History of Utah - Chapter XX



Page 543

Chapter XX.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre.
1857.

An Arkansas Emigrant Party Arrives at Salt Lake City--Assassination of 
Parley P. Pratt--Ill Feeling Against the Emigrants--Alleged Outrages--
Their Arrival at Mountain Meadows--They Are Attacked By Indians--a Flag 
of Truce--Plan of the Massacre--Surrender of the Emigrants--the 
Butchery--Burial of the Slain--the Survivors--Judge Cradlebaugh's 
Investigation--the Aiken Massacre--John D. Lee on Trial--the Jury 
Disagree--the Second Trial--Lee Convicted and Sentenced--His Confession 
and Execution.

   The threat uttered by Brigham during his interview with Captain Van 
Vliet, on the 9th of September, 1857, was speedily fulfilled-so speedily 
that, at first sight, its execution would appear to have been 
predetermined. "If, he declared, the government dare to force the issue, I 
shall not hold the Indians by the wrist any longer." "If the issue comes, 
you may tell the government to stop all emigration across the continent, 
for the Indians will kill all who attempt it." Two days later occurred the 
Mountain Meadows massacre,1 at a point about three hundred miles south of 
Salt Lake City.

Page 544

   The threat and the deed came so near together as to lead many to 
believe that one was the result of the other. But a moment's reflection 
will show that they were too nearly simultaneous for this to be the case; 
that in the absence of telegraph and railroad, it would be impossible to 
execute such a deed three hundred miles away in two days. Indeed, it may 
as well be understood at the outset that this horrible crime, so often and 
so persistently charged upon the Mormon church and its leaders, was the 
crime of an individual, the crime of a fanatic of the worst stamp, one who 
was a member of the Mormon church, but of whose intentions the church knew 
nothing, and whose bloody acts the members of the church, high and low, 
regard with as much abhorrence as any out of the church. Indeed, the blow 
fell upon the brotherhood with threefold force and damage. There was the 
cruelty of it, which wrung their hearts; there was the odium attending its 
performance in their midst; and there was the strength it lent their 
enemies further to malign and molest them. The Mormons denounce the 
Mountain Meadows massacre, and every act connected therewith, as earnestly 
and as honestly as any in the outside world. This is abundantly proved, 
and may be accepted as a historical fact.

   I will now proceed to give the incidents as they occurred. In the 
spring of 1857 a party of one hundred and thirty-six Arkansas emigrants,2 
among whom were a few Missourians,3 set forth for southern California.

Page 545

It included about thirty families, most of them related by marriage or 
kindred, and its members were of every age, from the grandsire to the babe 
in arms. They belonged to the class of settlers of whom California was in 
need. Most of them were farmers by occupation; they were orderly, sober, 
thrifty, and among them was no lack of skill and capital.4 They travelled 
leisurely and in comfort, stopping at intervals to recruit their cattle, 
and about the end of July arrived at Salt Lake City,5 where they hoped to 
replenish their stock of provisions.

   For several years after the gold discovery the arrival of an emigrant 
party was usually followed, as we have seen, by friendly traffic between 
saint and gentile, the former thus disposing, to good advantage, of his 
farm and garden produce. But now all was changed. The army of Utah was 
advancing on Zion, and the Arkansas families reached the valley at the 
very time when the Mormons first heard of its approach, perhaps while the 
latter were celebrating their tenth anniversary at Big Cottonwood Cañon. 
Moreover, wayfarers from Missouri and Arkansas were regarded with special 
disfavor; the former for reasons that have already appeared, the latter on 
account of the murder of a well-beloved apostle of the Mormon church.

Page 546

   In May of 1857 Parley P. Pratt was arraigned before the supreme court 
at Van Buren, Arkansas, on a charge of abducting the children of one 
Hector McLean, a native of New Orleans, but then living in California. He 
was acquitted; but it is alleged by anti-Mormon writers, and tacitly 
admitted by the saints, that he was sealed to Hector McLean's wife, who 
had been baptized into the faith years before, while living in San 
Francisco, and in 1855 was living in Salt Lake City.6 McLean swore 
vengeance against the apostle, who was advised to make his escape, and set 
forth on horseback, unarmed, through a sparsely settled country, where, 
under the circumstances, escape was almost impossible. His path was barred 
by two of McLean's friends until McLean himself with three others overtook 
the fugitive, when he fired six shots at him, the balls lodging in his 
saddle or passing through his clothes. McLean then stabbed him twice

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with a bowie-knife under the left arm, whereupon Parley dropped from his 
horse, and the assassin, after thrusting his knife deeper into the wounds, 
seized a derringer belonging to one of his accomplices, and shot him 
through the breast. The party then rode off, and McLean escaped 
unpunished.7

   Thus, when the Arkansas families arrived at Salt Lake City, they found 
the Mormons in no friendly mood, and at once concluded to break camp and 
move on. They had been advised by Elder Charles C. Rich to take the 
northern route along the Bear River, but decided to travel by way of 
southern Utah. Passing through Provo, Springville, Payson, Fillmore, and 
intervening settlements, they attempted everywhere to purchase food, but 
without success. Toward the end of August they arrived at Corn Creek,8 
some fifteen miles south of Fillmore, where they encamped for several 
days. In this neighborhood, on a farm set apart for their use by the 
Mormons, lived the Pah Vants, whom, as the saints allege, the emigrants 
attempted to poison by throwing arsenic into one of the springs and 
impregnating their own dead cattle with strychnine. It has been claimed 
that this charge was disproved; and what motive the Arkansas party could 
have had for thus surrounding themselves with treacherous and blood-
thirsty foes has never been explained. In the valleys throughout the 
southern portion of the territory grows a poisonous weed, and it is 
possible that the cattle died from eating of this

Page 548

weed.9 It has been intimated that those who accused the emigrants of 
poisoning the Pah Vants were not honest in their belief, and that the 
story of the poisoning was invented, or at least grossly exaggerated, for 
the purpose of making them solely responsible for the massacre.10 The fact 
has never been so established, notwithstanding the report of the 
superintendent of Indian affairs, who states that none of this tribe were 
present at the massacre.

   Continuing their journey, the emigrants proceeded to Beaver City, and 
thence to Parowan. Grain was scarce this year, and the emigrants were 
unable to purchase all they desired for their stock, though for their own 
immediate necessities they obtained what they required at this place. 
Arriving at Cedar City, they succeeded in purchasing about fifty bushels 
of wheat, which was ground at a mill belonging to John D. Lee, formerly 
commander of the fort at Cedar, but then Indian agent, and in charge of an 
Indian farm near Harmony.

   It is alleged by the Mormons, and on good authority, that during their 
journey from Salt Lake

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City to Cedar the emigrants were guilty of further gross outrage. If we 
can believe a statement made in the confession of Lee, a few days before 
his death, Isaac C. Haight, president of the stake at Cedar, accused them 
of abusing women, of poisoning wells and streams at many points on their 
route, of destroying fences and growing crops, of violating the city 
ordinances at Cedar, and resisting the officers who attemped to arrest 
them. These and other charges, even more improbable,11 have been urged in 
extenuation of the massacre; but little reliance can be placed on Lee's 
confession, and most of them appear to be unfounded.12 It must be 
admitted, however, that rather than see their women and children starve, 
they perhaps took by force such necessary provisions as they were not 
allowed to purchase.

   Near Cedar City the Spanish trail to Santa Fé branched off from what 
was then known as Frémont's route. About thirty miles to the south-west of 
Cedar, and within fifteen of the line of the route, are the Mountain 
Meadows, which form the divide between the waters of the great basin and 
those that flow into the Colorado. At the southern end of the meadows, 
which are four to five miles in length and one in width, but here run to a 
narrow point, is a large stream, the banks of which are about ten feet in 
height. Close to this stream the emigrants were encamped on the 5th of 
September, almost midway between two

Page 550

ranges of hills, some fifty feet high and four hundred yards apart. On 
either side of their camp were ravines connected with the bed of the 
stream.

   It was Saturday evening when the Arkansas families encamped at Mountain 
Meadows. On the sabbath they rested, and at the usual hour one of them 
conducted divine service in a large tent, as had been their custom 
throughout the journey. At daybreak on the 7th, while the men were 
lighting their camp-fires, they were fired upon by Indians, or white men 
disguised as Indians, and more than twenty were killed or wounded,13 their 
cattle having been driven off meanwhile by the assailants, who had crept 
on them under cover of darkness. The survivors now ran for their wagons, 
and pushing them together so as to form a corral, dug out the earth deep 
enough to sink them almost to the top of the wheels; then in the centre of 
the inclosure they made a rifle-pit large enough to contain the entire 
company, strengthening their defences by night as best they could. 
Thereupon the attacking party, which numbered from three to four hundred, 
withdrew to the hills, on the crests of which they built parapets, whence 
they shot down all who showed themselves outside the intrenchment.

