Mountain Meadows Massacre

I am a seventh generation Mormon, and I worry about first and second generation Mormons, who may not even be particularly familiar with the details of Mormon History.

So I started a site in July on a hunch, on the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I doubt that Brigham Young had anything to do with the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Among his tactical advantages, the Massacre would have been the last he would have chosen. What a letter from Brother Brigham Young needed to give was permission to give food for the journey. To set out onto the low desert
for months. Realistically, they would have been worn out and in no position
to refuse the Church's help.

This was in time of war. Utah had become a Territory after the questionable Doctrine
of President Monroe. Brother Brigham was very bright. Joseph Smith was the Prophet Joseph--the Brother of all.

I don't believe Brigham Young had a mystical bone in his body. Each of the Presidents of the Church had his own
style of Revelation and leadership.
Brigham was a masterful manager of
his very complex Church which was in forced migration. He could not only
see the way up ahead, but how to
get there.

He was sometimes wrong. He told Ellis Shipp not to marry Milton Shipp, a man formerly married and divorce. She was
being educated by Karl Maeser, the first President of BYU, who was hired to educate Brigham Young's children. Ellis'
mother was dead and she was studying
for her exams on her own and he paid for some of her University expenses for Medical School.

She did marry Milton, and go to Medical
School, her sister wife Maggie joined her
and they practiced Pediatrics, particularly
Ear, Nose and Throat, delivered babies
and trained Midwifes for the Inter Mountain West.

The Premise of September Dawn is that
Brigham Young was a Bloodthirsty Dictator
who ordered the massacre of more than a
Hundred people. Since Utah was a territory
and he its Governor he was the head of the
State Militia. He had an Militia which was
overextended by a unconventional war.
He wanted a compltely bloodless war,
with a few exceptions.

There were men who were well known
in Nauvoo to have commited Capital
Crimes. Here we hang the tale, not on
Brigham, not on any precedent. They
murdered Indian women and had
a hundred or so Indians trailing the
Missouri Mobcats. By the time they
got to the Meadows, with a letter by
their manager sent to allow them
good pasturage to fatten their
dray animals

Did he foresee or order the Massacre?

I doubt it.


I was at an open house for Sonia Johnson in the Stake where Sonia Johnson lived before she was excommunicated. A member of the Stake High council came, he cited procedural errors inthe trial.

Her Home teachers came. Her best friend was now the head of Mormons against the ERA and fell into a long bear hug--Mormons have faced many changes and challenges with loving-kindness and understanding. But Mormons tend to all go
together when they go. It happened when David O. McKay died, and when Benson became prophet.

I never liked Ezra Taft Benson's mingling of politics and religion, long before he was prophet. If they do kick us out,
can I still be on your website? I like Hinkley--possibly because
I understand Hinkley.