Remembrances of the Mountain Meadows massacre
Encyclopedia
There have been several remembrances of the Mountain Meadows massacre
including: commemorative observances, the building of monuments and markers, and the creation of associations and other groups to help promote the massacre's history and ensure protection of the massacre site and grave sites.
, of the U.S. Army, and Cavalry arrived at Mountain Meadows with orders to bury the bones of the massacre's victims. After searching the area, the remains of 34 victims were buried on the northern side of a ditch. (This ditch was a defensive trench dug by the emigrants to protect themselves from their attackers.) Around and above this grave a rude monument was built of loose granite stones, creating a cairn
. It was conical
in form, fifty feet in circumference at the base, twelve feet in height and supported a cross hewn from red cedar wood. From the ground to the top of the cross was twenty-four feet. On the transverse part of the cross, facing towards the north, was an inscription carved in the wood.
On a crude slab of granite set in the earth and leaning against the northern base of the monument were cut the following words:
Prior to this, while waiting to rendezvous with Major Carleton at Mountain Meadows, assistant surgeon Charles Brewer was placed in charge of a burial detail by Captain Reuben T. Campbell of Camp Floyd
. Brewer gathered the remains of 39 victims, burying the remains in three mass graves located one and one-half miles north of Carleton's monument. Each of these gravesites were marked by a mound of stones.
During a tour of southern Utah Brigham Young
, along with some 60 other Saints visited the massacre site in May 1861. After viewing the inscription on the cross, Wilford Woodruff
recorded President Young as saying “it should be vengeance is mine and I have taken a little.” The cross was then torn down and the rocks of the cairn were dismantled, leaving little of the original marker. Sally Denton, in her book, records Young as saying "Vengeance is mine, and I have taken a little" before having the monument torn down.
In May 1864, Captain George F. Price and a company of Cavalry found the 1859 memorial and grave had been desecrated. The monument had been torn down, the cross taken away and the stones forming the monument scattered on the valley floor; while the mass-grave underneath had been defaced.
Captain Price and the Cavalry immediately proceeded to repair the grave and rebuild the monument. The structure erected was of stone, creating a new cairn, measuring twelve feet square at the base and four feet high, compactly filled in with loose stone and earth. From the square rose a pyramidal column seven feet high. The center of column supported a cedar pole with a horizontal member attached representing the Christian Cross
and making the height of the monument fourteen feet. On the side of the cross facing east were inscribed the words:
On the opposite side were the words
The grave was repaired by filling it with earth, rounding it on the surface and covering it with a layer of protective stones.
Lorenzo Brown, recorded that when passing through Mountain Meadows, on July 1, 1864, he noticed someone had carved “Remember Haun’s Mill
and Carthage Jail
” just below the biblical passage on the cross.
Following its reconstruction, the monument continued to face vandalism and was torn down at least one more time in 1870, only to be rebuilt soon after.
The dedication of this new memorial wall and plaque was held on September 10, 1932 and as many as 400 persons were reported to have been present. In the group was local LDS Stake President, William R. Palmer, the main instigator of the project.
32 years later, in April 1965, the property (2.5 acres) on which the 1859 cairn and 1932 memorial wall stood was donated to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) by the Lytle Family. Following this donation the Church began to “discourage visitors” to the site. Signs were removed along with a picnic table, and the condition of the road leading to the monument degraded and became impassable. Later the signs were replaced and the County of Washington
began to maintain the road so visitors could once again visit the site.
dedicated a new monument to the victims. The monument was constructed atop Dan Sill Hill, on property owned by the U.S. Forest Service, which overlooks the meadows. The monument is accessible from a small parking lot and is located on a path which winds its way around the rim of the hill.
This monument was built of granite and the names of the victims and survivors are inscribed on the front. In the middle of the monument a small inscription gives some interpretive information:
During the dedication of this monument more than 2,000 people attended a memorial service at Southern Utah University
. Participants in the memorial service included Judge Roger V. Logan, Jr. of Harrison, Arkansas, J. K. Fancher, representing the emigrant families, tribal chairwoman Geneal Anderson and spiritual leader Clifford Jake, representing the Paiute tribe, Rex E. Lee, representing descendants of LDS pioneer families from the area, and then–First Counselor in the LDS Church’s First Presidency
Gordon B. Hinckley
, representing the Church.
