In the State of Utah 1859 Southern/siege gravesite In May 1859,
Major James H. Carleton, of the U.S. Army, and Cavalry arrived at Mountain Meadows with orders to bury the bones of the massacre's victims. After searching the area, the remains of 34 victims were buried on the northern side of a ditch. (This ditch was a defensive trench dug by the emigrants to protect themselves from their attackers.) Around and above this grave a rude monument was built of loose granite stones, creating a
cairn. It was
conical in form, fifty feet in circumference at the base, twelve feet in height and supported a cross hewn from red cedar wood. From the ground to the top of the cross was twenty-four feet. On the transverse part of the cross, facing towards the north, was an inscription carved in the wood from Romans 12:19: On a crude slab of granite set in the earth and leaning against the northern base of the monument were cut the following words:
Later reconstructions In May 1864, Captain George F. Price and a company of Cavalry found the 1859 memorial and grave had been desecrated. The monument had been torn down, the cross taken away and the stones forming the monument scattered on the valley floor; while the mass-grave underneath had been defaced. Captain Price and the Cavalry immediately proceeded to repair the grave and rebuild the monument. The structure erected was of stone, creating a new cairn, measuring twelve feet square at the base and four feet high, compactly filled in with loose stone and earth. From the square rose a
pyramidal column seven feet high. The center of column supported a cedar pole with a horizontal member attached representing the
Christian Cross and making the height of the monument fourteen feet. On the side of the cross facing east were inscribed the words: On the opposite side were the words: The grave was repaired by filling it with earth, rounding it on the surface and covering it with a layer of protective stones. Following its reconstruction, the monument continued to face vandalism and was torn down at least one more time in 1870, only to be rebuilt soon after. Unlike the southern gravesite, the exact location of these graves was lost throughout time. In 2014, archaeologist Everett Bassett discovered rock piles he believes mark the location of these northern graves. The locations of the possible graves are on private land and not at any of the monument sites owned by the LDS Church. The Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation has expressed their desire that the sites are conserved and given national monument status. Other descendant groups have been more hesitant in accepting the sites as legitimate graves.
1932 Because the cairn had been vandalized, destroyed and rebuilt several times over the 70 years since its original construction, the citizens of southern Utah decided that something more needed to be done. On August 20, 1932, 73 men began work on a new wall which would surround the remains of the 1859 cairn. This wall enclosed an area of about 30 X and averaged high. A small set of steps on the western side allowed access into the enclosed area so visitors could view the remains of the cairn. The Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association installed a bronze plaque near the steps on which was written: The dedication of this new memorial wall and plaque was held on September 10, 1932, and as many as 400 persons were reported to have been present. In the group was local LDS Stake President, William R. Palmer, the main proponent of the project. Following this donation the Church began to "discourage visitors" to the site. Signs were removed along with a picnic table, and the condition of the road leading to the monument degraded and became impassable. Later the signs were replaced and the
County of Washington began to maintain the road so visitors could once again visit the site. In September 1990, the 1932 plaque was replaced with a newer marker in conjunction with construction of the 1990 monument on Dan Sill Hill. The new plaque read: The 1932 stone wall was removed when the 1999 monument and cairn replica was constructed.
1990 On September 15, 1990, descendants with support from the LDS Church and the
State of Utah dedicated a new monument to the victims. The monument was constructed atop Dan Sill Hill, on property owned by the
U.S. Forest Service, which overlooks the meadows. The monument is accessible from a small parking lot and is located on a path which winds its way around the rim of the hill. This monument was built of granite and the names of the victims and survivors are inscribed on the front. In the middle of the monument a small inscription gives some interpretive information: During the dedication of this monument more than 2,000 people attended a memorial service at
Southern Utah University. Participants in the memorial service included Judge Roger V. Logan, Jr. of Harrison, Arkansas, J. K. Fancher, representing the emigrant families, tribal chairwoman Geneal Anderson and spiritual leader Clifford Jake, representing the Paiute tribe, Rex E. Lee, representing descendants of LDS pioneer families from the area, and then–First Counselor in the LDS Church's
First Presidency Gordon B. Hinckley, representing the Church. Following the memorial service at SUU buses took descendants and other guests to tour the new monument. In 1998, damage from frost and a small earthquake toppled the slabs of granite and the monument lay in pieces until the fall of that year. Today the monument is maintained by the Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation.
