LDS Church historian concludes Brigham Young did not order 1857 massacre

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — There is insufficient evidence to say former LDS Church President Brigham Young ordered the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and ample evidence that says he did not, according to the church's assistant historian.

Richard Turley is one of three authors employed by the LDS Church who has spent the past six years writing a book about the 1857 massacre of 120 Arkansas wagon train emigrants in southern Utah. He told participants at the annual conference of the Mormon History Association on Saturday his conclusion, "based on the totality of evidence, is that Brigham Young did not order the massacre."

The book is scheduled for release sometime this summer or fall.

"He did not order it. Instead, local (church) leaders in the charged environment of the Utah War made a series of horrible decisions" that "led to the murder of 120 men, women and children, not one of whom deserved to die," Turley said.

The question of Young's potential culpability has "haunted our dreams and pressed itself upon our memories" the past six years, Turley said, as the authors worked with "several dozens and maybe hundreds" of researchers that examined documents from archives across the country, looking for any evidence related to the murders.

Before seeking to verbally dismantle two different theories some historians have used as evidence that Young did order the massacre, Turley said his research had not brought him to a personal crisis of faith because "my faith is in the Lord, Jesus Christ" and not in human beings, including church leaders.

When asked what he would do if he had found Young did order the massacre, he said, "I would highlight it. Some may question that, but it's true. We were committed to follow the evidence wherever it took us and to let the chips fall where they may.

"Some might wonder whether I would have had my hand slapped if I learned Brigham Young ordered the massacre." As an employee of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Turley said he made senior church leaders "aware of my intent to follow the evidence to its conclusion. They supported it and, to a man, were willing to accept it and follow the truth."

Critics have long charged that church leaders in both the 19th and 20th centuries covered up evidence surrounding LDS culpability in the massacre. In September, then-Elder Henry B. Eyring — now a member of the faith's First Presidency — read a public statement at Mountain Meadows acknowledging that local LDS leaders in Cedar City planned and carried out the murders, then tried to blame local Indians.