| Show 2F Thursday September 22 1988 Standard-Examin- er The healing From IF recognize a troubled collective conscience that yearned for a voice — a voice she would one day provide From Patriarch Nephi Johnson’s stunning deathbed cries to other events that began to unfold Juanita Brooks Her the circumstances behind the massacre slowly percolated to the surface as a “shocking enlightenment” to the Brooks Peterson said When her relatives began to speak they mostly did so in defensive tones saying that there were mitigating circumstances surrounding the massacre In their confessions they exonerated the private Mormon soldiers while laying double blame upon their officers She had even come to learn that her grandfather Dudley Leavitt was at the massacre But even so he insisted throughout his life just as others did that he never actually participated in the bloody bludgeonings He was also known to have cautioned his children against marrying Higbees Haights Dames or Klingensmiths — church leaders who ordered actions paved the way to a new toler- ever-curio- ance in the church the raid — because of the Mormon belief that “the sins of the fathers would be visited upon the heads of the children" for the next four generations Peterson wrote “Yet from the very apologetics of her relatives Juanita inferred their unwitting vicarious assumption of responsibility” he wrote “At the deathbed of Nephi Johnson she had stumbled upon an astounding truth: Within the collective heart of her homeland nestled a dark and damning guilt” In seeking the church’s ratification of her controversial interpre tation of the massacre or more generally to get Mormons everywhere to confront their past openly and fearlessly Brooks served the same function in the minds of Mormon readers that literary tragedy serves Peterson said What she did through her dispassionate treatment of the massacre was to force Mormons to confront a terribly tragic event and to accept it That is what literary tragedy docs he said “A tragedian forces you to confront terrible facts and yet leads you to a catharsis about it” he for their Mormon ancestors a little better even though they do accept the facts of the massacre That to me is the key of her significance” What Brooks has become then to many Mormons is a symbol of loyal dissent by the way she insisted on telling the full truth even if it led her into conflict with the church’s general authorities said about confronting them she wrote them letters” In a church that values confor- In essence Brooks became more than an objective historian she became “a minstrel of a gripping saga” Peterson wrote that allowed a healing to finally begin a healing that continues today “Her way of handling that has made it much easier for LatterSaints to accept the mas-day sacre admit it not try to excuse it not try to blame it on the Indians” he said “They can accept the massacre On the other hand they can maintain their esteem “She had a courage about con- fronting even apostles if they were in the wrong” he said “If she knew historically that they were wrong she didn’t bat an eye mity her actions may have paved the way for greater church tolerance “I don’t think she was alone in creating a more tolerant climate but she was certainly a major contributor to the new tolerance that since the 1950s has slowly Saint emerged in the Latter-da- y population in Utah and elsewhere" he said “She certainly did her share” Peterson in his office at WSC 'A tra- gedian forces you to confront terrible facts Levi and yet leads yc he say3 of Juan The massacre IF This determination was fed by the fiery speeches of church leadFrom This apprehension combined with the isolation of the southern portion of the state made the area the wrong place for the ers who visited members followemigrant ing the July 24 announcement “Send 2500 troops here our company to be traveling In her book Brooks reports brethren to make a desolation of that southern Utah was on the this people!” Brooks quotes C Kimball as saying during a outskirts of church territory Sunday sermon two days after the Those who were sent there were a announcement “God Almighty tough and independent bunch helping me I will fight until there most had been with the church is not a drop of blood in my through the persecutions of Misveins Good God! I have wives souri and Illinois As they established themselves enough to whip out the United so also did they establish military States for they will whip A company of organizations Brigham Young determined to minutemen on horseback had stay and fight advised church been organized for emergencies These militia men who had been leaders to continue their conciliagoing Indians the toward through the motions now policy tory had been given a purpose with “to obtain their love and confidence for they must learn that the rumor of an approaching arthey have either got to help us or my Brooks wrote Church leader George A Smith the United States will kill us both” Brooks quotes Brigham had issued military orders to miYoung in a letter to Indian agent litia commanders throughout the southern portion of the state The Jacob Hamblin Hc-b- er them-iselve- s" commanders were ordered to be ready to march at the shortest possible notice Consequently there appeared a dangerous mixture of religious fanaticism and militarism — a combination that was ignited at Mountain Meadows Brooks wrote Boasts by the traveling party didn’t help matters Individuals in the emigrant company bragged of participating in some of the early persecutions of church members in Missouri According to Brooks there were reports of the party naming their oxen Brigham Young or C Kimball and then cursing them as they passed through the Mormon villages or trying to buy provisions and upon being refused popping the head off a chicken with a long bull whip One emigrant even boasted of carrying the gun that shot “Old Joe Smith” xWhen the travelers were refused help and supplies from the He-b- er Mormons they threatened to come back with an army from California to combine with Johnston's army from the east thereby squeezing the Mormons “between the hammer and