"[Young] is not only the president here but he is the president of the states and kingdoms of this world no matter if they have not elected him." In a very real sense, Brigham Young was the law. According to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) historical records, Brigham Young was sealed to as many as 56 women. Reopening a Mormon Murder Mystery; New Accusations That Brigham Young Himself Ordered an 1857 Massacre of Pioneers, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/12/books/reopening-mormon-murder-mystery-new-accusations-that-brigham-young-himself.html. Finally, why has so much evidence been destroyed or purged from Mormon archives, and why has so much evidence been suppressed? The crudely worded entry appears to refer to the Fancher party and suggests that Young encouraged the Indians to steal the group's cattle and engage them in a fight. It is hard to determine how many wives Young actually lived with in the normal sense of husband and wife because of the practice of sealing. Sealings, meaning a ceremony performed by Mormon church authorities that link a man and a woman, could be of two types. They were reacting to events as they took place. ''The evidence is unambiguous. Here's the account in his own words: Brigham Young wasn't the only latter-day prophet to have such close experiences with death. [25][26] Prior to his execution, Lee claimed that he was a scapegoat for others involved: I have always believed, since that day, that General George A. Smith was then visiting Southern Utah to prepare the people for the work of exterminating Captain Fancher's train of emigrants, and I now believe that he was sent for that purpose by the direct command of Brigham Young. Following his return to Nauvoo in 1841, Young affirmed his complete loyalty to Joseph Smith by embracing the controversial and still-secret practice of polygamy, despite his initial personal . EastIdahoNews.com reached out to the Floyd County sheriff and district attorney for further information, and our calls were not immediately returned. After I had answered His inquiries, he stated that he wanted us all, but he especially wanted my brother Brigham.". The company that was used up at the Mountain Meadowes included the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters & connections of the men who murdered the prophets, he told John D. Lee, and they Merited their fate. The only thing that ever troubled Young was the lives of the Women & children, but that under the circumstances [it] could not be avoided.. The only ones spared were 17 children under the age of eight, who were taken in by local Mormon families, and would later testify they saw their parents clothes and jewels being worn by locals. There were several times when Brigham Young's life was spared or his health inexplicably restored, according to BYU professor of Mormon History Donald Q. Cannon ("Brigham Young on Life and Death"). My nephew Matt is completely innocent. In 1868, Brigham Young signed a grading contract with the Union Pacific Railroad to work on the transcontinental line in Utah. BYU Mission Statement. Phineas, the third son, had struggled with the enticements of the world before finding a spiritual identity near the age of 24, when he forsook his former companions and pursuits, and prayed fervently to the Lord until he, too, accepted Methodism and became a preacher, according to The Faithful Young Family.". As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In this case, the "real message" would have been that the Indians should be left to "do as they please." Not theories. At the time of his death on August 23, 1877, Young had married 56 women-19 predeceased him, 10 divorced him, 23 survived him, and 4 are unaccounted for. GLENDOWERThese signs have marked me extraordinary,And all the courses of my life do show I am not in the roll of common men. (Right) John D. Lee. Brigham Young even served as president. Latter-day Saints imagine Brigham Young as a commanding theocrat, who mobilized a crestfallen and beleaguered people after the ">death of their prophet-founder</a>, who led them on an epic exodus . In 1828, after moving to New York, he read The Book of Mormon for the first time and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Brigham Young" Biography). Young's message of reply to Haight, dated September 10, 1857, read: In regard to emigration trains passing through our settlements, we must not interfere with them until they are first notified to keep away. Stuart Taylor and his son Jacob join other spectators at the 139th annual Golden Spike Celebration in Promontory Summit, Utah, on Saturday, May 10, 2008, as the wood-fired . One of his wives alleged he ordered the deaths of people who tried to leave the faith. Brigham Young led one of the largest group migrations in American historyover 12,000 peopleto Salt Lake City, Utah. In an 1858 report to the federal Indian commissioner, Young blamed local Indians and, by implication, the United States government, whose ''fatal policy,'' he wrote, ''treats the Indians like the wolves, or other ferocious beasts.''. A second form could seal a woman to one man for time and another for eternity. "[14] Brooks writes, "While Brigham Young and other church authorities did not specifically order the massacre, they did preach sermons and set up social conditions that made it possible." He stopped at the cairn the U.S. Armys First Dragoons had raised in 1859 over the grave of the emigrants whose scattered bones they had collected and buried. [19] According to Lee, he informed Young that the Mormons were responsible. Lee pleaded innocence in court, but while in prison awaiting his execution made a full confession of the whole affair. Lured west by the promise of a wide-open range and a gentle climate -- a boon for cattle ranching -- the party left Arkansas in the spring of 1857, just as the Utah Territory and the United States were on the brink of armed conflict. Brigham Young was in New England with Orson Pratt when he learned of Joseph's death. For instance, Joseph Smith was once attacked by an apostate from the Church, William Law, who "attempted to kill Joseph and fired a pistol at him six times at close range. ''There is no evidence the Indians had weapons required for a slaughter of this magnitude,'' she said. There are two ways to interpret the evidence about who ordered the brutal murder of 120 men, women and children at a remote Utah oasis on the road to California on September 11, 1857. This railroad operated between 1871 and 1881 and was founded by prominent Mormons such as Joseph A. There is room for my brown paper-doll family: 2 gospel truths I learned as a young girl that carry my faith, 7 Latter-day Saint resources that answer questions about death and the spirit world, See the stunning winners of the Churchs International Art Competition. We were so excited to see where his future was heading.. Nor did Pratts death stir blood lust. ''He did it,'' said Will