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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 4
Response to claims made in "Chapter Four: Winter Quarters—Council Bluffs, 1846"
| Chapter 3 | A FAIR Analysis of: American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows A work by author: Sally Denton
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Chapter 5 |
Response to claim: 42 - The author blames Col. Thomas Kane for helping to cover up the Massacre
The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:
The author blames Col. Thomas Kane for helping to cover up the Massacre.
FAIR's Response
Others often discussed in conjunction with the Mountain Meadows Massacre
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Response to claim: 53 - The author claims that John D. Lee was sent by Brigham to intercept the payroll from the Mormon battalion in order to consecrate it to the Church
The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:
The author claims that John D. Lee was sent by Brigham to intercept the payroll from the Mormon battalion in order to consecrate it to the Church.
Author's sources: Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 95.
FAIR's Response
54
Claim
The author claims that Brigham declared "his own death and resurrection."
Author's source(s)
- DeVoto, 454
- Kelly, 90.
Response
- Misrepresentation of source: On page 454 of Year of Decision: 1846, DeVoto writes that Brigham Young fell into a trance, which took him to where Joseph and Hyrum were. "It is hard," he told the Saints next Sunday, "it is hard coming to life again. But I know that I went to the world of spirits but what I saw I know not, for the vision went away from me, as a dream which you lose when you awake."
- There is no mention of a declaration of "his own death and resurrection" anywhere in the chapter. Brigham is reporting a vision or spiritual experience with the deceased Joseph and Hyrum. At most, one might call it an "out of body experience"—Brigham is not claiming to have been "resurrected" in any sense used by Latter-day Saints.
55
Claim
The author claims that Brigham "overcame resistance" from the Council of the Twelve and "finalized his own ascendancy" in order to be "elevated to a deity."
Author's source(s)
- No source provided.
Response
- Prejudicial or loaded language
- Absurd claim: no LDS leader is thought of as "a deity."
- See: Brigham Young on his own fallibility
54
Claim
Author's quote: Young broke the tedium by courting Indian women along the way. Having been "sealed" to two Sioux squaws before leaving winter Quarters, he attempted to persuade others he met to unite with him on the spiritual journey.
Author's source(s)
- No source provided. Possibly Werner, 220?
Response
FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources
59
Claim
The author claims that in Brigham's very first address to the Saints after arriving in the Salt Lake valley that he "gave an ominous warning to all who had come. From this point forward, anyone who refused to live the laws about to be set forth was free to leave."
Author's source(s)
- No source provided.
Response
- Internal contradiction: This contradicts what the author states on page 106, where she says that anyone that wanted to leave was "hunted down and killed"
59
Claim
The author claims that Brigham used a divining rod that once belonged to Oliver Cowdery to select the site for the Salt Lake Temple.
Author's source(s)
- No source provided. Likely Quinn.
Response
- This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods: p. 89, 518n49
- For a detailed response, see: Divining rods to Kimball and Young?