The Conclusion of Mountain Meadows

So, the Fancher wagon party is resting in Mountain Meadows valley, preparing to travel on toward California.  Unfortunately, the Paiute Indians and Mormons have not been welcoming.  After days of fighting the Paiutes, several Fanchers went for help and were shot and killed by Mormons.  A militia rode out to Mountain Meadows where things were quickly getting out of control.

One story says that John D Lee talked to the pioneers and promised to convince the Indians to let the party pass through, if they left all their wagons and supplies behind.  To lose all worldly goods this far along the trail was not an option for the weary settlers, but Lee is said to have convinced them, so the party prepared to leave, sending the children and wounded ahead.  Lee had instructed them to walk single file.  According to legend someone called out "Do your Duty" at which point both militia and Indians opened fire on the settlers.  More shocking are the archeological evidence that the settlers were shot execution style in the head while kneeling.

Brigham Young's answer arrived soon after saying simply "let them go in peace".  Too late.  John Lee told young the Paiutes were the ones who massacred the 120 settlers.  Eventually an official investigation was held and John D. Lee caught most of the blame for the crime.  The jury was hung on his first trial, but he was found guilty the second time and executed by firing squad March 23, 1877, 20 years after he decided that 120 people should be killed in cold blood.

There are few records of this tragedy in history because those involved were sworn to secrecy.  It seems panic by the Mormons, arrogance and insult by the settlers, and bullying by the Indians fueled the situation.  With 600 miles round trip between the settlers and Brigham Young's location - it is unlikely he even knew what was happening until it was too late.  The children left orphaned were taken in to the local people until a federal investigation returned them to families back in Arkansas. 

Mountain Meadows remains a black mark on the history of the American West.  We will probably never know all the details on what happened that day - but no one won that bloody day in history.

Next time...more myths and mysteries of the American West.

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On This Day in History:  On April 16, 1881, famous western lawman and gunfighter Bat Masterson fights the last gun battle of his life on the streets of Dodge City.