Mormon History
The Valley Tan Newspaper Articles - 1860
The Mountain Meadows Massacre Confession Statement - 1860
Valley Tan - February 29, 1860
STATEMENT OF MR. WM. H. ROGERS.
To the Editor of the
Valley Tan. -- I have observed on
the part of one or both of the Mormon newspapers published in this city, an
evident purpose to treat with a light and cavalier manner the statement that has
been many times made, that the Mormons were concerned in the Mountain Meadows
massacre. By their references to the matter, they would evidently produce the
impression, that the whole story in regard to the Mormons being in any way
concerned in the transaction, is one that has been framed for the purpose of
increasing the prejudice and dislike with which they are already regarded by the
great body of the people of the country. As I have never seen a published
statement of the facts connected with that wholesale butchery, so far as the
facts in regard to it have been brought to light, I have determined to supply
this omission, by a statement of facts and circumstances in relation to it,
gathered during a trip which I made with Dr. Forney, Superintendent of Indian
affairs for Utah Territory, into the region where the massacre occurred, in the
Spring of 1859.
Dr. Forney left Camp Floyd in the last of March, 1859, to go down to the Santa
Clara settlement, 350 miles south of Salt Lake City, to obtain and bring back
with him the children saved from the Mountain Meadows massacre, who had been
collected, and were then in charge of Mr. Jacob Hamblin. Dr. Forney, having some
time previously employed him to collect the children and take care of them till
he could take them away. On this trip Dr. Forney employed me to accompany him as
an assistant, and I first joined him at the town of Nephi, 80 or 90 miles south
of Salt Lake City. From Nephi we proceeded through Fillmore to the Indian farm on
Corn Creek, 15 miles south, where we distributed some goods to the Indians; from
thence we proceeded to Beaver, Parowan, Cedar City, and Painter creek. The latter
is a small place in the immediate vicinity of the Mountain Meadows, where the
celebrated massacre occurred in September 1857. In passing through each of the
towns named, the Doctor and myself made diligent inquiry concerning the massacre
of this party of emigrants; the number of persons composing the emigrant party,
and other matters deemed of interest in relation to them. We however,
ascertained but little. The number of emigrants was generally estimated at from
120 to 140; but no one professed to have any knowledge if the massacre, except
that they had heard [that it] was done by the Indians. At Painter creek, an
Indian guide that had been sent to us by Jacob Hamblin, already referred to as
the man that Dr. Forney had employed to collect and take charge of the children
saved from the Mountain Meadows massacre, came with us. This guide conducted us
to the scene of the massacre.
The small valley known as the Mountain Meadows, in which it occurred and which
will hereafter impart to its appropriate and once inviting name a sad and
horrible history, is situated about 6 miles south of Painter Creek, a small
Mormon settlement in Iron county. The valley is about 5 miles in length. and in
the widest part does not exceed a mile in breadth. It is covered mostly during
the summer with rich and luxuriant grass, and is nearly the last place where
grass can be found on the southern road to California, before striking the
desert. On the north end of the valley, near where the road enters it, a ranch
has been constructed for the purpose of herding and taking care of the cattle
brought there during the summer to graze. This ranch is owned by Jacob Hamblin.
He lives there only during the summer months and spends the winter with his
family at the Santa Clara settlement, some distance south of the Mountain
Meadows. This ranch was unoccupied at the time that our Indian guide conducted
us into the valley. The immediate locality of the massacre of the emigrant party
is about four miles from the ranch on the road leading south. The valley at the
place slopes gently toward the south; a small ravine runs parallel with the road
on the right hand side at the spot.
When we arrived here in April, 1859, more than a year and a half after the
massacre occurred, the ground for a distance more than a hundred yards around a
central point, was covered with the skeletons and bones of human beings,
interspersed in places with rolls or bunches of tangled or matted hair, which
from its length, evidently belonged to females. In places the bones of small
children were lying side by side with those of grown persons, as if parent and
child had met death at the same instant and with the same stroke. Small bonnets
and dresses, and scraps of female apparel were also to be seen in places on the
ground there, like the bones of those who wore them, bleached from long
exposure, but their shape was, in many instances, entire. In a gulch or hole in
the ravine by the side of the road, a large number of leg and arm bones, and
also of skulls, could be seen sticking above the surface, as if they had been
buried there, but the action of the water and digging of the wolves had again
exposed them to sight. The entire scene was one too horrible and sickening for
language adequately to describe.
