Theres one answer to all these questions: Brigham Young ordered the murders as a righteous act of vengeance. Even on the day of the slaughter, couriers were reportedly hurrying from Cedar City30 miles to the eastto call it off. Meanwhile, someone attempted to assassinate Governor Boggs, shooting him twice through the skull, once in the neck, and once in the throat. Young won the leadership and Strang was considered a heretic and excommunicated from the Mormon Church. Justice John F. Kinney was appointed in 1854, and quickly fought with Young over statutes designed to protect polygamists. Brigham Young had no tolerance for Mormons who began to doubt the faith. A disgraced former Geography professor at Mormon-founded Brigham Young University in Utah who was charged with sexually abusing a female students after allegedly telling her she needed to straddle . Young extensively promoted his theology of blood atonement, which held that certain crimes and sins were so vile that they could not be forgiven until a debt had been paid in blood. The sheer variety of Brigham Young's marriages makes it difficult to make sense of them. Brigham Young University. Young was too cleverand too religiously devoutto have destroyed the emigrants and thus irreparably harm the reputation of his people. When it was over, men quarreled over responsibility, and many vowed that no one should ever know of their deadly work, including, presumably, Brigham Young. People make what they want of the facts in my book, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows, but for most readers, the evidence about who ordered the massacre is overwhelming. As Compton explains of Joseph F. Smith's ordination, which would later have a significant impact on Church history: Though John Willard "was publicly sustained as an assistant counselor to Brigham," he focused most of his time on business endeavors and lived most of his life in New York, according to Compton. Weeks after Young's proclamation, in the high desert of the Utah territory, LDS Mormons murdered more than 100 Arkansas migrants. Experience in wood framing, excavation, roofing, painting, concrete, etc. John D. Lee leading elder in Mt. He was removed from his post but, when Rigdon was still Smiths second-in-command, his input helped shape much of Mormon theology and he also gave the majority of important sermons to the earliest Mormon congregations. Rather than provide them with what they wanted, Lee chose to die like a man then [than] to live a villain.. Brent L. Top,professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, in an interview explained a little more about how these experiences influenced Brigham Young: In an article written by Top, he elaborates more on what Brigham Young taught about the life that awaits us after death: For more incredible insights into what prophets and apostles have taught about the spirit world, check out Life After Death: 6 Insights into the Spirit World. He dedicated his whole life to church service and made a significant contribution in the early days of the Church. He was a brother of the Mormon prophet, Brigham Young (1801-1877). When he isnt exploring the dark secrets of various religions, he is a major sci-fi/fantasy geek and the lead editor and author for The Elders Blog on Elders of Genova. Who is Katy mixon body double eastbound and down season 1 finale? TAMPA, Fla. Acting as his own lawyer, a double-murder defendant opened his death penalty trial by shouting at jurors that he did not attack his girlfriend and disabled daughter. The little boy and his sister were at a friend's house in Wyoming earlier this month when a 1 . She has been placed on indefinite suspension for her actions, which include punching another . Brigham Young neither ordered nor approved of the Mountain Meadows Massacre beforehand, but his unwillingness to cooperate with federal officials precipitated the crisis, and his subsequent actions and rhetoric inflamed tensions rather than calming them. Western Pride Enterprise. Ted's son and Rupert were more prominently involved in Season 1 but weren't seen much the following season. After a 500 mile round trip journey, militiamen received this response on Sept 13, two days too late to prevent the massacre. The Latter-day Saint community [in Las Vegas is] vibrant across every facetpolitically, public service, charitable. A later biography of Ann Eliza Young termed her The Twenty-Seventh Wife. Prosecutors in New York City are investigating an incident in which a jazz musician said his 14-year-old son was attacked by a woman who falsely accused him of taking her iPhone. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Brigham Young later privately set apart three other sons and Joseph F. Smith as apostles who served as "assistant Counselors to the First Presidency." Youngs fiery discourses calling for blood and vengeance, his encouragement of Indian attacks on wagon trains and the lies he told to cover up the crime all show he was intimately involved in fomenting a vicious act of vengeance. In 1852, Young publicly acknowledged Mormon polygamy. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Sidney Rigdon was, for a time, the second most powerful person in Mormonism. Pissy Hastens 02. Catholicism has the Inquisition and the Crusades. Throughout the revolution, In this inspiring look at near-death experiences, authors Brent and Wendy Top illustrate how numerous recorded accounts of near-death experiences relate to Latter-day Saint teachings. Young discouraged Mormons from cooperating with federal investigations into the massacre, propagating instead the theory that rogue Indians were solely responsible, an explanation that virtually nobody found credible. In regard to emigration trains passing through our settlements, we must not interfere with them until they are first notified to keep away. Some of his brides were as young as 14, and he even married women who already had living husbands. For instance, Joseph Smith was once attacked by an apostate from the