This is the place:
This is the place:
DOCTRINE - BLOOD ATONEMENT - INSTANCES - MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE
EXTERNAL LINKS, BOOKS
Alleged Note of John D. Lee Discovered - implicates Brigham Young
EXTERNAL LINKS
Historical Documents - includes the deposition of Brigham Young and various John D. Lee documents.
The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop John D. Lee; The Mountain Meadows Massacre - by John D. Lee, 1877. Lee was executed for crimes committed during the massacre, but to many he was a scapegoat for the Church. This is his "confession."
The Mountain Meadows Association - Organized in 1989, the Mountain Meadows Association is dedicated to the preservation of the memory of those who lost their lives in the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the preservation of all sites associated with the Baker-Fancher Wagon Train. Our members are from both sides of the event and have come together for understanding and forgiveness.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Josiah F. Gibbs - Online Book - "The Mountain Meadows massacre should be kept before the public until unquestioning obedience to the will of the Mormon 'prophets' shall be no longer exacted from the Mormon people, or until its deadening, damning influence is exterminated."
Mountain Meadows Massacre Home Page - Pictures of the site, hosted by a living relative of those killed.
Reburying the Dead of Mountain Meadows Massacre - "Index of investigative news articles, books, documents, and sites related to this tragic massacre whose culpability continues to be denied by the Utah power base."
Unearthing Mountain Meadows Secrets: Backhoe at a S. Utah killing field rips open 142-year-old wound - Series from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Massacre at Mountain Meadows : An American Legend and a Monumental Crime by William Wise, iUniverse.com, 2000. Book Review: "In September 1857, over 100 emigrants, including many women and children, were brutally ambushed and murdered in a peaceful meadow in southern Utah. Wise' thesis is that these murders were orchestrated and directed by Brigham Young, who was the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, or Mormon) as well as the territorial governor at the time. Growing up in the LDS Church, I'd been taught that the Massacre was the dirty work of local Indians, that the LDS Church had nothing to do with it, and that accusations of complicity by Brigham Young were nothing but filthy lies by the Church's enemies. [See, for example, Essentials in Church History, Joseph Fielding Smith, 1950, pages 418-422]. Basically, the LDS response has been: "We didn't do it. The Indians did it. But if we had done it, we'd have had a really good reason because those gentiles were so evil." Wise, though, has the upper hand in this debate. He has clearly demonstrated his thesis with far more references to verifiable history than anything I've ever seen offered by the Church. Wise begins by dispelling LDS propaganda to the effect that the train consisted of "Missouri Wild Cats," who intimidated the Mormons until they felt moved to murder. Appendix A lists the people in the Fancher train, which consisted mostly of prosperous families from Arkansas, including many women and children. Latter chapters also provide convincing evidence that the Fancher train was denied the opportunity to purchase supplies in Utah because of anti-Gentile sentiment that had been fanned by Brigham Young in advance of a US Army sent to re-establish law and order in the Utah territory. He also shows (through eye-witness historical accounts) that the Fancher train had originally planned to take the northern route, but were persuaded by Mormon leaders to take the Southern route, ostensibly to facilitate the ambush and murder by LDS members in Southern Utah." - Duwayne Anderson
The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks, Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd); 1991. Book Review: Brooks, although not a professional historian, did thorough research and offered a balanced view of the massacre even though she was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well. The book's conclusions are well argued and the documents are used in a fair and balanced way. Brooks also does an effective job of discussing the background of the massacre with clear chapters on the "Mormon War" of 1857 that was coming. Unlike many authors, Brooks overcomes the tendency to become emotional or polemical about the massacre. Instead of using the book to further her own agenda, (either to be an apologist or what is called an "Anti-Mormon" and tear down the church), Brooks attempts to bring to light not only the massacre itself but the motivations behind it and the cover-up that happened afterwards. Anyone studying the Mountain Meadows Massacre need to read this book first or at least second or their research is woefully incomplete! - L. Troy Beals