FAIR - User contributions [en]

Use of Church funds

2025-10-27T22:15:21Z

DavidSmith: /* Caring for the Poor */ added quote from Sharon Eubank

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation:Church finances}}

{{Header}}
*[[Use of Church funds#Overview|Overview]]
*[[Use of Church funds#Caring for the Poor|Caring for the Poor]]

==Overvew==
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is "not a financial institution or a commercial corporation. [It is] the Church of Jesus Christ, and this Church has no other objective than that which the Lord Himself assigned to it—namely, to invite all to 'come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.'"<ref>Gerald Causse, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2018/07/the-spiritual-foundations-of-church-financial-self-reliance?lang=eng "The Spiritual Foundations of Church Financial Self-Reliance,"] ''Ensign'', July 2018.</ref> Thus, the use of Church funds is to fulfill that purpose. Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse explains the primary uses of Church funds:
<blockquote>
Sacred tithing funds are approved and appropriated to support the spiritual and religious mission of the Church. They are spent in support of six major areas: (1) providing and maintaining places of worship for more than 30,000 congregations around the world; (2) administering the Church’s welfare and humanitarian aid programs, including more than 2,700 projects in 2017; (3) providing education programs, including Church schools, universities, and seminary and institute programs; (4) supporting our worldwide missionary operations, including 420 missions and the resources needed by approximately 70,000 missionaries; (5) building and operating nearly 160 temples around the world, with many more to come, and administering an expansive family history and records preservation program; and (6) supporting the general administration of the Church.<ref>Causse, "Church Financial Self-Reliance."</ref>
</blockquote>
Reviewing these six major areas demonstrates the need for significant financial resources.

* '''Places of Worship.''' As of 2023, the Church had nearly 19,000 meetinghouses throughout the world. The construction, maintenance, and utilities of these buildings requires considerable resources.
* '''Welfare and Humanitarian Aid.''' In 2022, the Church spent $1.02 billion in welfare and humanitarian aid.
* '''Education.''' For higher education, the Church operates four traditional colleges and universities. As of 2022, the total enrollment for these institutions was over 55,000.<ref>[https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/education "Education,"] ''Newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org'', accessed 16 May 2023.</ref> In addition, the Church operates an online university program that enrolls over 30,000 students in certificate and degree programs and another 36,000 in their PathwayConnect program.<ref>[https://www.byupathway.org/facts-stats "Facts and Statistics"], BYUPathway.org, accessed 16 May 2023.</ref> The Church also offers Institutes of Religion to young adults not attending a Church college/university. There are over 350,000 students in this institution program.<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/si/institute/about/faq?lang=eng "Frequently Asked Questions—Institute"], ChurchofJesusChrist.org, accessed 16 May 2023.</ref> The Church also provides seminary to high school students worldwide. As of 2017, there were 404,000 students participating in this program.<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2017/08/seminary-and-institute-at-a-glance?lang=eng "Seminary and Institute at a Glance"], ''Ensign'', August 2017.</ref> While the institutions of higher education receive generous funding from donors, the Church is the primary support for those institutions. For example, as of 2013, Church funds provided more than half of BYU's regular operating costs.<ref>Camille Penrod, [https://universe.byu.edu/2013/01/22/byu-tuition-costs-almost-half-the-national-average1/ "BYU tuition costs almost half the national average"], ''Daily Universe'', 22 January 2013.</ref> With a large education program, the Church needs sufficient resources to support the hundreds of thousands of students participating in its educational programs.
* '''Missionary Operations.''' At the end of 2022 the Church had 62,544 full-time teaching missionaries who serve away from home and are significantly supported by Church funds.<ref>[https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/2022-statistical-report-april-2023-conference "2022 Statistical Report for the April 2023 Conference"], Newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, 1 April 2023. Although missionaries from some countries contribute $400 each month to the missionary fund, the total contributions are far less than what is needed to support missionary work worldwide. See Scott Taylor, [https://www.thechurchnews.com/2019/6/27/23215166/first-presidency-lds-missionary-contribution "First Presidency announces increase in monthly missionary contribution"], TheChurchNews.com, 27 June 2019. This increase was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.</ref>
* '''Temples.''' As of April 2023, the Church operates 176 temples, is constructing 56 more, and has 83 in the design and planning stage.<ref>See Scott Taylor, [https://www.thechurchnews.com/general-conference/2023/4/2/23667216/15-temples-announced-by-president-nelson-april-2023-general-conference "See the 15 new temple locations announced by President Nelson"], TheChurchNews.com, 2 April 2023.</ref> These buildings are essential to the wellbeing of Church members, both now and in eternity, and these buildings require significant funds to build and maintain.
* '''General Church Administration.''' To administer the Church's extensive efforts to help others come unto Christ, it employs thousands of Church members and has major administrative offices throughout the world.<ref>In 2002, the ''Salt Lake Tribune'' estimated the Church has over 33,000 employees. See Associated Press, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-24-na-mormon24-story.html "Mormons Cut Hundreds of Jobs From Utah Workforce"], ''Los Angeles Times'', 24 December 2002.</ref> These resources require a significant amount of funds.

{{endnotes sources}}

==Caring for the Poor==
Why does the church spend so much money on temples and other activities when there are so many poor people throughout the world? Wouldn’t the money spent on these buildings be better used in feeding the hungry?

The Doctrine and Covenants teaches that tithing is commanded for the building of temples: "Verily I say unto you, that it is my will that a house should be built unto me in the land of Zion, like unto the pattern which I have given you. Yea, let it be built speedily, ''by the tithing of my people.'' ({{s||D&C|97|10-11}}, italics added)

Likewise {{s||D&C|119|2-3}} commands tithing for a variety of purposes: "For the building of mine house, and for the laying of the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the Presidency of my Church. And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people."

Thus, tithing is properly used for temples ''and other activities consistent with building the kingdom of God'' ("laying the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood"). Joseph Smith used tithing for such purposes throughout his administration.

===Temple covenants can alleviate poverty===
As the Director of Humanitarian Services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sharon Eubank once explained that temples (more specifically, the covenants made in temples) are "the greatest poverty alleviation system in the world." She said:
<blockquote>
I am occasionally asked, “Why doesn't the Church spend more money on humanitarian work? Why doesn't it stop building expensive temples and focus its resources on relieving the poor?” This is a legitimate question for the Church of Jesus Christ. But is it money that solves society's ills? The world has poured two trillion dollars into addressing chronic issues in Africa. Why isn’t the situation better? Because money isn't really the issue. Lasting progress comes through trusted relationships, infrastructure, reducing corruption, and the ability of people to work together. Money doesn’t necessarily create those things. They must be developed alongside the resources and, frankly, it is much harder work.

I will never discount the one thing this Church does that lifts entire communities in rapid development. It invites men and women of all social classes and backgrounds to enter sacred buildings and make the most binding and important promises of their mortal lives. In those buildings, they promise not to steal or lie, they promise to be faithful to their spouse and children. They vow they will seek the interest of their neighbors and be peacemakers and become devoted to the idea that we are all one family—all valued and alike unto God. If those promises made in holy temples are kept, it transforms society faster than any aid or development project ever could. The greatest charitable development on the planet is for people to bind themselves to their God and mean it. So, thank goodness the Church builds 335 temples and counting. It is the greatest poverty alleviation system in the world.<ref>Sharon Eubank, [https://www.byui.edu/speeches/forums/sharon-eubank/the-sacred-life-of-trees "The Sacred Life of Trees: How Each of Us Can Protect and Support Physical and Spiritual Forests,"] address given at BYU–Idaho, 15 February 2024.</ref>
</blockquote>

===The anointment of Jesus Christ with expensive oils===
Just prior to the crucifixion, Christ was anointed with expensive oils. The act was criticized by Judas who suggested that the items could have been sold to benefit the poor. Christ's response was telling. He said "for ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial" (Matt 26:11-12). Just as with this event that served to the preparation for the eternal sacrifice of Christ, even so temples make available eternal blessings through Christ's sacrifice. The reality is that eternal salvation is the point of this earth life. Poverty, while certainly tragic and deserving of our individual sacrifices and attention, will only pertain to this existence. In the gospel, we must seek to find the appropriate balance.

Temples are built for the blessings of individuals and families into the eternities. Like the anointing of Christ, their existence serves an eternal cause and are in fact considered the House of the Lord. Just as the use of the oils were deserving of the expense, Latter-day Saints likewise consider constructing temples where sacred, eternal covenants pertaining to eternal exaltation are made, are deserving of our best efforts and sacrifices. Because the ordinances of the temple make all of the purposes of life complete and worthwhile, the temples command a level of attention like almost none other in the church.

===The Church does use funds to help the poor and needy===
In addition to temple work and other Church-specific activities, the Church uses its funds to help the poor and needy. The Church has an extensive network of farms and canneries that are used to help feed individuals around the world. Its welfare system is based on generous donations of the value of foregone meals from monthly fasts serve to benefit untold individuals. The Church has programs to improve lives throughout the world (for example, helping build wells for safe drinking water and irrigation in Africa), and the Church is constantly preparing to rush aid to disaster stricken areas. The truth is that Latter-day Saints are known to be extremely generous in their efforts to give and sacrifice for the benefit of others.<ref>''[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/serve/2022-caring-for-those-in-need-annual-report?lang=eng Caring for Those in Need: 2022 Annual Report of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]''.</ref> And Church members always have the choice of increasing monetary donations to fast offering and humanitarian funds.

===Determining the use of funds===
The question about the appropriate balance between using funds for worship, instruction, eternal ordinances, and the relief of poverty is one that, without a doubt, weighs heavily on church leaders. They no doubt consider that there is a need for these other items or else they would not have made such a choice. Just as one might have to chose to expend money and resources on a computer and internet connection, or a home and personal clothes, or a car and other personal items, the Church likewise must consider all the expenses and choices. Bringing temples close to individuals in poverty stricken areas is one eternal blessing that the Church feels is important to sacrifice for. Families in poor areas of the world have sold everything that they had so they could attend the temple to be sealed together as an eternal family.<ref>See Thomas S. Monson, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/04/the-holy-temple-a-beacon-to-the-world "The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World,"] April 2011 general conference.</ref> Building a temple close to people such as these makes such future sacrifices unnecessary and will bless tens of thousands. The faithful Saints in poverty stricken countries are willing to sacrifice greatly for the privilege of having a temple close to them, just as did the early Saints in Kirtland, Ohio who made substantial contributions in the midst of personal poverty to construct the first LDS temple in that city. The Kirtland Temple was one of the most expensive ever constructed if you consider the relative poverty and cost of living of those who built it. The point is that temples are so sacred and valuable to Latter-day Saints that their temporary periods of poverty are not as critical to them as obtaining the blessings of eternity.

{{endnotes sources}}

Plan of salvation/Sons of Perdition

2024-05-23T17:36:10Z

DavidSmith: added section

{{Main Page}}
<onlyinclude>
=Sons of Perdition=
* [[#Question: What must one do in order to become a son of perdition?|Question: What must one do in order to become a son of perdition?]]
* [[#Question: Will sons of perdition be resurrected?|Question: Will sons of perdition be resurrected?]]
* [[#Question: Will the sons of perdition be given another chance to achieve celestial glory?|Question: Will the sons of perdition be given another chance to achieve celestial glory?]]
* [[#Question: Are there women who will be among the sons of perdition?|Question: Are there women who will be among the sons of perdition?]]
</onlyinclude>

==Question: What must one do in order to become a son of perdition?==
D&C 76:31-32 lays out the criteria for being a son of perdition:
<blockquote>
Thus saith the Lord concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power—they are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born.
</blockquote>

[[#Sons of Perdition|Back to top]]

==Question: Will sons of perdition be resurrected?==
There are multiple citations from Church leaders indicating that sons of perdition born into mortality will be resurrected, since "there is a time appointed that all shall come forth from the dead" ({{s||Alma|40|4}}), and "this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption" ({{s||Alma|11|44-45}}.

====George Q. Cannon====

<blockquote>
A careful reading of these verses [{{s||D&C|76|38-39}}], however, and especially of the preceding paragraphs, will show that the Lord does not, in this language, exclude even the sons of perdition from the resurrection. It is plain that the intention is to refer to them explicitly as the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power: "for all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb." This excluded class are the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power, and "the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord after the sufferings of his wrath."<ref>{{JI1|author=George Q. Cannon|article=The Resurrection As Affecting the Sons of Perdition|date=15 February 1900|start=123}}</ref>

I was given to understand, while I and others of the brethren were in exile, that because of this passage [{{s||D&C|76|32-39}}], contained in this revelation, some of the Elders had conceived the idea, and were teaching it, that the sons of perdition would not be resurrected; and inquiry was made of us concerning it. The doctrine as taught, was, that a certain class of spirits that had received tabernacles upon the earth, would not be resurrected; and to sustain this view [p.379] the paragraphs just read were quoted: "For all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made." Because of this language some have inferred that all the rest would be resurrected, and the sons of perdition would not be resurrected. If you will read the context carefully you will see this is not the meaning. "And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, * * * For all the rest shall be brought forth," etc. That is, they will be redeemed and brought forth, but they will not be brought forth in the manner that we will be resurrected; they will not receive that redemption which the rest of the children of men will receive. God in this glorious revelation through His servant, Joseph, taught this to us: that there will be a time when every human being, except the sons of perdition, will partake of the salvation of our God. And even, it is said concerning them of the telestial glory, that they are heirs of salvation. But the sons of perdition are not heirs of salvation; they will not receive redemption, they having committed the unpardonable sin, from which they never can be redeemed, so far, at least, as God has taught us in His revelations. Now if you will turn to the 29th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, you will find how plain the Lord has made this matter, so plain as to leave no doubt about it....<ref>{{CD1 |author=George Q. Cannon|article=Union, Fate of Sons of Perdition|date=6 October 1889|vol=1|start=378–379}}</ref>
</blockquote>

====Charles W. Penrose====

<blockquote>
[S]ome of our brethren entertain the notion that the sons of perdition will not be resurrected. But the Lord has told us, as you will read in section twenty-nine of the book of D&C, that "then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened and they shall come forth, yea, even all." Very emphatic are the words in that section, verse twenty-six. The same doctrine is to be found in the Book of Mormon. But there is a passage in section eighty-eight, of the book of D&C which will make the matter very clear to those who desire to understand it.<ref>{{CR1|author=Charles W. Penrose|date=Octrober 1911|start=51–52}}</ref>
</blockquote>

====Anthon H. Lund====

<blockquote>
Perhaps the sons of perdition are the last class. All will be resurrected. Jesus died for us all. He became the Redeemer, He bought us for a price, and His death brought the privilege of resurrection unto every soul, whether he be a sinner or not. All will receive a share in the resurrection--not in the first resurrection, but they will be resurrected, and will be brought before the bar of our Heavenly Father.<ref>{{CR1|author=Anthon H. Lund|date=April 1904|start=8}}</ref>
</blockquote>

====John A. Widtsoe====

<blockquote>
They who will be judged to be sons of perdition will arise from the grave with their bodies.<ref>{{EaR1|start=213}}</ref>
</blockquote>

====Joseph F. Smith====

<blockquote>
'Whether the sons of perdition will be privileged to retain their bodies after the resurrection, or whether they will be resurrected or not?' First, yes. They will doubtless be resurrected. Second, yes. They will without doubt retain their bodies. First see {{s||D&C|29|26,27}}. This means all the dead shall be raised from the dead. Again see {{s||Alma|11|43,44}}, {{b||Revelation|20|11-15}}, {{b|1|Corinthians|15|21-23}}. Second, {{s||Mosiah|16|11}}, {{s||D&C|29|27-28}}, {{s||Alma|11|45}}, {{s||Alma|34|34}}. . . .<ref>{{ProphetToSons1|start=68}}</ref>
</blockquote>

====Joseph Fielding Smith====

<blockquote>
Question: "Will those who in this life become sons of perdition receive their bodies in the resurrection? If so, will they have to pass through death again? If they do not, and their bodies and spirits are again united never to be divided, will they have ascendancy, or jurisdiction, over Satan and those who rebelled with him and who have no bodies of flesh and bones?"

Answer: The matter of the resurrection being universal has been discussed in former articles appearing in The Improvement Era. Therefore it is sufficient to say here that the resurrection will be universal and every soul born into this world must receive his body and spirit reunited inseparably in the resurrection.<ref>{{AnswersGospelQuestions1| vol=2|start=169}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[#Sons of Perdition|Back to top]]

==Question: Will the Sons of Perdition be given another chance to achieve celestial glory?==
===No desire to repent===
Asking if the sons of perdition will ''be given'' another chance to achieve celestial glory is immaterial, because ''they will not choose'' to take advantage of another chance. Of those who become sons of perdition the Lord said: "And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for ''they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not''; for they love darkness rather than light, and their deeds are evil, and they receive their wages of whom they list to obey" (Doctrine and Covenants 29:44–45; italics added). Expounding on this, scholar Terryl Givens noted:
<blockquote>
Think about what are the preconditions for what we consider to be an unforgiveable sin. The preconditions are that you have an absolutely full knowledge, understanding, insight into the significance of your choice, and yet you make it. The reason why that kind of a choice can't be forgivable is because it's not reputable. If you have all the information that is ever going to be available to you—all of the faculties under your full control and dominion—then there's no conceivable basis for ever changing. And so God's grace can't reach you because you are not capable of remaking that decision.<ref>[https://faithmatters.org/exploring-atonement-a-conversation-with-terryl-givens/ "172. Exploring Atonement—A Conversation with Terryl Givens,"] Faith Matters podcast, 24 June 2023.</ref>
</blockquote>

===The First Presidency warned against teaching "another chance" doctrine===
In 1833, the First Presidency emphasized that teaching that the sons of perdition would be restored was not authorized:
<blockquote>
Say to the Brethren Hulits and to all others that the Lord never authorized them to say that the Devil nor his angels nor the Sons of perdition should ever be restored, for their state of destiny was not revealed to man, is not revealed, nor ever shall be revealed save to those who are made partakers thereof, consequently, those who teach this doctrine have not received it of the Spirit of the Lord, Truly, Bro Oliver [Cowdery] declared it to be the doctrine of devils. We therefore, command that this doctrine be taught no more in Zion.<ref>First Presidency, [https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-church-leaders-in-jackson-county-missouri-25-june-1833/2 "Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 25 June 1833,"] josephsmithpapers.org.</ref>
</blockquote>

===Scriptural text seems to support the idea that there is not "another chance"===
Mosiah 2:36–39
<blockquote>
After ye have known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom’s paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved—I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples.

Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever. And now I say unto you, that mercy hath no claim on that man; therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment.
</blockquote>

Doctrine and Covenants 29:29–30
<blockquote>
Wherefore I will say unto them—Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And now, behold, I say unto you, never at any time have I declared from mine own mouth that they should return, for where I am they cannot come, for they have no power. But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men; and as the words have gone forth out of my mouth even so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my Spirit. ({{s||D&C|29|29-30}})
</blockquote>

Doctrine and Covenants 76:32–48
<blockquote>
They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born; for they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity; concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come . . . these are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels—and the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath. . . .

[And Jesus] glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him. Wherefore, he saves all except them—they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment—and the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows; neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof; nevertheless, I, the Lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; wherefore, the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except those who are ordained unto this condemnation.
</blockquote>

===Joseph F. Smith believed that the condemnation of the sons of perdition would be without end===
Joseph F. Smith said,
<blockquote>
Thus we see that the first death which came into the world is also the last death which shall be pronounced upon the sons of perdition. What is it? Banishment from the presence of God. Banishment from the power of God. Banishment from the glory of God. Banishment from the joys of heaven. Banishment from all progress. Banishment into outer darkness. Banishment into hell, which is as a lake of fire and brimstone, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, because the soul lives and is bound to live on, suffering the damnation of hell. This is what I understand spiritual death is. I do not understand it to be the separation of the body and the spirit again. I do not understand it to be the dissolution of the spirit into its [p.228] native element. I understand the second death to be the same as the first death-spiritual death; the same condition that Adam was in and that he had to be redeemed from by the blood of Christ, and by faith and obedience to the commands of God. By this means Adam was redeemed from the first death, and brought back again into the presence of God, back again into the favor of the Almighty, back again into the channel of eternal increase and progress. And if a man, after being placed in this condition, shall deny the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ, putting Him again to open shame and crucifying Him afresh, then that first death which fell upon our first parents will again be pronounced upon that man, and it is not written that he shall ever be delivered from it. It is not written that there is any forgiveness for it, nor any redemption therefrom.<ref>{{CD1 |author=Joseph F. Smith|article=The Second Death|date=20 January 1895|vol=4|start=227–228}}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Brigham Young speculated on "another chance" doctrine===
On a few occasions Brigham Young discoursed on intelligence or spirit "recycling" (for lack of a better term), particularly regarding those sent to outer darkness, or at least those who forsake the gospel. It seems Brigham diverged from the teachings of Joseph Smith that the "mind" (or identity) is eternal — Brigham probably saw intelligence as a kind of substance that can be formed and reformed into different identities, rather than intelligences as eternal identities, or minds. For example, on 17 April 1853, he explained:
<blockquote>
The Lord said to Jeremiah the Prophet, "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hands of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it." The clay that marred in the potter's hands was thrown back into the unprepared portion, to be prepared over again. So it will be with every wicked man and woman, and every wicked nation, kingdom, and government upon earth, sooner or later; they will be thrown back to the native element from which they originated, to be worked over again, and be prepared to enjoy some sort of a kingdom.<ref>{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=2|disc=24|start=124}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Technically "some sort of a kingdom" could indicate Brigham believed they could inherit a telestial or terrestrial, but never attain a celestial, kingdom. Brigham seems to have understood "intelligence," or the eternal part of man, as something that could be disorganized and reorganized. He was careful to point out he wasn't teaching an annihilation, but a recycling. On 17 August 1856 he stated:
<blockquote>
But the truth is, you are not going to have a separate kingdom [from God when you are exalted]; I am not going to have a separate kingdom; it is not our prerogative to have it on this earth. If you have a kingdom and a dominion here, it must be concentrated in the head; if we are ever prepared for an eternal exaltation, we must be concentrated in the head of the eternal Godhead. Why? Because everything else is opposed to that kingdom, and the heir of that kingdom will keep up the warfare with that opposing power until death is destroyed, and him that hath the power of it; not annihilated, but sent back to native element.<ref>{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=4|disc=5|start=28}}</ref>
</blockquote>

However, more recent Church leaders such as Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie have rejected the idea that those in perdition can ultimately be redeemed, which contradicts Brigham's speculations.<ref>See {{DoS1 | vol=2|start=31}}; Bruce R. McConkie, "[[Primary souces:Seven deadly heresies|Seven Deadly Heresies]]," 1 June 1980, BYU Marriot Center.</ref> Elders Smith and McConkie were concerned that the view advanced by Brigham might "lull men into a state of carnal security,"<ref>McConkie, "Seven Deadly Heresies."</ref> and thus hamper their mortal probation.

Brigham's speculations are interesting but are not official doctrine, and stand in contrast to teachings of other Church leaders past and present. Perhaps it is significant that in the official Church manual ''Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young'', a segment from a sermon given August 26, 1860 is included as follows:

<blockquote>
Jesus will bring forth, by his own redemption, every son and daughter of Adam, except the sons of perdition, who will be cast into hell....The punishment of God is God-like [see D&C 19]. It endures forever, because there never will be a time when people ought not to be damned and there must always be a hell to send them to. How long the damned remain in hell, I know not, nor what degree of suffering they endure....God's punishment is eternal, but that does not prove that a wicked person will remain eternally in a state of punishment.<ref>{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=8|disc=39|start=154|end=155}}; see also ''Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young'', 288–89.{{link|url=http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=da135f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=4119cb7a29c20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1&contentLocale=0}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Perhaps the best course is to recall that, ultimately, "all [God's] judgments are not given unto men" ({{s||D&C|29|30}}).

[[#Sons of Perdition|Back to top]]

==Question: Are there women who will be among the sons of perdition?==
It should be noted that no church leader has made his stance on this matter a matter of Church doctrine and that remarks on this subject are often couched in language suggesting it is their view or opinion. This is likely why various leaders have not hesitated to express varying points of view.

===The oath and covenant of the priesthood applies to women as well as men===
The oath and covenant of the priesthood is included in Doctrine and Covenants 84, and the conclusion of the covenant is:
<blockquote>
40 Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.

41 But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.
</blockquote>

Some interpret this to mean that to become a "son of perdition," one must first hold the priesthood. However, Church leaders have taught that the oath and covenant of the priesthood applies to both men and women:

* ''Russell M. Nelson:'' "Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God. Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power. The heavens are just as open to ''women'' who are endowed with God’s power flowing from their priesthood covenants as they are to men who bear the priesthood. I pray that truth will register upon each of your hearts because I believe it will change your life. Sisters, you have the right to draw liberally upon the Savior’s power to help your family and others you love."<ref>Russell M. Nelson, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/36nelson?lang=eng "Spiritual Treasures,"] October 2019 general conference, italics in original.</ref>

* ''M. Russell Ballard:'' "When men and women go to the temple, they are both endowed with the same power, which by definition is priesthood power. . . . [A]ccess to the power and blessings of the priesthood is available to all of God’s children. . . . All who have made sacred covenants with the Lord and who honor those covenants are eligible to receive personal revelation, to be blessed by the ministering of angels, to commune with God, to receive the fulness of the gospel, and, ultimately, to become heirs alongside Jesus Christ of all our Father has."<ref>M. Russell Ballard, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2014/09/men-and-women-and-priesthood-power?lang=eng “Men and Women and Priesthood Power,”] ''Ensign'', Sept. 2014, 32.</ref>

* ''Neil L. Andersen:'' This past month I watched a young couple draw enormous strength from the sealing promises of the temple as their precious baby boy was born but lived only one week. Through the ordinances of the priesthood, this young couple and all of us receive comfort, strength, protection, peace, and eternal promises. (See Doctrine and Covenants 84:35; 109:22.)"<ref>Neil L. Andersen, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/10/power-in-the-priesthood?lang=eng “Power in the Priesthood,”] October 2013 general conference.</ref>

* ''Dale G. Renlund:'' [speaking to women] Our Heavenly Father wants you to become His heir and receive all that He has. (See Doctrine and Covenants 84:36–38.)<ref>Dale G. Renlund, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/36renlund?lang=eng “Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny,”] April 2022 general conference.</ref>

===Comments by Church leaders===
====Melvin J. Ballard used the expression "sons of perdition" to refer to both women and men====
Elder Melvin J. Ballard was explicit in labeling both "sons and daughters" as "sons of perdition":
<blockquote>
"[God] has other sons and daughters who do not even attain unto the telestial kingdom. They are sons of perdition out with the devil and his angels, and though the Father has grieved over them, he still has not the power to rescue and save them because He gave them free agency, and they used that in such a manner that they have shut themselves out from His presence. But He is justified. He has performed His full duty by them."<ref>Melvin J. Ballard, ''Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard'' (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Co., 1949), 255–257. Also in Melvin J. Ballard, ''Three Degrees of Glory'' (Independence, Mo: Missions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1922), 32.</ref>
</blockquote>

====Brigham Young taught that women were ''not'' at risk of perdition====
Brigham said,
<blockquote>
Man is the transgressor. Eve was the first to partake of the forbidden fruit, and the man was disposed to follow her, and did follow her; consequently, sin is in the world, and when redemption comes it must come by man. When we speak of law and the transgression of law, we refer to the law of God to man. I doubt whether it can be found, from the revelations that are given and the facts as they exist, that there is a female in all the regions of hell.<ref>{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=8|disc=59|start=222}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Brigham saw man as more culpable than woman for the Fall, and thus expressed his view that the revelations no where mentioned a woman in "all the regions of hell," which likely refers to perdition in this context.

Brigham elsewhere lumped all traitors to Christ with the sons of perdition:

<blockquote>
The Lord is merciful, but, when He comes to His Kingdom on the earth, He will banish traitors from His presence, and they will be sons of perdition. Every apostate who ever received this gospel in faith, and had the Spirit of it, will have to repent in sackcloth and ashes, and sacrifice all he possesses, or be a son of perdition, go down to hell, and there dwell with the damned; and those who persecute and destroy the people of God, and shed the blood of innocence, will be judged accordingly.<ref>{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=12|disc=15|start=63|date=16 June 1867|title=The Priesthood to Dictate in Temporal As Well As Spiritual Things—Inconsistency of An Equal Division of Property—Let Apostates Alone}}</ref>
</blockquote>

====Joseph Smith implied that women could be among the sons of perdition====
<blockquote>O ye Twelve! and all Saints! profit by this important Key--that in all your trials, troubles, temptations, afflictions, bonds, imprisonments and death, see to it, that you do not betray heaven; that you do not betray Jesus Christ; that you do not betray the brethren; that you do not betray the revelations of God, whether in the Bible, Book of Mormon, or Doctrine and Covenants, or any other that ever was or ever will be given and revealed unto man in this world or that which is to come. Yea, in all your kicking and flounderings, see to it that you do not this thing, lest innocent blood be found upon your skirts, and you go down to hell. All other sins are not to be compared to sinning against the Holy Ghost, and proving a traitor to the brethren <ref>Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:385</ref></blockquote>

====Joseph F. Smith offered conflicting statements on the state of women among the sons of perdition====
While Joseph F. Smith was expressing his view that there would be no daughters of perdition, Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon saw things in a different light: "That there will also be daughters of perdition there is no doubt in the minds of the brethren."<ref>{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy2|pages=795}}</ref>

In 1895, Joseph F. Smith stated:
<blockquote>
Hence I warn you, ''my brethren and sisters'', especially my brethren, against trifling with your Bishopric, because if you do, as God lives He will withdraw His Spirit from you, and the time will come when you will be found kicking against the light and knowledge which you have received, and you may become ''sons of perdition'' {{ea}}.<ref>{{CD1|author=Joseph F. Smith|vol=4|start=230|date=20 January 1895|article=The Second Death}}</ref>
</blockquote>

However, in 1903 he opined that the opposite was true:
<blockquote>
There was some informal talk regarding the question as to whether there are, or would be, any women in hell. It was conceded that some women by their acts—namely, abortion, child murder after birth, and the poisoning of their husbands, and other criminal acts—merited a place in the lower regions. President Smith expressed the view that women who commit such crimes as those mentioned would receive punishment to the uttermost farthing, but that there would be no daughters of perdition. This, he said, was his view in regard to the matter, which also seemed to meet the minds of the brethren.<ref>Joseph F. Smith quoted in Stan Larson (editor), ''A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic Diaries of Rudgar Clawson'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, 1993), 560 (entry for 26 March 1903).</ref>
</blockquote>

In 1916, however, he again affirmed that women and men are among the sons of perdition:
<blockquote>
"The devil knows the Father much better than we. Lucifer, the son of the morning, knows Jesus Christ, the Son of God, much better than we, but in him it is not and will not redound to eternal life; for knowing, he yet rebels; knowing he yet is disobedient; he will not receive the truth; he will not abide in the truth; hence he is Perdition, and there is no salvation for him. The same doctrine applies to me and to you and to all the sons and daughters of God who have judgment and knowledge and are able to reason between cause and effect, and determine the right from the wrong and the good from the evil and who are capable of seeing the light and distinguishing it from the darkness."<ref>{{CR1|author=Joseph F. Smith|date=April 1916|start=3}}</ref>
</blockquote>

====Joseph Fielding Smith suggested that only priesthood holders risked becoming be sons of perdition====
<blockquote>
I think I am safe in saying that no man can become a Son of Perdition until he has known the light. Those who have never received the light are not to become Sons of Perdition. They will be punished if they rebel against God They will have to pay the price of their sinning, but it is only those who have ''the light through the priesthood and through the power of God and through their membership in the Church'' who will be banished forever from his influence into outer darkness to dwell with the devil and his angels. That is a punishment that will not come to those who have never known the truth. Bad as they may suffer, and awful as their punishment may be, they are not among that group which is to suffer the eternal death and banishment from all influence concerning the power of God {{ea}}.<ref>{{CR1|author=Joseph Fielding Smith|date=October 1958|start=21}}</ref>
</blockquote>

The next day, during Priesthood Session, President Stephen L Richards said:
<blockquote>
It is a tremendous responsibility to bear the Holy Priesthood. I wish all of you—perhaps all did not—had heard what President Joseph Fielding Smith told us yesterday, something I have long believed, and I was glad to have sanction for my belief. He said in substance that there will be ''no Sons of Perdition who do not hold the Priesthood''. I have believed that for years because I do not think that the Lord in his mercy would ever condemn a man to that indescribable penalty of being put out entirely from the Kingdom and from all grace unless that man knew that Jesus was the Christ, unless he knew the power of the Christ, and he could only know that, I think by holding the Priesthood. I believe that in the main that can be said to be true—that only men who hold the Priesthood of God stand in danger of that terrible penalty of being classed as outcasts {{ea}} .<ref>{{CR1|author=Stephen L Richards|date=October 1958|start=86}}</ref>
</blockquote>

It should be noted, however, that the quote seems to only be referring to men to begin with, and President Richards was speaking to a congregation of men, going on to emphasize the necessity of being worthy of the priesthood—he may have therefore spoken exclusively to the men (i.e., the only ''men'' who can reach perdition are priesthood holders) rather than exclusively ''of'' men (i.e., only ''men with the priesthood'' risk perdition). However, it should be remembered that current Church leaders have taught that the oath and covenant of the priesthood applies to women and men (see above).

