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Mountain Meadows Witness: The Life and Times of Bishop Philip Klingensmith
Documented by trial transcripts, letters, journals, and diaries, Backus describes the events leading to the Mountain Meadows Massacre from the vantage point of her great-grandfather Philip Kingensmith who was a participant. An American tale as much as a Mormon one, the details of the massacre and its cover up (the men involved tried to blame the killing on Indians) are shocking only 13 children survived of a company of over 200 emigrants. It is a tale of Mormon church politics, racism, greed, and one man's lifetime of attempted atonement. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
302 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 20, 2015
This was a very slow book. I finally had to buckle down and approach it like I would a text book and just plow on through with the goal of being able to report that I'd finished it. Wow, that is not a very positive way to describe any book.
It was interesting. The author (Backus) did a good job referencing everything that she wrote about. There are footnotes at the bottom of every page. However, any time that I've read a book that has to be that heavily footnoted, it isn't going to be a nice easy read.
Anna Jean Backus is a descendant of one of the survivors of the Massacre that was raised by Bishop Philip Klingensmith. She wrote the book to try to understand better Bishop Klingensmith's (her adopted ancestor) role in the tragedy that took place at Mountain Meadows.
It is difficult to understand what lead to such a horrendous lack of Christian spirit. However, times were different. The time and place of the massacre was in the frontier. It was before the American Civil War. It was before solid and reliable means of communication. The wounds of being driven out of their homes in Missouri, were still raw for those Mormons who participated. More than one of the members of the Fancher wagon party were present at the earlier depredations of the Mormons in Missouri.
On a side note. This book was very interesting to me as it described how Southern Utah was settled. It described the Iron Mission that later became Cedar City. It talked about Pioneer life; opening up new communities; cutting, building and establishing roads for wagons; the heat, the cold, the mosquitoes, the grasshoppers; and many other things that pioneers had to go through in order to find safety in the west where they wouldn't be molested by outsiders.
On the whole, I would recommend this book to those who want to better understand what happened, without too much conjecture, that would cause a group of God fearing deeply religious people, to murder over hundred people.
Just be aware that it was a "hard" read. Or, at least it was for me.
It was interesting. The author (Backus) did a good job referencing everything that she wrote about. There are footnotes at the bottom of every page. However, any time that I've read a book that has to be that heavily footnoted, it isn't going to be a nice easy read.
Anna Jean Backus is a descendant of one of the survivors of the Massacre that was raised by Bishop Philip Klingensmith. She wrote the book to try to understand better Bishop Klingensmith's (her adopted ancestor) role in the tragedy that took place at Mountain Meadows.
It is difficult to understand what lead to such a horrendous lack of Christian spirit. However, times were different. The time and place of the massacre was in the frontier. It was before the American Civil War. It was before solid and reliable means of communication. The wounds of being driven out of their homes in Missouri, were still raw for those Mormons who participated. More than one of the members of the Fancher wagon party were present at the earlier depredations of the Mormons in Missouri.
On a side note. This book was very interesting to me as it described how Southern Utah was settled. It described the Iron Mission that later became Cedar City. It talked about Pioneer life; opening up new communities; cutting, building and establishing roads for wagons; the heat, the cold, the mosquitoes, the grasshoppers; and many other things that pioneers had to go through in order to find safety in the west where they wouldn't be molested by outsiders.
On the whole, I would recommend this book to those who want to better understand what happened, without too much conjecture, that would cause a group of God fearing deeply religious people, to murder over hundred people.
Just be aware that it was a "hard" read. Or, at least it was for me.
August 2, 2008
A meticulously researched story of one of the principal participants in the Mountain Meadows massacre in southern Utah. The author believes that he may have kept one of the surviving children and raised her as his own, making her the grandmother of the author. This is dark history. But worth knowing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews