Synopses & Reviews
In the fall of 1857, some 120 California-bound emigrants were killed in lonely Mountain Meadows in southern Utah; only eighteen young children were spared. The men on the ground after the bloody deed took an oath that they would never mention the event again, either in public or in private. The leaders of the Mormon church also counseled silence. The first report, soon after the massacre, described it as an Indian onslaught at which a few white men were present, only one of whom, John D. Lee, was actually named.
In the century since the Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred, the first report has been the standard one. It remained for Mrs. Brooks to search out the facts, since she believed, she tells us, that "nothing but the truth is good enough for the church to which I belong." Her account, first published at Stanford in 1950, is here republished in revised form, and offers the most detailed treatment of this controversial piece of history which has thus far appeared.
With admirable scholarship, Mrs. Brooks has traced the background of conflict, analyzed the emotional climate at the time, pointed up the social and military organization in Utah, and revealed the forces which culminated in the great tragedy at Mountain Meadows. The result is a near-classic treatment which neither smears nor clears the participants as individuals. It portrays an atmosphere of war hysteria, whipped up by recitals of past persecutions and the vision of an approaching "army" coming to drive the Mormons from their homes.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 292-310) and index.
About the Author
Mrs. Juanita Brooks holds degrees from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, and Columbia. She initiated Utah's historical records survey in the 1930's, held appointment as a field fellow of the Henry E. Huntington Library, and was enabled to carry out the original research for her book by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. She is the author of two other books and edited, with Robert Glass Cleland, A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee.