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Mountain Meadows Massacre/Worries about Van Vliet
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Contents
Did Brigham Young hide knowledge of the massacre from Captain Stewart Van Vliet?
Questions
- Critics who use the Mountain Meadows Massacre against the Church argue that Brigham Young hid knowledge of the massacre from U.S. army representative Captain Stewart Van Vliet. They use this as evidence of Brigham's duplicity and complicity in the attacks.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
Detailed Analysis
These claims are impossible. The timeframe and distances involved simply don't work:
- Army Quartermaster Captain Stewart Van Vliet came to Salt Lake City on 8 September and left after midnight on 14 September 1857 to arrange for the advancing army's provisions. Denton tells us that Brigham Young carefully shielded Van Vliet to hear nothing of the massacre, because if Van Vliet came to know about it, "an invasion of Utah Territory would be expedited" (p. 165). There is no historical support for this claim. The claim is also impossible to support. Because the massacre was not over until 11 September 1857,23 there is no possibility that Brigham Young could have known of the massacre before his last meeting with Van Vliet on 13 September 1857."[1]
== Notes ==