Brigham Young

The Destroying Angel

But alas for all our romances, he was nothing but a loud, profane, offensive, old blackguard! He was murderous enough, possibly, to fill the bill of a Destroyer, but would you have any kind of an Angel devoid of dignity? Could you abide an Angel in an unclean shirt and no suspenders? Could you respect an Angel with a horse-laugh and a swagger like a buccaneer?

- Mark Twain

Quotes from Brother Brigham

"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind....Cain slew his brother. Can might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin." - (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, page 290)

"In our first settlement in Missouri, it was said by our enemies that we intended to tamper with the slaves, not that we had any idea of the kind, for such a thing never entered our minds. We knew that the children of Ham were to be the "servant of servants," and no power under heaven could hinder it, so long as the Lord would permit them to welter under the curse and those were known to be our religious views concerning them." - (Journal of Discourses, Volume 2, page 172.)

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." - (Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, page 110.)

Born in 1801 into a poor Vermont farming family, Brigham Young was the ninth of eleven children. When he was three, his family moved to upstate New York, and at age sixteen, Young left home to start a career as an itinerant carpenter, painter, farmer and general handyman. He married his first wife in 1824, and in 1829 the couple moved to Mendon, New York, some forty miles from Manchester, where Joseph Smith was in the final stages of preparing the Book of Mormon for publication.

Although he had converted to Methodism in 1823, Young was drawn toward Smith's newly formed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from his first encounter with the Book of Mormon in 1830. Two years later, he was baptized into the Mormon church, and the same year went to Canada as a missionary. In 1833, a recent widower, he led several friends and much of his family to join Joseph Smith and the gathering of Zion in Kirtland, Ohio.

The rest of Young's life was spent in service to the Mormon Church. He went to Missouri in 1834 when hostile gentiles (non-Mormons) threatened the Mormon community there, traveled the eastern states as a missionary, and staunchly supported Joseph Smith when the Kirtland settlement foundered in 1837. The next year he followed Smith to Missouri, and when anti-Mormon mobs drove the community out, helped organize the move to Nauvoo, Illinois. Young carried the Mormon message to England in 1840-41, gaining many converts among the urban working class. By 1841, his devotion had so impressed Joseph Smith that he was made the President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, the governing body of the church, second in authority only to Smith himself.

When Joseph Smith was murdered by an anti-Mormon mob in 1844, Brigham Young was on the East Coast gathering converts and raising money for the construction of an enormous temple in Nauvoo. On his return, Young played a critical role in keeping the savagely persecuted church together by organizing the exodus that would take the Mormons westward, first to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846, and finally on to Utah's Salt Lake Valley, where Young and an advance party arrived on July 24, 1847. Here Young hoped the Mormons would at last find the freedom to worship and live as their faith decreed. Late in 1847 his leadership was confirmed when he was named president and prophet of the church, inheriting the authority of Joseph Smith.

Mountain Meadows Massacre

He knew that the area was no fruit basket but he thought the saints could survive on what the crops they could grow. Prophet Young had not counted on was the not so user friendly farming conditions in southern Utah with its and that most of the saints were novice farmers.

The Theocracies approximately 6000 saints were able to survive but that is about all they were doing. The Church's treasury was struggling due to the inability of the saints to make significant incomes conducive to Prophets Young's expectations. Tithing 10% of nothing equals nothing.

James Buchanan had just been elected the 15th President of the of the United States notified Brigham Young that if the Polygamy issue was not resolved U. S. Troops would be sent into the territory. Young assured President Buchanan of his allegiance to the United States government. At the same time his sermons warned the saints of the impeding invasions by United States troops and told them to prepare for war with the US Government.

Brigham Young looked upon the threat to invade the Theocracy as a chance to hype the Saints into a mistrustful defensive posture.

He sent messages into the south advising the local church leaders on a plan to prepare each ward and the militia on the future tactics involving immigrant trains. He also had meetings in Salt Lake City attended by church leaders and Indian Chiefs involving the division of bounty from future wagon trains.

When the Baker/Fancher wagon train arrived in Early August George Smith had been down in southern Utah as a messenger from Brigham Young advising the Mormon along the southern route on how to handle the next wagon train south. No supplies were to be sold to the wagon train, and the ambush of the wagon train had been set for Mountain Meadows.

The Baker/Fancher train encamped outside of Salt Lake City while the Captain's Fancher and Baker rode into Salt Lake City looking for supplies. They were met with hostility and were unable to purchase necessary supplies, so they could continue their trip on the northern route crossing seven-thousand-fort Donner Pass before late October.

After the wagon train Captains returned to camp, Apostle Charles C. Rich a member of the Council of Fifty arrived, with an order for them to leave the subsequent day and talked them into taking the southern route coolly setting up the train for their eventual fate. The emigrant company would be the first to take the southern route that summer.