   The emigrants were now in a state of siege, and though they fought 
bravely, had little hope of escape. All the outlets of the valley were 
guarded; their ammunition

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was almost exhausted; of their number, which included a large proportion 
of women and children, many were wounded, and their sufferings from thirst 
had become intolerable. Down in the ravine, and within a few yards of the 
corral, was the stream of water; but only after sundown could a scanty 
supply be obtained, and then at great risk, for this point was covered by 
the muskets of the Indians,14 who lurked all night among the ravines 
waiting for their victims.

   Four days the siege lasted; on the morning of the fifth a wagon was 
seen approaching from the northern end of the meadow, and with it a 
company of the Nauvoo legion. When within a few hundred yards of the 
intrenchment, the company halted, and one of them, William Bateman by 
name, was sent forward with a flag of truce. In answer to this signal a 
little girl, dressed in white, appeared in an open space between the 
wagons. Half-way between the Mormons and the corral, Bateman was met by 
one of the emigrants named Hamilton, to whom he promised protection for 
his party on condition that their arms were surrendered, assuring him that 
they would be conducted safely to Cedar City. After a brief parley, each 
one returned to his comrades.

   By whose order the massacre was committed, or for what reasons other 
than those already mentioned, has never yet been clearly ascertained; but 
as to the incidents and the plan of the conspirators, we have evidence 
that is in the main reliable. During the week of the massacre, Lee, with 
several other Mormons, was encamped at a spring within half a mile of the 
emigrants' camp; and, as was alleged, though not distinctly proven at his 
trial, induced the Indians by promise of booty to make the attack; but, 
finding the resistance stronger than he anticipated, had sent for

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aid to the settlements of southern Utah.15 Thus far the evidence is 
somewhat contradictory. There is sufficient proof, however, that, in 
accordance with a programme previously arranged at Cedar, a company of 
militia, among whom were Isaac C. Haight and Major John M. Higbee, and 
which was afterward joined by Colonel William H. Dame, bishop of Parowan,
16 arrived at Lee's camp on the evening before the massacre.

   It was then arranged that Lee should conclude terms with the emigrants, 
and, as soon as they had delivered themselves into the power of the 
Mormons, should start for Hamblin's rancho, on the eastern side of the 
meadows, with the wagons and arms, the young children, and the sick and 
wounded. The men and women, the latter in front, were to follow the 
wagons, all in single file, and on each side of them the militia were to 
be drawn up, two deep, and with twenty paces between their lines. Within 
two hundred yards of the camp the men were to be brought to a halt, until 
the women approached a copse of scrub-oak, about a mile distant, and near 
to which Indians lay in ambush. The men were now to resume their march, 
the militia forming in single file, each one walking by the side of an 
emigrant, and carrying his musket on the left arm. As soon as the women 
were close to the ambuscade, Higbee,17 who was in charge of the 
detachment, was to give the signal by saying to his command, "Do your
duty;" whereupon the militia were to shoot down the men, the Indians were 
to

Page 553

slaughter the women and children, sparing only those of tender age, and 
Lee with some of the wagoners was to butcher the sick and wounded. Mounted 
troopers were to be in readiness to pursue and slay those who attempted to 
escape, so that, with the exception of infants, no living soul should be 
left to tell the tale of the massacre.

   Entering the corral, Lee found the emigrants engaged in burying two of 
their party who had died of wounds. Men, women, and children thronged 
around him, some displaying gratitude for their rescue, some distrust and 
terror. The brother played his part well. Bidding the men pile their arms 
in the wagons, to avoid provoking the Indians, he placed in them the 
women, the small children, and a little clothing. While thus engaged, one 
Daniel McFarland rode up, with orders from Major Higbee to hasten their 
departure, as the Indians threatened to renew the attack. The emigrants 
were then hurried away from the corral, the men, as they passed between 
the files of militia, cheering their supposed deliverers. Half an hour 
later, as the women drew near the ambuscade, the signal was given, and the 
butchery commenced. Most of the men were shot down at the first fire. 
Three only escaped from the valley; of these two were quickly run down and 
slaughtered, and the third was slain at Muddy Creek, some fifty miles 
distant.18

   The women and those of the children who were on foot ran forward some 
two or three hundred yards, when they were overtaken by the Indians, among 
whom were Mormons in disguise. The women fell on their knees, and with 
clasped hands sued in vain

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for mercy; clutching the garments of their murderers, as they grasped them 
by the hair, children pleaded for life, meeting with the steady gaze of 
innocent childhood the demoniac grin of the savages, who brandished over 
them uplifted knives and tomahawks. Their skulls were battered in, or 
their throats cut from ear to ear, and, while still alive, the scalp was 
torn from their heads. Some of the little ones met with a more merciful 
death, one, an infant in arms, being shot through the head by the same 
bullet that pierced its father's heart. Of the women none were spared, and 
of the children only those who were not more than seven years of age.19

   To two of Lee's wagoners, McMurdy and Knight, was assigned the duty, 
as it was termed, of slaughtering the sick and wounded. Carrying out their 
instructions, they stopped the teams as soon as firing was heard, and with 
loaded rifles approached the wagons where lay their victims, McMurdy being 
in front. "O Lord, my God," he exclaimed, "receive their spirits, it is 
for thy kingdom that I do this." Then, raising his rifle to his shoulder, 
he shot through the brain a wounded man who was lying with his head on a 
sick comrade's breast. The Mormons were aided in their work20 by Indians, 
who, grasping the helpless men by the hair, raised up their heads and cut 
their throats. The last victim was a little girl who came running up to 
the wagons, covered with

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blood, a few minutes after the disabled men had been murdered. She was 
shot dead within sixty yards of the spot where Lee was standing. The 
massacre was now completed, and after stripping the bodies of all articles 
of value,21 Brother Lee and his associates went to breakfast,22 returning 
after a hearty meal to bury the dead.

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   It was a ghastly sight that met them at this Wyoming of the west, amid 
the peaceful vales of Zion, and one that caused even the assassins to 
sicken and turn pale. The corpses had been entirely stripped by the 
Indians, who had also carried off the clothing, provisions, wagon-covers, 
and even the bedding of the emigrants. In one group were the naked bodies 
of six or seven women, in another those of ten young children, some of 
them horribly mangled and most of them scalped. The dead were now dragged 
to a ravine near by and piled in heaps; a little earth was scattered over 
them, but so little that it was washed away by the first rains, leaving 
the remains to be devoured by wolves and coyotes, the imprint of whose 
teeth was afterward found on their bones. It was not until nearly two 
years later that they were decently interred by a detachment of troops, 
sent for that purpose from Camp Floyd. On reaching Mountain Meadows, the 
men found skulls and bones scattered for the space of a mile around the 
ravine, whence they had been dragged by wild beasts. Nearly all the bodies 
had been gnawed by wolves, so that few could be recognized, and their 
dismembered skeletons were bleached by long exposure. Many of the skulls 
were crushed in with the but-ends of muskets or cleft with tomahawks; 
others were shattered by fire-arms, discharged close to the head. A few 
remnants of apparel, torn from the backs of women and children as they ran 
from the clutch of their pursuers, still fluttered among the bushes, and 
near by were masses of human hair, matted and trodden in the mould.23

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   Over the last resting-place of the victims was built a cone-shaped 
cairn, some twelve feet in height, and leaning against its northern base 
was placed a rough slab of granite, with the following inscription: "Here 
120 men, women, and children were massacred in cold blood, early in Sept. 
1857. They were from Arkansas." The cairn was surmounted by a cross of 
cedar, on which were inscribed the words: "Vengeance is mine: I will 
repay, saith the Lord."24

   The survivors of the slaughter were seventeen children, from two months 
to seven years of age, who were carried, on the evening of the massacre, 
by John D. Lee, Daniel Tullis, and others to the house of Jacob Hamblin,25 
and afterward placed in charge of Mormon families at Cedar, Harmony, and 
elsewhere. All of them were recovered in the summer of 1858, with the 
exception of one who was rescued a few months later, and though thinly 
clad, they bore no marks of ill usage.26 In the following year they were

