Blood of the Prophets.; Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. First edition. Hardcover/dust jacket. 493pp. Inscribed on half title page, "For Linda King Newell - Who knows how to tell a hard story very well - and whose ancestors lived a part of ths awful tale - Your Pal, Will Bagley 10 August 2002."
Linda King Newell was the co-author of Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith Prophet's Wife, "Elect Lady," Polygamy's Foe.
The massacre at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857 was the single most violent act to occur on the overland trails. This book is a riveting account of the attack on the Baker-Fancher wagon train by Mormons in the local militia and a few Paiute Indians. Based on extensive investigation of the events surrounding the murder of over 120 men, women, and children, and drawing from a wealth of primary sources, Bagley explains how the murders occurred, reveals the involvement of territorial governor Brigham Young, and explores the subsequent suppression and distortion of events related to the massacre by the Mormon Church and others.
At Mountain Meadows, local settlers and Southern Paiute warriors waylaid the Francher party, a wagon train bound from Arkansas to California. Pinned down in a circle of wagons in a remote corner of southwestern Utah, some forty men, thirty women and seventy children fought for their lives for five days before surrendering under a promise of safe conduct. As the Mormon militia and their Indian allies escorted the emigrants away from their wagons, they killed all of them except seventeen children below the age of seven.
Bagley draws on unpublished journals, letters, and documents from Mormon archives as well as from accounts by Mormons who opposed subsequent efforts to cover up or expunge the record. He explains how the murders occurred, reveals the involvement
of territorial governor Brigham Young, and explores the subsequent suppression and distortion of the events surrounding the massacre. Also included here are maps and photographs never before published. Condition: As NEW. Item #35754
ISBN: 0806134267
Price: $75.00