====Joseph Smith Sr. affirmed that women can be a "daughter of perdition"====
It seems logical that if women are capable of exaltation, they are also capable of perdition. Indeed, Joseph Smith's father (Joseph Smith Sr.)—in his capacity as Patriarch of the Church—warned against becoming a "daughter of perdition" through apostasy.<ref>H. Michael Marquardt, comp., ''Early Patriarchal Blessings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' [Salt Lake City: The Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2007), 106.</ref>

====Charles W. Penrose implied that women can be among the sons of perdition====
President Charles W. Penrose described those who go to perdition in similar terms as Joseph F. Smith and others, but did not make ''holding'' the priesthood a requirement, but merely having and rejecting all the blessings of the gospel:
<blockquote>
The "sons of perdition" are ''those who have received the Gospel, those to whom the Father has revealed the Son; those who know something concerning the plan of salvation; those who have had keys placed in their hands by which they could unlock the mysteries of eternity; those who received power to ascend to the highest pinnacle of the celestial glory; those who received power sufficient to overcome all things, and who, instead of using it for their own salvation, and in the interest of the salvation of others, prostituted that power and turned away from that which they knew to be true, denying the Son of God and putting Him to an open shame''. All such live in the spirit of error, and they love it and roll it under the tongue as a sweet morsel; they are governed by Satan, becoming servants to him whom they list to obey, they become the sons of perdition, doomed to suffer the wrath of God reserved for the devil and his angels. And for them, having sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no forgiveness either in this world or the world to come. But all the rest Christ will save, through the plan of human redemption prepared in the beginning before the world was {{ea}}.<ref>{{JDfairwiki|author=Charles W. Penrose|vol=24|disc=11|start=93|date=4 March 1883|title=The Church of Christ,....}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[#Sons of Perdition|Back to top]]

{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:El plan de salvación/Hijos de Perdición]]

Intelligent life on other worlds

2024-04-29T22:21:45Z

DavidSmith: added sentence

{{Main Page}}

{{Header}}

[[File:Galaxies_JWST.jpg|500px|right]]

Latter-day Saints believe that there are other worlds in the universe on which intelligent life exists. Further, this intelligent life looks like us. However, there are no teachings on whether or not this intelligent life has visited earth in spaceships.

The Lord told Moses, "Worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. . . . For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man. . . . And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words."<ref>Moses 1:33, 35, 38.</ref>

From these verses we learn that God has created many worlds, some of which have "passed away" and some of which "now stand." These worlds are referred to as an earth with heavens, which is the exact phrasing God applies to Earth.<ref>Moses 1:35–36.</ref> We learn from the prophet Enoch that these other worlds are like Earth: "Were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations."<ref>Moses 7:30.</ref> We learn from Joseph Smith that these other worlds have inhabitants<ref>Doctrine and Covenants 88:42–47, 61.</ref> and that these inhabitants are begotten sons and daughters unto God.<ref>Doctrine and Covenants 76:24.</ref> Joseph Smith also taught that some individuals who lived on Earth did not die; rather, their bodies were changed so they could be "ministring Angels Unto many planets."<ref>[https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/instruction-on-priesthood-circa-5-october-1840/13 "Instruction on Priesthood, circa 5 October 1840," page 7], josephsmithpapers.org.</ref>

As summarized by President Joseph Fielding Smith, "We know that our Heavenly Father is a glorified, exalted personage who has all power, all might, and all dominion, and that he knows all things. We testify that he, through his Only Begotten Son, is the Creator of this earth and of worlds without number, all of which are peopled by his spirit children."<ref>Joseph Fielding Smith, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1971/04/out-of-the-darkness "Out of the Darkness,"] April 1971 general conference.</ref> As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, "How many planets are there in the universe with people on them? We don’t know, but we are not alone in the universe! God is not the God of only one planet!"<ref>Neal A. Maxwell, in [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2001/04/special-witnesses-of-christ "Special Witnesses of Christ,"] ''Ensign'', April 2001.</ref>

Astronomy research continues to advance in identifying habitable worlds. Scientist and Latter-day Saint Jani Radebaugh noted:
<blockquote>
New details about [astronomical] bodies in the outer solar system . . . have helped open our minds to the possibilities of other worlds with life in our galaxy and in the universe. . . . Recently, the National Academy of Sciences came out with a report that suggested that there might be as many as nine billion habitable planets in our own galaxy alone. Another way of saying this is that there are more habitable planets in our galaxy than there are people on Earth. (Of course, this doesn't mean they're actually inhabited, only that they're habitable.) As Latter-day Saints, this should not surprise us too much. We should be able to look at these big numbers and say, "Well, we should have seen this coming because God already told us there were inhabited worlds without number" (see D&C 76:24; Moses 1:33).<ref>Jani Radebaugh, [https://interpreterfoundation.org/reprint-sm1-10-the-outer-solar-system-a-window-to-the-creative-breadth-of-divinity/ "The Outer Solar System: A Window to the Creative Breadth of Divinity,"] in ''Science and Mormonism 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man'', ed. David H. Bailey, et al. (The Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2016), 314.</ref>
</blockquote>

However, the extent of our knowledge about intelligent life on other worlds is that such life exists. Elder Neal A. Maxwell noted, "We do not know where or how many other inhabited planets there are, even though we appear to be alone in our own solar system. As to the Lord's continuing role amid His vast creations, so little has been revealed."<ref>Neal A. Maxwell, "Our Creator's Cosmos," address given at the Church Educational System annual conference, 13 August 2002, in Sarah Jane Weaver, [https://www.thechurchnews.com/2002/8/17/23241835/our-creators-cosmos-151-vast-personal "‘Our Creator’s Cosmos’ — vast, personal,"] ''Church News'', 17 August 2002.</ref>

{{endnotes sources}}

Understanding biblical numbers and stories

2024-03-29T21:08:12Z

DavidSmith: removed copyrighted material

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation the Bible}}

{{Header}}

==Question: How did the authors of the Bible view the earth and the universe?==
===The authors of the Bible believed that the moon, sun, and other luminaries are fixed in a curved structure which arches over the earth===

The standard reference work, the ''Anchor Bible Dictionary'' writes:

<blockquote>
The variety in date, origin, and scope of the Hebrew Bible's cosmological materials means that achieving a single, uniform picture of the physical universe is hardly possible. Still, sufficient overlap does obtain between the many accounts of the universe, however these may vary in their details, to allow for a few generalizations. The earth on which humanity dwells is seen as a round, solid object, perhaps a disk, floating upon a limitless expanse of water. Paralleling this lower body of water is a second, similarly limitless, above, from which water descends in the form of rain through holes and channels piercing the heavenly reservoir. The moon, sun, and other luminaries are fixed in a curved structure which arches over the earth. This structure is the familiar "firmament" (raqiya) of the priestly account, perhaps envisioned as a solid but very thin substance on the analogy of beaten and stretched metal. Though some texts appear to convey a picture of a four-storied universe ({{b||Job|11|8-9}} or {{b||Psalms|139|8-9}}), the great majority of biblical texts assume the three-storied universe so clearly assumed in other, ancient traditions. Thus, the Decalog's prohibition of images specifies "heaven above," "earth below," and "water under the earth" as the possible models for any such forbidden images ({{b||Exodus|20|4}}). If we understand the common term "earth" (erets) as designating at times the "underworld," then the combined references in {{B||Psalms|77|19}} to heaven, the "world" (tebel), and the "earth" ('erets) are another appeal to the universe as a three-storied structure (for other texts where 'erets may refer to the underworld, see Stadelmann 1970: 128, n. 678). Clearer reference still to the same structure is to be found in {{B||Psalms|115|15-17}}, where we find grouped together "the heaven of heavens," "the earth," and the realm of "the dead" (cf. {{B||Psalms|33|6-8}} snf {{b||Proverbs|8|27-29}}).

The curving, solid structure which arches over the realm of humanity is sometimes called a "disk" or "vault" (hug; {{b||Isaiah|40|22}}, {{b||Proverbs|8|27}}). That which allows the heavenly abyss to water the earth are occasional interruptions in this solid structure, openings called variously windows, doors, or channels. In some texts, that which suspends the habitable earth above the underworld's waters (see {{b|1|Samuel|2|8}} for another reference to these rivers) are pillars or some such foundational structures. These seem envisioned in {{b||Job|38|4-5}}; {{B||Psalms|24|2}}; 104:5; {{b||Proverbs|8|29}}, and elsewhere. Finally, the realm beneath the arena of human activity is not only imagined as one of watery chaos but also given the specific designation "Sheol" (''she'ol''), usually translated "the underworld." In the different elaborations upon just what one should imagine Sheol as including, again there is little consistency. At times, Sheol is personified, with a belly or womb and a mouth ({{b||Jonah|2|3}}-Eng 2:2); {{b||Proverbs|1|23}}; {{B||Proverbs|30|16}}; and {{B||Psalms|141|7}}), while at others Sheol is rather more architecturally portrayed ({{b||Isaiah|38|10}}; {{b||Job|7|9-10}}; {{b||Job|14|20-22}}; {{b||Job|17|13}}; {{b||Job|18|17-18}}), as a dark and forgetful land or city (Stadlmann 1970: 1666-76).<ref>''Anchor Bible Dictionary'', at 1:1167-68, s.v. "Cosmogony, Cosmology."</ref>
</blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

==Question: Does the biblical story of Peleg describe the separation of the continents?==
===Some Latter-day Saint thinkers have understood the matter as referring to the sudden separation of the continents in a catastrophic event. Others have regarded this as a misunderstanding of the text===

Does the biblical story of Peleg describe the separation of the continents? There is a reference to this event in {{s|DC||133||}}.

Some Latter-day Saint thinkers have understood the matter as referring to the sudden separation of the continents in a catastrophic event. Others have regarded this as a misunderstanding of the text. The Church has no official position on the matter, and it does not play much of a role in LDS thought or discourse.

{{s||Genesis|10|25}} contains a passing reference to man called Peleg, who received his name because "in his days was the earth divided". The Hebrew verb פלג (''palag'') means "separate" or "divide."

===Some Latter-day Saints have interpreted this passage with extreme literalness===

Some Latter-day Saints have interpreted this passage with extreme literalness, believing that the earth's tectonic plates, which were once a single land mass, all separated into the continents we know today during the life of a single mortal, instead of over hundreds of millions of years as scientists have theorized. Two of these were Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie.

{{Main|Global_or_local_Flood#Doesn.27t_the_Bible_say_that_the_continents_were_divided_during_the_Flood.3F|l1=Global or local flood and Peleg?}}

===It is more likely that Peleg's name anticipates the division of languages at Babel in the following chapter===

But the scripture doesn't require such an extraordinary conclusion: It is more likely that Peleg's name anticipates the division of languages at Babel in the following chapter. (Note that ''palag'' appears in {{s||Psalms|55|9}} to refer to a division of languages.)

In the December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, 1,000 miles of fault line slipped 50 feet, resulting in a 9.3-magnitude earthquake that created seismic sea waves up to 100 feet high. These tsunamis caused the deaths of nearly 230,000 people. The amount of force required to move the major continents thousands of miles apart in the lifetime of a single individual would cause much worse devastation, a global catastrophe on an unimaginable scale. Thus, to accomplish this without a divine miracle which hid all trace of such an event would be extraordinarily unlikely. But, such a miracle cannot be proven or identified by science or observation. Those who choose to believe that this is what happen can only rely on faith.

If the division is one of language, then {{s||DC|133|22–23}} would refer to the return to a time when languages no longer divide humankind. This will take place during the 1,000 years of peace when the Savior reigns. Such a return to unity might also symbolize the passing of all the temporary, petty, and earthly matters which alienate humans from each other.

{{endnotes sources}}

==Question: What’s the best way to understand the ages of antediluvian patriarchs scientifically?==
There is no consensus among biblical scholars as to how to interpret these ages. Scholars have generally separated the interpretation of the ages into three camps: the literal view, the symbolic view, and the blended view. The literal view seeks to understand every age as literal historical, the symbolic view seeks to understand why the biblical authors might have used these ages to represent perhaps power or prestige, and the blended view seeks to find somewhere in the middle for their interpretation.<ref>Andrew P. Kvasnica, "The Ages of the Antediluvian Patriarchs" 2005 Student Academic Conference, Dallas Seminary <https://bible.org/article/ages-antediluvian-patriarchs-genesis-5. (accessed 19 July 2019)</ref>
{{endnotes sources}}

==Question: What’s the best way to understand the Tower of Babel scientifically?==
===By all indications, we can believe that something happened. Though we should probably be aware that exaggerations very likely exist in the account===
The science behind the Tower of Babel can be separated into two questions
1) Was there a tower that could reach the heavens?
2) Were tongues actually confused?
Both of those questions are addressed in this excellent article by Michael Ash who cites Hugh Nibley:
===Michael R. Ash - Is the Tower of Babel historical or mythological?===
Last week I began discussing the Jaredites and the Tower of Babel, and how the story might be reconciled for those who believe that science and religion do not necessarily conflict. Some people, for instance, believe that the story of the Tower of Babel falls into the realm of fantasy rather than history. There are historical indicators, however, that suggest that the story is a myth in the scholarly sense.
<br><br>
While most people think of myths as fables (which is what the word actually means), scholars loosely define myths as culturally-shared narratives that bind, inspire or help delineate a particular culture. In the academic world, the word myth “is detached from popular associations with falsehood.” They equate to “legends,” which may or may not be based on actual truths. Myths are often pre-scientific stories used to explain why things are as they are. They may represent “types” or models, or they might exaggerate a real event. They may conflate multiple events into a single story, and they typically make erroneous assumptions based on an incomplete understanding of actual facts.
<br><br>
Anciently, oral and written traditions were not “histories” in the modern sense. While such accounts were often based on actual events, historical accuracy was not a high priority. The main purpose was to share cultural events, heroes and villains intentionally selected to relate specific points. Tales of real events could be molded to help convey the moral of the story.
As detailed in a past issue, while I believe in actual Jaredites, Nephites and Lamanites, I also believe we can better appreciate the scriptures when we realize that ancient societies — including prophets — recorded their narratives according to their own understanding of the world around them.
<br><br>
When we shine the light of science and scholarship on the Tower of Babel, we find some interesting things. First, the word “Babel” comes from an Assyro-Babylonian word that means “Gate of God” and is related to a Hebrew word that means “confusion.” It appears that the author(s) of the Babel account are engaging in some word-play to make a particular point about the story. It’s also interesting to note that the book of Ether never mentions “Babel” but simply the “great tower.”
<br><br>
In the Bible, we learn that some time after the days of Noah the land of Shinar (modern Mesopotamia) was ruled by the wicked Nimrod. In Genesis 10:9 he’s referred to as a “mighty hunter before the Lord.” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod Early Judaic traditions], however, interpret this as a mighty hunter “in opposition to the Lord.” Nimrod’s name, in fact, [https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/243/eVerseID/247/ comes from] the Hebrew word verb “let us revolt.” Once again, we see Hebrew word-play utilized as a teaching tool. Nimrod was not a hunter of animals but of the souls of men. And according to ancient traditions, Nimrod was responsible for building the Tower of Babel.
<br><br>
In ancient Mesopotamia, from at least 3,000 B.C., we find the construction of ziggurats — stepped temple monuments. Ancient cultures believed that gods resided on the tops of mountains, and this belief was even incorporated into Greek mythology, which taught that Zeus lived atop Mount Olympus. Early prophets, including Abraham and Nephi, went up into the mountains to pray or commune with God. Likewise Moses met God on Mount Sinai. Temples were considered to be man-made cosmic mountains. As Dr. Nibley notes, they are the “‘binding-place of heaven and earth,’ where alone one could establish contact with the upper and lower worlds.” The ziggurats of Mesopotamia were temples or towers built to reach the heavens or intended “gates” to God. While Nimrod’s connection to the Tower of Babel can only be inferred from the Bible, other ancient traditions support this inference. According to some of these ancient traditions, Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, acquired (stole — in many legends) the skin garment that God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden. The garment supposedly gave Nimrod great power — God-like power. Nibley wrote:
<br><br>
“Now I am not insisting for a minute that the legendary Nimrod ever existed. … I am only interested in the type of thing that happened, and after having examined hundreds of legends from all parts of the ancient world, all telling substantially the same story, I think that anyone would find it difficult, in view of the evidence, to deny that there was some common event behind them. It seems to have been a single event, moreover.”
<br><br>
In ancient Judaic thought, Babylon (the ancient city-state of Mesopotamia) represented the wicked while Zion represented the righteous. Since the “priesthood” is God’s power bestowed upon mankind, an imitation God-like power would be a false priesthood and a tower associated with this power would be a false temple. The Tower of Babel, therefore would represent — either historically or mythically — the false temples and priesthoods of wicked men who opposed the true priesthood and the living God.<ref>Michael R. Ash, "Challenging Issues, Keeping the Faith: Michael R. Ash: Is the Tower of Babel historical or mythological?" ''Deseret News'', 27 September 2010. Accessed 29 March 2019. <https://www.deseretnews.com/article/700068940/Michael-R-Ash-Is-the-Tower-of-Babel-historical-or-mythological.html?pg=all></ref>
===Further Reading===
As further reading, the following is an even more detailed treatment of the issue:

*Jeffrey Bradshaw, "What was all the confusion about at the Tower of Babel? Old Testament KnoWhy OTL06C" <https://interpreterfoundation.org/knowhy-otl06c-what-was-all-the-confusion-about-at-the-tower-of-babel/>

[[File:Babel Ziggurat.jpg|400px|thumb|center|The Ur Ziggurat. Many Biblical scholars have argued that these types of ziggurats could have been the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible. This is one proposed location.]]

{{endnotes sources}}

==Question: What’s the best way to understand the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot turning into a pillar of salt scientifically?==
===There is no consensus as to how to understand the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s wife scientifically.===
There are a number of rock deposits located close to claimed locations of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, since we do not know the actual location of Sodom and Gomorrah, we cannot be sure about the rock/salt deposits that are formed in the shape of pillars at these claimed spots. Wikipedia offers valuable commentary on the historicity of the locations and of the story of Lot’s wife. <ref> See Wikipedia “Sodom and Gomorrah” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom_and_Gomorrah] and “Lot’s wife” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lot%27s_wife]</ref>

{{endnotes sources}}

==Question: What is the best way to understand the story of Jonah and the Whale scientifically?==
===The story of Jonah and the big fish is best seen as a beautiful Hebrew poem—the main point of the story coming in the last four verses in the last chapter===

From the Latter-day Saint Bible Dictionary:

<blockquote>The present book of Jonah does not claim to be from the hand of the prophet; it describes an episode in his life and is due to some later writer. The key to the book is to be found in Jonah 3:10–4:11 in the reasons the prophet gives for his flight and unwillingness to preach at Nineveh. '''The writer is opposing a narrowmindedness that would confine the love of God to a single nation.''' He shows that Jehovah reigns everywhere, over sea and land; even in the gentile world the minds of men are conscious of sin and prepared to acknowledge that Jehovah is God. '''The book is a beautiful poem,''' whether it paints the humanity of the gentile sailors; the mourning of the prophet over the decay of the grass of the field; or the divine tenderness in ministering to the prophet with his imperfect conceptions or in pitying the little children of Nineveh. The story of Jonah was referred to by our Lord on two occasions when He was asked for a sign from heaven. In each case He gave “the sign of the prophet Jonah,” the event in that prophet’s life being a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own death and resurrection (Matt. 12:39–41; 16:4; Luke 11:29–30).<ref> See "Jonah" [https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/jonah?lang=eng&letter=J]</ref></blockquote>

Latter-day Saint biblical scholar Ben Spackman elaborates:

<blockquote>Jonah is four short chapters. I’ve done a lot with Jonah in the past, addressing the short book several times, from several angles, including the history question. In brief, if you’re focused on the “whale” instead of the last four verses of chapter 4, you’re entirely missing the point.
[. . .]
Jonah strikes me as very much as a satirical parable, and I explain this in the podcast. But what is ultimately important is the last few verses of the last chapter.<ref>See "Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 33: Jonah and Micah" [http://www.patheos.com/blogs/benjaminthescribe/2018/08/gospel-doctrine-lesson-33-jonah-and-micah/]</ref></blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

Statement of the Three Witnesses

2024-03-27T17:28:07Z

DavidSmith: added content

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Book of Mormon}}

{{Header}}

<small>Video from The Interpreter Foundation.</small>
<embedvideo service="youtube">n6tlT2JaYJY</embedvideo>

==All Three Witnesses==
{{:Source: Testimony of Three Witnesses}}
===Statements regarding all Three Witnesses===

* Richard Anderson described multiple accounts of ''all'' the Witnesses bearing testimony and reaffirming their published testimony:<ref>{{Book:Anderson:Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses|pages=137-138}}</ref>

::The three Smiths who formally gave their names as seeing and handling the plates were the Prophet's father, Joseph Smith, Sr.; the Prophet's older brother, Hyrum; and his immediately younger brother, Samuel Harrison. They sometimes joined the other Book of Mormon witnesses to reaffirm their testimony printed in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon regarding lifting and turning the leaves of the plates. After quoting the published statements of the Three and Eight Witnesses, and describing the experience of the latter group, Lucy Smith relates, "The ensuing evening, we held a meeting, in which all the witnesses bore testimony to the facts as stated above."<ref>{{Book:Smith:Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith and Progenitors|pages=141}} </ref> Two years later, in the period of dynamic preaching of the early elders, a conference was held near Cleveland, Ohio, remembered by Luke Johnson as follows: "At this conference the eleven witnesses to the Book of Mormon, with uplifted hands, bore their solemn testimony to the truth of that book, as did also the Prophet Joseph."<ref>''Deseret News'' (26 May 1858).</ref>

==Who was the angel who appeared?==
Tradition among Latter-day Saints posits that the angel who appeared to the Three Witnesses was the Angel Moroni. Although this is possible, there is no contemporary documentary evidence to support this claim. Thus, the Church's ''Saints'' series (specifically, volume 1) does not name the angel.

According to James Hart, who interviewed David Whitmer in 1883, David Whitmer stated that he never learned the angel's name:
<blockquote>
"Did the personage or angel who showed you the plates tell you his name?" I asked. Mr. Whitmer replied: "No, he did not. The idea has obtained ground that it was Moroni, the last of the Nephite Prophets. It may have been M[o]roni or it may have been one of the three Nephite Apostles who were promised that they should not taste of death. It is not important who he was, but I know he was a messenger from God."<ref>[https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=23176783 "Interview with David Whitmer, Etc.,"] ''Deseret Evening News'' 16, no. 240 (Sept. 4, 1883).</ref>
</blockquote>
{{:Question: Did the three witnesses's experience of seeing the plates and the angel take place only in their minds?}}
{{:Question: Does the belief that the experience had visionary qualities contradict the claim that the plates were real?}}
{{:Question: What did the Book of Mormon witnesses mean when they used the word "supernatural" to describe their experiences?}}
{{:Question: Did the Three Witnesses have personal, subjective experiences?}}
{{:Question: Did the Three Witnesses consider Joseph Smith a "fallen prophet" after they left the Church?}}
{{:Question: Did the Three Witnesses each add their own signature to the original Book of Mormon manuscript?}}
{{:Question: Did the Three Witnesses each add their own signature to the original Book of Mormon manuscript?}}

{{endnotes sources}}

Template:Navigation the Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:16:37Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation the Book of Mormon to Template:Navigation Book of Mormon over redirect

#REDIRECT [[Template:Navigation Book of Mormon]]

Template:Navigation Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:16:37Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation the Book of Mormon to Template:Navigation Book of Mormon over redirect

{{Navigation for BOM
|name=the Book of Mormon
|group1=Authorship
|list1=
*[[Joseph Smith as author and proprietor of the Book of Mormon|Joseph Smith listed as author and proprietor]]
*[[The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Spalding theory]]
*[[View of the Hebrews theory of Book of Mormon authorship|View of the Hebrews theory]]
*[[The Late War theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Late War theory]]
*[[Golden Pot theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Golden Pot theory]]
*[[Sidney Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Sidney Rigdon theory]]
*[[Mushrooms and entheogenics theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Mushrooms and entheogenics theory]]
*[[Creative fiction theories of Book of Mormon authorship|Creative fiction theories]]
*[[Possible 19th Century influences on Book of Mormon]]
*[[Theory of Book of Mormon place names from area around Joseph Smith's home]]
*[[Theory of Book of Mormon place names from Comoros Islands]]
*[[Understanding accusations of plagiarism]]

|group2=Translation process
|list2=
*[[Seer stones and the Urim and Thummim]]
*[[Gold plates and the translation process]]
*[[Artistic depictions of the translation]]
*[[Joseph Smith and the translation process]]

|group3=Gold plates
|list3=
*[[Weight and size of the gold plates|Weight and size]]
*[[Engravings on and sealed portion of the gold plates|Engravings and sealed portion]]
*[[Stone box where the gold plates were deposited]]
*[[Attempts to steal the gold plates from Joseph Smith]]
*[[Gold plates and the translation process]]
*[[Metal plates in ancient Israel]]

|group4=Witnesses
|list4=
*[[Eleven official witnesses to the Book of Mormon|Eleven official witnesses]]
*[[Statement of the Three Witnesses]]
*[[The witness of Oliver Cowdery|Oliver Cowdery]]
*[[The witness of David Whitmer|David Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Martin Harris|Martin Harris]]
*[[Statement of the Eight Witnesses]]
*[[The witness of Christian Whitmer|Christian Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Jacob Whitmer|Jacob Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Peter Whitmer Jr.|Peter Whitmer Jr.]]
*[[The witness of John Whitmer|John Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Hiram Page|Hiram Page]]
*[[The witness of Joseph Smith Sr.|Joseph Smith Sr.]]
*[[The witness of Hyrum Smith|Hyrum Smith]]
*[[The witness of Samuel Smith|Samuel Smith]]
*[[Other witnesses to the Book of Mormon]]

|group5=The Bible and the Book of Mormon
|list5=
*[[Bible passages in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The New Testament and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[KJV italicized text in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[KJV translation errors in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Joseph Smith Translation and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Isaiah and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The documentary hypothesis and the Book of Mormon]]

|group6=Language and the Book of Mormon
|list6=
*[[Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon|Hebraisms]]
*[[Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon|Chiasmus]]
*[[Names in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Hebrew and Native American languages]]
*[[Reformed Egyptian and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as an ancient text]]

|group7=Geography
|list7=
*[[Church statements on Book of Mormon geography]]
*[[Evaluating Book of Mormon geography theories]]
*[[Old world geography in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Lehi's journey in the Old World]]
*[[Possible locations for the Valley of Lemuel]]
*[[Possible locations for Shazer]]
*[[Possible locations for Nahom]]
*[[Possible locations for Nephi's Bountiful]]
*[[The Hill Cumorah]]
*[[Mesoamerican Model of Book of Mormon geography|Mesoamerican Model]]
*[[Hemispheric Geography Model of Book of Mormon geography|Hemispheric Geography Model]]
*[[Great Lakes Model of Book of Mormon geography|Great Lakes Model]]
*[[Heartland Model of Book of Mormon geography|Heartland Model]]
*[[Hoaxes related to Book of Mormon geography claims]]
*[[Geographical issues related to DNA and the Book of Mormon]]

|group8=DNA
|list8=
*[[DNA and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Identifying ancient DNA related to Book of Mormon people]]
*[[Geographical issues related to DNA and the Book of Mormon]]

|group9=Anachronisms
|list9=
*[[Principles for assessing anachronisms|Anachronism overview]]
*[[Horses in the Book of Mormon|Horses]]
*[[Elephants in the Book of Mormon|Elephants]]
*[[Other animals in the Book of Mormon|Other animals]]
*[[Synagogues and churches]]
*[[Climate in the Book of Mormon|Climate]]
*[[Metals and materials in the Book of Mormon|Metals and materials]]
*[[Metal plates in ancient Israel]]
*[[Plants in the Book of Mormon|Plants]]
*[[Objects and artifacts in the Book of Mormon|Objects and artifacts]]

|group10=Doctrine and teachings
|list10=
*[[Moroni's promise of the Book of Mormon|Moroni's promise]]
*[[The Book of Mormon and the fulness of the gospel|The fulness of the gospel]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as the most correct book]]
*[[The nature of God in the Book of Mormon|The nature of God]]
*[[The name of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon|Name of Jesus Christ]]
*[[Virgin birth of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon|Virgin birth of Jesus Christ]]
*[[Jesus Christ bled from every pore]]
*[[The Holy Ghost in the Book of Mormon|The Holy Ghost]]
*[[Baptism in the Book of Mormon|Baptism]]
*[[Priesthood authority in the Book of Mormon|Priesthood authority]]
*[[Temples in the Book of Mormon|Temples]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as the Stick of Ephraim]]
*[[Plural marriage in the Book of Mormon|Plural marriage]]
*[[Freemasonry and the Book of Mormon|Freemasonry]]
*[[Nephite burnt offerings]]
*[[The great and abominable church in the Book of Mormon|The great and abominable church]]
*[[The tree of life in the Book of Mormon|The tree of life]]

|group11=Lamanites
|list11=
*[[Identity of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon|Identity of the Lamanites]]
*[[Native Americans and the Lamanites]]
*[[Relationship of the Maya and the Olmec to the Lamanites and the Jaredites]]
*[[Polynesians as descendants of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon|Polynesians and the Lamanites]]
*[[The Lamanite curse]]
*[[Wrath of God on the Lamanites]]

|group12=Other
|list12=
*[[Population and demographics in the Book of Mormon|Population and demographics]]
*[[The Nephite calendar]]
*[[Biblical archaeology compared to the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Thomas Stuart Ferguson and Mormon archaeology]]
*[[Attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright in Canada]]
*[[Book of Mormon textual changes|Textual changes]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as history]]
*[[Legal codes in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Lehi's ancestry and place of residence]]
*[[Three days of darkness in the New World following Christ's death|Three days of darkness]]
*[[The killing of Laban in the Book of Mormon|The killing of Laban]]
*[[Human sacrifice in the Book of Mormon|Human sacrifice]]
*[[Warfare in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Events in Ether]]
*[[The death of Shiz]]

}}

[[Category:Book of Mormon]]

Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:15:35Z

DavidSmith: updating navigation box to template to preserve formatting on all BOM pages

{{Main Page}}
{{Header}}

Latter-day Saints accept ''The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ'' as holy scripture that testifies of Jesus Christ and His role as our Savior and Redeemer.

'''To view articles about the Book of Mormon, click "Expand" in the blue bar:'''
{{Navigation the Book of Mormon}}

<small>Video published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.</small>
<embedvideo service="youtube">nyV61Hh9KdA</embedvideo>


[[fi:Mormonin kirja]]
[[de:Das Buch Mormon]]
[[es:El Libro de Mormón]]
[[it:Il Libro di Mormon]]
[[pt:O Livro de Mórmon]]

Template:Navigation:Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:14:49Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation:Book of Mormon to Template:Navigation the Book of Mormon over redirect

#REDIRECT [[Template:Navigation the Book of Mormon]]

Template:Navigation Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:14:49Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation:Book of Mormon to Template:Navigation the Book of Mormon over redirect

Template:Navigation Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:14:27Z

DavidSmith:

Template:Navigation for BOM

2024-03-27T17:14:00Z

DavidSmith: Created page with "{{#ifeq:{{{state|}}}|expanded|<div class="mw-collapsible">|<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">}} <div style="background-color:{{Standard FAIR color 1}}; border: thin sol..."

