Aiken massacre (Utah)

The Aiken massacre was an 1857 lynching in central Utah of five Californian travelers reportedly at the orders of top leaders in Mormonism's largest denomination the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The victims were apprehended on trumped up charges of spying, imprisoned, then murdered, though two escaped with injuries, but were killed two days later. This occurred two months after the Mountain Meadows massacre and was part of the impetus for the Utah War (1857–1858).

In 1877 Porter Rockwell and Wild Bill Hickman were indicted for the massacre. In his confession, Hickman stated that after Bucklin ("Buck") had escaped the murder attempt that territory governor and top church president Brigham Young ordered him to finish the job. According to historian John G. Turner it is likely Young was involved in the death of four of the party members, along with a trader Richard Yates a month before. The Aiken massacre's name comes from the brothers Thomas and John Aiken of the group who were killed.