Go to archives entry, Sunday, July 8, 2007 for first MMM entry. Much of this material is in draft form but, with admittedly too many irons in the fire, I will get to the editing of this still rough material as I am able. My time is very limited.
When my grandfather was a shepherd for the church among the terraces between Cedar City and Zion's they used to calculate the number of sheep by counting the number of black sheep. So here we are, still in the herd, not treated very well. Black sheep never suffered this discrimination--the were valued for their wool. It takes so little to be deemed a black sheep and once deemed one a dysfunctional process begins.
The chronically ill/disabled and divorced are among the black sheep of the Church.
A TS Eliot quote may be applied to this cruelty:
"Do not ask 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit.
The women come and go,
Speaking of Michelangelo."
Scream I may, Scream I must--Iran, Chernobyl. Yes I am going Bannanas. Cristian Amanpur of CNN--I'll catch the spelling later, said that rights for
women had taken a step backward in Iran, making it easier for men to practice polyamy. OK, so a man can say
tlack-tlack-tlack and throw his wife out in the street, but she can't join the family of a previously monogamous
man. Oh, yeah-that's a problem, and the government can rape and kill you and your husband and children,
parents and grandchildrensimply because you are Bahai or wear your sunglasses on the wrong side of your
chador. Christian could used her influence to create another capital crime in Iran, she is, though beloved, Iranian.
Iran is a Republic where absolute and arbitrary jurisdiction rules every day that allah has made. They have Sunni
Muslim refugees in Iran and both they and native born Iranians may practice polygamy and have 4 wives if they
have the money to support them and the temperment to practice polygamy fairly. So lets just put' em all on the
garbage heap on a public referendem and let the basij count the ballots.
And what about first wives who become ill? But now we hear that Polygamy has been made illegal by
popular vote, making Sunni plural families illegal, ie. fornicators, and for a repeat offence, they may be
hung, as Bahais are hung because the writings of their Ba'ab are them.
In America, there may be coastal states with economies to support single women who become ill, and even allow them to keep their children. But it isn't anywhere where polygamy is a common practice. They are considering helping single women with
children, making it sound like only women leaving polygamy would get the special help.
I have nearly two gigs of RFTD formatted posts to a BC September Dawn on a Sunday Paper Movie Review site. I knew that Gene England had been spent a lot of time in Canada collecting Oral History about the massacre. That was in 1975, the summer my Grandparents excavated Cedar City's Old mill. There was a newer mill that my Grandfather , and it was torn down to build a small hydropower plant for Church owned Utah Power and Light. The Mill stone for the old mill he passed every day going to school. It was still where it had been when he was a boy. I would like to know if the army set fire to it or the Church Mill when it built the expanded mill my grandfather was born very near..
As for the notion that the residents of Southern Utah being more evil than any other refugee humans, I doubt it. The things that humans run from are not experiences WHICH EVER ennoble. People even get more raunchy after a few generations pass and they don't understand what happened to their ancestors and was passed down to them without tradition or explanation.
More on this when I get over being a web-journalist for the last few days. You know, the plural wives who nursed their sister wives through cancer or CFIDS and reared children with lukemia or weakness from NTTS in poverty neither got their apology
nor compensation.
From Leaves From a Silver Trees, Milt Silverman, Redrock, Utah
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Massacre at Mountain Meadows
Completing my work in St. George on a recent business trip to Washington County, I felt compelled to deviate slightly from driving my customary route home. The purpose: to visit the little valley just south of Enterprise called Mountain Meadow. Less than 48 hours earlier, I had finished reading the latest book on the events that made these isolated meadows famous—or infamous I should say—and felt there was some lesson for me to learn by going there. Another reason for my planned visit, although at the time I was reluctant to admit it: I needed to seek peace and reconciliation for myself.
It seems that even those not well versed in Utah history know something about what is commonly referred to as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It is a topic that will probably never be put to rest as yet another book on the subject attests. Written by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows was published in August, 2008; the latest in a string of books and articles that have appeared almost continuously since that dreadful day in the fall of 1857.
My purpose here is not to review the new book, other than to say it is well written and so extensively researched and documented I daresay it should be hard to find fault with—but many will. That is the nature of this volatile subject. (I will also comment however, that I believe Massacre at Mountain Meadows, as well as other recently published books such as Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman, reflect a new era of transparency when it comes to accessing and publishing archival LDS Church History. Judge for your self: these are not sanitized volumes.)
Proceeding north from St. George on State Highway 18, I passed through the little town of Veyo; famous in Southern Utah for two things: the nearby volcano, and a swimming pool!