{{#ifeq:{{{state|}}}|expanded|<div class="mw-collapsible">|<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">}}
<div style="background-color:{{Standard FAIR color 1}}; border: thin solid gray"><div style="float:left;"><small>{{#if:{{{name|}}}|[[Template:Navigation {{{name}}}|V]]}}</small></div><center><small>{{#if:{{{title|}}}|'''Articles about {{{title}}}'''|'''Articles about {{{name}}}''' }}</small></center></div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<table class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; line-height:1.5">
{{#if:{{{group1|}}}|
<tr>
<td style="width:25%><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group1}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle1|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list1|}}}|{{{list1}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group2|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group2}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle2|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list2|}}}|{{{list2}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group3|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group3}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle3|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list3|}}}|{{{list3}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group4|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group4}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle4|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list4|}}}|{{{list4}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group5|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group5}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle5|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list5|}}}|{{{list5}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group6|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group6}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle5|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list6|}}}|{{{list6}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group7|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group7}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle7|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list7|}}}|{{{list7}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group8|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group8}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle8|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list8|}}}|{{{list8}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group9|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group9}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle9|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list9|}}}|{{{list9}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group10|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group10}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle10|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list10|}}}|{{{list10}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group11|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group11}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle11|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list11|}}}|{{{list11}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group12|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group12}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle12|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list12|}}}|{{{list12}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group13|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group13}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle13|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list13|}}}|{{{list13}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group14|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group14}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle14|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list14|}}}|{{{list14}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group15|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group15}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle15|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list15|}}}|{{{list15}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group16|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group16}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle16|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list16|}}}|{{{list16}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group17|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group17}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle17|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list17|}}}|{{{list17}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group18|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group18}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle18|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list18|}}}|{{{list18}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group19|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group19}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle19|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list19|}}}|{{{list19}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
{{#if:{{{group20|}}}|
<tr>
<td><small><div style="line-height:1.0">'''{{{group20}}}'''</div></small></td>
<td><small><div class="{{#if:{{{liststyle20|}}}|vlist|hlist}}">{{#if:{{{list20|}}}|{{{list20}}} }}</div></small></td>
</tr>}}
</table>
</div>

User:DavidSmith

2024-03-27T17:13:43Z

DavidSmith: /* Testing */

==Testing==
*[[Faith crisis draft 1]]
*[[Back to top test]]
*[[Template:Category test]]
*[[Category inclusion test]]
*[[Template:Header]]
*[[Template:Navigation with subheaders]]
*[[Template:Testing nav with sub]]
*[[added quotes on finances]]
*[[Money spent on temples]]
*[[Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Original version]]
*[[Template:Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Intelligent life on other worlds]]
*[[Template:Navigation for BOM]]

==To review and file==
*[[Joseph Smith's First Vision/Multiple accounts of the First Vision]]
*[[Book of Mormon/Basics]]
*[[Book of Mormon/B.H. Roberts]]
*[[Book of Mormon/Language used]]
*[[Test3 sandbox DavidSmith]]
*[[The location of the Garden of Eden]]
*[[The temple in Independence, Missouri]]
*[[John Taylor's 1886 revelation]]
*[[Jackson County, Missouri]]

Template:Navigation:the Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:03:33Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation:the Book of Mormon to Template:Navigation:Book of Mormon over redirect

#REDIRECT [[Template:Navigation:Book of Mormon]]

Template:Navigation Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:03:33Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation:the Book of Mormon to Template:Navigation:Book of Mormon over redirect

{{Navigation
|name=the Book of Mormon
|group1=Authorship
|list1=
*[[Joseph Smith as author and proprietor of the Book of Mormon|Joseph Smith listed as author and proprietor]]
*[[The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Spalding theory]]
*[[View of the Hebrews theory of Book of Mormon authorship|View of the Hebrews theory]]
*[[The Late War theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Late War theory]]
*[[Golden Pot theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Golden Pot theory]]
*[[Sidney Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Sidney Rigdon theory]]
*[[Mushrooms and entheogenics theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Mushrooms and entheogenics theory]]
*[[Creative fiction theories of Book of Mormon authorship|Creative fiction theories]]
*[[Possible 19th Century influences on Book of Mormon]]
*[[Theory of Book of Mormon place names from area around Joseph Smith's home]]
*[[Theory of Book of Mormon place names from Comoros Islands]]
*[[Understanding accusations of plagiarism]]

|group2=Translation process
|list2=
*[[Seer stones and the Urim and Thummim]]
*[[Gold plates and the translation process]]
*[[Artistic depictions of the translation]]
*[[Joseph Smith and the translation process]]

|group3=Gold plates
|list3=
*[[Weight and size of the gold plates|Weight and size]]
*[[Engravings on and sealed portion of the gold plates|Engravings and sealed portion]]
*[[Stone box where the gold plates were deposited]]
*[[Attempts to steal the gold plates from Joseph Smith]]
*[[Gold plates and the translation process]]
*[[Metal plates in ancient Israel]]

|group4=Witnesses
|list4=
*[[Eleven official witnesses to the Book of Mormon|Eleven official witnesses]]
*[[Statement of the Three Witnesses]]
*[[The witness of Oliver Cowdery|Oliver Cowdery]]
*[[The witness of David Whitmer|David Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Martin Harris|Martin Harris]]
*[[Statement of the Eight Witnesses]]
*[[The witness of Christian Whitmer|Christian Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Jacob Whitmer|Jacob Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Peter Whitmer Jr.|Peter Whitmer Jr.]]
*[[The witness of John Whitmer|John Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Hiram Page|Hiram Page]]
*[[The witness of Joseph Smith Sr.|Joseph Smith Sr.]]
*[[The witness of Hyrum Smith|Hyrum Smith]]
*[[The witness of Samuel Smith|Samuel Smith]]
*[[Other witnesses to the Book of Mormon]]

|group5=The Bible and the Book of Mormon
|list5=
*[[Bible passages in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The New Testament and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[KJV italicized text in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[KJV translation errors in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Joseph Smith Translation and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Isaiah and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The documentary hypothesis and the Book of Mormon]]

|group6=Language and the Book of Mormon
|list6=
*[[Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon|Hebraisms]]
*[[Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon|Chiasmus]]
*[[Names in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Hebrew and Native American languages]]
*[[Reformed Egyptian and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as an ancient text]]

|group7=Geography
|list7=
*[[Church statements on Book of Mormon geography]]
*[[Evaluating Book of Mormon geography theories]]
*[[Old world geography in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Lehi's journey in the Old World]]
*[[Possible locations for the Valley of Lemuel]]
*[[Possible locations for Shazer]]
*[[Possible locations for Nahom]]
*[[Possible locations for Nephi's Bountiful]]
*[[The Hill Cumorah]]
*[[Mesoamerican Model of Book of Mormon geography|Mesoamerican Model]]
*[[Hemispheric Geography Model of Book of Mormon geography|Hemispheric Geography Model]]
*[[Great Lakes Model of Book of Mormon geography|Great Lakes Model]]
*[[Heartland Model of Book of Mormon geography|Heartland Model]]
*[[Hoaxes related to Book of Mormon geography claims]]
*[[Geographical issues related to DNA and the Book of Mormon]]

|group8=DNA
|list8=
*[[DNA and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Identifying ancient DNA related to Book of Mormon people]]
*[[Geographical issues related to DNA and the Book of Mormon]]

|group9=Anachronisms
|list9=
*[[Principles for assessing anachronisms|Anachronism overview]]
*[[Horses in the Book of Mormon|Horses]]
*[[Elephants in the Book of Mormon|Elephants]]
*[[Other animals in the Book of Mormon|Other animals]]
*[[Synagogues and churches]]
*[[Climate in the Book of Mormon|Climate]]
*[[Metals and materials in the Book of Mormon|Metals and materials]]
*[[Metal plates in ancient Israel]]
*[[Plants in the Book of Mormon|Plants]]
*[[Objects and artifacts in the Book of Mormon|Objects and artifacts]]

|group10=Doctrine and teachings
|list10=
*[[Moroni's promise of the Book of Mormon|Moroni's promise]]
*[[The Book of Mormon and the fulness of the gospel|The fulness of the gospel]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as the most correct book]]
*[[The nature of God in the Book of Mormon|The nature of God]]
*[[The name of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon|Name of Jesus Christ]]
*[[Virgin birth of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon|Virgin birth of Jesus Christ]]
*[[Jesus Christ bled from every pore]]
*[[The Holy Ghost in the Book of Mormon|The Holy Ghost]]
*[[Baptism in the Book of Mormon|Baptism]]
*[[Priesthood authority in the Book of Mormon|Priesthood authority]]
*[[Temples in the Book of Mormon|Temples]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as the Stick of Ephraim]]
*[[Plural marriage in the Book of Mormon|Plural marriage]]
*[[Freemasonry and the Book of Mormon|Freemasonry]]
*[[Nephite burnt offerings]]
*[[The great and abominable church in the Book of Mormon|The great and abominable church]]
*[[The tree of life in the Book of Mormon|The tree of life]]

|group11=Lamanites
|list11=
*[[Identity of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon|Identity of the Lamanites]]
*[[Native Americans and the Lamanites]]
*[[Relationship of the Maya and the Olmec to the Lamanites and the Jaredites]]
*[[Polynesians as descendants of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon|Polynesians and the Lamanites]]
*[[The Lamanite curse]]
*[[Wrath of God on the Lamanites]]

|group12=Other
|list12=
*[[Population and demographics in the Book of Mormon|Population and demographics]]
*[[The Nephite calendar]]
*[[Biblical archaeology compared to the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Thomas Stuart Ferguson and Mormon archaeology]]
*[[Attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright in Canada]]
*[[Book of Mormon textual changes|Textual changes]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as history]]
*[[Legal codes in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Lehi's ancestry and place of residence]]
*[[Three days of darkness in the New World following Christ's death|Three days of darkness]]
*[[The killing of Laban in the Book of Mormon|The killing of Laban]]
*[[Human sacrifice in the Book of Mormon|Human sacrifice]]
*[[Warfare in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Events in Ether]]
*[[The death of Shiz]]

}}

[[Category:Book of Mormon]]

Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T17:03:19Z

DavidSmith:

{{Main Page}}
{{Header}}

Latter-day Saints accept ''The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ'' as holy scripture that testifies of Jesus Christ and His role as our Savior and Redeemer.

'''To view articles about the Book of Mormon, click "Expand" in the blue bar:'''
{{Navigation:Book of Mormon}}

<small>Video published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.</small>
<embedvideo service="youtube">nyV61Hh9KdA</embedvideo>


[[fi:Mormonin kirja]]
[[de:Das Buch Mormon]]
[[es:El Libro de Mormón]]
[[it:Il Libro di Mormon]]
[[pt:O Livro de Mórmon]]

Template:Navigation Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T16:58:45Z

DavidSmith: restoring to original format because the new format messed up the box on all pages

Template:Navigation Book of Mormon

2024-03-27T16:56:52Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation:Book of Mormon to Template:Navigation:the Book of Mormon: updating page title to resolve issues with nav box appearance

{{Navigation
|name=Book of Mormon
|title = the Book of Mormon
|group1=Authorship
|list1=
*[[Joseph Smith as author and proprietor of the Book of Mormon|Joseph Smith listed as author and proprietor]]
*[[The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Spalding theory]]
*[[View of the Hebrews theory of Book of Mormon authorship|View of the Hebrews theory]]
*[[The Late War theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Late War theory]]
*[[Golden Pot theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Golden Pot theory]]
*[[Sidney Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Sidney Rigdon theory]]
*[[Mushrooms and entheogenics theory of Book of Mormon authorship|Mushrooms and entheogenics theory]]
*[[Creative fiction theories of Book of Mormon authorship|Creative fiction theories]]
*[[Possible 19th Century influences on Book of Mormon]]
*[[Theory of Book of Mormon place names from area around Joseph Smith's home]]
*[[Theory of Book of Mormon place names from Comoros Islands]]
*[[Understanding accusations of plagiarism]]

|group2=Translation process
|list2=
*[[Seer stones and the Urim and Thummim]]
*[[Gold plates and the translation process]]
*[[Artistic depictions of the translation]]
*[[Joseph Smith and the translation process]]

|group3=Gold plates
|list3=
*[[Weight and size of the gold plates|Weight and size]]
*[[Engravings on and sealed portion of the gold plates|Engravings and sealed portion]]
*[[Stone box where the gold plates were deposited]]
*[[Attempts to steal the gold plates from Joseph Smith]]
*[[Gold plates and the translation process]]
*[[Metal plates in ancient Israel]]

|group4=Witnesses
|list4=
*[[Eleven official witnesses to the Book of Mormon|Eleven official witnesses]]
*[[Statement of the Three Witnesses]]
*[[The witness of Oliver Cowdery|Oliver Cowdery]]
*[[The witness of David Whitmer|David Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Martin Harris|Martin Harris]]
*[[Statement of the Eight Witnesses]]
*[[The witness of Christian Whitmer|Christian Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Jacob Whitmer|Jacob Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Peter Whitmer Jr.|Peter Whitmer Jr.]]
*[[The witness of John Whitmer|John Whitmer]]
*[[The witness of Hiram Page|Hiram Page]]
*[[The witness of Joseph Smith Sr.|Joseph Smith Sr.]]
*[[The witness of Hyrum Smith|Hyrum Smith]]
*[[The witness of Samuel Smith|Samuel Smith]]
*[[Other witnesses to the Book of Mormon]]

|group5=The Bible and the Book of Mormon
|list5=
*[[Bible passages in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The New Testament and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[KJV italicized text in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[KJV translation errors in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Joseph Smith Translation and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Isaiah and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The documentary hypothesis and the Book of Mormon]]

|group6=Language and the Book of Mormon
|list6=
*[[Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon|Hebraisms]]
*[[Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon|Chiasmus]]
*[[Names in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Hebrew and Native American languages]]
*[[Reformed Egyptian and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as an ancient text]]

|group7=Geography
|list7=
*[[Church statements on Book of Mormon geography]]
*[[Evaluating Book of Mormon geography theories]]
*[[Old world geography in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Lehi's journey in the Old World]]
*[[Possible locations for the Valley of Lemuel]]
*[[Possible locations for Shazer]]
*[[Possible locations for Nahom]]
*[[Possible locations for Nephi's Bountiful]]
*[[The Hill Cumorah]]
*[[Mesoamerican Model of Book of Mormon geography|Mesoamerican Model]]
*[[Hemispheric Geography Model of Book of Mormon geography|Hemispheric Geography Model]]
*[[Great Lakes Model of Book of Mormon geography|Great Lakes Model]]
*[[Heartland Model of Book of Mormon geography|Heartland Model]]
*[[Hoaxes related to Book of Mormon geography claims]]
*[[Geographical issues related to DNA and the Book of Mormon]]

|group8=DNA
|list8=
*[[DNA and the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Identifying ancient DNA related to Book of Mormon people]]
*[[Geographical issues related to DNA and the Book of Mormon]]

|group9=Anachronisms
|list9=
*[[Principles for assessing anachronisms|Anachronism overview]]
*[[Horses in the Book of Mormon|Horses]]
*[[Elephants in the Book of Mormon|Elephants]]
*[[Other animals in the Book of Mormon|Other animals]]
*[[Synagogues and churches]]
*[[Climate in the Book of Mormon|Climate]]
*[[Metals and materials in the Book of Mormon|Metals and materials]]
*[[Metal plates in ancient Israel]]
*[[Plants in the Book of Mormon|Plants]]
*[[Objects and artifacts in the Book of Mormon|Objects and artifacts]]

|group10=Doctrine and teachings
|list10=
*[[Moroni's promise of the Book of Mormon|Moroni's promise]]
*[[The Book of Mormon and the fulness of the gospel|The fulness of the gospel]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as the most correct book]]
*[[The nature of God in the Book of Mormon|The nature of God]]
*[[The name of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon|Name of Jesus Christ]]
*[[Virgin birth of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon|Virgin birth of Jesus Christ]]
*[[Jesus Christ bled from every pore]]
*[[The Holy Ghost in the Book of Mormon|The Holy Ghost]]
*[[Baptism in the Book of Mormon|Baptism]]
*[[Priesthood authority in the Book of Mormon|Priesthood authority]]
*[[Temples in the Book of Mormon|Temples]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as the Stick of Ephraim]]
*[[Plural marriage in the Book of Mormon|Plural marriage]]
*[[Freemasonry and the Book of Mormon|Freemasonry]]
*[[Nephite burnt offerings]]
*[[The great and abominable church in the Book of Mormon|The great and abominable church]]
*[[The tree of life in the Book of Mormon|The tree of life]]

|group11=Lamanites
|list11=
*[[Identity of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon|Identity of the Lamanites]]
*[[Native Americans and the Lamanites]]
*[[Relationship of the Maya and the Olmec to the Lamanites and the Jaredites]]
*[[Polynesians as descendants of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon|Polynesians and the Lamanites]]
*[[The Lamanite curse]]
*[[Wrath of God on the Lamanites]]

|group12=Other
|list12=
*[[Population and demographics in the Book of Mormon|Population and demographics]]
*[[The Nephite calendar]]
*[[Biblical archaeology compared to the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Thomas Stuart Ferguson and Mormon archaeology]]
*[[Attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright in Canada]]
*[[Book of Mormon textual changes|Textual changes]]
*[[The Book of Mormon as history]]
*[[Legal codes in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Lehi's ancestry and place of residence]]
*[[Three days of darkness in the New World following Christ's death|Three days of darkness]]
*[[The killing of Laban in the Book of Mormon|The killing of Laban]]
*[[Human sacrifice in the Book of Mormon|Human sacrifice]]
*[[Warfare in the Book of Mormon]]
*[[Events in Ether]]
*[[The death of Shiz]]

}}

[[Category:Book of Mormon]]

Science and the Church of Jesus Christ

2024-02-21T03:27:27Z

DavidSmith: added link

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
{{H1
|L=Mormonism and science
|H=Mormonism and science
|S=
|L1=Mormonism and the determination of truth
|L2=The Mormon view of the creation of the earth
|L3=Latter-day Saint approaches to science
|L4=Astronomy and the Book of Abraham
|L5=Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
|L6=The Book of Mormon and DNA evidence
|L7=Latter-day Saint attitudes toward science
|L8= Mormonism and science/Global or local flood
|L9=Intelligent life on other worlds
}}
{{:Mormonism and science/Determining truth}}
{{:Mormonism and science/Latter-day Saint approaches}}
{{:Mormonism and science/Creation and related issues}}
{{:Book of Abraham/Astronomy}}
{{:Book of Mormon/Archaeology}}
{{:Book of Mormon/DNA evidence}}
{{:Mormonism and science/Latter-day Saint attitude toward}}
{{:Mormonism and science/Nature of Flood}}
==Intelligent life on other worlds==
{{:Intelligent life on other worlds}}
</onlyinclude>


[[de:Mormonismus und Wissenschaft]]
[[es:El Mormonismo y la ciencia]]
[[pt:Mormonismo e Ciências]]

Intelligent life on other worlds

2024-02-21T03:26:21Z

DavidSmith: created page

{{Main Page}}

{{Header}}

[[File:Galaxies_JWST.jpg|500px|right]]

Latter-day Saints believe that there are other worlds in the universe on which intelligent life exists. Further, this intelligent life looks like us. However, there are no teachings on whether or not this intelligent life has visited earth in spaceships.

The Lord told Moses, "Worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. . . . For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man. . . . And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words."<ref>Moses 1:33, 35, 38.</ref>

From these verses we learn that God has created many worlds, some of which have "passed away" and some of which "now stand." These worlds are referred to as an earth with heavens, which is the exact phrasing God applies to Earth.<ref>Moses 1:35–36.</ref> We learn from the prophet Enoch that these other worlds are like Earth: "Were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations."<ref>Moses 7:30.</ref> We learn from Joseph Smith that these other worlds have inhabitants.<ref>Doctrine and Covenants 88:42–47, 61.</ref> We also learn from Joseph that these inhabitants are begotten sons and daughters unto God.<ref>Doctrine and Covenants 76:24.</ref>

As summarized by President Joseph Fielding Smith, "We know that our Heavenly Father is a glorified, exalted personage who has all power, all might, and all dominion, and that he knows all things. We testify that he, through his Only Begotten Son, is the Creator of this earth and of worlds without number, all of which are peopled by his spirit children."<ref>Joseph Fielding Smith, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1971/04/out-of-the-darkness "Out of the Darkness,"] April 1971 general conference.</ref> As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, "How many planets are there in the universe with people on them? We don’t know, but we are not alone in the universe! God is not the God of only one planet!"<ref>Neal A. Maxwell, in [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2001/04/special-witnesses-of-christ "Special Witnesses of Christ,"] ''Ensign'', April 2001.</ref>

Astronomy research continues to advance in identifying habitable worlds. Scientist and Latter-day Saint Jani Radebaugh noted:
<blockquote>
New details about [astronomical] bodies in the outer solar system . . . have helped open our minds to the possibilities of other worlds with life in our galaxy and in the universe. . . . Recently, the National Academy of Sciences came out with a report that suggested that there might be as many as nine billion habitable planets in our own galaxy alone. Another way of saying this is that there are more habitable planets in our galaxy than there are people on Earth. (Of course, this doesn't mean they're actually inhabited, only that they're habitable.) As Latter-day Saints, this should not surprise us too much. We should be able to look at these big numbers and say, "Well, we should have seen this coming because God already told us there were inhabited worlds without number" (see D&C 76:24; Moses 1:33).<ref>Jani Radebaugh, [https://interpreterfoundation.org/reprint-sm1-10-the-outer-solar-system-a-window-to-the-creative-breadth-of-divinity/ "The Outer Solar System: A Window to the Creative Breadth of Divinity,"] in ''Science and Mormonism 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man'', ed. David H. Bailey, et al. (The Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2016), 314.</ref>
</blockquote>

However, the extent of our knowledge about intelligent life on other worlds is that such life exists. Elder Neal A. Maxwell noted, "We do not know where or how many other inhabited planets there are, even though we appear to be alone in our own solar system. As to the Lord's continuing role amid His vast creations, so little has been revealed."<ref>Neal A. Maxwell, "Our Creator's Cosmos," address given at the Church Educational System annual conference, 13 August 2002, in Sarah Jane Weaver, [https://www.thechurchnews.com/2002/8/17/23241835/our-creators-cosmos-151-vast-personal "‘Our Creator’s Cosmos’ — vast, personal,"] ''Church News'', 17 August 2002.</ref>

{{endnotes sources}}

File:Galaxies JWST.jpg

2024-02-21T03:23:24Z

DavidSmith: James Webb Space Telescope image leda2046648

James Webb Space Telescope image leda2046648

User:DavidSmith

2024-02-21T02:01:32Z

DavidSmith: /* Testing */

==Testing==
*[[Faith crisis draft 1]]
*[[Back to top test]]
*[[Template:Category test]]
*[[Category inclusion test]]
*[[Template:Header]]
*[[Template:Navigation with subheaders]]
*[[Template:Testing nav with sub]]
*[[added quotes on finances]]
*[[Money spent on temples]]
*[[Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Original version]]
*[[Template:Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Intelligent life on other worlds]]

==To review and file==
*[[Joseph Smith's First Vision/Multiple accounts of the First Vision]]
*[[Book of Mormon/Basics]]
*[[Book of Mormon/B.H. Roberts]]
*[[Book of Mormon/Language used]]
*[[Test3 sandbox DavidSmith]]
*[[The location of the Garden of Eden]]
*[[The temple in Independence, Missouri]]
*[[John Taylor's 1886 revelation]]
*[[Jackson County, Missouri]]

Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:13:17Z

DavidSmith: header fix

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}

*[[#Colonel Thomas Kane|Colonel Thomas Kane]]
*[[#George A. Smith|George A. Smith]]
*[[#Captain Stewart Van Vliet|Captain Stewart Van Vliet]]

==Colonel Thomas Kane==
Critics who use the Mountain Meadows Massacre to attack the Church often mention non-LDS Col. Thomas Kane. Kane was a good friend to the Mormons prior to Joseph Smith's death, and he was also briefly involved in the Massacre issue. There are two issues raised by critics in conjunction with Kane:
# some blame Kane for helping Brigham Young to cover up the Massacre
# some paint Kane as ridiculous, vain, or foolish—this is apparently done on the theory that anyone who likes or helps the Mormons must either be evil or a dupe.

Noted one reviewer:

<blockquote>
The claim that Kane was responsible for covering up the massacre (p. 47) finds no support in history, nor does Denton cite primary sources for her view other than Kane's participation in advising Young to respond to federal inquiries in 1858 (p. 208). As I point out in my review of Bagley's Blood of the Prophets, the massacre investigation spanned decades and involved sitting presidents, cabinet members, attorneys general, federal district attorneys, federal marshals, territorial marshals, and more. Kane was out of the picture shortly after the massacre." <ref>{{FR-16-1-9}}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Negative portrayal===

Denton's ''American Massacre'' portrays Kane as arrogant, effeminate, a hypochondriac, and with delusions of fame. Wrote one reviewer of her portrait:

<blockquote>
Denton's discussion of Kane is mercilessly out of context. Biographies and journals of nineteenth-century 'Renaissance' men reveal that many accomplished men adopted what appear today to be affectations of self-importance and prolixity. Stenhouse, no advocate of Brigham Young nor necessarily fair with his sources when discussing Mormonism, treated Kane respectfully in his nineteenth-century work, ''Rocky Mountain Saints''. Stenhouse tells us that 'in the relations of Col. Kane with the Mormons at that time, there was exhibited evidence of the highest Christian charity and personal heroism of character.'" <ref>{{FR-16-1-9}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

==George A. Smith==
Some wish to make Brigham Young and apostle George A. Smith complicit in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Thus, it is claimed that prior to the massacre, George A. Smith is alleged to "have carried orders to Cedar City leaders to incite their people to avenge the blood of the prophets" (Denton, 186).

John D. Lee is wrong on those events which we can verify, and no other evidence supports this claim.

One reviewer dismissed the thin evidence upon which this claim rests:

<blockquote>
"This argument assumes Brigham Young had formulated the plan for destruction when the Fancher train was still in Salt Lake City on 5 August 1857. There is no evidence of material provocation by the Fancher train at this early stage except from persons with no reliable basis upon which to provide testimony....Nobody has ever offered any believable evidence that George A. Smith gave instructions to Haight and Lee to massacre the train. John D. Lee is the only person who purported to offer evidence of these instructions," and Lee had a clear motive to lie to save his own skin and make his memoirs more marketable. "Lee's claim that George A. Smith met Lee in southern Utah on 1 September 1857 (an approximate date deduced from Lee's text) with orders of destruction was impossible because Smith was hundreds of miles away in Salt Lake City on that very day, as well as the day before. <ref>{{FR-15-2-11}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

==Captain Stewart Van Vliet==
From Robert D. Crockett:
<blockquote>
Army Quartermaster Captain Stewart Van Vliet came to Salt Lake City on 8 September and left after midnight on 14 September 1857 to arrange for the advancing army's provisions. Denton tells us that Brigham Young carefully shielded Van Vliet to hear nothing of the massacre, because if Van Vliet came to know about it, "an invasion of Utah Territory would be expedited" (p. 165). There is no historical support for this claim. The claim is also impossible to support. Because the massacre was not over until 11 September 1857,23 there is no possibility that Brigham Young could have known of the massacre before his last meeting with Van Vliet on 13 September 1857." <ref>{{FR-16-1-9}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:13:08Z

DavidSmith:

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}
==Question: Did Brigham Young block prosecution of the individuals responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?==
===Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) makes it clear that federal prosecutors are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice===

Critics charge that Brigham Young blocked prosecution of those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

LaJean Purcell Carruth deciphered Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) written in Deseret Alphabet. This newly discovered information makes it clear that federal prosecutors —not Brigham Young!—-are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice.<ref>This section is derived, with permission, from David Keller, "[http://www.fairblog.org/2008/01/16/thomas-alexanders-arrington-lecture-on-the-mmm/ Thomas Alexander’s Arrington Lecture on the MMM]," ''fairblog'' (16 January 2008). Due to the nature of a wiki project, it may have had alterations and additions since that time.</ref> Thomas Alexander writes:

<blockquote>
On July 5, 1859, after the public knew that Cumming had received word from Washington placing the army under the governor’s control, Young met with George A. Smith, Albert Carrington, and James Ferguson. They discussed the “reaction to the Mountain Meadow Massacre.” Young told them that US. attorney Alexander Wilson had called “to consult with him about making some arrests of” the accused.[95]

On the same day, Wilson had met with Young. Young told him “that if the judges would open a court at Parowan or some other convenient location in the south, .. . unprejudiced and uninfluenced by. . . the army, so that man could have a fair and impartial trial He would go there himself, and he presumed that Gov. Cumming would also go . . . ” He “would use all his influence to have the parties arrested and have the whole. . . matter investigated thoroughly and impartially and justice meted out to every man.” Young said he would not exert himself, however, “to arrest men to be treated like dogs and dragged about by the army, and confined and abused by them,’ presumably referring to the actions of Cradlebaugh and the army in Provo. Young said that if the judges and army treated people that way, the federal officials “must hunt them up themselves.”[96]

Wilson agreed that it was unfair “to drag men and their witnesses 200 or 300 miles to trial.” Young said “the people wanted a fair and impartial court of justice, like they have in other states and territories, and if he had anything to do with it, the army must keep its place.” Wilson said he felt “the proposition was reasonable and he would propose it to the judges.”[97]

Now confident that the army would not intrude and abuse or murder Mormons, and that the US. attorney and governor would support them, the church leaders lent their influence to bringing the accused into court. On June 15, 1859, to prepare the way for the administration of justice, Brigham Young had told George A. Smith and Jacob Hamblin that “as soon as a Court of Justice could be held, so that men could be heard without the influence of the military he should advise men accused to come forward and demand trial on the charges preferred against them for the Mountain Meadow Massacre” as he had previously done. Then he again sent George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman south, this time to urge those accused of the crime to prepare for trial and to try to suppress Mormon-authored crime[98].<ref>Thomas G. Alexander, ''Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Latter-Day Saint Investigation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre: Arrington Lecture No. Twelve'' (Arrington Lecture Series) (Utah State Special Collection, 2007), ISBN 0874216877. Alexander's footnotes are below:
*[95] Historian’s Office Journal. July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet entry.
*[96] Ibid..
*[97] Ibid.
*[98] Historian’s Office Journal, May 25, June 18, and July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet; George A. Smith so William H. Dame, June 19, 1859, Historian’s Office Letterpress copybooks 1854—1879, 1885—1886, 2:127, LDS Church Archives; Lee, Mormon Chronicle, 1:214 (August 5[6], 1859).</ref>
</blockquote>

However, Utah's governor felt that any such crimes would be covered by the post-Utah war amnesty.

{{Main|Mountain_Meadows_Massacre#The_Aftermath|l1=Mountain Meadows: The Aftermath}}

===Did the Mormons try to block prosecution?===

{{Main|Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church blocked prosecution|l1=Church blocked prosecution?}}

===A deal with Brigham Young and the Church?===

{{main|Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?|l1=Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Mountain Meadows Massacre/Prosecution/Was prosecution blocked by the Church
|subject=Was prosecution blocked by the Church?
|summary=Critics charge that actions of the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}

==Question: Was prosecution of those responsible for Mountain Meadows Massacre blocked by the Church?==
===There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators===

It is claimed that actions of Brigham Young and the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators. There is substantial evidence that poor federal organization, infighting, and refusal to deputize LDS lawmen played a role in slowing the process. When presented with evidence by lawful authorities, LDS juries returned indictments.

* The post-Utah war amnesty led some non-members to believe that the massacre was covered under the presidential amnesty.
* There was a long-running dispute over jurisdiction and tactics between the judiciary and the executive (i.e., federal prosecutor) branches. This had nothing to do with the Mormons, but hampered prosecution.
* Disputes between the above groups also led to difficulties with the army, something also not under Mormon control or influence.
* Judges' meddling in the arrest process made it virtually impossible to properly arrest and indict perpetrators.
* The grand jury in southern Utah was never asked to indict anyone for the Massacre during their first session. When presented with the opportunity, they returned indictments later that same year.
* The Mormons did not, as claimed, insist on the right to dictate who sat on petit juries. Other federal officials declared this to be completely false.
* Federal officials and judges refused to deputize or use LDS lawmen to make arrests.
* The U.S. attorney general refused the district attorney's request to reopen the investigation in 1872—once again, this was beyond the Mormons' control or influence.
* Brigham Young had been relieved of his position as territorial governor. He had no secular authority to directly arrest or charge perpetrators.

One reviewer described the difficulties with this theory: <ref>{{FR-15-2-11}} Headings and minor punctuation changes for clarity have been added; footnotes have been omitted. Readers are advised to consult the original review.</ref>

===The Amnesty===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' has charged high-ranking church officials with two decades of obstructing the federal investigation. Bagley's emphasis is in Mormon history, so he sometimes shows his lack of breadth in political and social matters that originate outside the Great Basin. One of the areas in which he displays this weakness is his failure to discuss the effect of President Buchanan's general amnesty upon the massacre prosecutions (p. 205).

:[U.S. President] Buchanan issued an amnesty for all crimes of the Mormons related to the claimed acts of sedition and treason [during the U.S. army's assignment to Utah in the abortive "Utah War"]. Governor Alfred Cumming announced a broad interpretation of that amnesty to the Saints on 14 June 1858. Certainly, by the date of the amnesty, federal officials believed that Mormons had directed the massacre, and they believed that John D. Lee was one of the leaders. One might reasonably conclude that the amnesty was intended to cover the massacre participants.

:Some in the federal government and the press believed that Buchanan intended to pardon the massacre perpetrators. Indian superintendent Jacob Forney was so upset with U.S. District Court Judge John Cradlebaugh's massacre investigation that he cursed Cradlebaugh's name, citing the amnesty as the basis for his objections, or so we are told from a source hostile to Forney. Non-Mormon U.S. District Attorney Alexander Wilson and non-Mormon U.S. District Court Judge Charles C. Sinclair disagreed over the application of the amnesty, with Wilson refusing to present to the jury bills of indictment. ''Harper's Weekly'' noted the conflict over the amnesty in the prosecution of the massacre. ''The New York Post'' opined that the amnesty excused the massacre crimes because it was an aspect of the Utah war intended to come within the amnesty's scope. It is no wonder that prosecution was uncertain. But, given the controversy the amnesty sparked in the Eastern press with regard to the massacre investigation, it seems that ''Blood of the Prophets'' would have discussed it. This is a significant omission.

===Disputes between the executive and judicial branches===

:The presidential amnesty contributed to the lengthy delay in federal prosecution. In addition, the federal judiciary and federal prosecutor fought over control of the massacre investigation. This internecine dispute stymied federal investigation of the massacre for several years. Bagley does not discuss this feud as a source for delay.

:At the national level in the early nineteenth century, the federal judiciary and the prosecutors repeatedly jockeyed for power in ways that would appear unseemly today. Thomas Jefferson said that the "great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting with noiseless foot & unalarming advance, [is] gaining ground step by step. . . . Let the eye of vigilance never be closed." He condemned the judiciary's usurpation of the legislative prerogatives with its pious interpretation of its own brand of Christianity.55 The U.S. Constitution gives little direction to the judiciary compared to what it gives to the legislative and executive branches. The Hamiltonian Federalists saw the federal judiciary as a way to expand federal power and to crush state self-determinism (read: slavery). The Jeffersonian republicans believed states' rights were paramount except as to powers specifically delegated to the federal government. The Federalist judiciary gained the upper hand with the enforcement of the Sedition Act of 4 July 1798, which crushed Jeffersonian dissent. As historian James Simon explains, their "blatantly partisan actions [of stifling criticism of the John Adams administration] in pursuit of convictions under the Sedition Act reinforced Jefferson's profound distrust of the federal judiciary." Supreme Court Justice Salmon Chase's prosecutions under the Sedition Act, while a sitting Supreme Court justice, were notorious, eventually leading to an attempt to remove him by impeachment.

:Utah's federal judges replayed this high national drama on a frontier stage. As with the amnesty, Blood of the Prophets fails to see the broad political and social issues of the struggle for federal power. Brigham Young's demand for local self-determinism replaced Thomas Jefferson's urbane urge for state self-determinism. Polygamy, rather than slavery, was an affront to federal power and needed to be crushed. In the early days of Utah, federal judges of questionable character—a point Van Vliet conceded—directed the investigation of crime, requested army troops to march against the local citizenry, harangued citizens in their places of worship about the lack of virtue in their plural wives, and testified in Congress about Mormon debauchery. These judicial efforts to crush the Mormon theocracy would be unthinkable today in any social context.

:''Blood of the Prophets'' accepts Cradlebaugh's account of the dispute uncritically, condemning the U.S. district attorney as "pliant" (p. 235) and "'closely allied to the Mormons by some mysterious tie'" (p. 217) for failing to do anything about the massacre. Citing Cradlebaugh and Sinclair, we are told that Wilson's "whole course of conduct has been marked with culpable timidity and neglect." Bagley would have us believe that the U.S. district attorney was too cozy with the Mormons and that the Mormons lobbied him to ignore the massacre.

:The official correspondence, however, shows that the executive and judicial branches of government distrusted each other and that neither was effective in the prosecution of the massacre. The purported investigation began, at least in Cradlebaugh's view, with grand jury proceedings from 8 to 21 March 1859 in Provo. Mormon accounts say Cradlebaugh called out the army to terrorize the local Provo population with the might of federal power. Cradlebaugh and Bagley assert that the troops were necessary to protect the court and witnesses from Mormon Danite assassins. Governor Cumming sided with the Mormons, who were outraged with Cradlebaugh's use of the troops. Cumming believed that he, as the federal executive, had the sole civilian authority to call out the troops in the Territory.

:Attorney General Black in Washington, D.C., said that it was not Cradlebaugh's job to determine whom to prosecute or when to call out the troops. He instructed U.S. District Attorney Wilson to "oppose every effort which any judge may make to usurp your functions. . . . If the judges will confine themselves to the simple and plain duty imposed upon them by law of hearing and deciding the cases that are brought before them, I am sure that the business of the Territory will get along very well."

:President Buchanan approved of Wilson's efforts to resist the judiciary's incursion into his prerogatives and the use of federal troops. General Albert Sidney Johnston, commanding Camp Floyd, implied that he was unhappy being called into the fray to support the judiciary.