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conveyed to Arkansas, the sum of $10,000 having been appropriated by 
congress for their recovery and restoration.27

   To Brigham Young, as governor and superintendent of Indian affairs, 
belonged the duty of ordering an investigation into the circumstances of 
the massacre and of bringing the guilty parties to justice. His reasons 
for evading this duty are best explained in his own words. In his 
deposition at the trial of John D. Lee, when asked why he had not 
instituted proceedings, he thus made answer: "Because another governor had 
been appointed by the president of the United States, and was then on the 
way here to take my place, and I did not know how soon he might arrive; 
and because the United States judges were not in the territory. Soon after 
Governor Cumming arrived I asked him to take Judge Cradlebaugh, who 
belonged to the southern district, with him, and I would accompany them 
with sufficient aid to investigate the matter and bring the offenders to 
justice."28

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   The Mormons concerned in the massacre had pledged themselves by the 
most solemn oaths to stand by each other, and always to insist that the 
deed was done entirely by Indians. For several months it was believed 
by the federal authorities that this was the case; when it became known, 
however, that some of the children had been spared, suspicion at once 
pointed elsewhere, for among all the murders committed by the Utahs, there 
was no instance of their having shown any such compunction. Moreover, it 
was soon ascertained that an armed party of Mormons had left Cedar City, 
had returned with spoil, and that the Indians complained of being unfairly 
treated in the division of the booty. Notwithstanding their utmost 
efforts, some time elapsed before the United States officials procured 
evidence sufficient to bring home the charge of murder to any of the 
parties implicated, and it was not until March 1859 that Judge Cradlebaugh 
held a session of court at Provo. At this date only six or eight, persons 
had been committed for trial, and were now in the guard-house at Camp 
Floyd,29 some of them being accused of taking part in the massacre and 
some of other charges.

   Accompanied by a military guard, as there was no jail within his 
district and no other means of securing the prisoners, the judge opened 
court on the 8th. In his address to the grand jury he specified a number 
of crimes that had been committed in southern Utah, including the 
massacre. "To allow these things to pass over," he observed, "gives a 
color as if they were done by authority. The very fact of such a case as 
the Mountain Meadows shows that there was some person high in the 
estimation of the people, and it was done by that authority...You can know 
no law but the laws of the United States and the laws you have here. No 
person can commit crimes and say

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they are authorized by higher authorities, and if they have any such 
notions they will have to dispel them."30 The grand jury refused to find 
bills against any of the accused, and, after remaining in session for a 
fortnight, were discharged by Cradlebaugh as "a useless appendage to a 
court of justice," the judge remarking: "If this court cannot bring you to 
a proper sense of your duty, it can at least turn the savages held in 
custody loose upon you."31

   Judge Cradlebaugh's address was ill advised. The higher authority of 
which he spoke could mean only the authority of the church, or in other 
words, of the first presidency; and to contemn and threaten to impeach 
that authority before a Mormon grand jury was a gross judicial blunder. 
Though there may have been cause for suspicion, there was no fair color of 
testimony, and there is none yet, that Brigham or his colleagues were 
implicated in the massacre. Apart from the hearsay evidence of Cradlebaugh 
and of an officer in the army of Utah,32 together with the statements of 
John D. Lee,33 there is no basis on which to frame a charge of complicity 
against them. That the massacre occurred the day after martial law was 
proclaimed, and within two days of the threat uttered by Brigham in the 
presence of Van Vliet; that Brigham, as superintendent of Indian affairs, 
failed to embody in his report any mention of the massacre;

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that for a long time afterward no allusion to it was made in the 
tabernacle or in the Deseret News-the church organ of the saints-and then 
only to deny that the Mormons had any share in it;34 and that no mention 
was made in the Deseret News of the arrival or departure of the emigrants;
-all this was, at best, but presumptive evidence, and did not excuse the 
slur that was now cast on the church and the church dignitaries. "I fear, 
and I regret to say it," remarks the superintendent of Indians affairs, in 
August 1859, "that with certain parties here there is a greater anxiety to 
connect Brigham Young and other church dignitaries with every criminal 
offence than diligent endeavor to punish the actual perpetrators of 
crime."35

   The judge's remarks served no purpose, except to draw forth from the 
mayor of Provo a protest against the presence of the troops, as an 
infringement of the rights of American citizens. The judge replied that 
good American citizens need have no fear of American troops, whereupon the 
citizens of Provo petitioned Governor Cumming to order their removal. 
Cumming, who was then at Provo, was officially informed by the mayor that 
the civil authorities were prepared and ready to keep in safe custody all 
prisoners arrested for trial, and others whose presence might be 
necessary. He therefore requested General Johnston to withdraw the force 
which was then encamped at the court-house, stating that its presence was 
unnecessary. The general refused to comply, being sustained in his

Page 562

action by the judges;36 and on the 27th of March Cumming issued a 
proclamation protesting against all movements of troops except such as 
accorded with his own instructions as chief executive magistrate.37 A few 
days later the detachment was withdrawn.

   Notwithstanding the contumacy of the grand jury, Cradlebaugh continued 
the sessions of his court, still resolved to bring to justice the parties 
concerned in the Mountain Meadows massacre, and in crimes committed 
elsewhere in the territory. Bench-warrants, based on sworn information, 
were issued against a number of persons, and the United States marshal, 
aided by a military escort, succeeded in making a few arrests.38

   Among other atrocities laid to the charge of the Mormons was one known 
as the Aiken massacre, which also occurred during the year 1857. Two 
brothers of that name, with four others, returning from California to the 
eastern states, were arrested in southern Utah as spies, and, as was 
alleged, four of the party were escorted to Nephi, where it was arranged 
that Porter Rockwell and Sylvanus Collett should assassinate them. While 
encamped on the Sevier River they were attacked by night, two of them 
being killed

Page 563

and two wounded, the latter escaping to Nephi, whence they started for 
Salt Lake City, but were murdered on their way at Willow Springs. Although 
the guilty parties were well known, it was not until many years later that 
one of them, named Collett, was arrested, and in October 1878 was tried 
and acquitted at Provo.39 All the efforts of Judge Cradlebaugh availed 
nothing,40 and soon afterward he discharged the prisoners and adjourned 
his court sine die, entering on his docket the following minute: "The 
whole community presents a united and organized opposition to the proper 
administration of justice."

   This antagonism between the federal and territorial authorities 
continued until 1874, at which date an act

Page 564

was passed by congress "in relation to courts and judicial officers in the 
territory of Utah," and commonly known as the Poland bill,41 whereby the 
summoning of grand and petit juries was regulated, and provision made for 
the better administration of justice. The first grand jury impanelled 
under this law was instructed by Jacob S. Boreman, then in charge of the 
second judicial district, to investigate the Mountain Meadows massacre and 
find bills of indictment against the parties implicated. A joint 
indictment for conspiracy and murder was found against John D. Lee, 
William H. Dame, Isaac C. Haight, John M. Higbee, Philip Klingensmith, and 
others.42 Warrants were issued for their arrest, and after a vigorous 
search Lee and Dame were captured, the former being found concealed in a 
hog-pen at a small settlement named Panguitch, on the Sevier River.43

   After some delay, caused by the difficulty in procuring evidence, the 
12th of July, 1875, was appointed for the trial at Beaver City in southern 
Utah.44 At eleven o'clock on this day the court was opened, Judge Boreman 
presiding, but further delay was caused by the absence of witnesses, and 
the fact that Lee had promised to make a full confession, and thus turn 
state's evidence. In his statement the prisoner detailed minutely the plan 
and circumstances of the

Page 565

tragedy, from the day when the emigrants left Cedar City until the 
butchery at Mountain Meadows. He avowed that Higbee and Haight played a 
prominent part in the massacre, which, he declared, was committed in 
obedience to military orders, but said nothing as to the complicity of the 
higher dignitaries of the church, by whom it was believed that these 
orders were issued.45 The last was the very point that the prosecution 
desired to establish, its object, compared with which the conviction of 
the accused was but a minor consideration, being to get at the inner facts 
of the case. The district attorney46 refused, therefore, to accept the 
confession, on the ground that it was not made in good faith. Finally the 
case was brought to trial on the 23d of July, and the result was that the 
jury, of whom eight were Mormons, failed to agree, after remaining out of 
court for three days.47 Lee was then remanded for a second trial, which 
was held before the district court at Beaver City between the 13th and 
20th of September, 1876, Judge Boreman again presiding.48

