morning, September 7, 1857, the Indians opened fire. Seven emigrants were killed and sixteen wounded in this first attack. With a steadiness under surprise which argues good discipline in the camp, the Arkansans returned the fire, gathered their wagons in a ring, and dug a rifle pit in the centre of the corral. The spring, unfortunately, was a hundred yards away, and water for the besieged party could be brought only at night, or secured in dangerous dashes by day. There were not more than fifty fighting men in the emigrant party at the start, and nearly half of these had been killed or wounded at the first onset; but they held that pitiable makeshift fort for four days against not less than three hundred Indians.

For the moment, all three parties involved had misunderstood the situation. The Mormon officials who had instigated the attack expected the Indians to make short work of the emigrant party. Zion's enemies would thus be cut off, without loss or blame to Zion. The Indians likewise looked for an easy prey, and when disappointed in that particular, called confidently on the Mormons for assistance. The emigrants supposed their assailants were Indians alone, and in spite of the sullen looks and surly refusals to trade which they had encountered in the Utah settlements, believed the Mormons would come to the rescue of their fellow countrymen. In this faith, two men slipped out of the beleaguered camp Wednesday night, and started to Cedar City to summon help. They got safely past the Indians, but encountered some Mormon fanatics gathering for the massacre. One of the young men was murdered outright. The other, though wounded, is said to have escaped back to the besieged camp.

When word came of the gallant and successful defence of the emigrants, the more violent Mormon leaders saw that they must bear the odium and dangers of failure, or carry through the plot by aid of Mormon militia. They chose the latter alternative. Armed men were called out and sent to Mountain Meadows. No general levy was made, but the selected ruffians were members of the local militia, and were acting under orders of their regimental officers. Meantime a plot was devised which it was hoped would avoid the risks of fighting. The Mormons were to come in as if in protection of the emigrants from the Indians. The emigrants were to be decoyed from their little fort under promise of a safe conduct to Cedar City, and their arms were to be taken away. Thus disarmed and helpless, they were to be attacked and murdered. Men, women, and all children "old enough to talk" were to be slain; and the returning Mormons were to report that the emigrants had been massacred by Indians before help arrived.

The plot was a masterpiece of treachery, and like a masterpiece it worked. Friday morning, September 11, William Bateman was sent with a flag of truce to tell the emigrants that rescue was coming. A little later, John D. Lee entered the camp, and completed arrangements. The Arkansans were told that they would be taken in safety to Cedar City, and kept there until there was a chance to send them on their journey; but that they must give up their arms, so as to avoid exciting the Indians. This order must have roused suspicion, but the ammunition of the emigrants was nearly gone, and they yielded. Two wagons were provided. In one, driven by a man named McMurdy, were placed the arms, and the smaller children. The other wagon, whose driver was named Knight, was loaded with the wounded, and a start was made for Cedar City. The women and older children walked immediately behind the wagons. Last came the men, in single file, with the foremost man about fifty yards behind the women. An armed Mormon walked at the side of each unarmed emigrant, as if in strenuous protection.

The Indians had been withdrawn from the siege of the camp, and placed in ambush among some low cedars. The wagons led the way straight towards this ambush. At a given signal: "Do your duty!" each guard turned and shot the unarmed man at his side; the Indians leaped from hiding and fell upon the women; and Lee, Knight, and McMurdy, with some assistance from the Indians, butchered the wounded men in the wagon. Scouts had been placed on horseback to run down any who might escape; but as Higbee reported: "The boys acted admirably, they took good aim, and all but three of the Gentiles fell at the first fire." Of the entire party, only seventeen children were spared. The oldest of these was seven years of age.

It was one of the most monstrous massacres that ever stained the annals of North America. Other butcheries have numbered more victims, and been distinguished by greater refinements of cruelty; but none can surpass Mountain Meadows for consummate treachery. The details of guilt, the infamy of the plot, the savagery of the murder, may be apportioned as one likes among Lee, Haight, Dame, Klingensmith, and their fellows. The historic responsibility for this horror must be placed squarely on the shoulders of Brigham Young.

The historic responsibility, not the legal. Brigham did not order this massacre. He did not want it to take place. When a messenger arrived to tell him of the threatening destruction, he sent word to stop, and let the emigrants go unharmed. When another despatch brought word that this order had come too late, and that the butchery was accomplished, Brigham, according to the testimony of an eyewitness, wept like a child. These facts clear Brigham of direct complicity in the slaughter; but do not lighten by the weight of a hair his moral accountability.

