Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. This is the last chapter in my analysis of the different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. This week, UTAH GOVERNOR MIKE LEAVITT.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
UTAH GOVERNOR MIKE LEAVITT
Governor Mike Leavitt helped bring the Olympics to Utah, lowered crime by 25%, made health care more affordable, repaired Utah's freeway system, and revamped that state's welfare system. Most governors can only dream about accomplishing so much.
In 1999 two men working at Mountain Meadows to rebuild the monument there began digging with a backhoe. Before their equipment arrived, archeologists from Brigham Young University surveyed the ground looking for anomalies or any evidence of a massacre [American Massacre, Sally Denton, Vintage Books 2003, page xxi]. According to Martha Beck's book Leaving the Saints, Brigham Young University has a notoriously poor reputation for all academic disciplines other than studying the Book of Mormon. The BYU archeologists assured the Mormon Church they had nothing to fear by digging at Mountain Meadows. True to their reputation, the scholars from BYU were completely wrong. The backhoe promptly dug up bones. Not reporting such a find would be a felony, and the men did as the law required [American Massacre, Sally Denton, Vintage Books 2003, page xxi].
Not surprisingly, scientists flocked to Mountain Meadows to study these bones. The bones unearthed on the third of August 1999 were reinterred on the tenth of September 1999 [http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/1999_monument.htm]. One day shy of being exactly 142 years since most of the victims died.
Governor Mike Leavitt ordered these bones reburied. Interesting action for a man rumored to be a direct descendant of a murderer at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider their lineage to be of the utmost importance, so a Mormon family would definitely know if this were true.
As governor, Mr. Leavitt wielded some impressive power. Despite state law requiring unidentified bones to be examined, he managed to cease excavation after only 38 days. As one of, if not the most popular governor in Utah's history, Governor Leavitt possessed a deep desire to keep the truth of Mountain Meadows from becoming national news. Good thing he buried the truth; President Bush hired him as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2003 to 2005 and as Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2005 to 2009 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Leavitt].
I find it disturbing that Mormons like Governor Mike Leavitt continue to consent to the Mountain Meadows massacre and cover-up by their silence and by silencing anyone who seeks to bring the truth to light about that horrible four days at Mountain Meadows. Why is a man known for doing so much good so scared of the truth?
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. Over the next several weeks this site will analyze different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. This week, RANK AND FILE MORMON ASSASSINS.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
RANK AND FILE MORMON ASSASSINS
A few names of the Mormon leadership who orchestrated the massacre at Mountain Meadows have survived from 1857 to the present, but what about the rank and file Mormons involved in the killings? They faithfully served their church by killing approximately 150 people they had never even met. In fact, the wagon trains made the Utah Territory survivable for the frontier inhabitants. The wagon trains brought frying pans, ammunition, guns, metal knives, hatchets, and all the other items a person living on the frontier couldn't manufacture themselves. The people of the wagon trains traded these industrialized goods for perishable items such as flour, corn, bread, etc. This barter economy benefited both parties. So why would these Mormon frontiersmen kill this wagon train?
The Mormons living along the wagon trail had to know word of this massacre would eventually reach the East, causing all traffic on this path to California to cease. This massacre verged on suicide.
Mormons during this period had followed Joseph Smith and later Brigham Young from New York state, to Ohio, to the Illinois-Missouri border before settling in the Utah Territory. They had been attacked and reviled at every stop. Their belief in Joseph Smith as God's one true prophet and plural marriage had separated them from the typical citizen. Joseph Smith preached that the gentiles who persecuted Mormons (defined by him as anyone not Mormon) represented all gentiles. After Joseph Smith was arrested and murdered by a gentile mob, Brigham Young's claims of being persecuted by not only individual gentiles but the government sounded all too true to the faithful.
Imagine the faith of these men to follow Brigham Young, after Joseph Smith's lynching, from the Midwest to Utah Territory. Utah offered nothing but barren land. The Mormons had to build everything from scratch. If you wanted a house for your family, you needed to help the six families with men of higher rank in the church build their houses first so they might help you later. No doubt several families shared the first house until others were built. The residents in those first few years most likely considered all food communal knowing they might have prairie dog to eat today, but tomorrow they wouldn't and the Jones's would.
