1.The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints is founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ. The
virtues of peace, love, and forgiveness are at the center of Church doctrine
and practice.
2. Despite these ideals,
early Latter-day Saints did not obtain peace easily. They were persecuted,
often violently, for their beliefs. And, tragically, at some points in the 19th
century, most notably in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, some Church members participated
in deplorable violence against people they perceived to be their enemies. This
essay explores both violence committed against the Latter-day Saints and
violence committed by them. While historical context can help shed light on
these acts of violence, it does not excuse them.
3. In the first two
decades after the Church was organized, Latter-day Saints were often the
victims of violence. Soon after Joseph Smith organized the Church in New York
in 1830, he and other Church members began settling in areas to the west, in
Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Time and again, the Saints tried to build their
Zion community where they could worship God and live in peace, and repeatedly
they saw their hopes dashed through forcible and violent removal. Mobs drove them
from Jackson County, Missouri, in 1833; from the state of Missouri in 1839,
after the governor of the state issued an order in late October 1838 that the
Mormons be expelled from the state or “exterminated”; and from their city of
Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. Following their expulsion from Nauvoo, Latter-day
Saints made the difficult trek across the Great Plains to Utah.
4. As Latter-day Saints
faced these difficulties, they sought to live by revelations to Joseph Smith
that counseled them to live their religion in peace with their neighbors.
Nevertheless, their adversaries in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois a)resented the
Saints’ differing religious beliefs and social and economic practices. They
also b) felt threatened by the Saints’ growing numbers, which meant that
Mormons could increasingly control local elections. These opponents attacked
the Saints, first verbally and then physically. Church leaders, including
Joseph Smith, were tarred and feathered, beaten, and unjustly imprisoned. Other
members of the Church were also the victims of violent crimes. In the most
infamous incident, at least 17 men and boys, ranging in age from 9 to 78, were
slaughtered in the Hawn’s Mill Massacre. Some Latter-day Saint women were raped
or otherwise sexually assaulted during the Missouri
persecutions. Vigilantes and mobs destroyed homes and stole
property. Many of the Saints’ opponents enriched themselves with land and
property that was not justly theirs. The
expulsion from Missouri—involving at least 8,000 Latter-day Saints—occurred
during the winter months, heightening the suffering of the thousands of
refugees who lacked adequate food and shelter and were sometimes subject to
epidemic diseases.
5. After being driven from
Missouri, the Saints were initially welcomed by the people of the neighboring
state of Illinois and found peace for a time in Nauvoo. Ultimately, however,
conflict arose again as non-Mormons and dissenters from the Church renewed
their attacks. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were brutally martyred by a
mob in an Illinois prison despite the promise of the state’s governor that the
brothers would be protected while in custody. Eighteen months later, beginning
in the cold winter month of February 1846, the main body of the Saints left
Nauvoo under tremendous pressure. They settled in temporary camps—what would
now be called refugee camps—on the plains of Iowa and Nebraska. An estimated 1
in 12 Saints died in these camps during the first year. Some of the
elderly and poor initially remained in Nauvoo and hoped to join the main body
of Saints later. But a mob forcibly expelled them from Nauvoo in September 1846
and then desecrated the temple. The scope of this violence against a
religious group was unprecedented in the history of the United States.
6. Church leaders and
members repeatedly attempted to gain redress from local and state governments;
when these petitions failed, they appealed unsuccessfully to the federal
government to correct past wrongs and gain future protection. Latter-day
Saints long remembered the persecutions they experienced and the unwillingness
of government authorities either to protect them or to prosecute their
attackers. T
7. In 19th-century
American society, community violence was common and often condoned. Much of the
violence perpetrated by and against Latter-day Saints fell within the
then-existing American tradition of extralegal vigilantism, in which citizens
organized to take justice into their own hands when they believed government
was either oppressive or lacking. Vigilantes generally targeted minority groups
or those perceived to be criminal or socially marginal. Such acts were at times
fueled by religious rhetoric.
8. The existence of
community-based militias also contributed to this culture of vigilantism.
Congress passed a law in 1792 requiring every able-bodied male between 18 and
45 years of age to belong to a community militia.20 Over time, the militias turned into the National
Guard, but in early America, they were often unruly, perpetrating acts of
violence against individuals or groups perceived to be opponents of the
community.