From this spit we proceeded south about one mile to a large spring, where the
emigrants were encamped when the attack was first made upon them previous to the
massacre. Here, within a few yards of the spring, we could distinctly define the
form and size of the corral which they made, from a number of small holes,
forming together a circle in the shape of a corral. These holes were dug for the
purpose of lowering the wheels of their wagons in them, so as to form a better
protection, after the attack began. On the center of the corral a pit some
twenty feet long, and four or five wide and deep, was dug for the purpose, no
doubt, of placing the women and children in order to protect them from the fire
of the assailants. To the left of this corral, and about in hundred and fifty
or sixty yards distant, on a small mound or knoll, a number of stones were still
piled up in a way to form a partial breastwork or protection against the fire
which the emigrants no doubt returned for several days against their assailants.
Numbers of the stones in this breastwork had bullet marks upon them on the side
towards the corral, fully supporting the above construction as to its use. In
places around the corral, human bones and imperfect skeletons were lying on the
ground, indicating, with the corral and the breastwork on the knoll, that it was
here, and not at the place spoken of where the great body of bines were found,
that the work of slaughter began. From this spring we proceeded on towards the
settlement on the Santa Clara, for the purpose of obtaining the children from
Mr. Hamblin, who resides there. -- On the same evening, after we had struck our
camp for the night, a man drove up near us with an ox wagon, going also in the
direction of Santa Clara. After turning out his oxen, he came to our tents and
very soon informed us that he lived at Santa Clara, and that he was returning
home from Cedar City with a load of flour, which he had been up to the latter
place to obtain. The conversation, after these personal explanations, turned
very naturally, after what we had witnessed during the day, upon the Mountain
Meadows massacre. And this man, whose name was Carl, or Carlie Shirts, informed
us that he lived at the time the massacre occurred, at the ranch owned by Mr.
Hamblin, at the north end of the Mountain Meadows. He was employed by Mr.
Hamblin and making adobes at the time. He saw the emigrants when they entered
the valley, and talked with several of the men belonging to it. They appeared
perfectly civil and gentlemanly. The train, he supposed, contained about forty
wagons, and seven or eight hundred head of cattle, including those that were
loose, besides a considerable number of horses and mules. The emigrants entered
the valley on Friday, and the men with whom he conversed told him that they were
anxious to stop a few days and rest and recruit their stock before entering on
the desert, and inquired of him a good spot for this purpose. He recommended the
vicinity of the spring in the south end of the Meadows, as good water and plenty
of grass abounded there. Following this advice, they proceeded there and
encamped. The next morning he again saw some of the men, who informed him that
they were looking for lost stock. In the evening he saw the men returning,
driving some loose cattle. He never saw any of the party afterwards. Early on
Monday morning following, he stated that he heard the fire of a great many guns
in the south, in the direction of the camp of the emigrants, he also saw on the
hills around a good many Indians passing backwards and forwards, as if in a
state of commotion or excitement. His impression from hearing the guns and
seeing the Indians at the time, was, that the latter had attacked the emigrants.
On our inquiry why he did not go to Painter Creek and give the alarm if he
thought so, he stated that he supposed the people knew about it. If not in the
words, the foregoing is the exact substance of the statement made by Shirts.
On the day following, we reached the Santa Clara settlement and found in the
possession of Mr. Hamblin, thirteen of the children preserved from the massacre,
which, with one at Painter Creek, and two at Cedar City, was all that had then
been heard of. These children were well with the exception of sore eyes, which
they all had, and which prevailed at the time as an epidemic in the place [or]
vicinity where they were. After remaining a few days in Santa Clara in
distributing some goods to the Indians, we set out with these children on our
return. We did not take the same route by which we came down, but proceeding
from Santa Clara direct to Harmony, leaving the Mountain Meadows some 15 or 20
miles to our left. On arriving at Harmony Dr. Forney called on John D. Lee, who
was at the time, as he may be at present, a bishop in the Mormon church. The
Doctor had received information which led him to believe that Lee had a portion
of the property belonging to these murdered emigrants in his possession, and his
object in calling on him was to demand a surrender of the property. On the
demand being made, bishop Lee denied having possession of any of the property,
or any knowledge concerning it, further than that, he heard that the Indians
took it.