This interwoven faith/community meant sticking together. If the person representing the path to heaven named Brigham Young told you to kill a wagon train full of friendly strangers, you did it. If the fight lasted longer than expected, you stayed and fought, in this case a four-day siege ending in a fictitious truce that required you to shoot either an unarmed man, woman, or child. These low-ranking Mormons had tremendous faith in their church, its leader Brigham Young, and one another. Too bad these mindless soldiers used their power for murdering fellow Americans who were searching for a better life just like them.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
RANK AND FILE MORMON ASSASSINS
A few names of the Mormon leadership who orchestrated the massacre at Mountain Meadows have survived from 1857 to the present, but what about the rank and file Mormons involved in the killings? They faithfully served their church by killing approximately 150 people they had never even met. In fact, the wagon trains made the Utah Territory survivable for the frontier inhabitants. The wagon trains brought frying pans, ammunition, guns, metal knives, hatchets, and all the other items a person living on the frontier couldn't manufacture themselves. The people of the wagon trains traded these industrialized goods for perishable items such as flour, corn, bread, etc. This barter economy benefited both parties. So why would these Mormon frontiersmen kill this wagon train?
The Mormons living along the wagon trail had to know word of this massacre would eventually reach the East, causing all traffic on this path to California to cease. This massacre verged on suicide.
Mormons during this period had followed Joseph Smith and later Brigham Young from New York state, to Ohio, to the Illinois-Missouri border before settling in the Utah Territory. They had been attacked and reviled at every stop. Their belief in Joseph Smith as God's one true prophet and plural marriage had separated them from the typical citizen. Joseph Smith preached that the gentiles who persecuted Mormons (defined by him as anyone not Mormon) represented all gentiles. After Joseph Smith was arrested and murdered by a gentile mob, Brigham Young's claims of being persecuted by not only individual gentiles but the government sounded all too true to the faithful.
Imagine the faith of these men to follow Brigham Young, after Joseph Smith's lynching, from the Midwest to Utah Territory. Utah offered nothing but barren land. The Mormons had to build everything from scratch. If you wanted a house for your family, you needed to help the six families with men of higher rank in the church build their houses first so they might help you later. No doubt several families shared the first house until others were built. The residents in those first few years most likely considered all food communal knowing they might have prairie dog to eat today, but tomorrow they wouldn't and the Jones's would.
This interwoven faith/community meant sticking together. If the person representing the path to heaven named Brigham Young told you to kill a wagon train full of friendly strangers, you did it. If the fight lasted longer than expected, you stayed and fought, in this case a four-day siege ending in a fictitious truce that required you to shoot either an unarmed man, woman, or child. These low-ranking Mormons had tremendous faith in their church, its leader Brigham Young, and one another. Too bad these mindless soldiers used their power for murdering fellow Americans who were searching for a better life just like them.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. Over the next several weeks this site will analyze different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. This week, MALE VICTIMS.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
MALE VICTIMS
At Mountain Meadows in Utah Territory in September of 1857, Mormons attacked and used the old Roman siege tactic to kill off a wagon train full of Arkansas emigrants. Having lived in Arkansas during the 1850s, the emigrants were accustomed to fighting off Indian attacks. The Arkansans remained calm when the first shot rang out and struck one of their people in the neck. They circled the wagons for defensive position because the attacking Mormons had the hills surrounding the meadow. During this four-day siege, the emigrants had to cross open ground to reach the spring for water. The Mormons who later admitted to their part swore the people going to the spring were the bravest they'd ever seen.
The Mormons feared the ability of these men so much that after having surrounded them for four days, the Mormons, not the Arkansans, asked for a truce. Both sides knew the emigrants had little food and ammunition left, but the Mormons concocted an exceptionally brutal scheme to end the standoff. I find this interesting.
The Arkansans could have made a desperate attempt to punch through the Mormon defensive line, but they didn't. That would've been suicide. Even if they had gotten past the first wave of Mormons, they would've had to cross hundreds of miles before reaching the next non-Mormon settlement. Even being so far from the nearest help and having almost no food or ammunition, these emigrants refused to give up. Imagine the internal fortitude they possessed to remain calm and rational under these conditions.
The "truce", negotiated by Mormon assassin John D. Lee [read more on him below], required the men in this wagon train to have an armed escort as they left Mountain Meadows. The Arkansans assumed they were marching to their deaths, but had no choice. A Mormon commanded, "Do your duty!", and the escorts shot all of the men from the wagon train first. The Mormons played with the captured women and children before killing most of them, too [read more of their stories below].
This siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th. Obviously, September 11th has been a day of tragedy twice for America. The group at Mountain Meadows had the opportunity to fight back, and they did in the most amazing fashion. The victims out-endured the murderers.
You might think about these men at Mountain Meadows the next time you hear yourself say, "I quit." I know I will.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
MALE VICTIMS
At Mountain Meadows in Utah Territory in September of 1857, Mormons attacked and used the old Roman siege tactic to kill off a wagon train full of Arkansas emigrants. Having lived in Arkansas during the 1850s, the emigrants were accustomed to fighting off Indian attacks. The Arkansans remained calm when the first shot rang out and struck one of their people in the neck. They circled the wagons for defensive position because the attacking Mormons had the hills surrounding the meadow. During this four-day siege, the emigrants had to cross open ground to reach the spring for water. The Mormons who later admitted to their part swore the people going to the spring were the bravest they'd ever seen.
