The Mountain Meadows Massacre

The Orphans

The killers left 17 orphans, and appointed a group of men to take them to Jacob Hamblin's ranch several miles away. The impression of watching their parents die was stained into the memories of the children, some as young as 4 years old, and many of them were later able to recall with horrifying detail the faces of the men who murdered their families.

"You don't forget the horror and you wouldn't forget it either, if you saw your own mother topple over in the wagon beside you with a big red splotch getting bigger and bigger on the front of her calico dress," Denton quotes one unidentified survivor.

• Print version
• Email this
• 

1. The Meadow
2. The Prophet
3. Toward Zion
4. The Murder of Joseph Smith
5. Prelude to Apocalypse
6. Mormon Territory, Mormon Law
7. Blood Atonement and Other "Peculiar Institutions"
8. Reformation and the Threat of War
9. The Murder of Parley Pratt
10. Arkansas Travelers
11. "Use Them Up"
12. Ambush
13. Standoff
14. Mountain Meadows Massacre
15. The Orphans
16. Cover-up and Aftermath
17. The Trials of John Lee
18. Photo Gallery
19. Bibliography