I was not present when this demand was made, but was informed of it as recited
by Dr. Forney on his return from Lee's house. Dr. Forney also informed me that,
in a conversation with Lee concerning the massacre, he stated he was not at the
massacre but reached there just after it ended. He also stated that Isaac Haight,
who presided at Cedar City, and is another prominent dignitary in the Mormon
church, holding an office styled "president," which is higher than that of
a bishop, also arrived at the spot soon after him. In the same conversation as
related to me, Lee applied some foul and indecent epithets to the emigrants --
said that they were slandering the Mormons, while passing along, and in general
terms justified the killing. The day after this conversation with Lee, we
started for Cedar City; Bishop Lee also set out with us for the professed
purpose of going to see Prest. Haight and bishop Higby at Cedar City, and
talking over with those men, in the presence of Dr. Forney, the circumstances in
relation to the massacre, and the suspicions which had been expressed, that they
were concerned in it, either as actual participants in the deed itself, or as
inciting the Indians to the crime, and, then sharing with them the spoils of the
slain. Bishop Lee proceeded in company with us about half way from Harmony to
Cedar City, when, from some unknown cause, he rode ahead and we did not see him
afterwards.
On our arrival at Cedar City he was not there, or if he was, he kept secreted
and out of sight. Dr. Forney met there President Haight and Bishop Higby, and
made of these ecclesiastics the same demand that he did of Bishop Lee, and
received about the same replies, from them that Lee gave. They did not, however,
attempt to justify the massacre, on the ground of their slandering the Mormons.
On leaving Cedar City, on our way back, before arriving at Corn Creek, the
Indian chief, Kanosh, who had been with us from the time that we left the Indian
farm on Corn Creek, going south, informed Dr. Forney, that some Indians had told
him on the way, that there were two more children saved from the massacre than
Mr. Hamblin had collected. This information, though not deemed very reliable,
the Doctor considered of sufficient importance to make an additional effort, in
order to ascertain whether it was correct or not. On arriving at Corn Creek, we
found there three companies of U. S. troops from Camp Floyd, under the command
of Captain Campbell, who was on his way south to meet Maj. Prince, paymaster in
the army, who was returning to Camp Floyd from California, with a large sum of
money. On meeting these troops, Dr. Forney furnished me with instructions, and
directed me to return south again with the troops, and see if I could ascertain
anything about the two children spoken of by Kanish. Judge Cradelbaugh, of the
U. S. District Court for Utah, was also traveling with Capt. Campbell's command
into the vicinity of Mountain Meadows, to see if he could obtain any evidence
against persons who had been charged with participating in the massacre, that
would justify him in arresting and holding them for trial. He was proceeding as
a court inquiry or investigation simply; and informed me that he had authority
from Gen. Johnston to retain a portion of the troops under Capt. Campbell, if he
deemed it necessary, either to protect the court or to enforce its writs. Judge
Cradlebaugh, on setting out was accompanied by deputy marshal, J. H. Stone, but
the latter was compelled to stop near Nephi on account of sickness. Judge
Cradlebaugh now requested me to take the place of Mr. Stone, as I had been
previously sworn in and acted as deputy U. S. Marshall at the U. S. District
Court, held at Provo in the preceding month. As the duties of this post could in
no way interfere with my search for the two children, said to have been left,
and might enable me better to find them, I acceded to Judge Cradlebaugh's
request to act as marshal.
In the vicinity of Parowan and below Cedar City, where the command of Capt.
Campbell encamped, the soldiers, while hunting for wood, discovered human bones
scattered in the bushes, and at one place they brought an entire skeleton into
camp -- the bones of which were still united and held together by sinews,
showing that the person, whoever it was, could not have been a great while dead.
We had no knowledge at the time, and never received any, as to whose remains
these were, or whether they were persons that had died from exposure, or
starvation, or whether they were victims if treachery and murder. From the
distance at which they were found from the place of the Mountain Meadows
massacre, it is not presumable that they formed a portion of the party slain
there.
On arriving at Cedar City, President Haight and Bishop Higby were not seen; but
at the camping ground, a few miles beyond, Judge Cradlebaugh issued writs for
their arrest, and also for the arrest of Bishop Lee if Harminy, and placed them
in my hands for execution. These writs were issued, as I understand, on the
authority of affidavits, charging these men with being concerned in the Mountain
Meadows massacre, which were made before Judge Cradlebaugh before he set out to
investigate the matter.
