Quotes from Juanita Brooks

The full and free pardon granted by President Buchanan was received resentfully by most of the Mormons, who still felt that the sending of the army had been a gross insult to them. It was they who should have pardoned the President, they thought. But it had worked out well for them, and Brigham Young had conducted affairs in a masterful manner; his word would be law to them, regardless of who the civil officers were.

In the meantime, before the civil authorities had been able to start an investigation [into the Mountain Meadows Massacre], the church conducted a private one, if we are to trust their own records. The leaders had to know the truth of this affair, even though the group loyalty which they had always encouraged would not permit them to make public their findings. Through long years they had developed the attitude that, right or wrong, they must stand together.

As to the distribution of the booty, it would seem from Lee's report and expense account that they were all involved. Lee named Dame as receiving $415; Klingonsmith, $315; Hamblin $370; and Henry Barney, $520; each for teams, wagons, and cows given to the Indians of his district, evidently the loot of the murdered emigrants.

It was not until the spring of 1859 [two years later] that the children [the survivors of the murdered emigrant train] were officially turned over to the government officials, and bills for their care were made… The policy of letting the government pay seems to have been general…

So many legends have grown up around the fate of the surviving children that it is almost impossible to determine where the truth lies. The Parowan Ward record, already quoted, was definite in its statement that "the entire Company was destroyed, except 18 small children…

In Pioche, Nevade [while in hiding], in April 1871, he [Philip Klingonsmith] made his affidavit regarding the massacre, the first of all who had participated to break openly the pact of silence. After acting as a witness in the first trial of Lee, he returned to Nevada... he was found dead in a prospector's hole in the state of Sonora, Mexico, apparently murdered, the inference being that he had been pursued by avenging members of the Mormons and had been killed for being a traitor...

Johnson evidently did not want it said that they had murdered the people for their property, but the leaders could not stand to let so much be destroyed. The wagons and their loads, even the bloody clothes, were taken to Cedar City, stored in the Tithing Office, and later sold at auction.

The Mormon teaching of unquestioning obedience to authority, added to the strict military law then in force in the Territory, would, in the eyes of their neighbors, relieve the men in the ranks of responsibility. For this reason, only a few went later into permanent hiding, and they were the men who had in positions of command.