Mountain Meadows Massacre – The Attack

Mountain Meadows Massacre – The Attack. . In early September, 1857, the train arrived in a valley known as Mountain Meadows in southwestern Utah. Beginning early on the morning of September 7, the emigrants' camp was attacked by a group of Mormon militiamen and some Paiute Indians whom the Mormons had recruited. During a five-day siege, attackers killed at least 10 emigrant men who had fought to defend families and friends. The emigrants were able to hold off their assailants until September 11, when according to plan, the militiamen entered the encampment under a white flag of truce. By that time, the emigrants were almost out of ammunition and their means to continue the fight was almost gone. The militiamen deceived the emigrants into surrendering their weapons and property in exchange for a promise of protection., Telling the emigrants they would be escorted to a nearby settlement, the assailants separated them into three groups and escorted them from the camp. After moving over a mile, upon a prearranged signal, militiamen killed the unarmed emigrant men, older boys, and some of the wounded. Mormons, some disguised as Indians, and Paiutes came out of their hiding places and, in a matter of minutes, massacred most of the remaining emigrants, including the courageous women who were attempting to protect their children and flee. The dead were stripped of their bloody clothing and left without decent burial. About 130 men, women and children lay dead at the meadows. In May of 1859, soldiers of the U.S. Army came, searched the meadows, gathered the victims' scattered bones and other remains, and buried them., Prompted by a request from Arkansas State Senator William C. Mitchell (former resident of Carrollton, Crooked Creek and later of near Lead Hill), Arkansas' senators Sebastian and Johnson and Arkansas Congressman Alfred B. Greenwood, later President Buchanan's U.S. Indian Commissioner, worked to get the government to find and return the surviving children who were still in Utah. By the spring of 1859, with help of Captain James Lynch and others, seventeen children had been found and placed in custody of Dr. Jacob Forney Supt. of Indian Affairs for Utah Territory. Fifteen of them were escorted by the U. S. military with civilian support staff to care for the children from Salt Lake City to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From there they were taken in ox-drawn wagons by Mitchell, as special agent, with other Arkansas relatives assisting, to Carrollton, where, in a never to be forgotten public meeting, they were delivered to the care of relatives and friends. In January of 1860, two of the oldest survivors, who had been retained in Utah as possible witnesses, were, likewise, brought to Carrollton and turned over to Mitchell for placement., Nine of the massacre survivors spent some time in their growing up years in what is now Boone County and five spent some of that time in what is now Carroll County. Also, among those emigrant fathers killed, two had small children who hadn't gone west and, thus, grew up in the care of family members in Boone and Marion counties., Seventeen years after the massacre, a grand jury indicted nine Mormon men for crimes related to the siege and massacre. Many others were said to have been involved, but, only one of the perpetrators, John D. Lee, was brought to trial. He was convicted and executed by firing squad at the Mountain Meadows March 23, 1877., [Captions] , . (Left) National Historic Landmark marker at Mountain Meadows (above). In 2011, in cooperation with the National Park Service, representatives of emigrants' families, and LDS Church landowner, the area was designated a National Historic Landmark. Mountain Meadows is located on State Highway 18, north of St. George, Utah. , . (Right) The James D. and Lucinda Dunlap house was located northwest of Lead Hill, Arkansas. After being returned to Arkansas, three Dunlap survivors of the massacre lived for differing periods of time with their relatives in this cabin.