The story shifts from tension to bloodshed. September 1857, Mountain Meadows, southern Utah where a wagon train of emigrant families was betrayed under a flag of truce and massacred by Mormon settlers and their allies. In this episode, we unravel the deception, the chain of command, and the sacred language that cloaked an atrocity in the guise of God’s will. You’ll hear about James Haslam’s desperate ride, the voices of child survivors, and the calculated brutality that turned neighbors into executioners. This episode asks hard questions about faith, loyalty, and the silence that lets violence happen.
Listener discretion advised: this episode contains graphic accounts of violence, told with honesty and deep respect for the victims.
SHOWNOTES:
- Massacre at Mountain Meadows by Richard Turley and Glen Leonard
- The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks
- Blood of the Prophets.; Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows by Will Bagley
- American Massacre.; The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 by Sally Denton
- Historical Topography: A New Look at Old Sites on Mountain Meadows
- Vengeance is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath by Richard Turley and Barbara Jones Brown
- Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Andrew Jenson and David H. Morris Collection by Richard Turley and Ronald Walker
- The Mountain Meadows Massacre.; A Special Report by J.H. Carleton, Bvt. Major U.S.A. Captain 1st Dragoons 1859 by J. H. Carelton
- BYU Studies, 2008. Paperback. special issue–“Mountain Meadows Massacre Documents”–includes excerpts from Andrew Jenson and David Morris collections.
- Brigham Young: American Moses by Leonard Arrington
- Emma Lee by Juanita Brooks
- Useful to the Church and Kingdom: The Journals of James H. Martineau, Pioneer and Patriarch, 1850-1918, vol. 2
- Mormonism Unveiled or The Life and Confessions of the late Mormon Bishop John D. Lee
- John D. Lee: Zealot – Pioneer Builder – Scapegoat by Juanita Brooks
- The Aiken Party Executions and the Utah War, 1857-1858 by David L. Bigler
- Problems with Mountain Meadows Massacre Sources by Richard E. Turley Jr.
- The Earliest Written Account of the Mountain Meadows Massacre?by Connell O’Donovan
- To Feed a Tree in Zion: Osteological Analysis of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre by Shannon A. Novak and Derinna Kopp
I have two suggestions for your series on LDS Church history.
1 – Stop judging the past based on the present. Yes, they made mistakes. Yes, we can learn from those mistakes. But, you’re constantly making hind-sight judgements which are inappropriate for historians.
2 – Cut the snark. It doesn’t look good on a historian either.