OSHER 913 - Aftermath of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Part II: The Prosecution

On September 11, 1857, a group of Mormon militiamen in southwest Utah coaxed a group of California-bound emigrants from the bulwark of their encircled wagons and then massacred them, leaving the corpses more than a hundred men, women, and children strewn across a highland valley called the Mountain Meadows. This course will focus on the prosecution of the atrocity, including the political factors that prevented its prosecution for so long and why ultimately only one perpetrator, John D. Lee, was brought to justice, in 1877. It will also follow the fate of the other perpetrators. Class members will also discuss how this episode shaped Utah history, and how reconciliation and healing after historic atrocities can be achieved.