The Mormons feared the ability of these men so much that after having surrounded them for four days, the Mormons, not the Arkansans, asked for a truce. Both sides knew the emigrants had little food and ammunition left, but the Mormons concocted an exceptionally brutal scheme to end the standoff. I find this interesting.
The Arkansans could have made a desperate attempt to punch through the Mormon defensive line, but they didn't. That would've been suicide. Even if they had gotten past the first wave of Mormons, they would've had to cross hundreds of miles before reaching the next non-Mormon settlement. Even being so far from the nearest help and having almost no food or ammunition, these emigrants refused to give up. Imagine the internal fortitude they possessed to remain calm and rational under these conditions.
The "truce", negotiated by Mormon assassin John D. Lee [read more on him below], required the men in this wagon train to have an armed escort as they left Mountain Meadows. The Arkansans assumed they were marching to their deaths, but had no choice. A Mormon commanded, "Do your duty!", and the escorts shot all of the men from the wagon train first. The Mormons played with the captured women and children before killing most of them, too [read more of their stories below].
This siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th. Obviously, September 11th has been a day of tragedy twice for America. The group at Mountain Meadows had the opportunity to fight back, and they did in the most amazing fashion. The victims out-endured the murderers.
You might think about these men at Mountain Meadows the next time you hear yourself say, "I quit." I know I will.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. Over the next several weeks this site will analyze different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. This week, MORMON WOMEN.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
MORMON WOMEN
After the Mormon men slaughtered 150 Arkansan emigrants at Mountain Meadows, they picked surviving children aged seven years and younger to live with them. Picked in the same sense we think of a draft today. The men ranked highest in the hierarchy of the Mormon Church chose first, followed by the next highest and so forth. They doled out the clothing and other booty in similar fashion. One must wonder what the women thought when the men returned home with children, rifles, clothing, shoes, etc.
How did a wife greet her husband? "Thank you for the dress. I'll sew up that hole in the middle of the chest and get that blood stain out. It'll look pre-loved. The kids are another matter. These little orphans better start pulling their own weight around here pretty quick. I'm not raising a couple of slacker-good-for-nothing non-believer's kids unless they know their place and do some work around here. Oh, sweetie! You also got me a pair of earrings. Once I get the blood off of those, they'll look brand new! You're so good to me."
Today we hear the wives of child molesters (Jerry Sandusky) and serial killers (John Wayne Gacy) claim they knew nothing of their husbands' activities. I don't believe the women of today, nor do I believe the Mormon women living in the Mountain Meadows region of Utah Territory in 1857 knew nothing of their husbands' murderous rampage. These women watched their husbands wash Indian paint off their faces, which the men used to hide their true identity, and scrub the blood off their hands before lying beside them the night of September 11th, 1857. Many of these killers possessed multiple wives, and the women were not the ones who eventually leaked news of the massacre to the press.
The devotion these women felt for the Mormon Church and their murderous husbands sickens me. The surviving children often told their rescuers about seeing their Mormon captors wearing their mothers' clothes. How cold-hearted of these women to flaunt the deaths of their parents so brazenly. These women may not have pulled any triggers, but they participated. Someone had to feed the hundred-plus Mormon men besieging the wagon train's camp. Some of the Mormons lived close enough to hear the gunfire; yet, these women went about their lives without questioning the righteousness of these events.
One of John Doyle Lee's wives stayed devoted to him even after he confessed to his role in the massacre in prison [read more about John Doyle Lee below]. Mormon women believe the only way they can achieve heaven is through a husband. I can only hope the women described here descended to the same residence in the afterlife as their husbands.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
MORMON WOMEN
After the Mormon men slaughtered 150 Arkansan emigrants at Mountain Meadows, they picked surviving children aged seven years and younger to live with them. Picked in the same sense we think of a draft today. The men ranked highest in the hierarchy of the Mormon Church chose first, followed by the next highest and so forth. They doled out the clothing and other booty in similar fashion. One must wonder what the women thought when the men returned home with children, rifles, clothing, shoes, etc.
How did a wife greet her husband? "Thank you for the dress. I'll sew up that hole in the middle of the chest and get that blood stain out. It'll look pre-loved. The kids are another matter. These little orphans better start pulling their own weight around here pretty quick. I'm not raising a couple of slacker-good-for-nothing non-believer's kids unless they know their place and do some work around here. Oh, sweetie! You also got me a pair of earrings. Once I get the blood off of those, they'll look brand new! You're so good to me."