The following are quotes from an article, written about the event, in the Saint George, Utah, Spectrum newspaper:
By 1999, President Hinckley's tone would change dramatically during a speech given at Mountain Meadows when he stated, "That which we have done here must never be construed as an acknowledgment of the part of the church of any complicity in the occurrences of that fateful day." Following the memorial service at SUU buses took descendants and other guests to tour the new monument.
In 1998 damage from frost and a small earthquake toppled the slabs of granite and the monument lay in pieces until the fall of that year. Today the monument is maintained by the Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation.
In preparation for this new monument’s dedication in 1990, some improvements were made to the massacre area, including a replacement for the 1932 bronze plaque, which would better reflect the scholarship of the time. The information on this new plaque was as follows:
LDS Ward.
This monument was dedicated September 11, 1999, the 142nd anniversary of the massacre. 1,000 people attended including LDS Church President, Gordon B. Hinckley, along with locals and many descendants.
This new monument consisted of a reconstructed cairn surrounded by a rock wall which in turn was surrounded by a small plaza and black iron fence. To ensure that the walls of the monument would last longer than the original it was required to dig footings, and a backhoe was brought in to do the work. On August 3, 1999 after only a few scoops of dirt the backhoe’s bucket brought up a large amount of skeletal remains, and the digging was immediately stopped. Prior to the digging, the area had been tested and examined by experts from Brigham Young University
, the U.S. Forest Service and The Army Corps of Engineers
. They all agreed that the area was clear and okay to dig into.
By August 6 Kevin Jones, the Utah State archeologist, had issued a permit to excavate the site and gather up the remains for the examinations (as required by state law). At first the remains were taken to BYU where they were cleaned and sorted. Kevin Jones asked Shannon A. Novak of the University of Utah
and her intern Derinna Kopp to do the analysis, and soon the remains were taken to the University of Utah’s Department of Anthropology. After learning of this accidental discovery of the remains, many of the descendants were upset and requested that the study not be released to the public and the remains be immediately reinterred. Originally it was decided that the remains, with the exception of the skulls and other cranial fragments, would be reinterred on September 10, 1999 in a family service. The skulls were to remain at the University of Utah for further study and analysis and would be interred with the other remains following the study. Both the descendants and LDS Church were opposed to this plan, so on September 8 Utah Governor Michael Leavitt ordered that all the remains, including the skulls, were to be reinterred during the family service in two days. Shannon A. Novak had to rush through the remainder of the analysis to finish in time, but this was virtually impossible. Laurel Casjens of the Utah Museum of Natural History
was brought in to photograph the bones and they were packed up and returned to BYU. Shannon A. Novak later published a book, entitled House of Mourning: A biocultural History of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, containing some of the results of her analysis.
On the morning of September 10 BYU transported the remains to Spilsbury & Beard Mortuary in St. George, Utah
where they were packed into four oak ossuaries
by some of the descendants. Family members then held a small memorial service in the meadows and interred the ossuaries into a specially built vault under the newly finished 1999 monument. Family members who had arrived from Arkansas brought dirt from that state which was added into the vault along with the ossuaries. Following the burial service preparations began for the dedication of this new monument which was to be held the following day.
The same day in which the remains were reinterred, the Mountain Meadows Association added two new interpretive signs along the path leading to the older 1990 monument in order to help visitors understand the significance of the site better.
Unfortunately soon after construction, this new 1999 monument began slipping into the nearby ravine
, so during the summer of 2004 a cement retaining wall was constructed by the Church to help stabilize the area. In 2007 the State of Utah constructed a new vault toilet, so that visitors could have restroom facilities. These restrooms are maintained by the State of Utah.
There are possible other burial sites throughout the Meadows and Elder Marlin K. Jensen
, Historian for the Church, has said that if the sites can be proven to contain graves the Church will try and purchase the sites in order to protect them.
in 2011. The LDS Church began working on National Historic Landmark status for the site—following requests from descendant groups—in 2007. The Church hired an independent company, Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc., to research the massacre and prepare the necessary documentation for the landmark application. The application for landmark status was presented to the Landmark Committee of the National Park Service Advisory Board by representatives of the Church and descendant groups in Washington, D.C. on November 3, 2010. The Landmark Committee reviewed the application and took public comment on the issue, and then recommended to the National Park Service Advisory Board approval of the nomination. The Advisory Board met on April 13, 2011 to review the application and submitted their recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior
, Ken Salazar
. On June 30, 2011, it was announced by Salazar that the site had been designated a National Historic Landmark.