Page 566

   The court-room was crowded with spectators, who cared little for the 
accused, but listened with rapt attention to the evidence, which, as they 
supposed, would certainly implicate the dignitaries of the church. They 
listened in vain. In opening the case to the jury, the district attorney49 
stated that he came there to try John D. Lee, and not Brigham Young and 
the Mormon church. He proposed to prove that Lee had acted in direct 
opposition to the feelings and wishes of the officers of the Mormon 
church; that by means of a flag of truce Lee had induced the emigrants to 
give up their arms; that with his own hands the prisoner had shot two 
women, and brained a third with the but-end of his rifle; that he had cut 
the throat of a wounded man, whom he dragged forth from one of the wagons; 
and that he had gathered up the property of the emigrants and used it or 
sold it for his own benefit.50

   These charges, and others relating to incidents that have already been 
mentioned, were in the main substantiated. The first evidence introduced 
was documentary, and included the depositions of Brigham Young and George 
A. Smith, and a letter written by Lee to the former, wherein he attempted 
to throw the entire responsibility of the deed upon the Indians. Brigham 
alleged that he heard nothing about the massacre until some time after it 
occurred, and then only by rumor; that two or three months later Lee 
called at his office and gave an account of the slaughter, which he 
charged to Indians; that he gave no directions as to the property of the 
emigrants, and knew nothing about its disposal; that about the 10th of 
September, 1857, he received a communication from Isaac C. Haight of Cedar 
City, concerning the Arkansas party, and in his answer had given orders

Page 567

to pacify the Indians as far as possible, and to allow this and all other 
companies of emigrants to pass through the territory unmolested. George A. 
Smith, who had been suspected of complicity, through attending a council 
at which Dame, Haight, and others had arranged their plans, denied that he 
was ever an accessary thereto. He also deposed that he had met the 
emigrants at Corn Creek, some eighty miles north of Cedar, on the 25th of 
August, while on his way to Salt Lake City, and that when he first heard 
of the massacre he was in the neighborhood of Fort Bridger.

   The first witness examined was Daniel H. Wells, who merely stated that 
Lee was a man of influence among the Indians, and understood their 
language sufficiently to converse with them. James Haslem testified that 
between five and six o'clock on Monday, September 7, 1857, he was ordered 
by Isaac C. Haight to start for Salt Lake City and with all speed deliver 
a letter or message to Brigham Young. He arrived at 11 A. M. on the 
following Thursday, and four hours later was on his way back with the 
answer. As he set forth, Brigham said to him: "Go with all speed, spare no 
horse-flesh. The emigrants must not be meddled with, if it takes all Iron 
county to prevent it. They must go free and unmolested."51

   Samuel McMurdy testified that he saw Lee shoot one of the women, and 
two or three of the sick and wounded who were in the wagons. Jacob Hamblin 
alleged that soon after the massacre he met Lee within a few miles of 
Fillmore, when the latter stated that two young girls,52 who had been 
hiding in the underbrush at Mountain Meadows, were brought into his 
presence by a Utah chief. The Indian asked what should be done with them. 
"They must be shot," answered Lee; "they are too old to be spared."

Page 568

"They are too pretty to be killed," answered the chief. "Such are my 
orders," rejoined Lee; whereupon the Indian shot one of them, and Lee 
dragged the other to the ground and cut her throat.53

   On the testimony which we have now before us I will make but one 
comment. If Haslem's statement was true, Brigham was clearly no 
accomplice; if it was false, and his errand to Salt Lake City was a mere 
trick of the first presidency, it is extremely improbable that Brigham 
would have betrayed his intention to Van Vliet by using the remarks that 
he made only two days before the event. Moreover, apart from other 
considerations, it is impossible to reconcile the latter theory with the 
shrewd and far-sighted policy of this able leader, who well knew that his 
militia were no match for the army of Utah, and who would have been the 
last one to rouse the vengeance of a great nation against his handful of 
followers.54

   Lee was convicted of murder in the first degree, and being allowed to 
select the mode of his execution, was sentenced to be shot. The case was 
appealed to the supreme court of Utah, but the judgment was sustained, and 
it was ordered that the sentence should be carried into effect on the 23d 
of March, 1877.55 William H. Dame, Isaac C. Haight, and others who had 
also been arraigned for trial, were soon afterward discharged from custody.

   A few days before his execution, Lee made a confession,56

Page 569

in which he attempts to palliate his guilt, to throw the burden of the 
crime on his accomplices, especially on Dame, Haight, and Higbee, and to 
show that the massacre was committed by order of Brigham and the high-
council. He also makes mention of other murders, or attempts to murder, 
which, as he alleges, were committed by order of some higher authority.57 
"I feel composed, and as calm as a summer morning," he writes on the 13th 
of March. "I hope to meet my fate with manly courage. I declare my 
innocence. I have done nothing designedly wrong in that unfortunate and 
lamentable affair with which I have been implicated. I used my utmost 
endeavors to save them from their sad fate. I freely would have given 
worlds, were they at my command, to have averted that evil. Death to me 
has no terror. It is but a struggle, and all is over. I know that I have a 
reward in heaven, and my conscience does not accuse me."

   Ten days later he was led to execution at the Mountain Meadows. Over 
that spot the curse of the almighty seemed to have fallen. The luxuriant 
herbage that had clothed it twenty years before had disappeared; the 
springs were dry and wasted, and now there was neither grass nor any green 
thing, save here and there a copse of sage-brush or of scrub-oak, that

Page 570

served but to make its desolation still more desolate. Around the cairn 
that marks their grave still flit, as some have related, the phantoms of 
the murdered emigrants, and nightly reënact in ghastly pantomime the scene 
of this hideous tragedy.

   About ten o'clock on the morning of the 23d a party of armed men 
alighting from their wagons approached the site of the massacre. Among 
them were the United States marshal, William Nelson, the district 
attorney, a military guard, and a score of private citizens. In their 
midst was John Doyle Lee. Over the wheels of one of the wagons blankets 
were placed to serve as a screen for the firing party. Some rough pine 
boards were then nailed together in the shape of a coffin, which was 
placed near the edge of the cairn, and upon it Lee took his seat until the 
preparations were completed. The marshal now read the order of the court, 
and, turning to the prisoner, said: "Mr Lee, if you have anything to say 
before the order of the court is carried into effect, you can do so now." 
Rising from the coffin,58 he looked calmly around for a moment, and then 
with unfaltering voice repeated in substance the statements already quoted 
from his confession. "I have but little to say this morning," he added. 
"It seems I have to be made a victim; a victim must be had, and I am the 
victim. I studied to make Brigham Young's will my pleasure for thirty 
years. See now what I have come to this day! I have been sacrificed in a 
cowardly, dastardly manner. I cannot help it; it is my last word; it is 
so. I do not fear death; I shall never go to a worse place than I am now 
in. I ask the Lord my God, if my labors are done, to receive my spirit." A 
Methodist clergyman,59 who acted as his spiritual adviser, then knelt by 
his side and offered a brief prayer, to which he listened attentively. 
After shaking hands

Page 571

with those around him, he removed a part of his clothing, handing his hat 
to the marshal, who bound a handkerchief over his eyes, his hands being 
free at his own request. Seating himself with his face to the firing 
party, and with hands clasped over his head, he exclaimed: "Let them shoot 
the balls through my heart. Don't let them mangle my body." The word of 
command was given; the report of rifles rang forth on the still morning 
air, and without a groan or quiver the body of the criminal fell back 
lifeless on his coffin. God was more merciful to him than he had been to 
his victims.60

1 In Forney's Rept, in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, p. 79, 
and the Hand-Book of Reference, p. 75, Sept. 9th is given as the date of 
the massacre. Forney, as superintendent of Indian affairs, made a close 
investigation into the details of this tragedy, the result of which is 
given in his report ut supra, pp. 87-9, and elsewhere in this document, 
which occupies 139 pages, and contains all the official information then 
to be had on the subject. His reports are dated Salt Lake City, 1859. He 
states that the attack began on Monday, Sept. 5th, and lasted till Friday, 
Sept. 9th, when the massacre occurred; but Friday of that week fell on 
Sept. 11th. Burton, City of the Saints, 411-12, note, also quotes an 
official report, in which Sept. 4th or 5th is given as the date of the 
first attack. See also Lee's confession in Mormonism Unvailed, 218, 237, 
239, where Lee states that the massacre occurred on Friday, and that the 
attack began on Tuesday. At Lee's trial James Haslem testified, as we 
shall see later, that he was sent from Cedar City by Isaac C. Haight, with 
a letter to Brigham, on Monday, Sept. 7th, and that he reached S. L. City 
at 11 A. M. on Thursday. Deseret News, Sept. 20, 1876. The next day was 
the 11th. Other accounts differ slightly as to date. 

