Editing Mountain Meadows Massacre (section)

===Conspiracy and siege===
{{main|Conspiracy and siege of the Mountain Meadows Massacre}}
The Baker–Fancher party left Corn Creek and continued the {{convert|125|mi|km}} to Mountain Meadows, passing Parowan and [[Cedar City, Utah|Cedar City]], southern Utah communities led respectively by [[Stake President]]s [[William H. Dame]] and [[Isaac C. Haight]]. Haight and Dame were, in addition, the senior regional military leaders of the Iron Military District of the [[Nauvoo Legion]].<ref name="Walker2008"/>{{rp|p=255}} Over half the employees of the [[Iron County, Utah|Iron County]] iron manufacturing plant were in that militia district.<ref name=IronMission>{{cite encyclopedia|date= 1994b|entry= The Iron Mission |first= Morris A.|last= Shirts|encyclopedia= Utah History Encyclopedia|publisher= [[University of Utah Press]]|isbn= 9780874804256|entry-url= https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/i/IRON_MISSION.shtml}}</ref>

As the party approached, several meetings were held in Cedar City and nearby Parowan by local LDS Church leaders pondering how to implement Young's declaration of martial law.{{sfnp|Shirts|1994|loc=Paragraph 6}} On the afternoon of Sunday, September 6, Haight held his weekly Stake [[High council (Latter Day Saints)|High Council]] meeting after church services and brought up the issue of what to do with the immigrants.{{sfnp|Morrill|1876}} The plan for a Native American massacre was discussed, but not all the Council members agreed it was the right approach.{{sfnp|Morrill|1876}} The Council resolved to take no action until Haight sent a rider, James Haslam,<ref name=CollectedLegal2>{{Cite book |title=Mountain Meadows Massacre: Collected Legal Papers, Selected Trial Records and Aftermath|volume=2 |date=2017 |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |isbn=978-0-8061-5573-9 |editor-last=Turley |editor-first=Richard E. |location=Norman, Oklahoma |editor-last2=Johnson |editor-first2=Janiece L. |editor-last3=Carruth|editor-link=Richard E. Turley |editor-first3=LaJean Purcell|chapter=Preliminary Material and Daniel H. Wells, Laban Morrill, and James Haslam Testimonies|chapter-url=https://mountainmeadowsmassacre.com/wp-content/transcripts/trial2/0-Preliminary-Material-and-Wells-Morrill-and-Haslam-Testimonies.pdf|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre/YzopDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0}}</ref>{{rp|p=3437}} out the next day to carry an express to Salt Lake City (a six-day round trip on horseback) for Young's advice, as Utah did not yet have a [[telegraph]] system.{{sfnp|Morrill|1876}} Following the council, Haight decided to send a messenger Joseph Clewes south to [[John D. Lee]].<ref name=CollectedLegal2/>{{rp|p=3464}}{{sfnp|Morrill|1876}} What Haight told Lee remains a mystery, but considering the timing it may have had something to do with Council's decision to wait for advice from Young.<ref name=MaMM/>{{rp|p=157}}

The dispirited Baker–Fancher party found water and fresh grazing for its livestock after reaching grassy, mountain-ringed Mountain Meadows, a widely known stopover on the old Spanish Trail, in early September. They anticipated several days of rest and recuperation there before the next {{convert|40|mi|km}} would take them out of Utah. On September 7, the party was attacked by [[Nauvoo Legion]] militiamen dressed as Native Americans and some Native American [[Southern Paiute|Paiute]]s.{{sfnp|Shirts|1994|loc=Paragraph 8}} The Baker–Fancher party defended itself by encircling and lowering their wagons, wheels chained together, along with digging shallow trenches and throwing dirt both below and into the wagons, which made a strong barrier. Seven immigrants were killed during the opening attack and buried somewhere within the wagon encirclement. Sixteen more were wounded.{{sfnp|Penrose|Haslam|1885}}<ref name="Brigham Young 1986 p. 257">{{cite book|title=Brigham Young: American Moses|first=Leonard J. |last=Arrington|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|date=1986|page=257|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Brigham_Young/FtmQvP6YPCAC?hl=en&gbpv=0|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The attack continued for five days, during which the besieged families had little or no access to freshwater or game food and their ammunition was depleted.{{sfnp|Shirts|1994|loc=Paragraph 8}} Meanwhile, organization among the local Mormon leadership reportedly broke down.{{sfnp|Shirts|1994|loc=Paragraph 6}} Eventually, fear spread among the militia's leaders that some emigrants had caught sight of white men, and had probably discerned the identity of their attackers. This resulted in an order to kill all the emigrants,<ref>{{Cite journal| last=Walker| first=Ronald W.| author-link=Ronald W. Walker| title='Save the emigrants', Joseph Clewes on the Mountain Meadows Massacre| journal=[[BYU Studies]]| volume=42| issue=1| year=2003| page=150| url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3604&context=byusq| quote= ...it was made known by Higbee that the emigrants were to be wiped out.}}</ref> with the exception of small children.<ref name=MaMM>{{Cite book |title=Massacre at Mountain Meadows |url=https://archive.org/details/massacreatmounta00walk_491 |url-access=limited |last1=Walker |first1=Ronald W. |last2=Turley |first2=Richard E.|author2-link=Richard E. Turley |last3=Leonard |first3=Glen M. |year=2008 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-516034-5}}</ref>{{rp|pp=174, 178–180}}

{{Panorama|image=File:MountainMeadowsByPhilKonstantin-Reduced.jpg |height=160 |caption=Panorama of the area in 2009<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://americanindian.net/utah2009/mtmeadows/index.html|title=Mountain Meadows Massacre Site in Utah by Phil Konstantin|website=americanindian.net}}</ref>}}