Massacre at Mountain Meadows

On September 11, 1857 a wagon train of emigrants bound for California was wiped out by a group of Mormons, aided by Indians.  Of the 140 original travelers, only 20 survived, all children too young to bear tales.  The event was not sanctioned by the Mormon church but was the result of President Buchanan's decision to send federal troops to Utah and the bad feeling between Mormons and Gentiles...mostly of Young's making.

When Brigham Young heard that the troops were on their way and had reached the Mormons, he forbade his people to sell water, food or supplies to the Gentiles and fanatical preachers roused the people to hysteria.

Along came the Fancher wagon train, probably oblivious to the President's action, and certainly unaware of the Mormons feeling about their traveling through Utah.  Half of them were respectable settlers from Arkansas, the rest were a group of self-styled "Missouri Wildcats" who boasted of having been a part of the attack and murder of Joseph Smith...not a good combination.  When refused supplies they resorted to robbery and vandalism on Mormon property. They threatened to round up and lead an anti-Mormon army back from California. 

The Mormons of southwest Utah incited the local Indians to attack the wagon train as it camped in Mountain Meadows.  The campsite "forted up" and beat off the attack for 5 days until the ammunition began to run out.  They then accepted the Mormon promise of safe conduct.  They piled their weapons in the wagons and under the Mormons military protection began to walk away and start on their journey.  Hidden in nearby brush, the Mormons shot the unarmed men while the Indians killed the women and most of the children. 

Fearing the church and government reprisals (you think?), the Mormons blamed the massacre on the Indians and hushed up the whole matter.  Not until 1872 - 15 years later, when John D Ice, a participant was brought to trial, was the event even known about.  He faced a firing squad in 1877, by the way, on the very site of the massacre at Mountain Massacre.

Next time...The Ruin of James Marshall
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On this Day in Pioneer History: "On June 26, 1876, following Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s death the previous day in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Major Marcus Reno takes command of the surviving soldiers of the 7th Cavalry.

Lofty Plans

The valley beneath the Wasatch Mountains was fertile but dry.  Brigham Young planned to divert mountain streams into irrigation canals.  He told his people, "No person can buy land here for no one has any land to sell.  But every man shall have his land measured out to him which he must cultivate in order to keep it.  There is no private ownership of the canyon streams, nor the timber that grows on the hills.  Those belong to the people." 

Each adult male Mormon was to be awarded a town lot and his share of farmland.  The temple would cover 40 acres, the streets 88 feet wide, and the sidewalks 20 feet wide.  Each lot would contain 1 1/4 acre with 8 lots to a block.

Young was determined to shun all Gentile influence.  His community would be the State of Deseret (after the Mormon word for honeybee because of its industriousness and cooperation).  Young's own house was called the Beehive House. 

The planned Mormon state would cover all of present day Utah and extend through much of the territory gained by the United States from Mexico in California, down to San Diego where there would be a Mormon port.  Young vowed to acknowledge the government's ultimate sovereignty but little else - especially direct control. Eventually most of the Far West came under the US government's control which was not in Young's plans.

Next time...The Starving Time
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This Day in Pioneer History: "On June 19, 1868, Father De Smet talks peace with Sitting Bull.  Attempting to convince hostile Indians to make peace with the United States, the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet meets with the great Sioux Chief Sitting Bull in present-day Montana.