Book Review: Blood of the Prophets

The Blood of the Prophets is a nonfiction book. It elaborates on the events that lead-up to the Mormon Mountain Meadow Massacre and the alleged Mormon cover-ups after the event. Will Bagley begins his book on the formation of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS). He gives great details on the events that lead to the annihilation of Arkansas train that passes through the Utah Territory in September of 1857. Will Bagley portrays an image of constant conflict between the Church of the Latter Day Saints and the United States.
This conflict started with an abrupt move to Missouri from Ohio and New York. In Missouri, the Mormons met their oppositions with the local civilians. The local civilians viewed the Mormons as lazy and opportunistic. The locals in Missouri were also outraged that the Mormons would vote in large numbers. These large numbers of voters would ultimately persuade the outcomes of most elections. The Law of Consecration was the tipping point for most local Non-Mormons. This law sets forth, that the believers should turn over all their property to the Lord’s Agents and that all non-believers will have their property taken away as God would see fit. This spurred fear in the local Missourian population. This fear was validated, when Joseph Smith published Law of Consecration in the local Mormon paper. In retaliation, the paper’s print shop was torched by the local civilians. Joseph Smith responded to this by organizing a secret police force and he vowed to seek revenge if the Saints were ever attacked again. On August 6, 1838, a mob of Missourians attacked some Mormon voters. This unleashed Joseph Smith’s revenge; as a result, he called on his secrete police to attack the Missourians that were responsible. This warranted the governor of Missouri to issue a warrant for Joseph Smith’s arrest. When Joseph Smith was finally captured a mob of men broke into the jail and murder him.
The death of Joseph Smith and the conflict with the local Missourians drove the LDS church out of Missouri. Lead by Brigham Young, the Mormons would eventually settle in Utah. In Utah, Brigham Young established a theocracy type of government with him being the territorial governor. He organized treaties with the local Indians and established Mormon outposts around Salt Lake City. This was to insure the church’s survival. After gold was found in California, Utah became inundated with travelers on their way to California in search of wealth. After awhile, these travelers were thought of as heathens and were not welcomed. The Mormons accused them of steeling, poisoning animals and wells and drunkenness. This justified the Mormon Church’s actions towards the massacre of the Arkansas train that passed through the Utah Territory on September 5, 1857.
Bagley’s motives for writing the Blood of the Prophets were to inform the general public on an issue that was not well known. His main idea was not to judge the Mormon Church, but to investigate the events that escalated into the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. He eliminates a lot of sources that have embellished this event. This is clearly implied in chapter eight. Bagley writes,
The forensic study includes a few surprises, however. Noting that “emotion and propaganda surround this historic event,” the report observed that “physical evidence can often provide a reality check, requiring all sides to reconsider what they know to be true.
Bagley’s writings show a very mature and responsible author. He does not put blame on the LDS Church but allows the readers to come to their own conclusions.
This conclusion should be that the United States had little tolerance towards new religions and the Mormons had little tolerance toward a government that would dictate their religious doctrines. Bagley’s intent is to not gather information and make a claim of guilt, but to examine all the evidence fairly. This evidence was scrutinized with the intent to form a chronological time-line. This is to make logical sense to the reader and to avoid forming an opinion out side of the evidence.
The sources Bagley uses are from the journalists John Hanson Beadle and T.B.H Stenhouse. Both men are very biased of the LDS church. He claims to only use these sources to collaborate the facts he has gathered from the Mormon’s accounts. This is his technique for finding the truths behind the events in his book. He looks for common ground in both the LDS church and the LDS Church’s adversaries. Bagley claims that the LDS Church had destroyed almost all the evidence that would link Brigham Young and the Mormons to the Mascara at Mountain Meadows. This leaves an empty void from which Bagley must read between the lines and construct a logical conclusion from the LDS’s adversaries.
Bagley’s has a strong argument that it was the orders of Brigham Young that caused the Mountain Meadow Massacre but he could not find any strong evidence that would convict him. However, Bagley does build the case that it was Brigham Young who was the mastermind behind this event. On the other hand, there could have been other people in the Mormon Church that would have acted on Young’s strong religious summons and plan this scheme on their own. One person that comes to mind is Col. William Dame. He organized a make sift battle plan in Cedar City the day before the Massacre. Dame could have been filled with hate and anger towards the emigrant parties because of Young’s powerful sermons. This is called a lone wolf in sociology.
One other flaw that is in his book is the justification of the massacre. Who really poisoned the cattle, wells and streams? The Freemont party had just gone through the same area a day before the Arkansas party and never noticed anything unusual. This leads one to believe that the poison was not from an emigrant train but from a local resident. The local residents claim that they saw a person from the Arkansas train poison some dead cattle that the Ute Indian were scavenging from. They claim it was arsenic because it was a white powdered substance. This arsenic would have had to been in a large dose to cause sudden death. Also, if arsenic was released into a stream, it would have dissolved into the water and would have been washed down the steam. These stories do not have much merit and could have been fabricated buy Dame or Lee to justify the murders at Mountain Meadows. There are many unanswered questions that may never be solved but Bagley does approach this in a historical importance to the lost lives at Mountain Meadows.
These lost lives will not be lost in vain. Bagley shows how far people will go in believing in a profit and the righteous pursuit for God in their lives. Bagley does not focus totally on the Mountain Meadows Massacre but dwells in the Mormon Church’s past to find some truth and logic. This truth and logic is that some religions have secretes in their pasts that should be explored to educate the public.