the 'anvil They would learn what it meant to defy the United States of America!” By the time Cedar City the party reached the fervor had reached its highest pitch Church and military leaders decided to meet They were worried about attacks from US armies and also felt an increasing desire misinterpreting church leaders for vengeance upon their enemies They felt increasing pressure from local Indians to either assist in dealing with the traveling party or themselves feel the animonisty of the Indians After the meeting the leaders decided to send a messenger to Salt Lake City to seek advice from Brigham Young But as Brooks writes after the messenger left they decided to take matters into their own hands The date was Sept 11 The doomed party had already been fighting off Indian attacks at its Mountain Meadows holdout for about four days Consequently when the group saw the arrival of a Mormon militia they felt a sense of relief They were led to believe they would be rescued Unbeknownst to the desperate party however church and militia leaders including Isaac C Haight William Dame John Higbee and John D Lee had already met in council and prayer It was decided that the will of God was for them to decoy the emigrants from their holdout and then upon order turn and kill all who could talk and let the Indians kill the rest Brook writes The massacre which lasted from five to 30 minutes resulted in the deaths of about 100 people There were only 7 children who survived she wrote After Dame commander-in-chie- f of the militia reviewed the scene of the massacre for the first time Brooks records that all he could say was “I did not know there were so many of them” She writes that sickened as Dames was by the sight of the dead on the field he was even more disturbed to arrive home the next day and get the word from Young that the “emigrants must be protected if it takes all the men in southern Utah" 1 One can only imagine how many times Lee had pondered that belated message as he trav- eled to Salt Lake City to tell Young of the massacre Evidently it was more than Lee could bear for when he finally did speak with the church president the story had changed In the presence of Wilford Woodruff who took copious n I g c tl a b a n o v ii ” c 8 y v o I t c The survivors From IF Mary Miller known as Mary William Tackett known as William Taggit Prudence Ange-lin- e Dunlap and Georgiana Dunlap known as Angeline Huff and Annie Huff TM Jones called Ephraim Huff and his sister Kit Carson Fanchcr known as Charley Fancher his cousin Tryphena Fancher called Annie Fancher by the Mormons and supposed by them to be the sister of Charley Betsy Sarah Jane or Sallie and William Baker Joseph Miller known as Samuel Dunlap and three Dunlap sisters Rebecca Louisa and Sarah After the massacre the children were taken in pitiful condition to the home of Jacob and Rachel Hamblin There were two wounded One of them little Sarah Dunlap had been shot through one of her arms below the elbow by a large ball breaking both bones and cutting half the arm off Most of the children still had blood on their clothing and others were suffering the So-r- el trauma of seeing their parents and others killed John Miller later recalled he was by his mother when she was murdered and “pulled the arrows from her back until she was dead” Rebecca Dunlap remembered the terror of the attack She said jshe ran and hid behind sagebush 'when the massacre began Two of iher older sisters were killed right near her and were lying dead by her side She heard her baby sister crying and ran to find her entwined in her mother’s arms but the mother was dead Little Sarah was about a year old at the time and had been shot through her right arm Seizing her sister in her arms Rebecca rushed back to the sagebrush where she had been hiding In her book “Mountain Meadows Massacre” Juanita Brooks reconstructed the scene as the children arrived at the Hamblin home “Rachel at once took the children over directing them to wash him kindly and show love and affection In turn Charley was to obey his new mother and help care for the other children and do whatever chores he was given There was probably little that could have been done to save Sa rah’s arm She was also afflicted with a prevalent illness making the rounds called “sore eyes” which eventually caused her to go blind For almost two years the children lived in homes where they became part of the families Jacob Forney the federal official reported they had been cared for satisfactorily and that he found them happy and contented By June 16 1859 Adjutant Fi- tzJohn Porter aide to Colonel Albert Johnston Sidney trouble" commander of Camp Floyd in The next day Mormon Church Utah Territory informed Forney leaders in the area found homes that the army was ready to provide escort and transportation for for the children When John D Lee brought the children as Forney had reCharley Fanchcr home to his quested A party of US dragoons wife Caroline he told her to treat would accompany the group to Fort Kearney where the post’s commander would see the orphans safely carried to Fort Leavenworth where they would be picked up by a delegation from Arkansas Brigham Young assigned four women to accompany the children Ann Eliza Worley of Salt Lake City would act as chief nurse and be paid $25 per month Sally Squire Hester Elvira Nash and Elizabeth Mure also from Salt Lake would receive $10 per month and be under the direction has long been debated in and out ucators Symposium up a bit before supper and asking the older ones to help those younger while she cared for the child with the wounded arm Her kind motherly way soon reassured them and before long they had all been fed some hot mush and milk and put to bed close together on quilts spread over hay on the ground In the meantime she dressed the wounded arm then sat in the rocking chair holding and cuddling the child “Finally she told them that if they would be quiet for a few minutes she would say a prayer for them all So she asked God to help them to sleep well through the night and to bless especially little Louisa so that her arm would not pain so much and