Is this event considered so sinister just because they were whites murdering whites? What about all the massacres of Indians happening around the same time, by settlers and military who were not Mormon?
I’ve read two books on this massacre, one by a non Mormon and the other by Mormons. The basic difference is that the non Mormon claimed Brigham Young ordered the massacre, while the Mormons say wanted the settlers left alone.
The consensus, though, was that the bodies were buried in shallow graves and then dug up by coyotes, etc. The perpetrators were concerned about the other wagon trains that would soon pass through the meadows. They buried the dead because they wanted to cover their tracks. It is dishonest for the paper to report that the dead were not buried.
I’m not defending the massacre. It was wrong and terrible. I just find it ironic that we will trust every word of the press when they agree with our agenda, while cursing the same press when they report something we don’t agree with.
What about all the massacres of Indians happening around the same time, by settlers and military who WERE Mormon?
The Bear River Masssacre, Utah Territory, (Idaho) 1863
The Circleville Massacre, Utah Territory, (Utah) 1866
Because white men openly spoke of the Indian Wars where both sides killed many of the other side.
Mormons NEVER spoke of this and called it a lie, including Mormons on this website.
"The scene was one too horrible and sickening for language to describe. Human
skeletons, disjointed bones, ghastly skulls and the hair of women were scattered
in frightful profusion over a distance of two miles." (1859 report)
You might want to check out this account of the massacre, cover up, and trial of John D. Lee by a University of Missouri KC Law School Professor.
I was just reading about the massacre here: http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/ and here: http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.com/ , but the best information, including articles from various newspapers of the time, and the account of the Army officer that was sent to investigate it were found here: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ut-mountainmeadowshistoricaccounts.html
The report of J. H. Carleton, Brevet Major, United States Army, Captain, First Dragoons, May 25, 1859
is here, and details the events very well: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ut-mountainmeadowshistoricaccounts7.html#Special%20Report%20Of%20The%20Mountain%20Meadow%20Massacre
The Army only found less than half the remains when they were sent in 1859 to investigate. They buried what they found and placed a large stone cairn over it, and a large wooden cross. The mormons tore down the cairn and the cross. They rebuilt the cairn later, but refused to put up a cross, because Mormons don’t believe in the cross.
Family members of the victims have been requesting for years that the cross be replaced, as the victims were Christians, but the mormons feel led to impose their own beliefs on the victims, even after 150 years.
It would not surprise me at all that mormons kept bones from the massacre, as they kept everything else from the pioneers. They kept the wagons, livestock, provisions, money and 17 surviving children from the massacre. Children that survived said they saw mormons wearing their parents clothes (and the bodies had been stripped naked and left on the desert). The investigating officer was able to identify a unique and fancy wagon that had been in the train, that was later owned by mormons.