The LDS Churches' propaganda machine went into action as soon as the party left Salt Lake City preceding them into southern Utah . Every attempt to re-supply a long the route was met with antagonistic slurs and sullen refusal. False rumors were spread by the Saints that the emigrant wagon train's women are prostitutes and the men were Missouri Wildcats. The poisoning death of an oxen and an Indian brave by members of the California bound emigrant train were also falsely reported.

Near the town of Springville on the route south a large number of Mormon defectors joined the train. The new members advised half starved and already suspicious wagon train members of the Mormon hysteria. The Fancher Train by this time knew who their enemy was and increased the security by posting extra sentries around the circled wagons at night.

At Corn Creek on August 25th they came upon the first friendly people since they had left Salt Lake City these people sold the Fancher-Baker party thirty bushels of Corn. The people that sold them the corn were Indians. Later after being repeatedly rebuffed along the route they found a friendly Mormon and his 6 grown sons that near Cedar City . The Mormon sold them 50 bushels of wheat and agreed to grind their corn. An Elder from the church was sent to tell him to stop and he refused to obey the order from Bishop Klingensmith. The friendly Mormon was very lucky he was only excommunicated for his disobedient act against Brigham Young and the LDS Church .

On September the 4th the wagon train arrived at Mountain Meadows and hastily parked their wagons at the south end failing to circle the wagons as they normally did. A number of just routine security mistakes were made which have historians puzzled to this day. First they did not circle the wagons over the fresh spring securing access to water, and second to post armed sentries.

During breakfast on the morning of September 7th shoots rang out, 7 men were immediately fatally wounded and both Captains Baker and Fancher were wounded seriously. The wagon train had been taken completely by surprise. The emigrant men hurriedly took control getting the women and children to cover and circling and digging in the wagons.

After a five day siege the emigrants were low on all supplies. The lack of water was a very large problem with the spring only a few feet away but inaccessible due to sniper fire. Several attempts to fetch water ended in the deaths of the brave souls making the attempt. The wagon train had an estimated twenty loads left for their Kentucky rifles. All of the attempts of riders leaving the wagon train to get help resulted in those parties eventual fatal demise. The nearest Gentile settlement was hundreds of miles away across miles of desert.

On September 11th John D. Lee, the Mormon leader of the siege, under a flag of truce walked into the emigrant camp and under the use of treachery convinced the emigrants to surrender. The emigrants, in a hopeless situation, gave up all their worldly belongings with a promise of safe passage back to Cedar City . The wounded were placed in the lead wagons ahead of the line of women and children. The Mormons then made the men lined up in single file in a designated distance behind the woman and children. When John D. Lee gave the order “Do your duty” the emigrate men were shot and the women and children were killed by having their throats slit and clubbed to death by the Mormon Clubbers and Shooters. “Scapegoat” John D. Lee was witnessed to have raped and slit the throats of two young girls himself.

When the cold blooded butchery had stopped the Mormons had killed everyone old enough to be a credible witness, which left seventeen children survivors under the age of five to be taken to the nearby Hamblin Ranch.

The next day some of the Mormon killers returned to the murder site and for the next two days stripped all of the bodies of their clothes, carefully collecting all of the gold coins and jewelry from the pockets of their victims. The tithing room at the Cedar City LDS ward was filled with the bounty from the Massacre.

Nauvoo Legion Lieutenant, Nephi Johnson, a participant in the massacre related at his deposition that most of the killing was done by white men. Massacre survivor Kit Carson Fancher related that the two men that shot his father were Indians until they washed their faces then they were white men.

No matter how you slice the pie Brigham Young was involved in the Massacre due to the fact he was the Leader of the LDS Church . The fairy tale that Brigham Young sent a messenger to stop the massacre is just that a fairy tale. The messenger was sent on September 10th and it is a 270 mile horse back ride. The messenger would have had to of taken a direct flight on Moroni to have made it on time to Mountain Meadows to have saved the emigrates.

It is well know that Brigham Young had complete control of the Theocracy and his punishment for insubordination was very severe. There is no record of Prophet Young ever punishing anyone for the Massacre, as a matter of fact he protected and hid out his confidant, faithful servant, adopted son and brother-in-law John D. Lee for over 20 years.

John D. Lee made over $4000 off of the bounty he took in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Not a bad weekly income for 1857.

Lamanites - [Black Hawk War]

War is Declared

During the winter of 1864-65, a small band of Indians were camped near Gunnison, Sanpete County (Utah). It is said that they contracted small-pox, and that many died. The Indians seemed to think that the white people were to blame in some way for this and were threatening to kill the whites and steal their horses and cattle. Arrangements were consequently made for a meeting between the Indians and the whites at Manti on the 9th of April, 1865, to talk over matters.

