Editing Mountain Meadows Massacre (section)

===Interactions with Mormon settlers===
{{See also|War hysteria preceding the Mountain Meadows Massacre}}
At the time of the Fanchers' arrival, the [[Utah Territory]], though legally a democracy, was effectively a [[theodemocracy|theocracy]] under the leadership of [[Brigham Young]], the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), who had established colonies along the [[California Trail]] and the Old Spanish Trail. [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[James Buchanan]] had recently issued an order to send federal troops to Utah, which led to rumors being spread in the territory about its motives. Young issued various orders that urged the local population to prepare for the arrival of the troops. Eventually Young issued a declaration of [[martial law]].{{sfnp|Shirts|1994|loc=Paragraph 3}}

The Baker–Fancher party was refused provisions in Salt Lake City and chose to leave there and take the Old Spanish Trail, which passed through southern Utah.{{sfnp|Shirts|1994|loc=Paragraph 2}} In August 1857, the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Mormon apostle]] [[George A. Smith]] traveled throughout the southern part of the territory instructing Mormon settlers to stockpile grain.<ref name=PeopleVLee/> While on his return trip to Salt Lake City, Smith camped near the Baker–Fancher party on August 25, 1857, at Corn Creek. They had traveled the {{convert|165|mi|km}} south from Salt Lake City, and [[Jacob Hamblin]] suggested that the wagon train continue on the trail and rest their cattle at Mountain Meadows, which had good pasture and was adjacent to his [[homestead (building)|homestead]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Little |first1=James A. |title=Jacob Hamblin: A Narrative of His Personal Experience |series=The Faith-Promoting Series |page=48 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jacob_Hamblin_a_Narrative_of_His_Persona/Ixg1AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 |orig-date=1881|date=1909 |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Deseret News]] |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

While most witnesses said that the Fanchers were in general a peaceful party whose members behaved well along the trail, rumors spread about their supposed misdeeds.<ref>{{Cite news| last=Young| first=Brigham| author-link=Brigham Young| title=Interview with Brigham Young| newspaper=[[Deseret News]]|date=May 23, 1877| volume=26| issue=16| url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2626783| quote=If you were to inquire of the people who lived hereabouts, and lived in the country at that time, you would find, ... that some of this Arkansas company ...boasted of having to helped to kill Hyrum and Joseph Smith and the Mormons in Missouri, and that they never meant to leave the Territory until similar scenes were enacted here.|via=[[University of Utah]]}}</ref> [[United States Army]] [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] Major [[James Henry Carleton]] led the first federal investigation of the murders, and the findings were published in 1859. He recorded Hamblin's account that the train was alleged to have poisoned a spring near Corn Creek, resulting in the deaths of eighteen cows and two or three people who ate the contaminated meat. Carleton interviewed the father of a child who allegedly died from this poisoned spring and accepted the sincerity of the grieving father. He also included a statement from an investigator who did not believe the Fancher party was capable of poisoning the spring, given its size. Carleton invited readers to consider a potential explanation for the rumors of misdeeds, noting the general atmosphere of distrust among Mormons for strangers at the time, and that some locals appeared jealous of the Fancher party's wealth.{{sfnp|Carleton|1902}}