The Mountain Meadows Massacre is usually recounted in one of two simple version: 1) Brigham Young ordered the assassination of innocent Gentile travellers; or 2) John D. Lee took it upon himself to do the same.

Brooks deals with the Massacre more thoroughly in her appropriately-titled _Mountain Meadows Massacre_, also available on this fine website. But the picture is incomplete without an understanding of who John D. Lee was. That picture is provided in great detail by this book, and it is sometimes startling.

Lee was not some renegade Danite chieftain. Raised on the American frontier, he joined the Mormons and became a pillar of the southern Utah community -- a church leader, the federal government's Indian farmer, and an officer in the militia. He was widely respected and reputed to have spiritual gifts of prophecy and healing.

And on the day of the Massacre, he was in a bad spot. Caught between conflicting and ambiguous military orders and facing the alternatives of killing not-completely-innocent travellers and alienating the native american population at a moment when the U.S. Federal government had declared war on the Utah Mormons, he made a tough choice.

Eventually, of course, Lee was banished for his crime, living out his last years as a ferryman with a greatly reduced family on the Utah-Arizona border. Some odd details strike you when reading Brooks' account, though:

1. There's plenty of evidence that people talked about Lee's excommunication, but in the well-kept church records, no sure indication that it actually happened.

2. Lee was a spiritually powerful man and a firm believer. Moreover, he was an intimate of Brigham Young (Young's adopted son, in fact).

3. Lee was a frontiersman through and through, one of the few Mormon pioneers (along with, say, Orrin Porter Rockwell and Bill Hickman)really equipped to deal with the harsh desert environment.

4. Lee was banished not when Brigham Young found out about the Massacre, but years later, and almost certainly in response to public sentiment.

So ask yourself this: if you were Brigham Young, and you needed to sacrifice someone to protect the church, who would it be? It's hard not to wonder whether John D. Lee's banishment was a calling. Maybe he wasn't excommunicated at all, but sent away as a visible sacrifice for the good of the community. Only a man with Lee's faith, independence and wilderness skills could be called on to make such a sacrifice.

Likewise, Lee seems to have virtually surrendered to his own execution, but it's not clear why. Was he again sacrificing himself for Brigham Young and the church? Did he feel the guilt of the Massacres and seek to atone by offering his own life?

I don't know, but I know this: if you're interested in Mormon history, Utah history or even the history of the American West, you should read this book.

I could not put this book down until I had finished it cover to cover. It is a gripping narative that is historically accurate. (None of the criticisms I have heard change the nature of the story at all.) She draws on primary resources and was often able to obtain documents no one else could. Her analysis, especially of Lee's second trial, is very insightful.

I was surprised to learn that the group of 12 or so men known as the "Misouri Wildcats" who were probably the target of the massacre had parted with the Francher company the day before the the first Indian raid and hence escaped being in the massacre.

I am not a descendant of John D. Lee.

I am pleased to be the first reviewer of this book who is not a decendent of John D. Lee, yet I, too, must give the book highest marks. While it is history, and a biography, it is as captivating as any novel, and a treat for the immagination as well as the rational mind. Full marks for the late Ms. Brooks in her ability to weave together the elements that make the man, her insight mostly derived from his own copious writings and those of his faithful wives. The result is a reasonably complete look at the complex man, faithful to his dying moments in the Church and gospel he thought he was defending, a look that includes his intimate thoughts, a sense of his apparent egotism, his devotion to his multiple families, and the role that his wives and children played in his life.

There is much that I appreciated about this book, not the least of which is the fact that Ms. Brooks did not shy away from the possibility that Brigham Young sacrificed J. D. Lee in a manner consistent with a Book of Mormon account, in which it is stated by God that "it is better that one man should perish, then a whole nation dwindle in unbelief." Lee himself implicates his "adoptive father," Brigham Young, in his farewell letter to his wives. At the same time, she does not for a moment lose the perspective of the seige mentality, the war-time thinking of both the perpetrators of the Mountain Meadow Massacre, and the leaders of the Church. Without this context, it is easy to stand in self-rightous judgement of what hindsight clearly dictates was a horrible act. With that psycho/social context, the fair-minded reader can at least admit that while John D. Lee was indeed a participant in an evil day, he was not an evil man. Far from it. Indeed, he may have paid the price with his life because he was in fact a man of high principles, and utmost regard for the God who gave him life. His faith sustained him through remarkable hardship, and sustained him in his own noble imprisonment and ultimatly his execution.

You will not be able to read this book without a strong sense of compassion for his wives, either. They were called upon to endure extreme hardship, and appear to have risen to the challenge. From their march across the plains, to the numerous times they were asked to open a new settlement, to eventually living practically alone in Navajo country to fend for themselves, even to birth children without so much as the help from an older daughter, these were women of enormous faith, incredible fortitude, and proud devotion to a man that their Church had marked as a scapegoat and sacrificial lamb.

It is likely that decendents of the Fancher Party would read this book with different emotions than I, but I found it to be highly stimulating and engaging, both to the sensitivities and the mind. It is a story of faith, of perseverence, of work and sacrifice, and ultimately betrayal by a man's dearest friends. If the book is too forgiving of Lee for his role in the Massacre at Mountain Meadows, it is only because his life was so much more than that one, dark day. The rest of his life was a labor of love, for his God, his Prophet, his friends, his wives, his children, and for the establishment of the Kingdom of God, of which he believed he was a key builder, in partnership with his God and his prophets.

