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I thought I knew everything about American History, until a few weeks ago when I read about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. For those who don't know, this event happened in Utah on September 11, 1857. A group of Mormon settlers and natives attacked and murdered 120 men, women and children who were passing through Utah on their way to California. Why was I never taught anything about this in school or even heard of it up until now? It seems to me like it would be a big enough event that it should be included in any book about the history of that time period. Do you think it's because historians tend to focus so much on slavery and the Civil War around this time period, that the early history of the American West is generally passed over? Or is it that people just tend not to want to discuss the more shameful aspects of their history? Does anyone know if there's a monument or anything where the massacre took place?
It's standard Utah history taught in every school here and there is a monument at the site.
It's not forgotten, but honestly, it's NOT big enough to make it into the appreviated history of man's inhumanity to man and is overshadowed by other much larger and more important events.
It's not forgotten, but honestly, it's NOT big enough to make it into the appreviated history of man's inhumanity to man and is overshadowed by other much larger and more important events.
Not in agreement with this.True,the number of lives lost was relatively low compared to other events.There were,for example,dozens of minor,little recalled Civil War battles where the casualty count was higher.However,because of the sheer calousness and cold blooded brutality that took place,this was not just a minor incident.It was not war,it was calculated,carefully thought out and planned murder.
Not in agreement with this.True,the number of lives lost was relatively low compared to other events.There were,for example,dozens of minor,little recalled Civil War battles where the casualty count was higher.However,because of the sheer calousness and cold blooded brutality that took place,this was not just a minor incident.It was not war,it was calculated,carefully thought out and planned murder.
This is how I have always heard it also. And the children were kidnapped and raised by the Mormons.
If you have a genuine interest in atrocities i recommend you read BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE. By Dee Brown. As a matter of fact I think it should be required high school reading!
Not in agreement with this.True,the number of lives lost was relatively low compared to other events.There were,for example,dozens of minor,little recalled Civil War battles where the casualty count was higher.However,because of the sheer calousness and cold blooded brutality that took place,this was not just a minor incident.It was not war,it was calculated,carefully thought out and planned murder.
Yea, it was murder, but at it's heart it was retaliation for the murders, thefts and abuses perpetrated by the Missourians against the mormons a couple decades earlier. It was a classic old west bloody feud.
The massacre is just an example of how things were settled it the wild west. That's why it was "wild"... Life was hardly fair and equitable for anybody back then.
I don't see how this event was more callous or brutal than any number of events from the era. The only difference is that Mormons were involved and it is our patriotic duty to hate Mormons at all costs. Therefore, it is a "big deal". The massacre was almost as bad as not letting a gay couple make out in front of their temple.
Of course there were dozens of massacres twice as big during the Indian wars that we try very hard to forget and are never mentioned in schools. And to add new kinks in the pipes, no one ever talks about the Walker war, where the Mormons killed hundreds of Utes in retaliation for the starving natives stealing cattle and robbing settlers during a drought.
I see the current emphasis on the Mountain Meadows Massacre as a modern political stab, even though the event is effectively as irrelevant today as Napoleon's conquest of Europe is to the EU.
I guess if you didn't learn about that massacre, you didn't get to learn about how the Mormons were hounded out of Navoo? The government and the U.S. people have little tolerance for successful sects that don't fall into certain mainstream standards, and sometimes even those that are mainstream are suspect. The thread continues even today.
I don't disagree with most of your post, but I will question this one.
A good friend of mine, who is a highly educated older Mormon, said that the Mormons SHOULD have been run out of Nauvoo. His claim is that the Mormons were not at all innocent in that tragedy. In fact, it was a long time coming, and was more the fault of the Mormons than those who ran them out of the area.
At least that's his take on it. And as I said, he's a devout Mormon.
I thought I knew everything about American History, until a few weeks ago when I read about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. For those who don't know, this event happened in Utah on September 11, 1857. A group of Mormon settlers and natives attacked and murdered 120 men, women and children who were passing through Utah on their way to California. Why was I never taught anything about this in school or even heard of it up until now? It seems to me like it would be a big enough event that it should be included in any book about the history of that time period. Do you think it's because historians tend to focus so much on slavery and the Civil War around this time period, that the early history of the American West is generally passed over? Or is it that people just tend not to want to discuss the more shameful aspects of their history? Does anyone know if there's a monument or anything where the massacre took place?
A lot of stuff doesn't get taught in school. The internment of Japanese-Americans was never discussed in any of my secondary school classes, nor was the Fort Pillow Massacre, the Johnstown Flood, the Phillipine Civil War or or our playing ball with organized crime groups in Italy and Japan in the aftermath of WWII.
Most of what passes for history in the schools is just feel good mush geared to stoking patriotism rather than inculcating any kind of real understanding of our or the world's past.
A lot of stuff doesn't get taught in school. The internment of Japanese-Americans was never discussed in any of my secondary school classes, nor was the Fort Pillow Massacre, the Johnstown Flood, the Phillipine Civil War or or our playing ball with organized crime groups in Italy and Japan in the aftermath of WWII.
Don't forget the Tulsa Riots (white decimating blacks) of 1921.
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