BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS. BRIGHAM YOUNG AND THE MASSACRE AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.

Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, [2002]., 2002. First edition. First edition. 8vo. Limited edition of 100 copies signed by the author on the colophon of which this is copy 14. Also signed and dated on the half title page by the author. Includes the special keepsake that was printed for this special edition. Full green leather with titles stamped in gilt on the front cover and spine marbled front and rear endpapers, xxiv, 493 [2] pp., frontispiece., [portrait of Brigham Young], preface, acknowledgments, prologue, illustrated, maps, notes, bibliography, index. At Mountain Meadows on Sept. 11, 1857, local settlers and Paiute warriors waylaid the Fancher party, a wagon train bound from Arkansas to California. Pinned down in a circle of wagons in a remote corner of southwestern Utah the 70 men and women and 70 children fought for their lives for five days. Then under a promise of safe conduct they surrendered to the Mormon militia and their Indian allies. As they were escorted away from their wagons all were murdered except seventeen children under the age of seven. The author relies on unpublished journals, letters, and documents from Mormon archives as well as from accounts by Mormons who opposed subsequent efforts to cover up or expunge the record. He explains the involvement of territorial governor Brigham Young in this tragedy. There are many maps and photographs never before published. Award-winning, riveting account of the attack on the Baker Fancher wagon train by Mormons in the local militia and a few Paiute Indians. Based on extensive investigation of the events surrounding the murder of over 120 men, women, and children, and drawing from a wealth of primary sources, Bagley explains how the murders occurred, reveals the involvement of territorial governor Brigham Young, and explores the subsequent suppression and distortion of events related to the massacre by the Mormon Church and others. Fine bright copy housed in the original, matching cloth slipcase.