Church, William Law, who "attempted to kill Joseph and fired a pistol at him six times at close range. The only ones spared were 17 children under the age of eight, who were taken in by local Mormon families, and would later testify they saw their parents clothes and jewels being worn by locals. Brigham Young, December 12, 1850, daguerreotype. The Brink of War. Smithsonian Magazine, June 2008. Salt Lake City would soon become the bustling center of life in theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What was the favorite type of mule used in the Old West? Tensions were further inflamed when news reached Utah around this time that early church leader Parley P. Pratt had been killed by the estranged husband of one of Pratts polygamous wives while he was on a mission to the Eastern United States. Young replied. While several reasons for this statement may be suggested, most persuasive is the ebb and flow of the local decision-making during the weeklong event. Mormon Historians Shed Light On Sept. 11, 1857. When I began writing about the massacre, I realized trying to prove anything about this appalling crime would prove only that I was an idiot. Brigham Young was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1847 until his death in 1877. Was not referring to his death, just the stabbing. Isaac Haights stake high council opposed the attack, and sent a messenger to Salt Lake City for Youngs advice on September 6. Smith sold Young a copy of the Book of Mormon and told him that it had been translated from ancient records by his brother Joseph Smith. Trumpeter Keyon . Brigham Young urged every Mormon to resist the American military. While it's clear that the Lord's prophets have often been preserved to perform sacred works, it is also clear that these near-death experiences provided Brigham Young with unparalleled insight into the nature of the spirit world. After fleeing hostile forces in Missouri and Illinois, Mormons settled in the Salt Lake Valley under Brigham Young and from there established colonies all over the West as well as in Mexico. The Center for Family History and Genealogy was established at Brigham Young University in order to utilize BYU resources to simplify the process of finding of ancestors and the discovery of the world in which they lived. After Cowdery was excommunicated from the church in 1838, Young wrote him several letters pleading with him to come back into the church. During Wyatt Earps later years, while he was living in Hollywood, were there any silent films or voice recordings made of him. When they turned up at the Smithsonian Institute in the 1920s, they were returned to the Mormon Church. Many American Protestant religions promoted slavery or the Ku Klux Klan. From 1864 through 1871 Young served as the bishop of the Salt Lake City 2nd Ward. Phineas Young was an older brother of Brigham Young, who was the president of the LDS Church and the first governor of the Territory of Utah. He later became a prominent pioneer in southern Utah, and St. George, Utah, may have been named after him. Bridger Walker, 6, is being hailed as a hero for protecting his 4-year-old sister from a dog attack. 1,204,523 People also liked Copies of Youngs letter exist both in rough draft and final draft form. Matters have & are being delayed with design of Cohearce [to coerce] me to Make a statement beyond what I know, he wrote in his diary. Despite the fact that the Book of Mormon (which Smith said he translated by the power of God) denounces polygamy, Smith didnt stop with two wives and, before he died, he had married close to 40 women and possibly many more. Did Brigham Young Approve the Attack? George A. Smith died in 1875 at age 58. While it started with a small group of adherents, many historians regard read more, The political and religious leader Roger Williams (c. 1603?-1683) is best known for founding the state of Rhode Island and advocating separation of church and state in Colonial America. President Brigham Young ordained his 11-year-old son John Willard Young as an apostle shortly after John received his temple endowment, though John never joined the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The Utah War was resolved in 1858, with Young agreeing to step aside in favor of the new governor (though he remained de facto leader in the territory). Despite a growing bitterness toward his former mentor, Lee refused. Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York whose impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. Phineas Howe Young (also found as Phinehas) (February 16, 1799 October 10, 1879) was a prominent early convert in the Latter Day Saint movement and was later a Mormon pioneer and a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As any attorney knows, the problem with a guilty client is he acts guilty, and after the massacre Brigham Young never behaved like an innocent man. After the death of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, the mantle of leader of the church was up for grabs. The Latter-day Saint community [in Las Vegas is] vibrant across every facetpolitically, public service, charitable. Polygamy, Brigham Young and His 55 Wives. HuffPost, August 27, 2012. Critics assume, yes. Traditions abound for alums returning to campus and for students during Homecoming week, October 15-19, 2019. TUCKER CARLSON: You always imagine in your mind's eye that it's evil men who destroy society: wild-eyed, spit-flecked dictators pounding the podium to demand the annihilation of their enemies. The winners of the Church History Museums 12th International Art Competition have been announced, and the artwork is breathtaking. By the summer of 1877, Youngs health was in decline, but he continued to play an active role in the Mormon church up until the end. If I shoot, they get shot. What are the Physical devices used to construct memories? Brigham Young. For motives, they point to the persecution of the Mormon people and to the earlier killing of Mormon