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The conspiracy and siege of the Mountain Meadows massacre was initially planned by its Mormon...

The conspiracy and siege of the Mountain Meadows massacre was initially planned by its Mormon perpetrators as an "Indian" attack for spoils. But the attack was repulsed and soon turned into a siege, culminating on September 11, 1857, in the massacre by the militia of the surrendered and unarmed emigrants. Local Paiute men recruited by the militia participated in the incident. The Arkansas emigrants were traveling to California shortly before the Utah War started. Mormons throughout the Utah Territory had been mustered to fight the invading United States Army, which they believed was intended to destroy them as a people. During this period of tension, rumors among the Mormons also linked the Fancher-Baker train with enemies who had participated in previous persecutions of Mormons or more recent malicious acts. The emigrants stopped to rest and regroup their approximately 800 head of cattle at Mountain Meadows, a valley within the Iron County Military District of the Nauvoo Legion (the popular designation for the militia of the Utah Territory). Initially intending to orchestrate an Indian massacre, two men with leadership roles in local military, church and government organizations,