Bagley, a history columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune whose book ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows'' (University of Oklahoma Press) has been a best seller in Utah since it appeared in late July. Two new books are reviving old accusations that Mormon leader Brigham Young masterminded massacre of 120 men, women and children who were slain at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah on Sept 11 . Five bank robbers convicted of, Tensions over Chinese immigrant labor came to a head in Rock Springs, Wyoming on September, The Fall Creek Massacre was all too typicalseven whites murdering nine Indians in Indiana in. Joseph Young was a witness to the infamous Hauns Mill massacre during the tumultuous Missouri days of the LDS Church's history, according to The Faithful Young Family.". ''Nothing happened in the place that did not happen under his direct orders. Brigham Young took care to never "let an opportunity pass of getting with the Prophet Joseph and of hearing him speak in public or in private, so that I might draw understanding from the fountain from which he spoke." "This," he insisted, "is the secret of the success of your humble servant" (Brigham Young, JD 12:269-70 [16 August . Ambrose ended his book on the transcontinental railroad by recounting a talk by apostle John Taylor, who would succeed Brigham Young as church president, at the Tabernacle Golden Spike celebration. Also susanevansmccloud@blogspot.c, Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. The great virtue of John G. Turner's new biography of Brigham Youngthe first major study since LDS historian Leonard Arrington's Brigham Young: American Moses (1985)is the author's . The knowledge of how George A. Smith felt towards the emigrants, and his telling me that he had a long talk with Haight on the subject, made me certain that it was the wish of the Church authorities, that Fancher and his train should be wiped out, and knowing all this, I did not doubt then, and I do not doubt it now, either, that Haight was acting by full authority from the Church leaders, and that the orders he gave to me were just the orders that he had been directed to give, when he ordered me to raise the Indians and have them attack the emigrants.[27]. '', That conclusion is vigorously disputed by three Mormon church historians, who vow their own history of the massacre, to be published by Oxford University Press in 2004, will exonerate Young. Pratt had been murdered in Arkansas, where the Baker-Fancher party had its origin. Brigham Young tried to stop the massacre. Surely the Brothers Young, with their gifts and their devotion, added to the music of joy and service that marked life among the early Latter-day Saints. He tells of a singular experience he had when he was visiting a young woman who was dying of consumption, the same dreaded malady of which his mother had died. On September 8, 1857, Captain Stewart Van Vliet, of the US Army Quartermaster Corps, arrived in Salt Lake City. Anxiously awaited is a book due to be published in 2004 by three Mormon church historians that will exonerate Young. not to spare horseflesh. He didnt. . Why did he shield the murderers and allow the churchs newspaper to blame the crime on the Paiutes for a dozen years after Jacob Hamblin told him Mormons were involved? Virtually all the . The winners of the Church History Museums 12th International Art Competition have been announced, and the artwork is breathtaking. Two men in their late 30s and three teenagers were like "a pack" as they hunted down a 14-year-old boy in broad daylight before he was fatally stabbed, a murder trial has heard. His son Phineas was 15 . While this Indian council is important and requires extended scholarly discussion, this much can be said: No evidence suggests the councils focus was the Baker-Fancher party, much less its destruction. An anti-Mormon mob killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage, Illinois. Police told the website Risner ran from officers while they were trying to take him into custody. Richards. Young retaliated by declaring martial law. [1][2] Evidence as to whether or not Young ordered the attack on the migrant column is conflicted. February 24, 2023 | 4:46pm. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Black print with blue underprint on cardstock. Or did his belief in heavenly justice prove him an unlikely culprit? For the desperately poor Mormon settlers in southern Utah, the Fancher party, with its hefty supply of cash, arms and hundreds of valuable horses and cattle, was simply irresistible. The official website of Brigham Young University | Provo, UT. ), But even if Brigham Young's complicity were not at issue, Mr. Turley conceded, troubling questions about the massacre remain: ''It's an event that seems very incongruous with the people who did it. The boy was just 8 years old when he said Oneal, his father, attacked him after murdering his mom and 9-year-old sister. ROME, Georgia A recent Brigham Young University-Idaho graduate was stabbed to death over the weekend in northwestern Georgia. From 1864 through 1871 Young served as the bishop of the Salt Lake City 2nd Ward. He relates that he was promoted to lay hands on the sufferer and rebuke the disease" and this action healed her. Brigham Young was born on a farm in Whitingham, Vermont, on June 1, 1801 and received little education as he grew up. Union Pacific . Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, Brigham Young and his entourage visited Mountain Meadows for the first time since 1857. Brigham Young Did It. [23] In 1870, Young excommunicated some of the participants, including Haight and Lee, from the LDS Church. 295 likes All Members Who Liked This Quote . Young read the Bible verse the soldiers had inscribed on a cedar cross atop the monument: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord., It should read, he said, Vengeance is mine, and I have taken a little. Young then directed the desecration of the grave. But its not a formula for good history. How far apart were Wild Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt in their famous 1865 showdown in Springfield, Missouri? John presided over the first group he led. He was replaced as governor the following year by Alfred Cumming. With no additional evidence, some historians have pointed to a Native American council held in Salt Lake City on September 1, 1857. They were clubbed, stabbed or shot at point-blank range, then stripped and left to be scavenged by wolves and buzzards. Haight and Dame were also the senior regional military leaders of the Mormon militia. Lorenzo remained in that noble calling until he died, 18 years after that. Brigham Young, who was born June 1, 1801, was the fourth son and eighth child, and he would . Philip the ll was not stabbed by his son he was stabbed by a man who was very jealous of him. This answer is: Anonymous . 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