Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows/Use of sources/Gift of salt

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Use of sources: Did Brigham Young give a gift of poisoned salt to the army?



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


Question: Did Brigham Young imply that he had poisoned a gift of salt that he gave to Johnston's Army?

Brigham did not try to poison the army, and his behavior was not suspicious enough to keep the troops from using the gift

Critics mention a gift of salt given by Brigham which he is presumed to have implied was poisoned. [1]

Brigham did not try to poison the army, and his behavior was not suspicious enough to keep the troops from using the gift.

Noted one reviewer:

Bagley tells us how Brigham Young needled General Johnston on the high plains with a gift of salt leading Johnston to reject it with outrage when Johnston believed that Brigham Young had implied the salt was poisoned (by saying that it was not) (p. 196). It would have been nice had Bagley told us Johnston's troops covertly accepted the gift nonetheless. [2]



Notes

  1. Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 196.
  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.