These writs were given to me when we were about four or five miles below Cedar
City and about twelve or fourteen from Harmony; but as nothing had been seen of
Haught or Higby in passing through Cedar City, I thought it best to proceed
first to Harmony and try to secure Lee, and afterwards to return and try to
arrest Haight and Higby, if circumstances gave promise of any success in doing
so. It is proper for me to say here, that not only Haight and Higby, but a large
portion of the male inhabitants of the different Mormon towns, and settlements
through which we passed, either fled or secreted themselves on the approach of
the troops. The cause of this I do not know, unless from a consciousness of
guilt of some kind, as the troops were certainly on no hostile expedition
against the inhabitants, but were simply on their way to act as an escort to a
paymaster of the army. And Judge Cradlebaugh did not seek to interfere with the
right or liberty of any man [unaccused of crime]. I summoned to attend me, and
if necessary act as a civil power, in the arrest of Lee, eight Quartermaster's
men who were traveling with Capt. Campbell's command; on their way to
California. Accompanied by these men, I started for Harmony on the morning that
I received the writs. On the way thither we passed through or near a small
settlement containing five or six houses. I stopped here to make inquiries about
the two children. The residents of the place, men, women and children, mostly
came out of their houses when I had stopped, but none of them professed to know
anything about any children besides those that Mr. Hamblin had collected. I told
them that if the children were in the country at all, every house would be
searched if they were not given up. At this, one of the men present, but who did
not live in the place, but had arrived there just before me, stated that his
wife had one of the children; that he lived at Pocketville, another small
settlement forty or fifty miles distant, named from its location in the
mountains. He stated that the child was very young, and that his wife was very
much attached to it, and that it would give me much trouble if I took it away,
and seemed by all his remarks, to be anxious to retain it. I told him that I had
no power to give the child away, and that I would send and get it in a few days.
Mr. Hamblin went over and brought this child away in a few days after I
discovered where it was. This child was a bright eyed and rosy cheeked boy,
about two years old, and must have been an infant when the massacre occurred.
On being brought to Salt Lake City, and joining the other children, one of the
oldest boys of the group, whose name was John Calvin Sorrow [sic - Sorel?], ran
up to it, and kissing it remarked that it was his little brother; and that he
did not know where he was. From this circumstance this child received the name
of Sorrow, after that of the older boy, but whether it was their original name
or not I do not know; it is, at all events, expressive of their sad history. The
second child said to have been left, I never heard of, although I inquired
diligently after it. On arriving at Harmony, with the men accompanying me, I
went to the house of Bishop Lee and inquired for him, but was informed by one of
his wives, (I was told that they were thirteen in number,) that Mr. Lee had been
absent two or three days in the mountains; that he was there looking for copper
with the Indians. Others besides his family of whom I inquired, also informed me
that he had gone away. As he had thus played the same dodge that President
Haight and Bishop Higby gave us at Cedar City, I deemed it useless to wait for
his return, or to return myself to Cedar City under any expectation of finding
Haight or Higby there. I therefore returned again to the camp of Capt. Campbell,
and proceeded on with it to the Mountain Meadows, and encamped a second time by
the spring in the south end of the meadows, where the emigrants were encamped
before being butchered
From the Mountain Meadows, Capt. Campbell, with his command, proceeded to the
Santa Clara, some four or five miles from the Mormon settlement on that stream,
and there awaited the arrival of Maj. Prince. We waited here a week before Maj.
Prince arrived. During our stay here some Indians in the vicinity came
frequently to our camp, the same Indians that had been charged with [attacking]
the emigrants at the Mountain Meadows. These Indians admitted that a portion of
them were present after the attack began at the corral, but denied they joined
in it. One of these Indians stated in the presence of others of the same band,
that after the attack was made upon the emigrants at the corral, a white man
came to them and exhibited a letter, and stated that it was from Brigham Young,
and that it directed them to go up and help whip the emigrants. A portion of the
band went therefore, but did not assist in the fight, and gave as a reason for
not doing so, that the emigrants had long guns and were good shots, and they
were afraid to venture near. A chief of the band stated that a brother of his
was killed by a shot from the corral at a distance of two hundred yards, as he
was running across the meadow. These Indians also stated that the Mormons who
killed the emigrants were painted so as to resemble Indians. They denied that
they received ably of the stock or property belonging to the emigrants, except a
few of the old clothes. These Indians called Bishop Lee "Narguts," was there but
would not venture near, being, like themselves, afraid. President Haight and
Bishop Higby were also present, aiding in the attack.
