I had heard about the 'Mountain Meadow Massacre', where a war party of Mormons, along with some Paiute Indians, slaughtered 120 men, women and children. wiping out an emigrant wagon train traveling to California, in the spring of 1857. I always figured it was a religious war, which it partly was, but after plagues of crickets and an extended drought, the Mormons were in dire need of supplies and money. The leaders heard about the Baker-Fancher wagon train, that was rumored to be the richest group of that size to ever travel west, with vast herds of prize cattle, horses and a strongbox loaded with gold. Gentiles, or non-Mormons, were considered evil, therefor fair game, for the 'Saints', which the Mormon leaders called the sheep. Bottom line, there was a 5 day seige and massacre that was originally blamed on the Indians, but was later proven to be the work of the 'Saints' from Salt Lake City. The seige ended when the Mormons offered the emigrants a chance to surrender, then slaughtered them , with the exception of a few young children, when they laid down their guns.The livestock and gold helped immensely to insure the growth and survival of the settlement, and the sheep were assured by the leaders that it was all God's will.
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