:Black attempted to rein in the Utah judges, explaining to them the judiciary's function to "hear patiently the causes brought before them." The executive branch has a "public accuser, and a marshal." As the U.S. Supreme Court said in an 1868 landmark case, public prosecutions are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. district attorney until indicted offenses are in trial before a petit jury. Judges have no role in prosecutions until then.

:Addressing a defensive letter to President Buchanan, Cradlebaugh and fellow judge Charles Sinclair admitted that "the difficulty [which has] arisen between the judiciary and executive is deeply to be deplored." Nonetheless, the judges attacked Governor Cumming and U.S. District Attorney Wilson for failing to faithfully execute their duties, especially in connection with the 1859 Provo grand jury.

:Cradlebaugh's grasping for prosecutorial power made prosecution nigh impossible. Prosecutors must work with judges to obtain warrants and convene grand juries, but Cradlebaugh would not cooperate. He complained to Buchanan that Wilson refused to execute (i.e., serve) bench warrants for witnesses, but Wilson countered that Cradlebaugh would not give him the warrants for execution. Wilson wanted the massacre grand jury to be empanelled in southern Utah, close to the scene. He also urged the Justice Department to provide funds "to enable the officers of the court to make a patient and thorough search for evidence." Cradlebaugh (remember, he is the judge, not the prosecutor) responded to Wilson's request by traveling to Santa Clara and issuing arrest warrants in 1859. None of them were executed. Why not? Cradlebaugh failed to include in his entourage the person with prosecutorial discretion, the U.S. district attorney. He further refused to respond to Wilson's request for information about the warrants so that they could be served. Cradlebaugh also refused to tell Wilson about his activities in Santa Clara. Blood of the Prophets does not explain how the prosecutor could be expected to prosecute when the judge shuts him out of the process.

:The significance of this episode is unmistakable. The prosecution delayed as it resisted the judiciary's grasping for control of the massacre investigation. This material escapes Bagley.

===Mormons would not indict in 1859 grand jury?===

:According to Bagley, the 8—21 March 1859 grand jury proceedings in Provo provide a lurid but relevant detour in the story of the massacre prosecutions. He uses the story of the grand jury to show that Mormons obstructed prosecutions by refusing to indict their own for the massacre and for other crimes. The book claims that the grand jury "'utterly refused to do anything'" about the massacre and other crimes against non-Mormons. Thus the federal grand jury "ground to a halt" (p. 218). The implication of Bagley's claim is that church authorities instructed grand jurors to obstruct voting when bills for indictment against Mormons were presented to them. Bagley, however, has missed primary source material which contradicts his conclusions.

:This tale of the grand jury is central to one of Bagley's more salacious themes. ''Blood of the Prophets'' paints a picture of a community of priests dripping in gentile blood, with Mormon laity thumbing their noses as federal authorities sought to staunch the flow. Bagley and Cradlebaugh make much of the all-Mormon Provo grand jury's failure to return any criminal indictments, including in the notorious Parrish and Potter case and the Henry Jones case. Blood of the Prophets does not have the facts right in the Henry Jones case, confusing it with a different and unrelated crime. Bagley tells us that church authorities obstructed not only the massacre investigation, but also the investigation of other notorious crimes for which, he says, there were never any indictments (pp. 75—76).

:The official correspondence refutes these claims. Bagley has the facts wrong because he does not rely upon the official files. U.S. District Attorney Wilson's diary (again, it was his duty to bring indictments, not Cradlebaugh's) and his report to the U.S. attorney general indicate that no indictment was obtained from the Provo grand jury for the Mountain Meadows Massacre because none was requested by the U.S. district attorney. Yes, Judge Cradlebaugh may have asked for indictments in his initial charge, but this was an empty request because it was not his lawful request to make. It was U.S. District Attorney Wilson's job alone to control the grand jury's reception of evidence and the timing of decision. Wilson never asked the grand jury to indict for massacre offenses. The grand jury's term was occupied with other crimes, and then Cradlebaugh discharged the grand jury before Wilson could ask the grand jury to act. An army officer, familiar with the proceedings, opined that the reason Cradlebaugh dismissed the grand jury precipitously was not that Cradlebaugh was upset with its performance, but that General Johnston withdrew Cradlebaugh's army escort. In addition, when a second grand jury was empanelled in 1859, no indictments were sought for the massacre. Yet, Bagley would have us believe on the sole basis of Cradlebaugh's claims that the grand juries refused to indict for the massacre.

:Just as Bagley has the facts wrong about the 1859 grand jury's treatment of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, so does he miss important facts about the grand jury's treatment of other crimes. The second 1859 grand jury handed down indictments for the Parrish and Potter and the Henry Jones cases, yet Bagley tells us that no indictments were ever obtained for these crimes.

===Church would not help capture fugitives?===

:Bagley claims that high Mormon officials refused to cooperate in apprehending the massacre fugitives. For example, Cradlebaugh reports that he told Buchanan that church officials offered to produce fugitives upon condition that the church dictate the composition of the petit juries. Bagley does not tell us that U.S. District Attorney Wilson declared this "an unqualified falsehood." Mormons did no such thing.

:The federal judiciary denied Mormon law enforcement officers the power to assist federal officers in the pursuit of criminal convictions. Governor Cumming complained that the federal judges refused to admit to the bar federal territorial prosecutors. Indeed, Cradlebaugh and fellow judges refused to permit the Mormon territorial attorney (even though he was technically an officer of the United States) to enter their courtrooms and present bills for indictments.

:U.S. District Attorney Wilson attempted to persuade non-Mormon Deputy U.S. Marshal William Rodgers to effect service of process upon massacre participants. Rodgers rebuffed the request, claiming a lack of resources. Then, on 6 August 1858, Wilson told the federal marshal that the Mormon territorial marshal, John Kay, would accomplish the investigations and the arrests. According to Wilson, "Kay was a Mormon, had a knowledge of the country and of the people, and expressed a determination, if legally deputized, to make arrests if possible." But, Rodgers refused to deputize Kay on the ground that Kay "was a Mormon." For the federal government, a crook on the lam was better than a crook collared by a Mormon.

:The federal marshal was also less than diligent, frequently complaining about a lack of pay. However, federal surveyors had no difficulty locating and using the services of the fugitives. The surveyors' accounts mock the progress of the investigation, recounting jokes with and pranks upon the fugitives. Additionally, in 1872, the U.S. attorney general denied a request by the U.S. district attorney to reopen the investigation of the massacre.

:As another example of silly officiousness, immediately prior to Lee's first trial in 1875, lawyers Jabez Sutherland and George C. Bates offered to surrender indictees William Stewart, Isaac Haight, George Adair, and John Higbee in return for accommodating their request for bail. U.S. District Judge Jacob Boreman was incensed with this proposal, refused it, and instead commenced disbarment proceedings against these lawyers. Blood of the Prophets touches on this briefly but not fairly (p. 290). Although a defense lawyer may not shield a fugitive, it is common for fugitives to negotiate the terms of their surrender indirectly through lawyers. Judge Boreman's 13 February 1875 letter to Sutherland and Bates shows that the judiciary petulantly refused to deal with Mormons or even attorneys for Mormons. The judge condemned Sutherland for taking on a Mormon as a client because Mormons have "the very soul of corruption." Boreman's refusal to discuss bail is ironic in light of the bail he later granted Lee.

:Federal judges denied Mormons permission to assist federal officials with criminal prosecutions. These judges considered Mormons as disloyal "foreigners," as un-American, "perverted, oppressed, [and] alien." Mormons could not be trusted to do anything, including fight crime. Avoiding collaboration with the Mormons was of greater social value than justice.

:Bagley fails to report accurately early efforts at apprehension. Skipping over legitimate offers of help, Bagley accuses the church of obstructing justice by frustrating the investigation. That is not appropriate, given the evidence.

===Brigham Young took no official action?===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' criticizes Brigham Young for doing nothing in his official capacity to prosecute the massacre (p. 379). Young, however, explained that he took no official governmental action against the perpetrators because President Buchanan stripped him of these powers and Governor Cumming possessed all the powers of the executive. Once he was stripped of civil power, the church may have well taken the position that the Mormon prophet's control over wrongdoers was limited to the remedies specified in section 134 of the church's Doctrine and Covenants. Nothing required Brigham Young to hunt down the participants and turn them over to the very powers seeking to jail him for bigamy (see D&C 134:4).

:There is no competent evidence of a Mormon cabal to influence the executive branch to delay prosecution. There is much speculation, but nothing more. The Eastern press occasionally blamed the delay upon the Buchanan and subsequent administrations. The will to prosecute was not there. Both Cradlebaugh and Wilson gave up and left town before the Civil War. [article cited ends here]

{{endnotes sources}}

==Other Resources==
{{ChurchResponseBar
|link=http://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/09/the-mountain-meadows-massacre?lang=eng
|title=The Mountain Meadows Massacre
|author=Richard G. Turley, Jr. (Managing Director, Family and Church History Department)
|publication=Ensign
|date=September 2007
|summary=
President Young’s express message of reply to Haight, dated September 10, arrived in Cedar City two days after the massacre. His letter reported recent news that no U.S. troops would be able to reach the territory before winter. “So you see that the Lord has answered our prayers and again averted the blow designed for our heads,” he wrote.
<br>
“In regard to emigration trains passing through our settlements,” Young continued, “we must not interfere with them untill they are first notified to keep away. You must not meddle with them. The Indians we expect will do as they please but you should try and preserve good feelings with them. There are no other trains going south that I know of[.] [I]f those who are there will leave let them go in peace. While we should be on the alert, on hand and always ready we should also possess ourselves in patience, preserving ourselves and property ever remembering that God rules.”
}}

{{SummaryItem
|link=Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM
|subject=Brigham Young ordered Mountain Meadows Massacre?
|summary=It is claimed that Brigham Young ordered the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows/Omissions/Indians as instrument of vengeance
|subject=Amerindians as instrument of vengeance?
|summary=It is claimed that nineteenth-century Mormons saw Indians as a divine weapon given them to wreak vengeance on their persecutors. These beliefs, it is claimed, led to the Church and Brigham Young using the Indians for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Use_of_sources/Allies_or_grain
|subject=Huntington diary says Indians to "raise allies" for the planned massacre?
|summary=Will Bagley claims that Dimmick Huntington's journal discusses Indians raising "allies" to help in the massacre at Mountain Meadows which he claims Brigham is orchestrating.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Use_of_sources/Indian_chief_Arapeen_given_booty
|subject=Indian chief Arapeen given booty from Massacre?
|summary=Brigham Young is claimed to have given the Indian chief Arapeen spoils from the Mountain Meadows Massacre
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Omissions/Tutsegabit_and_Youngwuds_at_Mountain_Meadows
|subject=Indian chiefs Tutsegabit and Youngwuds sent by Brigham to Mountain Meadows?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Omissions/Tutsegabit_and_Youngwuds_at_Mountain_Meadows
|subject=Indian chief Tutsegabit "rewarded" for massacre with priesthood ordination?
|summary=The author claims that Brigham met with two Indian chiefs (Tutsegabit and Youngwuds) on 1 September, who then participated in the massacre and later "rewarded" Indian chief Tutsegabit for his role in the massacre by ordaining him to the priesthood.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Mountain Meadows massacre/Brigham Young/Did Brigham order it/Brigham's letter mysteriously lost
|subject=Brigham's letter mysteriously lost?
|summary=It is claimed that Brigham Young's letter telling Mormons in southern Utah to leave the immigrants alone is of dubious providence.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=One_Nation_Under_Gods/Use_of_sources/Brigham_Young_orders_MMM_monument_demolished
|subject=Brigham Young ordered MMM memorial demolished?
|summary= It is claimed that when Brigham Young visited the site in 1860 and saw the monument, he "ordered the monument and cross torn down" and demolished.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre
|subject=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church blocked prosecution
|subject=Church blocked prosecution?
|summary=It is claimed that actions of the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church interference in trials
|subject=Church interference in trials?
|summary=It is claimed that Brigham Young blocked prosecution of those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Deal with Brigham Young
|subject=Deal with Brigham Young for massacre prosecution?
|summary=It is claimed that only a corrupt "deal" with Brigham Young allowed prosecutors to charge and convict anyone with the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Dictate to jurors?
|subject=Frank Lee evidence?
|summary=Blood of the Prophets tells us that William Bishop, Lee's attorney, claims that he had an agreement with local church authorities to select particular persons as jurors (p. 302). If Bishop asserts, which he really does not, that local church leaders agreed with him to dictate to jurors the outcome of the case, Bishop would be admitting to a crime at the most and grounds for disbarment at the least.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young
|subject=John D. Lee scapegoated?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Judge_and_the_deal.3F
|subject=Judge and the deal?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Bagley's Evidence of a Deal
|subject=Prosecutors bribed?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Dictate to jurors?
|subject=Prosecution dictated to jurors?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Witnesses told what to say?
|subject=Witnesses told what to say?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=One_Nation_Under_Gods/Use_of_sources/Orders_to_Starve_Gentiles
|subject=Orders to starve Gentiles?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Use_of_sources/Rape_by_Albert_Hamblin
|subject=Rape by Albert Hamblin?
|summary=It is claimed that Jacob Hamblin's son Albert raped two women at the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and Jacob was later to blame these on John D. Lee.
}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=September Dawn
|subject=September Dawn film (2007)
|summary=Does the film about the Mountain Meadows Massacre accurately portray the historical events?
}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Mormon Reformation
|subject=Brigham and the Mormon Reformation
|summary=Similar charges against Brigham Young stem from the Mormon Reformation period.
}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Brigham Young bloqueó el procesamiento de los individuos responsables de la Masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

[[Category:Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
[[Category:Brigham Young]]

Perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:12:59Z

DavidSmith: header fix

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}

==Question: What happened to the perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre?==
===Some of the principal participants were excommunicated from the Church, while one participant, John D. Lee, was found guilty of murder===

[[Image:LeeGrave.jpg|frame|Marker at grave site of John D. Lee, in Panguitch, Utah]]
Eventually, as more information came to light, some of the principal participants were excommunicated from the Church. One participant, John D. Lee, was found guilty of murder in federal court after twenty years and two trials. The first trial occurred in 1875, before the anti-Mormon judge Jacob Boreman. The prosecutor was an even more notorious anti-Mormon named R. N. Baskin. This official failed to properly try the case against Lee, presented very little evidence against him, and instead focused upon an attempt to prove Brigham Young's complicity in the massacre. This trial ended with a hung jury.

Lee's second trial occurred the following year; the prosecutor was U.S. District Attorney Sumner Howard, and Boreman was again the presiding judge. This time around, the case was properly tried; the jury heard overwhelming evidence against Lee, who was duly convicted and sentenced to be executed for his crime. On March 23, 1877, Lee was executed at Mountain Meadows and buried in Panguitch, Utah. Though other Mormons were certainly as culpable as Lee (he did not act alone), he was the only one executed.

The long hiatus between the massacre and Lee's trial is one of the factors which some feel support the accusations of an institutional cover-up. However, the reasons for this delay suggest otherwise. As mentioned earlier, Governor Alfred Cumming believed the massacre was covered by the Utah Amnesty, thus making any investigation pointless. This belief was shared by a number of eminent legal authorities, including some charged with law enforcement in Utah. The attempts by some politically minded judges, such as John Cradlebaugh, to direct the investigation and prosecution of crime in Utah and conduct "crusades" against the Mormon Church actually hindered, rather than helped, prosecutorial and investigative efforts.

An additional claim sometimes put forward is that Lee was a "scapegoat," that some kind of corrupt agreement existed between Church leaders and territorial authorities to not pursue anyone else. However, the historical records do not back this up. After Lee's execution, territorial authorities wanted to continue the investigations with a view to bringing more of the guilty parties to justice. The official correspondence shows a reward was offered for the capture of Isaac C. Haight, William Stewart and John Higbee, all suspects in the planning and/or execution of the massacre, and that this reward remained on offer for at least seven years. Lee was not tried as a "scapegoat" but as an actual participant in the massacre, evidently the leading participant, who had done more than any other person to bring it about, and who had actually killed five people.

===Polemical Accounts===
Almost as soon as news of the massacre reached the eastern United States, enemies of the Church began exploiting it for polemical purposes. The '''content''' of the various polemical accounts of the massacre varies considerably, but the '''intent''' of the accounts is always and everywhere the same: to explain the massacre as a consequence of the doctrine, beliefs, practices or culture of the Mormon Church, and thus destructive of its truth claims.

When writing about the Mountain Meadows Massacre in his ''Comprehensive History of the Church,'' B.H. Roberts stated that he

:recognizes it as the most difficult of all the many subjects with which he has to deal in this ''History.'' Difficult because it is well-nigh impossible to sift out the absolute truth of the matter from the mass of conflicting statements made by witnesses and near witnesses of the affair; and equally difficult to reconcile the differences of contending partisans. Anti-"Mormon" writers have been determined to fasten the crime upon the Church of the Latter-day Saints, or at least upon her leaders; and also, as a rule, holding that in some way "Mormon" doctrine and "Mormon" church polity was responsible for the crime. On the other hand, church people who in all good conscience, and justly, resent this imputation against their church and its leaders, have been naturally slow to admit all the facts that history may insist upon as inevitable.<ref>Roberts, 139.</ref>

Most scholars and historians are quick to admit they don't have all the facts related to the massacre, and probably never will. That hasn't stopped some writers, for polemical reasons, from using a broad brush to denigrate the Church and its early leaders relative to the crimes of September 11, 1857.

There have been many accounts of the events surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre and a small library could be filled with pertinent materials. Perhaps the best-known of the recent polemical accounts are:

# {{CriticalWork:Bagley:Blood of the Prophets|pages=1}}. This work attempts to argue that Brigham Young actually ordered the massacre of the Fancher Party. Bagley relies upon a strained interpretation of some new evidence, including minutes of a meeting that took place between Dimick Huntington and some Southern Utah Indian chiefs on September 1, 1857, ten days before the massacre. The very brief minutes (actually a diary entry made after the fact) indicate that the purpose of the meeting, as with similar meetings held in the previous few days, was to enlist the Indians as allies against the approaching army, and not against the Fancher party. Although the particular item of evidence is new, the thesis which it is pressed into service to support actually dates to the 19th century; for example, in her book ''Wife No. 19,'' Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning accused Brigham Young of ordering the massacre so that he could appropriate the property of the victims.
# {{CriticalWork:Denton:American Massacre|pages=1}} This book attempts to show that no Indians had anything to do with the massacre, but that every part of it was carried out exclusively by white men. This also repeats a nineteenth-century theme; Mark Twain in ''Roughing It'' implied that the Indian participants in the massacre were really white men "tricked out" as Indians.
#{{CriticalWork:Krakauer:Under the Banner of Heaven|pages=1}} This work claims that violence is endemic to LDS doctrine and culture, and uses the Massacre as one example.

Certain themes continue to re-emerge in polemical accounts of the massacre. The claim that it was the worst massacre in American history is a common one; accusations of direct complicity on the part of Brigham Young, of subsequent institutional cover-up or of the "scapegoating" of John D. Lee, are common. Perhaps the following comments relative to Brigham Young's involvement may be instructive:

:As a lad I worked in the Main Street Store of the United Order Building and Manufacturing Company in Logan, Utah, commonly known as the U.O. The Logan Branch of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution, familiarly known as the Z.C.M.I., was on the corner, one half block down the street. It was one of my duties to take our egg and butter accumulation, commodities of exchange in those days, to the egg and butter house of Z.C.M.I. It was a small building a little to the rear of the large Z.C.M.I. store building. The worker in charge there was a man who to my boyish eyes was old, perhaps in his sixties. His name was James Holton Haslam. He and I became good friends. Eager for knowledge, I discovered that he was the courier who traveled the road between Salt Lake City to Parowan and back to help President Young establish friendly feelings among the emigrant company, the settlers, and the Indians. The Indians were giving chief concern. He described minutely the trip from Cedar City to Salt Lake City riding three hundred miles in three days, to warn President Young that trouble for the traveling company was brewing in the south. Brigham Young was greatly troubled. Within a few hours after his arrival Brother Haslam was again in the saddle to instruct the people at Parowan and neighboring communities to do everything in their power to protect the emigrants. When he reached Parowan, the massacre had already occurred. He had come too late!

:He described to me in detail his meeting with President Young. As he recounted the events of the massacre as far as he learned them, and he had every opportunity of knowing them intimately, President Young wept. The President did everything in his power to prevent any tragedy. He knew that if he failed his people, trained to live in peace and to give love for hate, they would be charged with the commission of the crime. He had suffered persecution with his people for many years. Moreover, he understood the horror of taking life.

:The Latter-day Saints had been persecuted and driven from place to place since the beginning of the Church. He and the people prayed for peace to continue their work of redeeming the stubborn desert for human use. This terrible massacre would only intensify the hatred against the Latter-day Saints.

:In righteous anger Brother Haslam defended to me as he had done in the courts and elsewhere Brigham Young against the charge of being an accessory to the criminal act of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. He was very convincing to me; and a boy is not easily fooled.

:When later I read Brother Haslam's testimony in the question and answer method, as published in the ''The Journal,'' Logan, Utah, December 4, 1874, I became more than ever convinced that he told the whole and absolute truth, and that Brigham Young was wholly innocent of any complicity with those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Note an extract from the long testimony covering two newspaper pages. Apparently he arrived in Salt Lake City in the forenoon and found President Young in his office holding a council meeting with his brethren. Brigham Young asked him after reading the message, from Cedar City or Parowan, if he could take the trip back, if so, to take a little rest, and start back during noontime. "He (President Young) said that the Indians must be kept from the emigrants at all costs if it took all of Iron County to protect them." He felt the matter strongly. His eyes filled with tears, said Brother Haslam.

:It would have been difficult to fool Brother Haslam. I believed him, and the many other supporting evidences, in preference to others who faraway in time are setting up their own theories of explanation. Brigham Young was not responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.<ref>{{IE1|author=John A. Widtsoe|article=Was Brigham Young Responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?|date=August 1951|start=?}}</ref>

===Historical Healing===
The events that transpired during the Mountain Meadows Massacre have rightfully lived in infamy; there is no explanation that can justify the murders of those five days in September, and we cannot fully understand them. In the words of one scholar, "the complete—the absolute—truth of the affair can probably never be evaluated by any human being; attempts to understand the forces which culminated in it and those which were set into motion by it are all very inadequate at best."<ref>Juanita Brooks, ''The Mountain Meadows Massacre,'' Revised Edition, (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 223.</ref>

In spite of the tragedy, efforts have been made to heal the wounds gouged into the collective American psyche 150 years ago. In the 1980s descendants of the victims and the perpetrators met together to start bridging the divide and make peace with the past. In a series of meetings, the seeds of trust were planted and a hopeful sense of accord started to bloom. On September 15, 1990, many of these descendants gathered together at Mountain Meadows to dedicate a memorial and marker to those who died there. The new memorial was a rendition of the original rock cairn constructed at the site by a military expedition under the direction of Major James H. Carleton about two years after the massacre.

===Cultural and social considerations===

Nothing can excuse the actions of those who perpetuated the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It may be possible, however, to better understand how basically good, law-abiding people (both before and after the massacre) could have been induced to carry out the massacre's actions.

Researchers have described a "culture of honor" which prevailed in the American South both before and after the Civil War, and illustrate how real or perceived insults or threats from the Fancher party might have moved some to violence:<ref>Richard E. Nisbett and Dov Cohen, ''Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South'' (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1996), pages as noted after each citation.</ref>

:"The book is about “a singular cause of male violence – the perpetrator’s sense of threat to one of his most valued possessions, namely, his reputation for strength and toughness. In many of the world’s cultures, social status, economic well-being, and life itself are linked to such a reputation." (xv}

:"The South was settled by herdsmen from the fringes of Britain. “Herdsmen the world over tend to be capable of great aggressiveness and violence because of the vulnerability to losing their primary resources, their animals."(xv)

(Note that the false belief that the Fancher party was guilty of poisoning water supplies could have stirred the same worries in the LDS settlers.)

:"Cases of southern violence often reflect a concern with blows to reputation or status – with ‘violation of personal honor’ – and the tacit belief that violence is an appropriate response to such an affront." (2)

:"Thus the southern preference for violence stems from the fact that much of the South was a lawless, frontier region settled by people whose economy was originally based on herding."

(Note that LDS settlers in southern Utah were in a similar setting, depending on a similar economic model. They were, furthermore, threatened by the coming U.S. Army).

:"A key aspect to the culture of honor is the importance placed on the insult and the necessity to respond to it. An insult implies that the target is weak enough to be bullied. Since a reputation for strength is of the essence in the culture of honor, the individual who insults someone must be forced to retract; if the instigator refuses, he must be punished—with violence or even death." (5)

:The stereotype of the southern woman is that she was highly feminine. Thought there may be some truth to that stereotype, there is a competing one, that she was a ‘steel magnolia,’ a superficially soft and melting woman who was quite capable of toughness and the wielding of power. ... Whatever plantation women were like, it is clear from all sorts of evidence that in the backcountry, women were very tough indeed. (87)

The threat to honor would have been particularly profound if the Mormons believed that their plural wives were being offended or insulted by being called "whores" by the immigrant party:

:A key aspect to the culture of honor is the importance placed on the insult and the necessity to respond to it. An insult implies that the target is weak enough to be bullied. Since a reputation for strength is of the essence in the culture of honor, the individual who insults someone must be forced to retract; if the instigator refuses, he must be punished—with violence or even death. A particularly important kind of insult is one directed at female members of a man’s family.

:In the Old South, as in the ancient world, ‘son of a bitch’ or any similar epithet was a most damaging blow to male pride....To attack his wife, mother, or sister was to assault the man himself. Outsider violence against family dependents, particularly females, was a breach not to be ignored without risk of ignominy. An impotence to deal with such wrongs carried all the weight of shame that archaic society could muster. (138)

With their history of being repeatedly driven, at least Mormon settlers were surely afraid of appearing weak and vulnerable, which would invite further attacks. That they ''were'' weak and vulnerable to the approaching federal army would have only made matters worse.

We emphasize that this does not ''excuse'' the massacre, but it makes the decisions and actions of those involved perhaps more explicable.

{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Qué pasó con los perpetradores de la masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:12:50Z

DavidSmith: header fix

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}
===In September 1857 a group of Mormons in southern Utah killed all adult members of an Arkansas wagon train that was headed for California===

In September 1857 a group of Mormons in southern Utah killed all adult members of an Arkansas wagon train that was headed for California. Critics charge that the massacre was typical of Mormon "culture of violence," and claim that Church leaders—possibly as high as Brigham Young—approved of, or even ordered the killing.

One of the most tragic and disturbing events in Mormon history took place on 11 September 1857, when approximately 120 men, women and children, traveling through Utah to California were massacred by a force consisting of Mormon militia members and Southern Paiute Indians. The Mountain Meadow Massacre, as it is known, has remained a topic of interest and controversy as Mormons and historians struggle to understand this event, and the Church's detractors seek to exploit it for polemical purposes.

===Setting the stage===
Shortly before July 24th, 1847, the first party of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. These Saints were the first vanguard of Church members who had been driven from Nauvoo, Illinois, by angry mobs. At the time of its first settlement, the area that came to be known as Utah still belonged to Mexico, but was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the end of the Mexican-American War in early 1848. (The treaty ceded all of what would become California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as parts of modern-day Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming.)

Over the next two years the bulk of the Church members who had been driven from Nauvoo reached the valley. Great Salt Lake City was built, and under Brigham Young's direction satellite settlements were established north, south, and west of the city. The sites for these settlements were often chosen because of proximity to an important natural resource; one such resource was the iron ore deposits found in what became known as Iron County in Southern Utah.

The continuation of successful missionary work in the Eastern United States and Europe brought a steady influx of Mormon converts to the Mormon communities; the population continued to grow, and settlement expanded outward into present-day Idaho, Canada, Nevada, California, Arizona, Wyoming, and Northern Mexico.

====The Utah War====

{{SeeAlso|Template:BloodAtonementWiki|l1=Mormon reformation}}

In 1850, Utah was established as a U.S. territory, with Brigham Young as its first governor. Because of its territorial status, the federal government retained the right to appoint officials at various levels, in addition to actual federal offices existing within the territory. While there were, no doubt, many honest public servants among them, a number of the federal appointees to both territorial and federal positions, including some judges, turned out to be both morally venal and abusive of the prerogatives of their offices. Scandals arose over the behavior of some of these men, who left the territory in disgrace. Rather than accepting responsibility for their own failures, a group of them, upon returning to the East, published claims that they had been forcibly expelled, and that the Mormons were rebelling against federal authority.

These claims caused quite an uproar in Washington, where the nascent Republican Party demanded something be done about the Mormons. Acting without benefit of an investigation, U.S. President James Buchanan appointed Alfred Cumming as territorial governor and, on June 29, 1857, ordered federal troops to escort Cumming to Utah. Additionally, Buchanan ordered the cessation of all mail service to Utah in an effort to provide the advantage of surprise for the advancing troops.

Despite the efforts of Buchanan to keep the advance of the army secret, Mormon mail runners notified Brigham Young, the incumbent territorial governor, the very next month that troops were travelling to Utah. He had not been officially notified that he was to be replaced, so he viewed the news—combined with the efforts to hide the movement of the troops—as an act of war by the United States government against the Mormons. Brigham closed all Church missions, instructing all missionaries to return to Utah, and ordered the abandonment of the more isolated Mormon colonies. He prepared to defend the territory against the approaching army by adopting a "scorched earth" policy. He sent small parties to harass the approaching troops with the intent of slowing their progress while he prepared the Saints for the plausible possibility of battles with U.S. troops.

The news of the approaching army spread quickly through the body of the Saints as preparations were made. Many Mormon settlers vividly remembered the hardships of being forcibly (and violently) expelled from Missouri and Illinois, and were resolved not to be driven from their homes again. The mood in the territory was grim and determined. This conflict, known as the Utah War, was ultimately resolved peacefully; but it was into this tense atmosphere the Baker-Fancher train entered in August of 1857.

====The Baker-Fancher Train====
[[Image:Mountain meadows map1-Utah1857.jpg|right|frame|Map showing the area around Mountain Meadows, highlighting the Spanish Trail]]
The Baker-Fancher train consisted of California-bound emigrants, men women and children, who started their journey in Arkansas and Missouri. The exact number of people in the train is estimated at 120, but some reports have put it as high as 140. Led by John T. Baker and Alexander Fancher, the train was reported to have been well-stocked, with plenty of cattle, horses, and mules.

The Baker-Fancher train arrived in Salt Lake City about the end of July 1857, camping west and a little south of the city on the Jordan River. Their arrival did not appear to raise any eyebrows or concerns, as there was no mention of them in the newspapers of the time. The group was advised by Elder Charles C. Rich of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to head toward California by circling around the northern edge of the Great Salt Lake, and they began in that direction. Upon travelling as far as the Bear River, the train decided to take the southern route. This caused them to pass through Salt Lake City again, moving further south through Provo, Springville, and Payson.

There were no reports of problems related to the Baker-Fancher party until they reached Fillmore, about 150 miles south of Salt Lake City. Commencing at this point and through settlements to the south, there were complaints that the emigrants boasted of participating the violence against Mormons in both Missouri and Illinois, that they poisoned a spring, and that they threatened to destroy one of the Mormon settlements.

It was also common knowledge that the train originated in Arkansas, where earlier in the year beloved apostle Parley P. Pratt had been murdered near the town of Van Buren. Rumor had it some of the members of the train were among those who had participated in Pratt's murder, or that they bragged about his killing. There are also reports that some of the emigrants told a few Latter-day Saints that once they had transported their families to California they would return, join the army, and help subdue the Mormons.

Whether there is any truth to these rumors, it is clear the travels of the Baker-Fancher train through southern Utah did not go unnoticed as they were in northern Utah. The presence of the train seemed to exacerbate the tensions already present due to the Utah War.

====Overland Travel Conditions====
Commencing with the opening of Oregon Territory, and accelerated by the discovery of gold in California, large numbers of emigrants crossed the interior of the continent to the West Coast. Before the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, overland travel was both difficult and dangerous. Native Americans, alarmed by the ever-increasing numbers of white settlers crossing their land, frequently attacked emigrant groups. Weather was another potential danger, with winter coming early to the high country and sudden storms occurring during all seasons of the year. For protection against these hazards, emigrants typically banded together in large parties called "wagon trains," covered wagons of the "prairie schooner" type being the most typical vehicles used. The climate made overland travel a seasonal affair as emigrant parties would try to complete their crossings during the warm months. To be caught on the high plains or the mountain passes when winter came was often a deadly mistake.

[[Image:MMMMap2.JPG|frame|left|Mountain Meadows site on modern map.
{{link|url=http://www.entradautah.com/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre_Site}}]]
The Mormon settlements of Utah provided important rest and reprovisioning points for overland travelers. One of the most widely used wagon trails to California branched off the Oregon trail in Northern Utah, running almost due South through Salt Lake City, eventually joining the Old Spanish Trail. Emigrants could purchase foodstuffs and other supplies from businesses in Salt Lake City and other towns, while their animals—both beasts of burden and any livestock—could find excellent grazing at a spot near the west end of the Pine Valley Mountains, about 30 miles west of Cedar City and 28 miles north of St. George, known as ''las Vegas de Santa Clara'' or the Mountain Meadows. It was common for emigrant parties to camp there for several days or even weeks while their animals gained condition for the grueling desert crossings still to come.

===The Main Participants===

{{Main|Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM|l1=Brigham Young ordered Mountain Meadows Massacre?|Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM/Brigham's letter mysteriously lost|l2=Brigham's letter mysteriously lost?}}
There were many participants in the tragedy at Mountain Meadows. The following are considered to be the main participants, from a historical perspective. (The individuals are listed in alphabetical order.)

'''William H. Dame''' was, at the time of the massacre, the commander of the Iron Military District with the militia rank of colonel. He was also serving as president of the Parowan Stake. Initially, he counseled letting the wagon train leave in peace. Later, he decided not to help the emigrants fend off what he thought was an Indian attack unless they requested it. Finally, becoming aware of the true situation at the Mountain Meadows, he reluctantly authorized the use of the militia to finish the massacre in time to avoid discovery. While not at the site until after the massacre, he was, by the standards of military justice applicable both then and now, administratively responsible for the actions of officers and soldiers under his command.

'''Isaac C. Haight''' was a major over the Second Battalion in the Iron County militia and president of the Cedar City stake. Haight was the mastermind behind the massacre. After being denied permission to use the militia, Haight recruited John D. Lee and others to incite the Indians to attack the train. Efforts to bring Haight and others to justice after the massacre proved to be fruitless.

