John Doyle Lee in posthumous book says he thinks George A. Smith was sent by Brigham to prepare the massacre.

Date
1877
Type
Book
Source
John Doyle Lee
Excommunicated
Hearsay
Direct
Reference

John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled: Or, the Life and Confessons of John D. Lee (St. Louis: Bryan, Brand & Company, 1877), 225

Scribe/Publisher
Bryan, Brand & Company
People
Brigham Young, George A. Smith, John Doyle Lee
Audience
Reading Public
Transcription

General Smith did not say one word to me or intimate to me, that he wished any emigrants to pass in safety through the Territory. But he led me to believe then, as I believe now, that he did want, and expected every emigrant to be killed that undertook to pass through the Territory while we were at war with the Government. I thought it was his mission to prepare the people for the bloody work.

I have always believed, since that day, that General George A. Smith was then visiting Southern Utah to prepare the people for the work of exterminating Captain Fancher's train of emigrants, and I now believe that he was sent for that purpose by the direct command of Brigham Young.

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