Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows/Chapter 9

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Response to claims made in "Chapter 9: The Scene of Blood and Carnage"



A FAIR Analysis of: Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows, a work by author: Will Bagley

Response to claims made in Blood of the Prophets, "Chapter 9: The Scene of Blood and Carnage"


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Response to claim: 170 - Brigham Young is claimed to have met with two Indian chiefs who then participated in the massacre

The author(s) of Blood of the Prophets make(s) the following claim:

Brigham meets with two Indian chiefs (Tutsegabit and Youngwuds) on 1 September, who then participated in the massacre.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

These chiefs were not at Mountain Meadows.


Response to claim: 170 - Brigham Young is claimed to have "rewarded" Indian chief Tutsegabit for his role in the massacre by ordaining him to the priesthood

The author(s) of Blood of the Prophets make(s) the following claim:

Brigham supposedly "rewarded" Indian chief Tutsegabit for his role in the massacre by ordaining him to the priesthood.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader

Dimmick Huntington said that Tutsegabit was ordained to "preach the gospel & baptize among the house of lsreal [sic]." [1]


Response to claim: 170a - Brigham Young is claimed to have "rewarded" Indian chief Arapeen with booty from the Massacre

The author(s) of Blood of the Prophets make(s) the following claim:

Brigham supposedly "rewarded" Indian chief Arapeen with booty from the Massacre.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources

The author changes the timing of recorded events. Brigham asked the Indian chiefs to help themselves to the U.S. Army's cattle before he was told about the massacre.
  • Compare treatment in American Massacre: p. 170.

Question: Did Brigham Young give the Indian chief Arapeen spoils from the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

Brigham Young had asked all Indian chieftains to help themselves to the U.S. army's cattle, not the spoils from the massacre

Noted one reviewer:

Bagley argues that after Chief Arapeen told him about the massacre, Young advised Arapeen to help himself to the booty (p. 170). Bagley, however, changes the actual sequence of events to make things appear as they are not. The Huntington diary shows that Young first asked Arapeen—just as Brigham Young had asked all other Indian chieftains—to help himself to the [U.S.] army's cattle. Then Arapeen tells him about "a" massacre. Nobody thereafter suggested to Arapeen that he help himself to the Fancher train booty. Brigham Young would never have done this because Arapeen's tribe was too far north in Utah. Bagley's explanation is akin to asking the mayor of Ogden to help himself to the coffers of Cedar City." [2]


Notes

  1. Lawrence Coates, "Review of Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows," Brigham Young University Studies 31 no. 1 (January 2003), 153–. off-site
  2. Robert D. Crockett, "A Trial Lawyer Reviews Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets," FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): 199–254. off-site Headings and minor punctuation changes for clarity may have been added; footnotes have been omitted. Readers are advised to consult the original review.