9. The isolated acts of
violence committed by some Latter-day Saints can generally be seen as a subset
of the broader phenomenon of frontier violence in 19th-century America.21 In 1838, Joseph Smith and other Church members
fled from mobs in Ohio and moved to Missouri, where Latter-day Saints had
already established settlements. Joseph Smith believed that opposition from
Church dissidents and other antagonists had weakened and ultimately destroyed
their community in Kirtland, Ohio, where only two years before they had
completed a temple at great sacrifice. By the summer of 1838, Church leaders
saw the rise of similar threats to their goal of creating a harmonious
community in Missouri.
10. At the Latter-day
Saint settlement of Far West, some leaders and members organized a paramilitary
group known as the Danites, whose objective was to defend the community against
dissident and excommunicated Latter-day Saints as well as other Missourians.
Historians generally concur that Joseph Smith approved of the Danites but that
he probably was not briefed on all their plans and likely did not sanction the
full range of their activities. Danites intimidated Church dissenters and other
Missourians; for instance, they warned some dissenters to leave Caldwell
County. During the fall of 1838, as tensions escalated during what is now known
as the Mormon Missouri War, the Danites were apparently absorbed into militias
largely composed of Latter-day Saints. These militias clashed with their
Missouri opponents, leading to a few fatalities on both sides. In addition,
Mormon vigilantes, including many Danites, raided two towns believed to be
centers of anti-Mormon activity, burning homes and stealing goods. Though
the existence of the Danites was short-lived, it resulted in a longstanding and
much-embellished myth about a secret society of Mormon vigilantes.
11. As a result of their
experience in Missouri, the Latter-day Saints created a large, state-sanctioned
militia, the Nauvoo Legion, to protect themselves after they moved to Illinois.
This militia was feared by many who saw the Latter-day Saints as enemies. But
the legion avoided offensive or retaliatory action; it did not respond even in
the crisis leading up to the mob murders of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum
in June 1844 or in the aftermath of those murders. When the governor of
Illinois ordered that the legion disband, the Saints followed the instruction.
12. In Utah, aggression or
retaliation by Latter-day Saints against their perceived enemies occurred most
frequently during the first decade of settlement (1847–1857). For many, the
scars of former persecutions and the trek to the Rocky Mountains were still
fresh and personal. As they tried to carve out a living in the Utah desert, the
Saints faced continuing conflict. Many factors worked against the success of
the Latter-day Saint venture in Utah: tensions with American Indians, who had
been displaced by Mormon settlement and expansion; pressure from the U.S.
federal government, particularly after the public announcement of plural
marriage in 1852; uncertain land claims; and a rapidly expanding population.
Community leaders felt an unrelenting burden of responsibility, not only for
the spiritual welfare of the Church but also for the physical survival of their
people. Many of these leaders, including Church president and territorial
governor Brigham Young, simultaneously held ecclesiastical and civil offices.
13. Like other settlers in frontier areas, Latter-day
Saints occupied areas already inhabited by American Indians. The tragic history
of the annihilation of many Indian tribes and the devastation of others at the
hands of European immigrant settlers and the United States military and
political apparatus has been well documented by historians. Settlers throughout
the 19th century, including some Latter-day Saints, mistreated and killed
Indians in numerous conflicts, forcing them off desirable lands and onto
reservations.
Unlike most other
Americans, Latter-day Saints viewed Indians as a chosen people, fellow
Israelites who were descendants of Book of Mormon peoples and thus heirs to
God’s promises. As Church president, territorial governor, and territorial
superintendent of Indian Affairs, Brigham Young pursued a peace policy to facilitate
Mormon settlement in areas where Indians lived. Latter-day Saints learned
Indian languages, established trade relations, preached the gospel, and
generally sought accommodation with Indians. This policy, however, emerged
unevenly and was inconsistently applied.
14. Peaceful accommodation
between Latter-day Saints and Indians was both the norm and the ideal. At
times, however, Church members clashed violently with Indians. These two
cultures—European and American Indian—had vastly different assumptions about
the use of land and property and did not understand each other well. Mormons
often accused Indians of stealing. Indians, meanwhile, believed the Mormons had
a responsibility to share goods and livestock raised on Indian tribal lands. In
areas where Mormons settled, Indian experience with Europeans had previously
consisted mostly of mutually beneficial interactions with trappers and traders,
people who passed through the land or briefly dwelled on it, not staked
permanent claim to it as the Mormons did. These misunderstandings led to
friction and violence between the peoples.
