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Rescue of the Mountain Meadows Infants and Early Investigations
http://www.historynet.com/wild-west-rescue-of-the-mountain-meadows-orphans.htm#comments

One
(Oct. 3, 1857) Rumor of massacre. "A whole train of emigrants from Salt Lake city, for San Bernardino, composed of twenty-five families, comprising ninety-five persons, men and women, had been cruelly massacred on the road, between the last settlements in Utah Territory and the boundary of this State. All the property of the company had been carried off, and only the children left, who were picked up on the ground, and were being conveyed to San Bernardino."

(Oct. 10, 1857) Confirmation of massacre. "A train of emigrants, from Missouri and Arkansas, for this State, were [waylaid] and cruelly butchered on the route, at a place called Santa Clara Canyon, near the rim of the Great Basin, about 300 miles from Salt Lake city. Of a party of about 130 persons, only fifteen infant children were saved. The account was given by the Indians themselves to the Mormons at Cedar City, to which place they brought the children, who were purchased from them by the people of that city."

(Dec. 31, 1857) Arkansas people request investigation. WM. C. MITCHELL, with 2 sons(one with a family) and two brothers-in-law (with 17 of their children)who were members of train, demands Senator Sebastian request an investigation.

(Feb. 1, 1858) PUBLIC MEETING OF THE PEOPLE OF CARROLL COUNTY. The "Baker's Company", an emigrant train from Arkansas, was massacred, their possessions plundered, and 15 children saved. Resolved:(1)call upon the government of the United States to thoroughly investigated the affair of said dreadful tragedy, and deal out retributive justice to the parties guilty of the monstrous deed. (2)call government for assistance and aid in rescuing said children from their captors, and restoring them to their relations and friends in Arkansas. (3)make an appropriation for the purpose of defraying the expenses to bring home to their relations the children which were as aforesaid, saved from the massacre. (4)offer our condolence and sympathy to the distressed parents and immediate relations of the unfortunate adventurers who [met died] on plains. (5)call on Arkansas for volunteers, by tendering the services of at least four companies.

(March 4, 1858) Acting Indian Commissioner Charles E. Mix (Dept. of the Interior). Mix received conflicting information: (1)the orphans had been taken to San Bernardino,CA. (2)the orphans were located in Cedar City, UT Territory. Mix gave instructions to the Superintendents of Indians Affairs, Jacob Forney of the Utah territory and Thomas Henley of California, to locate the children, and to use every effort to get possession of them; and, if successful, to ensure that they were maintained and well taken care of until they could be turned over to their friends..

(March 6, 1858) Secretary of Interior, A. B. GREENWOOD, informs Secretary of War, JOHN B. FLOYD, of the massacre. Col. Johnston of the Utah Command is notified.

(June 22, 1858) Forney meets Jacob Hamblin in Salt Lake City. Hamblin has one child and claims all fifteen are in his neighbor hood in the care of whites who were purchased, with great difficulty, from the Indians. Forney will leave in four weeks to retrieve the orphans.

Two
(September 10, 1858) Forney notifies the army that he has ten children in his possession and is trying to learn the location of the others.

(December 7, 1858) Forney accompanied by a news reporter traveled South as far as Corn Creek, near Beaver, to deliver gifts to the Indians. There is no mention of the survivors.

(December 9, 1858) Hamblin, having difficulty communicating with Forney, has letter published in newspaper. Hamblin states that he had located fifteen orphans and had received information that there were two more. He traveled to the Navajo Nation, found a white child who was too ill to travel so left it.

(January 28, 1859) Forney has located seven more children for a total of seventeen. He placed them in a respectable home in Santa Clara and is paying for board and clothing. (March 8, 1859) United States associate justice for the district of Utah, John Cradlebaugh, convenes Grand Jury in Provo to investigate several unsolved crimes and murders including the Mountain Meadows massacre.

(March 18, 1859) Forney departs for the Southern Territory after testifying before the Grand jury as to recent murders and the Mountain Meadows "butchering affair". He hopes to recover some of the victims property, estimated at $30,000 and some cash which was distributed among church dignitaries.

(March-April, 1859) Forney is joined by former US Marshall Rogers near Nephi. Finding Forney abandoned by his guides and teamsters near Beaver, Mexican War veteran James Lynch and two of his men volunteer their services.

(April 14, 1859) Forney & company are guided to Mountain Meadows by Ira Hatch. . Hatch describes the murder of an adult survivor of the massacre. Party spends a few hours burying the uncovered remains of the massacred. (April 15, 1859) Upon arrival @ Sana Clara the party waits three days for clothing to be made for the children and while there deliver gifts to the Indians. Obtaining thirteen of the orphans they traveled to Harmoney in an effort to recover the plundered of the massacre.