Today we hear the wives of child molesters (Jerry Sandusky) and serial killers (John Wayne Gacy) claim they knew nothing of their husbands' activities. I don't believe the women of today, nor do I believe the Mormon women living in the Mountain Meadows region of Utah Territory in 1857 knew nothing of their husbands' murderous rampage. These women watched their husbands wash Indian paint off their faces, which the men used to hide their true identity, and scrub the blood off their hands before lying beside them the night of September 11th, 1857. Many of these killers possessed multiple wives, and the women were not the ones who eventually leaked news of the massacre to the press.
The devotion these women felt for the Mormon Church and their murderous husbands sickens me. The surviving children often told their rescuers about seeing their Mormon captors wearing their mothers' clothes. How cold-hearted of these women to flaunt the deaths of their parents so brazenly. These women may not have pulled any triggers, but they participated. Someone had to feed the hundred-plus Mormon men besieging the wagon train's camp. Some of the Mormons lived close enough to hear the gunfire; yet, these women went about their lives without questioning the righteousness of these events.
One of John Doyle Lee's wives stayed devoted to him even after he confessed to his role in the massacre in prison [read more about John Doyle Lee below]. Mormon women believe the only way they can achieve heaven is through a husband. I can only hope the women described here descended to the same residence in the afterlife as their husbands.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. Over the next several weeks this site will analyze different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. This week, WOMEN VICTIMS.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
WOMEN VICTIMS
After the Arkansan emigrants agreed to John Doyle Lee's truce [read more about John D. Lee below], the Mormons led the children out of Mountain Meadows followed a quarter of a mile farther back by the women. While the men had individual armed escorts another quarter mile behind, the Arkansan women well outnumbered their escorts. Living in Arkansas during the 1850s meant suffering through Indian attacks. This experience served the women at Mountain Meadows. When the "escorts" began shooting many of the women chose to run, rather than freeze.
Witnesses seeing Mountain Meadows in the years immediately after the massacre described female hair and clothing still hanging from shrubs at the edge of the clearing. Not hard to image the chaos after the initial shots rang out. Naturally the women would head for the closest concealing feature. Rather than reload or risk missing a moving target, the murderers chased down the fleeing women.
Stories have survived that tell of the women being raped and forced to dance around naked for the amusement of their Mormon captors. The women allegedly begged for their lives and promised themselves to any man willing to have them if they could only live. None of them survived.
Not enough is known about these strong women. They lived through Indian attacks in Arkansas, presumably fought back, traveled on foot, horseback, or in a wagon across most of North America, survived a four-day siege under heavy fire, only to be shot on their way to a new life.
Remembering these women as half-starved and exhausted while begging for their lives is a disservice to their memory. I prefer to think of these women as strong optimists willing to move from Arkansas to California for a better life. These women had carved a life on the frontier in Arkansas and agreed to start again in the newly settled land of California. They took cattle with them to California because they wanted to sell beef to the people flowing to the west coast for the gold rush. In my mind, these women possessed strength a person alive today can hardly imagine. Moving anywhere in the US today will have a great many similarities to the place you live now [McDonalds, Taco Bell, mega-groceries]. For these women the plants and landscape would be a completely foreign world, and yet they saw opportunity, not disaster.
The legacy of the women murdered at Mountain Meadows should be one of strength and courage.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
WOMEN VICTIMS
After the Arkansan emigrants agreed to John Doyle Lee's truce [read more about John D. Lee below], the Mormons led the children out of Mountain Meadows followed a quarter of a mile farther back by the women. While the men had individual armed escorts another quarter mile behind, the Arkansan women well outnumbered their escorts. Living in Arkansas during the 1850s meant suffering through Indian attacks. This experience served the women at Mountain Meadows. When the "escorts" began shooting many of the women chose to run, rather than freeze.
Witnesses seeing Mountain Meadows in the years immediately after the massacre described female hair and clothing still hanging from shrubs at the edge of the clearing. Not hard to image the chaos after the initial shots rang out. Naturally the women would head for the closest concealing feature. Rather than reload or risk missing a moving target, the murderers chased down the fleeing women.
Stories have survived that tell of the women being raped and forced to dance around naked for the amusement of their Mormon captors. The women allegedly begged for their lives and promised themselves to any man willing to have them if they could only live. None of them survived.
Not enough is known about these strong women. They lived through Indian attacks in Arkansas, presumably fought back, traveled on foot, horseback, or in a wagon across most of North America, survived a four-day siege under heavy fire, only to be shot on their way to a new life.
