Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows/Index


A work by author: Will Balgey

Index to claims made in Blood of the Prophets

Claims made in SECTION TITLE

Page Claim Response Author's sources

9

  •  Author's quote: ...[Mormons gave] total submission to a leader they considered ordained by God....
  •  [ATTENTION!]

15

  • Joseph Smith fought against freedom of the press because of the destruction and suppression of the Expositor.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

15

  • Joseph Smith was charged with seducation, polygamy, counterfeiting, and setting up a theocracy.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

50-52

  • Blood atonement is presented as an active teaching, as prelude to the Massacre.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

51

  • Blood atonement to be implemented for those guilty of "the unpardonable sin."
  •  [ATTENTION!]

58

  • Treatment of violent past of Alexander Fancher.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

63

  • Treatment of violent past of John "Jack" Baker.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

77

  • Author credits the report of Judge William W. Drummond on Mormon "murders."
  •  [ATTENTION!]

99

  • "[A]ll information about the emigrants' conduct came from men involved in their murder or cover-up."
  •  [ATTENTION!]

121

  • The author claims that Mountain Meadows was known among the Mormons as "a preferred location for the quiet execution of unpleasant tasks."
  •  [ATTENTION!]

137

  • The author dismisses the letter which Brigham Young wrote sparing the immigrants by writing, "Whatever the letter's intent, it carried a hidden but clear message for Isaac Haight: make sure the Mormons could blame whatever happened on the Paiutes."
  •  [ATTENTION!]

117 and others

  • The author frequently refers to dubious, anonymous, or folklore evidence without much skepticism.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

119-120

  • Account of William Hawley
  •  [ATTENTION!]

143

  • Account of William Hawley
  •  [ATTENTION!]

151

  • It is claimed that Jacob Hamblin's adoptive son Albert raped two women at the Massacre, which tales "cannot be discounted entirely."
  •  [ATTENTION!]

196

  • Brigham gave a gift of salt to the U.S. army, which it was implied was poisoned.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

220

  • Bagley claims to have found another source by John D. Lee, upon which he relies.
  • "Anonymous sources are usually worthless....Blood of the Prophets...spends several pages with the "Discursive Remarks,"...[and] attributes the work to John D. Lee, as if another Lee account can be trusted."[1]
  • "Discursive remarks," anonymous manuscript in Utah State Historical Society archives. [ATTENTION!]

304-305

  • It is claimed that Jacob Hamblin's adoptive son Albert raped two women at the Massacre, and Hamblin would later blame this on John D. Lee.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

367

  • Author says that historian Thomas Alexander claimed that "the Indians made them do it."
  • Thomas G. Alexander, Utah, the Right Place: The Official Centennial History (Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 1995), 132.  [ATTENTION!]

Endnotes

  1. [note]  Robert D. Crockett, "A Trial Lawyer Reviews Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets," FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): 199–254. off-site