The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1886-06-23
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
The Blackest spot In the Dark History d
IA the Mormon Church. "a

MOON AIN MeAOOWos
fhs Blacklist spot In the Dark History d
m the Mormon Church. N
Early in September, 1857, the com
pany Of emigrants that had been
ordered out of Salt Lake valley, and
compelled to take the southern route
to the coast, entered the meadows and
encamped with the intention of resting
and recruiting before crossing the
desert. Nothing occurred to alarm
them the first day, and when night fell
they took no precautions except such
rs had been customary with them dur
ing the Journey. The valley seemed a
haven of safety, end they laid down to
rest with thankful hearts, but while
they slept plot for their destruction
was maturing. The Nauvoo legion.
obedient 10 ''orders from head
quarters" had surrounded the unsus.
pecting emigrants on every side. A
portion Of the legion, painted and dis
guised as Indians had been sent on ir
company with savages less cruel thar
themselves to attack the train. The
remaining companies of Mormon militie
had other orders. At daybreak the
guard at the emigrants' camp perceived
dark forms moving upon the surround
ing hillsides. He aroused his comrades,
and as the dusky figures showed more
plainly in the growing light they
decided that they were Indians and that
an attack WIS intended. 1t was neces-
sary to think and act quickly, and
barricade was formed at once with the
wagons Of the company, but before
their hurried preparations for defense
were completed the sharp crack of
rifles and the whizzing of bullets de-
noted that the battle had begun. It
was already only too plain that their
assailants greatly outnumbered them,
and from savages, as they supposed
them to be, no quarter was expected,
but love stronger than death nerved
their arms and strengthened their
hearts for the contest. Let the father
who reads these lines by his own fire.
side, wit h the bright heads of his chill
dren clustering around him, ask him
self against how. great odds he could
fight II a cruel and lingering death
menaced his darlings. Let him take
his youngest born on his knee, and
while the soft, baby eyes are upIifted to
his face let him measure, if he can, the
anguish of those fathers, who turned
from a last look at just such faces to
meet the fierce onset of their murderous
foes. ift'' i'fi' '''
All day long the unequal battle ragged.
At night the fire of the assailants slack
ened, but the light from piles of burn
ing sage brush showed that they still
surrounded the emigrants' camp on
| every side. Before sunrise o murder
GUS rain of bullets recommended, and
again continued until nightfall. d. The
| third day was q repetition of the first,
but On the fourth day access to the
springs was cut of. and the horrors Of
| death from thirst stared them in the
face, vet they fought with desperate
| courage, and when the sun went down
they still held their position and kept
the foe at bay. The morning of the
fifth day found them worn, exhausted,
tortured by burning thirst. but with
hearts as undaunted as ever. Late in
the afternoon the steady firing of the
besiegers ceased, and when they looked
out to ascertain the cause, they saw a
party Of white men approaching, their
leader bearing flag of truce. Let 1t
be remembered the emigrants had new
| er doubted that their assailants were
Indians, and the sight Of white men.
coming as they believed to the rescue,
was as welcome as vision of angels.
In answer to the flag of truce little
girl was dressed in white, and placed
on one of the wagons. In view of what
followed, this act was full of unuttera-
BILE pathos. Truly, they had decked a
lamb for sacrifice. The white men. as
they drew near, proved to be body OF
Mormon militia, headed by their Off
GERS, who were also the Bishops of the
surrounding settlements. They repre-
sented that they had done their best to
induce the "Indians" to leave, but they
would not do SO unless the emigrants
would agree to give up their property,
stack their arms and march out Of the
valley under the escort of the militia.
The emigrants, seeing no other pros
pect of saving the lives of their fami-
lice, agreed to these hard conditions.
| After making the required surrender
they were divided into three companies.
The women and children went first,
under the escort of detachment Of the
legion. The men followed at some. dis
| tance, guarded by another body Of mi
itia, and o wagon containing the wound
ed brought up the rear.
And now comes the blackest page in
this chapter of treachery and murder,
page that the most Gallons historian
might shrink from recording. At a
given signal from the officers in COM
mand, the unarmed men were shot
down, and when the last one lay dead
or dying on the bloody soil, the
slaughter of the women and children
and the butchery of the wounded began.
When the sun set that night on the
Redeemed and trampled Meadows. one
Kindred and nineteen maugled corpses
stlewed the ground. Ofan, the COM
papy that entered the valley none re-
mained alive except some of the smaller
children. Why they were saved when
SO many other children were shot down
without mercy, none but the perpetra-
tors of the deed can explain. .
The two oldest of the children thus
saved were for some weeks in the care
of friend of the writer, and from them
many of the details of those dreadful
five days in the meadows were obtained.
All the property of the murdered emf
grants. even to the clothing and Jewels
taken from the bodies of the dead,
passed into, the hands of the Mormon
leaders, and these helpless orphans
l xr,nvc - ar Ck~<oa