Massacre at Mountain Meadows, the True Story of Utah's Darkest Day

On September 11, 1857, members of the Mormon militia and Paiute Indians murdered roughly 120 unarmed men, women, and children in southwestern Utah during the Utah War. This incident is known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

The Mormons Go West

Under the leadership of Brigham Young, members of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints, also known as Mormons, traveled west to escape from the religious persecution they suffered in New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri.

In 1847, the Mormons started settling in present-day Utah and Nevada. At the time, this was Mexican territory.

Brigham YoungPhoto byWikimedia

Mexican-American War and the Mexican Cession

In 1848, Mexico ceded much of what is now the southwestern United States under terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the conclusion of the Mexican-American War.

Two years later, Congress formally established the Utah Territory when it enacted the Compromise of 1850.  As a concession to the large Mormon population in the area, President Millard Fillmore named Brigham Young as the territorial Governor.

Buchanan Replaces Young

In 1857, newly elected U.S. President James Buchanan dismissed Young and replaced him with Alfred Cumming.

Anticipating that the change would anger Young and his followers, Buchanan ordered Secretary of War John B. Floyd and Army Chief of Staff Winfield Scott to assemble a military expedition to escort Cumming to Utah to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.

This expedition is known as the Utah Expedition and it initiated the Utah War.

Guerrilla Warfare in Utah

Because mail service to the West was slow, Young was not informed about his dismissal. He learned from other sources that federal troops were en route to Utah.

Suspecting the onset of another episode of Mormon persecution, the governor mobilized the territorial militia, called the Nauvoo Legion, and declared martial law.

When the federal soldiers began to arrive, the Nauvoo Legion resorted to guerrilla tactics that included stampeding livestock, raiding supplies, starting prairie fires, blocking roads, destroying river crossings, and staging nightly forays to deprive the soldiers of sleep.

Although the territory was plagued with violence for over a year, there was surprisingly little bloodshed or loss of life. The Mormon militia harassed the Utah Expedition as it made its way to Utah, which slowed it down.

Eventually, a government agent negotiated with Young, and the two reached a compromise. Young and the Mormons were given amnesty, the new Governor took office, and the Utah Expedition remained in the territory to maintain order.

However, U.S. officials made this agreement without knowing about the brutal incident that was still to come.

The Baker-Fancher Wagon Train

One glaring exception to the mostly non-lethal hysteria evoked by the Utah Expedition was the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

In early September 1857, a California-bound wagon train transporting the Baker-Fancher Party entered the Utah Territory.

Most of the 140 emigrants were from Arkansas, where Parley P. Pratt, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church, was murdered in May.

As the travelers passed near Cedar City, Utah, a dispute erupted with Mormon residents who refused to sell supplies to the travelers.

Tempers flared within the Mormon community when rumors spread that members of the Baker-Fancher Party had participated in Pratt’s murder back in Arkansas.

Emigrants Attacked

Meanwhile, firebrands in the local Mormon community recruited Paiute Indians in the area to join them in an attack on the wagon train in exchange for whatever bounty the natives might confiscate.

On Monday, September 7, 1857, the emigrants were grazing their cattle in a valley known as Mountain Meadows, about 35 miles southwest of Cedar City. As they sat down for breakfast, a group of Indians — and Mormon militiamen dressed as Indians — started firing on them.

Despite several deaths and injuries, the surprised travelers quickly circled their wagons and fended off the assault, which turned into a five-day siege.

While the emigrants ran low on food and water, more militiamen reinforced the original group of raiders.

As the days passed, the Mormons grew concerned that the travelers knew that their assailants were not exclusively Indians.

Fearful of possible reprisals, Mormon leaders decided that they could not allow witnesses to survive to tell about their participation in the attack.

Mountain MeadowsPhoto byLibrary of Congress

The Mountain Meadows Massacre

On September 11, 1857, the Mormon negotiators underhandedly offered the travelers safe passage out of the area if they would hand over their weapons as a sign of good faith. Facing dehydration and starvation, the emigrants were forced to comply.

When the arms were surrendered, the militiamen escorted the wounded and youngest children away from the site in two wagons. They were followed on foot by women and children old enough to walk. Bringing up the rear were men and older boys, each escorted by an armed militiaman.

The Mountain Meadows MassacrePhoto byAmerican History Central

After marching into the desert for about a mile, where the Indians were hiding, the Mormon leader ordered a halt. On a pre-arranged signal each militiaman turned and shot the man he was guarding.

Meanwhile, militiamen in the two leading wagons executed all of the wounded emigrants. The women and children on foot were left to the mercy of the Indians who came out of hiding.

By the end of the ordeal, the Mormons and Indians murdered roughly 120 men, women, and children. They spared only 17 children — under the age of 7 — who were deemed to be too young to bear witness to the massacre.

Aftermath of the Massacre

When word of the killings leaked, Mormon leaders denied any culpability and blamed the massacre on the Indians. Nonetheless, one of the militiamen eventually came forward with the truth.

In 1859, church leaders removed some of the culprits from their positions of authority.

In 1870, they excommunicated the two ringleaders, Isaac Haight and John D. Lee.

Four years later, a territorial grand jury indicted 9 men for their role in the massacre. Haight and some others went into hiding and were never captured.

In 1877, John D. Lee was tried and convicted of murder for his participation in the crime. On March 23, 1877, Lee was executed by firing squad at Mountain Meadows, protesting that he had been “sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner” by Brigham Young.

John D. LeePhoto byAmerican History Central

In September 2007, on the 150th anniversary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Mormon Apostle Henry B. Eyring, speaking for the church, formally acknowledged that members of the Mormon militia planned and committed most of the killing.

Eyring recounted that “What was done here long ago by members of our Church represents a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and conduct.”

He went on to clarify that a “separate expression of regret, is owed to the Paiute people who have unjustly borne for too long the principal blame for what occurred during the massacre.”

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