The Awakening of the Desert

by Julius Charles Birge

The troops of the United States Government referred to by the elder were on their way to Salt Lake when the brutal Mountain Meadow Massacre was perpetrated, in September, 1857. This thrilling event is here briefly mentioned, because of its bearing upon a notable interview with Brigham Young, at which I was present, immediately preceding his death, and which, not being elsewhere published, is worthy of record in this volume.

I frequently heard the gruesome story of the massacre as it was rehearsed by citizens of Salt Lake, with many details, and on one occasion in Idaho by a lawyer, who personally knew the chief participant in the crime and was present at his trial. I nevertheless prefer to quote from the more judicial review of the event as presented in Bancroft's history of Utah, which appears to be free from the strong bias that characterizes nearly all writings and utterances upon the subject.

The unfortunate victims of the slaughter consisted of 136 emigrants from Arkansas and Missouri. Forney's report states that they had 600 cattle, 30 wagons, and 30 horses and mules. It was alleged by some and denied by others that on their arrival at Salt Lake in July the Mormons declined to sell them food, because of the indignities offered to the Mormons in Missouri.

It is, however, a proved fact that the entire party, except 17 young children, after a four days' siege, was massacred at Mountain Meadow, 300 miles southwest of the city, on the old California trail. The almost universal opinion among the Gentiles has been that the deed was committed by some Indians and disguised Mormons, under the influence of Mormon authorities. John D. Lee, a Mormon, and others were convicted as being the chief actors in the tragedy. On the 23rd of March, 1877, twenty years after the massacre, and after a second trial at which Lee made a confession of his guilt, which is quoted in Mormonism Unveiled, he was taken to the scene of the butchery, and while seated on his rough coffin heard read the order of the court. The military guard did the rest. At the time of his execution he said, "I studied to make Brigham Young's will my pleasure for thirty years."

These confessions of Lee confirmed the prevailing belief that President Young was the instigator of the crime.

Notwithstanding all this, Bancroft, in reviewing the case, writes: "Indeed it may as well be understood at the outset that this horrible crime so often and so persistently charged upon the Mormon Church and its leaders, was the crime of an individual, the crime of a fanatic of the worst stamp, one who was a member of the Mormon Church, but of whose intentions the church knew nothing, and whose bloody acts the members of the church high and low regard with as much abhorrence as any out of the church."

The Mormons denounce the Mountain Meadow Massacre and every act connected therewith as earnestly and as honestly as any in the outside world. This is abundantly proved and may be accepted as a historic fact.

The execution of Lee caused many reviews of the massacre and comments on it to appear in Eastern journals. At the same time Ann Eliza Webb, the last wife of Young, and one who had abandoned him, was in Michigan lecturing in unqualified terms, as an angered woman is able to do, against the Mormon hierarchy. Her statements, which were widely published, were read with avidity. Brigham Young's days were nearly ended, and although until within a few days prior to his death he attended to much of his business affairs, he was usually confined to his home by what proved to be his last illness.

Melville D. Landon, better known by his nom-de-plume "Eli Perkins," was at this time on a lecture trip to California and was also a correspondent for a widely circulated Eastern journal. He stopped for a day in Salt Lake City, chiefly for the purpose of securing an interview with President Young on those matters then so prominently before the American people, that he might give his story to the pages of his journal. The permission was granted. Eli was known as a florid writer and as given somewhat to romancing and to a certain type of humor, and all knew the kind of material that he was seeking. H. B. Clawson, a son-in-law of the President, and a man prominent in the commercial and social affairs of Utah, with John W. Young, son of the President, and one of his councillors, were to escort the journalist to the President's home. Being then in the city, I was invited by Mr. Clawson and Mr. Young to meet them and accompany them to the President's room. This party of four persons arrived promptly at the appointed hour and at once were ushered into Brigham Young's private apartment, where the President was in waiting, comfortably propped up in a large easy chair.

It had been eleven years since I had last met Brigham Young, but his remarkable memory enabled him promptly to bring to his mind events connected with our relations of 1866, when he was still young and I was younger.