Bloody Beaver

On September 11th, 1857, over a hundred men, women, and children were brutally slaughtered. The victims belonged to a wagon train that had left Arkansas months prior, bound for California. They followed the Cherokee Trail before cutting north till they reached Fort Bridger. Up until then, things had gone relatively well. They were making good time and figured they’d reach their destination by late fall. Little did they know they were headed straight to their deaths. You see, to get to California from Fort Bridger, they’d need to first pass through Utah. Where, as fate would have it, a war was brewing between the United States government and the Church of Latter-day Saints. A conflict that would ultimately lead to Mormon militiamen and their Paiute allies committing one of the most horrendous atrocities in all of American history. But why? What could have possibly motivated such an attack against a peaceful wagon train? And who gave the command? Was it just a militia leader gone rogue, an attempted robbery gon