Remembering these women as half-starved and exhausted while begging for their lives is a disservice to their memory. I prefer to think of these women as strong optimists willing to move from Arkansas to California for a better life. These women had carved a life on the frontier in Arkansas and agreed to start again in the newly settled land of California. They took cattle with them to California because they wanted to sell beef to the people flowing to the west coast for the gold rush. In my mind, these women possessed strength a person alive today can hardly imagine. Moving anywhere in the US today will have a great many similarities to the place you live now [McDonalds, Taco Bell, mega-groceries]. For these women the plants and landscape would be a completely foreign world, and yet they saw opportunity, not disaster.
The legacy of the women murdered at Mountain Meadows should be one of strength and courage.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. Over the next several weeks this site will analyze different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. This week, THE CHILDREN WHO SURVIVED.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
THE CHILDREN WHO SURVIVED
According to Mormon doctrine, the Age of Accountability is eight. This means that children under eight years of age cannot sin and are "innocent". Therefore, if a child seven years old or under is killed, under Mormonism it is murder, regardless of the circumstances.
The emigrants from Arkansas, exhausted after a four-day siege, agreed to John Doyle Lee's terms of surrender. John D. Lee, covered last week in this blog [see below], offered some unusual terms. Whites [Mormons were the only whites in the area at that time.] would escort the emigrants out of the meadow. The children went out first a quarter of a mile ahead of the women, with the men trailing a quarter of a mile behind with an armed escort.
When the "Do your duty" command rang out, the Mormon settlers fired on the starved and drained emigrants. In close quarters an assassin doesn't have time to reload, that nervous first shot, catching the victims by surprise, often went astray. Sarah Dunlap, one year old, had her left arm nearly severed by a gunshot [American Massacre, Sally Denton, Vintage Books, page 140]. With the emigrants fighting back and running off, the murderers turned to other means.
The scene at Mountain Meadows Utah Territory on September 11th of 1857 erupted into mass chaos as bullets, axes, bayonets, and knives struck their victims. Children and infants being carried by their parents were shot. By accident? Intentionally? Any child eight or older was immediately killed. Any of the children, even those well under eight years old who seemed like they might make good witnesses, were killed. The Mormon hesitation to kill "innocents" evaporated in the light of possible exposure later.
The really smart kids who somehow managed to keep their wits about them realized they needed to remain silent and obedient. Estimates of surviving children range from 16 to more than 20. I consider these estimates wholly unreliable as the Mormon adults provided them. These murderers had several important reasons to lie. The children were divided up among the Mormon killers who wanted them for slave labor.
A few years later the Arkansan relatives of these children demanded that the U.S. government help bring them home. When the children went back to Arkansas, Mormons filed reimbursement claims with the government stating that they had paid a ransom to local Paiutes for the children. The Mormons perpetrated the fallacy of the Paiute assault, and that continues to today [NOTE: the official 2007 LDS comment reiterated Paiute involvement]. Several brave children later testified against the killers. The emotional wounds suffered by these children undoubtedly reopened every time they saw a Mormon captor wearing their father's hat or using their mother's frying pan.
Next week we look at the women murdered at Mountain Meadows in 1857.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
THE CHILDREN WHO SURVIVED
According to Mormon doctrine, the Age of Accountability is eight. This means that children under eight years of age cannot sin and are "innocent". Therefore, if a child seven years old or under is killed, under Mormonism it is murder, regardless of the circumstances.
The emigrants from Arkansas, exhausted after a four-day siege, agreed to John Doyle Lee's terms of surrender. John D. Lee, covered last week in this blog [see below], offered some unusual terms. Whites [Mormons were the only whites in the area at that time.] would escort the emigrants out of the meadow. The children went out first a quarter of a mile ahead of the women, with the men trailing a quarter of a mile behind with an armed escort.
When the "Do your duty" command rang out, the Mormon settlers fired on the starved and drained emigrants. In close quarters an assassin doesn't have time to reload, that nervous first shot, catching the victims by surprise, often went astray. Sarah Dunlap, one year old, had her left arm nearly severed by a gunshot [American Massacre, Sally Denton, Vintage Books, page 140]. With the emigrants fighting back and running off, the murderers turned to other means.
The scene at Mountain Meadows Utah Territory on September 11th of 1857 erupted into mass chaos as bullets, axes, bayonets, and knives struck their victims. Children and infants being carried by their parents were shot. By accident? Intentionally? Any child eight or older was immediately killed. Any of the children, even those well under eight years old who seemed like they might make good witnesses, were killed. The Mormon hesitation to kill "innocents" evaporated in the light of possible exposure later.
The really smart kids who somehow managed to keep their wits about them realized they needed to remain silent and obedient. Estimates of surviving children range from 16 to more than 20. I consider these estimates wholly unreliable as the Mormon adults provided them. These murderers had several important reasons to lie. The children were divided up among the Mormon killers who wanted them for slave labor.