As a kid, going to Veyo to swim was almost as good as going to Disney Land, and we went every chance we could. I wondered if the sign was still there: We don’t swim in your toilet so don’t pee in our pool. Yeah, like that was going to stop us! To us little boys, it was more of an invitation than a warning. There’s not much more to Veyo nowadays than there was 50 years ago but the pool is still there and probably still popular.
Veyo is about 70 miles from Cedar City, the town I was born and raised in. My ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Cedar City and surrounding towns like Parowan and Paragonah. Cedar City, Parowan, and Paragonah are mentioned often in Massacre at Mountain Meadows; so often that I began to sweat as I read, fearing that on the next page, one of my relatives would be mentioned. None were—at least that I recognized—providing yet another reason for me NOT to brush up on my genealogy!
Arriving at Mountain Meadow and hiking the short trail to the overlook, a cold breeze greeted me and I couldn’t help wonder momentarily if spirits of the deceased still haunt the area on the winds. Yet the valley was tranquil, and my thoughts of ghosts passed. Within moments I felt at peace but my guilt was only partially appeased. Though perhaps not directly related to the perpetrators of the atrocities committed at Mountain Meadow, they were still my people, members of my church; a part of my heritage by association if not relation.
These men, women and children had come West to build Zion; a place where they could live, worship and prosper in peace. The Fancher-Baker party also consisted of men, women, and children: families emigrating west to fulfill their dreams of a better life. On September 11, 1857, the dream ended for the emigrants from Arkansas. For the church and militia members from Iron County responsible for the tragedy, a nightmare began that would torture them the rest of their lives.
How could one group of good people even think of slaughtering the other, let alone carry it out? This was the question that consumed my thoughts as I read the book and later traveled to Mountain Meadow.
In the Appendix to Massacre at Mountain Meadows, the name of every documented victim is listed, as are the names of those known to have participated in the crime. I had hoped to review the list of the dead at the monument in Mountain Meadow as these people had become very real to me from my reading.
There is a modest rock cairn monument at the site of the siege in the south end of the meadow. An American Flag flies overhead. Because of deep snow, I was not able to approach the monument to read the plaques. It was just as well. I returned to my car and resumed my drive home. Now another question troubled my thoughts: what would I have done had I been a member of the Iron County Militia in 1857 and had been ordered to Mountain Meadow? Colonel Dame, the commander of the Iron Military District was the LDS Stake President. Major Haight, leader of the Second Battalion, was the Bishop of the Cedar City Ward. Obedience is the first law of heaven.
The events concerning Mountain Meadows make an excellent case for the separation of church and state.
Sometimes in life, the perfect storm of circumstances combine to affect an outcome; whether evil or good. As the authors of Massacre at Mountain Meadows point out, “In the early 1800’s the United States could be a violent place, particularly for racial, ethnic, and religious minorities.” (Preface, p. xiii) I’m sure the American Indians, Mexicans, and Mormons living at the time would agree. In my opinion, there was plenty of hypocrisy as well. The first sentence of the text introduces Brevet Major John Henry Carleton.
In April, 1859, Carleton was issued an order that included burying the bones of the victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. In a scathing report to his superiors, Carleton cursed “those damned Mormons” for what they had done and basically called for their extermination. Then for the next several years, using scorched earth tactics in many instances, he and his men proceeded to massacre Indians by the scores in the name of Manifest Destiny.
Hindsight is a wonderful analytical tool. In the case of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, it is evident there was plenty blame to go around. As is so often the case, a few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch—or at least make it appear that way. I believe the converse is also true and that was the lesson for me in this little adventure: a reinforced desire to be the good apple, to forgive, and to have the courage to prevent evil rather than accommodate it.
Posted by Mil Silver at 9:43 PM
2 comments:
Nancy said...
I really don't know what happened at Mountain Meadows, but have heard bits and pieces. You have made me want to read the book -- I am sure it was quite a trip for you. My ancestors settled Southern Utah as well.... I hope none of them are on the list -- but they could be!
January 18, 2009 5:12 AM
Patti said...
I think “perfect storm“ is an excellent comparison. Thanks for your thoughtful insights. It is good to step into others places and contemplate what we might have done ourselves rather than judge their actions. Oh, and FYI, just bought the Bill Bryson “History of Almost Everything“. Thanks for the suggestion. :D
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Kathleen, Comment
Do the Indians have a history of how many Indigenous residents of the Massacre were killed by Carlton, when, where and who. Piute is a Federal Designation for Indians of the Uto-Aztecan language group. Pi or Pa means people of a key feature where the tribe mainly wintered. The name of the tribe itself, which is designated by the second syllable?