The condition of the orphans.
 * Forney (May 1, 1859) "I have the children with me, they seem contented and happy, poorly clad, however."
 * Forney (Aug. 1859) "I feel confident that the children were well cared for whilst in the hands of these people. I found them happy and contented, except those who were sick."
 * Forney (Sept. 29,1859) "..when I obtained the children they were in a better condition than children generally in the settlements in which they lived."
 * Rogers (Feb. 29, 1860) "These children were well with the exception of sore eyes, which they all had, and which prevailed at the time as an epidemic in the place [or] vicinity where they were."
 * Lynch (July 27,1859) "The children when we first saw them were in a most wretched and deplorable condition; with little or no clothing, covered with filth and dirty they presented a sight heart-rending and miserable in the extreme."

Obtain 3 more children.

Knosh tells of 2 more kids.

Three
(April 17,1859) Capt. R.P Campbell ordered South. The objects of the expedition are, the protection of travelers on the road to California ; to inquire into depredations which are reported in the accompanying letter as having been committed by Indians in the vicinity of Santa Clara ; and to furnish a company to escort to this camp Paymaster Prince, in charge of public funds. , joined by Judge Cradlebaugh. (April 29, 1859) Forney meets Campbell's command. Cradlebaugh & Lt. Kearney (interview the orphans). . Rogers agrees to find kids for Forney & is deputised by the judge. . Forney, Lynch, & company take 16 kids to Indian farm @ Spanish Fork (May 3,1859) Cradlebaugh issues warrants. "On arriving at Cedar City, President Haight and Bishop Higby were not seen; but at the camping ground, a few miles beyond, Judge Cradlebaugh issued writs for their arrest, and also for the arrest of Bishop Lee if Harminy, and placed them in my hands for execution. These writs were issued, as I understand, on the authority of affidavits, charging these men with being concerned in the Mountain Meadows massacre, which were made before Judge Cradlebaugh before he set out to investigate the matter."

(May 5, 1859) Assistant Surgeon Charles Brewer USA interns 39 victims in three mass graves marked with mounds of stone (13 in the first, 8 in the second, and 18 in the third). Gives detailed description as to their location.

Rogers finds 17'th orphan.

(May 7-15, 1859) Waiting a week to rendezvous with the California command, Campbell, Cradlebaugh, & Rogers meet with Chief Jackson at Sana Clara.


 * Captain Campbell's account: "On leaving the Mountain Meadows, I proceeded on with my command to the river Santa Clara, where I arrived on the 8th of May, 1859. I sent for Jackson, the chief of the tribe said to be most hostile to the Americans. He acknowledged that he had committed some outrages on the people of the United States. He made the most humble protes tations of future good conduct, in which I put some reliance, if he is not encouraged to commit overt acts by the Mormons. These Indians are a miserable set of root-diggers, and nothing is to be apprehended from them but by the smallest and most careless party."


 * Judge Cradlebaugh's account: "The command went as far south as the St. Clara, twenty miles beyond the Mountain Meadows, where we camped, and remained about a week. During our stay there I was visited by the Indian chiefs of that section, who gave me their version of the massacre. They admitted that a portion of their men were engaged in the massacre, but were not there when the attack commenced. One of them told me, in the presence of the others, that after the attack had been made, a white man came to their camp with a piece of paper, which, he said, Brigham Young had sent, that directed them to go and help to whip the emigrants. A portion of the band went, but did not assist in the fight. He gave as a reason, that the emigrants had long guns, and were good shots. He said that his brother [this chief's name was Jackson] was shot while running across the Meadow, at a distance of two hundred yards from the corral where the emigrants were. He said the Mormons were all painted. He said the Indians got a part of the clothing; and gave the names of John D. Lee, President Haight, and Bishop Higbee, as the big captains. It might be proper here to remark that the Indians in the southern part of the Territory of Utah are not numerous, and are a very low, cowardly, beastly set, very few of them being armed with guns. They are not formidable. I believe all in the southern part of the Territory would, under no circumstances, carry on a fight against ten white men."


 * Marshal Rogers' account: "From the Mountain Meadows, Capt. Campbell, with his command, proceeded to the Santa Clara, some four or five miles from the Mormon settlement on that stream, and there awaited the arrival of Maj. Prince. We waited here a week before Maj. Prince arrived. During our stay here some Indians in the vicinity came frequently to our camp, the same Indians that had been charged with [attacking] the emigrants at the Mountain Meadows. These Indians admitted that a portion of them were present after the attack began at the corral, but denied they joined in it. One of these Indians stated in the presence of others of the same band, that after the attack was made upon the emigrants at the corral, a white man came to them and exhibited a letter, and stated that it was from Brigham Young, and that it directed them to go up and help whip the emigrants. A portion of the band went therefore, but did not assist in the fight, and gave as a reason for not doing so, that the emigrants had long guns and were good shots, and they were afraid to venture near. A chief of the band stated that a brother of his was killed by a shot from the corral at a distance of two hundred yards, as he was running across the meadow. These Indians also stated that the Mormons who killed the emigrants were painted so as to resemble Indians. They denied that they received aby of the stock or property belonging to the emigrants, except a few of the old clothes. These Indians called Bishop Lee "Narguts," was there but would not venture near, being, like themselves, afraid. President Haight and Bishop Higby were also present, aiding in the attack."