. On one side of this monument is a map and short summary of the massacre, while the opposite side contains a list of the victims.
During the summer of 2005 permission was granted to construct a replica of the 1859 cairn in Carrollton, Arkansas
. This replica was built between a cemetery and the Old Yell Lodge. It was here at the site of the lodge that the surviving children of the massacre were returned to their relatives in 1859. The original lodge was destroyed by fire around the time of the Civil War
, and the current lodge was not constructed until 1879 for a local group of Freemasons. But still The Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation along with a local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
have renovated and restored the lodge and it currently houses displays and interpretive information about the massacre and surviving children.
The replica was dedicated in September 2005 with many descendants of the massacre victims and locals in the crowd. During the dedication the stories of the surviving children were told while their descendants placed stones brought from southern Utah upon the cairn. This replica is much smaller in terms of stones than the original, but it does include a large cross facing west, towards Utah, with the words “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” carved into it. To the side of the replica cairn sits a large interpretative sign with the following inscription:
Today this monument is often the site of descendant gatherings.
of their ancestors' embarkation on the ill-fated journey.
Some descendants gathered at the meadows on May 30, 2009 in memorialize the burial of their ancestors by Major J.H. Carlton, and to begin the year long celebration of the "Return of the Children".
Several other smaller observances, family reunions, and other group gatherings have occurred throughout the years and many still continue to be held on regular basis.
Mountain Meadows massacre
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...
including: commemorative observances, the building of monuments and markers, and the creation of associations and other groups to help promote the massacre's history and ensure protection of the massacre site and grave sites.
In the State of Utah
1859
In May 1859, Major James H. CarletonJames Henry Carleton
James Henry Carleton was an officer in the Union army during the American Civil War. Carleton is most well known as an Indian fighter in the southwestern United States.-Biography:...
, of the U.S. Army, and Cavalry arrived at Mountain Meadows with orders to bury the bones of the massacre's victims. After searching the area, the remains of 34 victims were buried on the northern side of a ditch. (This ditch was a defensive trench dug by the emigrants to protect themselves from their attackers.) Around and above this grave a rude monument was built of loose granite stones, creating a cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
. It was conical
Cone (geometry)
A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...
in form, fifty feet in circumference at the base, twelve feet in height and supported a cross hewn from red cedar wood. From the ground to the top of the cross was twenty-four feet. On the transverse part of the cross, facing towards the north, was an inscription carved in the wood.
On a crude slab of granite set in the earth and leaning against the northern base of the monument were cut the following words:
Prior to this, while waiting to rendezvous with Major Carleton at Mountain Meadows, assistant surgeon Charles Brewer was placed in charge of a burial detail by Captain Reuben T. Campbell of Camp Floyd
Camp Floyd
Camp Floyd was a short-lived U.S. Army post near Fairfield, Utah, United States. The site is now a Utah state park known as Camp Floyd / Stagecoach Inn State Park and Museum.-Camp Floyd:...
. Brewer gathered the remains of 39 victims, burying the remains in three mass graves located one and one-half miles north of Carleton's monument. Each of these gravesites were marked by a mound of stones.
During a tour of southern Utah Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
, along with some 60 other Saints visited the massacre site in May 1861. After viewing the inscription on the cross, Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
recorded President Young as saying “it should be vengeance is mine and I have taken a little.” The cross was then torn down and the rocks of the cairn were dismantled, leaving little of the original marker. Sally Denton, in her book, records Young as saying "Vengeance is mine, and I have taken a little" before having the monument torn down.
Later reconstructions
In May 1864, Captain George F. Price and a company of Cavalry found the 1859 memorial and grave had been desecrated. The monument had been torn down, the cross taken away and the stones forming the monument scattered on the valley floor; while the mass-grave underneath had been defaced.