Maj. Carlton, of the first Dragoons, came as the escort of Maj. Prince from
California. On reaching Santa Clara where we were encamped, the two commands
went together to the Mountain Meadows -- Maj. Carlton, to recruit his stock,
before setting out on his return to California, and Capt. Campbell on his way to
Camp Floyd. Leaving these commands both here, Judge Cradlebaugh and I proceeded
forward to Cedar City, where the Judge intended to remain some time and make a
thorough investigation if he could, concerning the massacre and persons engaged
in it.
Owing to some disadvantages in the location of Cedar City, a large portion of
the inhabitants that once dwelt there had moved away, and there was, in
consequence, a good many vacant houses in the place. Judge Cradlebaugh obtained
the use of one of these to stay in while he remained, and for the purpose of a
court room. As soon as it became known that Judge C. intended holding a court,
and investigating the circumstances of the massacre, and that he would have
troops to ensure protection, and enforce his writs if necessary, several persons
visited him at his room, at late hours of the night, and informed him of
different facts connected with the massacre. All these that called thus, stated
that it would be at the risk of their lives if it became known that they had
communicated anything to him; and they requested Judge Cradlebaugh, if he met
them in public in the day time, not to recognize them as persons that he had
before seen.
One of the men who called thus on Judge Cradlebaugh, confessed that he
participated in the massacre, and gave the following account of it: Previous to
the massacre there was a council held at Cedar City, which President Haight, and
Bishops Higby and Lee attended. At this council they designed or appointed a
large number of men residing in Cedar City, and in other settlements around, to
perform the work of dispatching these emigrants. The men appointed for this
purpose, were instructed to report, well armed, at a given time, to a spring or
small stream, lying a short distance to the left of the road leading into the
meadows, and not very far from Hamblin's ranch, but concealed from it by
intervening hills. This was the place of rendezvous; and here the men, when they
arrived, painted and otherwise disguised themselves so as to resemble Indians.
From thence they proceeded, early on Monday morning, by a path or trail which
leads from his spring directly into the meadows, and enters the road some
distance beyond Hamblin's ranch. By taking this route they could not be seen by
any one at the ranch. On arriving at the corral of the emigrants, a number of
the men were standing on the outside by the camp-fires, which, from appearances,
they had just been building. These were first fired upon, and at the first
discharge several of them fell dead or wounded; the remainder immediately ran to
the inside of the corral, and began fortifying themselves, and preparing for
defense as well as they could, by shoving their wagons closer together, and
digging holes into which to lower them, so as to keep the shots from going under
and striking them. The attack continued in a desultory and irregular manner for
four or five days. The corral was closely watched, and if any of the emigrants
showed themselves they were instantly fired at from without. If they attempted
to go to the spring, which was only a few yards distant, they were sure to fall
by the rifles of their assailants. In consequence of the almost certain death
that resulted from any attempt to procure water, the emigrants, before the siege
discontinued, suffered intensely from thirst. The assailants, believing at
length that the emigrants could not be subdued by the means adopted, resorted to
treachery and stratagem to accomplish what they had been unable to do by force.
They returned to the spring where they had painted and disguised themselves
pervious to commencing the attack, and there removed those disguises, and again
assumed their ordinary dress. After this, Bishop Lee, with a party of men,
returned to the camp of the emigrants, bearing a white flag as a signal of
truce. From the position of the corral, the emigrants were able to see them some
time before they reached it. As soon as they discerned it, they dressed a little
girl in white, and placed her at the entrance of the corral, to indicate their
friendly feelings to the persons bearing the flag. Lee and his party, on
arriving, were invited into the corral, where they staid about an hour, talking
with them about the attack that had been made upon them. Lee told the emigrants
that the Indians had gone off over the hills, and that if they would lay down
their arms and give up their property, he and his party would conduct them back
to Cedar City; but if they went out with their arms, the Indians would look upon
it as an unfriendly act, and would again attack them. The emigrants, trusting to
Lee's honor and to the sincerity of his statements, consented to the terms which
he proposed, and left their property and all their arms at the corral, and,
under the escort of Lee and his party, started towards the north in the
direction of Cedar City. After they had proceeded about a mile on their way, on
a signal given by Bishop Higby, who was one of the party that went to the corral
with Lee, the slaughter began.
The men were mostly killed or shot down at the first fire, and the women and
children, who immediately fled in different directions, were quickly pursued and
dispatched.