A few years later the Arkansan relatives of these children demanded that the U.S. government help bring them home. When the children went back to Arkansas, Mormons filed reimbursement claims with the government stating that they had paid a ransom to local Paiutes for the children. The Mormons perpetrated the fallacy of the Paiute assault, and that continues to today [NOTE: the official 2007 LDS comment reiterated Paiute involvement]. Several brave children later testified against the killers. The emotional wounds suffered by these children undoubtedly reopened every time they saw a Mormon captor wearing their father's hat or using their mother's frying pan.
Next week we look at the women murdered at Mountain Meadows in 1857.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. Over the next several weeks this site will analyze different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
JOHN DOYLE LEE
Today we have the hindsight to see that most individuals ordered to execute innocent people do so because they are promised a better life. In Rwanda the Hutu, a suppressed minority, were promised the land and cattle of the elite Tutsis. Adolf Hitler preached revenge for losing World War One to an impoverished German population. In 1857, Lee and his Mormon collaborators were doing well economically, which makes one curious why they followed orders to kill people they'd never met. Lee not only killed these emigrants, but negotiated the truce making the murders simple. The terms of the truce required the children to leave the pasture at Mountain Meadows first followed by the women a quarter-mile behind, followed by the men a quarter-mile later. With the Arkansans disarmed and spread out, the Mormons shot them. After the murders, Lee proved instrumental in dividing the plunder - wagons, guns, surviving children... Lee took three of the emigrant children for himself.
John Doyle Lee had convinced himself that his eternal happiness depended on obeying every order issued by the Mormon Church, in my opinion. For some reason a man who had succeeded in farming and iron in Illinois and Utah forfeited his volition to Joseph Smith and later, Brigham Young. In my opinion, Lee was probably well above average intellectually, as evidenced by his repeated prosperity as a businessman, but he had an extremely poor sense of self-worth. He considered himself nothing; that's why he looked to the LDS for recognition and reward. More importantly, John D. Lee enjoyed killing people. Amazing how many men like this the LDS found.
After being arrested for the murder of approximately 150 emigrants, Lee violated his oath of secrecy and claimed Brigham Young ordered the executions. To the day he was executed Lee proclaimed that Prophet Smith's LDS Church represented God's one true church on Earth, but his faith in Brigham Young faltered, and he said, "I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner." (American Massacre by Sally Denton; page 233; Vintage Books; copyright 2003)
In 2002, a US Park Service volunteer cleaning animal droppings from a cave found a "lead scroll" with what appears to be John D. Lee's signature admitting to have killed the emigrants. It also declares that he acted directly on Brigham Young's orders. The LDS officially denounced the scroll as a fraud before anyone could authenticate it. That definitely leads me to believe it's really from Lee. The cave sat on part of the property Young assigned Lee to work after the massacre. This parcel proved inhospitable and remote, an unlikely place for an innocent person to hide.
Next, week I'll profile the children who survive the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
JOHN DOYLE LEE
Today we have the hindsight to see that most individuals ordered to execute innocent people do so because they are promised a better life. In Rwanda the Hutu, a suppressed minority, were promised the land and cattle of the elite Tutsis. Adolf Hitler preached revenge for losing World War One to an impoverished German population. In 1857, Lee and his Mormon collaborators were doing well economically, which makes one curious why they followed orders to kill people they'd never met. Lee not only killed these emigrants, but negotiated the truce making the murders simple. The terms of the truce required the children to leave the pasture at Mountain Meadows first followed by the women a quarter-mile behind, followed by the men a quarter-mile later. With the Arkansans disarmed and spread out, the Mormons shot them. After the murders, Lee proved instrumental in dividing the plunder - wagons, guns, surviving children... Lee took three of the emigrant children for himself.
John Doyle Lee had convinced himself that his eternal happiness depended on obeying every order issued by the Mormon Church, in my opinion. For some reason a man who had succeeded in farming and iron in Illinois and Utah forfeited his volition to Joseph Smith and later, Brigham Young. In my opinion, Lee was probably well above average intellectually, as evidenced by his repeated prosperity as a businessman, but he had an extremely poor sense of self-worth. He considered himself nothing; that's why he looked to the LDS for recognition and reward. More importantly, John D. Lee enjoyed killing people. Amazing how many men like this the LDS found.
After being arrested for the murder of approximately 150 emigrants, Lee violated his oath of secrecy and claimed Brigham Young ordered the executions. To the day he was executed Lee proclaimed that Prophet Smith's LDS Church represented God's one true church on Earth, but his faith in Brigham Young faltered, and he said, "I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner." (American Massacre by Sally Denton; page 233; Vintage Books; copyright 2003)
In 2002, a US Park Service volunteer cleaning animal droppings from a cave found a "lead scroll" with what appears to be John D. Lee's signature admitting to have killed the emigrants. It also declares that he acted directly on Brigham Young's orders. The LDS officially denounced the scroll as a fraud before anyone could authenticate it. That definitely leads me to believe it's really from Lee. The cave sat on part of the property Young assigned Lee to work after the massacre. This parcel proved inhospitable and remote, an unlikely place for an innocent person to hide.