'''John H. Higbee''' was a major over the Third Battalion in the Iron County militia and town marshal of Cedar City. His ecclesiastical position was first counselor in the stake presidency of Isaac C. Haight. After a failed attempt to arrest rowdy members of the train for criminal offenses, he conspired with Haight to punish the wagon train. When Dame permitted, Higbee led troops to the Meadows carrying orders to completely destroy the wagon train.

'''Philip Klingensmith''' was a bishop in Cedar City and private in the Iron County militia. In this latter role, he carried orders and other messages between various militia officers. He was present at the massacre and subsequently turned states' evidence, but his testimony was of no real help to the authorities.

'''John Doyle Lee''' was a major over the Fourth Battalion in the Iron County militia. At the Mountain Meadows, Lee led Indians and other Mormons in the early unsuccessful stages of the siege. After Higbee's arrival with reinforcements, Lee convinced the emigrants to surrender their weapons under false pretenses. Lee was the only person ever brought to trial for his involvement in the massacre.

===The Massacre===
As the Baker-Fancher train camped at Mountain Meadows, some of the residents of Cedar City and the surrounding areas determined that some action needed to be taken against the emigrants. The heightened anxiety brought on by rumors swirling about the train, the advancing federal troops, the drought that many had suffered through for the year, and the memories of violence in Missouri and Illinois all combined in an explosive atmosphere; yet the residents were unclear on what action they should take.

This excellent summary of events in the days immediately preceding the massacre is provided by Robert H. Briggs:

:On or about 2 September 1857, some encounters between individuals in the Fancher train and others in the Mormon iron mining settlement of Cedar City sparked an angry reaction among the Mormon settlers. By Friday, 4 September, however, militia leaders in Cedar City had decided against direct Mormon interference with the train. Thus, Major (also stake president) Isaac Haight dispatched couriers to Pinto, a new settlement near the California Road directly west of Cedar City. The couriers, Joel White and Philip Klingensmith, carried orders for settlers there to not interfere with the approaching emigrant train. Meanwhile, however, a pivotal meeting occurred that same evening in Cedar City between Major Isaac Haight of the Second Battalion and Major John D. Lee of the Fourth. What emerged was a plan to incite local Paiute Indians to gather at Mountain Meadows with Lee as their leader. Lee departed in the early hours of Saturday, 5 September. Evidently, Lee had no further contact with militia leaders at Cedar for the better part of the next four days.

:Lee returned home to Fort Harmony and laid over on Saturday and part of Sunday, making preparations. He departed for the Meadows on Sunday and arrived there later that afternoon or evening. Other couriers carried word to outlying settlements, each relaying that Indians were to be assembled. There was some confusion about exactly where this rendezvous was to occur. Many Paiutes from the region of Cedar and Fort Harmony were sent to Mountain Meadows. Other bands along the Santa Clara River were urged to gather at Santa Clara Canyon (west of present Veyo).

:Similar preparations continued in Cedar City over the weekend but came to a halt in mid-afternoon on Sunday, 6 September. During the usual council meeting of community leaders from Cedar City and outlying settlements, Laban Morrill lead a faction which heatedly opposed Isaac Haight’s plan. Morrill extracted a promise from Haight that no aggressive action would be taken against any emigrants until they had sought the advice of President Brigham Young. Thus, as things stood in Cedar City, the plan was off.

:All of this was unknown to John D. Lee. At that moment, Lee was en route to the Mountain Meadows, his adopted Indian son in tow to act as interpreter. They met up with Paiute bands at Mountain Meadows that afternoon or evening. One line of evidence suggests that Santa Clara Canyon, roughly a dozen miles south of Mountain Meadows, was where the planned attack would occur. Yet early Monday morning, 7 September, Lee’s Paiute auxiliary force attacked the emigrant encampment at the southern tip of Mountain Meadows. We will probably never know for certain whether Lee attacked according to a preconceived plan or, driven by some personal desire or impulse, attacked on his own initiative. In any case, as things stood at the Meadows, the attack was on.

:Activity erupted throughout Southern Utah. In Cedar City, Major Haight dispatched the youthful Englishman James Haslam to Great Salt Lake City for orders from President Young. Haight also sent an express via Joseph Clews to Amos Thornton at Pinto which Thornton was to relay. In it, Haight ordered Lee to "keep the Indians off the emigrants and protect them from harm until further orders." Thornton rode to the Meadows but searched in vain for Lee. Unbeknownst to Thornton, Lee had gone south, spending the night near Santa Clara Canyon with Mormon militiamen and the Paiute allies he encountered there. This group arrived at the Meadows on Tuesday afternoon, 8 September. That is the earliest Lee could have received an express that the planned attack had been postponed.

:There were additional expresses between Tuesday, 8 September and Thursday, 10 September. The most significant of these was one from militia headquarters in Parowan which conveyed the ambiguous order to save emigrants lives yet not to precipitate a war with the Indians under any circumstances.<ref>{{Sunstone|author=Robert Briggs|num=125|article=Wrestling Brigham: Review of ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows'', by Will Bagley|date=December 2002|start=62|end=66}} A longer version was published as "Mountain Meadows and The Craft of History" and was available on sunstoneonline.com.</ref>

In a meeting at Cedar City on the afternoon of September 6, 1857, local leaders received word the wagon train at Mountain Meadows had been surrounded by Paiute Indians who were determined to attack the emigrants. (Some historians are undecided as to whether Paiute Indians were actually involved in the massacre at all; some assert that it was white men disguised as Indians.) The leaders decided that they needed to ask Brigham Young what to do, so they dispatched a fast rider to Salt Lake City with a message to that effect. James H. Haslam, the messenger, left on Monday, September 7, and made the 300-mile journey in just a little more than three days. Within an hour he had an answer from Brigham Young and began the journey back to Cedar City. Young's message said, in part, "In regard to the emigration trains passing through our settlements, we must not interfere with them until they are first notified to keep away. You must not meddle with them. The Indians we expect will do as they please but you should try and preserve good feelings with them." Unfortunately, the messenger arrived back in Cedar City two days after the massacre, on September 13, 1857.

As Haslam was leaving for Salt Lake City on September 7, the Indians' attack commenced. Several of the emigrants were killed, as were several of the Indians, producing a stalemate situation. The emigrants circled their wagons and dug into a rifle pit and the Indians sent a call to the surrounding country for reinforcements. They also sent for John D. Lee, an area farmer on friendly terms with the Indians. According to Lee's later court testimony, the Indians asked him to help with the attack. Lee instead sent word to Cedar City on September 10, asking what should be done.

It is at this point that the exact nature of the events becomes unclear; most details being provided by Lee, and the veracity of his testimony is naturally suspect. He indicated that in short order there were quite a few other Indians and white settlers who had joined the group outside of the siege. The night of September 10 and the following morning the whites debated what to do. It appears that one incident which factored into their eventual murderous decision was the killing, the night before, of one of the emigrants by white men. It appears that two men from the Baker-Fancher party left the camp, evaded those surrounding their camp, and started toward Cedar City to request help. Within a few miles the two met three white men, whom they asked for help, but then they were attacked by the white men. One of the two was killed, and the other was able to make his way back to the Baker-Fancher party.

How could such news factor into the decision to massacre the emigrants? There is no doubt the news that both Indians and white men—Mormons—were attacking the emigrants was not well received. If any of the emigrants should escape to California and tell the story, prejudice against the Mormons—already quite high—would be incited and there would be greater likelihood that a military force would move upon the southern settlements from the west. Facing down an army from the east might be bearable, but facing one from both the east and the west could seem unbearable.

Such reasoning does not excuse the decision the white men in the area made; it is only mentioned as a factor in understanding some of the excitement and the hysteria enveloping those in the area. The decision was apparently made on the morning of September 11 to destroy all in the Baker-Fancher party over the age of seven. To effect the massacre with a minimum of loss among the white men, it was decided to lure the emigrants out of their circled wagons and into the open. In the words of B.H. Roberts,

:The conception was diabolical; the execution of it horrible; and the responsibility for both must rest upon those men who conceived and executed it; for whatever of initiative may or may not have been taken by the Indians in the first assault upon these emigrants, responsibility for this deliberately planned massacre rests not with them.<ref>{{CHC1|vol=4|start=156}}</ref>

Thus it was that on September 11, a flag of truce was carried to the Baker-Fancher party by William Bateman. He was met outside the camp by one of the emigrants, a Mr. Hamilton, and an arrangement was made for John D. Lee to speak to the emigrants. Lee described to them a plan to get them through the hostile Indians. The plan involved the emigrants giving up their arms, loading the wounded into wagons, and then being followed by the women and the older children, with the men bring up the rear of the company in single-file order. In return for compliance with these terms, the white men would give the emigrants safe conduct back to Cedar City where they would be protected until they could continue their journey to California.

The emigrants agreed, the wagons were brought forward and loaded with the wounded and the weapons, and the procession started toward Cedar City. Within a short distance, one armed white man was positioned near each of the Baker-Fancher party adults, ostensibly for protection. When all was in place, a pre-determined signal was given and each of the armed white men turned, shot, and killed each of the unarmed Baker-Fancher party members. Within three to five minutes the entire massacre of men, women, and older children was complete. The only members of the original party remaining were those children judged to be under eight years old, numbering about 17 persons.

===The Aftermath===
After the massacre, local leaders attempted to portray the killings as solely the act of Indians. This effort began almost immediately, with John D. Lee's report to Brigham Young. It wasn't long, however, before charges started to surface that Indians were not the only participants, but that there were whites involved. Responding to the charges that whites were involved, Brigham Young urged Governor Cumming to investigate the matter fully. However, the governor maintained that if whites were involved, they would be pardoned under the general amnesty granted by the governor to the Mormons in June 1858. This amnesty was issued at the behest of U.S. President James Buchanan, and covered all hostile acts against the United States by any persons in the course of the Utah War.

Most scholars recognize that there was a local cover-up of the massacre. What there is disagreement on is how involved higher Church leaders were in any cover-up. Some have concluded that Brigham Young, himself, was involved in a cover-up, but others argue that the evidence does not support such a conclusion. It is known that Brigham was not privy to the full details at first; he was told that only Indians were involved. In April 1894 Wilford Woodruff stated the following concerning the massacre and Brigham Young's supposed involvement:

:One instance I will name here: A man went around Nauvoo asking every man he could, saying, "You come and be adopted to me, and I shall stand at the head of the kingdom, and you will be there with me." Now, what is the truth about this? Those who were adopted to that man, if they go with him, will have to go where he is. He was a participator in that horrible scene--the Mountain Meadow massacre. Men have tried to lay that to President Young. I was with President Young when the massacre was first reported to him. President Young was perfectly horrified at the recital of it, and wept over it. He asked: "Was there any white man had anything to do with that?" The reply was No; and by the representations then made to him he was misinformed concerning the whole transaction. I will say here, and call heaven and earth to witness, that President Young, during his whole life, never was the author of the shedding of the blood of any of the human family; and when the books are opened in the day of judgment these things will be proven to heaven and earth. Perhaps I had not ought to enter into these things, but it came to me.<ref>{{CD|author=Wilford Woodruff|date=8 April 1894|article=The Law of Adoption|vol=4|start=72|end=73}}</ref>

Most historians have followed Juanita Brooks, who concluded that Brigham did not know about the massacre before-hand, and was horrified to learn of it.<ref>Juanita Brooks, ''The Mountain Meadows Massacre'' (1950; reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 219</ref>

Of course, it wasn't just Indians who were involved. The best available evidence supports two levels of cover-up: (1) concerted denials of guilt by massacre participants, including attempts to shift the blame to their erstwhile Indian allies, and (2) attempts by Mormons not involved in the massacre to shield accused persons from capture or prosecution. The latter actions did not normally arise out of any approval for the massacre, and indeed were usually undertaken without knowledge of the guilt of the persons being shielded; rather they reflected a feeling of community solidarity versus the coercive power of an often-hostile government, and a pervasive mistrust of U.S. authorities and their willingness or ability to ensure that Mormon defendants would receive a fair trial. Accusations of any more substantial cover-up, either by the Mormon Church as an institution, or by its highest leaders, are not supported by the available evidence.
</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Qué es la Masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:12:29Z

DavidSmith: updated landing page to new format

{{Main Page}}

{{Header}}
"In September 1857, a branch of territorial militia in southern Utah composed entirely of Latter-day Saints, along with some American Indians they recruited, laid siege to a wagon train of emigrants traveling from Arkansas to California. The militiamen carried out a deliberate massacre, killing 120 men, women, and children in a valley known as Mountain Meadows. Only 17 small children—those believed to be too young to be able to tell what had happened there—were spared. This event is perhaps the most tragic episode in the history of the Church."<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/mountain-meadows-massacre "Mountain Meadows Massacre,"] Church History Topics, Gospel Library.</ref>

'''To view articles about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, click "Expand" in the blue bar:'''
{{Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre}}

<small>First video published by the Church History Department.</small>
<embedvideo service="youtube">oAEY8dVj_tY</embedvideo>

<embedvideo service="youtube">tok62ytBrDo</embedvideo>

{{endnotes sources}}


[[de:Mountain Meadows Massaker]]
[[en:Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

[[Category:Mormon Reformation]]
[[Category:Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
[[es:Masacre de Mountain Meadows]]
[[fr:Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Template:Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:11:53Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre to Template:Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre: title correction

#REDIRECT [[Template:Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Template:Navigation:Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:11:53Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Template:Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre to Template:Navigation Mountain Meadows Massacre: title correction

{{Navigation
|name=Mountains Meadows Massacre

|group1=Overview
|list1=
*[[Mountain Meadows Massacre|Overview]]
*[[Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
}}

Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:08:30Z

DavidSmith:

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}
===In September 1857 a group of Mormons in southern Utah killed all adult members of an Arkansas wagon train that was headed for California===

In September 1857 a group of Mormons in southern Utah killed all adult members of an Arkansas wagon train that was headed for California. Critics charge that the massacre was typical of Mormon "culture of violence," and claim that Church leaders—possibly as high as Brigham Young—approved of, or even ordered the killing.

One of the most tragic and disturbing events in Mormon history took place on 11 September 1857, when approximately 120 men, women and children, traveling through Utah to California were massacred by a force consisting of Mormon militia members and Southern Paiute Indians. The Mountain Meadow Massacre, as it is known, has remained a topic of interest and controversy as Mormons and historians struggle to understand this event, and the Church's detractors seek to exploit it for polemical purposes.

===Setting the stage===
Shortly before July 24th, 1847, the first party of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. These Saints were the first vanguard of Church members who had been driven from Nauvoo, Illinois, by angry mobs. At the time of its first settlement, the area that came to be known as Utah still belonged to Mexico, but was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the end of the Mexican-American War in early 1848. (The treaty ceded all of what would become California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as parts of modern-day Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming.)

Over the next two years the bulk of the Church members who had been driven from Nauvoo reached the valley. Great Salt Lake City was built, and under Brigham Young's direction satellite settlements were established north, south, and west of the city. The sites for these settlements were often chosen because of proximity to an important natural resource; one such resource was the iron ore deposits found in what became known as Iron County in Southern Utah.

The continuation of successful missionary work in the Eastern United States and Europe brought a steady influx of Mormon converts to the Mormon communities; the population continued to grow, and settlement expanded outward into present-day Idaho, Canada, Nevada, California, Arizona, Wyoming, and Northern Mexico.

====The Utah War====

{{SeeAlso|Template:BloodAtonementWiki|l1=Mormon reformation}}

In 1850, Utah was established as a U.S. territory, with Brigham Young as its first governor. Because of its territorial status, the federal government retained the right to appoint officials at various levels, in addition to actual federal offices existing within the territory. While there were, no doubt, many honest public servants among them, a number of the federal appointees to both territorial and federal positions, including some judges, turned out to be both morally venal and abusive of the prerogatives of their offices. Scandals arose over the behavior of some of these men, who left the territory in disgrace. Rather than accepting responsibility for their own failures, a group of them, upon returning to the East, published claims that they had been forcibly expelled, and that the Mormons were rebelling against federal authority.

These claims caused quite an uproar in Washington, where the nascent Republican Party demanded something be done about the Mormons. Acting without benefit of an investigation, U.S. President James Buchanan appointed Alfred Cumming as territorial governor and, on June 29, 1857, ordered federal troops to escort Cumming to Utah. Additionally, Buchanan ordered the cessation of all mail service to Utah in an effort to provide the advantage of surprise for the advancing troops.

Despite the efforts of Buchanan to keep the advance of the army secret, Mormon mail runners notified Brigham Young, the incumbent territorial governor, the very next month that troops were travelling to Utah. He had not been officially notified that he was to be replaced, so he viewed the news—combined with the efforts to hide the movement of the troops—as an act of war by the United States government against the Mormons. Brigham closed all Church missions, instructing all missionaries to return to Utah, and ordered the abandonment of the more isolated Mormon colonies. He prepared to defend the territory against the approaching army by adopting a "scorched earth" policy. He sent small parties to harass the approaching troops with the intent of slowing their progress while he prepared the Saints for the plausible possibility of battles with U.S. troops.

The news of the approaching army spread quickly through the body of the Saints as preparations were made. Many Mormon settlers vividly remembered the hardships of being forcibly (and violently) expelled from Missouri and Illinois, and were resolved not to be driven from their homes again. The mood in the territory was grim and determined. This conflict, known as the Utah War, was ultimately resolved peacefully; but it was into this tense atmosphere the Baker-Fancher train entered in August of 1857.

====The Baker-Fancher Train====
[[Image:Mountain meadows map1-Utah1857.jpg|right|frame|Map showing the area around Mountain Meadows, highlighting the Spanish Trail]]
The Baker-Fancher train consisted of California-bound emigrants, men women and children, who started their journey in Arkansas and Missouri. The exact number of people in the train is estimated at 120, but some reports have put it as high as 140. Led by John T. Baker and Alexander Fancher, the train was reported to have been well-stocked, with plenty of cattle, horses, and mules.

The Baker-Fancher train arrived in Salt Lake City about the end of July 1857, camping west and a little south of the city on the Jordan River. Their arrival did not appear to raise any eyebrows or concerns, as there was no mention of them in the newspapers of the time. The group was advised by Elder Charles C. Rich of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to head toward California by circling around the northern edge of the Great Salt Lake, and they began in that direction. Upon travelling as far as the Bear River, the train decided to take the southern route. This caused them to pass through Salt Lake City again, moving further south through Provo, Springville, and Payson.

There were no reports of problems related to the Baker-Fancher party until they reached Fillmore, about 150 miles south of Salt Lake City. Commencing at this point and through settlements to the south, there were complaints that the emigrants boasted of participating the violence against Mormons in both Missouri and Illinois, that they poisoned a spring, and that they threatened to destroy one of the Mormon settlements.

It was also common knowledge that the train originated in Arkansas, where earlier in the year beloved apostle Parley P. Pratt had been murdered near the town of Van Buren. Rumor had it some of the members of the train were among those who had participated in Pratt's murder, or that they bragged about his killing. There are also reports that some of the emigrants told a few Latter-day Saints that once they had transported their families to California they would return, join the army, and help subdue the Mormons.

Whether there is any truth to these rumors, it is clear the travels of the Baker-Fancher train through southern Utah did not go unnoticed as they were in northern Utah. The presence of the train seemed to exacerbate the tensions already present due to the Utah War.

====Overland Travel Conditions====
Commencing with the opening of Oregon Territory, and accelerated by the discovery of gold in California, large numbers of emigrants crossed the interior of the continent to the West Coast. Before the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, overland travel was both difficult and dangerous. Native Americans, alarmed by the ever-increasing numbers of white settlers crossing their land, frequently attacked emigrant groups. Weather was another potential danger, with winter coming early to the high country and sudden storms occurring during all seasons of the year. For protection against these hazards, emigrants typically banded together in large parties called "wagon trains," covered wagons of the "prairie schooner" type being the most typical vehicles used. The climate made overland travel a seasonal affair as emigrant parties would try to complete their crossings during the warm months. To be caught on the high plains or the mountain passes when winter came was often a deadly mistake.

[[Image:MMMMap2.JPG|frame|left|Mountain Meadows site on modern map.
{{link|url=http://www.entradautah.com/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre_Site}}]]
The Mormon settlements of Utah provided important rest and reprovisioning points for overland travelers. One of the most widely used wagon trails to California branched off the Oregon trail in Northern Utah, running almost due South through Salt Lake City, eventually joining the Old Spanish Trail. Emigrants could purchase foodstuffs and other supplies from businesses in Salt Lake City and other towns, while their animals—both beasts of burden and any livestock—could find excellent grazing at a spot near the west end of the Pine Valley Mountains, about 30 miles west of Cedar City and 28 miles north of St. George, known as ''las Vegas de Santa Clara'' or the Mountain Meadows. It was common for emigrant parties to camp there for several days or even weeks while their animals gained condition for the grueling desert crossings still to come.

===The Main Participants===

{{Main|Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM|l1=Brigham Young ordered Mountain Meadows Massacre?|Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM/Brigham's letter mysteriously lost|l2=Brigham's letter mysteriously lost?}}
There were many participants in the tragedy at Mountain Meadows. The following are considered to be the main participants, from a historical perspective. (The individuals are listed in alphabetical order.)

'''William H. Dame''' was, at the time of the massacre, the commander of the Iron Military District with the militia rank of colonel. He was also serving as president of the Parowan Stake. Initially, he counseled letting the wagon train leave in peace. Later, he decided not to help the emigrants fend off what he thought was an Indian attack unless they requested it. Finally, becoming aware of the true situation at the Mountain Meadows, he reluctantly authorized the use of the militia to finish the massacre in time to avoid discovery. While not at the site until after the massacre, he was, by the standards of military justice applicable both then and now, administratively responsible for the actions of officers and soldiers under his command.

'''Isaac C. Haight''' was a major over the Second Battalion in the Iron County militia and president of the Cedar City stake. Haight was the mastermind behind the massacre. After being denied permission to use the militia, Haight recruited John D. Lee and others to incite the Indians to attack the train. Efforts to bring Haight and others to justice after the massacre proved to be fruitless.

'''John H. Higbee''' was a major over the Third Battalion in the Iron County militia and town marshal of Cedar City. His ecclesiastical position was first counselor in the stake presidency of Isaac C. Haight. After a failed attempt to arrest rowdy members of the train for criminal offenses, he conspired with Haight to punish the wagon train. When Dame permitted, Higbee led troops to the Meadows carrying orders to completely destroy the wagon train.

'''Philip Klingensmith''' was a bishop in Cedar City and private in the Iron County militia. In this latter role, he carried orders and other messages between various militia officers. He was present at the massacre and subsequently turned states' evidence, but his testimony was of no real help to the authorities.

'''John Doyle Lee''' was a major over the Fourth Battalion in the Iron County militia. At the Mountain Meadows, Lee led Indians and other Mormons in the early unsuccessful stages of the siege. After Higbee's arrival with reinforcements, Lee convinced the emigrants to surrender their weapons under false pretenses. Lee was the only person ever brought to trial for his involvement in the massacre.

===The Massacre===
As the Baker-Fancher train camped at Mountain Meadows, some of the residents of Cedar City and the surrounding areas determined that some action needed to be taken against the emigrants. The heightened anxiety brought on by rumors swirling about the train, the advancing federal troops, the drought that many had suffered through for the year, and the memories of violence in Missouri and Illinois all combined in an explosive atmosphere; yet the residents were unclear on what action they should take.

This excellent summary of events in the days immediately preceding the massacre is provided by Robert H. Briggs:

:On or about 2 September 1857, some encounters between individuals in the Fancher train and others in the Mormon iron mining settlement of Cedar City sparked an angry reaction among the Mormon settlers. By Friday, 4 September, however, militia leaders in Cedar City had decided against direct Mormon interference with the train. Thus, Major (also stake president) Isaac Haight dispatched couriers to Pinto, a new settlement near the California Road directly west of Cedar City. The couriers, Joel White and Philip Klingensmith, carried orders for settlers there to not interfere with the approaching emigrant train. Meanwhile, however, a pivotal meeting occurred that same evening in Cedar City between Major Isaac Haight of the Second Battalion and Major John D. Lee of the Fourth. What emerged was a plan to incite local Paiute Indians to gather at Mountain Meadows with Lee as their leader. Lee departed in the early hours of Saturday, 5 September. Evidently, Lee had no further contact with militia leaders at Cedar for the better part of the next four days.

:Lee returned home to Fort Harmony and laid over on Saturday and part of Sunday, making preparations. He departed for the Meadows on Sunday and arrived there later that afternoon or evening. Other couriers carried word to outlying settlements, each relaying that Indians were to be assembled. There was some confusion about exactly where this rendezvous was to occur. Many Paiutes from the region of Cedar and Fort Harmony were sent to Mountain Meadows. Other bands along the Santa Clara River were urged to gather at Santa Clara Canyon (west of present Veyo).

:Similar preparations continued in Cedar City over the weekend but came to a halt in mid-afternoon on Sunday, 6 September. During the usual council meeting of community leaders from Cedar City and outlying settlements, Laban Morrill lead a faction which heatedly opposed Isaac Haight’s plan. Morrill extracted a promise from Haight that no aggressive action would be taken against any emigrants until they had sought the advice of President Brigham Young. Thus, as things stood in Cedar City, the plan was off.

:All of this was unknown to John D. Lee. At that moment, Lee was en route to the Mountain Meadows, his adopted Indian son in tow to act as interpreter. They met up with Paiute bands at Mountain Meadows that afternoon or evening. One line of evidence suggests that Santa Clara Canyon, roughly a dozen miles south of Mountain Meadows, was where the planned attack would occur. Yet early Monday morning, 7 September, Lee’s Paiute auxiliary force attacked the emigrant encampment at the southern tip of Mountain Meadows. We will probably never know for certain whether Lee attacked according to a preconceived plan or, driven by some personal desire or impulse, attacked on his own initiative. In any case, as things stood at the Meadows, the attack was on.

:Activity erupted throughout Southern Utah. In Cedar City, Major Haight dispatched the youthful Englishman James Haslam to Great Salt Lake City for orders from President Young. Haight also sent an express via Joseph Clews to Amos Thornton at Pinto which Thornton was to relay. In it, Haight ordered Lee to "keep the Indians off the emigrants and protect them from harm until further orders." Thornton rode to the Meadows but searched in vain for Lee. Unbeknownst to Thornton, Lee had gone south, spending the night near Santa Clara Canyon with Mormon militiamen and the Paiute allies he encountered there. This group arrived at the Meadows on Tuesday afternoon, 8 September. That is the earliest Lee could have received an express that the planned attack had been postponed.

:There were additional expresses between Tuesday, 8 September and Thursday, 10 September. The most significant of these was one from militia headquarters in Parowan which conveyed the ambiguous order to save emigrants lives yet not to precipitate a war with the Indians under any circumstances.<ref>{{Sunstone|author=Robert Briggs|num=125|article=Wrestling Brigham: Review of ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows'', by Will Bagley|date=December 2002|start=62|end=66}} A longer version was published as "Mountain Meadows and The Craft of History" and was available on sunstoneonline.com.</ref>

In a meeting at Cedar City on the afternoon of September 6, 1857, local leaders received word the wagon train at Mountain Meadows had been surrounded by Paiute Indians who were determined to attack the emigrants. (Some historians are undecided as to whether Paiute Indians were actually involved in the massacre at all; some assert that it was white men disguised as Indians.) The leaders decided that they needed to ask Brigham Young what to do, so they dispatched a fast rider to Salt Lake City with a message to that effect. James H. Haslam, the messenger, left on Monday, September 7, and made the 300-mile journey in just a little more than three days. Within an hour he had an answer from Brigham Young and began the journey back to Cedar City. Young's message said, in part, "In regard to the emigration trains passing through our settlements, we must not interfere with them until they are first notified to keep away. You must not meddle with them. The Indians we expect will do as they please but you should try and preserve good feelings with them." Unfortunately, the messenger arrived back in Cedar City two days after the massacre, on September 13, 1857.

As Haslam was leaving for Salt Lake City on September 7, the Indians' attack commenced. Several of the emigrants were killed, as were several of the Indians, producing a stalemate situation. The emigrants circled their wagons and dug into a rifle pit and the Indians sent a call to the surrounding country for reinforcements. They also sent for John D. Lee, an area farmer on friendly terms with the Indians. According to Lee's later court testimony, the Indians asked him to help with the attack. Lee instead sent word to Cedar City on September 10, asking what should be done.

It is at this point that the exact nature of the events becomes unclear; most details being provided by Lee, and the veracity of his testimony is naturally suspect. He indicated that in short order there were quite a few other Indians and white settlers who had joined the group outside of the siege. The night of September 10 and the following morning the whites debated what to do. It appears that one incident which factored into their eventual murderous decision was the killing, the night before, of one of the emigrants by white men. It appears that two men from the Baker-Fancher party left the camp, evaded those surrounding their camp, and started toward Cedar City to request help. Within a few miles the two met three white men, whom they asked for help, but then they were attacked by the white men. One of the two was killed, and the other was able to make his way back to the Baker-Fancher party.

How could such news factor into the decision to massacre the emigrants? There is no doubt the news that both Indians and white men—Mormons—were attacking the emigrants was not well received. If any of the emigrants should escape to California and tell the story, prejudice against the Mormons—already quite high—would be incited and there would be greater likelihood that a military force would move upon the southern settlements from the west. Facing down an army from the east might be bearable, but facing one from both the east and the west could seem unbearable.

Such reasoning does not excuse the decision the white men in the area made; it is only mentioned as a factor in understanding some of the excitement and the hysteria enveloping those in the area. The decision was apparently made on the morning of September 11 to destroy all in the Baker-Fancher party over the age of seven. To effect the massacre with a minimum of loss among the white men, it was decided to lure the emigrants out of their circled wagons and into the open. In the words of B.H. Roberts,

:The conception was diabolical; the execution of it horrible; and the responsibility for both must rest upon those men who conceived and executed it; for whatever of initiative may or may not have been taken by the Indians in the first assault upon these emigrants, responsibility for this deliberately planned massacre rests not with them.<ref>{{CHC1|vol=4|start=156}}</ref>

Thus it was that on September 11, a flag of truce was carried to the Baker-Fancher party by William Bateman. He was met outside the camp by one of the emigrants, a Mr. Hamilton, and an arrangement was made for John D. Lee to speak to the emigrants. Lee described to them a plan to get them through the hostile Indians. The plan involved the emigrants giving up their arms, loading the wounded into wagons, and then being followed by the women and the older children, with the men bring up the rear of the company in single-file order. In return for compliance with these terms, the white men would give the emigrants safe conduct back to Cedar City where they would be protected until they could continue their journey to California.

The emigrants agreed, the wagons were brought forward and loaded with the wounded and the weapons, and the procession started toward Cedar City. Within a short distance, one armed white man was positioned near each of the Baker-Fancher party adults, ostensibly for protection. When all was in place, a pre-determined signal was given and each of the armed white men turned, shot, and killed each of the unarmed Baker-Fancher party members. Within three to five minutes the entire massacre of men, women, and older children was complete. The only members of the original party remaining were those children judged to be under eight years old, numbering about 17 persons.

===The Aftermath===
After the massacre, local leaders attempted to portray the killings as solely the act of Indians. This effort began almost immediately, with John D. Lee's report to Brigham Young. It wasn't long, however, before charges started to surface that Indians were not the only participants, but that there were whites involved. Responding to the charges that whites were involved, Brigham Young urged Governor Cumming to investigate the matter fully. However, the governor maintained that if whites were involved, they would be pardoned under the general amnesty granted by the governor to the Mormons in June 1858. This amnesty was issued at the behest of U.S. President James Buchanan, and covered all hostile acts against the United States by any persons in the course of the Utah War.

Most scholars recognize that there was a local cover-up of the massacre. What there is disagreement on is how involved higher Church leaders were in any cover-up. Some have concluded that Brigham Young, himself, was involved in a cover-up, but others argue that the evidence does not support such a conclusion. It is known that Brigham was not privy to the full details at first; he was told that only Indians were involved. In April 1894 Wilford Woodruff stated the following concerning the massacre and Brigham Young's supposed involvement:

:One instance I will name here: A man went around Nauvoo asking every man he could, saying, "You come and be adopted to me, and I shall stand at the head of the kingdom, and you will be there with me." Now, what is the truth about this? Those who were adopted to that man, if they go with him, will have to go where he is. He was a participator in that horrible scene--the Mountain Meadow massacre. Men have tried to lay that to President Young. I was with President Young when the massacre was first reported to him. President Young was perfectly horrified at the recital of it, and wept over it. He asked: "Was there any white man had anything to do with that?" The reply was No; and by the representations then made to him he was misinformed concerning the whole transaction. I will say here, and call heaven and earth to witness, that President Young, during his whole life, never was the author of the shedding of the blood of any of the human family; and when the books are opened in the day of judgment these things will be proven to heaven and earth. Perhaps I had not ought to enter into these things, but it came to me.<ref>{{CD|author=Wilford Woodruff|date=8 April 1894|article=The Law of Adoption|vol=4|start=72|end=73}}</ref>

Most historians have followed Juanita Brooks, who concluded that Brigham did not know about the massacre before-hand, and was horrified to learn of it.<ref>Juanita Brooks, ''The Mountain Meadows Massacre'' (1950; reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 219</ref>

Of course, it wasn't just Indians who were involved. The best available evidence supports two levels of cover-up: (1) concerted denials of guilt by massacre participants, including attempts to shift the blame to their erstwhile Indian allies, and (2) attempts by Mormons not involved in the massacre to shield accused persons from capture or prosecution. The latter actions did not normally arise out of any approval for the massacre, and indeed were usually undertaken without knowledge of the guilt of the persons being shielded; rather they reflected a feeling of community solidarity versus the coercive power of an often-hostile government, and a pervasive mistrust of U.S. authorities and their willingness or ability to ensure that Mormon defendants would receive a fair trial. Accusations of any more substantial cover-up, either by the Mormon Church as an institution, or by its highest leaders, are not supported by the available evidence.
</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Qué es la Masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:07:29Z

DavidSmith: header fix

Template:Navigation:Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:07:21Z

DavidSmith: added link

Summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:06:54Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre to Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre: clarifying title

#REDIRECT [[Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:06:54Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre to Historical summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre: clarifying title

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
==Question: What is the Mountain Meadows Massacre?==
===In September 1857 a group of Mormons in southern Utah killed all adult members of an Arkansas wagon train that was headed for California===

In September 1857 a group of Mormons in southern Utah killed all adult members of an Arkansas wagon train that was headed for California. Critics charge that the massacre was typical of Mormon "culture of violence," and claim that Church leaders—possibly as high as Brigham Young—approved of, or even ordered the killing.

