The Mountain Meadows Massacre
The Greatest Massacre
of Americans by Americans
Prior to the Oklahoma City Bombing
The Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah stood—until the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995—as the greatest massacre of Americans by Americans in the history of the United States. At Mountain Meadows in Southern Utah, September 11, 1857, at least 127 men, women, and children were massacred by order of the leadership of the Mormon Church. One-hundred-sixty-eight people died in the Oklahoma City Bombing.
John D. Lee, a personal bodyguard of Brigham Young and an officer in the Mormon militia, was eventually executed for the massacre, although evidence points to the fact that he was the one Mormon who attempted to stop the Church from carrying out the grisly deed.
Utah town erects statue honoring the man who was executed for the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Update From the New York Times! Mountain Meadows Massacre
John D. Lee's full confession.
John D. Lee's Last words
(Uttered while seated on the edge
of his coffin awaiting execution)
President Gordon B. Hinckley Goes
to Mountain Meadows
Link to Mountain Meadows Massacre Site
An eyewitness account of Brigham's involvement in the massacre.