Mormon leader Brigham Young is portrayed as one tough SOB in the Netflix series “American Primeval.”  He’s quite a compelling character.  On one hand, his fiery oratory skills are…kind of inspiring.  On the other hand, he was implicated in grave crimes.  The moral question of protecting his people was clear to Young.  But he thought nothing of killing people, or having his henchmen and militia do so, if he thought it helped that goal.  To be clear, I’m speaking of the character Brigham Young in the Netflix series, not necessarily the historical Young. 

Was the real Brigham Young that ruthless, unethical and cunning?  Maybe. 

Young at least began his life in Mormonism with much humility: He was a reluctant practitioner of polygamy, and didn’t consider himself a strong leader until he had a vision of Joseph Smith urging him on in a dream.   But then his record becomes a little more complicated.

Young was possibly implicated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre as portrayed in the series, which is to say that he may have been involved in the cover-up in the slaughter of 120 people, or perhaps he was even involved in planning it.  It’s hard to imagine that happening without his knowledge, given that he was the autocrat of the Mormon community in Utah.  According to PBS’s “American Experience,” “controversy continues over whether Young ordered the slaughter of 120 non-Mormon settlers or simply set the stage for it with his fiery words.”

In “American Primeval,” John Lee is shown as informing Young about the massacre, stating simply, “There was a conflict.”  At least in this telling of events, Brigham Young did not order the Mountain Meadows Massacre.  

To be fair, the Mormons really were persecuted in 19th century America…

With that said, the Mountain Meadows Massacre had a slightly different cause than shown in the Netflix series.  Whereas in the Netflix series, there is a Mormon named Pratt who is attached to a group of non-Mormon settlers heading West through Utah, in history there was a Mormon named Pratt who was killed by a population of French Emigrants who were supposed to be the same group who were victim to the slaughter.  

The Netflix series suggests that the Mormon militia also killed some of their fellow Mormons in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and had no scruples about covering up that fact, and even contemplated killing the surviving Mormons if necessary to continue the cover up.  In fact, no Mormons were victims at all; the party was a group of non-Mormons.  By making Pratt and his wife victims of the attack in “American Primeval,” it tends to make the Mormons look even more diabolical and inhuman, as though they didn’t even hold the principle to protect their fellow believers.  

To be fair, the Mormons really were persecuted in 19th century America.  In the Netflix series, they do reference this persecution, but it comes off like the Mormons are just paranoid, and this feeling of being persecuted was just a pretext for their aggression against pretty much everyone around them.  Brigham preaches to his fellow Mormons in “American Primeval”: 

“An ignorant prejudice causes them to refuse, to persecute, to threaten us, with war…We hear brethren talk of coming to Utah, to enjoy the blessings of this land, what we can make it, if we stay true to each other, true to our beliefs, and true to the Church.”  

As Brigham explains this, there is eerie music in the background, so as to suggest that Mormonism is not a legitimate religion, but rather a dangerous cult. 

But according to PBS, prior to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, “the Mormons had more often been the victims of violence than its perpetrators.”  So when the Mormons complain that they need their own land, what they considered like the new Zion, you can take that at face value. At least from their perspective, they needed it.  

At any rate, the conflict between the Mormons and the United States government was very real. President Buchanan considered the Mormons of Utah to be in rebellion, but then issued the Mormons a pardon on the condition of them providing evidence that led to the conviction of John Lee for the massacre, which resulted in Lee’s execution. 

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