On that date a number of prominent Utes came to Manti. They met at Jerome Kempton's place, and it appeared that an understanding would be arrived at, but a young Chief (Yene-wood) also known as Jake Arropeen (Wakara's brother) could not be pacified. John Lowry, believed drunk at the time, told the Chief to keep quiet, when someone yelled, look out he's getting his arrows! Lowry jerked the Chief (by his hair) off of his horse, and was about to abuse him, when some men stepped in and broke them up.

Indian Depredations in Utah

Chief Yene-wood being dishonored before his people saw it as the final blow of a long endurance of insults and depredations over nearly 30 years that rallied the Utes under the leadership of Chief Black Hawk to declare war against the Mormons. This marked the beginning of what the whites later dubbed The Black Hawk War.

1865- Brigham Young at the point of heightened frustration told his followers; Seek out the murdering Indians and slay them; but in light of the political situation he commanded them to keep quiet about it. Do your duty and say nothing to any man, he ordered, and call upon nobody to help you for you are able to help yourselves.

1847 is the year the first Mormon pioneers arrived, and it was not until 1865 when the besieged Chief Black Hawk, declared war. The white population had dramatically increased to about 50,000. At the same time the Ute population is estimated to have been 15 to 20 thousand. Measles, smallpox and tuberculosis was spreading epidemically among the Indians. The environment was drastically altered the Utes only source of food, hundreds starved to death.

There had been several deadly prior confrontations because of the saints encroachment into their land. And essentially the confrontations were about who would control the land and who would survive. It was not about religion, only to the extent that religion was the Mormon's own vindication. The more familiar is the Walker War that ended in 1855 when Wah-Kara died of what is believed to have been pneumonia

The Mormon's war evolved into the bloodiest battle in Utah history, and doubtless the western United States. The American Ute Indian has suffered unimaginable physical and mental torment. Their land and homes taken away. They were forced onto desolate reservations. They were demoralized, and dehumanized. Thousands died from pandemic disease and hunger. They were blamed for mass murders they didn't commit. They were beheaded, tortured and murdered.

As shocking the Massacre at Mountain Meadows has been to thousands of people, there is no other event comparable to the trail of tears left behind in the aftermath of the Mormon domination over the Native American Ute Indian in Utah. And in the end the victors blame the Ute. (Also

Ute Account

The Black Hawk War in itself was not a single incident. Over 150 deadly confrontations took place over a seven year period throughout Utah territory and spilled over into Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming as tens of thousands of Mormon Pioneers poured in at the rate of 3000 a month

Brother Brigham and Mark Twain

Mark Twain has been called the "Lincoln of American Literature" and with good reason. Nearly every school child has read his most famous classics set along the Mississippi River--The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published in 1876, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which first appeared in 1884. However, an earlier book, Roughing It, published in 1872, contains a wonderful mixture of truth and tall tales of Twain's journey to the West, which he began by stagecoach from St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1861. Traveling with his brother, who had been appointed secretary of the newly created Nevada Territory, Mark Twain stopped in Salt Lake City and wrote an engaging description of his entry into the Salt Lake Valley and humorous accounts of its people.

As the stagecoach reached the summit of Big Mountain fifteen miles east of Salt Lake City, Twain was much impressed writing, "...all the world was glorified with the setting sun and the most stupendous panorama of mountain peaks yet encountered burst on our sight. We looked out upon this sublime spectacle from under the arch of a brilliant rainbow." Arriving in the city that evening, the two brothers found lodging in the Salt Lake House.

The next morning gave Twain an opportunity to take in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake and his awe was not diminished. He described the city as lying "...in the edge of a level plain as broad as the state of Connecticut, and crouches close down to the ground under a curving wall of mighty mountains whose heads are hidden in the clouds, and whose shoulders bear relics of the snows of winter all the summer long. Seen from one of these dizzy heights, twelve or fifteen miles off, Great Salt Lake City is toned down and diminished till it is suggestive of a child's toy village reposing under the majestic protection of the Chinese wall." The city itself he found to be very healthy and in one of his witticisms noted that there was only one physician in the city, and he was arrested every week on a charge of vagrancy since he had no visible means of support.

Their second day in the city, Twain and his brother visited Brigham Young. Twain found himself ignored by the Mormon leader, especially in his attempts to direct the conversation toward Young's attitudes about Congress and politics. As the two brothers left, the elderly church president smiled at Mark Twain and patted him on the head, saying to the older of the two brothers, "Ah--your child, I presume-- Boy or girl?"

Mark Twain took his revenge on Brigham Young with the best weapon at his disposal--his pen. He jabbed unmercifully at Brigham Young and the difficulties he had managing his extensive polygamous family. He wrote of the demands for equal treatment made when Young gave one wife a breast pin; the avalanche of demands that were unleashed when a stranger gave one of his children a tin whistle; and the 7-foot-long, 96-foot-wide bed that Young allegedly had built to accommodate all his wives.

The famous writer enjoyed his two-day visit to Salt Lake City, noting upon his departure that he and his brother were "hearty and well fed and happy--physically superb...."