The Historical Fiction of “American Primeval”: Unpacking Fact, Fiction, and Representation

Netflix’s new series American Primeval highlights the brutality of the old American West. It does this by telling the story of a Mormon militia that goes around terrorizing various groups, including an innocent wagon train of emigrants, troops from the US federal army, and an entire Shoshone village. While the show has garnered attention for its gritty depiction of frontier violence, its portrayal of history is anything but accurate. Artistic license runs especially rampant in its portrayal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes called Mormons. So here is the actual history that the show is loosely based on, as well as a review of how well it portrays 19th-century Mormonism.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre: What Really Happened

In what’s come to be known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, some members of a Mormon militia attacked and slaughtered over one hundred people in a wagon company passing through southern Utah. The only survivors were seventeen small children who were deemed too young to relate the horrific tale to others.

The Netflix show American Primeval features a highly fictionalized homage to this event, which portrays Latter-day Saints as systemically and inherently violent. The truth, however, is much more complicated.

In order to understand this event, we first need to recognize the environment that led to it, which involved generational trauma, an imminent threat of war with the US government, fiery rhetoric from Church leaders, and tragic miscommunication.1

Latter-day Saints were, themselves, victims of violent and heinous crimes in the early days of their history. While living in Missouri, they were often threatened and attacked by mobs. They even suffered their own massacre at Hawn’s Mill, where seventeen Latter-day Saints were killed and fifteen were injured. This persecution came not only from local mobs but from the state itself. In 1838, Missouri’s governor, Lilburn W. Boggs, issued a now-infamous extermination order, in which he authorized the forceful removal of the Saints from the state. Latter-day Saints sometimes retaliated, but they were mostly a peaceful minority acting out of self-defense.2 As noted by historian D. Michael Quinn, “Mormon marauding against non-Mormon Missourians in 1838 was mild by comparison with the brutality of the anti-Mormon militias.”3

When they settled in Utah, the Saints were hoping to live and practice their religion in peace, but conflicts continued, particularly with US government officials, who would spread misleading rumors in Washington about the Saints. This understandably stirred up further animosity.

On July 24, 1857, word reached the Saints that the US government was sending an army to Utah.4 President James Buchanan decided to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cummings and sent federal troops to escort Cummings to his new post.

This is what became known as the Utah War, though it was really more of a standoff. It’s also been called “Buchanan’s Blunder” because it was started under false pretenses that the Latter-day Saints were inciting a rebellion.

Buchanan never even informed Brigham Young that he was being replaced or why an army was coming. So Latter-day Saints were left to speculate and worry. Given the Saints’ past experience with violent government persecution, many assumed the worst.5 They thought the army was coming to exterminate them. So, the Saints began to prepare for war.

Brigham Young and other leaders throughout Utah gave wartime speeches, rallying the Saints to defend themselves and encouraging them to store up any surplus grain, guns, and ammunition.6 This sometimes involved some pretty fiery rhetoric.

And then came the Arkansas wagon train. Hundreds of companies passed through Utah peacefully before them and hundreds would pass by later without incident. But there was something about this one, in particular, that led to tragic consequences.

Because of the wartime atmosphere, even minor conflicts could be magnified. Stories about what exactly ignited the dispute between the Latter-day Saints and this wagon company do not always agree. But there seems to have been some tension over supplies. The Arkansas company needed food and items for their journey to California, but the Latter-day Saints wouldn’t sell because their leaders had counseled them to store up surplus resources in preparation for a potential war.7

Also, rumors were circulating that the Arkansas company had poisoned the water supply.8 It was also reported that some of the men in this company threatened acts of violence and that they planned to join the US army to exact their revenge. Others reportedly threatened to end the mayor of Cedar City (Isaac D. Haight)9 and boasted that they helped kill Joseph and Hyrum Smith and other Saints in Nauvoo and Missouri.10

The truth of these accounts is difficult to sort out, and, for the most part, these were probably just idle threats, “but in the charged environment of 1857, Cedar City’s leaders took the men at their word.”11 Haight sought permission from the leader of the local militia to use the militia against the emigrants. The militia leader and the city council told Haight to not attack the emigrants but let them pass through peacefully.12

Haight ignored this counsel and hatched a scheme to get some of the local Paiutes to attack the wagon company at Mountain Meadows. When Haight convened a council meeting in Cedar City to try to obtain approval for the attack, he was again told not to do it. Instead, they decided to send a messenger to Brigham Young asking how to proceed.13

But before the messenger left, John D. Lee and the Paiutes ambushed the wagon company in what became a five-day siege. Before the messenger could return, events began to spiral out of control.14 The emigrants realized that it wasn’t just Paiutes attacking them—Mormons were involved. Haight and others feared what would happen if word got out that the Mormons had attacked a wagon train, so they decided that no survivors could escape. But Haight still felt he needed permission from the militia leader to move forward.15

Once again, he held a council, and leaders once again did not approve an attack. In fact, they made a plan to help the company continue on its way to California. This was unacceptable to Haight, who believed that survivors telling of the attack “would unleash aggression on the southern Mormon settlements.”16

Haight met privately with the Mormon militia leader to press him on this, and while reports of this meeting are conflicting and uncertain, Haight came away believing that he had the militia’s support for his subsequent actions.17 This is where it gets chilling.