2 U.S. Attorney Wilson, in his report in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., 
ii. no. 42, p. 102, states that 119 were killed, and it is certain that 17 
children were rescued. Forney and Burton say that 115 to 120 were 
massacred; Waite, The Mormon Prophet, 66, that the party consisted of 150 
men and women, besides a number of children. Stenhouse, Tell It All, 324, 
mentions 120 to 130. Other reports vary from 120 to 150. 

3 Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 424-8, says that the Arkansas and 
Missouri emigrants formed two separate parties, the latter naming 
themselves Missouri 'wild-cats,' and that the Arkansas party was advised 
by a friend of his to keep clear of the Missourians while passing through 
the Utah settlements and the portion of that territory occupied by 
Indians. I find no confirmation of this in other authorities, though, 
according to Mrs Stenhouse, Tell It All, 325, her husband's friend, whose 
name was Eli B. Kelsey, 'said that the train was divided into two parts, 
the first a rough-and-ready set of men-reguiar frontier pioneers; the 
other a picked community.' The truth appears to be, that there were a few 
Missourians in the Arkansas party, as stated in Hutchings' Cal. Mag., iv. 
345. 

4 They had about 600 head of cattle, 30 wagons, and 30 horses and mules. 
Forney's Rept, ut supra, p. 75. Stenhouse mentions that they had also 
several travelling-carriages. Rocky Mountain Saints, 424. At least $30,000 
worth of plunder was collected after the massacre, besides what was 
appropriated by the Indians. Cradlebaugh estimated the value of their 
property at $60,000 to $70.000. 

5 I find no mention of their arrival in the files of the Deseret News, 
although the names of passing emigrants were registered in that paper at a 
nominal charge; and when the party was a large one, its passage was 
usually noticed among the local items of news.
 
6 The account given in the Millennial Star, xix. 417-18, is that McLean, 
after treating his wife in a brutal manner for several years, turned her 
into the streets of San Francisco, and secretly conveyed the children on 
board a steamer for New Orleans, where the woman followed him; but finding 
that her parents were in the plot, set forth for Salt Lake City. Returning 
to New Orleans in 1856, she rescued her children and fled to Texas; but 
was followed by her husband, who had previously returned to California, 
and now regained possession of the children. Parley, who had already 
befriended Mrs McLean, had written to inform her that her husband was in 
pursuit. Hence the prosecution. McLean and his wife finally separated in 
San Francisco in 1855. See also Autobiog. of Parley P. Pratt, app. 
Stenhouse relates that Mrs McLean was married or sealed to Pratt in Utah, 
that she met Pratt in Arkansas on her way to Utah, and that the apostle 
was acquitted on account of her assuming the responsibility for the 
abduction. He admits, however, that the apostle did not abduct the 
children. Rocky Mountain Saints, 429. Burton says that Pratt converted Mrs 
McLean and took her to wife, but on what authority he does not state. City 
of the Saints, 412. The fact, however, that Mrs McLean arrived on the 
scene of the apostle's assassination just before his death, as mentioned 
in the Millennial Star, xix. 478, wears a suspicious look. In the S. F. 
Bulletin of March 24, 1877, it is stated that the apostle made the 
acquaintance of Mrs McLean while engaged in missionary work in San 
Francisco; that her husband, who was a custom-house official and a 
respectable citizen, ordered him to discontinue his visits, and kicked him 
out of the house for continuing them surreptitiously; and that the woman 
was so infatuated with the Mormon Elder that she devoutly washed his feet 
whenever he visited her. On arriving at Fort Smith (near Van Buren), 
McLean found letters from Parley Pratt addressed to his wife, one of them 
signed 'Your own,--. 'The McLean residence in San Francisco, on the corner 
of Jones and Filbert streets, was in 1877 a dilapidated frame building, a 
story and a half in height. As to the apostle's assassination, the 
Bulletin merely states that he was overtaken by McLean and shot within 
eight miles of Van Buren, and that he died of his wounds an hour 
afterward.  

7 This account of Parley's murder is based on the testimony of Geo. 
Higginson and Geo. Crouch, whose letter, dated Flint, Arkansas, May 17, 
1857, was first published in a New York paper. Copies of it will be found 
in the Millennial Star, xix. 478, and Burton's City of the Saints, 419,-
13, note. They state that the tragedy occurred close to the residence of a 
farmer named Win, and was witnessed by two men who were in the house at 
the time, and from whose evidence at the coroner's jury the above version 
is taken. Pratt lived long enough to give instructions as to his burial 
and the disposition of his property. The account given by Stenhouse, in 
Rocky Mountain Saints, 429-30, does not differ materially, except that he 
makes no mention of any accomplices. 

8 In his deposition at the trial of John D. Lee and others, George A. 
Smith, the prophet's cousin, states that he found them at Corn Creek on 
Aug. 25th. Millennial Star. xxxvii. 675; Lee's Mormonisrn Unvailed 307.
 
9 Sen. Doc., 36 Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, p. 76. Forney mentions that 
an ox belonging to a Dr Ray of Fillmore died from this cause while the 
emigrants were in that neighborhood, that his wife was taken ill while 
rendering the tallow, and that a boy who was assisting her died a few days 
afterward. One or two Indians who ate some of the meat were also poisoned. 

10 John D. Lee, living 150 miles south of Fillmore, informed me that about 
twenty Indians and some cattle died from drinking of the poisoned water, 
and Indians from eating the poisoned meat.' Forney's Rept, in Id., p. 75. 
This report was dated S. L. City, Aug. 1859. In a letter to Brigham, dated 
Harmony, Nov. 20, 1857, Lee writes: 'The company there [at Corn Creek] 
poisoned the meat of an ox, which they gave the Pah Vant Indians to eat, 
causing four of them to die immediately, besides poisoning a number more. 
The company also poisoned the water where they encamped, killing the 
cattle of the settlers. This letter was used in evidence at Lee's trial in 
1876.' Mormonism Unvailed, 254-5. At this trial was also placed in 
evidence a letter from Brigham to the commissioner of Indian affairs, 
dated Jan. 6, 1858, in which Lee's statement is repeated almost verbatim. 
Id., 313-15. In his confession, made a few months after his trial, Lee 
declares that President Isaac C. Haight told him of the poisoning and 
other atrocities committed by the emigrants, and gave him instructions as 
to the part he should take in the massacre. After that event Lee states 
(still in his confession), 'I thought over the matter, and made up my mind 
to write the letter to Brigham Young and lay it all to the Indians.' Id., 
254.
 
11 'They proclaimed that they had the very pistol with which the prophet 
Joseph Smith was murdered, and had threatened to kill Brigham and all of 
the apostles. That when in Cedar City they said they would have friends in 
Utah, who would hang Brigham by the neck until he was dead, before snow 
fell again in the territory. They also said that Johnston was coming with 
his army from the east, and they were going to return from California with 
soldiers, as soon as possible, and would then desolate the land, and kill 
every damned Mormon man, woman, and child that they could find in Utah.' 
Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 218-19. 

12 'Conflicting statements were made to me of the behavior of this
company,' says the superintendent of Indian affairs. 'I have accordingly 
made it a matter of material importance to make a strict inquiry to 
ascertain reliable information on this subject...The result of my 
inquiries enables me to say that the company conducted themselves with 
propriety.' Forney's Rept, ut supra, p. 88.
 
13 Seven were killed and sixteen wounded. Lee's Confession, in Mormonism 
Unvailed, 226-7; see also Forney's Rept, in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st 
Sess., ii. no. 42,p. 88.  
 
14 'Thursday morning I saw two men start from the corral with buckets, and 
run to the spring and fill their buckets with water, and go back again. 
The bullets flew around them thick and fast, but they got into their 
corral in, safety.' Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 230.  
 
15 See the district attorney's opening address to the jury, in the Deseret 
News, Sept. 2, 1877. Lee states that his object in sending for aid was to 
protect the emigrants. Confession, in Mormonism Unvailed, 229. 