would heal quickly without any children they were at least whose he thought they were” he recounted “One little girl I dis- tinctly remember had an arm broken by a gunshot wound It had not united and the ar© hung No scene dangling by her side in my life was ever so impressed upon my mind as that which I saw there that day presented by those little children their Cithers mothers and brothers and sisters dead on the far-oplains of Utah and they absolutely with- out means” Sallie Baker remembered the of Worley day she returned to her home- was John H Berry a US senator town of Harrison Ark Thtre a buggy parade through town testifying at the Smoot hearings and when Sallie reached her in 1907 recalled the arrival of the she Arkansas orphans to their home grandmother Baker’s home on saw her the porch standing state when he was 17 years of “When we came along the road age The children had been picked up at Leavenworth by leading up to the house she was William C Mitchell and brought pacing back and forth bii when she caught sight of us she ran to the village courthouse “I saw them as they were lined down the path and grabbed hold of us one after the other and up on the benches and Col Mitchell told the people whose gave us a powerful hug" she said ci w rr e' h e a ci n g ci ff ai tc c al pi id hi tc 11 th di c? The reaction From IF known These arc the people who believe that if it is ignored it will be forgotten he said This attitude has long been prevalent in the church according to Juanita Brooks author of “Mountain Meadows Massacre” an exhaustive book on the subject She said that repeated counsel by early church authorities was to there was keep the matter be to constant by nothing gained agitation “The more you stir a manure pile the worse it stinks” Brigham Young was often unofficially quoted as saving In the preface to her book Brooks wrote that since the massacre and especially since the execution of John D Lee for his part in it the church has tried to blot out the affair from its histo-D- - "It must not be referred to much less discussed openly" was the counsel from church leaders she wrote “Years ago that might have been the best stand to take of the church ( Richard V' Sadler ' - I v - ' V H believe about the massacre makes When Lee first told Young about the incident he blamed it on the Indians When word of the massacre leaked outside of Utah fingers were pointed at Young This allegation was strengthened by the posture of silence the church maintained for years afterward According to BH Roberts in It a hot the LDS Church’s Comprehentopic sive History of the Church in the interest of the church but Young did not hear a full or honnow with the perspective of est account of the crime from Lee — nor did he quickly pursue the time with the old antagonisms gone we should be able to view matter to its end Roberts said Young's own anthis tragedy objectively and disswer to his alleged delay of action passionately” Her son Karl Brooks who is came in his deposition during mayor of St George echoes her Lee’s trial In the deposition Young said sentiments “It’s a tragic thing" he said he did not launch an immediate during a phone interview "But investigation into the case beit’s an event that needs to be cause at the time another govermentioned and an action where nor had been appointed to some church responsibility needs preside over the state and he did not know how soon he would arto be taken” The question of responsibility rive also US judges were not in I the territory at the time In her book Brooks disagreed “While he did not order the massacre and would have prevented it if he could Brigham Young was an accessory after the fact tn that he knew what had happened and how and why it happened Evidence of this is abundant and unmistakable and from the most impeccable Mormon sources” She said that while Young felt no responsibility legally to pursue the case after being relieved of his position as governor he understood that the acts of the leaders involved in the massacre had grown out of loyalty to him and his cause Therefore "he would not betray them into the hands of their common ‘enemy’ " Brooks’ claim that Young was an accessory after the fact was adamantly denied by S Dilworth Young former member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy Speaking at the First Church Educational System Religious Ed t in 1977 Young said Brooks’ claim suggests that Brigham Young “knew of (the massacre) and approved condoned and protected the guilty” Young said that was not the case “John D Lee an adopted son trusted implicitly by Brigham Young had always been worthy of the trust” he said “They believed him" It was not until about 1865 during a trip to St George however that Brigham Young learned the full truth about the massacre A short time later he excommunicated Lee from the church Young wrote In addition to being excommunicated Lee eventually became the scapegoat for church leaders when they realized it would be impossible to acquit him without assuming a part of the responsibility themselves He was consequently tried in court on two different occasions Lee’s first trial ended in a hung jury forcing a retrial Brooks wrote While Brooks made it clear she did not condone Lee’s participation in the massacre she attempted to show he was not the only man responsible for the tragedy She faulted the church for the way Lee was singled out “It seems that once having taken a stand and putting forth a story the leaders of the Mormon Church have felt that they should maintain it regardless of all the evidence to the contrary” she wrote “In their concern to let the matter die they do not set that it can never be finally settled until it is accepted as any other historical incident with a view only to finding the facts" Her son Karl Brooks laid his mother’s efforts to flush out all of the facts — something nfver before done concerning the massacre — is what makes the ork so valuable V hilc the book docs tot condone what early church members did he said understanding the circumstances that led to the m m ci cl w tr ht ar th ti Pi v th c fc CI p m in to th in re Wl t |