On September 11, 1857, John D. Lee approached the wagon train under the pretense of offering assistance. Lee convinced the emigrants to give up their arms and let the Saints lead them out of the meadow and into safety. Women and children went first, followed by the men, each accompanied by an armed militiaman.

However, when a signal was given, the militiamen and some Paiutes, instead of protecting the emigrants, killed them all except seventeen small children.18

Two days later, the messenger returned with word from Brigham Young, telling Haight not to interfere or meddle with the emigrant train but to “let them go in peace.” Upon receiving the message, Haight reportedly sobbed like a child, saying, “Too late; too late.”19

Brigham Young: Ruthless Empire Builder or Misrepresented Leader?

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was tragic and sobering, and people understandably wonder whether the Church or Brigham Young ordered it to happen. There’s currently no strong evidence that Brigham Young ordered or condoned this horrific act of violence. Instead, the surviving documents suggest just the opposite.

When Brigham first heard news of the event during a meeting, he was so horrified he stopped the meeting, left his office and spent the day grieving in solitude.20 At one point he said, “If there were Mormons guilty in that act, it was one of the most dastardly things that ever occurred, and let them be brought to justice.”21

At another point, he said, “My disposition is such that, had I known anything about it, I would have gone to that camp and fought the Indians and white men who took part in the perpetration of the massacre to the death, rather than such a deed should have been committed.”22

In the aftermath, he repeatedly assisted the federal investigators.23 When he discovered the roles that Isaac Haight and John D. Lee’s had in the slaughter, he excommunicated them both and said some very strong things about what he thought of their behavior.24

So, Brigham Young did not order, approve, or condone the attack. He was deeply saddened when it happened, and as more information came to light, he excommunicated the main perpetrators.

Make no mistake, this event was awful. It never should have happened. The men who committed this abhorrent act of violence went against the instruction of Church leaders and the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Latter-day Saints adhere to the biblical commandments to turn the other cheek and to love their enemies. Their own scripture teaches that in the face of persecution, they should “renounce war and proclaim peace” (Doctrine and Covenants 98:16). They’re also taught to repeatedly forgive their offenders (D&C 64:8–10).

About this very event, one of the Church’s top leaders, President Henry B. Eyring, said: “What was done here long ago by members of our Church represents a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and conduct.”25

KnoWhy

Why Were Violent Acts like the Mountain Meadows Massacre Committed by Latter-day Saints?

Church History Matters Podcast

“Buchanan's Blunder” and the Utah War | Peace and Violence, Ep. 5

Church History Matters Podcast

What Happened at Mountain Meadows? | Peace and Violence, Ep. 6

Church History Matters Podcast

What Was Brigham Young's Role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre? | Peace & Violence, Ep. 7

Church History Matters Podcast

Mountain Meadows Massacre Researchers Rick Turley and Barbara Jones Brown | Peace & Violence, Ep. 8

The Broader Problem of Misrepresentation

In addition to American Primeval misrepresenting the nature of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Mormon militia never massacred the U.S. federal troops, or the Shoshone village as depicted in the show. The sequence of massacres perpetrated by the Latter-day Saints in the show does not reflect history, but is a fictional portrayal to propel the plot and cast the Latter-day Saints as unconscionable villains.

The misrepresentation of Latter-day Saints in American Primeval is part of a broader pattern of media portrayals that often reduce minority groups to harmful stereotypes. For example, just as xenophobic depictions of Muslims in media can perpetuate Islamophobia, inaccurate portrayals of Latter-day Saints as violent or fanatical can fuel prejudice and misunderstanding. American Primeval, though very loosely based on true and horrific events, is a work of fiction, and its inaccuracies underscore the importance of historical literacy and critical engagement with media.

Conclusion

Some may find Netflix’s American Primeval to be an entertaining drama, but its sweeping portrayal of Latter-day Saints as villains is not based in reality and is a stark reminder of the need for accurate and fair representations in media. By unpacking the historical inaccuracies in the series, we can better appreciate the complex history of the American West and of Latter-day Saint communities at the time. Ultimately, this conversation is about more than a TV show; it’s about the importance of truth in understanding our shared past.