The Mountain Meadows Massacre

The massacre of 120 emigrant men, women, and children at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857, by Mormons and Mormon-incited Indians shocked the nation. It was not until the spring of 1859 that federal authorities began to conduct inquiries into the massacre. Bvt. Major James H. Carleton, 1st Dragoons, was instructed to investigate the event while en route to Salt Lake City. Carleton’s account of May 1859 from the bone-strewn ground is full, accurate, and understandably emotional.