Posted on 07/14/2011 2:54:04 PM PDT by Colofornian
ROGERS, Ark. -- For more than 150 years, an important piece of Arkansas and American history has been relegated to obscurity.
In early 1857, a wagon train left Northwest Arkansas and headed west, bound for California.
The Francher-Baker train was made up of 14 large Arkansas families, about 800 cattle and around 30 wagons.
"They were en route to California for a better life and little did they know that Brigham Young had declared war on the United States two weeks before they entered the Salt Lake Valley," said Phil Bolinger, with the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation.
So without knowing tensions were running high between the U.S. government and Brigham Young, the leader of the Chuch of Latter-Day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church), the families decided to camp in southwest Utah, in a place called Mountain Meadows.
For most of the families, it would be their final resting place.
"They were attacked by a few indians, but mainly Mormon militia men," Bolinger said.
"Under one order -- the order was 'do your duty' -- each man killed his man, in other words, point-blank, execution-style murder. And then the women and children weren't so lucky. They were mainly bludgeoned to death with rocks or gun stocks," Bolinger said.
On September 11, 1857, 121 men, women and children were murdered. Only 17 small children, all under the age of 6, were spared. Two years later, the orphans were reunited with relatives in Arkansas.
"Everyone who lived in Northwest Arkansas at that time, had some blood relatives that were members of this wagon train," said Scott Fancher, a descendant who has 27 relatives who died that day.
For years the Mormon church denied allegations of involvement and blamed local Native Americans for the slaughter.
Descedents of the victims have always wanted the church to own up and have wanted to get federal protection for the massacre site.
In the last 10 years, there has been movies and media coverage and trips to washington to fight for the site of the massacre to become a national historic landmark, and on July 2, it did.
"Finally we have some serious, bonafied, high order federal protection for the site to protect it from development or encroachment. We also have the recognition of the site as a nationally significant historic site," Fancher said.
Francher and Bolinger say the massacre was America's first 9/11.
"Interestingly enough, it was also an act of religious extremism, and that's another sort of eerie parallel between that and are more recent 9/11. But in both cases, religious extremists did basically horrible things to basically innocent people," Fancher said.
But in this case, more than a hundred years later, both sides have been able to reconcile.
"We're 150 years-plus into this story, and it's taken that long for the players to kind of meet in the middle and agree to be civil and both agree we won't get everything that we want but we get something better for everyone that's involved," Fancher said.
The national landmark dedication ceremony will be held in Utah at the site of the Mountain Meadows massacre on September 11.
From the article: "Everyone who lived in Northwest Arkansas at that time, had some blood relatives that were members of this wagon train," said Scott Fancher, a descendant who has 27 relatives who died that day. For years the Mormon church denied allegations of involvement and blamed local Native Americans for the slaughter. Descedents of the victims have always wanted the church to own up and have wanted to get federal protection for the massacre site. In the last 10 years, there has been movies and media coverage and trips to washington to fight for the site of the massacre to become a national historic landmark, and on July 2, it did.
Hmmm...Only took almost 154 years for the Mormon church, which owns the property where the slaughter occurred, to acquiesce to this, eh?
Single issue poster alert.
So what is your agenda and why?
- Mitt
“Single issue poster alert.”
Looking at his or her post list, you can say that again..... Good grief!!!
You were doing it again more than once the Spring of 2008 -- like April 1, 2008 -- to Tennessee Nana...post #301 of a FR thread then.
You've been a broken record for at least four years...all after you constantly would attack the Roman Catholic church for years before that.
Time to update your approach...at least become a broken DVD or something.
Yep. His daily anti-mormon post. What a dilhole.
Hardly. The first attack on Americans by terrorists (if not on American soil) was over fifty years earlier.
Anti-Mormon the the cry of those that cant defend there position..
It may well be true that he is ANTI (against) MORMONS but is that not allowed ? Most certainly j.smith was against a lot of things.. is he allowed but us mere mortals not ?
*no I did not use lower case by accident it was intentional I have no respect for the man.
Now did the Mormon Church have to agree to this or is it strictly a move by the Federal gov’t to create a national landmark? I could see the timing on this as an anti-Romney move, bringing negative attention to his religion, since he’s still ahead in the polls.
I moved to Rogers last year and didn’t know anything about this; it’s interesting (whatever your motive). ;)
The mass murder of innocent Americans is still of some importance and of interest to some of us.
A couple of years ago I read a very comprehensive book about this tragic incident (it may yet be on one of my shelves), but do not remember anything about a declaration of war against the U. S.
I’m currently reading the book “Massacre at Mountain Meadows” by William Wise. The writer gives all the back round leading up to the Massacre. Very informative.
I’m consistent. As you certainly are. lol.
Maybe it’s the one I’m reading see post #12.
His middle name is “Mormon.” Code for Maroni. lol.
Hey Elsie, Did you finally convert somebody? lol.
It seems that you have stirred up a pro-massacre nest.
“Francher and Bolinger say the massacre was America’s first 9/11”
Ridiculous hyperbole.
Are you kidding? Dontcha know they're coming to get him next? He's blogging hidden away in the basement. (in his underwear) lol.
‘Yep. His daily anti-mormon post. What a dilhole.”
YEP, there’s old ben starting his cycle of denial.
Here’s a brief refresher of the mormon way:
1. Ignore all facts in the thread
2. Attack the poster
3. Call names
4. When pressed for facts, evidence or logic to support mormonism, deny they are needed
5. Try to shift the ground of truth from objective truth to subjective truth
6. When pressed, retreat to your feelings to verify all truth
7. When this fails, disappear, having contributed nothing to the thread
8. Find a new thread to start over with #1
As recent evidence, check out ben’s posts on this thread. You can follow backwards from this
post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2742326/posts?page=518#518
Same old cycle time after time.
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