Such was the substance, if not the exact words, of a statement made by a man to
Judge Cradlebaugh, in my presence, who at the same time confessed that he
participated in the horrible events which he related. He also gave Judge C. the
names of 25 or 30 other men living in the region, who assisted in the massacre.
He offered also to make the same statement in court and under oath, if
protection was guaranteed to him. He gave as a reason for divulging these facts,
that they had tormented his mind and conscience since they occurred, and he
expressed a willingness to stand a trial for his crime.
We had been in Cedar City but two days when Capt. Campbell with his command
arrived, and informed Judge Cradlebaugh that he had received an express from
Gen. Johnston, directing him to bring back with him all the troops in his
command, as reports were then current that the Mormons were assembling in armed
bodies in the mountains, for what purpose was not known. In consequence of this
order, Judge Cradlebaugh was left without the means of either protecting
witnesses who might be called on to testify in court, or of arresting any
parties who might flee or resist his writs. Without assistance of this kind, he
deemed it useless to attempt to hold a court, and we accordingly both left on
the following day with Capt. Campbell, on his return to Camp Floyd. On our way
there we were overtaken by Mr. and Mrs. Hamblin, on their way to Salt Lake City.
They had with them the child found at Pocketsville. I had employed Mr. H. to
take it to the city, knowing that it would be out of my power to devote proper
care to it, under the circumstances in which I was placed. Mr. Hamblin traveled
in company with us for a day or two, and during this time Mrs. H. informed me
that at the time of the massacre, she was living at the ranch at the north end
of the Mountain Meadows, and that for several days before these children were
brought to her house, or before she had even seen them, she saw several men
loitering about in the vicinity of her house without any apparent object or
business; this was an unusual circumstance. On the day that the massacre took
place, Mrs. Hamblin stated that the children were brought to her house, and
there disposed of by Bishop Lee to different white persons who were there at the
time. Lee professed to act as an agent for the Indians in disposing of these
children. He pretended to barter them for guns, blankets, and ponies for the use
of the Indians; but Mrs. H. stated that she was of the opinion at the time that
the children were not really sold, and that the pretence of doing so by Lee was
a mere sham. Lee went through the form of selling or bartering off all the
children but two. One if these was an infant whose left arm was nearly shot off
above the elbow, the bone being entirely severed; the other was her sister,
three or four years older. These two, Mrs. Hamblin stated, Bishop Lee gave to
her, and assigned as a reason for doing so, the high esteem which the Indians had
for Mr. Hamblin. I have omitted heretofore to state that Jacob Hamblin, the
husband of this lady, who has been several times referred to in this narrative,
was a "President" in the Mormon church, holding the same office as that of Isaac
Haight. From many interviews that I have had with Mr. Hamblin, and from all that
I could learn from others, he was absent from home, and in Salt Lake City; when
the massacre took place; and I have no evidence or reason to believe that he was
in any way concerned, or even aware of the massacre, till after it was over.
It will be remembered that I
employed Mr. Hamblin to go to Pocketville for the child which I heard of there.
After his return with the child, Mr. Hamblin came to the camp of Capt. Campbell,
on the Santa Clara, to inform me of the fact. -- While there he told me that he
had heard more, and learned more about the massacre during his absence after the
child, than he ever knew before; that he had been told of a number of men that
he knew, who were concerned [with] it, that he never dreamed or suspected, or
would have suspected of being concerned in it, but for what he had been told. I
inquired of him the names of these men, and he informed me that he was under a
promise of secrecy not to divulge them to any one but Gov. Cumming; but that he
[intended] to tell him who they were. Mr. Hamblin was in Salt Lake City not long
after, but I was told by Gov. Cumming after he left, that he had revealed
nothing to him in regard to the massacre or those concerned in it.
These are the principal and most important facts obtained in relation to this
noted massacre during the trip to which I have referred. I have omitted many
minor facts and circumstances corroborative of those given, on account of the
additional length to which they would extend this article, which is already
quite lengthy. I have aimed at the narration simply of what I saw and heard,
leaving the public to place any construction they deem proper upon the facts and
statements given. And this would not have been done by me in this manner if I
had seen from any one else a publication embodying these particulars, if this
attempt had not been made to sneer away the evidence that exists of Mormon
complicity in this horrid massacre, if not of their being the only persons
concerned in it.
WM. H. ROGERS.