15. In late 1849, tensions
between Ute Indians and Mormons in Utah Valley escalated after a Mormon killed
a Ute known as Old Bishop, whom he accused of stealing his shirt. The Mormon
and two associates then hid the victim’s body in the Provo River. Details of
the murder were likely withheld, at least initially, from Brigham Young and
other Church leaders. Settlers at Fort Utah did, however, report other
difficulties with the Indians, including the firing of weapons at settlers and
the theft of livestock and crops. Brigham Young counseled patience, telling
them to “stockade your fort, to attend to your own affairs and let the indiens
take care of theirs.” Nevertheless,
tensions mounted at Fort Utah, in part because local Mormons refused to turn
over those involved in the murder of Old Bishop to the Utes or to pay
reparations for his death. In the winter of 1849–1850, a measles epidemic
spread from the Mormon settlers to the Ute camps, killing many Indians and
heightening tensions. At a council of Church leaders in Salt Lake City on
January 31, 1850, the leader of Fort Utah reported that the Utes’ actions and
intentions were growing increasingly aggressive: “they say they mean to hunt
our Cattle. & go & get the other Indians to kill us.” In response,
Governor Young authorized a campaign against the Utes. A series of battles in
February 1850 resulted in the deaths of dozens of Utes and one Mormon. In
these instances and others, some Latter-day Saints committed excessive violence
against native peoples.
16. Nevertheless, for the
most part, the Saints had more amicable relations with Indians than did
settlers in other areas of the American West. Brigham Young enjoyed friendships
with several American Indian leaders and taught his people to live peacefully
with their Indian neighbors whenever possible. Some Indians even
distinguished between “Mormonees,” whom they considered friendly, and other
American settlers, who were known as “Mericats.”
17. In the mid-1850s, a
“reformation” within the Church and tensions between the Latter-day Saints in
Utah and the U.S. federal government contributed to a siege mentality and a
renewed sense of persecution that led to several episodes of violence committed
by Church members. Concerned about spiritual complacency, Brigham Young and
other Church leaders delivered a series of sermons in which they called the
Saints to repent and renew their spiritual commitments. Many testified
that they became better people because of this reformation.
Nineteenth-century
Americans were accustomed to violent language, both religious and otherwise.
Throughout the century, revivalists had used violent imagery to encourage the
unconverted to repent and to urge backsliders to reform. At times during
the reformation, President Young, his counselor Jedediah M. Grant, and other
leaders preached with fiery rhetoric, warning against the evils of those who
dissented from or opposed the Church. Drawing on biblical passages, particularly
from the Old Testament, leaders taught that some sins were so serious that the
perpetrator’s blood would have to be shed in order to receive
forgiveness. Such preaching led to increased strain between the Latter-day
Saints and the relatively few non-Mormons in Utah, including federally
appointed officials.
18. In early 1857, U.S.
President James Buchanan received reports from some of the federal officials
alleging that Governor Young and the Latter-day Saints in Utah were rebelling
against the authority of the federal government. A strongly worded memorial
from the Utah legislature to the federal government convinced federal officials
the reports were true. President Buchanan decided to replace Brigham Young as
governor and, in what became known as the Utah War, sent an army to Utah to
escort his replacement. Latter-day Saints feared that the oncoming army—some
1,500 troops, with more to follow—would renew the depredations of Missouri and
Illinois and again drive the Saints from their homes. In addition, Parley P.
Pratt, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was murdered in Arkansas
in May 1857. News of the murder—as well as newspaper reports from the eastern
United States that celebrated the crime—reached Utah in late June 1857. As
these events unfolded, Brigham Young declared martial law in the territory,
directed missionaries and settlers in outlying areas to return to Utah, and
guided preparations to resist the army. Defiant sermons given by President
Young and other Church leaders, combined with the impending arrival of an army,
helped create an environment of fear and suspicion in Utah.
19. At the peak of this
tension, in early September 1857, a branch of the territorial militia in
southern Utah (composed entirely of Mormons), along with some Indians they
recruited, laid siege to a wagon train of emigrants traveling from Arkansas to
California. As the wagon train traveled south from Salt Lake City, the
emigrants had clashed verbally with local Mormons over where they could graze
their cattle. Some of the members of the wagon train became frustrated because
they had difficulty purchasing much-needed grain and other supplies from local
settlers, who had been instructed to save their grain as a wartime policy.