16 A full list of the company is given in Id., 379-80, and a list of all 
the Mormons who took part in the massacre in the S. L. City Tribune, June 
2, 1877. See also the speech delivered by Judge Cradlebaugh in the house 
of representatives, Feb. 7, 1863. Cong. Globe, 1862-3, app. 119. The 
speech was afterward published in pamphlet form, one copy of it being 
entitled Mormonism, and another Utah and the Mormons. The former was 
reprinted from the S. L. Daily Tribune, Apr. 8, 1877. The parts of it 
relating to the massacre will be found in Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 65, 
and Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 447-50.

17 First councillor to Haight.
 
18 Forney's Rept, ut supra, 89; Burton's City of the Saints, 412, note. 
Lee also says that three escaped, but were overtaken and killed before 
reaching the settlements in California. Mormonism Unvailed, 244. 
Cradlebaugh states that two escaped and were overtaken in the desert 150 
miles distant. Mormonism, 12. Beadle mentions three, one of whom starved 
to death in the desert, another was murdered by Indians, 90 miles south of 
the desert, and a third was killed on the Colorado River by persons 
unknown. Life in Utah, 184.  
 
19 In the official report quoted by Burton, City of the Saints, 419, it is 
stated that a girl 16 years of age knelt before one of the Mormons 
imploring mercy, but he led her away into a thicket, violated her, and 
then cut her throat. Beadle attributes this deed to President Haight, and 
says that after violating the girl he beat out her brains with a club. He 
also accuses Lee of selecting one of the young women for his harem, and 
relates that, when he made known his purpose, she attempted to stab him, 
whereupon he shot her through the head. Life in Utah, 183-4. 

20 Lee, in his confession, denied having killed any of them, but admits 
that he intended to do his part. He says: 'I drew my pistol and cocked it, 
but somehow it went off prematurely, and I shot McMurdy across the thigh, 
my pistol-ball cutting his buckskin pants. McMurdy turned to me and said: 
"Brother Lee, keep cool; you are excited."' Mormonism Unvailed, 242. As we 
shall see later, it was clearly proved at his trial that he killed several 
of the wounded.
 
21 Lee states that only a little money and a few watches were found on 
them. Id., 244. This is improbable, and other accounts show that the 
Mormons gathered considerable booty. 

22 'After breakfast,' says Lee, 'we all went back in a body to the 
meadows, to bury the dead and take care of the property that was left 
there.' The above account of the Mountain Meadows massacre is taken mainly 
from Forney's Rept, in Sen. Doc., 35th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, pp. 87-
9; Cradlebauqh's Mormonism, 12; the affidavit of Philip Klingon Smith 
(Klingensmith), bishop of Cedar City, who was present at the massacre, 
made in 1871 before the clerk of court of the seventh judicial district of 
Nevada, in Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 439-42; the confession of 
Lee, in Mormonism Unvailed, 244, and his trial in Id., 302-78. In the S. 
F. Call, July 30, 1881, it is stated that Bishop Klingensmith was murdered 
in Mexico. There is no important discrepancy in the several versions. 
Forney and Cradlebaugh officially investigated the matter in 1859. The 
statements of both are very brief, and why the investigation was not made 
sooner does not appear. News of the massacre was first received in 
Washington in Feb. 1858. See letter of C. E. Mix, acting commissioner of 
Indian affairs, to Senator W. K. Sebastian, and of the secretary of war to 
Representative A. B. Greenwood, in Sen. Doc., 35th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. 
no. 42, pp. 4, 42. On the 18th of this month Senator Gwin of California 
moved that the secretary of war be called upon to report what steps had 
been taken to bring the offenders to justice. Gwin's Memoirs, MS., 138 a, 
138 e. No steps had been taken, and for reasons that will presently 
appear, none were taken-or none that were effectual-until nearly 20 years 
later. For other accounts of the massacre, see Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain 
Saints, 435-9; Stenhouse's Tell It All, 328-37; Beadle's Life in Utah, 180-
4; Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 60-9; Beadles' Western Wilds, 306-7, 496-
501; Young's Wife No. 19, 228 et seq.; Bowle's Our New West, 266-8; 
Ruslinq, Across America, 188-90; Hayes' Scraps, Los Angeles, viii. 228-31, 
xvii. 3-7; Hutching's Cal. Mag., iv. 345-9; Utah Review, Feb. 1882, 243-6. 
The story of the massacre has, of course, been related thousands of times 
in the magazines and newspapers of Europe and America. Some of these 
accounts are substantially correct and some are absurd. One writer, for 
instance, attemps to throw new light on the subject by giving what is 
claimed to be a copy of the original order for the massacre, signed 
'Daniel G. Wells,' and dated S. L. City, Apr. 9, 1858. The massacre 
occurred, as we have seen, on Sept. 11, 1857. For statements and comments 
of the press of the Pacific slope, see, among others, the Deseret News, 
Dec. 1, 1869; S. L. City Tribune, Jan. 3, Aug. 22, Oct. 3, Nov. 28, 1874; 
Aug. 14, 1875; Sept. 9, 1876; Apr. 23, 1879; S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 12, 27, 
Nov. 12, 1857; Apr. 13, May 14, Aug. 12, 1858; Apr. 23, Aug. 25, Oct. 28, 
1859; Sept. 23, 27, Nov. 27, 1872; Nov. 17, 1874; July 26, 1875; March 24, 
Apr. 12, 1877; S. F. Call, July 21, 1866; May 23, Sept. 23, 1872; Oct. 14, 
1874; July 18, 22, 25, 1875; Feb. 16, March 9, 24, 25, May 29, 1877; S. F. 
Alta, Oct. 12, 21, 1857; Aug. 13, 1858; Jan. 6, May 8, June 26, 1859; Feb. 
9, 1873; July 28, Aug. 23, 1875; March 24, Apr. 7, 1877; S. F. Chronicle, 
March 22, 23, 31, Apr. 8, 1877; S. F. Post, March 22, 23, 1877; S. F. 
Herald, Oct. 12, 27, Nov. 2, 1857; Mining and Scientific Press, July 31, 
1875, March 31, 1877; Pacific Rural Press, March 31, 1877; Oakland 
Tribune, Apr. 9, 1877; Sac. Daily Union, Oct. 13, Dec. 18, 1857; March 1, 
Aug. 14, 1858; Apr. 14, 25, 1859; Jan. 29, 1867; Nov. 28, 1872; Nov. 24, 
1874; Cal. Mercantile Journal, 1860, pp. 153-4; Stockton Independent, June 
11, 1879; San José Weekly Arqus, Dec. 5, 1874; Santa Cruz Sentinel, May 
12, 1877; San Buenaventura Signal, June 23, 1877; Winnemucca Silver State, 
July 19, 1875; Antioch Ledger, Nov. 21, 1875; Austin Reese River Reveille, 
July 12, 1564; Gold Hill News, Sept. 21, 1872; Feb. 1, 1875; Sept. 12, 
1876; Carson State Register, Sept. 26, 1872; Prescott Miner, Dec. 12, 
1874, Apr. 11, 1879; Idaho World, Oct. 1, 1875; Portland Weekly Standard, 
Apr. 6, 1577; Or. Argus, Dec. 12, 1857, July 16, 1858; Or. Statesman, Nov. 
3, 1857. For cuts of the massacre, see Beadle's Western Wilds, 495; 
Beadle's Life in Utah, facing p. 183; Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 
facing p. 424; Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, facing p. 240. 

23 Rept of Assistant Surgeon Brewer, dated Mountain Meadows, May 6, 1859, 
in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, pp. 16-17; Captain 
Campbell's rept, in Mess. and Doc., 1859-60, pt 2, p. 207; Hutchings' Cal. 
Mag., iv. 346-7. A correspondent of the New York Herald, writing from S. 
L. City, Nov. 8, 1574, states that William H. Rogcrs, Indian agent, was 
ordered to proceed from Camp Floyd with a party of cavalry and bury the 
remains in the summer of 1558. I find no mention of this in the official 
documents, though the massacre was known to Sup. Forney at least as early 
as June 22d of that year. See his letter to C. E. Mix, in Sen. Doc., ut 
supra, pp. 44-5. 

24 Cuts will be found in Stenhouse's Tell It All, 335; Hutchings' Cal. 
Mag., iv. 347. The cairn, cross, and slab are said to have been destroyed 
by order of Brigham. Cradlebaugh's Mormonism, 14. 

