Today is the 150th anniversary of yet another senseless religious massacre of innocents called the Meadow Mountain Massacre. It stands as a blotch on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and is a painful memory for the many families of John D Lee, my great, great great Grandfather, the only convicted perpetrator.
Most of all, it is a painful legacy of secrecy, justice and acknowlegement for the survivors and families of the Baker and Fancher families who lost so much so many years ago.
The lessons of September 11th, 150 years ago should resonate with the lessons of September 11th today. Only the open and honest discussions of truth, justice and restitution should dominate the memorials of these massacres. Their similarities in promoting the influential agendas of the powerful men and institutions that they protect are startling in contrast and similarities.
Mountain Meadows was a massacre of secrecy, cover-up, betrayal of the channels of power and institutional corruption.
It is a sad and painful walk up to the Mountain Meadow Memorial, I am told.
I have never been able to bring myself to make the trip.
In an earlier diary, I wrote of the painful story telling of my Grandmother here.
The secrecy of 9-11-1857 is as dynamic as the secrecy and denials of 9-11 today. Spawning all sorts of conspiracy theories, anomosities and misimformation that have trickled down through 150 years of generations.
Secrecy
The inability of Brigham Young and subsequent leaders of the Church and leaders of my family to openly acknowlege the truth of Mountain Meadows has always been a source of frustration and curiousity to me. The unwillingness to open the church historical records and show the orders of command from Brigham Young, the Mormon prophet of God, to his beloved adopted son, John D Lee, prove that the interests of Politicians, Institutions and Government oftentimes negatively impact the interests of the common people who need to know about their leaders.
Tradegy is often memorialized in a solemn and secretive way, so as to lessen the mournful grievances of the families of the victims left behind.
Cover-up
To be fair to the Mormon Church, the very slow and painful story of the Mountain meadow Massacre is starting to unfold. Wikipedia
After a period of official public silence concerning the massacre, and denials of any Mormon involvement, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) took action in 1872 to excommunicate some of the participants for their role in the massacre. Since then, the LDS Church has consistently condemned the massacre, though acknowleging involvement by local Mormon leaders. In September 2007, the LDS Church published an article in its official publications marking 150 years since the tragedy occurred.[227].
Beginning in the late mid- to late-20th century, the LDS Church has made efforts to reconcile with the descendents of John D. Lee (reinstating him posthumously to full fellowship in the church), as well as those of the slain Fancher-Baker party. The church erected a memorial at the massacre site in 1999, and has opened many of its previously-confidential archival records about the massacre to scholars.
Betrayal
The first to be betrayed were the Paiute Indians of Southern Utah. As natural scapegoats of savagery and bloodshed, they were first demonized for their role in the massacre. They are like the Muslims of today.
A few days after the massacre, September 29,1857, John D. Lee briefed Brigham Young on the massacre. According to Lee, more than one hundred and fifty mobbers of Missouri and Illinois, with many cattle and horses, dammed the Saints leaders, poisoned not only a beef given to the Native Americans, but poisoned a spring which killed both Saints and Native Americans. The Native Americans became enraged and after a long siege killed all and stripped the corpses of clothing. Eight to ten children were spared by the Mormons. A second group, with a large cattle herd, would have suffered the same fate had not the Saints intervened and saved them. Wilford Woodruff recorded Lees's account as a "tale of blood.".[168]
On September 30, 1857, Mormon Indian Agent George W. Armstrong, sent a letter to Young from Provo with information of the massacre. In his account, the emigrants gave the Native Americans poisoned beef. After many Native Americanss died, they "appeased their savage vengeance" by killing fifty-seven men and nine women. There was no mention of survivors.[169]
Decades later, Young's son, 13 years old in 1857, said he was in the office during that meeting and that he remembered Lee blaming the massacre on the Native Americans.[170] Some time after Lee's meeting with Young, Jacob Hamblin said he reported to Young and George A. Smith what he said Lee had related to Hamblin on his journey to Salt Lake.[171] Brigham Young was mistaken when he later testified, under oath, that the meeting took place "some two of three months after the massacre".[172] When Lee attempted to relate the details of the massacre, however, Young later testified he cut Lee off, stopping him from reciting further details.[173]
The real victims who were betrayed were the descendants of the families of the Bakers and the Fanchers.
A marker was placed in the Carrollton, Arkansas town square in 1955 in commemoration of the surviving children's return to their next of kin there in 1859—to which (elsewhere in Carrollton) a replica of Carleton's original wooden cross and cairn was added in 2005.
A commemorative wagon-train encampment assembled at Beller Spring, Arkansas on April 21–22, 2007 to honor the sesquicentennial of their ancestors' embarkation on the ill-fated journey.
The inscription on the cross reads: Vengeance is mine...I will repay saith the Lord.
Restitution
As the unofficial spokesman for the family of John D Lee; I would like to acknowlege to the The Bakers and Fanchers my heartfelt sorrow for the decisions and murderous massacre that have created so much pain over the last 150 years. My grandparents, great grandparents and great aunts and uncles all suffered the shame and shunning that the Mormons are so famous for. They too were the victims of a massacre that left a legacy of toxic shame and sorrow. To this day, the impact is a rousing subject of debate and anger that only has begun to dissipate with the newer generations.
I can only imagine what it is like for families of the victims of 9-11 2001. To them and the innocents of the massacres around the world, I pray Peace.
9-11 should be a day of truth. Truth from our leaders to recollect the sobering reminders that misunderstandings, hate and violence only breed generations of anger, sorrow and pain. 9-11 is not a time for secrecy, betrayal and cover-up of our most grievious of mistakes and sins. It is a time of remembrance.
May it become a day of renewal and remembrance when we as a global people commit to understanding our fellow man.
It is my hope and prayer that the gristmills of time, truth, understanding and true peace will bind the wounds that separate us all from the knowlege that we are all truly ONE.
Namaste
Shalom
Salaam
Peace