by James Wfe Mooney

Created on: January 06, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

"My Gift" commentary

According to all the Paiute, Shoshone, Goshute and Ute Elders that I sat with around the fire, consider the "most" lost of all the Christian religions of them are the Mormons. Most of these elders were baptized into the LDS faith because of Mormon leader's words claiming they were the friends of the American Native people while all along all they wanted was sole possession of the American Native Sacred Lands and water.

The inner mountain west American Native people "must" forgive the atrocities and cultural genocide that have been perpetrated upon them by the Mormons for a true transforming cultural event. It seems the LDS faith is so intoxicated by their good works and their elaborate campaign to cover-up and denying any wrong doing condemns them to repeat these atrocities.

In my opinion, following the cultural "forgiving" process, the American Native people and their allies will blossom like a rose and become a beam empowering light that will influence the entire world to live more in harmony with one another. I wrote this story to give a type of way of resolving the hatred the American Native people of the inner mountain west have towards the Mormons.

My Gift In the summer of 1848, thirteen Mormon pioneers were in the middle of a twenty-six-day journey across a Utah desert when they were attacked by a band of thirty "enraged" Ute warriors. These particular settlers were substantially armed with rifles and with an abundance of ammunition. They immediately made a fortified circle with their carts and wagons and defended themselves. Over the three-day attack, most of the migrating settlers were killed. By the early morning light of the fourth day, the Ute's for some unknown reason retreated and left their dead behind. Only three settlers, a woman and two men, survived. All of their horses were stolen or killed.

As the settlers sorted through the carnage, and with the thick smell of death, they found only a meager amount of provisions and water that could possibly sustain them for about eight or nine days. Not knowing if any Ute warriors were nearby, the settlers had resigned themselves to joining their dead family members and friends, through exposure, starvation and / or the lack of water. Just then, a faint moan was heard several yards outside of their encampment, seemingly from a young child. The woman, against the warnings of the men, left the fortification and shortly returned, carrying a young Ute child, who was near death. The men wanted

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