25 Forncy's rept, in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, pp. 79-
80, where their names are given; see also p. 87; Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 
243. Bishop Smith's statement, in Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 441-
2. In giving the result of his investigation, Forney states (p. 76) that 
Hamblin had left; his home several weeks before the massacre, and did not 
return until several days after it occurred. This statement was confirmed, 
at the trial of Lee, in the deposition of George A. Smith, who alleged 
that Hamblin was encamped with him at Corn Creek on Aug. 25, 1857. 
Millennial Star, xxxvii. 675. See also Little's Jacob Hamblin, 45. 
Nevertheless Hamblin was accused of complicity. Affidavit of Capt. Jas 
Lynch, in i., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, p. 83.

26 'I succeeded in getting sixteen children, all, it is said, that remain 
of this butchering affair. I have the children with me; they seem 
contented and happy; poorly clad, however.' Forney's letter to General 
Johnston, in Sen. Doc., ut supra, p. 8. 'The seventeenth child was 
recovered last April.' (1859.) 'It is proper to remark that when I 
obtained the children they were in a better condition than children 
generally in the settlements in which they lived.' Forney's Rept, in Id., 
pp. 87, 89. On the other hand, Captain James Lynch, who accompanied 
Forney's party, states under oath that when he first saw them the children 
were 'with little or no clothing, covered with filth and dirt.' Id., p. 
81. Judge Cradlebaugh says nothing about their being ill treated. It was 
at first supposed that the children had been left in the hands of Indians, 
but this is denied by all the officers and officials whose reports are 
given in Id., passim. 'No one can depict the glee of these infants,' 
remarks Cradlebaugh, 'when they realized that they were in the custody of 
what they called "the Americans"-for such is the designation of those not 
Mormons. They say they never were in the custody of the Indians. I 
recollect one of them, John Calvin Sorrow, after he found he was safe, and 
before he was brought away from Salt Lake City, although not yet nine 
years of age, sitting in a contemplative mood, no doubt thinking of the 
extermination of his family, saying: "Oh, I wish I was a man! I know what 
I would do: I would shoot John D. Lee. I saw him shoot my mother." I shall 
never forget hew he looked.' Mormonism, 13. 

27 For further particulars as to the treatment and disposition of the 
children, see Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, passim; S. F. 
Alta, Feb. 23, March 12, May 29, July 10, 20, 1859; S. F. Bulletin, May 
30, 31, June 6, Aug. 13, 1859; Sac. Union, July 19, 1859. Cradlebaugh says 
that on their way back they frequently pointed out carriages and stock 
that had belonged to the train, and stated whose property they were. 
Mormonism, 14. 

28 The Lee Trial, 37; Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 305-6; Millennial Star, 
xxxvii. 675; Tullidge's Hist. S. L. City, 243. In a conversation with 
Governor Cumming, George A. Smith remarked: 'If the business had not been 
taken out of our hands by a change of officers in the territory, the 
Mountain Meadows affair is one of the first things we should have attended 
to when a U. S. court sat in southern Utah. We should see whether or not 
white men were concerned in the affair with the Indians.' Little's Jacob 
Hamblin, 57. 

29 Cradlebaugh's letter in Mess. and Doc., 1859-60, pt ii. 140. 
 
30 A copy of the judge's charge will be found in Stenhouse's Rocky 
Mountain Saints, 403-6. 

31 Cradlebaugh's Mormonism, 11; The Lee Trial, 6.

32 Major Carleton, of the first dragoons. In a despatch to the assistant 
adjutant-general at San Francisco, dated Mountain Meadows, May 25, 1859, 
he says: 'A Pah Ute chief of the Santa Clara band, named Jackson, who was 
one of the attacking party, and had a brother slain by the emigrants from 
their corral by the spring, says that orders came down in a letter from 
Brigham Young that the emigrants were to be killed; and a chief of the Pah 
Utes, named Touche, new living on the Virgin River, told me that a letter 
from Brigham Young to the same effect was brought down to the Virgin River 
band by a man named Huntingdon.' A copy of the major's despatch will be 
found in the Hand-book of Mormonism, 67-9. Cradlebaugh says that after the 
attack had been made, one of the Indians declared that a white man came to 
their camp with written orders from Brigham to 'go and help to whip the 
emigrants.' Mormonism, 11.

33 Lee's confession, in Mormonism Unvailed, passim.
 
34 The massacre is thus mentioned for the first time in the Millennial 
Star, xxxix. 785 (Dec. 3, 1877). 'The reader cannot fail to perceive that 
any overt act-much less the terrible butchery at Mountain Meadows-was 
farthest from Brigham Young's policy at that time, to say nothing of 
humanitarian considerations. There can be but one just view of that 
melancholy event-that it was an act of retaliation by the Indians.' The 
emigrants are then accused of the poisoning at Corn Creek, and blamed for 
taking the southern route contrary to the advice of the Mormons. Forney 
states that the names of the guilty parties were published in the Valley 
Tan. Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., ii. no. 42, p. 86. 

35 Letter to the commissioner of Indian affairs, in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 
1st Sess., ii. no. 42, p. 74. Capt. Lynch, Id., p. 84, calls Forhey 'a 
veritable old granny,' but, with the exception of Gov. Cumming, he appears 
to be the only one who kept his head at this juncture.
 
36 Copies of all the correspondence in this matter, which is somewhat 
voluminous, will be found in Mess. and Doc., 1859-60, ii. 139 et seq. The 
action of Cumming was afterward sustained by the secretary of war, in a 
letter addressed to Johnston, in Id., p. 157. The judges also received a 
sharp rebuke at the hands of Attorney-general Black, who thus sums up the 
case: 'On the whole, the president is very decidedly of opinion: 1. That 
the governor of the territory alone has power to issue a requisition upon 
the commanding general for the whole or part of the army; 2. That there 
was no apparent occasion for the presence of the troops at Provo; 3. That 
if a rescue of the prisoners in custody had been attempted, it was the 
duty of the marshal, and not of the judge, to summon the force which might 
be necessary to prevent it; 4. That the troops ought not to have been sent 
to Provo without the concurrence of the governor, nor kept there against 
his remonstrance; 5. That the disregard of these principles and rules of 
action have been in many ways extremely unfortunate.' 

37 For copy of protest see Deseret News, March 30, 1859, where is also a 
protest from the grand jury against their dishonorable discharge.

38 Cradlebaugh relates that when these arrests were made a general 
stampede occurred among the Mormons, especially among the church 
dignitaries, who fled to the mountains. Mormonism, 11.
 
39 Deseret News, Oct. 16, 23, 1878, where is a report of Collett's trial. 
A sensational account of this affair is given in Hickman's Destroying 
Angel, 205-9. It is there stated that the party had with them money and 
other property to the amount of $25,000. See also Young's Wife No. 19, 270-
6; S. F. Bulletin, May 30, 1859; S. F. Post, Oct. 11, 1878; S. L. City 
Tribune, Oct. 12, 1878. In the report of the trial I find no mention of 
the murdered men's property. 

40 Among others, an attempt was made to investigate what were known as the 
Potter and Parrish murders at Springville, an account of which is given in 
Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 462-7. The proceedings in these cases 
will be found in the Deseret News, Apr. 6, 1859. In his address to the 
grand jury, Cradlebaugh states that three persons were killed on this 
occasion, and that young Parrish, who was among the intended victims but 
made his escape, could certainly identify the parties. The judge also 
mentions the cases of Henry Fobbs, murdered near Fort Bridger while on his 
way from California, and of Henry Jones, said to have been castrated at S. 
L. City, and afterward shot at Pond Town, near Payson. Stenhouse's Rocky 
Mountain Saints, 404-5. This writer relates that the marshal and his posse 
approached Springville before daylight and surrounded that settlement, but 
on entering the houses, it was found that the culprits had already 
escaped, and after searching the cañon some few miles farther on, the 
party returned, having accomplished nothing. See also Deseret News, Apr. 
6, 1859. For reports of other murders committed about this period, some of 
them being attributed to Mormons, see Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., xi. 
no. 42, passim; Burton's City of the Saints, 274; Hickman's Destroying 
Angel, 122 et seq.; Bowles' Our New West, 266. At this date the newspapers 
of the Pacific coast were teeming with accounts of atrocities said to have 
been committed by Mormons, for which I refer the reader to the S. F. 
Bulletin, May 20, Nov. 26, Dec. 21, 1858; Jan. 4, 24, Apr. 25, May 9, 30, 
Aug. 8, 24, 25, 30, 1859; S. F. Alta, May 15, Oct. 28, Nov. l, 1857; Jan. 
25, Nov. 4, 1858; Jan. 13, May 9, Aug. 30, 31, Sept. 14, Nov. 20, 1859; 
Sac. Union, May 15, 1857; Jan. 6, 18, May 11, 14, Sept. 8, 1859; Jan. 16, 
1860. Most of the murders committed appear to have been those of 
desperadoes who defied the law. On May 17, 1860, for instance, two men of 
this stamp were shot in the streets of Salt Lake City. Commenting on this 
affair, the Deseret News of May 23d remarks: 'Murder after murder has been 
committed with impunity within the precincts of Salt Lake City, till such 
occurrences do not seemingly attract much attention, particularly when the 
murdered have had the reputation of being thieves and murderers or of 
associating with such characters.' 