Next, week I'll profile the children who survive the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Welcome to the Read Rinaldo Blog. Over the next eight weeks this site will analyze eight different people involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
BRIGHAM YOUNG
I, Joseph Rinaldo, personally conclude that the Mormons living in the Mountain Meadows region of Utah in 1857 slaughtered approximately 150 people in a wagon train and operated under Brigham Young's orders.
Many wagon trains passed through this area, and the locals always welcomed them, as will be explained below. A few of the members slaughtered in the Fancher-Baker wagon train had travelled through Utah a few years previous and found the locals warm and welcoming. No account from 1857 to today has ever accused the wagon train of attacking the local whites or Paiutes. Therefore, the siege had to be unprovoked. Why would Mormons surround a wagon train for FOUR days killing every man, woman, and child over the age of seven?
Wagon trains provided goods that people could not make for themselves on the frontier; for example, guns, ammunition, fry pans, etc. The people living along the wagon paths traded perishable goods such as flour for the aforementioned items. Killing everyone in the Fancher-Baker wagon train gave the killers everything the emigrants owned. A short-term success, as once word got out, future wagon trains used other routes, depriving the Mormon settlers on this Utah Territory path of any future chance to trade for metal products: a devastating, nearly suicidal, choice from a frontiersman perspective. Conversely, Brigham usually gained nothing from wagon trains. However, for many years after the massacre, Brigham and his 24 wives regularly rode in the fine wagons previously belonging to the Fancher and Baker families. His wives often wore the best dresses of the dead women, assuming the clothes had no blood stains. Numerous eyewitnesses made this assertion and others about Mormon women wearing these garments, most notably, children who survived the massacre and saw their mothers' dresses.
Brigham Young believed these wagon trains posed a threat to his Mormon way of life. To him gentiles all fell into the category of enemy like those that murdered his Prophet, Joseph Smith. Several apostate Mormons later admitted that the Arkansans were intentionally directed to Mountain Meadows where the hills surrounding the spring-fed meadow provided the perfect spot for an ambush. Only one man in Utah Territory in 1857 commanded enough power to orchestrate this chain of events, and that was Brigham Young.
The LDS often cites a letter from Brigham to the southern Utah Territory settlers dated September 10, 1857 as proof that he did not instruct the Mormons to kill the emigrants. Why write a letter telling people not to bother a wagon train when the wagon train's arrival is a welcome event? Such a command is preposterous in the extreme. The locals wanted wagon trains passing by, and many witnesses who fled Utah after the massacre swore this letter was written well after the event, and the settlers of southern Utah never saw it.
The one man executed (he would say sacrificed) for the murders claimed to be working at Brigham Young's command. More on John Doyle Lee in the next Read Rinaldo profile.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) began in rural New York, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Nauvoo, Illinois before stopping in Utah Territory. The LDS experienced a great deal of persecution at each location before settling in the distant and unpopulated Utah Territory. The persecution in Illinois included gunfights between locals and the Mormon Militia, eventually named Avenging Angels or Danites. The Mormons stockpiled weapons for these encounters. Having to guess at the cause of these fights from what I know about humans, I suspect the locals and the Mormons share fault for reaching this level of violence. Prophet Joseph Smith, LDS originator and leader, died when a mob of gentiles lynched him (Mormons define gentiles as non-Mormons). Brigham Young filled the void atop the LDS hierarchy and moved the Church to Utah.
During Brigham's leadership, approximately 150 Arkansans were slaughtered during a four day siege of their encampment in 1857. Eerily, though the siege lasted from September 7th to September 11th, nearly all of the emigrants died on September 11th. This ranked as the most deadly killing of Americans by Americans outside of the Civil War until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Local Mormons allegedly committed this atrocity. In 1999 two men digging with a backhoe unearthed bones at Mountain Meadows. Forensic scientists flocked to the area to quickly study the remains. Within days Governor Mike Leavitt ordered the bones reburied. Interestingly, Mike Leavitt is allegedly a direct descendant of one of the killers at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Mormons consider lineage of vital importance, and one's ancestry is something a faithful Mormon would definitely know. Please note that despite Mormons blaming local Paiute Indians for the killings, the scientists definitively concluded that every death they could account for happened with bullets, something the Paiute tribes in the area did not possess. Science, the limited federal investigation in the years following the massacre, and the surviving historical record irrefutably declares that Mormons killed these travelers. In 2007 the LDS officially expressed regret that the local Mormons participated in the massacre, but failed to admit sanctioning these murders.