leaders Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Wouldnt these events have kindled Youngs anger and led him to seek revenge? Congress officially made polygamy illegal, killed by the estranged husband of one of Pratts polygamous wives. Despite the clean-cut image of family-oriented conservatives that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church) presents to the world, it too has moments of darkness in its past. In 1830, Young was contacted by Samuel H. Smith, a missionary in the recently established Latter Day Saint movement. Not circumstantial evidence. Young read the Bible verse the soldiers had inscribed on a cedar cross atop the monument: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord., It should read, he said, Vengeance is mine, and I have taken a little. Young then directed the desecration of the grave. True West asked the authors of both books to lay out their claims. Park City, Utah, United States. Phineas Young was a printer; building contractor; and Mormon bishop, missionary, and pioneer. FactSnippet No. Likewise, John D. Lee, the only man convicted of the murders, was repeatedly offered leniency in exchange for incriminating Youngthe last offer was made just moments before his execution. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. How many nieces and nephew luther vandross have? They were murdered by a small Mormon militia and its Indian allies in a horrible ploy: after a four-day gun battle with their attackers, the pioneers accepted a truce that turned out to be a deadly lie. Witnesses later testified about Haslams dramatic arrival in Salt Lake City, the writing of the letter and its dispatch South. Reading the September 2000 True West article by Glenn Shirley, titled, A Tireless Energy & Nerves of Steel, I was fascinated by Caroline Bonneville. Was brigham young stabbed by a son named Phineas? Brigham Young clearly wasn't free of his ex-wife just yet. Those allegations have never been proven, but Young did indicate that he supported the sentiment even if he never ordered a murder. If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain [those of African descent], the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. Will Bagley, a history columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, is the author of Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Young declared the site would be the groups new home, and they began building an adobe and log settlement where Salt Lake City now stands. Young unambiguously condoned the attack afterwards. The following are a few facts necessary for an understanding of this terrible event in Western and Mormon history. Egyptologists (both Mormon and non-Mormon) were invited to view the scrolls and translate them, but they found that the scrolls were ordinary funerary texts that had nothing to do with Abraham. With the United States in control of the Great Salt Lake Valley region after the Mexican-American War, Young was appointed governor of the new Utah Territory in 1850. In this period, militia leaders at Cedar City and at Mountain Meadows changed their minds several times whether the killing should go forward. Brigham Young, second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church, ranks among the most influential and important historical figures not just in Mormon, but also in American history. Brigham Young chosen to lead Mormon Church After Joseph Smith, the founder and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism, and his brother, Hyrum, were murdered by. Brigham Young was a man well acquainted with life and death. There is room for my brown paper-doll family: 2 gospel truths I learned as a young girl that carry my faith, Bright lights in the desert: How Latter-day Saints have shaped Las Vegas culture, community, and politics, See the stunning winners of the Churchs International Art Competition. You must not meddle with them. Tragically, Youngs letter arrived two days after the massacre, despite one of the epic rides in Western history. Why? Finally, why has so much evidence been destroyed or purged from Mormon archives, and why has so much evidence been suppressed? No evidence exists that the Indians at the council agreed to attack. Of course, there's also the Opening Ceremony, the Cougar Run, a football game, and more. A devoted missionary and supporter of Smith, Young was ordained as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a church governing body, in 1835; he became its president four years later. Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons Dean C. Jessee Stanford J. Layton Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Part of the Mormon Studies Commons, and the Religious Education Commons Recommended Citation Layton, Stanford J. Why Lee was selected as scapegoat remains unclear. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke Monday to staff at Brigham Young University (BYU) during the first day of the institution's 2021 University Conference.. Hes still alive, isnt he?. Why did he shield the murderers and allow the churchs newspaper to blame the crime on the Paiutes for a dozen years after Jacob Hamblin told him Mormons were involved? Matthew Easton, a 24-year-old political science major, told an audience of thousands, "I'm not broken." After a standoff of several days, the Mormons called a truce, only to massacre most of the wagon train party, including some 120 men, women and children. Amid the tensions, however, a band of armed Mormons attacked a wagon train of non-Mormons heading west from Arkansas in a valley known as Mountain Meadows in September 1857. The Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt had recently been murdered in Arkansas after essentially trying to kidnap children. Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, Brigham Young and his entourage visited Mountain Meadows for the first time since 1857. Despite the fact that the leader of the Mormon Church is supposed to relay Gods will to mankind, though, Brigham Young espoused some terrifyingly racist ideals.