This book is NOT for everyone; it is for fans of TRUTH, of a candid, straightforward approach to life,Mormonism, and History of the West, Utah, and religion-religious organizations.
Juanits Brooks may well go down as the most honest LDS author EVER, and this book chronicles her life: what brought her to the point and the process involved in writing the book (2 editions) that brought the MMM out of darkness. May her memory live in the hearts of honest men & women forever.

Levi S. Peterson has done a remarkable job of researching and collating an enormous amount of material in revealing the wonderful life and career of a magnificent lady. Juanita Brooks, in her own right, was a premier writer of Mormon Utah and environs, who represented the very best in objective reporting in an environment that can be rather reserved. Dr. Levi Peterson, Professor of English at Weber State University in Utah brings Juanita Brooks to all of us who have admired her for so very many years. Professor Peterson has made a marvelous contribution to the autobiographical literature of historical writing, showing the best in organization and leading the reader onward, and onward with great anticipation to the next sentence, and the next. It is as wonderful an account of a worthy life as I have ever read!

George A. Hamm

.

Hosea Stout was, of course, a big VIP in the early days of the LDS Church. His diaries have proven to be of great import to scholars because of his important positions and copious and daily record. Especially noteworthy may be his entries during his time spent in the Utah legislature--for some time as the speaker. But most interestingly to me (being a student of literature more than history), is the pathos he expresses in the moments of tragedy--so common in the terrible years of Mormon persecutions.

I paid $85 dollars for my copy and consider it a fantastic deal. They're worth whatever you may find them for. Consider them recommended.

One of the most accessable, yet honest histories I've read. Brooks was a well-respected historian in academic circles, yet with her straightforward style instantly transports the lay reader into the early Mormon frontier.

Ms. Brooks is to be commended for the research effort which went into this book, but the sources are so far removed from today and from the first hand knowledge of the occurance as to have only questionable value.
The book is divided into three major parts, the lead-in to the massacre, the massacre and the aftermath.
In the very lengthy first part, Ms. Brooks devotes most of her effort to justifying the slaughter on the basis of self defence, as an American army was approaching the territory for the purpose of restoring US control and the unbelievable assertion that the Fancher train rode through Utah loudly bragging of the involvement of members of the train in the death of John Smith and assaults on Morman communities in Missouri and Illinois. At no point is there reference to the fact that Utah was a US territory and as such subject to US laws and that by his actions in rousing his community against a US army, Brigham Young not only acted as a traitor, but established the atmosphere among Indians and LDS members which led directly to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, whether or not Young approved it in advance.
Ms. Brooks, perhaps horrified by the event itself, mannages only one brief chapter covering the massacre and the heinous acts of the Mormans who participated.
The aftermath, devoted to an attempt to establish that the Church leadership covered-up the facts of the event and selected one relatively innocent soul as a scapegoat, is the most believable and least well documented of the books sections.

Mrs. Brooks performed an invaluable service when she wrote "The Mountain Meadows Massacre." She dared to go where no member of the LDS church had dared go before. It has been said that her work has stood the test of time. Unfortunately, that is not true. Because her book is far from clear about the location of the events of the massacre, I began to search the information contained in her bibliography. She is wrong on several points. To her dying day she believed the men's grave was located at the original monument. Major Carleton's report reveals there were three graves. The remains at the monument are those found scattered around the valley. Two other graves were put in place by a Captain Campbell a couple of weeks before Major Carleton came on the scene. Mrs. Brooks uses Rachel Lee's diary as evidence that John D. Lee went to Cedar City for his meeting with Isaac Haight on Sunday, September 6, 1857. The entry says Lee left on an expedition "south". Even a cursory examination of a map shows Cedar City to be north of New Harmony, Lee's home. Further, why would she characterize a visit to town as "an expedition"? In fact, Lee was on his way to Mountain Meadows that day. Also, because of this book, several names appear on the monument that have no documentary justification for being there. Several people from places other than Arkansas are mentioned. Since all of the surviving children are from Arkansas, what are the odds that none of these phantom families had any children that survived? The extra names listed are based on hearsay only by people who thought they had met the Fancher wagon train coming across the plains. That's not good research, and cannot be considered accurate history. The death toll is placed at 120, but there is no evidence other than the Mitchell report that names all those who left Arkansas in the Spring of that year. All of the surviving children are on that list. Between Major Carleton and Captain Campbell, the remains they buried totalled less than seventy-five..... Obviously, the full story has never been told, but this book is a brave attempt at the truth. Too bad it doesn't quite hit the mark.






























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Brooks, although not a professional historian, did throuough research and offered a balanced view of the massacre even though she was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well. The book's conclusions are well argued and the documents are used in a fair and balanced way. Brooks also does an effective job of discussing the background of the massacre with clear chapters on the "Mormon War" of 1857 that was coming. Unlike many authors, Brooks overcomes the tendancy to become emotional or polemical about the massacre. Instead of using the book to further her own agenda, (either to be an apologist or what is called an "Anti-Mormon" and tear down the church), Brooks attempts to bring to light not only the massacre itself but the motivations behind it and the cover-up that happened afterwards. Anyone studying the Mountain Meadows Massacre need to read this book first or at least second or their research is woefully incomplete!

One cannot visit Lee's Ferry without becoming curious about Emma Lee, John D. Lee's courageous and lonely wife, who lived alone at the Ferry while her husband was off fraternizing with Mormon bishops and ending up taking the fall for church leaders in the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Reading her life story, including giving birth alone in the rude cabin on the bank of the Colorado River, her dealings with Lee's other wives, and her steadfast and unswering loyalty to her husband, is a sobering look at the demands of a pioneer, and a Mormon wife.