BRIGHAM YOUNG
I, Joseph Rinaldo, personally conclude that the Mormons living in the Mountain Meadows region of Utah in 1857 slaughtered approximately 150 people in a wagon train and operated under Brigham Young's orders.
Many wagon trains passed through this area, and the locals always welcomed them, as will be explained below. A few of the members slaughtered in the Fancher-Baker wagon train had travelled through Utah a few years previous and found the locals warm and welcoming. No account from 1857 to today has ever accused the wagon train of attacking the local whites or Paiutes. Therefore, the siege had to be unprovoked. Why would Mormons surround a wagon train for FOUR days killing every man, woman, and child over the age of seven?
Wagon trains provided goods that people could not make for themselves on the frontier; for example, guns, ammunition, fry pans, etc. The people living along the wagon paths traded perishable goods such as flour for the aforementioned items. Killing everyone in the Fancher-Baker wagon train gave the killers everything the emigrants owned. A short-term success, as once word got out, future wagon trains used other routes, depriving the Mormon settlers on this Utah Territory path of any future chance to trade for metal products: a devastating, nearly suicidal, choice from a frontiersman perspective. Conversely, Brigham usually gained nothing from wagon trains. However, for many years after the massacre, Brigham and his 24 wives regularly rode in the fine wagons previously belonging to the Fancher and Baker families. His wives often wore the best dresses of the dead women, assuming the clothes had no blood stains. Numerous eyewitnesses made this assertion and others about Mormon women wearing these garments, most notably, children who survived the massacre and saw their mothers' dresses.
Brigham Young believed these wagon trains posed a threat to his Mormon way of life. To him gentiles all fell into the category of enemy like those that murdered his Prophet, Joseph Smith. Several apostate Mormons later admitted that the Arkansans were intentionally directed to Mountain Meadows where the hills surrounding the spring-fed meadow provided the perfect spot for an ambush. Only one man in Utah Territory in 1857 commanded enough power to orchestrate this chain of events, and that was Brigham Young.
The LDS often cites a letter from Brigham to the southern Utah Territory settlers dated September 10, 1857 as proof that he did not instruct the Mormons to kill the emigrants. Why write a letter telling people not to bother a wagon train when the wagon train's arrival is a welcome event? Such a command is preposterous in the extreme. The locals wanted wagon trains passing by, and many witnesses who fled Utah after the massacre swore this letter was written well after the event, and the settlers of southern Utah never saw it.
The one man executed (he would say sacrificed) for the murders claimed to be working at Brigham Young's command. More on John Doyle Lee in the next Read Rinaldo profile.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
INTERVIEW WITH CAROLYN ARNOLD -
WHAT IS THE #AOD TOUR?
I’m the best-selling author of the Madison Knight series, and the Brandon Fisher FBI series. I was born in 1976 in a rural town of Ontario, Canada. I currently live with my husband and two beagles in a city near the well-known Canadian center Toronto.
A few random things about me on a personal level:
1) I married a man who is truly my best friend. With us I believe in “meant to be”.
2) I have two beagles. Their names are Max and Chelsea, and I couldn’t imagine not having their little furry bodies around. (Suppose the same goes for my hubby. lol)
3) I love to read almost as much as I love to write.
4) I tried skiing once as an adult and decided the “bunny hill” worked just fine. With most things in life, I aim to excel and improve. With this sport, no desire at all. Risk my life speeding down a hill on little slats of wood? No thank you.
5) I was reunited with my older sister after being apart for 13 years and found a good friend.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
HOLIDAY GREETINGS FROM ME TO YOU!It has been an interesting year - I've released three books in paperback, one of those in both ebook and paperback just this year; the other two were already in ebook format. I've posted, Facebooked, tweeted, LinkedIn'd, done freebies, giveaways, interviews, solicited reviews, worked with a PR firm, asked advice from techies, other authors, reviewers, readers, friends and family, and slaved over a hot computer for hours on end trying to get word out about my novels. I didn't realize when I started this journey that being an author who works full-time is really like having three full-time jobs: the one that pays me, the one I love (writing), and the one that wears me out (marketing)! I have learned so much from authors, bloggers, reviewers, and others on FB especially who support and encourage each other and understand the struggle. The main thing I've learned is that you have to believe in yourself and the stories you tell. And I do!
Because you have been so kind, you authors, you bloggers, you reviewers, you FB friends, you "sharers", you "likers", you "tweeters" and "retweeters", and all the rest of you, I say a very sincere THANK YOU, and I want to wish you and yours a wonderful, peaceful, happy, and loving holiday season.
THANK YOU!
Joe
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