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In September 1857, a wagon train passing through Utah laden with gold was attacked. Approximately 140 people were slaughtered; only 17 children under the age of eight were spared. This incident in an open field called Mountain Meadows has ever since been the focus of passionate debate: Is it possible that official Mormon dignitaries were responsible for the massacre? In her riveting book, Sally Denton makes a fiercely convincing argument that they were. The author-herself of Mormon descent-first traces the extraordinary emergence of the Mormons and the little-known nineteenth-century intrigues and tensions between their leaders and the U.S. government, fueled by the Mormons' zealotry and exclusionary practices. We see how by 1857 they were unique as a religious group in ruling an entire American territory, Utah, and commanding their own exclusive government and army. Denton makes clear that in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the church began placing the blame on a discredited Mormon, John D. Lee, and on various Native Americans. She cites contemporaneous records and newly discovered documents to support her argument that, in fact, the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, bore significant responsibility-that Young, impelled by the church's financial crises, facing increasingly intense scrutiny and condemnation by the federal government, incited the crime by both word and deed. Finally, Denton explains how the rapidly expanding and enormously rich Mormon church of today still struggles to absolve itself of responsibility for what may well be an act of religious fanaticism unparalleled in the annals of American history. American Massacre is totally absorbing in its narrative as it brings to life a tragic moment in our history.… (más)
waltzmn: The Mountain Meadows Massacre is one of the major events in American religious history -- a battle between Protestant and Mormon citizens of the west. I have been repeatedly surprised that it has not been more discussed as Mormons become more part of the American mainstream. It remains a popular topic for modern authors -- but the first great writer on the subject was Juanita Brooks. Her book has a rather strange organization, but every writer since her time, including Sally Denton, has been largely dependent on her work. So it makes sense to at least look at the source....… (más)
A well-written history that focuses on the context surrounding the massacre. Helps us understand why these men might have committed the murders and why their higher-ups helped cover things up for them. But when you write about a subject that so many people have told so many lies about for so many decades, it is *crucial* that you rely on and cite primary sources. Denton does, but she mostly works off and references previous historians instead of the large number of eyewitness accounts. ( )
A history of the Mountain Meadows Massacre that occurred in 1857. The book is divided into three parts - the history of the Mormon church leading up to the massacre; the massacre itself; and the aftermath. A story that was shrouded in lies for a century and a half, even though it appears the truth was actually known to the court through testimony, histories, and diaries obtained from key witnesses and defendants, now is given journalistic treatment in this readable, lucid document. The history of the Mormon church is sketchier than some other histories, but still includes details I had not found in other works, partially because of the needs of the particular story the author was telling. It includes a discussion and history of some of the major players that are often passed over in favor of the charismatic leaders, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. The other characters included here are mostly familiar names to anyone who has read extensive histories of the church, but they come to life in a way that has not happened in histories focused more on leadership than on the devoted, often fanatic, followers. Highly recommended. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
In pursuing the bloody threat which runs through this picture of sad realities, the question of how this crime, that for hellish atrocity has no parallel in our history, can be adequately punished often comes up and seeks in vain for an answer. - Brevet Major James H. Carleton, Special Report to Congress, May 25, 1859
Live in tune with the Holy Spirit / Seek the truth always. Be not / afraid to learn the truth of anything, / for no truth will be revealed to you as such / that will be in conflict with God's kingdom. - Mormon patriarchal blessing
Dedicatoria
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
For my sons, Ralph, Grant, and Carson
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
It is a late summer afternoon and the valley is at its most beautiful.
