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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 16
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| Chapter 15 | A FAIR Analysis of: American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows A work by author: Sally Denton
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Claims made in Chapter 16: "Mountain Meadows Aftermath"
237
Claim
Lee's biography, published by his lawyer after his death, claimed that the Church ordered the massacre.
Author's source(s)
- New York Herald, March 21, 1876.
- San Francisco Chronicle
- Salt Lake Daily Tribune
- Pioche Record, Pioche, Nevada.
Response
- Lee's self-serving effort to blame others for the massacre is not terribly persuasive in the absence of other corroborating evidence. There is a great deal of contemporaneous evidence which shows that it was local leaders who ordered the Massacre, not "the Church" or its general leaders such as Brigham Young.
- For a detailed response, see: Brigham ordered the Massacre?
238
Claim
Lee's book Mormonism Unveiled or Life & Confession of John D. Lee "has generally been determined valid and credible by later scholars of the event, though some have believed Bishop embellished it."
Author's source(s)
- Author's opinion.
Response
- It is true that Lee's memoir is considered "valid and credible by later scholars" if by "later scholars" one means "hostile authors who wish to blame the Church as an institution and Brigham Young," such as Bagley, Krakauer, or Stenhouse.
- This is assuredly not true of the broader scholarly consensus.
238
Claim
Lee predicted that Brigham would die within six months of Lee's death if Lee were not guilty. Brigham died six months after Lee.
Author's source(s)
- Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 319.
Response
- Double standard: Such a claim is dramatic, but irrelevant unless one grants prophetic gifts and powers to Lee.
293
Claim
The author claims special insight into the LDS psyche.
Author's source(s)
- [ATTENTION!]
Response
- "Her suggestion that she is an insider to the Latter-day Saint psyche proves unconvincing because she makes mistakes that careful historians of Mormon Americana do not."[1]
== Notes ==