the road to hana wrote:Here's the monument I'd erect on the site:
ON THIS SITE IN SEPTEMBER 1857 OVER 120 INNOCENT SOULS JOURNEYING WESTWARD FROM ARKANSAS TO CALIFORNIA IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE WERE MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD BY THOSE WHO SHOULD HAVE GRANTED THEM SAFE PASSAGE
MAY THOSE MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE BAKER-FANCHER PARTY WHO ON THIS PLAIN LOST THEIR LIVES REST IN A PEACE THEY NEVER FOUND
AND MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO WERE THEIR EXECUTIONERS
I'd go with that. Aree you taking up a collection?
the road to hana wrote:Here's the monument I'd erect on the site:
ON THIS SITE IN SEPTEMBER 1857 OVER 120 INNOCENT SOULS JOURNEYING WESTWARD FROM ARKANSAS TO CALIFORNIA IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE WERE MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD BY THOSE WHO SHOULD HAVE GRANTED THEM SAFE PASSAGE
MAY THOSE MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE BAKER-FANCHER PARTY WHO ON THIS PLAIN LOST THEIR LIVES REST IN A PEACE THEY NEVER FOUND
AND MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO WERE THEIR EXECUTIONERS
I'd go with that. Aree you taking up a collection?
Sure.
Six more posts and I'll be a God. You can make your contribution accordingly.
The road is beautiful, treacherous, and full of twists and turns.
Blixa wrote: The original cairn was built by Brevert Major J.H. Carleton and included a cross and plaque. Brigham Young had the original cairn destroyed. It was rebuilt and torn down, and grafittied over the years (there are extent photos of the cairn in various stages of rubble from about 1915-1928).
Was there ever an explanation for committing such grave desecration? Was this borne of a generalized contempt for gentiles?
Blixa wrote: The original cairn was built by Brevert Major J.H. Carleton and included a cross and plaque. Brigham Young had the original cairn destroyed. It was rebuilt and torn down, and grafittied over the years (there are extent photos of the cairn in various stages of rubble from about 1915-1928).
Was there ever an explanation for committing such grave desecration? Was this borne of a generalized contempt for gentiles?
The story of the BY destruction comes via Dudley Leavitt (Juanita Brook's grandfather, by the way). There may be other eye witness accounts too, I can't remember at the moment. In Leavitt's account Young merely gestures and everyone knows to do their duty and tear it down. Thereafter there are scattered accounts of various reassemblages and re-destructions: mostly in terms of someone describing that it had been put back a bit, or torn down a bit, NOT accounts like Leavitt's of the activity itself. And if you are rummaging through photography archives, like I was recently, then you stumble upon lots of pictorial evidence of various stages pre-1932 when the first "modern" monument is organized. Also there were smaller cairns at other burial sites in the meadows, the one where the current monument stands now is the site of the largest cairn/largest group of buried bodies.
My guess is that over the years various locals took it upon themselves to tear down and scatter the stones AND to attempt to restore them. That the latter was obviously done too is interesting to me because it speaks of the existence of Mormons (there woud be few residents in the area that weren't LDS) who displayed a decency and integrity about the event as well as folks who were galvanized by the evil emmigrant propaganda tales.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
the road to hana wrote:Here's the monument I'd erect on the site:
ON THIS SITE IN SEPTEMBER 1857 OVER 120 INNOCENT SOULS JOURNEYING WESTWARD FROM ARKANSAS TO CALIFORNIA IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE WERE MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD BY THOSE WHO SHOULD HAVE GRANTED THEM SAFE PASSAGE
MAY THOSE MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE BAKER-FANCHER PARTY WHO ON THIS PLAIN LOST THEIR LIVES REST IN A PEACE THEY NEVER FOUND
AND MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO WERE THEIR EXECUTIONERS
I'd go with that. Aree you taking up a collection?
Sure.
Six more posts and I'll be a God. You can make your contribution accordingly.
Well said...and I've been saving that 10% lately that used to go to my "country club dues," so I'm in! Maybe we could organize a group collection to buy some land close-by and tell the real story?!
Somehow, I don't think the church will sell it to us....
Überzeugungen sind oft die gefährlichsten Feinde der Wahrheit.
[Certainty (that one is correct) is often the most dangerous enemy of the
truth.] - Friedrich Nietzsche
thestyleguy wrote:They should have those statues of family members hugging each other and sitting on each others lap and laughing at the site. This would show the group the day before the massacre.
Well, if we were creating something in the spirit of literal and realist representation, then the day before the killing the families would have to be portrayed huddled in the corral of wagons caring for the wounded and struggling against thirst and hunger since they'd been carrying on the seige for a week. Since they'd been turned away in their efforts to buy food and provisions for their animals at several points in their journey from Great Salt Lake City (though there were couragous Saints who broke ranks and helped them) and likely harrassed in Cedar City, I think your staging might have to be placed further back in their journey westward.
Over on the MA&D board, I asked if Larsen's take on the inscription could possibly be sustained by people who knew English really, really well.
So far the count is 7 to 1.5 The only votes for Larsen, come from Larsen, himself, and a sort of "I'm trying to be nice without actually say Larsen's post was a crock" from runtu. Well, maybe I read a little into runti's comment. But then he does know English pretty well.
Alter Idem wrote:The monument site is very beautiful--Hard to believe such a horrific event took place there. There's something eery about the place-I wonder if there have been any paranormal or ghostly activities reported there. Blixa, do you know of any stories?
Yes I know several, but not any recent ones. Ghost stories about the massacre site have been documented by western folklorists. I've wondered if there are more recent variations, but so far I've not heard of any.
I don't find the site beautiful exactly. I think its "haunting" in more than one way. I'm disturbed by the most recent momument and its building, but I also think the Dan Sill Hill monument problematic as well. Bad things happen in the passive voice, as one western americana author has put it.
You didn't think the green rolling hills, the pastures and horses and the surrounding trees were beautiful? I did. I could see why the early travelers would have thought it was a nice place to stop and rest.
The area had a eerie, haunted feeling, even though the countryside was lovely...also there were only a couple other people who came to visit it while I was there.
charity wrote:Over on the MA&D board, I asked if Larsen's take on the inscription could possibly be sustained by people who knew English really, really well.
So far the count is 7 to 1.5 The only votes for Larsen, come from Larsen, himself, and a sort of "I'm trying to be nice without actually say Larsen's post was a crock" from runtu. Well, maybe I read a little into runti's comment. But then he does know English pretty well.
That's like asking the republican party if Hillary will be the best choice for president....
Überzeugungen sind oft die gefährlichsten Feinde der Wahrheit.
[Certainty (that one is correct) is often the most dangerous enemy of the
truth.] - Friedrich Nietzsche