scoundrel pioneering narratives california

books:

Bones in the Well: The Haun's Mill Massacre, 1838; A Documentary History

1 review
Beth Shumway Moore, Will Bagley

Arthur H. Clark Company, 2007

from Arthur Clark Company
Gathered in this new work are eyewitness testimonies of the massacre and its aftermath by those who were on the scene. The accounts of Joseph Young, Amanda Smith, Willard Gilbert Smith, Austin Hammer, Artemisia Sidnie Meyers, Nathan Kinsman Knight, Thomas McBride, Isaac Laney, Olive Ames, and others are heart-rending and vivid. On October 30, 1838, a group of Missouri militia attacked the small ...

Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows

38 reviews
Will Bagley

University of Oklahoma Press, 2004

updates brooks
i found a reference to this in re-reading Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven. Juanita Brooks' Mountain Meadows Massacre had been, for me, the bible about these doings. Bagley has gained access to additional information (eg, letters, meeting notes, etc) and fleshes out the context of the ongoing disputes (from the midwest to the west) in a thorough way, giving me a better understanding of ...

Pioneer Camp Of The Saints: The 1846 and 1847 Mormon Trail Journals of Thomas Bullock

1 review

Utah State University Press, 2001

The journals are great, but Bagley's commentary is not
These are the journals of Thomas Bullock: the man commissioned by Brigham Young to write about the first ("Pioneer") company of Mormons to make the trek into Utah. They are written in typical 19th century style--full of details and odd anecdotes and more chronologically than organizationally minded. Of course, they are journals, and as such are more concerned with fact than literary style. The ...

Gold Rush Saints: California Mormons And the Great Rush for Riches

2 reviews
Kenneth N. Owens

University of Oklahoma Press, 2005

Mormon social and political confrontations
From 1846-1857 Mormons shaped events in California: they were the first American settlers of San Francisco. Narrative history blends with documentary accounts on California Mormon history: first-person accounts of early pioneers provide new insights on gold rush history and experiences. Chapters survey social and political controversies of the time between Mormons and between Mormons and other ...

Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives of the Mountain Meadows Massacre (Kingdom in the West)

1 review
Will Bagley

Arthur H. Clark Company, 2008

More Great Insights Into the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Will Bagley and David Bigler are unsurpassed in their knowledge of 19th Century Utah history. Bagley, and to a lesser extent Bigler, have drawn the wrath of the Mormon Church and LDS "scholars" because of their unwillingness to buy the traditional propaganda promulgated by the Church regarding the cold-blooded murder of 120 pioneers headed for California in 1857. This book, part of the ...

Always a Cowboy: Judge Wilson McCarthy and the Rescue of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad

2 reviews
Will Bagley

Utah State University Press, 2008

How the Judge save the rio Grande
A great book on the man who saved the D&RGW at the time of the Great Depression. Also gives considerable insight on the banking and economic situation of the times. A good read on how various pieces fit into the railroad and economic pictures.

WEST FROM FORT BRIDGER The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails Acros Utah, 1846-1850
J. Roderic & Dale L. Morgan (editors) Revised & Updated by Will Bagley & Harold Schindler Korus

Utah State University Press, 1994

Scoundrel's Tale: The Samuel Brannan Papers

2 reviews
Will Bagley

Utah State University Press, 1999

the real story of Sam Brannan
Sam Brannan is a mythic character. He was on the scene and usually a major player in most of early California history, from the founding of San Francisco and Sacramento to the publicity of and fortunes made from the Gold Rush. Like most larger than life figures, facts about him are hidden within the obscuring mists of legend. William Bagley has done the heroic task of sifting through literally ...