His call for a Federal extermination order of Mormons as well, as existed in Missouri, I think a very poor argument for the separation of Church and State.
My father used to say that he'd have to take the back off the TV
to clean out all the dead Indians.
The excoriation of those who were preparing to flee into the mountains for the lives, burn their houses and salt their fields, many of whom lost family members or whole families to the kind of militia men hired as experienced Mormon Killers by the Fancher/ Bakers, brought spark to the Tinder Dry Emotions of Southern Utah.
One thing can be said for certain, if the Federal Army had not been so occupied and entertained
by slaughtering Indians, more men would have been available for the war of attrition between those working with pick and shovel to bury the unlucky company and the wolves and Coyotes.
Jacob Hamblins' son reported killing 50 wolves at the site and the cashe of bones the grave sites represented to the wolves, Coyotes and Wild Dogs was passed from mother to kit.
It makes me wonder whether Carlton gave better buriel to his victims. The Massacre at the Meadows took only a few minutes, I am sure his soldiers took much more pleasure in what they did.
The initial dispatch of Squaw Killer Harney with his unlucky detachments in the first year of the war so clearly signaled Federal Intentions that our efforts to protect ourselves and the Indians
ought to be understood.
Would it have been better had we had no Elected Governor to deal with the Federal troops and greet Governor Carlton when he came in the second year of the war.
The massacre was a tradgedy, and I don't think those left behind Southern Utah as a skeleton
crew ever felt they had the authority to take action against the Fanchers. Most boys and men
were making preparations for the showdown with Federal Troops in the North where the
appointed Governor would first encounter Salt Lake, emptied of people, tended by
boys with firebrands ready to burn it's hay-filled houses.
I will be interested to know if any indication is presented in MMM that G.A. Smith's trip to
Southern Utah had anything to do with this wagon train. Trouble with this and future
trains were the purpose of food preparation and caching of food in the Mountains.
I believe in the separation of Church and State, but there were thousands of Indian
Groups, each with their religion and territory. True Separation of Church and State
would have changed the landscape of America with equality and their original
territory for Each Indian Group. Settlement, as happened in Utah, could have been
attained only by equality and fair negotiation with Indians across the Country.
Each massacre needs to be understood and regretted, each taking of a slave or
Celt and chaining them to the decks of famine ships.
How much easier to narrow the discourse from hundreds of millions dead in both
hemispheres of the Americas to this mourned massacre in a remote site. Where
fools walked boldly where Angels would have dared to tread. Instead of settling
any needs they might have had in the temporary capitol of Fillmore, they counted
on their numbers to bully rationed food out of the small towns in the South of
the State.
This Edition of MMM was published only a week or so after it was announced
in a California press release that essential papers could not be obtained from
the California Library System which includes historical societies and sites like
that in the Mendocino County, dedicated to the Indians and their Massacre.
I was pleased that the monument was built and dedicated with the names of all
wagon train victims who died there researched and included.
The current puppet effort to delete one of the broadest civil preparation for conflict
in the History of the West is unfortunate. Is all that somehow unmentionable
because in this case, loss of life was not avoided?
When I began this blog it was 3 months before the Memorial at Mountain Meadows where LDS President Hinkley's soon to be Counsellor placed the massacre on failures of judgement among
the local Church Leaders. Cheif among these was the failure to
wait for orders from their superiors. It was a long way to California and there was plenty of time to decide to do at the
proper level of authority.
The panic of Southern Utah saints, far better understood by our
current understanding of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, than
by the evil that lies in the hearts of otherwise honorable men.
My assesment of the situation springs from deep family roots.
My Great Grandfather was Bishop of the Cedar City Ward,
and I have dealt with what my Grandfather overheard and told me, and the information readily available in the California
Library system when I was a teen.
I know that other members of my family want to write accounts
of what my Grandfather told them, and so I have held to my
own opiions and conversations I had with Gene England of BYU who was interviewing in Canada and Saint George at the time
I was talking to my Grandfather about it.
I hope more written material is found, but since the saints
living in California were doing so very quietly, while massacres of Ohlone Indians were happening all around them--
a Genocide of 40,000 Ohlones, more than 100 times the number of Navahos killed on their trail of tears, information is hard to come by.
A boyfriend of mine was standing in a small store behind a man
who signed his check W.W.Phelps, the musician who wrote
Come Come Ye Saints, a kind of anthem when I was growing up.
They had a long and interesting conversation in the parking lot. It was near the Centerville Community established by
Ssmuel Brannon for the early California Saints. How many
such opportunities were lost in the writing of Massacre at
Mountain Meadows.