Captain Price and the Cavalry immediately proceeded to repair the grave and rebuild the monument. The structure erected was of stone, creating a new cairn, measuring twelve feet square at the base and four feet high, compactly filled in with loose stone and earth. From the square rose a pyramidal column seven feet high. The center of column supported a cedar pole with a horizontal member attached representing the Christian Cross
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
and making the height of the monument fourteen feet. On the side of the cross facing east were inscribed the words:
On the opposite side were the words
The grave was repaired by filling it with earth, rounding it on the surface and covering it with a layer of protective stones.
Lorenzo Brown, recorded that when passing through Mountain Meadows, on July 1, 1864, he noticed someone had carved “Remember Haun’s Mill
Haun's Mill massacre
The Haun's Mill massacre was an event in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement. It occurred on October 30, 1838 when a mob/militia unit from Livingston County attacked a Mormon settlement in eastern Caldwell County, Missouri, United States, after the Battle of Crooked River...
and Carthage Jail
Carthage Jail
Carthage Jail, located in Carthage, Illinois, was the location of the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum by a mob of approximately 150 men. Friends John Taylor and Willard Richards were also members of the incarcerated party, but were not...
” just below the biblical passage on the cross.
Following its reconstruction, the monument continued to face vandalism and was torn down at least one more time in 1870, only to be rebuilt soon after.
1932
Because the cairn had been vandalized, destroyed and rebuilt several times over the 70 years since its original construction, the citizens of southern Utah decided that something more needed to be done. On August 20, 1932, 73 men began work on a new wall which would surround the remains of the 1859 cairn. This wall enclosed an area of about 30 X 35 feet (10.7 m) and averaged 4 feet (1.2 m) high. A small set of steps on the western side allowed access into the enclosed area so visitors could view the remains of the cairn. The Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association installed a bronze plaque near the steps on which was written:The dedication of this new memorial wall and plaque was held on September 10, 1932 and as many as 400 persons were reported to have been present. In the group was local LDS Stake President, William R. Palmer, the main instigator of the project.
32 years later, in April 1965, the property (2.5 acres) on which the 1859 cairn and 1932 memorial wall stood was donated to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) by the Lytle Family. Following this donation the Church began to “discourage visitors” to the site. Signs were removed along with a picnic table, and the condition of the road leading to the monument degraded and became impassable. Later the signs were replaced and the County of Washington
Washington County, Utah
As of the census of 2000, there were 90,354 people, 29,939 households, and 23,442 families residing in the county. The population density was 37 people per square mile . There were 36,478 housing units at an average density of 15 per square mile...
began to maintain the road so visitors could once again visit the site.
1990
On September 15, 1990, descendants with support from the LDS Church and the State of UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
dedicated a new monument to the victims. The monument was constructed atop Dan Sill Hill, on property owned by the U.S. Forest Service, which overlooks the meadows. The monument is accessible from a small parking lot and is located on a path which winds its way around the rim of the hill.
This monument was built of granite and the names of the victims and survivors are inscribed on the front. In the middle of the monument a small inscription gives some interpretive information:
During the dedication of this monument more than 2,000 people attended a memorial service at Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University, or SUU, is located in Cedar City, Utah. It was founded in 1897 as an extension of the Agricultural College of Utah, by the citizens of Cedar City.During its history, the school has been known as:...
. Participants in the memorial service included Judge Roger V. Logan, Jr. of Harrison, Arkansas, J. K. Fancher, representing the emigrant families, tribal chairwoman Geneal Anderson and spiritual leader Clifford Jake, representing the Paiute tribe, Rex E. Lee, representing descendants of LDS pioneer families from the area, and then–First Counselor in the LDS Church’s First Presidency
First Presidency
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...
Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death...
, representing the Church.
The following are quotes from an article, written about the event, in the Saint George, Utah, Spectrum newspaper:
By 1999, President Hinckley's tone would change dramatically during a speech given at Mountain Meadows when he stated, "That which we have done here must never be construed as an acknowledgment of the part of the church of any complicity in the occurrences of that fateful day." Following the memorial service at SUU buses took descendants and other guests to tour the new monument.
In 1998 damage from frost and a small earthquake toppled the slabs of granite and the monument lay in pieces until the fall of that year. Today the monument is maintained by the Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation.
