The Opelousas courier., 1886-07-17
MOUNTAIN MEADOW.
The Story Of Notorious Nor
mon Massacre.
How More than One Hundred Emigrants
were Treacherously Butohered,

SoW tAesR S1S
were Treacherously Butehered.
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 oc-
Cured to alarm them the first day, and
when night fell they took no precautions
except such as had been customary with
them during the journey. The valley
seemed a haven of safety, and they laid
down to rest with thankful hearts, but
while they slept a plot for their destruc-
ton was maturing. The Nauvoo legion,
obedient to t'orders from headquarters, "
had surrounded the unsuspecting emf
grants ON every side. A portion of the
legion, painted and disguised as Indians,
had been sent on in company with saw
ages less cruel than themselves to attack
the train. The remaining companies Of
Mormon militia had other orders. At
daybreak the guard at the emigrants'
camp perceived dark forms moving upon
the surrounding 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 was intended. 1t was
necessary to think and act quickly, and a
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 whining of bullets denoted that the
battle had begun. It was already only
too plain that their assailants greatly out
numbered 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.
All day long the unequal battle ragged.
At night the fire of the assailants slack
ened, but the light from piles of burning
sage brush showed that they still sur
rounded the cmigrants' camp on every
side. Before sunrise a murderous rain
of bullets recommended, and again con-
tinued until nightfall. The third day
was a repetition of the first, but on the
fourth day access to the springs was cut
off, and the horrors of death from thirst
stared them in the face, yet they fought
with desperate courage, and when the
sun went down they still held their posi-
ton 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 aparty of white men approach
ing, their leader bearing a flag of truce.
Let it be remembered the emigrants had
never doubted that their assailants were
Indians, and the sight of white men, COM
ing as they believed to their rescue, was
as welcome as a vision of angels. In
answe to the flag of truce a little girl
was dressed in white, and placed on one
of the wagons. In view of what fol-
lowed, this act was full of unutterable
pathos. Truly, they had decked a lamb
for sacrifice. The white men, as they
drew near, proved to be a body of Nor
militia, headed by their officers,
who were also the bishops Of the sur
rounding settlements. They represented
that they had done their best to induce
the indians to leave, but they would
not do 50 unless the cmigrants would
agree to give up t.ieir property, stack
their arms and march out of the valley
under the escort of the militia. The en-
seeing no other prospect OF saw
ing the lives of their families, agreed to
these hard conditions. After making
the required surrender, they were divided
three companies. The women and
children went first, under the escort of a
detachment of the legion. The men fol-
lowed at some distance, guarded by an
other body Of militia, and a wagon con-
the wounded brought up the rear.
And now ONE the blacklist page in
this chapter of treachery and murder, a
page that the most callous historian
shrink from recording. At d
given signal from the officers in COM
nand, the unarmed men were shot down,
and when tho last n 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
that night on the Redeemed and
lrampled Meadows, one hundred and
nineteen manglcd corpses strewed the
OF all the company that en-
cred the valley, lone remained alive ex-
some Of the smaller children. Why
were saved when 50 many other
children were shot down without mercy,
but the perpetrators Of the deed
san explain.
The two oldest of the children thus
saved were for some weeks ID the care
# q friend of the writer, and from them