One of the most tragic and disturbing events in Mormon history took place on 11 September 1857, when approximately 120 men, women and children, traveling through Utah to California were massacred by a force consisting of Mormon militia members and Southern Paiute Indians. The Mountain Meadow Massacre, as it is known, has remained a topic of interest and controversy as Mormons and historians struggle to understand this event, and the Church's detractors seek to exploit it for polemical purposes.

===Setting the stage===
Shortly before July 24th, 1847, the first party of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. These Saints were the first vanguard of Church members who had been driven from Nauvoo, Illinois, by angry mobs. At the time of its first settlement, the area that came to be known as Utah still belonged to Mexico, but was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the end of the Mexican-American War in early 1848. (The treaty ceded all of what would become California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as parts of modern-day Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming.)

Over the next two years the bulk of the Church members who had been driven from Nauvoo reached the valley. Great Salt Lake City was built, and under Brigham Young's direction satellite settlements were established north, south, and west of the city. The sites for these settlements were often chosen because of proximity to an important natural resource; one such resource was the iron ore deposits found in what became known as Iron County in Southern Utah.

The continuation of successful missionary work in the Eastern United States and Europe brought a steady influx of Mormon converts to the Mormon communities; the population continued to grow, and settlement expanded outward into present-day Idaho, Canada, Nevada, California, Arizona, Wyoming, and Northern Mexico.

====The Utah War====

{{SeeAlso|Template:BloodAtonementWiki|l1=Mormon reformation}}

In 1850, Utah was established as a U.S. territory, with Brigham Young as its first governor. Because of its territorial status, the federal government retained the right to appoint officials at various levels, in addition to actual federal offices existing within the territory. While there were, no doubt, many honest public servants among them, a number of the federal appointees to both territorial and federal positions, including some judges, turned out to be both morally venal and abusive of the prerogatives of their offices. Scandals arose over the behavior of some of these men, who left the territory in disgrace. Rather than accepting responsibility for their own failures, a group of them, upon returning to the East, published claims that they had been forcibly expelled, and that the Mormons were rebelling against federal authority.

These claims caused quite an uproar in Washington, where the nascent Republican Party demanded something be done about the Mormons. Acting without benefit of an investigation, U.S. President James Buchanan appointed Alfred Cumming as territorial governor and, on June 29, 1857, ordered federal troops to escort Cumming to Utah. Additionally, Buchanan ordered the cessation of all mail service to Utah in an effort to provide the advantage of surprise for the advancing troops.

Despite the efforts of Buchanan to keep the advance of the army secret, Mormon mail runners notified Brigham Young, the incumbent territorial governor, the very next month that troops were travelling to Utah. He had not been officially notified that he was to be replaced, so he viewed the news—combined with the efforts to hide the movement of the troops—as an act of war by the United States government against the Mormons. Brigham closed all Church missions, instructing all missionaries to return to Utah, and ordered the abandonment of the more isolated Mormon colonies. He prepared to defend the territory against the approaching army by adopting a "scorched earth" policy. He sent small parties to harass the approaching troops with the intent of slowing their progress while he prepared the Saints for the plausible possibility of battles with U.S. troops.

The news of the approaching army spread quickly through the body of the Saints as preparations were made. Many Mormon settlers vividly remembered the hardships of being forcibly (and violently) expelled from Missouri and Illinois, and were resolved not to be driven from their homes again. The mood in the territory was grim and determined. This conflict, known as the Utah War, was ultimately resolved peacefully; but it was into this tense atmosphere the Baker-Fancher train entered in August of 1857.

====The Baker-Fancher Train====
[[Image:Mountain meadows map1-Utah1857.jpg|right|frame|Map showing the area around Mountain Meadows, highlighting the Spanish Trail]]
The Baker-Fancher train consisted of California-bound emigrants, men women and children, who started their journey in Arkansas and Missouri. The exact number of people in the train is estimated at 120, but some reports have put it as high as 140. Led by John T. Baker and Alexander Fancher, the train was reported to have been well-stocked, with plenty of cattle, horses, and mules.

The Baker-Fancher train arrived in Salt Lake City about the end of July 1857, camping west and a little south of the city on the Jordan River. Their arrival did not appear to raise any eyebrows or concerns, as there was no mention of them in the newspapers of the time. The group was advised by Elder Charles C. Rich of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to head toward California by circling around the northern edge of the Great Salt Lake, and they began in that direction. Upon travelling as far as the Bear River, the train decided to take the southern route. This caused them to pass through Salt Lake City again, moving further south through Provo, Springville, and Payson.

There were no reports of problems related to the Baker-Fancher party until they reached Fillmore, about 150 miles south of Salt Lake City. Commencing at this point and through settlements to the south, there were complaints that the emigrants boasted of participating the violence against Mormons in both Missouri and Illinois, that they poisoned a spring, and that they threatened to destroy one of the Mormon settlements.

It was also common knowledge that the train originated in Arkansas, where earlier in the year beloved apostle Parley P. Pratt had been murdered near the town of Van Buren. Rumor had it some of the members of the train were among those who had participated in Pratt's murder, or that they bragged about his killing. There are also reports that some of the emigrants told a few Latter-day Saints that once they had transported their families to California they would return, join the army, and help subdue the Mormons.

Whether there is any truth to these rumors, it is clear the travels of the Baker-Fancher train through southern Utah did not go unnoticed as they were in northern Utah. The presence of the train seemed to exacerbate the tensions already present due to the Utah War.

====Overland Travel Conditions====
Commencing with the opening of Oregon Territory, and accelerated by the discovery of gold in California, large numbers of emigrants crossed the interior of the continent to the West Coast. Before the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, overland travel was both difficult and dangerous. Native Americans, alarmed by the ever-increasing numbers of white settlers crossing their land, frequently attacked emigrant groups. Weather was another potential danger, with winter coming early to the high country and sudden storms occurring during all seasons of the year. For protection against these hazards, emigrants typically banded together in large parties called "wagon trains," covered wagons of the "prairie schooner" type being the most typical vehicles used. The climate made overland travel a seasonal affair as emigrant parties would try to complete their crossings during the warm months. To be caught on the high plains or the mountain passes when winter came was often a deadly mistake.

[[Image:MMMMap2.JPG|frame|left|Mountain Meadows site on modern map.
{{link|url=http://www.entradautah.com/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre_Site}}]]
The Mormon settlements of Utah provided important rest and reprovisioning points for overland travelers. One of the most widely used wagon trails to California branched off the Oregon trail in Northern Utah, running almost due South through Salt Lake City, eventually joining the Old Spanish Trail. Emigrants could purchase foodstuffs and other supplies from businesses in Salt Lake City and other towns, while their animals—both beasts of burden and any livestock—could find excellent grazing at a spot near the west end of the Pine Valley Mountains, about 30 miles west of Cedar City and 28 miles north of St. George, known as ''las Vegas de Santa Clara'' or the Mountain Meadows. It was common for emigrant parties to camp there for several days or even weeks while their animals gained condition for the grueling desert crossings still to come.

===The Main Participants===

{{Main|Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM|l1=Brigham Young ordered Mountain Meadows Massacre?|Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM/Brigham's letter mysteriously lost|l2=Brigham's letter mysteriously lost?}}
There were many participants in the tragedy at Mountain Meadows. The following are considered to be the main participants, from a historical perspective. (The individuals are listed in alphabetical order.)

'''William H. Dame''' was, at the time of the massacre, the commander of the Iron Military District with the militia rank of colonel. He was also serving as president of the Parowan Stake. Initially, he counseled letting the wagon train leave in peace. Later, he decided not to help the emigrants fend off what he thought was an Indian attack unless they requested it. Finally, becoming aware of the true situation at the Mountain Meadows, he reluctantly authorized the use of the militia to finish the massacre in time to avoid discovery. While not at the site until after the massacre, he was, by the standards of military justice applicable both then and now, administratively responsible for the actions of officers and soldiers under his command.

'''Isaac C. Haight''' was a major over the Second Battalion in the Iron County militia and president of the Cedar City stake. Haight was the mastermind behind the massacre. After being denied permission to use the militia, Haight recruited John D. Lee and others to incite the Indians to attack the train. Efforts to bring Haight and others to justice after the massacre proved to be fruitless.

'''John H. Higbee''' was a major over the Third Battalion in the Iron County militia and town marshal of Cedar City. His ecclesiastical position was first counselor in the stake presidency of Isaac C. Haight. After a failed attempt to arrest rowdy members of the train for criminal offenses, he conspired with Haight to punish the wagon train. When Dame permitted, Higbee led troops to the Meadows carrying orders to completely destroy the wagon train.

'''Philip Klingensmith''' was a bishop in Cedar City and private in the Iron County militia. In this latter role, he carried orders and other messages between various militia officers. He was present at the massacre and subsequently turned states' evidence, but his testimony was of no real help to the authorities.

'''John Doyle Lee''' was a major over the Fourth Battalion in the Iron County militia. At the Mountain Meadows, Lee led Indians and other Mormons in the early unsuccessful stages of the siege. After Higbee's arrival with reinforcements, Lee convinced the emigrants to surrender their weapons under false pretenses. Lee was the only person ever brought to trial for his involvement in the massacre.

===The Massacre===
As the Baker-Fancher train camped at Mountain Meadows, some of the residents of Cedar City and the surrounding areas determined that some action needed to be taken against the emigrants. The heightened anxiety brought on by rumors swirling about the train, the advancing federal troops, the drought that many had suffered through for the year, and the memories of violence in Missouri and Illinois all combined in an explosive atmosphere; yet the residents were unclear on what action they should take.

This excellent summary of events in the days immediately preceding the massacre is provided by Robert H. Briggs:

:On or about 2 September 1857, some encounters between individuals in the Fancher train and others in the Mormon iron mining settlement of Cedar City sparked an angry reaction among the Mormon settlers. By Friday, 4 September, however, militia leaders in Cedar City had decided against direct Mormon interference with the train. Thus, Major (also stake president) Isaac Haight dispatched couriers to Pinto, a new settlement near the California Road directly west of Cedar City. The couriers, Joel White and Philip Klingensmith, carried orders for settlers there to not interfere with the approaching emigrant train. Meanwhile, however, a pivotal meeting occurred that same evening in Cedar City between Major Isaac Haight of the Second Battalion and Major John D. Lee of the Fourth. What emerged was a plan to incite local Paiute Indians to gather at Mountain Meadows with Lee as their leader. Lee departed in the early hours of Saturday, 5 September. Evidently, Lee had no further contact with militia leaders at Cedar for the better part of the next four days.

:Lee returned home to Fort Harmony and laid over on Saturday and part of Sunday, making preparations. He departed for the Meadows on Sunday and arrived there later that afternoon or evening. Other couriers carried word to outlying settlements, each relaying that Indians were to be assembled. There was some confusion about exactly where this rendezvous was to occur. Many Paiutes from the region of Cedar and Fort Harmony were sent to Mountain Meadows. Other bands along the Santa Clara River were urged to gather at Santa Clara Canyon (west of present Veyo).

:Similar preparations continued in Cedar City over the weekend but came to a halt in mid-afternoon on Sunday, 6 September. During the usual council meeting of community leaders from Cedar City and outlying settlements, Laban Morrill lead a faction which heatedly opposed Isaac Haight’s plan. Morrill extracted a promise from Haight that no aggressive action would be taken against any emigrants until they had sought the advice of President Brigham Young. Thus, as things stood in Cedar City, the plan was off.

:All of this was unknown to John D. Lee. At that moment, Lee was en route to the Mountain Meadows, his adopted Indian son in tow to act as interpreter. They met up with Paiute bands at Mountain Meadows that afternoon or evening. One line of evidence suggests that Santa Clara Canyon, roughly a dozen miles south of Mountain Meadows, was where the planned attack would occur. Yet early Monday morning, 7 September, Lee’s Paiute auxiliary force attacked the emigrant encampment at the southern tip of Mountain Meadows. We will probably never know for certain whether Lee attacked according to a preconceived plan or, driven by some personal desire or impulse, attacked on his own initiative. In any case, as things stood at the Meadows, the attack was on.

:Activity erupted throughout Southern Utah. In Cedar City, Major Haight dispatched the youthful Englishman James Haslam to Great Salt Lake City for orders from President Young. Haight also sent an express via Joseph Clews to Amos Thornton at Pinto which Thornton was to relay. In it, Haight ordered Lee to "keep the Indians off the emigrants and protect them from harm until further orders." Thornton rode to the Meadows but searched in vain for Lee. Unbeknownst to Thornton, Lee had gone south, spending the night near Santa Clara Canyon with Mormon militiamen and the Paiute allies he encountered there. This group arrived at the Meadows on Tuesday afternoon, 8 September. That is the earliest Lee could have received an express that the planned attack had been postponed.

:There were additional expresses between Tuesday, 8 September and Thursday, 10 September. The most significant of these was one from militia headquarters in Parowan which conveyed the ambiguous order to save emigrants lives yet not to precipitate a war with the Indians under any circumstances.<ref>{{Sunstone|author=Robert Briggs|num=125|article=Wrestling Brigham: Review of ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows'', by Will Bagley|date=December 2002|start=62|end=66}} A longer version was published as "Mountain Meadows and The Craft of History" and was available on sunstoneonline.com.</ref>

In a meeting at Cedar City on the afternoon of September 6, 1857, local leaders received word the wagon train at Mountain Meadows had been surrounded by Paiute Indians who were determined to attack the emigrants. (Some historians are undecided as to whether Paiute Indians were actually involved in the massacre at all; some assert that it was white men disguised as Indians.) The leaders decided that they needed to ask Brigham Young what to do, so they dispatched a fast rider to Salt Lake City with a message to that effect. James H. Haslam, the messenger, left on Monday, September 7, and made the 300-mile journey in just a little more than three days. Within an hour he had an answer from Brigham Young and began the journey back to Cedar City. Young's message said, in part, "In regard to the emigration trains passing through our settlements, we must not interfere with them until they are first notified to keep away. You must not meddle with them. The Indians we expect will do as they please but you should try and preserve good feelings with them." Unfortunately, the messenger arrived back in Cedar City two days after the massacre, on September 13, 1857.

As Haslam was leaving for Salt Lake City on September 7, the Indians' attack commenced. Several of the emigrants were killed, as were several of the Indians, producing a stalemate situation. The emigrants circled their wagons and dug into a rifle pit and the Indians sent a call to the surrounding country for reinforcements. They also sent for John D. Lee, an area farmer on friendly terms with the Indians. According to Lee's later court testimony, the Indians asked him to help with the attack. Lee instead sent word to Cedar City on September 10, asking what should be done.

It is at this point that the exact nature of the events becomes unclear; most details being provided by Lee, and the veracity of his testimony is naturally suspect. He indicated that in short order there were quite a few other Indians and white settlers who had joined the group outside of the siege. The night of September 10 and the following morning the whites debated what to do. It appears that one incident which factored into their eventual murderous decision was the killing, the night before, of one of the emigrants by white men. It appears that two men from the Baker-Fancher party left the camp, evaded those surrounding their camp, and started toward Cedar City to request help. Within a few miles the two met three white men, whom they asked for help, but then they were attacked by the white men. One of the two was killed, and the other was able to make his way back to the Baker-Fancher party.

How could such news factor into the decision to massacre the emigrants? There is no doubt the news that both Indians and white men—Mormons—were attacking the emigrants was not well received. If any of the emigrants should escape to California and tell the story, prejudice against the Mormons—already quite high—would be incited and there would be greater likelihood that a military force would move upon the southern settlements from the west. Facing down an army from the east might be bearable, but facing one from both the east and the west could seem unbearable.

Such reasoning does not excuse the decision the white men in the area made; it is only mentioned as a factor in understanding some of the excitement and the hysteria enveloping those in the area. The decision was apparently made on the morning of September 11 to destroy all in the Baker-Fancher party over the age of seven. To effect the massacre with a minimum of loss among the white men, it was decided to lure the emigrants out of their circled wagons and into the open. In the words of B.H. Roberts,

:The conception was diabolical; the execution of it horrible; and the responsibility for both must rest upon those men who conceived and executed it; for whatever of initiative may or may not have been taken by the Indians in the first assault upon these emigrants, responsibility for this deliberately planned massacre rests not with them.<ref>{{CHC1|vol=4|start=156}}</ref>

Thus it was that on September 11, a flag of truce was carried to the Baker-Fancher party by William Bateman. He was met outside the camp by one of the emigrants, a Mr. Hamilton, and an arrangement was made for John D. Lee to speak to the emigrants. Lee described to them a plan to get them through the hostile Indians. The plan involved the emigrants giving up their arms, loading the wounded into wagons, and then being followed by the women and the older children, with the men bring up the rear of the company in single-file order. In return for compliance with these terms, the white men would give the emigrants safe conduct back to Cedar City where they would be protected until they could continue their journey to California.

The emigrants agreed, the wagons were brought forward and loaded with the wounded and the weapons, and the procession started toward Cedar City. Within a short distance, one armed white man was positioned near each of the Baker-Fancher party adults, ostensibly for protection. When all was in place, a pre-determined signal was given and each of the armed white men turned, shot, and killed each of the unarmed Baker-Fancher party members. Within three to five minutes the entire massacre of men, women, and older children was complete. The only members of the original party remaining were those children judged to be under eight years old, numbering about 17 persons.

===The Aftermath===
After the massacre, local leaders attempted to portray the killings as solely the act of Indians. This effort began almost immediately, with John D. Lee's report to Brigham Young. It wasn't long, however, before charges started to surface that Indians were not the only participants, but that there were whites involved. Responding to the charges that whites were involved, Brigham Young urged Governor Cumming to investigate the matter fully. However, the governor maintained that if whites were involved, they would be pardoned under the general amnesty granted by the governor to the Mormons in June 1858. This amnesty was issued at the behest of U.S. President James Buchanan, and covered all hostile acts against the United States by any persons in the course of the Utah War.

Most scholars recognize that there was a local cover-up of the massacre. What there is disagreement on is how involved higher Church leaders were in any cover-up. Some have concluded that Brigham Young, himself, was involved in a cover-up, but others argue that the evidence does not support such a conclusion. It is known that Brigham was not privy to the full details at first; he was told that only Indians were involved. In April 1894 Wilford Woodruff stated the following concerning the massacre and Brigham Young's supposed involvement:

:One instance I will name here: A man went around Nauvoo asking every man he could, saying, "You come and be adopted to me, and I shall stand at the head of the kingdom, and you will be there with me." Now, what is the truth about this? Those who were adopted to that man, if they go with him, will have to go where he is. He was a participator in that horrible scene--the Mountain Meadow massacre. Men have tried to lay that to President Young. I was with President Young when the massacre was first reported to him. President Young was perfectly horrified at the recital of it, and wept over it. He asked: "Was there any white man had anything to do with that?" The reply was No; and by the representations then made to him he was misinformed concerning the whole transaction. I will say here, and call heaven and earth to witness, that President Young, during his whole life, never was the author of the shedding of the blood of any of the human family; and when the books are opened in the day of judgment these things will be proven to heaven and earth. Perhaps I had not ought to enter into these things, but it came to me.<ref>{{CD|author=Wilford Woodruff|date=8 April 1894|article=The Law of Adoption|vol=4|start=72|end=73}}</ref>

Most historians have followed Juanita Brooks, who concluded that Brigham did not know about the massacre before-hand, and was horrified to learn of it.<ref>Juanita Brooks, ''The Mountain Meadows Massacre'' (1950; reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 219</ref>

Of course, it wasn't just Indians who were involved. The best available evidence supports two levels of cover-up: (1) concerted denials of guilt by massacre participants, including attempts to shift the blame to their erstwhile Indian allies, and (2) attempts by Mormons not involved in the massacre to shield accused persons from capture or prosecution. The latter actions did not normally arise out of any approval for the massacre, and indeed were usually undertaken without knowledge of the guilt of the persons being shielded; rather they reflected a feeling of community solidarity versus the coercive power of an often-hostile government, and a pervasive mistrust of U.S. authorities and their willingness or ability to ensure that Mormon defendants would receive a fair trial. Accusations of any more substantial cover-up, either by the Mormon Church as an institution, or by its highest leaders, are not supported by the available evidence.
</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Qué es la Masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

Mountain Meadows Massacre/Personalities

2024-02-10T21:04:27Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

#REDIRECT[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Mountain Meadows Massacre/Brigham Young

2024-02-10T21:04:01Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

#REDIRECT[[Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:03:49Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}
==Question: Did Brigham Young block prosecution of the individuals responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?==
===Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) makes it clear that federal prosecutors are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice===

Critics charge that Brigham Young blocked prosecution of those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

LaJean Purcell Carruth deciphered Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) written in Deseret Alphabet. This newly discovered information makes it clear that federal prosecutors —not Brigham Young!—-are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice.<ref>This section is derived, with permission, from David Keller, "[http://www.fairblog.org/2008/01/16/thomas-alexanders-arrington-lecture-on-the-mmm/ Thomas Alexander’s Arrington Lecture on the MMM]," ''fairblog'' (16 January 2008). Due to the nature of a wiki project, it may have had alterations and additions since that time.</ref> Thomas Alexander writes:

<blockquote>
On July 5, 1859, after the public knew that Cumming had received word from Washington placing the army under the governor’s control, Young met with George A. Smith, Albert Carrington, and James Ferguson. They discussed the “reaction to the Mountain Meadow Massacre.” Young told them that US. attorney Alexander Wilson had called “to consult with him about making some arrests of” the accused.[95]

On the same day, Wilson had met with Young. Young told him “that if the judges would open a court at Parowan or some other convenient location in the south, .. . unprejudiced and uninfluenced by. . . the army, so that man could have a fair and impartial trial He would go there himself, and he presumed that Gov. Cumming would also go . . . ” He “would use all his influence to have the parties arrested and have the whole. . . matter investigated thoroughly and impartially and justice meted out to every man.” Young said he would not exert himself, however, “to arrest men to be treated like dogs and dragged about by the army, and confined and abused by them,’ presumably referring to the actions of Cradlebaugh and the army in Provo. Young said that if the judges and army treated people that way, the federal officials “must hunt them up themselves.”[96]

Wilson agreed that it was unfair “to drag men and their witnesses 200 or 300 miles to trial.” Young said “the people wanted a fair and impartial court of justice, like they have in other states and territories, and if he had anything to do with it, the army must keep its place.” Wilson said he felt “the proposition was reasonable and he would propose it to the judges.”[97]

Now confident that the army would not intrude and abuse or murder Mormons, and that the US. attorney and governor would support them, the church leaders lent their influence to bringing the accused into court. On June 15, 1859, to prepare the way for the administration of justice, Brigham Young had told George A. Smith and Jacob Hamblin that “as soon as a Court of Justice could be held, so that men could be heard without the influence of the military he should advise men accused to come forward and demand trial on the charges preferred against them for the Mountain Meadow Massacre” as he had previously done. Then he again sent George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman south, this time to urge those accused of the crime to prepare for trial and to try to suppress Mormon-authored crime[98].<ref>Thomas G. Alexander, ''Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Latter-Day Saint Investigation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre: Arrington Lecture No. Twelve'' (Arrington Lecture Series) (Utah State Special Collection, 2007), ISBN 0874216877. Alexander's footnotes are below:
*[95] Historian’s Office Journal. July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet entry.
*[96] Ibid..
*[97] Ibid.
*[98] Historian’s Office Journal, May 25, June 18, and July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet; George A. Smith so William H. Dame, June 19, 1859, Historian’s Office Letterpress copybooks 1854—1879, 1885—1886, 2:127, LDS Church Archives; Lee, Mormon Chronicle, 1:214 (August 5[6], 1859).</ref>
</blockquote>

However, Utah's governor felt that any such crimes would be covered by the post-Utah war amnesty.

{{Main|Mountain_Meadows_Massacre#The_Aftermath|l1=Mountain Meadows: The Aftermath}}

===Did the Mormons try to block prosecution?===

{{Main|Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church blocked prosecution|l1=Church blocked prosecution?}}

===A deal with Brigham Young and the Church?===

{{main|Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?|l1=Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Mountain Meadows Massacre/Prosecution/Was prosecution blocked by the Church
|subject=Was prosecution blocked by the Church?
|summary=Critics charge that actions of the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}

==Question: Was prosecution of those responsible for Mountain Meadows Massacre blocked by the Church?==
===There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators===

It is claimed that actions of Brigham Young and the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators. There is substantial evidence that poor federal organization, infighting, and refusal to deputize LDS lawmen played a role in slowing the process. When presented with evidence by lawful authorities, LDS juries returned indictments.

* The post-Utah war amnesty led some non-members to believe that the massacre was covered under the presidential amnesty.
* There was a long-running dispute over jurisdiction and tactics between the judiciary and the executive (i.e., federal prosecutor) branches. This had nothing to do with the Mormons, but hampered prosecution.
* Disputes between the above groups also led to difficulties with the army, something also not under Mormon control or influence.
* Judges' meddling in the arrest process made it virtually impossible to properly arrest and indict perpetrators.
* The grand jury in southern Utah was never asked to indict anyone for the Massacre during their first session. When presented with the opportunity, they returned indictments later that same year.
* The Mormons did not, as claimed, insist on the right to dictate who sat on petit juries. Other federal officials declared this to be completely false.
* Federal officials and judges refused to deputize or use LDS lawmen to make arrests.
* The U.S. attorney general refused the district attorney's request to reopen the investigation in 1872—once again, this was beyond the Mormons' control or influence.
* Brigham Young had been relieved of his position as territorial governor. He had no secular authority to directly arrest or charge perpetrators.

One reviewer described the difficulties with this theory: <ref>{{FR-15-2-11}} Headings and minor punctuation changes for clarity have been added; footnotes have been omitted. Readers are advised to consult the original review.</ref>

===The Amnesty===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' has charged high-ranking church officials with two decades of obstructing the federal investigation. Bagley's emphasis is in Mormon history, so he sometimes shows his lack of breadth in political and social matters that originate outside the Great Basin. One of the areas in which he displays this weakness is his failure to discuss the effect of President Buchanan's general amnesty upon the massacre prosecutions (p. 205).

:[U.S. President] Buchanan issued an amnesty for all crimes of the Mormons related to the claimed acts of sedition and treason [during the U.S. army's assignment to Utah in the abortive "Utah War"]. Governor Alfred Cumming announced a broad interpretation of that amnesty to the Saints on 14 June 1858. Certainly, by the date of the amnesty, federal officials believed that Mormons had directed the massacre, and they believed that John D. Lee was one of the leaders. One might reasonably conclude that the amnesty was intended to cover the massacre participants.

:Some in the federal government and the press believed that Buchanan intended to pardon the massacre perpetrators. Indian superintendent Jacob Forney was so upset with U.S. District Court Judge John Cradlebaugh's massacre investigation that he cursed Cradlebaugh's name, citing the amnesty as the basis for his objections, or so we are told from a source hostile to Forney. Non-Mormon U.S. District Attorney Alexander Wilson and non-Mormon U.S. District Court Judge Charles C. Sinclair disagreed over the application of the amnesty, with Wilson refusing to present to the jury bills of indictment. ''Harper's Weekly'' noted the conflict over the amnesty in the prosecution of the massacre. ''The New York Post'' opined that the amnesty excused the massacre crimes because it was an aspect of the Utah war intended to come within the amnesty's scope. It is no wonder that prosecution was uncertain. But, given the controversy the amnesty sparked in the Eastern press with regard to the massacre investigation, it seems that ''Blood of the Prophets'' would have discussed it. This is a significant omission.

===Disputes between the executive and judicial branches===

:The presidential amnesty contributed to the lengthy delay in federal prosecution. In addition, the federal judiciary and federal prosecutor fought over control of the massacre investigation. This internecine dispute stymied federal investigation of the massacre for several years. Bagley does not discuss this feud as a source for delay.

:At the national level in the early nineteenth century, the federal judiciary and the prosecutors repeatedly jockeyed for power in ways that would appear unseemly today. Thomas Jefferson said that the "great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting with noiseless foot & unalarming advance, [is] gaining ground step by step. . . . Let the eye of vigilance never be closed." He condemned the judiciary's usurpation of the legislative prerogatives with its pious interpretation of its own brand of Christianity.55 The U.S. Constitution gives little direction to the judiciary compared to what it gives to the legislative and executive branches. The Hamiltonian Federalists saw the federal judiciary as a way to expand federal power and to crush state self-determinism (read: slavery). The Jeffersonian republicans believed states' rights were paramount except as to powers specifically delegated to the federal government. The Federalist judiciary gained the upper hand with the enforcement of the Sedition Act of 4 July 1798, which crushed Jeffersonian dissent. As historian James Simon explains, their "blatantly partisan actions [of stifling criticism of the John Adams administration] in pursuit of convictions under the Sedition Act reinforced Jefferson's profound distrust of the federal judiciary." Supreme Court Justice Salmon Chase's prosecutions under the Sedition Act, while a sitting Supreme Court justice, were notorious, eventually leading to an attempt to remove him by impeachment.

:Utah's federal judges replayed this high national drama on a frontier stage. As with the amnesty, Blood of the Prophets fails to see the broad political and social issues of the struggle for federal power. Brigham Young's demand for local self-determinism replaced Thomas Jefferson's urbane urge for state self-determinism. Polygamy, rather than slavery, was an affront to federal power and needed to be crushed. In the early days of Utah, federal judges of questionable character—a point Van Vliet conceded—directed the investigation of crime, requested army troops to march against the local citizenry, harangued citizens in their places of worship about the lack of virtue in their plural wives, and testified in Congress about Mormon debauchery. These judicial efforts to crush the Mormon theocracy would be unthinkable today in any social context.

:''Blood of the Prophets'' accepts Cradlebaugh's account of the dispute uncritically, condemning the U.S. district attorney as "pliant" (p. 235) and "'closely allied to the Mormons by some mysterious tie'" (p. 217) for failing to do anything about the massacre. Citing Cradlebaugh and Sinclair, we are told that Wilson's "whole course of conduct has been marked with culpable timidity and neglect." Bagley would have us believe that the U.S. district attorney was too cozy with the Mormons and that the Mormons lobbied him to ignore the massacre.

:The official correspondence, however, shows that the executive and judicial branches of government distrusted each other and that neither was effective in the prosecution of the massacre. The purported investigation began, at least in Cradlebaugh's view, with grand jury proceedings from 8 to 21 March 1859 in Provo. Mormon accounts say Cradlebaugh called out the army to terrorize the local Provo population with the might of federal power. Cradlebaugh and Bagley assert that the troops were necessary to protect the court and witnesses from Mormon Danite assassins. Governor Cumming sided with the Mormons, who were outraged with Cradlebaugh's use of the troops. Cumming believed that he, as the federal executive, had the sole civilian authority to call out the troops in the Territory.

:Attorney General Black in Washington, D.C., said that it was not Cradlebaugh's job to determine whom to prosecute or when to call out the troops. He instructed U.S. District Attorney Wilson to "oppose every effort which any judge may make to usurp your functions. . . . If the judges will confine themselves to the simple and plain duty imposed upon them by law of hearing and deciding the cases that are brought before them, I am sure that the business of the Territory will get along very well."

:President Buchanan approved of Wilson's efforts to resist the judiciary's incursion into his prerogatives and the use of federal troops. General Albert Sidney Johnston, commanding Camp Floyd, implied that he was unhappy being called into the fray to support the judiciary.

:Black attempted to rein in the Utah judges, explaining to them the judiciary's function to "hear patiently the causes brought before them." The executive branch has a "public accuser, and a marshal." As the U.S. Supreme Court said in an 1868 landmark case, public prosecutions are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. district attorney until indicted offenses are in trial before a petit jury. Judges have no role in prosecutions until then.

:Addressing a defensive letter to President Buchanan, Cradlebaugh and fellow judge Charles Sinclair admitted that "the difficulty [which has] arisen between the judiciary and executive is deeply to be deplored." Nonetheless, the judges attacked Governor Cumming and U.S. District Attorney Wilson for failing to faithfully execute their duties, especially in connection with the 1859 Provo grand jury.

:Cradlebaugh's grasping for prosecutorial power made prosecution nigh impossible. Prosecutors must work with judges to obtain warrants and convene grand juries, but Cradlebaugh would not cooperate. He complained to Buchanan that Wilson refused to execute (i.e., serve) bench warrants for witnesses, but Wilson countered that Cradlebaugh would not give him the warrants for execution. Wilson wanted the massacre grand jury to be empanelled in southern Utah, close to the scene. He also urged the Justice Department to provide funds "to enable the officers of the court to make a patient and thorough search for evidence." Cradlebaugh (remember, he is the judge, not the prosecutor) responded to Wilson's request by traveling to Santa Clara and issuing arrest warrants in 1859. None of them were executed. Why not? Cradlebaugh failed to include in his entourage the person with prosecutorial discretion, the U.S. district attorney. He further refused to respond to Wilson's request for information about the warrants so that they could be served. Cradlebaugh also refused to tell Wilson about his activities in Santa Clara. Blood of the Prophets does not explain how the prosecutor could be expected to prosecute when the judge shuts him out of the process.

:The significance of this episode is unmistakable. The prosecution delayed as it resisted the judiciary's grasping for control of the massacre investigation. This material escapes Bagley.

===Mormons would not indict in 1859 grand jury?===

:According to Bagley, the 8—21 March 1859 grand jury proceedings in Provo provide a lurid but relevant detour in the story of the massacre prosecutions. He uses the story of the grand jury to show that Mormons obstructed prosecutions by refusing to indict their own for the massacre and for other crimes. The book claims that the grand jury "'utterly refused to do anything'" about the massacre and other crimes against non-Mormons. Thus the federal grand jury "ground to a halt" (p. 218). The implication of Bagley's claim is that church authorities instructed grand jurors to obstruct voting when bills for indictment against Mormons were presented to them. Bagley, however, has missed primary source material which contradicts his conclusions.

