Here are two reviews of Wayne Capurro's account of the Mountain Meadows Massacre (both reprinted from Capurro's own website, www.whiteflagbook.com —
Book Review from Clarion/Foreward Magazine by Todd Mercer
White Flag: America”‘s First 9/11
Wayne Atilio Capurro
AuthorHouse
Softcover, $14.95
368 pages, includes b/w maps
ISBN: 9781425995645
Four stars
The revolutionary purpose of the Kingdom of God and its millennial plan is to reduce all nations and creeds to one political and religious standard… “”Parley P. Pratt (Great, Great Grandfather of Governor Mitt Romney)
Mountain Meadows, Utah, September 11, 1857: A prosperous wagon train traveling from Arkansas to California is held siege by a band of Paiute Indians. The travelers seek help from the local Mormon militia, who appear to negotiate safe passage. The group of over a hundred surrenders control of their weapons and begins to walk away, relieved that the danger has passed. Suddenly, the militia commander calls out, “Do your duty to Israel!” Every man in the traveling party is instantly executed. The Paiutes and a few Mormons dispatch with the women and all children old enough to speak. Livestock, belongings and money are divided before the killers settle in to digging shallow graves. The elders and militia leadership follow the Prophet”‘s lead in an extensive cover-up. All participants are sworn to secrecy and notified that “Blood Atonement” will be the cost of breaking that vow. Enforcement is the province of the “Danites,” a cadre of holy assassins who exist to “use up” individuals troublesome to the church leadership.
The author is a descendent of Bishop Philip Klingensmith, or P.K., the man whose conscience stirred a confession to his role in the atrocity. P.K. is portrayed as conflicted, but not strong enough to refuse orders. “I expect I”‘ll be answering for what I”‘ve done every minute of every day for the rest of my life.” Attitudes vary among other Mormon characters, from blind followers of millenialism, to those whose complicity is driven by fear.
Family sources and twelve years research led to the conclusion that the militia fulfilled orders issued by the charismatic Prophet and Governor Brigham Young. Author Capurro acknowledges the value of nonfiction accounts, including Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks, who first substantially covered this subject in 1950; and also a recent take by Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets. Bagley”‘s book similarly assigns active responsibility to the executive himself. The Latter Day Saints organization vociferously denies this, blaming Paiutes alone, or conceding that a few militiamen of low rank acted on their own initiative. The subtitle: America”‘s First 9/11 exploits a skinny thread of connection to the jihadist terrorism of 2001, warning against theocracies and the destruction which goes hand in glove with religious extremism.
White Flag serves dual purposes: it will certainly engage readers for a few hours, and it pours sunlight on a too-shadowy moment in the story of the American West. The author wishes to spur a healing conversation and he”‘s eager to turn up substantiated facts, whether they back his version of events or compete with it. Readers are invited share what they know at www.whiteflagbook.com.
White Flag by Wayne Capurro: Book Review As Reviewed by Sgt Mom
This historical novel about the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre is sub-titled “America”‘s First 9/11” which although strictly accurate, in the sense that it was an atrocity perpetrated upon American citizens by representatives of a religious minority group on a September 11th, the story is sufficiently dramatic to have no need of that particular comparison.
Popular culture today retains little memory of this incident, although it was notorious during much of the last half of the 19th century, and still colors the way that Mormons, or the LDS church was seen in popular fiction like Zane Grey”‘s “Riders of the Purple Sage”. Generally it has fallen out of mind exactly how much a separate and isolated country to itself was the Mormon colony-state in Utah, for the first three or four decades after it”‘s founding under the iron rule of Brigham Young in the mid 1840s. But it was exactly that, and contented bitterly with the established United States” from which many of the original Mormon settlers had removed themselves. As the westering urge and the Gold Rush poured more and more American emigrants to California and Oregon, they came into contention again, since much of the established route to California led through Mormon settlements in the Great Basin.
At a point when the LDS settlers in Utah were most particularly aggrieved with the United States, a prosperous and well-equipped wagon-train party from Arkansas had the extraordinary ill-luck to be passing through, intending to take the southern trail (which follows the present day I-15) from Salt Lake City towards California. Near present-day Cedar City, they were attacked by Piute Indians and besieged for five days. At that point, they appeared to be rescued by the local Mormon communities”‘ militia unit. They accepted the protection offered, laid down their arms, and escorted by the militia members began to walk towards the nearest settlement. But at a signal, the Mormon militiamen turned their weapons on members of the wagon party. They either executed, or allowed their Indian allies to execute all of the wagon-train travelers but for a number of small children and babies.
“White Flag” tells the story of the massacre and the aftermath, covering much the same territory and identifying the same parties responsible for the massacre and the resulting cover-up as Will Bagley”‘s “Blood of the Prophets”. Capurro”‘s retelling starts almost classically with two venturesome brothers, Cao and Henry, and the injured survivor of the siege staggering into their wilderness camp. The brothers, along with Molly Anderson, the Mormon girl whom Cao loves, are launched into a tangled story of murder, betrayal, and massacre, as the narrative alternates between their journey to find out the truth, and the forces and individuals surrounding the doomed camp at Mountain Meadows. The characters are well-drawn, especially the guilt-ridden Phillip Klingensmith (the authors”‘ great grandfather), and Ira Hatch, the scout and enforcer” both of whom know very well that what they are about to do will have unbearable repercussions. The general tone is grim and realistic, but some descriptions of the massacre itself, especially the incidents involving the Indians, seem to be a little more lurid and melodramatic, too much like a contemporary Victorian novel. The final denouement is also sketchily developed. The actions of Molly Anderson are more told-about, than described and allowed to develop naturally” so her vengeance rather comes as a surprise. It might also made a much cleaner story arc to have omitted some of the other murders, and concentrated on the Massacre and it”‘s aftermath. But “White Flag” is still a very readable account of a little-remembered episode in the history of the American West.
Sgt. Mom is a freelance writer who lives in San Antonio, and blogs at The Daily Brief. Her most recent book is available here, and more about her other writing projects is at www.celiahayes.com