(May 15, 1859) Brevet Major J.H Carleton, with Lt.Prince(army payroll) rendezvous with Campbell @ Sana Clara

(May 16, 1859) Army to MM, Cradlebaugh & Rogers to Cedar City.

Hamblin, employed by Rogers, 17'th orphan to Forney.

Cradlebaugh interviews @ Cedar City.

Campbell recalled

(May 16-25, 1859) Carleton interviews Chief Jackson & Chief Touche. A Pah-Ute chief, of the Santa Clara band, named "Jackson," who was one of the attacking party, and had a brother slain by the emigrants from their corral by the spring, says that orders came down in a letter from Brigham Young that the emigrants were to be killed; and a chief of the Pah-Utes named Touche, now living on the Virgin River, told me that a letter from Brigham Young to the same effect was brought down to the Virgin River band by a young man named Huntingdon [Oliver B. Huntington], who, I learn, is an Indian Interpreter and lives at present at Salt Lake City.

Jackson says there were 60 Mormons led by Bishop John D. Lee, of Harmony, and a prominent man in the church named [Isaac C.] Haight, who lives at Cedar City. That they were all painted and disguised as Indians.

Carliton buries remains of 36. One mass grave, covered with stone, cross, & granite marker.

Four
(July 25,1859) Forney pays for orphan care. "I rejected a number of claims against the goverment, for these children, for different alleged expenses. There were a number of claims for purchasing the children from the Indians, by persons with whom Mr. Hamblin found them; when it is a well-known fact that they did not live among the Indians one hour. I charged to the account of the children part of Mr. Hamblin' swages. The amount of claims presented to me on account of the children, by persons in the southern portion of Territory, amount to over seven thousand dollars, of which amount I only paid twenty-nine hundred and sixty-one dollars and seventy-seven cents. Those I have paid I considered strictly and entirely proper. Prices for every thing in this country are exorbitantly high: board ing at all public places is from ten to fourteen dollars per week; although I got the children boarded at Santa Clara for two dollars and fifty cents per week, which is much less than I could get them boarded for in this city. In short, I got nothing for those children except what their health and comfort required. The accounts paid amount to $5,425 48." Lt. Kearny, who interviewed the children, gives an account of the Mormons request of government payment for ransom from the Indians, and child care.

Federal Investigations
News of the massacre reached Arkansas in late December. The report claimed that an entire train of emigrants between the last settlements in Utah Territory and the boundary of this State had been massacred and only the children were spared and were being conveyed to San Bernardino. WM. C. MITCHELL, with 2 sons(one with a family) and two brothers-in-law (with 17 of their children)who were members of train, and demands Arkansas Senator William K. Sebastian request an investigation. As more information became available IE the children were under the custody of Mormons in Southern U.T, the people of Carroll County held a town meeting concerning the massacre of the Baker Company and made several demands of the Government. Among them were to rescue the children and punish those who committed the treasonous act.

When acting Indian Commissioner Charles E. Mix of the Dept. of the Interior received the information from Sebastian and others he instructed Superintendent of Indians Affairs of California, Thomas Henley, and the newly appointed Indian Superintendent of the Utah Territory, Jacob Forney,to locate the children, and to use every effort to get possession of them; and, if successful, to ensure that they were maintained and well taken care of until they could be turned over to their friends. Forney notified Mix that he met Jacob Hamblin in Salt Lake City. Hamblin has one child and claims all fifteen are in his neighbor hood in the care of whites who purchased the children with great difficulty from the Indians whom they were with several days. Forney will leave in four weeks to retrieve the orphans. Forney notified F. J. PORTER, the Assistant Adjutant General of Camp Floyd that he had ten children in his procession and is making every effort to find the remainder. Forney traveled South to Corn Creek to deliver gifts to the Indians. He was within 60 miles of Cedar City, where some of the children were housed but there is no mention of them in his report.. Hamblin notifies Forney that he has located fifteen orphans and has received information that there are two more. He traveled to the Navajo Nation, found a white child who was too ill to travel so left it to be retrieved later. Forney notified James Denver, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that he has located seven more children for a total of seventeen. He placed them in a respectable home in Santa Clara and is paying for board and clothing.