:This tale of the grand jury is central to one of Bagley's more salacious themes. ''Blood of the Prophets'' paints a picture of a community of priests dripping in gentile blood, with Mormon laity thumbing their noses as federal authorities sought to staunch the flow. Bagley and Cradlebaugh make much of the all-Mormon Provo grand jury's failure to return any criminal indictments, including in the notorious Parrish and Potter case and the Henry Jones case. Blood of the Prophets does not have the facts right in the Henry Jones case, confusing it with a different and unrelated crime. Bagley tells us that church authorities obstructed not only the massacre investigation, but also the investigation of other notorious crimes for which, he says, there were never any indictments (pp. 75—76).

:The official correspondence refutes these claims. Bagley has the facts wrong because he does not rely upon the official files. U.S. District Attorney Wilson's diary (again, it was his duty to bring indictments, not Cradlebaugh's) and his report to the U.S. attorney general indicate that no indictment was obtained from the Provo grand jury for the Mountain Meadows Massacre because none was requested by the U.S. district attorney. Yes, Judge Cradlebaugh may have asked for indictments in his initial charge, but this was an empty request because it was not his lawful request to make. It was U.S. District Attorney Wilson's job alone to control the grand jury's reception of evidence and the timing of decision. Wilson never asked the grand jury to indict for massacre offenses. The grand jury's term was occupied with other crimes, and then Cradlebaugh discharged the grand jury before Wilson could ask the grand jury to act. An army officer, familiar with the proceedings, opined that the reason Cradlebaugh dismissed the grand jury precipitously was not that Cradlebaugh was upset with its performance, but that General Johnston withdrew Cradlebaugh's army escort. In addition, when a second grand jury was empanelled in 1859, no indictments were sought for the massacre. Yet, Bagley would have us believe on the sole basis of Cradlebaugh's claims that the grand juries refused to indict for the massacre.

:Just as Bagley has the facts wrong about the 1859 grand jury's treatment of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, so does he miss important facts about the grand jury's treatment of other crimes. The second 1859 grand jury handed down indictments for the Parrish and Potter and the Henry Jones cases, yet Bagley tells us that no indictments were ever obtained for these crimes.

===Church would not help capture fugitives?===

:Bagley claims that high Mormon officials refused to cooperate in apprehending the massacre fugitives. For example, Cradlebaugh reports that he told Buchanan that church officials offered to produce fugitives upon condition that the church dictate the composition of the petit juries. Bagley does not tell us that U.S. District Attorney Wilson declared this "an unqualified falsehood." Mormons did no such thing.

:The federal judiciary denied Mormon law enforcement officers the power to assist federal officers in the pursuit of criminal convictions. Governor Cumming complained that the federal judges refused to admit to the bar federal territorial prosecutors. Indeed, Cradlebaugh and fellow judges refused to permit the Mormon territorial attorney (even though he was technically an officer of the United States) to enter their courtrooms and present bills for indictments.

:U.S. District Attorney Wilson attempted to persuade non-Mormon Deputy U.S. Marshal William Rodgers to effect service of process upon massacre participants. Rodgers rebuffed the request, claiming a lack of resources. Then, on 6 August 1858, Wilson told the federal marshal that the Mormon territorial marshal, John Kay, would accomplish the investigations and the arrests. According to Wilson, "Kay was a Mormon, had a knowledge of the country and of the people, and expressed a determination, if legally deputized, to make arrests if possible." But, Rodgers refused to deputize Kay on the ground that Kay "was a Mormon." For the federal government, a crook on the lam was better than a crook collared by a Mormon.

:The federal marshal was also less than diligent, frequently complaining about a lack of pay. However, federal surveyors had no difficulty locating and using the services of the fugitives. The surveyors' accounts mock the progress of the investigation, recounting jokes with and pranks upon the fugitives. Additionally, in 1872, the U.S. attorney general denied a request by the U.S. district attorney to reopen the investigation of the massacre.

:As another example of silly officiousness, immediately prior to Lee's first trial in 1875, lawyers Jabez Sutherland and George C. Bates offered to surrender indictees William Stewart, Isaac Haight, George Adair, and John Higbee in return for accommodating their request for bail. U.S. District Judge Jacob Boreman was incensed with this proposal, refused it, and instead commenced disbarment proceedings against these lawyers. Blood of the Prophets touches on this briefly but not fairly (p. 290). Although a defense lawyer may not shield a fugitive, it is common for fugitives to negotiate the terms of their surrender indirectly through lawyers. Judge Boreman's 13 February 1875 letter to Sutherland and Bates shows that the judiciary petulantly refused to deal with Mormons or even attorneys for Mormons. The judge condemned Sutherland for taking on a Mormon as a client because Mormons have "the very soul of corruption." Boreman's refusal to discuss bail is ironic in light of the bail he later granted Lee.

:Federal judges denied Mormons permission to assist federal officials with criminal prosecutions. These judges considered Mormons as disloyal "foreigners," as un-American, "perverted, oppressed, [and] alien." Mormons could not be trusted to do anything, including fight crime. Avoiding collaboration with the Mormons was of greater social value than justice.

:Bagley fails to report accurately early efforts at apprehension. Skipping over legitimate offers of help, Bagley accuses the church of obstructing justice by frustrating the investigation. That is not appropriate, given the evidence.

===Brigham Young took no official action?===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' criticizes Brigham Young for doing nothing in his official capacity to prosecute the massacre (p. 379). Young, however, explained that he took no official governmental action against the perpetrators because President Buchanan stripped him of these powers and Governor Cumming possessed all the powers of the executive. Once he was stripped of civil power, the church may have well taken the position that the Mormon prophet's control over wrongdoers was limited to the remedies specified in section 134 of the church's Doctrine and Covenants. Nothing required Brigham Young to hunt down the participants and turn them over to the very powers seeking to jail him for bigamy (see D&C 134:4).

:There is no competent evidence of a Mormon cabal to influence the executive branch to delay prosecution. There is much speculation, but nothing more. The Eastern press occasionally blamed the delay upon the Buchanan and subsequent administrations. The will to prosecute was not there. Both Cradlebaugh and Wilson gave up and left town before the Civil War. [article cited ends here]

{{endnotes sources}}

==Other Resources==
{{ChurchResponseBar
|link=http://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/09/the-mountain-meadows-massacre?lang=eng
|title=The Mountain Meadows Massacre
|author=Richard G. Turley, Jr. (Managing Director, Family and Church History Department)
|publication=Ensign
|date=September 2007
|summary=
President Young’s express message of reply to Haight, dated September 10, arrived in Cedar City two days after the massacre. His letter reported recent news that no U.S. troops would be able to reach the territory before winter. “So you see that the Lord has answered our prayers and again averted the blow designed for our heads,” he wrote.
<br>
“In regard to emigration trains passing through our settlements,” Young continued, “we must not interfere with them untill they are first notified to keep away. You must not meddle with them. The Indians we expect will do as they please but you should try and preserve good feelings with them. There are no other trains going south that I know of[.] [I]f those who are there will leave let them go in peace. While we should be on the alert, on hand and always ready we should also possess ourselves in patience, preserving ourselves and property ever remembering that God rules.”
}}

{{SummaryItem
|link=Brigham_Young_ordered_MMM
|subject=Brigham Young ordered Mountain Meadows Massacre?
|summary=It is claimed that Brigham Young ordered the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows/Omissions/Indians as instrument of vengeance
|subject=Amerindians as instrument of vengeance?
|summary=It is claimed that nineteenth-century Mormons saw Indians as a divine weapon given them to wreak vengeance on their persecutors. These beliefs, it is claimed, led to the Church and Brigham Young using the Indians for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Use_of_sources/Allies_or_grain
|subject=Huntington diary says Indians to "raise allies" for the planned massacre?
|summary=Will Bagley claims that Dimmick Huntington's journal discusses Indians raising "allies" to help in the massacre at Mountain Meadows which he claims Brigham is orchestrating.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Use_of_sources/Indian_chief_Arapeen_given_booty
|subject=Indian chief Arapeen given booty from Massacre?
|summary=Brigham Young is claimed to have given the Indian chief Arapeen spoils from the Mountain Meadows Massacre
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Omissions/Tutsegabit_and_Youngwuds_at_Mountain_Meadows
|subject=Indian chiefs Tutsegabit and Youngwuds sent by Brigham to Mountain Meadows?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Omissions/Tutsegabit_and_Youngwuds_at_Mountain_Meadows
|subject=Indian chief Tutsegabit "rewarded" for massacre with priesthood ordination?
|summary=The author claims that Brigham met with two Indian chiefs (Tutsegabit and Youngwuds) on 1 September, who then participated in the massacre and later "rewarded" Indian chief Tutsegabit for his role in the massacre by ordaining him to the priesthood.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Mountain Meadows massacre/Brigham Young/Did Brigham order it/Brigham's letter mysteriously lost
|subject=Brigham's letter mysteriously lost?
|summary=It is claimed that Brigham Young's letter telling Mormons in southern Utah to leave the immigrants alone is of dubious providence.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=One_Nation_Under_Gods/Use_of_sources/Brigham_Young_orders_MMM_monument_demolished
|subject=Brigham Young ordered MMM memorial demolished?
|summary= It is claimed that when Brigham Young visited the site in 1860 and saw the monument, he "ordered the monument and cross torn down" and demolished.
}}
{{SummaryItem2
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre
|subject=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church blocked prosecution
|subject=Church blocked prosecution?
|summary=It is claimed that actions of the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church interference in trials
|subject=Church interference in trials?
|summary=It is claimed that Brigham Young blocked prosecution of those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Deal with Brigham Young
|subject=Deal with Brigham Young for massacre prosecution?
|summary=It is claimed that only a corrupt "deal" with Brigham Young allowed prosecutors to charge and convict anyone with the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Dictate to jurors?
|subject=Frank Lee evidence?
|summary=Blood of the Prophets tells us that William Bishop, Lee's attorney, claims that he had an agreement with local church authorities to select particular persons as jurors (p. 302). If Bishop asserts, which he really does not, that local church leaders agreed with him to dictate to jurors the outcome of the case, Bishop would be admitting to a crime at the most and grounds for disbarment at the least.
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young
|subject=John D. Lee scapegoated?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Judge_and_the_deal.3F
|subject=Judge and the deal?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Bagley's Evidence of a Deal
|subject=Prosecutors bribed?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Dictate to jurors?
|subject=Prosecution dictated to jurors?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Brigham_Young_and_the_prosecution_of_Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/Deal_with_Brigham_Young#Witnesses told what to say?
|subject=Witnesses told what to say?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=One_Nation_Under_Gods/Use_of_sources/Orders_to_Starve_Gentiles
|subject=Orders to starve Gentiles?
|summary
}}
{{SummaryItem3
|link=Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Use_of_sources/Rape_by_Albert_Hamblin
|subject=Rape by Albert Hamblin?
|summary=It is claimed that Jacob Hamblin's son Albert raped two women at the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and Jacob was later to blame these on John D. Lee.
}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=September Dawn
|subject=September Dawn film (2007)
|summary=Does the film about the Mountain Meadows Massacre accurately portray the historical events?
}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Mormon Reformation
|subject=Brigham and the Mormon Reformation
|summary=Similar charges against Brigham Young stem from the Mormon Reformation period.
}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Brigham Young bloqueó el procesamiento de los individuos responsables de la Masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

[[Category:Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
[[Category:Brigham Young]]

Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T21:02:36Z

DavidSmith: created page

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}

*[[#Colonel Thomas Kane|Colonel Thomas Kane]]
*[[#George A. Smith|George A. Smith]]
*[[#Captain Stewart Van Vliet|Captain Stewart Van Vliet]]

==Colonel Thomas Kane==
Critics who use the Mountain Meadows Massacre to attack the Church often mention non-LDS Col. Thomas Kane. Kane was a good friend to the Mormons prior to Joseph Smith's death, and he was also briefly involved in the Massacre issue. There are two issues raised by critics in conjunction with Kane:
# some blame Kane for helping Brigham Young to cover up the Massacre
# some paint Kane as ridiculous, vain, or foolish—this is apparently done on the theory that anyone who likes or helps the Mormons must either be evil or a dupe.

Noted one reviewer:

<blockquote>
The claim that Kane was responsible for covering up the massacre (p. 47) finds no support in history, nor does Denton cite primary sources for her view other than Kane's participation in advising Young to respond to federal inquiries in 1858 (p. 208). As I point out in my review of Bagley's Blood of the Prophets, the massacre investigation spanned decades and involved sitting presidents, cabinet members, attorneys general, federal district attorneys, federal marshals, territorial marshals, and more. Kane was out of the picture shortly after the massacre." <ref>{{FR-16-1-9}}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Negative portrayal===

Denton's ''American Massacre'' portrays Kane as arrogant, effeminate, a hypochondriac, and with delusions of fame. Wrote one reviewer of her portrait:

<blockquote>
Denton's discussion of Kane is mercilessly out of context. Biographies and journals of nineteenth-century 'Renaissance' men reveal that many accomplished men adopted what appear today to be affectations of self-importance and prolixity. Stenhouse, no advocate of Brigham Young nor necessarily fair with his sources when discussing Mormonism, treated Kane respectfully in his nineteenth-century work, ''Rocky Mountain Saints''. Stenhouse tells us that 'in the relations of Col. Kane with the Mormons at that time, there was exhibited evidence of the highest Christian charity and personal heroism of character.'" <ref>{{FR-16-1-9}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

==George A. Smith==
Some wish to make Brigham Young and apostle George A. Smith complicit in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Thus, it is claimed that prior to the massacre, George A. Smith is alleged to "have carried orders to Cedar City leaders to incite their people to avenge the blood of the prophets" (Denton, 186).

John D. Lee is wrong on those events which we can verify, and no other evidence supports this claim.

One reviewer dismissed the thin evidence upon which this claim rests:

<blockquote>
"This argument assumes Brigham Young had formulated the plan for destruction when the Fancher train was still in Salt Lake City on 5 August 1857. There is no evidence of material provocation by the Fancher train at this early stage except from persons with no reliable basis upon which to provide testimony....Nobody has ever offered any believable evidence that George A. Smith gave instructions to Haight and Lee to massacre the train. John D. Lee is the only person who purported to offer evidence of these instructions," and Lee had a clear motive to lie to save his own skin and make his memoirs more marketable. "Lee's claim that George A. Smith met Lee in southern Utah on 1 September 1857 (an approximate date deduced from Lee's text) with orders of destruction was impossible because Smith was hundreds of miles away in Salt Lake City on that very day, as well as the day before. <ref>{{FR-15-2-11}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

==Captain Stewart Van Vliet==
From Robert D. Crockett:
<blockquote>
Army Quartermaster Captain Stewart Van Vliet came to Salt Lake City on 8 September and left after midnight on 14 September 1857 to arrange for the advancing army's provisions. Denton tells us that Brigham Young carefully shielded Van Vliet to hear nothing of the massacre, because if Van Vliet came to know about it, "an invasion of Utah Territory would be expedited" (p. 165). There is no historical support for this claim. The claim is also impossible to support. Because the massacre was not over until 11 September 1857,23 there is no possibility that Brigham Young could have known of the massacre before his last meeting with Van Vliet on 13 September 1857." <ref>{{FR-16-1-9}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{endnotes sources}}

Question: Did Brigham Young hide knowledge of the massacre from Captain Stewart Van Vliet?

2024-02-10T21:01:30Z

DavidSmith: Redirected page to Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

#REDIRECT[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Question: Did Brigham Young hide knowledge of the massacre from Captain Stewart Van Vliet?

2024-02-10T21:01:22Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
#REDIRECT[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Question: Did apostle George A. Smith carry orders for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

2024-02-10T21:00:19Z

DavidSmith: Redirected page to Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

#REDIRECT[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Question: Did apostle George A. Smith carry orders for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

2024-02-10T21:00:11Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
#REDIRECT[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Question: Did Colonel Thomas Kane attempt to cover up the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

2024-02-10T20:58:28Z

DavidSmith: Redirected page to Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

#REDIRECT[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Question: Did Colonel Thomas Kane attempt to cover up the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

2024-02-10T20:58:18Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
#REDIRECT[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T20:56:45Z

DavidSmith: header fix

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}

==Question: What happened to the perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre?==
===Some of the principal participants were excommunicated from the Church, while one participant, John D. Lee, was found guilty of murder===

[[Image:LeeGrave.jpg|frame|Marker at grave site of John D. Lee, in Panguitch, Utah]]
Eventually, as more information came to light, some of the principal participants were excommunicated from the Church. One participant, John D. Lee, was found guilty of murder in federal court after twenty years and two trials. The first trial occurred in 1875, before the anti-Mormon judge Jacob Boreman. The prosecutor was an even more notorious anti-Mormon named R. N. Baskin. This official failed to properly try the case against Lee, presented very little evidence against him, and instead focused upon an attempt to prove Brigham Young's complicity in the massacre. This trial ended with a hung jury.

Lee's second trial occurred the following year; the prosecutor was U.S. District Attorney Sumner Howard, and Boreman was again the presiding judge. This time around, the case was properly tried; the jury heard overwhelming evidence against Lee, who was duly convicted and sentenced to be executed for his crime. On March 23, 1877, Lee was executed at Mountain Meadows and buried in Panguitch, Utah. Though other Mormons were certainly as culpable as Lee (he did not act alone), he was the only one executed.

The long hiatus between the massacre and Lee's trial is one of the factors which some feel support the accusations of an institutional cover-up. However, the reasons for this delay suggest otherwise. As mentioned earlier, Governor Alfred Cumming believed the massacre was covered by the Utah Amnesty, thus making any investigation pointless. This belief was shared by a number of eminent legal authorities, including some charged with law enforcement in Utah. The attempts by some politically minded judges, such as John Cradlebaugh, to direct the investigation and prosecution of crime in Utah and conduct "crusades" against the Mormon Church actually hindered, rather than helped, prosecutorial and investigative efforts.

An additional claim sometimes put forward is that Lee was a "scapegoat," that some kind of corrupt agreement existed between Church leaders and territorial authorities to not pursue anyone else. However, the historical records do not back this up. After Lee's execution, territorial authorities wanted to continue the investigations with a view to bringing more of the guilty parties to justice. The official correspondence shows a reward was offered for the capture of Isaac C. Haight, William Stewart and John Higbee, all suspects in the planning and/or execution of the massacre, and that this reward remained on offer for at least seven years. Lee was not tried as a "scapegoat" but as an actual participant in the massacre, evidently the leading participant, who had done more than any other person to bring it about, and who had actually killed five people.

===Polemical Accounts===
Almost as soon as news of the massacre reached the eastern United States, enemies of the Church began exploiting it for polemical purposes. The '''content''' of the various polemical accounts of the massacre varies considerably, but the '''intent''' of the accounts is always and everywhere the same: to explain the massacre as a consequence of the doctrine, beliefs, practices or culture of the Mormon Church, and thus destructive of its truth claims.

When writing about the Mountain Meadows Massacre in his ''Comprehensive History of the Church,'' B.H. Roberts stated that he

:recognizes it as the most difficult of all the many subjects with which he has to deal in this ''History.'' Difficult because it is well-nigh impossible to sift out the absolute truth of the matter from the mass of conflicting statements made by witnesses and near witnesses of the affair; and equally difficult to reconcile the differences of contending partisans. Anti-"Mormon" writers have been determined to fasten the crime upon the Church of the Latter-day Saints, or at least upon her leaders; and also, as a rule, holding that in some way "Mormon" doctrine and "Mormon" church polity was responsible for the crime. On the other hand, church people who in all good conscience, and justly, resent this imputation against their church and its leaders, have been naturally slow to admit all the facts that history may insist upon as inevitable.<ref>Roberts, 139.</ref>

Most scholars and historians are quick to admit they don't have all the facts related to the massacre, and probably never will. That hasn't stopped some writers, for polemical reasons, from using a broad brush to denigrate the Church and its early leaders relative to the crimes of September 11, 1857.

There have been many accounts of the events surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre and a small library could be filled with pertinent materials. Perhaps the best-known of the recent polemical accounts are:

# {{CriticalWork:Bagley:Blood of the Prophets|pages=1}}. This work attempts to argue that Brigham Young actually ordered the massacre of the Fancher Party. Bagley relies upon a strained interpretation of some new evidence, including minutes of a meeting that took place between Dimick Huntington and some Southern Utah Indian chiefs on September 1, 1857, ten days before the massacre. The very brief minutes (actually a diary entry made after the fact) indicate that the purpose of the meeting, as with similar meetings held in the previous few days, was to enlist the Indians as allies against the approaching army, and not against the Fancher party. Although the particular item of evidence is new, the thesis which it is pressed into service to support actually dates to the 19th century; for example, in her book ''Wife No. 19,'' Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning accused Brigham Young of ordering the massacre so that he could appropriate the property of the victims.
# {{CriticalWork:Denton:American Massacre|pages=1}} This book attempts to show that no Indians had anything to do with the massacre, but that every part of it was carried out exclusively by white men. This also repeats a nineteenth-century theme; Mark Twain in ''Roughing It'' implied that the Indian participants in the massacre were really white men "tricked out" as Indians.
#{{CriticalWork:Krakauer:Under the Banner of Heaven|pages=1}} This work claims that violence is endemic to LDS doctrine and culture, and uses the Massacre as one example.

Certain themes continue to re-emerge in polemical accounts of the massacre. The claim that it was the worst massacre in American history is a common one; accusations of direct complicity on the part of Brigham Young, of subsequent institutional cover-up or of the "scapegoating" of John D. Lee, are common. Perhaps the following comments relative to Brigham Young's involvement may be instructive:

:As a lad I worked in the Main Street Store of the United Order Building and Manufacturing Company in Logan, Utah, commonly known as the U.O. The Logan Branch of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution, familiarly known as the Z.C.M.I., was on the corner, one half block down the street. It was one of my duties to take our egg and butter accumulation, commodities of exchange in those days, to the egg and butter house of Z.C.M.I. It was a small building a little to the rear of the large Z.C.M.I. store building. The worker in charge there was a man who to my boyish eyes was old, perhaps in his sixties. His name was James Holton Haslam. He and I became good friends. Eager for knowledge, I discovered that he was the courier who traveled the road between Salt Lake City to Parowan and back to help President Young establish friendly feelings among the emigrant company, the settlers, and the Indians. The Indians were giving chief concern. He described minutely the trip from Cedar City to Salt Lake City riding three hundred miles in three days, to warn President Young that trouble for the traveling company was brewing in the south. Brigham Young was greatly troubled. Within a few hours after his arrival Brother Haslam was again in the saddle to instruct the people at Parowan and neighboring communities to do everything in their power to protect the emigrants. When he reached Parowan, the massacre had already occurred. He had come too late!

:He described to me in detail his meeting with President Young. As he recounted the events of the massacre as far as he learned them, and he had every opportunity of knowing them intimately, President Young wept. The President did everything in his power to prevent any tragedy. He knew that if he failed his people, trained to live in peace and to give love for hate, they would be charged with the commission of the crime. He had suffered persecution with his people for many years. Moreover, he understood the horror of taking life.

:The Latter-day Saints had been persecuted and driven from place to place since the beginning of the Church. He and the people prayed for peace to continue their work of redeeming the stubborn desert for human use. This terrible massacre would only intensify the hatred against the Latter-day Saints.

:In righteous anger Brother Haslam defended to me as he had done in the courts and elsewhere Brigham Young against the charge of being an accessory to the criminal act of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. He was very convincing to me; and a boy is not easily fooled.

:When later I read Brother Haslam's testimony in the question and answer method, as published in the ''The Journal,'' Logan, Utah, December 4, 1874, I became more than ever convinced that he told the whole and absolute truth, and that Brigham Young was wholly innocent of any complicity with those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Note an extract from the long testimony covering two newspaper pages. Apparently he arrived in Salt Lake City in the forenoon and found President Young in his office holding a council meeting with his brethren. Brigham Young asked him after reading the message, from Cedar City or Parowan, if he could take the trip back, if so, to take a little rest, and start back during noontime. "He (President Young) said that the Indians must be kept from the emigrants at all costs if it took all of Iron County to protect them." He felt the matter strongly. His eyes filled with tears, said Brother Haslam.

:It would have been difficult to fool Brother Haslam. I believed him, and the many other supporting evidences, in preference to others who faraway in time are setting up their own theories of explanation. Brigham Young was not responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.<ref>{{IE1|author=John A. Widtsoe|article=Was Brigham Young Responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?|date=August 1951|start=?}}</ref>

===Historical Healing===
The events that transpired during the Mountain Meadows Massacre have rightfully lived in infamy; there is no explanation that can justify the murders of those five days in September, and we cannot fully understand them. In the words of one scholar, "the complete—the absolute—truth of the affair can probably never be evaluated by any human being; attempts to understand the forces which culminated in it and those which were set into motion by it are all very inadequate at best."<ref>Juanita Brooks, ''The Mountain Meadows Massacre,'' Revised Edition, (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 223.</ref>

In spite of the tragedy, efforts have been made to heal the wounds gouged into the collective American psyche 150 years ago. In the 1980s descendants of the victims and the perpetrators met together to start bridging the divide and make peace with the past. In a series of meetings, the seeds of trust were planted and a hopeful sense of accord started to bloom. On September 15, 1990, many of these descendants gathered together at Mountain Meadows to dedicate a memorial and marker to those who died there. The new memorial was a rendition of the original rock cairn constructed at the site by a military expedition under the direction of Major James H. Carleton about two years after the massacre.

===Cultural and social considerations===

Nothing can excuse the actions of those who perpetuated the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It may be possible, however, to better understand how basically good, law-abiding people (both before and after the massacre) could have been induced to carry out the massacre's actions.

Researchers have described a "culture of honor" which prevailed in the American South both before and after the Civil War, and illustrate how real or perceived insults or threats from the Fancher party might have moved some to violence:<ref>Richard E. Nisbett and Dov Cohen, ''Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South'' (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1996), pages as noted after each citation.</ref>

:"The book is about “a singular cause of male violence – the perpetrator’s sense of threat to one of his most valued possessions, namely, his reputation for strength and toughness. In many of the world’s cultures, social status, economic well-being, and life itself are linked to such a reputation." (xv}

:"The South was settled by herdsmen from the fringes of Britain. “Herdsmen the world over tend to be capable of great aggressiveness and violence because of the vulnerability to losing their primary resources, their animals."(xv)

(Note that the false belief that the Fancher party was guilty of poisoning water supplies could have stirred the same worries in the LDS settlers.)

:"Cases of southern violence often reflect a concern with blows to reputation or status – with ‘violation of personal honor’ – and the tacit belief that violence is an appropriate response to such an affront." (2)

:"Thus the southern preference for violence stems from the fact that much of the South was a lawless, frontier region settled by people whose economy was originally based on herding."

(Note that LDS settlers in southern Utah were in a similar setting, depending on a similar economic model. They were, furthermore, threatened by the coming U.S. Army).

:"A key aspect to the culture of honor is the importance placed on the insult and the necessity to respond to it. An insult implies that the target is weak enough to be bullied. Since a reputation for strength is of the essence in the culture of honor, the individual who insults someone must be forced to retract; if the instigator refuses, he must be punished—with violence or even death." (5)

:The stereotype of the southern woman is that she was highly feminine. Thought there may be some truth to that stereotype, there is a competing one, that she was a ‘steel magnolia,’ a superficially soft and melting woman who was quite capable of toughness and the wielding of power. ... Whatever plantation women were like, it is clear from all sorts of evidence that in the backcountry, women were very tough indeed. (87)

The threat to honor would have been particularly profound if the Mormons believed that their plural wives were being offended or insulted by being called "whores" by the immigrant party:

:A key aspect to the culture of honor is the importance placed on the insult and the necessity to respond to it. An insult implies that the target is weak enough to be bullied. Since a reputation for strength is of the essence in the culture of honor, the individual who insults someone must be forced to retract; if the instigator refuses, he must be punished—with violence or even death. A particularly important kind of insult is one directed at female members of a man’s family.

:In the Old South, as in the ancient world, ‘son of a bitch’ or any similar epithet was a most damaging blow to male pride....To attack his wife, mother, or sister was to assault the man himself. Outsider violence against family dependents, particularly females, was a breach not to be ignored without risk of ignominy. An impotence to deal with such wrongs carried all the weight of shame that archaic society could muster. (138)

With their history of being repeatedly driven, at least Mormon settlers were surely afraid of appearing weak and vulnerable, which would invite further attacks. That they ''were'' weak and vulnerable to the approaching federal army would have only made matters worse.

We emphasize that this does not ''excuse'' the massacre, but it makes the decisions and actions of those involved perhaps more explicable.

{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Qué pasó con los perpetradores de la masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T20:56:14Z

DavidSmith: header fix

{{Main Page}}
{{Navigation Mountains Meadows Massacre}}

{{Header}}
==Question: Did Brigham Young block prosecution of the individuals responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?==
===Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) makes it clear that federal prosecutors are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice===

Critics charge that Brigham Young blocked prosecution of those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

LaJean Purcell Carruth deciphered Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) written in Deseret Alphabet. This newly discovered information makes it clear that federal prosecutors —not Brigham Young!—-are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice.<ref>This section is derived, with permission, from David Keller, "[http://www.fairblog.org/2008/01/16/thomas-alexanders-arrington-lecture-on-the-mmm/ Thomas Alexander’s Arrington Lecture on the MMM]," ''fairblog'' (16 January 2008). Due to the nature of a wiki project, it may have had alterations and additions since that time.</ref> Thomas Alexander writes:

<blockquote>
On July 5, 1859, after the public knew that Cumming had received word from Washington placing the army under the governor’s control, Young met with George A. Smith, Albert Carrington, and James Ferguson. They discussed the “reaction to the Mountain Meadow Massacre.” Young told them that US. attorney Alexander Wilson had called “to consult with him about making some arrests of” the accused.[95]

On the same day, Wilson had met with Young. Young told him “that if the judges would open a court at Parowan or some other convenient location in the south, .. . unprejudiced and uninfluenced by. . . the army, so that man could have a fair and impartial trial He would go there himself, and he presumed that Gov. Cumming would also go . . . ” He “would use all his influence to have the parties arrested and have the whole. . . matter investigated thoroughly and impartially and justice meted out to every man.” Young said he would not exert himself, however, “to arrest men to be treated like dogs and dragged about by the army, and confined and abused by them,’ presumably referring to the actions of Cradlebaugh and the army in Provo. Young said that if the judges and army treated people that way, the federal officials “must hunt them up themselves.”[96]

Wilson agreed that it was unfair “to drag men and their witnesses 200 or 300 miles to trial.” Young said “the people wanted a fair and impartial court of justice, like they have in other states and territories, and if he had anything to do with it, the army must keep its place.” Wilson said he felt “the proposition was reasonable and he would propose it to the judges.”[97]

Now confident that the army would not intrude and abuse or murder Mormons, and that the US. attorney and governor would support them, the church leaders lent their influence to bringing the accused into court. On June 15, 1859, to prepare the way for the administration of justice, Brigham Young had told George A. Smith and Jacob Hamblin that “as soon as a Court of Justice could be held, so that men could be heard without the influence of the military he should advise men accused to come forward and demand trial on the charges preferred against them for the Mountain Meadow Massacre” as he had previously done. Then he again sent George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman south, this time to urge those accused of the crime to prepare for trial and to try to suppress Mormon-authored crime[98].<ref>Thomas G. Alexander, ''Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Latter-Day Saint Investigation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre: Arrington Lecture No. Twelve'' (Arrington Lecture Series) (Utah State Special Collection, 2007), ISBN 0874216877. Alexander's footnotes are below:
*[95] Historian’s Office Journal. July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet entry.
*[96] Ibid..
*[97] Ibid.
*[98] Historian’s Office Journal, May 25, June 18, and July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet; George A. Smith so William H. Dame, June 19, 1859, Historian’s Office Letterpress copybooks 1854—1879, 1885—1886, 2:127, LDS Church Archives; Lee, Mormon Chronicle, 1:214 (August 5[6], 1859).</ref>
</blockquote>

However, Utah's governor felt that any such crimes would be covered by the post-Utah war amnesty.

{{Main|Mountain_Meadows_Massacre#The_Aftermath|l1=Mountain Meadows: The Aftermath}}

===Did the Mormons try to block prosecution?===

{{Main|Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church blocked prosecution|l1=Church blocked prosecution?}}

===A deal with Brigham Young and the Church?===

{{main|Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?|l1=Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Mountain Meadows Massacre/Prosecution/Was prosecution blocked by the Church
|subject=Was prosecution blocked by the Church?
|summary=Critics charge that actions of the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}

==Question: Was prosecution of those responsible for Mountain Meadows Massacre blocked by the Church?==
===There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators===

It is claimed that actions of Brigham Young and the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators. There is substantial evidence that poor federal organization, infighting, and refusal to deputize LDS lawmen played a role in slowing the process. When presented with evidence by lawful authorities, LDS juries returned indictments.

* The post-Utah war amnesty led some non-members to believe that the massacre was covered under the presidential amnesty.
* There was a long-running dispute over jurisdiction and tactics between the judiciary and the executive (i.e., federal prosecutor) branches. This had nothing to do with the Mormons, but hampered prosecution.
* Disputes between the above groups also led to difficulties with the army, something also not under Mormon control or influence.
* Judges' meddling in the arrest process made it virtually impossible to properly arrest and indict perpetrators.
* The grand jury in southern Utah was never asked to indict anyone for the Massacre during their first session. When presented with the opportunity, they returned indictments later that same year.
* The Mormons did not, as claimed, insist on the right to dictate who sat on petit juries. Other federal officials declared this to be completely false.
* Federal officials and judges refused to deputize or use LDS lawmen to make arrests.
* The U.S. attorney general refused the district attorney's request to reopen the investigation in 1872—once again, this was beyond the Mormons' control or influence.
* Brigham Young had been relieved of his position as territorial governor. He had no secular authority to directly arrest or charge perpetrators.

One reviewer described the difficulties with this theory: <ref>{{FR-15-2-11}} Headings and minor punctuation changes for clarity have been added; footnotes have been omitted. Readers are advised to consult the original review.</ref>

===The Amnesty===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' has charged high-ranking church officials with two decades of obstructing the federal investigation. Bagley's emphasis is in Mormon history, so he sometimes shows his lack of breadth in political and social matters that originate outside the Great Basin. One of the areas in which he displays this weakness is his failure to discuss the effect of President Buchanan's general amnesty upon the massacre prosecutions (p. 205).

:[U.S. President] Buchanan issued an amnesty for all crimes of the Mormons related to the claimed acts of sedition and treason [during the U.S. army's assignment to Utah in the abortive "Utah War"]. Governor Alfred Cumming announced a broad interpretation of that amnesty to the Saints on 14 June 1858. Certainly, by the date of the amnesty, federal officials believed that Mormons had directed the massacre, and they believed that John D. Lee was one of the leaders. One might reasonably conclude that the amnesty was intended to cover the massacre participants.