41 Approved June 23, 1874. See Deseret News, July 8, 1874. 

42 The Lee Trial, 6. Forney states that Smith, Lee, Higby, Bishop Davis, 
Ira Hatch, and David Tullis were the most guilty. Letter to the 
commissioner of Indian affairs, in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. let Sess., ii. 
no. 42, p. 86.

43 A detailed account of the arrest of John D. Lee by Wm Stokes, deputy 
U.S. marshal, is given in Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 293-301. See also 
Beadle's Western Wilds, 490-2, where is a cut showing the scene of this 
incident. The two versions differ somewhat, Beadle stating that the arrest 
was made by Marshal Owens.

44 More than 100 subpoenas had been issued, but though many obeyed the 
summons, several material witnesses were not forthcoming-among them being 
Philip Klingensmith, Joel White, and William Hawley, all of whom were 
present at the massacre. Klingensmith, who had promised to make a 
confession, arrived a day or two later, in custody of a deputy, and Joel 
White was induced to trust himself to the notorious Bill Hickman, then 
acting as special deputy marshal. The Lee Trial, 8.
 
45 Portions of this first confession will be found in Id., 8-9; S. F. 
Call, July 21, 1875; S. F. Bulletin, July 21, 1875. 

46 William C. Carey, who was assisted by R. N. Baskin. Sutherland and 
Bates, Judge Hoge, Wells Spicer, John McFarlane, and W. W. Bishop appeared 
for the prisoner. Sutherland and Bates were the attorneys of the first 
presidency.

47 For names of jurors, see The Lee Trial, 11. On p. 52, it is stated that 
the foreman, who was a gentile, sided with the Mormons, the three 
remaining gentiles being in favor of a conviction. In The Lee Trial, 
published in pamphlet form by the S. L. Daily Tribune-Reporter (S. L. 
City, 1875), we have a fair account of the proceedings at the first trial, 
except that the publishers seem unduly anxious to cast the onus of the 
charge on the first presidency. Other reports will be found in the files 
of the Deseret News, commencing July 28, 1875; Beadle's Western Wilds, 504-
13; Young's Wife No. 19, 256-60; the Elko Independent, Aug. 7, 1875; the 
Helena Independent, July 29, 1875.

48 For names of jurors, see Deseret News, Sept. 20, 1876. Lee had been cut 
off from the church in 1871, and among anti-Mormon writers it is stated 
that the church authorities now withdrew all assistance and sympathy, and 
determined to sacrifice him. Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 32; Beadle's 
Western Wilds, 515. In his introduction to the Mormonism Unvailed, W. W. 
Bishop says that the attorneys for the defendant were furnished with a 
list of jurymen, and that the list was examined by a committee of Mormons, 
who marked with a dash those who would convict, with an asterisk those who 
would probably not convict, and with two asterisks those who would 
certainly not convict. The names of the jurors accepted were, of course, 
marked with two asterisks, but they found Lee guilty, as directed by the 
church authorities.
 
49 Sumner Howard, who was assisted by Presley Denny. The prisoner's 
counsel were Wells Spicer, J. C. Foster, and W. W. Bishop. The trial of 
John Lee, in Mormonism Unvailed, 302. 

50 A summary of Howard's opening address to the jury, which was forcible 
and well studied, will be found in the Deseret News, Sept. 20, 1876.
 
51 Ibid. Haslem's testimony, together with other evidence tending to 
exculpate the dignitaries of the church, is omitted in the account of the 
trial given in Lee's Mormonism Unvailed. 

52 From 13 to 15 years of age.
 
53 Deseret News, Sept. 20, 1876; confirmed in the trial of John D. Lee, in 
Mormonism Unvailed, 361, 365-7. 

54 In a sworn statement made at S. L. City, Oct. 24, 1884, Wilford 
Woodruff states that he was present when Lee had an interview with Brigham 
Young in the autumn of 1857; that the latter was deeply affected, shed 
tears, and said he was sorry that innocent blood had been shed. A copy of 
it will be found in The Mountain Meadows Massacre, 51-3, a republished 
lecture by Elder C. W. Penrose (S. L. City, 1884).

55 Reports of the proceedings at the second trial will be found in Lee's 
Mormonism Unvailed, 302-78; The Deseret News, Sept. 20, 27, 1876; Beadle's 
Western Wilds, 515-19. In passing sentence, Judge Boreman remarked: 'The 
men who actually participated in the deed are not the only guilty parties. 
Although the evidence shows plainly that you were a willing participant in 
the massacre, yet both trials taken together show that others, and some 
high in authority, inaugurated and decided upon the wholesale slaughter of 
the emigrants.'

56 It will be found entire in Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 213-92; and in 
part in Beadle's Western Wilds, 519-23, Stenhouse's Tell It All, 633-48, 
the last of these versions being somewhat garbled. For other accounts and 
comments, see Deseret News, March 28, 1877; S. F. Post, March 22, 23, 24, 
1877; San Buenaventura Signal, March 31, 1877; Sonoma Democrat, March 31, 
1877; Napa County Reporter, Apr. 7, 1877; Los Angeles Weekly Express, 
March 24, 1877; Los Angeles Herald, March 24, 1877; Anaheim Gazette, March 
24, 1877; Western Oregonian, Apr. 7, 1877; Portland Weekly Oregonian, Apr. 
7, 1877.

57 He mentions the case of an Irishman, whose throat was cut by John 
Weston, near Cedar City, in the winter of 1857-8; of Robert Keyes, whose 
assassination was attempted about the same time by Philip Klingensmith; of 
three California-bound emigrants, who were suspected of being spies and 
were slain at Cedar in 1857. An attempt was made, he says, to assassinate 
Lieut Tobin in the same year. A young man (name not given) was murdered 
near Parowan in 1854. At the same place William Laney narrowly escaped 
murder, his skull being fractured with a club by Barney Carter, son-in-law 
to William H. Dame. Rosmos Anderson, a Dane, had his throat cut at 
midnight by Klingensmith and others near Cedar City. Lee's Confession, in 
Mormonism Unvailed, 272-83. Some of these cases are imputed to the 
Danites, but I find no mention of them in Hickman's Destroying Angel, 
whose narrative covers the period 1850-65.  
 
58 He first requested one James Fennemore, who was taking photographs of 
the group in which Lee formed the central figure, to send a copy to each 
of his three wives, Rachel, Sarah, and Emma. Fennemore promised to do so. 

59 The Rev. George Stokes.
 
60 The body was afterward inferred by relatives at Cedar City. Accounts of 
the execution will be found in Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 383-90; 
Stenhouse's Tell It All, 627-31; Stenhouse's Western Wilds, 524-5; S. L. 
City Tribune, March 31, 1877; S. L. Herald, March 28, 1877; S. F. 
Bulletin, March 24, 1877; S. F. Post, March 24, 1877; Oakland Tribune, 
March 24, 1877; Los Angeles Weekly Express, March 31, 1877; Los Angeles 
Reporter, March 23, 24, 1877; Sonoma Democrat, March 31, 1877; Anaheim 
Gazette, March 31, 1877; Mariposa Gazette, March 31, 1877; Jacksonville 
(Or.) Dem. Times, March 31, 1877. Portraits of Lee will be found in the 
frontispiece of Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, and in Stenhouse's Tell It All, 
facing p. 632; cuts representing the execution in Id., facing p. 630; 
Beadle's Western Wilds, 525; Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, facing p. 384. 

   John Doyle Lee was a native of Kaskaskia, Ill., where he was born in 
1812. After engaging in the several occupations of mail-carrier, stage-
driver, farmer, soldier, and clerk, he joined the Mormon church at Far 
West in 1837. At Nauvoo he was employed as a policeman, one of his duties 
being to guard the person and residence of Jos. Smith. After the migration 
he was one of those who laid out and built up the city of Parowan. He was 
later appointed probate judge of Iron co., and elected a member of the 
territorial legislature, holding the former position at the time of the 
massacre.