1999 Following the visit of Church President Gordon B. Hinckley to the Meadows in October 1998, the Church announced plans to improve their property in the area, which included replacing the 1859 cairn and 1932 memorial wall. The Church's architects drew up plans for the new monument and meetings were held with church representatives and descendants of the victims. Work began on the monument in May 1999, with much of it being contributed by a local
Enterprise LDS Ward. This monument was dedicated September 11, 1999, the 142nd anniversary of the massacre. 1,000 people attended, including President Hinckley, locals and many descendants. This new monument consisted of a reconstructed cairn surrounded by a rock wall, which in turn was surrounded by a small plaza and black iron fence. To ensure that the walls of the monument would last longer than the original, it was required to dig footings, and a backhoe was brought in to do the work. On August 3, 1999, after only a few scoops of dirt, the backhoe's bucket brought up a large amount of skeletal remains and the digging was immediately stopped. Prior to the digging, the area had been tested and examined by experts from
Brigham Young University, the
U.S. Forest Service and
The Army Corps of Engineers. They had all agreed that the area was clear and okay to excavate. After learning of this accidental discovery of the remains, many of the descendants were upset and requested that the study not be released to the public and the remains be immediately reinterred. Originally it was decided that the remains—with the exception of the skulls and other cranial fragments—would be reinterred on September 10, 1999, in a family service. The skulls were to remain at the University of Utah for further study and analysis and would be interred with the other remains following the study. Both the descendants and LDS Church were opposed to this plan, so on September 8, Utah Governor
Michael Leavitt ordered that all the remains, including the skulls, were to be reinterred during the family service in two days. Shannon A. Novak had to rush through the remainder of the analysis to finish in time. Laurel Casjens of the
Utah Museum of Natural History was brought in to photograph the bones and they were packed up and returned to BYU. Soon after its construction, the 1999 monument began slipping into the nearby
ravine, so during the summer of 2004 a cement retaining wall was constructed by the Church to help stabilize the area. In 2007 a vault toilet was constructed near the monument. The toilet was built by the State of Utah, which continues to maintain it. A 2001 attempt to build a toilet was stalled when a member of the Mountain Meadows Association complained that the association's name would not be included on the restroom. On September 9, 2017, the skull of a child was interred in a vault at the base of the cairn (next to the other remains buried in 1999). The skull, which belonged to a child killed by a gunshot to the back of the head, was gathered by Major Carleton's soldiers during the burial of victims in May 1859. The skull was eventually forwarded to the Army Medical Museum (today known as the
National Museum of Health and Medicine) in 1864, where it remained until 2017. Additionally, in 2017, granite memorial markers containing the names of all known victims were placed around the interior perimeter of the fence which surrounds the 1999 monument.
2011 During May 2009, in accordance to the wishes of some descendants, the LDS Church purchased 16 more acres of land in the Meadows. This parcel of land is believed to be the location where the men and boys of the wagon train were killed and may contain the "upper gravesite."
2014 On September 11, 2014, two new monuments in the Meadows were dedicated. The first monument, sometimes referred to as the "Monument to the 10," was built overlooking the siege site and honors those killed in the initial attack. To provide access to this monument, a looped walking trail leading from the 1999 monument and cairn replica was constructed. The second monument dedicated that day honors the women, children, and wounded who were killed during the massacre. This monument is believed to be located near the site where these individuals were killed, and is located the furthest from the location of the initial attack of the massacre. Also in September 2014, a "Remembrance and Reconciliation Quilt" was unveiled in the historic
Washington County Courthouse in St. George, Utah. A second companion quilt hangs at the Carroll County Historical and Genealogical Society, in
Berryville, Arkansas.
2017 In 2017, 19 new signs containing interpretive information were added to all monument sites in the meadows. The new signage replaced most of the older interpretive signs added at the various monuments throughout the years. The 2017 signs present, in a uniform format, a consistent history of the massacre, based on the most recent scholarship.
Historical site status A majority of the Mountain Meadows massacre site is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places and has been since 1975; the site was also designated a
National Historic Landmark in 2011. The LDS Church began working on National Historic Landmark status for the site—following requests from descendant groups—in 2007. The Church hired an independent company, Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc., to research the massacre and prepare the necessary documentation for the landmark application. The application for landmark status was presented to the Landmark Committee of the
National Park Service Advisory Board by representatives of the Church and descendant groups in Washington, D.C., on November 3, 2010. The Landmark Committee reviewed the application and took public comment on the issue, and then recommended to the National Park Service Advisory Board approval of the nomination. The Advisory Board met on April 13, 2011, to review the application and submitted their recommendation to the
Secretary of the Interior,
Ken Salazar. On June 30, 2011, Salazar announced that the site had been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 2015, the boundaries of the national historic landmark designation were expanded to include a third parcel of land, which includes the area believed to be where the women, children and wounded were killed.
In the State of Arkansas 1936 A small metal marker was placed near Milum Spring, (Also known as Beller's Spring or Caravan Spring) the site where some of the emigrants began their journey from Arkansas to California. The following is inscribed upon this marker:
1955 To commemorate the massacre a monument was installed in the town square of
Harrison, Arkansas. It was unveiled during a Fancher Family reunion on September 4, 1955. On one side of this monument is a map and short summary of the massacre, while the opposite side contains a list of the victims.
2005 During the summer of 2005 permission was granted to construct a replica of the 1859 cairn in
Carrollton, Arkansas. This replica was built between a cemetery and the
Old Yell Lodge. It was here at the site of the lodge that the surviving children of the massacre were returned to their relatives in 1859. The original lodge was destroyed by fire around the time of the
Civil War, and the current lodge was not constructed until 1879 for a local group of
Freemasons. But still The Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation along with a local chapter of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars have renovated and restored the lodge and it currently houses displays and interpretive information about the massacre and surviving children. The replica was dedicated on September 25, 2005, with many descendants of the massacre victims and locals in the crowd. During the dedication the stories of the surviving children were told while their descendants placed stones brought from southern Utah upon the cairn. This replica is much smaller in terms of stones than the original, but it does include a large cross facing west, towards Utah, with the words "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" carved into it. To the side of the replica cairn sits a large interpretative sign with the following inscription: Today this monument is often the site of descendant gatherings.
Other markers and monuments The Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation has been instrumental in making sure the gravesites of all the surviving children have been marked with special plaques telling their stories. ==Commemorative observances==