Brevet Major (Captain) James Carleton, the commanding officer of Company K 1st US Dragoons from Fort Tejon, in 1859, had his men after recovering a large amount of the victim's remains built the original Rock Cairn with a Christian cross.
The crude monument, conical in form and fifty feet in circumference at the base and twelve feet in height. This is surmounted by a cross, hewn from red cedar wood, from the ground to the top of the cross is twenty-four feet. On the transverse part of the cross, facing towards the north, is an inscription carved deeply in the wood:
"VENGEANCE IS MINE: I WILL REPAY SAITH THE LORD ."
In 1858 BRIGHAM YOUNG received a presidential pardon for his part in the atrocities at Mountain Meadows from President Buchanan.
Most of the victims in the Fancher wagon train were Methodist and the Christian Cross is a significant symbol of their religion as it is with most Christian religions.
The original Rock Cairn and Cross were desecrated by Brigham Young on May 25, 1861 as recorded in church historian and forth President of the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, Wilford Woodruffs diary. The Tyrannical Prophet Brigham Young stated at the time of the desecration; "Vengeance is mine and I have had a little." The Rock Cairn was leveled to the ground.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints hierarchy will continue to deny guilt in the September 11, 1857 Mountain Meadow Massacre, even though overwhelming evidence pointsto the church and the church's second President and Prophet Brigham Young. The church's position that only one person John D. Lee, was responsible for the deaths and robbery of one hundred and twenty persons is absolutely Ludicrous.
The church has it hands full on the damage control issue. This issue is a good example how the church's financial status takes obvious precedence over it's spiritual leadership. The Mormon allegiance is to the Church and the Prophet/CEO, God is secondary.
The Mormon's longtime excuse for the massacre is the Mormon's long history of deplorable persecution is negated by the documented facts that the Mormons committed criminal acts where ever they settled prior to the 1857 massacre. Any excuse for the Mormon's cowardly murders and atrocities at Mountain Meadows is an abomination.
The beautiful Rock Cairn the Mormon Church and the Mountain Meadows Association built on the original site is historically inaccurate and insultingly degrading to the victims of the Massacre. In May of 1859 Brevet Major James Henry Carleton and his men built the original Rock Cairn with a Christian cross. The Mormon Hierarchy failed to place a cross on the Rock Cairn due to their beliefs that the Christian Cross is a "vile" symbol.
The late President Hinckley has distastefully bragged many times how much the church has spent on the monument and carefully alluded the fact of how much gold went into the church's treasury from the murder/robbery of the wagon train. Mr. Hinckley, as the CEO of the Church, was well aware that the accrued interest on the plunder stolen at the massacre is worth much more than what the Mormons have have ever spent on the monument. His sole motive in building the monument was to pacify the descendants and to save the Church public embarrassment.
President Hinckley's father was the recipient of many financial favors of Brigham Young, and according to Hinckley his father took him to the site, briefing him on history of the site. Obviously that history lesson was to keep keep Brigham Young's name from being tainted. The Mormons are great at spinning the blame of all their dirty work on the Native Americans.
The present monument and sign board at Mountain meadows tells the story the way the LDS Church hierarchy in the Salt Lake City, Palace of Pooh, wants the story to be told. Highlighting the involvement of the Native American Indians yet very obviously omitting the fact that the Mormon Militia was dress as Indians with their faces painted with war paint.
The MMMF (MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MONUMENT FOUNDATION), the most representative of the descendants of the victim's of the massacre has placed a replica of the Original Rock Cairn in Carrollton, Arkansas, The MMMF also had the Old Yell Lodge in Carrollton restored, with photo plaques for the surviving children mounted in the lodge. The lodge in Carrollton is the location the surviving children were brought back to, two years after the massacre.
Capt. James Lynch was instrumental in getting the children back from the Mormon's who often lied as to their true location. The Mormon's were being paid for the care of the children from the U. S. Government. Capt. Lynch had to pull his gun on Jacob Hamblin threatened to "send him to Purgatory" if he didn't stop lying about the whereabouts of the children. Jacob Hamblin set up the Massacre on his ranch at Mountain Meadows.
The MMMF has also located and placed bronze plaques on each grave site of the surving children. All the grave-sites have been located and two are awaiting plaques pending burial verification.
The MMMF has stood its ground against the powerful multi-billion dollar LDS Corporation, and has had six pages added to the Arkansas history textbooks involving the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The Foundation has dedicated numerous library additions such as the BUTLER RESEARCH CENTER LIBRARY, and other librarys accross the the nation with books on the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
PETITION: PLACEMENT OF THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE SITE INTO THE CUSTODY AND CARE OF APPROPRIATE STEWARDSHIP. - Download pdf