:Some in the federal government and the press believed that Buchanan intended to pardon the massacre perpetrators. Indian superintendent Jacob Forney was so upset with U.S. District Court Judge John Cradlebaugh's massacre investigation that he cursed Cradlebaugh's name, citing the amnesty as the basis for his objections, or so we are told from a source hostile to Forney. Non-Mormon U.S. District Attorney Alexander Wilson and non-Mormon U.S. District Court Judge Charles C. Sinclair disagreed over the application of the amnesty, with Wilson refusing to present to the jury bills of indictment. ''Harper's Weekly'' noted the conflict over the amnesty in the prosecution of the massacre. ''The New York Post'' opined that the amnesty excused the massacre crimes because it was an aspect of the Utah war intended to come within the amnesty's scope. It is no wonder that prosecution was uncertain. But, given the controversy the amnesty sparked in the Eastern press with regard to the massacre investigation, it seems that ''Blood of the Prophets'' would have discussed it. This is a significant omission.

===Disputes between the executive and judicial branches===

:The presidential amnesty contributed to the lengthy delay in federal prosecution. In addition, the federal judiciary and federal prosecutor fought over control of the massacre investigation. This internecine dispute stymied federal investigation of the massacre for several years. Bagley does not discuss this feud as a source for delay.

:At the national level in the early nineteenth century, the federal judiciary and the prosecutors repeatedly jockeyed for power in ways that would appear unseemly today. Thomas Jefferson said that the "great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting with noiseless foot & unalarming advance, [is] gaining ground step by step. . . . Let the eye of vigilance never be closed." He condemned the judiciary's usurpation of the legislative prerogatives with its pious interpretation of its own brand of Christianity.55 The U.S. Constitution gives little direction to the judiciary compared to what it gives to the legislative and executive branches. The Hamiltonian Federalists saw the federal judiciary as a way to expand federal power and to crush state self-determinism (read: slavery). The Jeffersonian republicans believed states' rights were paramount except as to powers specifically delegated to the federal government. The Federalist judiciary gained the upper hand with the enforcement of the Sedition Act of 4 July 1798, which crushed Jeffersonian dissent. As historian James Simon explains, their "blatantly partisan actions [of stifling criticism of the John Adams administration] in pursuit of convictions under the Sedition Act reinforced Jefferson's profound distrust of the federal judiciary." Supreme Court Justice Salmon Chase's prosecutions under the Sedition Act, while a sitting Supreme Court justice, were notorious, eventually leading to an attempt to remove him by impeachment.

:Utah's federal judges replayed this high national drama on a frontier stage. As with the amnesty, Blood of the Prophets fails to see the broad political and social issues of the struggle for federal power. Brigham Young's demand for local self-determinism replaced Thomas Jefferson's urbane urge for state self-determinism. Polygamy, rather than slavery, was an affront to federal power and needed to be crushed. In the early days of Utah, federal judges of questionable character—a point Van Vliet conceded—directed the investigation of crime, requested army troops to march against the local citizenry, harangued citizens in their places of worship about the lack of virtue in their plural wives, and testified in Congress about Mormon debauchery. These judicial efforts to crush the Mormon theocracy would be unthinkable today in any social context.

:''Blood of the Prophets'' accepts Cradlebaugh's account of the dispute uncritically, condemning the U.S. district attorney as "pliant" (p. 235) and "'closely allied to the Mormons by some mysterious tie'" (p. 217) for failing to do anything about the massacre. Citing Cradlebaugh and Sinclair, we are told that Wilson's "whole course of conduct has been marked with culpable timidity and neglect." Bagley would have us believe that the U.S. district attorney was too cozy with the Mormons and that the Mormons lobbied him to ignore the massacre.

:The official correspondence, however, shows that the executive and judicial branches of government distrusted each other and that neither was effective in the prosecution of the massacre. The purported investigation began, at least in Cradlebaugh's view, with grand jury proceedings from 8 to 21 March 1859 in Provo. Mormon accounts say Cradlebaugh called out the army to terrorize the local Provo population with the might of federal power. Cradlebaugh and Bagley assert that the troops were necessary to protect the court and witnesses from Mormon Danite assassins. Governor Cumming sided with the Mormons, who were outraged with Cradlebaugh's use of the troops. Cumming believed that he, as the federal executive, had the sole civilian authority to call out the troops in the Territory.

:Attorney General Black in Washington, D.C., said that it was not Cradlebaugh's job to determine whom to prosecute or when to call out the troops. He instructed U.S. District Attorney Wilson to "oppose every effort which any judge may make to usurp your functions. . . . If the judges will confine themselves to the simple and plain duty imposed upon them by law of hearing and deciding the cases that are brought before them, I am sure that the business of the Territory will get along very well."

:President Buchanan approved of Wilson's efforts to resist the judiciary's incursion into his prerogatives and the use of federal troops. General Albert Sidney Johnston, commanding Camp Floyd, implied that he was unhappy being called into the fray to support the judiciary.

:Black attempted to rein in the Utah judges, explaining to them the judiciary's function to "hear patiently the causes brought before them." The executive branch has a "public accuser, and a marshal." As the U.S. Supreme Court said in an 1868 landmark case, public prosecutions are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. district attorney until indicted offenses are in trial before a petit jury. Judges have no role in prosecutions until then.

:Addressing a defensive letter to President Buchanan, Cradlebaugh and fellow judge Charles Sinclair admitted that "the difficulty [which has] arisen between the judiciary and executive is deeply to be deplored." Nonetheless, the judges attacked Governor Cumming and U.S. District Attorney Wilson for failing to faithfully execute their duties, especially in connection with the 1859 Provo grand jury.

:Cradlebaugh's grasping for prosecutorial power made prosecution nigh impossible. Prosecutors must work with judges to obtain warrants and convene grand juries, but Cradlebaugh would not cooperate. He complained to Buchanan that Wilson refused to execute (i.e., serve) bench warrants for witnesses, but Wilson countered that Cradlebaugh would not give him the warrants for execution. Wilson wanted the massacre grand jury to be empanelled in southern Utah, close to the scene. He also urged the Justice Department to provide funds "to enable the officers of the court to make a patient and thorough search for evidence." Cradlebaugh (remember, he is the judge, not the prosecutor) responded to Wilson's request by traveling to Santa Clara and issuing arrest warrants in 1859. None of them were executed. Why not? Cradlebaugh failed to include in his entourage the person with prosecutorial discretion, the U.S. district attorney. He further refused to respond to Wilson's request for information about the warrants so that they could be served. Cradlebaugh also refused to tell Wilson about his activities in Santa Clara. Blood of the Prophets does not explain how the prosecutor could be expected to prosecute when the judge shuts him out of the process.

:The significance of this episode is unmistakable. The prosecution delayed as it resisted the judiciary's grasping for control of the massacre investigation. This material escapes Bagley.

===Mormons would not indict in 1859 grand jury?===

:According to Bagley, the 8—21 March 1859 grand jury proceedings in Provo provide a lurid but relevant detour in the story of the massacre prosecutions. He uses the story of the grand jury to show that Mormons obstructed prosecutions by refusing to indict their own for the massacre and for other crimes. The book claims that the grand jury "'utterly refused to do anything'" about the massacre and other crimes against non-Mormons. Thus the federal grand jury "ground to a halt" (p. 218). The implication of Bagley's claim is that church authorities instructed grand jurors to obstruct voting when bills for indictment against Mormons were presented to them. Bagley, however, has missed primary source material which contradicts his conclusions.

:This tale of the grand jury is central to one of Bagley's more salacious themes. ''Blood of the Prophets'' paints a picture of a community of priests dripping in gentile blood, with Mormon laity thumbing their noses as federal authorities sought to staunch the flow. Bagley and Cradlebaugh make much of the all-Mormon Provo grand jury's failure to return any criminal indictments, including in the notorious Parrish and Potter case and the Henry Jones case. Blood of the Prophets does not have the facts right in the Henry Jones case, confusing it with a different and unrelated crime. Bagley tells us that church authorities obstructed not only the massacre investigation, but also the investigation of other notorious crimes for which, he says, there were never any indictments (pp. 75—76).

:The official correspondence refutes these claims. Bagley has the facts wrong because he does not rely upon the official files. U.S. District Attorney Wilson's diary (again, it was his duty to bring indictments, not Cradlebaugh's) and his report to the U.S. attorney general indicate that no indictment was obtained from the Provo grand jury for the Mountain Meadows Massacre because none was requested by the U.S. district attorney. Yes, Judge Cradlebaugh may have asked for indictments in his initial charge, but this was an empty request because it was not his lawful request to make. It was U.S. District Attorney Wilson's job alone to control the grand jury's reception of evidence and the timing of decision. Wilson never asked the grand jury to indict for massacre offenses. The grand jury's term was occupied with other crimes, and then Cradlebaugh discharged the grand jury before Wilson could ask the grand jury to act. An army officer, familiar with the proceedings, opined that the reason Cradlebaugh dismissed the grand jury precipitously was not that Cradlebaugh was upset with its performance, but that General Johnston withdrew Cradlebaugh's army escort. In addition, when a second grand jury was empanelled in 1859, no indictments were sought for the massacre. Yet, Bagley would have us believe on the sole basis of Cradlebaugh's claims that the grand juries refused to indict for the massacre.

:Just as Bagley has the facts wrong about the 1859 grand jury's treatment of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, so does he miss important facts about the grand jury's treatment of other crimes. The second 1859 grand jury handed down indictments for the Parrish and Potter and the Henry Jones cases, yet Bagley tells us that no indictments were ever obtained for these crimes.

===Church would not help capture fugitives?===

:Bagley claims that high Mormon officials refused to cooperate in apprehending the massacre fugitives. For example, Cradlebaugh reports that he told Buchanan that church officials offered to produce fugitives upon condition that the church dictate the composition of the petit juries. Bagley does not tell us that U.S. District Attorney Wilson declared this "an unqualified falsehood." Mormons did no such thing.

:The federal judiciary denied Mormon law enforcement officers the power to assist federal officers in the pursuit of criminal convictions. Governor Cumming complained that the federal judges refused to admit to the bar federal territorial prosecutors. Indeed, Cradlebaugh and fellow judges refused to permit the Mormon territorial attorney (even though he was technically an officer of the United States) to enter their courtrooms and present bills for indictments.

:U.S. District Attorney Wilson attempted to persuade non-Mormon Deputy U.S. Marshal William Rodgers to effect service of process upon massacre participants. Rodgers rebuffed the request, claiming a lack of resources. Then, on 6 August 1858, Wilson told the federal marshal that the Mormon territorial marshal, John Kay, would accomplish the investigations and the arrests. According to Wilson, "Kay was a Mormon, had a knowledge of the country and of the people, and expressed a determination, if legally deputized, to make arrests if possible." But, Rodgers refused to deputize Kay on the ground that Kay "was a Mormon." For the federal government, a crook on the lam was better than a crook collared by a Mormon.

:The federal marshal was also less than diligent, frequently complaining about a lack of pay. However, federal surveyors had no difficulty locating and using the services of the fugitives. The surveyors' accounts mock the progress of the investigation, recounting jokes with and pranks upon the fugitives. Additionally, in 1872, the U.S. attorney general denied a request by the U.S. district attorney to reopen the investigation of the massacre.

:As another example of silly officiousness, immediately prior to Lee's first trial in 1875, lawyers Jabez Sutherland and George C. Bates offered to surrender indictees William Stewart, Isaac Haight, George Adair, and John Higbee in return for accommodating their request for bail. U.S. District Judge Jacob Boreman was incensed with this proposal, refused it, and instead commenced disbarment proceedings against these lawyers. Blood of the Prophets touches on this briefly but not fairly (p. 290). Although a defense lawyer may not shield a fugitive, it is common for fugitives to negotiate the terms of their surrender indirectly through lawyers. Judge Boreman's 13 February 1875 letter to Sutherland and Bates shows that the judiciary petulantly refused to deal with Mormons or even attorneys for Mormons. The judge condemned Sutherland for taking on a Mormon as a client because Mormons have "the very soul of corruption." Boreman's refusal to discuss bail is ironic in light of the bail he later granted Lee.

:Federal judges denied Mormons permission to assist federal officials with criminal prosecutions. These judges considered Mormons as disloyal "foreigners," as un-American, "perverted, oppressed, [and] alien." Mormons could not be trusted to do anything, including fight crime. Avoiding collaboration with the Mormons was of greater social value than justice.

:Bagley fails to report accurately early efforts at apprehension. Skipping over legitimate offers of help, Bagley accuses the church of obstructing justice by frustrating the investigation. That is not appropriate, given the evidence.

===Brigham Young took no official action?===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' criticizes Brigham Young for doing nothing in his official capacity to prosecute the massacre (p. 379). Young, however, explained that he took no official governmental action against the perpetrators because President Buchanan stripped him of these powers and Governor Cumming possessed all the powers of the executive. Once he was stripped of civil power, the church may have well taken the position that the Mormon prophet's control over wrongdoers was limited to the remedies specified in section 134 of the church's Doctrine and Covenants. Nothing required Brigham Young to hunt down the participants and turn them over to the very powers seeking to jail him for bigamy (see D&C 134:4).

:There is no competent evidence of a Mormon cabal to influence the executive branch to delay prosecution. There is much speculation, but nothing more. The Eastern press occasionally blamed the delay upon the Buchanan and subsequent administrations. The will to prosecute was not there. Both Cradlebaugh and Wilson gave up and left town before the Civil War. [article cited ends here]

{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Brigham Young bloqueó el procesamiento de los individuos responsables de la Masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

[[Category:Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
[[Category:Brigham Young]]

Template:Navigation:Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T20:55:10Z

DavidSmith: created nav box

{{Navigation
|name=Mountains Meadows Massacre

|group1=Overview
|list1=
*[[Summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
*[[Others involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
}}

Question: Was prosecution of those responsible for Mountain Meadows Massacre blocked by the Church?

2024-02-10T20:53:51Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
#REDIRECT[[Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]

Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre

2024-02-10T20:53:35Z

DavidSmith: content consolidation

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
==Question: Did Brigham Young block prosecution of the individuals responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?==
===Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) makes it clear that federal prosecutors are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice===

Critics charge that Brigham Young blocked prosecution of those who committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

LaJean Purcell Carruth deciphered Brigham Young's presidential office journal (and other items) written in Deseret Alphabet. This newly discovered information makes it clear that federal prosecutors —not Brigham Young!—-are the most responsible for not bringing the perpetrators to justice.<ref>This section is derived, with permission, from David Keller, "[http://www.fairblog.org/2008/01/16/thomas-alexanders-arrington-lecture-on-the-mmm/ Thomas Alexander’s Arrington Lecture on the MMM]," ''fairblog'' (16 January 2008). Due to the nature of a wiki project, it may have had alterations and additions since that time.</ref> Thomas Alexander writes:

<blockquote>
On July 5, 1859, after the public knew that Cumming had received word from Washington placing the army under the governor’s control, Young met with George A. Smith, Albert Carrington, and James Ferguson. They discussed the “reaction to the Mountain Meadow Massacre.” Young told them that US. attorney Alexander Wilson had called “to consult with him about making some arrests of” the accused.[95]

On the same day, Wilson had met with Young. Young told him “that if the judges would open a court at Parowan or some other convenient location in the south, .. . unprejudiced and uninfluenced by. . . the army, so that man could have a fair and impartial trial He would go there himself, and he presumed that Gov. Cumming would also go . . . ” He “would use all his influence to have the parties arrested and have the whole. . . matter investigated thoroughly and impartially and justice meted out to every man.” Young said he would not exert himself, however, “to arrest men to be treated like dogs and dragged about by the army, and confined and abused by them,’ presumably referring to the actions of Cradlebaugh and the army in Provo. Young said that if the judges and army treated people that way, the federal officials “must hunt them up themselves.”[96]

Wilson agreed that it was unfair “to drag men and their witnesses 200 or 300 miles to trial.” Young said “the people wanted a fair and impartial court of justice, like they have in other states and territories, and if he had anything to do with it, the army must keep its place.” Wilson said he felt “the proposition was reasonable and he would propose it to the judges.”[97]

Now confident that the army would not intrude and abuse or murder Mormons, and that the US. attorney and governor would support them, the church leaders lent their influence to bringing the accused into court. On June 15, 1859, to prepare the way for the administration of justice, Brigham Young had told George A. Smith and Jacob Hamblin that “as soon as a Court of Justice could be held, so that men could be heard without the influence of the military he should advise men accused to come forward and demand trial on the charges preferred against them for the Mountain Meadow Massacre” as he had previously done. Then he again sent George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman south, this time to urge those accused of the crime to prepare for trial and to try to suppress Mormon-authored crime[98].<ref>Thomas G. Alexander, ''Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Latter-Day Saint Investigation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre: Arrington Lecture No. Twelve'' (Arrington Lecture Series) (Utah State Special Collection, 2007), ISBN 0874216877. Alexander's footnotes are below:
*[95] Historian’s Office Journal. July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet entry.
*[96] Ibid..
*[97] Ibid.
*[98] Historian’s Office Journal, May 25, June 18, and July 5, 1859, Carruth transcription of Deseret Alphabet; George A. Smith so William H. Dame, June 19, 1859, Historian’s Office Letterpress copybooks 1854—1879, 1885—1886, 2:127, LDS Church Archives; Lee, Mormon Chronicle, 1:214 (August 5[6], 1859).</ref>
</blockquote>

However, Utah's governor felt that any such crimes would be covered by the post-Utah war amnesty.

{{Main|Mountain_Meadows_Massacre#The_Aftermath|l1=Mountain Meadows: The Aftermath}}

===Did the Mormons try to block prosecution?===

{{Main|Brigham Young and the prosecution of Mountain Meadows Massacre/Church blocked prosecution|l1=Church blocked prosecution?}}

===A deal with Brigham Young and the Church?===

{{main|Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?|l1=Question: Was there a "deal" made with Brigham Young regarding prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Mountain Meadows Massacre/Prosecution/Was prosecution blocked by the Church
|subject=Was prosecution blocked by the Church?
|summary=Critics charge that actions of the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
}}

==Question: Was prosecution of those responsible for Mountain Meadows Massacre blocked by the Church?==
===There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators===

It is claimed that actions of Brigham Young and the institutional Church and/or local Mormons prevented federal officials from prosecuting those guilty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

There is no evidence the Church blocked prosecution of the Massacre perpetrators. There is substantial evidence that poor federal organization, infighting, and refusal to deputize LDS lawmen played a role in slowing the process. When presented with evidence by lawful authorities, LDS juries returned indictments.

* The post-Utah war amnesty led some non-members to believe that the massacre was covered under the presidential amnesty.
* There was a long-running dispute over jurisdiction and tactics between the judiciary and the executive (i.e., federal prosecutor) branches. This had nothing to do with the Mormons, but hampered prosecution.
* Disputes between the above groups also led to difficulties with the army, something also not under Mormon control or influence.
* Judges' meddling in the arrest process made it virtually impossible to properly arrest and indict perpetrators.
* The grand jury in southern Utah was never asked to indict anyone for the Massacre during their first session. When presented with the opportunity, they returned indictments later that same year.
* The Mormons did not, as claimed, insist on the right to dictate who sat on petit juries. Other federal officials declared this to be completely false.
* Federal officials and judges refused to deputize or use LDS lawmen to make arrests.
* The U.S. attorney general refused the district attorney's request to reopen the investigation in 1872—once again, this was beyond the Mormons' control or influence.
* Brigham Young had been relieved of his position as territorial governor. He had no secular authority to directly arrest or charge perpetrators.

One reviewer described the difficulties with this theory: <ref>{{FR-15-2-11}} Headings and minor punctuation changes for clarity have been added; footnotes have been omitted. Readers are advised to consult the original review.</ref>

===The Amnesty===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' has charged high-ranking church officials with two decades of obstructing the federal investigation. Bagley's emphasis is in Mormon history, so he sometimes shows his lack of breadth in political and social matters that originate outside the Great Basin. One of the areas in which he displays this weakness is his failure to discuss the effect of President Buchanan's general amnesty upon the massacre prosecutions (p. 205).

:[U.S. President] Buchanan issued an amnesty for all crimes of the Mormons related to the claimed acts of sedition and treason [during the U.S. army's assignment to Utah in the abortive "Utah War"]. Governor Alfred Cumming announced a broad interpretation of that amnesty to the Saints on 14 June 1858. Certainly, by the date of the amnesty, federal officials believed that Mormons had directed the massacre, and they believed that John D. Lee was one of the leaders. One might reasonably conclude that the amnesty was intended to cover the massacre participants.

:Some in the federal government and the press believed that Buchanan intended to pardon the massacre perpetrators. Indian superintendent Jacob Forney was so upset with U.S. District Court Judge John Cradlebaugh's massacre investigation that he cursed Cradlebaugh's name, citing the amnesty as the basis for his objections, or so we are told from a source hostile to Forney. Non-Mormon U.S. District Attorney Alexander Wilson and non-Mormon U.S. District Court Judge Charles C. Sinclair disagreed over the application of the amnesty, with Wilson refusing to present to the jury bills of indictment. ''Harper's Weekly'' noted the conflict over the amnesty in the prosecution of the massacre. ''The New York Post'' opined that the amnesty excused the massacre crimes because it was an aspect of the Utah war intended to come within the amnesty's scope. It is no wonder that prosecution was uncertain. But, given the controversy the amnesty sparked in the Eastern press with regard to the massacre investigation, it seems that ''Blood of the Prophets'' would have discussed it. This is a significant omission.

===Disputes between the executive and judicial branches===

:The presidential amnesty contributed to the lengthy delay in federal prosecution. In addition, the federal judiciary and federal prosecutor fought over control of the massacre investigation. This internecine dispute stymied federal investigation of the massacre for several years. Bagley does not discuss this feud as a source for delay.

:At the national level in the early nineteenth century, the federal judiciary and the prosecutors repeatedly jockeyed for power in ways that would appear unseemly today. Thomas Jefferson said that the "great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting with noiseless foot & unalarming advance, [is] gaining ground step by step. . . . Let the eye of vigilance never be closed." He condemned the judiciary's usurpation of the legislative prerogatives with its pious interpretation of its own brand of Christianity.55 The U.S. Constitution gives little direction to the judiciary compared to what it gives to the legislative and executive branches. The Hamiltonian Federalists saw the federal judiciary as a way to expand federal power and to crush state self-determinism (read: slavery). The Jeffersonian republicans believed states' rights were paramount except as to powers specifically delegated to the federal government. The Federalist judiciary gained the upper hand with the enforcement of the Sedition Act of 4 July 1798, which crushed Jeffersonian dissent. As historian James Simon explains, their "blatantly partisan actions [of stifling criticism of the John Adams administration] in pursuit of convictions under the Sedition Act reinforced Jefferson's profound distrust of the federal judiciary." Supreme Court Justice Salmon Chase's prosecutions under the Sedition Act, while a sitting Supreme Court justice, were notorious, eventually leading to an attempt to remove him by impeachment.

:Utah's federal judges replayed this high national drama on a frontier stage. As with the amnesty, Blood of the Prophets fails to see the broad political and social issues of the struggle for federal power. Brigham Young's demand for local self-determinism replaced Thomas Jefferson's urbane urge for state self-determinism. Polygamy, rather than slavery, was an affront to federal power and needed to be crushed. In the early days of Utah, federal judges of questionable character—a point Van Vliet conceded—directed the investigation of crime, requested army troops to march against the local citizenry, harangued citizens in their places of worship about the lack of virtue in their plural wives, and testified in Congress about Mormon debauchery. These judicial efforts to crush the Mormon theocracy would be unthinkable today in any social context.

:''Blood of the Prophets'' accepts Cradlebaugh's account of the dispute uncritically, condemning the U.S. district attorney as "pliant" (p. 235) and "'closely allied to the Mormons by some mysterious tie'" (p. 217) for failing to do anything about the massacre. Citing Cradlebaugh and Sinclair, we are told that Wilson's "whole course of conduct has been marked with culpable timidity and neglect." Bagley would have us believe that the U.S. district attorney was too cozy with the Mormons and that the Mormons lobbied him to ignore the massacre.

:The official correspondence, however, shows that the executive and judicial branches of government distrusted each other and that neither was effective in the prosecution of the massacre. The purported investigation began, at least in Cradlebaugh's view, with grand jury proceedings from 8 to 21 March 1859 in Provo. Mormon accounts say Cradlebaugh called out the army to terrorize the local Provo population with the might of federal power. Cradlebaugh and Bagley assert that the troops were necessary to protect the court and witnesses from Mormon Danite assassins. Governor Cumming sided with the Mormons, who were outraged with Cradlebaugh's use of the troops. Cumming believed that he, as the federal executive, had the sole civilian authority to call out the troops in the Territory.

:Attorney General Black in Washington, D.C., said that it was not Cradlebaugh's job to determine whom to prosecute or when to call out the troops. He instructed U.S. District Attorney Wilson to "oppose every effort which any judge may make to usurp your functions. . . . If the judges will confine themselves to the simple and plain duty imposed upon them by law of hearing and deciding the cases that are brought before them, I am sure that the business of the Territory will get along very well."

:President Buchanan approved of Wilson's efforts to resist the judiciary's incursion into his prerogatives and the use of federal troops. General Albert Sidney Johnston, commanding Camp Floyd, implied that he was unhappy being called into the fray to support the judiciary.

:Black attempted to rein in the Utah judges, explaining to them the judiciary's function to "hear patiently the causes brought before them." The executive branch has a "public accuser, and a marshal." As the U.S. Supreme Court said in an 1868 landmark case, public prosecutions are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. district attorney until indicted offenses are in trial before a petit jury. Judges have no role in prosecutions until then.

:Addressing a defensive letter to President Buchanan, Cradlebaugh and fellow judge Charles Sinclair admitted that "the difficulty [which has] arisen between the judiciary and executive is deeply to be deplored." Nonetheless, the judges attacked Governor Cumming and U.S. District Attorney Wilson for failing to faithfully execute their duties, especially in connection with the 1859 Provo grand jury.

:Cradlebaugh's grasping for prosecutorial power made prosecution nigh impossible. Prosecutors must work with judges to obtain warrants and convene grand juries, but Cradlebaugh would not cooperate. He complained to Buchanan that Wilson refused to execute (i.e., serve) bench warrants for witnesses, but Wilson countered that Cradlebaugh would not give him the warrants for execution. Wilson wanted the massacre grand jury to be empanelled in southern Utah, close to the scene. He also urged the Justice Department to provide funds "to enable the officers of the court to make a patient and thorough search for evidence." Cradlebaugh (remember, he is the judge, not the prosecutor) responded to Wilson's request by traveling to Santa Clara and issuing arrest warrants in 1859. None of them were executed. Why not? Cradlebaugh failed to include in his entourage the person with prosecutorial discretion, the U.S. district attorney. He further refused to respond to Wilson's request for information about the warrants so that they could be served. Cradlebaugh also refused to tell Wilson about his activities in Santa Clara. Blood of the Prophets does not explain how the prosecutor could be expected to prosecute when the judge shuts him out of the process.

:The significance of this episode is unmistakable. The prosecution delayed as it resisted the judiciary's grasping for control of the massacre investigation. This material escapes Bagley.

===Mormons would not indict in 1859 grand jury?===

:According to Bagley, the 8—21 March 1859 grand jury proceedings in Provo provide a lurid but relevant detour in the story of the massacre prosecutions. He uses the story of the grand jury to show that Mormons obstructed prosecutions by refusing to indict their own for the massacre and for other crimes. The book claims that the grand jury "'utterly refused to do anything'" about the massacre and other crimes against non-Mormons. Thus the federal grand jury "ground to a halt" (p. 218). The implication of Bagley's claim is that church authorities instructed grand jurors to obstruct voting when bills for indictment against Mormons were presented to them. Bagley, however, has missed primary source material which contradicts his conclusions.

:This tale of the grand jury is central to one of Bagley's more salacious themes. ''Blood of the Prophets'' paints a picture of a community of priests dripping in gentile blood, with Mormon laity thumbing their noses as federal authorities sought to staunch the flow. Bagley and Cradlebaugh make much of the all-Mormon Provo grand jury's failure to return any criminal indictments, including in the notorious Parrish and Potter case and the Henry Jones case. Blood of the Prophets does not have the facts right in the Henry Jones case, confusing it with a different and unrelated crime. Bagley tells us that church authorities obstructed not only the massacre investigation, but also the investigation of other notorious crimes for which, he says, there were never any indictments (pp. 75—76).

:The official correspondence refutes these claims. Bagley has the facts wrong because he does not rely upon the official files. U.S. District Attorney Wilson's diary (again, it was his duty to bring indictments, not Cradlebaugh's) and his report to the U.S. attorney general indicate that no indictment was obtained from the Provo grand jury for the Mountain Meadows Massacre because none was requested by the U.S. district attorney. Yes, Judge Cradlebaugh may have asked for indictments in his initial charge, but this was an empty request because it was not his lawful request to make. It was U.S. District Attorney Wilson's job alone to control the grand jury's reception of evidence and the timing of decision. Wilson never asked the grand jury to indict for massacre offenses. The grand jury's term was occupied with other crimes, and then Cradlebaugh discharged the grand jury before Wilson could ask the grand jury to act. An army officer, familiar with the proceedings, opined that the reason Cradlebaugh dismissed the grand jury precipitously was not that Cradlebaugh was upset with its performance, but that General Johnston withdrew Cradlebaugh's army escort. In addition, when a second grand jury was empanelled in 1859, no indictments were sought for the massacre. Yet, Bagley would have us believe on the sole basis of Cradlebaugh's claims that the grand juries refused to indict for the massacre.

:Just as Bagley has the facts wrong about the 1859 grand jury's treatment of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, so does he miss important facts about the grand jury's treatment of other crimes. The second 1859 grand jury handed down indictments for the Parrish and Potter and the Henry Jones cases, yet Bagley tells us that no indictments were ever obtained for these crimes.

===Church would not help capture fugitives?===

:Bagley claims that high Mormon officials refused to cooperate in apprehending the massacre fugitives. For example, Cradlebaugh reports that he told Buchanan that church officials offered to produce fugitives upon condition that the church dictate the composition of the petit juries. Bagley does not tell us that U.S. District Attorney Wilson declared this "an unqualified falsehood." Mormons did no such thing.

:The federal judiciary denied Mormon law enforcement officers the power to assist federal officers in the pursuit of criminal convictions. Governor Cumming complained that the federal judges refused to admit to the bar federal territorial prosecutors. Indeed, Cradlebaugh and fellow judges refused to permit the Mormon territorial attorney (even though he was technically an officer of the United States) to enter their courtrooms and present bills for indictments.

:U.S. District Attorney Wilson attempted to persuade non-Mormon Deputy U.S. Marshal William Rodgers to effect service of process upon massacre participants. Rodgers rebuffed the request, claiming a lack of resources. Then, on 6 August 1858, Wilson told the federal marshal that the Mormon territorial marshal, John Kay, would accomplish the investigations and the arrests. According to Wilson, "Kay was a Mormon, had a knowledge of the country and of the people, and expressed a determination, if legally deputized, to make arrests if possible." But, Rodgers refused to deputize Kay on the ground that Kay "was a Mormon." For the federal government, a crook on the lam was better than a crook collared by a Mormon.

:The federal marshal was also less than diligent, frequently complaining about a lack of pay. However, federal surveyors had no difficulty locating and using the services of the fugitives. The surveyors' accounts mock the progress of the investigation, recounting jokes with and pranks upon the fugitives. Additionally, in 1872, the U.S. attorney general denied a request by the U.S. district attorney to reopen the investigation of the massacre.

:As another example of silly officiousness, immediately prior to Lee's first trial in 1875, lawyers Jabez Sutherland and George C. Bates offered to surrender indictees William Stewart, Isaac Haight, George Adair, and John Higbee in return for accommodating their request for bail. U.S. District Judge Jacob Boreman was incensed with this proposal, refused it, and instead commenced disbarment proceedings against these lawyers. Blood of the Prophets touches on this briefly but not fairly (p. 290). Although a defense lawyer may not shield a fugitive, it is common for fugitives to negotiate the terms of their surrender indirectly through lawyers. Judge Boreman's 13 February 1875 letter to Sutherland and Bates shows that the judiciary petulantly refused to deal with Mormons or even attorneys for Mormons. The judge condemned Sutherland for taking on a Mormon as a client because Mormons have "the very soul of corruption." Boreman's refusal to discuss bail is ironic in light of the bail he later granted Lee.

:Federal judges denied Mormons permission to assist federal officials with criminal prosecutions. These judges considered Mormons as disloyal "foreigners," as un-American, "perverted, oppressed, [and] alien." Mormons could not be trusted to do anything, including fight crime. Avoiding collaboration with the Mormons was of greater social value than justice.

:Bagley fails to report accurately early efforts at apprehension. Skipping over legitimate offers of help, Bagley accuses the church of obstructing justice by frustrating the investigation. That is not appropriate, given the evidence.

===Brigham Young took no official action?===

:''Blood of the Prophets'' criticizes Brigham Young for doing nothing in his official capacity to prosecute the massacre (p. 379). Young, however, explained that he took no official governmental action against the perpetrators because President Buchanan stripped him of these powers and Governor Cumming possessed all the powers of the executive. Once he was stripped of civil power, the church may have well taken the position that the Mormon prophet's control over wrongdoers was limited to the remedies specified in section 134 of the church's Doctrine and Covenants. Nothing required Brigham Young to hunt down the participants and turn them over to the very powers seeking to jail him for bigamy (see D&C 134:4).

:There is no competent evidence of a Mormon cabal to influence the executive branch to delay prosecution. There is much speculation, but nothing more. The Eastern press occasionally blamed the delay upon the Buchanan and subsequent administrations. The will to prosecute was not there. Both Cradlebaugh and Wilson gave up and left town before the Civil War. [article cited ends here]

{{endnotes sources}}


[[es:Pregunta: ¿Brigham Young bloqueó el procesamiento de los individuos responsables de la Masacre de Mountain Meadows?]]

[[Category:Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
[[Category:Brigham Young]]

Question: Did Brigham Young block prosecution of the individuals responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

2024-02-10T20:52:43Z

DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Question: Did Brigham Young block prosecution of the individuals responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre? to Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre: wiki update project

#REDIRECT [[Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre]]