Aggrieved, some of the emigrants threatened to join incoming troops in fighting
against the Saints.
Although some Saints
ignored these threats, other local Church leaders and members in Cedar City,
Utah, advocated violence. Isaac C. Haight, a stake president and militia
leader, sent John D. Lee, a militia major, to lead an attack on the emigrant
company. When the president reported the plan to his council, other leaders
objected and requested that he call off the attack and instead send an express
rider to Brigham Young in Salt Lake City for guidance. But the men Haight had
sent to attack the emigrants carried out their plans before they received the
order not to attack. The emigrants fought back, and a siege ensued.
Over the next few days,
events escalated, and Mormon militiamen planned and carried out a deliberate
massacre. They lured the emigrants from their circled wagons with a false flag
of truce and, aided by Paiute Indians they had recruited, slaughtered them.
Between the first attack and the final slaughter, the massacre destroyed the
lives of 120 men, women, and children in a valley known as Mountain Meadows.
Only small children—those believed to be too young to be able to tell what had
happened—were spared. The express rider returned two days after the massacre.
He carried a letter from Brigham Young telling local leaders to “not meddle”
with the emigrants and to allow them to pass through southern Utah. The
militiamen sought to cover up the crime by placing the entire blame on local
Paiutes, some of whom were also members of the Church.
Two Latter-day Saints were
eventually excommunicated from the Church for their participation, and a grand
jury that included Latter-day Saints indicted nine men. Only one participant,
John D. Lee, was convicted and executed for the crime, which fueled false
allegations that the massacre had been ordered by Brigham Young.
In recent years, the
Church has made diligent efforts to learn everything possible about the
massacre. In the early 2000s, historians in the Church History Department of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints scoured archives throughout the
United States for historical records; every Church record on the massacre was
also opened to scrutiny. In the resulting book, published by Oxford University
Press in 2008, authors Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr., and
Glen M. Leonard concluded that while intemperate preaching about outsiders
by Brigham Young, George A. Smith, and other leaders contributed to a
climate of hostility, President Young did not order the massacre. Rather,
verbal confrontations between individuals in the wagon train and southern Utah
settlers created great alarm, particularly within the context of the Utah War
and other adversarial events. A series of tragic decisions by local Church
leaders—who also held key civic and militia leadership roles in southern
Utah—led to the massacre.
Aside from the Mountain
Meadows Massacre, a few Latter-day Saints committed other violent acts against
a small number of dissenters and outsiders. Some Latter-day Saints perpetrated
acts of extralegal violence, especially in the 1850s, when fear and tensions
were prevalent in Utah Territory. The heated rhetoric of Church leaders
directed toward dissenters may have led these Mormons to believe that such
actions were justified. The perpetrators of these crimes were generally
not punished. Even so, many allegations of such violence are unfounded, and
anti-Mormon writers have blamed Church leaders for many unsolved crimes or
suspicious deaths in early Utah.
Conclusion
Many people in the 19th
century unjustly characterized the Latter-day Saints as a violent people. Yet
the vast majority of Latter-day Saints, in the 19th century as today, lived in
peace with their neighbors and families, and sought peace in their communities.
Travelers in the 19th century often noted the peace and order that prevailed in
Mormon communities in Utah and elsewhere. Nevertheless, the actions of relatively few
Latter-day Saints caused death and injury, frayed community relationships, and
damaged the perception of Mormons as a peaceful people.
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints condemns violent words and actions and affirms its
commitment to furthering peace throughout the world. Speaking of the Mountain
Meadows Massacre, Elder Henry B. Eyring, then a member of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles, stated, “The gospel of Jesus Christ that we espouse abhors the
cold-blooded killing of men, women, and children. Indeed, it advocates peace
and forgiveness. What was done here long ago by members of our Church
represents a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and
conduct.”
Throughout the Church’s
history, Church leaders have taught that the way of Christian discipleship is a
path of peace. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
connected the Latter-day Saints’ faith in Jesus Christ to their active pursuit
of love of neighbor and peace with all people: “The hope of the world is the
Prince of Peace. … Now, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, what does the Lord expect of us? As a Church, we must
‘renounce war and proclaim peace.’ As individuals, we should ‘follow after the
things which make for peace.’ We should be personal peacemakers.”
