It was the child-victims that proved to be especially appalling. The cold-blooded murderers deemed anyone that could be taken as a serious witness against them as a direct "threat." [Ya know, the exact same mentality a rapist takes; thereby becoming a rapist-murderer]
It wasn't just the Fancher family of Arkansas that suffered greatly: Of the Cameron/Miller Group, only three children of Josiah Miller and Matilda Cameron Miller, survived.
Malinda Cameron Scott Thurston charged in 1877 that Mormons, under the authority of Brigham Young; killed eleven of her relatives, kidnapped the surviving children, and stole the property of her family.
Source: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ut-mountainmeadowsvictims2.html
The child-victims in this group included 9 yo James William Miller and 16 yo Henry Cameron.
(In this way, Logo...as much as I appreciate your forthcoming comment...I don't think I've ever heard any Mormon hold Brigham Young accountable -- if not for any "pre" role in the massacre...'cause frankly, that info went to the grave with some people...but 'tis no doubt about the post-crime cover-up.)
Also, a number of people make a mistake in saying only those 8 & over were killed. While that might have been the order given -- to kill according to the "magic" Mormon number of eight ["magic" because Mormons both say that is the age of baptism and they say children are completely "innocent" til then...if they're "innocent" why do Mormons say they baptize them for the remission of sin?].
Anyway, three 7 yo were shot down: Mary Lavina Baker and twins Magaret and Sara Fancher...
The Fancher youth were simply bullet-holed:
...like the twins' 10-yo brother, Martin...
...along with his 14 yo brother, Thomas...
...and his 15 yo sister, Mary...
...and his 17 yo brother, William...
...and his 19 yo brother, Hampton...
Only the two youngest of the Nancy Dunlap children were returned (not to be confused with the three Mary Dunlap children)...because the others were shot dead by Mormons. And two "wards" who were a brother and sister of a 25 yo (probably teens) weren't "returned"...'cause, they, too, were shot dead by Mormons.
I'm sure this isn't a full list of child victims. How many of the women murdered were pregnant? Even pregnant women not at the scene suffered life loss, as Nancy Jane Wood miscarried upon hearing the news that her husband had been murdered.
Kaehurowing said in an earlier post that this was just a one-time crime amongst the Mormons. But that also downplays not only the post-massacre conspiracy that took place among the Mormons for generations, but the crime of kidnapping that occurred for the two years after the massacre. (The Mormons took the rest of the under-8 children and kept them and didn't initiate turning them over to proper authorities...the Army had to ride in and retrieve them!)
Mass murderers...child-kidnappers for two years...horse thieves of the finest horses in the West [remember what you could be shot for in the mid-19th century!]
Somehow this account wasn't on the lips of the Mormon missionaries in the late 1850s and 1860s as they ventured into the UK to proselytize about joining their ranks in Utah.
Well, I would have to agree with Colofornian; The crime of Brigham was committed after the act and his complicity in covering up the crime of murder.
He probably didn’t know a thing about it but, when presented with the evidence, did all he could to hide the facts and motivations.