Appendix C: The Militiamen (Real Mormon murderers in history...the Lds-approved 'list')

The following is a list of men in the Iron Military District of Utah Territory’s Nauvoo Legion militia whose names have been associated with the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The names have been gathered from a variety of sources that include eyewitness accounts, arrest warrants, criminal indictments, and newspaper articles.

A completely accurate list of those who participated in or witnessed the murder of the California-bound emigrants may be impossible to compile. Many of the participants kept silent about their roles. The testimonies of many witnesses were given fifteen years or more after the massacre. Those who admitted being at the massacre were usually careful not to incriminate themselves and their closest associates.

The names are organized in alphabetical order. Each entry includes life span, as well as age, militia rank (where applicable), residence at the time of the massacre.1 Because of the varying credibility of evidence, a note of [A] or [B] has been placed after each individual’s name and age; [A] indicates there is strong evidence the individual planned, authorized, participated in, or witnessed the killing of emigrants, and [B] indicates that the evidence is inconclusive. Men whose names have been associated with the massacre have not been listed if there is little or no evidence to support that association.2

The list found at the appendix includes 67 Mormon men --43 of whom they say is "strong evidence" existing for their participation...two dozen whom they say is "inconclusive." They concede the list is not comprehensive.

Additionally, murder is one of those crimes that attaches de-facto guilt to accomplices who covered up the crime. Therefore, we could probably add thousands of Mormons to the list if de-facto evidence could be entered in.

The LDS Church underwrote the research and writing for this book. One of the co-authors, Richard E. Turley, Jr., was appointed Assistant Church Historian and Recorder for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 12, 2008. Turley has already signed a contract for a sequel to focus on the aftermath of MMM.

Even the Salt Lake Tribune, when it first reviewed the book in May, 2007, headlined it as: Historians applaud LDS-approved book on Mountain Meadows Massacre

Yet even though this is an "inside look" @ most of those responsible for this massacre, we'll no doubt get Lds FREEPERS in this thread with their tired refrain that the piece is "anti-Mormon."

The question is if all of these names & info was so readily available to the Mormon Church 150 years after the fact, why did the Mormon church turn over only one for conviction (John D. Lee) and why was only one other ex-communicated (for a few years), only allowed to re-enter membership??? [Ya gotta know that in classic Mormonism, murder is a supposed "unforgiveable sin"...unless, of course, we're talking about Brigham Young, who had the "power" to override any doctrine and insert his own...if only for his own lifetime].

Without critically reviewing Walker, Turley & Leonard, I'm sure they've done a professional work on this book. The only thing the Mormon church probably told them from the jumpstart was to just not look very hard for any pre-massacre connections leading back to Brigham Young...or perhaps even develop a credible mopology on that.

So, of course, Brigham Young's name is conspicously missing from the list...despite the fact that Stephen A. Douglas was proclaiming from a speech less than three months before the massacre that Young was readying his militia and Native Americans to both rob and murder American citizens. See History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 3

Well, you can't expect an objective look from a corporation that has as much invested in the name of "Brigham Young."

Seekers of truth,
If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.

They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the “quotation” the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were “only” quoting our own material.

They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.

Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.

You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.

Some of them claim being some sort of special witness to you as being supposedly former Mormons. So someone who is an ex-member of any organization would never have an axe to grind or have reason to try to justify their actions by any means? Perhaps not but perhaps so. The LDS Church gains members from other denominations as well as others faiths all the time. This doesn't make them an expert on anything and you certainly won't hear them attacking their forner Church.

Frequently they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.

After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever “issue” they seem to be “revealing” or “exposing”. I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the “ahah” moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.

The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.

Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the “issues” brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:

http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/

Now you will likely notice the “you never address or answer our points” posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.

Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you? They often state that these sites provide no answer. They just don't want you looking. It is as simple as that.

Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both “sides”. Make up your own mind.

(Hey PD, I'm yer Huckleberry, keep up the good work and keep those resources coming, peoples are definitely getting the truth...)

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