For the massacre at Mountain Meadows was the logical culmination of that "reformation" which Brigham had first permitted, then sanctioned and sustained. It was the legitimate result of the doctrine of blood atonement. It was no more than the translation into deeds of sermons which Brigham and his aids had preached for years. Brigham and Jedediah Grant and Heber Kimball and others had risen in the pulpit Sunday after Sunday, and raved and ranted about "unsheathing the bowie knife," "laying judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet," "shedding blood," "hewing down the evil tree," and a thousand other such criminal follies. Was it to be expected that simple savages like Lee or covetous savages like Haight or Klingensmith would hold their hands when thus told of the righteousness of murder? Were they to quibble and evade and tone down the words of the Lord's anointed prophet and revelattor If the sermons of the "reformation" meant anything, the Mountain Meadows massacre was justified. If they meant nothing, why were they uttered?

But there is no need to rest the claim of Brigham's responsibility on even so clear an argument as this. It is proved by his subsequent actions. There is good evidence that Brigham had every detail of the tragedy from the mouth of John D. Lee as soon as Lee could get from Mountain Meadows to Salt Lake City.

There is absolute certainty that whether from Lee or from another, Brigham knew the whole ghastly story within a few days. His mastership of the territory in those days has never been questioned. Yet to the day of his death, Brigham never lifted a finger to bring to justice the perpetrators of this massacre. Lee was a bishop of the church when engaged in cutting throats at Mountain Meadows, and a bishop of the church he remained for years afterwards.

Brigham reserved to himself the right to grant permissions for plural marriage, and Lee took a new plural wife after the massacre. As long as he could, with safety to himself, Brigham gave Lee every countenance that could be given to a man of Lee's type and attainments; and when finally brought to trial, Lee could not be convicted until the United States prosecutor had declared in court that the government was trying to convict this one man, not any of his church associates or superiors! Then, and not till then, were the tong-ties of witnesses loosened, and the consciences of jurymen satisfied that Lee had done murder at Mountain Meadows, nearly twenty years before.

Horrible as was the crime itself, the excuses offered for it by Mormon historians add a touch of infamy not often achieved. The Arkansans, being safely dead, are maligned. The story is told at length of how Parley P. Pratt had been murdered in Arkansas some years before, and a host of impossible charges are laid to the emigrants themselves. They are charged with having poisoned a spring, and boasted of it, with having poisoned an ox, and fed it to the Indians, with bragging that they took part in the murder of Prophet Joseph Smith, with insulting women, and indulging in boisterous conduct in the towns through which they passed.

The case of Parley P. Pratt need not detain us. He induced a woman whom he had converted to elope from her husband, and become Mrs. Parley P. Pratt, No. 9. Later, she came back, and took the children whom she had previously left behind. Pratt's connection with this kidnapping was not proved, and Mr. McLean, the injured husband, committed a crime when he killed the Apostle -- but was it a crime properly punishable by the murder of one hundred and twenty persons who had no part in it, merely because they came from the same state?

The charges against the emigrants themselves are quite as idle. Had they been guilty of any such disturbance, they would have been laid by the heels within forty-eight hours after they entered the Mormon kingdom. In one point, the absurdity of the charges becomes grotesque. Since no Arkansans were present at the murder of Joseph Smith, it became necessary to invent a party of "Missouri wildcats" who were travelling in company with the party from Arkansas. These Missourians are as mythical as the poisoned spring. It is passing strange that intelligent men, such as some of the Mormon historians are, cannot see that by repeating these absurd slanders, they are making themselves apologists for the most atrocious massacre that has stained American annals.

When describing the wicked and unjust expulsion of the Mormons from Nauvoo, the present writers pointed out that democracy is so illy organized for violence that the worst men, accustomed to democratic methods of government and work, make botches of their attempt of wholesale wickedness. Democracy must be submerged by the mob or superseded by a semi-feudal political machine before cruelty or thievery can thrive on a large scale on the soil of freedom. We may here point the converse of that moral. The machinery of a theocratic despotism is ready for any crime, when grasped by the hand of a scoundrel. The men who engineered the massacre at Mountain Meadows were both sacerdotal and military officers of the Mormon kingdom. They were knit together in the bonds of martial and ecclesiastical discipline. The very signal for murder was an appeal to their misguided loyalty -- "Do your duty!" Lee and Haight and Dame and Higbee and Klingensmith did not need to alter a single detail in the organization of Zion's empire. They needed only to assign it the task which their villainy had conceived.

John Doyle Lee was finally convicted, and was executed on the scene of his crime, March 23, 1877. His execution was just; and a goodly company might have been kneeling beside him on their coffins with no loss to the world, and no miscarriage of justice. But the greatest criminal of the Mountain Meadows horror cannot be disposed of in so summary a fashion. That criminal is the evil doctrine that any man can absolve himself from responsibility to and for his fellows by yielding blind obedience to some prophet, prince, or priest.