Upcoming Documentary: Massacre of Settlers by Mormons in1857

[Toms777]

Just for those who may be interested, there is to be a TV documentary on this event broadcast later this year on television. Here is a news article about the documentary.

SOURCE: Ozarks Newsstand
http://www.zwire.com/site/News.cfm?BRD= ... =461&rfi=9

Some excerpts from the article:

"This little-known story of one of the most despicable crimes in the American West is told through the actual documented account of a four-year-old girl named Nancy Saphrona who survived the massacre.
Saphrona was 22 years old and married to Dallas Cates when she gave her statements about the massacre to a Little Rock reporter in 1875.

Reports state that Saphrona was spared because the Mormons thought she was too young to ever report what she had seen. Saphrona witnessed the slaughter of her entire family including her father, Peter Huff; her mother, Saletia Ann Brown; two brothers; and a sister.
Nancy Saphrona was taken away by John Willis, whom she lived with in Utah until she was returned to relatives in Arkansas two years later. She later died in Arkansas while she was only in her late 20s, report claim. "

"Recent controversy erupted during construction of the new monument in 1999 when workers accidentally unearthed about 30 pounds of human remains. The LDS Church sent the bones to archaeologists at Brigham Young University, the last place many of the Arkansas descendants wanted their ancestors' remains to go.

"Recent controversy erupted during construction of the new monument in 1999 when workers accidentally unearthed about 30 pounds of human remains. The LDS Church sent the bones to archaeologists at Brigham Young University, the last place many of the Arkansas descendants wanted their ancestors' remains to go.

"All of a sudden, all these lines of aggravation and dissension started cropping up again," said Patrick, the only person to get videotape of the bones. The film shows University of Utah forensics experts piecing skull fragments and proving that some of the massacre victims were shot in the back of the head while others were stabbed or beaten to death with stones."

 

[mh13]

Just like th RCC, the LDS church has a bloddy troubled history

 

[Toms777]

Just like th RCC, the LDS church has a bloddy troubled history

True. There is a good book available if you wanty to study the history the LDS church, and that is "One Nation Under Gods" by Richard Abanes. I would recommend it very highly.

 

[serapha]

Just for those who may be interested, there is to be a TV documentary on this event broadcast later this year on television. Here is a news article about the documentary.

SOURCE: Ozarks Newsstand
http://www.zwire.com/site/News.cfm?BRD= ... =461&rfi=9

Hi there!

:angel:


Welcome to the forums....


and thanks for sharing.


~serapha~

 

[GOD'S ARMY]

I assume this portrayal will have the same slant that Ms. Sally Denton put on it. Unfortunately the truth of the story is unknown.


American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857
by Sally Denton
Knopf, 3 August 2003

Excerpt from a review by Patricia Nelson Limerick
Washington Post, 3 August 2003
Click here for full text

"And yet in much of American Massacre Sally Denton conveys a sense of certainty, noting the contradictions in the record and then dismissing them by choosing the construction or interpretation that holds the leadership of the Church directly responsible for the murders at Mountain Meadows. Statements by John D. Lee, for instance, are treated as credible when they implicate the Church leaders and doubtful when they exonerate them or himself. Early in Denton's narrative of the violence at Mountain Meadows, she makes the requisite admission: 'Like much of the rest of the story, the truth would be mired in a lack of solid evidence' and then goes on to tell the story of the massacre in clear, definitive terms, as if she had found a way to unearth 'the truth' from its mire."

Patricia Nelson Limerick chairs the board at the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado




A recent opinion editorial by Sally Denton published in The New York Times (24 May 2003) inaccurately stated some of the facts relating to the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The following two letters offer clarification:



Telling the story of Mountain Meadows Massacre requires a steady, objective approach, where all the facts are strenuously sought, collected and combined into a full picture and context, and then applied to reach the best possible understanding of past events.

Unfortunately, these qualities do not characterize investigative reporter Sally Denton’s recent column on the event. Instead, her account of this most tragic incident contains factual errors as well as dark innuendos that masquerade as historical truth.

Denton claims the massacre undermines The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) by calling into question Brigham Young’s “divinity.†In fact, the Church has never taught that its leaders are divine or infallible. On the other hand, there is no persuasive evidence that Brigham Young orchestrated the event. Nor is there reliable evidence that the Church’s cooperation at the trial of John D. Lee  who played a leading role in the killing  was part of a deal for Utah statehood, as Denton claims. Denton even gets the number of emigrants killed wrong by more than a dozen.

Tying the massacre to the present, Denton suggests that current Church president, Gordon B. Hinckley, has been the target of descendants’ criticisms or demands. While it can hardly be expected that such a diverse group should be unanimous in their views, most have acknowledged and thanked President Hinckley for the newly restored monument at Mountain Meadows and the efforts to build bridges between perpetrators’ and victims’ descendants.

Denton links the tragedy to present-day events by alleging that the offending local militia aimed at “ridding the world of infidels†and claims that the massacre has parallels with “9/11.†These emotionally charged comparisons, however, have little to do with historical evidence or to the actual circumstances which occurred.

Finally, the actions of the modern Church seem anything but a struggle to suppress its history, as Denton alleges. My co-authors, Richard E. Turley Jr. and Glen M. Leonard, and I have received full Church cooperation for what must be the most extensive research ever conducted on this episode. That research will be published in 2004 by Oxford University Press, and will shed more light and understanding on the event than any other previous publication.

Ronald W. Walker, Professor of History
Brigham Young University
3 June 2003



To the editor of The New York Times:

In "A Utah Massacre and Mormon Memory" (Op-Ed, May 24), Sally Denton tells only half the story of the tragedy at Mountain Meadows in 1857. She does not mention that for a quarter of a century, Mormons had repeatedly been driven from their settlements by mobs that burned their homes and killed their children.

In 1857, the United States Army was on its way to Utah, and Mormons foresaw another expulsion. Some of them panicked and performed a terrible act that has stained Mormon history ever since.


Richard Bushman
Emeritus Professor of History, Columbia University
25 May 2003

 

[mh13]

the biigest stain on the LDS church is it's anti-biblical teachings!

 

[evanman]

More on
Mormon
Massacre:

http://www.contenderministries.org/articles/mormon.php

http://www.laughtergenealogy.com/bin/hi ... ng/27.html

http://www.frank.kirkman.com/Pages/Massacre02.htm

The accused: John D Lee

Brigham Young