In preparation for this new monument’s dedication in 1990, some improvements were made to the massacre area, including a replacement for the 1932 bronze plaque, which would better reflect the scholarship of the time. The information on this new plaque was as follows:
1999
Following the visit of Church President, Gordon B. Hinckley, to the Meadows in October 1998, the Church announced plans to improve their property in the area, which included the 1859 cairn and 1932 memorial wall. The Church’s architects drew up plans for the new Monument and meetings were held with church representatives and descendants of the victims. Work began on the new marker in May 1999, with much of it being contributed by a local EnterpriseEnterprise, Utah
Enterprise is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,711 at the 2010 census. Enterprise is home to two schools, Enterprise Elementary School and Enterprise High School .-Geography:...
LDS Ward.
This monument was dedicated September 11, 1999, the 142nd anniversary of the massacre. 1,000 people attended including LDS Church President, Gordon B. Hinckley, along with locals and many descendants.
This new monument consisted of a reconstructed cairn surrounded by a rock wall which in turn was surrounded by a small plaza and black iron fence. To ensure that the walls of the monument would last longer than the original it was required to dig footings, and a backhoe was brought in to do the work. On August 3, 1999 after only a few scoops of dirt the backhoe’s bucket brought up a large amount of skeletal remains, and the digging was immediately stopped. Prior to the digging, the area had been tested and examined by experts from Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, the U.S. Forest Service and The Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
. They all agreed that the area was clear and okay to dig into.
By August 6 Kevin Jones, the Utah State archeologist, had issued a permit to excavate the site and gather up the remains for the examinations (as required by state law). At first the remains were taken to BYU where they were cleaned and sorted. Kevin Jones asked Shannon A. Novak of the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
and her intern Derinna Kopp to do the analysis, and soon the remains were taken to the University of Utah’s Department of Anthropology. After learning of this accidental discovery of the remains, many of the descendants were upset and requested that the study not be released to the public and the remains be immediately reinterred. Originally it was decided that the remains, with the exception of the skulls and other cranial fragments, would be reinterred on September 10, 1999 in a family service. The skulls were to remain at the University of Utah for further study and analysis and would be interred with the other remains following the study. Both the descendants and LDS Church were opposed to this plan, so on September 8 Utah Governor Michael Leavitt ordered that all the remains, including the skulls, were to be reinterred during the family service in two days. Shannon A. Novak had to rush through the remainder of the analysis to finish in time, but this was virtually impossible. Laurel Casjens of the Utah Museum of Natural History
Utah Museum of Natural History
The Natural History Museum of Utah is a museum located at the Rio Tinto Center on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The museum shows exhibits of natural history subjects, specifically about Utah's natural history...
was brought in to photograph the bones and they were packed up and returned to BYU. Shannon A. Novak later published a book, entitled House of Mourning: A biocultural History of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, containing some of the results of her analysis.
On the morning of September 10 BYU transported the remains to Spilsbury & Beard Mortuary in St. George, Utah
St. George, Utah
St. George is a city located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and the county seat of Washington County, Utah. It is the principal city of and is included in the St. George, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is 119 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 303 miles ...
where they were packed into four oak ossuaries
Ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary...
by some of the descendants. Family members then held a small memorial service in the meadows and interred the ossuaries into a specially built vault under the newly finished 1999 monument. Family members who had arrived from Arkansas brought dirt from that state which was added into the vault along with the ossuaries. Following the burial service preparations began for the dedication of this new monument which was to be held the following day.
The same day in which the remains were reinterred, the Mountain Meadows Association added two new interpretive signs along the path leading to the older 1990 monument in order to help visitors understand the significance of the site better.
Unfortunately soon after construction, this new 1999 monument began slipping into the nearby ravine
Ravine
A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...
, so during the summer of 2004 a cement retaining wall was constructed by the Church to help stabilize the area. In 2007 the State of Utah constructed a new vault toilet, so that visitors could have restroom facilities. These restrooms are maintained by the State of Utah.
Future Monuments
In May 2009, in accordance to the wishes of some decedents, the Church purchased 16 more acres of land in the Meadows. This newly purchased parcel is believed to contain the "upper gravesite" and the Church has said it wishes to construct a new monument there.There are possible other burial sites throughout the Meadows and Elder Marlin K. Jensen
Marlin K. Jensen
Marlin Keith Jensen has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1989 and has been the official Church Historian and Recorder of the church since 2005. He is the 19th man to hold that calling since it was established in 1830.- Biographical background...
, Historian for the Church, has said that if the sites can be proven to contain graves the Church will try and purchase the sites in order to protect them.
