The Mountain Meadows Massacre A Bibliographic Perspective
The Mountain Meadows Massacre was one of the worst acts of premeditated mass murder ever committed by Americans against other Americans. It occurred in southern Utah between Cedar City and St. George on September 11, 1857, and involved the slaughter of 120 California-bound emigrants, the Fancher-Baker train. It was perpetrated by an armed force of 50-60 Mormon militiamen and some Southern Paiute Indians. Directed by LDS Stake Presidents William H. Dame and Isaac C. Haight, Bishop Philip Klingensmith, Mormon Indian agent and militia officer John Doyle Lee, and Mormon militia officer John H. Higbee, the Mormon militia killed every man and woman in the wagon train and nearly every child, with only seventeen children, all under eight years of age, surviving.
In the aftermath of the massacre, the same Mormon leaders denied all responsibility, blaming it, instead, on the Southern Paiutes. Almost immediately, though, this “cover-up” unraveled, resulting in a protracted effort by territorial officials to get to the bottom of what happened—an effort that spanned some two decades. As more information came to light, two principals, Haight and Lee, were excommunicated from the Mormon Church. In the legal arena, ultimately only one militia member was brought to trial, namely Lee. After being convicted of murder in a U.S. federal court, he was executed by firing squad on March 23, 1877, at the site of the massacre—Mountain Meadows.