Citas
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Have you shed innocent blood or assented thereto? Have you committed adultery? Have you betrayed your brother? Have you borne false witness against your neighbor? Do you get drunk? Have you lied? Have you contracted debts without prospect of paying? Have you labored faithfully for your wage? Have you coveted that which belongs to another? Have you taken the name of the Lord in vain? Do you preside in your family as a servant of God? Have you paid your tithing in all things? - Brigham Young's Catechism
Almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. - Brigham Young
While eating breakfast of rabbit and quail a shot rang out and one of the children toppled over. - Sarah Baker
We knew we would blamed. We had seen too much. We knew we'd either be killed by the Mormons or by the Americans and either way we could no longer stay there. - Paiute Natives
That will not do, for you know a damned sight better. You ordered it done. Nothing has been done except by your orders and it is too late in the day for you to order things done and then go back on it, and go back on the men who have carried out your orders. You are as much to blame as any one, and you know that we have done nothing except what you ordered done. I know that I have obeyed orders, and by God I will not be lied on."
I always supposed I lived in a land of civil and religious liberty, in which we were secured by the Constitution of our country the right to remove at pleasure from one portion of our domain to another, and also that we enjoyed the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of our own conscience. But I regret to say, that the evidence...clearly proves that, so far as Utah is concerned, I have been mistaken in such supposition. Men are murdered here. Coolly, deliberately, premeditatedly murdered - their murder is deliberated and determined upon by church council meetings and that too, for no other reason than that they had apostatized from your church, and were striving to leave the Territory. - John Cradlebaugh
For more than two square miles the ground is strewn with the skull bones and other remains of the victims. In places the water has washed away many of these remains together, forming little mounds, raising monuments as it were to the cruelty of man to his fellow man. Here and there may be found the remains of an innocent infant beside those of some fond, devoted mother, ruthlessly slain by men worse than demons; their bones lie bleaching in the noonday sun, a mute but an eloquent appeal to a just but offended God for vengeance. I have witnessed many harrowing sights on the fields of battle, but never did my heart thrill with such horrible emotions, as when standing on that silent plain contemplating the remains of the innocent victims of Mormon avarice, fanaticism, and cruelty. - Capt. James Lynch
Here 120 men, women, and children were massacred in cold blood early in September, 1857. They were from Arkansas. Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord."
They melted down with one accord / Like wax before the flame / Both men and women, old and young / O Utah?, where's thy shame? / By order of Old Brigham Young / This deed was done, you see / And the captain of that wicked band / Was Captain John D. Lee / By order of the President / This bloody deed was done / He was the leader of the Mormon Church / His name was Brigham Young - The Ballad of John D. Lee
I am a true believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do not believe everything that is now practiced and taught by Brigham Young. I do not agree with him. I believe he is leading the people astray; but I believe in the gospel as it was taught in its purity by Joseph Smith in former days. I have my reasons for saying this. I used to make this man's will my pleasure, and did so for thirty years. See how and what I have come to this day. I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner." - John D. Lee
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Researchers considered the crudely inscribed statement, carrying the possible weight of a "deathbed confession," within the larger context of its history.
In September 1857, a wagon train passing through Utah laden with gold was attacked. Approximately 140 people were slaughtered; only 17 children under the age of eight were spared. This incident in an open field called Mountain Meadows has ever since been the focus of passionate debate: Is it possible that official Mormon dignitaries were responsible for the massacre? In her riveting book, Sally Denton makes a fiercely convincing argument that they were. The author-herself of Mormon descent-first traces the extraordinary emergence of the Mormons and the little-known nineteenth-century intrigues and tensions between their leaders and the U.S. government, fueled by the Mormons' zealotry and exclusionary practices. We see how by 1857 they were unique as a religious group in ruling an entire American territory, Utah, and commanding their own exclusive government and army. Denton makes clear that in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the church began placing the blame on a discredited Mormon, John D. Lee, and on various Native Americans. She cites contemporaneous records and newly discovered documents to support her argument that, in fact, the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, bore significant responsibility-that Young, impelled by the church's financial crises, facing increasingly intense scrutiny and condemnation by the federal government, incited the crime by both word and deed. Finally, Denton explains how the rapidly expanding and enormously rich Mormon church of today still struggles to absolve itself of responsibility for what may well be an act of religious fanaticism unparalleled in the annals of American history. American Massacre is totally absorbing in its narrative as it brings to life a tragic moment in our history.
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