Historical Site status
A majority of the Mountain Meadows massacre site is listed on the National Register of Historical Places and has been since 1975; the site was also designated a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2011. The LDS Church began working on National Historic Landmark status for the site—following requests from descendant groups—in 2007. The Church hired an independent company, Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc., to research the massacre and prepare the necessary documentation for the landmark application. The application for landmark status was presented to the Landmark Committee of the National Park Service Advisory Board by representatives of the Church and descendant groups in Washington, D.C. on November 3, 2010. The Landmark Committee reviewed the application and took public comment on the issue, and then recommended to the National Park Service Advisory Board approval of the nomination. The Advisory Board met on April 13, 2011 to review the application and submitted their recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
, Ken Salazar
Ken Salazar
Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar is the current United States Secretary of the Interior, in the administration of President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martinez were the first Hispanic U.S...
. On June 30, 2011, it was announced by Salazar that the site had been designated a National Historic Landmark.
1936
A small metal marker was placed near Milum Spring, (Also known as Beller’s Spring or Caravan Spring) the site where some of the emigrants began their journey from Arkansas to California. The following is inscribed upon this marker:1955
To commemorate the massacre a monument was installed in the town square of Harrison, ArkansasHarrison, Arkansas
Harrison is a city in Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is the county seat. According to 2007 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 13,108. Boone County was organized in 1869, during reconstruction after the civil war. Harrison was platted and made the county seat. It is...
. On one side of this monument is a map and short summary of the massacre, while the opposite side contains a list of the victims.
2005
Carrollton, Arkansas
Carrollton is an unincorporated community in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States. Once a thriving community with a population near the 10,000 mark in the 1850s, there are generally 30 residents now in the unincorporated community with a historically significant past.-Geography:Carrollton is...
. This replica was built between a cemetery and the Old Yell Lodge. It was here at the site of the lodge that the surviving children of the massacre were returned to their relatives in 1859. The original lodge was destroyed by fire around the time of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and the current lodge was not constructed until 1879 for a local group of Freemasons. But still The Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation along with a local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a congressionally chartered war veterans organization in the United States. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, VFW currently has 1.5 million members belonging to 7,644 posts, and is the largest American organization of combat...
have renovated and restored the lodge and it currently houses displays and interpretive information about the massacre and surviving children.
The replica was dedicated in September 2005 with many descendants of the massacre victims and locals in the crowd. During the dedication the stories of the surviving children were told while their descendants placed stones brought from southern Utah upon the cairn. This replica is much smaller in terms of stones than the original, but it does include a large cross facing west, towards Utah, with the words “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” carved into it. To the side of the replica cairn sits a large interpretative sign with the following inscription:
Today this monument is often the site of descendant gatherings.
Other Markers and Monuments
The Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation as been instrumental in making sure the gravesites of all the surviving children have been marked with special plaques telling their stories.150th Anniversary of the Massacre
On September 11, 2007, approximately 400 people, including many descendants of those slain at Mountain Meadows, gathered to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the massacre. At this commemoration, Elder Henry B. Eyring of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a statement on behalf of the LDS Church's First Presidency expressing regret for the actions of local church leaders in the massacre. During the commemoration, Elder Eyring stated, "We express profound regret for the massacre carried out in this valley 150 years ago today, and for the undue and untold suffering experienced by the victims then and by their relatives to the present time... What was done here long ago by members of our church represents a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teachings and conduct. We cannot change what happened, but we can remember and honor those who were killed here."150th Anniversary of the Return of the Children
To celebrate when the surviving children were returned to their relatives in Arkansas a commemoration was held at the Mountain Meadows massacre site on May 30, 2009. A similar commemoration was held in Arkansas on September 15, 2009 to celebrate “The Return of the Children”.Other observances
A commemorative wagon-train encampment assembled at Beller Spring, Arkansas on April 21–22, 2007, with some participants in period dress, to honor the sesquicentennialAnniversary
An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...
of their ancestors' embarkation on the ill-fated journey.
Some descendants gathered at the meadows on May 30, 2009 in memorialize the burial of their ancestors by Major J.H. Carlton, and to begin the year long celebration of the "Return of the Children".
Several other smaller observances, family reunions, and other group gatherings have occurred throughout the years and many still continue to be held on regular basis.