Quote:
Originally Posted by Solon
Agreed, but Bagley's book is much more recent.
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Brooks is a great book. I have not read Bagley's and probably won't.
Most here know my deep admiration for Juanita Brooks. Just an amazing woman IMO.
That said, her book was inspired in part by the whisperings she heard around St George as a little girl growing up. She does not use those rumors as an authoritative source, but they inspired her to study out as much as she could to put the pieces together into a whole as best possible.
My recollection is she really was on the John D. Lee was a political martyr, which I can agree to some extent. But I still think John D. Lee was a cold blooded murderer so in essence his execution was just. Certainly there were others who deserved a similar sentence, so perhaps his punishment was inequitable while still being just.
I don't remember her going into detail about stories demonstrating the pain and misery of remorse that many suffered from, especially as she was highly motivated to vindicate John D. Lee to some extent. I also think while there was such remorse, it was kept hidden from probably all save the wives of those who participated and given the circumstances of poor US federal government-LDS relations it is not surprising there is little public or even private record of that remorse in detail. Basically, the folks were very effective at pretending it never occurred.