St. George » Phil Bolinger camped Friday night near the monument commemorating the Mountain Meadows massacre site and said it was a privilege and an honor, but also a little scary.
"This is hallowed ground," he said. "But I must admit it felt like a haunted place, so I hope this gathering helps the ghosts at the Mountain Meadows site to rest along with all sides of this tragic story."
Bolinger, president of the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation Inc., made his comments Saturday at a ceremony put on by three descendant groups of the massacre victims to mark the 150th anniversary of an Army major whose troops gathered and reburied the bones of the 120 people killed in the 1857 atrocity.
In addition to members of the foundation, the Mountain Meadows Association and Mountain Meadows Descendants were represented, many by direct descendants of massacre victims.
Descendants of those who committed the massacre also attended, as did historians with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Hymns were sung, speeches delivered and food served. An honor guard dressed in Army uniforms of the 1850s fired a salute to the victims of the massacre and efforts of Maj. James Carleton and his troops to rebury the bones.
The gathering was also introduced to a quilt being stitched in the spirit of remembrance and reconciliation, and on Saturday night were updated on progress to make the site in southwestern Utah a national historic landmark.
They heard about efforts to preserve the graves through a master plan compiled by the descendant groups and LDS Church, which has been acquiring property around the site with plans to buy more.
Saturday's gathering was the latest example of how the LDS Church, and descendant groups are coming together on common goals to preserve the site for posterity.
One of the darkest episodes in the history of the LDS Church occurred at the site 30 miles north of St. George on Sept. 11, 1857, when a group of Mormon militia members and American Indians slaughtered 120 men women and children in a wagon train traveling from Harrison, Ark., to start a new life in California.
A year and a half later, Carleton and his men visited the site and collected bones, buried in hastily dug graves, and reburied them.
Ever since then, there has been an air of distrust and consternation between the church and descendants of those killed. But in the past few years, differences have been set aside and the three descendant groups and LDS Church have begun to work toward concrete goals.
Marlin Jensen, LDS Church historian, has taken the lead in church efforts to work with other interested parties in preserving the site.
He said the church several years ago owned only 2.5 acres where the current memorial is located, but has since expanded its holdings to 700 acres. Recent purchases have included more than 200 acres that would have been subdivided near the meadows.
Sixteen acres recently acquired by the church is believed to be the location where Carleton buried the bones of men killed at the massacre, Jensen said. Soon, the site will have a parking area, improved access, plaques and fencing.
The church may purchase another site where children and women could be buried, if pending investigations reveal the bodies are there.
Jensen said the church has opened up more about what happened at Mountain Meadows since the archives of the church were opened to the three scholars who wrote Massacre at Mountain Meadows .
He said during the 150th anniversary at the site, apostle Henry B. Eyring was the first church leader to acknowledge the massacre was carried out by local church leaders.
"He [Eyring] expressed profound regret for the suffering caused to the victims' families and descendants of the perpetrators," Jensen said.
Richard Turley Jr., assistant church historian and one of three co-authors of Massacre at Mountain Meadows , updated the crowd on efforts to get national landmark status for the site.
He said a briefing statement on why the site deserves landmark status cleared the first hurdle and the nomination, including pictures and how the site will meet regulations, has been filed electronically with the National Park Service and a hard copy will be mailed Monday.
If approved, the proposal will be reviewed by a number of committees.
"All comments we've had in the process have been positive," Turley said.
Terry Fancher, president of the Mountain Meadows Association, praised the efforts of the LDS Church.
"Opening the archives has brought more and more to light as to why and how this happened at this site," said Fancher. "Let's hope the spirit of openness continues to blossom."
