What Happened at the Mountain Meadows Massacre and What Role Did Mormons Play?

LDS Perspective

The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands as one of the most tragic and painful episodes in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On September 11, 1857, approximately 50 to 60 local militiamen in southern Utah, composed entirely of Latter-day Saints, along with some American Indian allies they recruited, massacred approximately 120 emigrants from Arkansas who were traveling by wagon to California. The attack spared only 17 children under the age of six, who were considered too young to recount what had occurred. The victims were men, women, and children with dreams of a bright future, and nothing they purportedly did or said came close to justifying their deaths. The massacre occurred in a highland valley called Mountain Meadows, roughly 35 miles southwest of Cedar Cit

Historical Perspective

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was a mass killing that occurred on September 11, 1857, in the Utah Territory, in which approximately 120 members of the Fancher and Baker wagon train—men, women, and children traveling from Arkansas to California—were murdered. According to historian Barbara Jones Brown, the massacre began as a cattle raid intended to harass emigrants as part of a broader Mormon war strategy against the approaching U.S. Army. However, after a skirmish broke out and the immigrants fought back, a five-day siege ensued. The Mormon militiamen, realizing the immigrants had seen that white Mormons were involved, made the deliberate decision to kill all witnesses to the attack. The perpetrators then massacred everyone in the company except for 17 young children age six and under. No