Isaac C. Haight

Isaac C. Haight, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

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Isaac Chancey Haight

1813-1883

Biographical Sketch

A native of the Catskill Mountain region in upstate New York, Isaac Chancey (alt. Chauncy) Haight moved to western Illinois, then frontier Utah where he was an early pioneer in southern Utah.

Early life in New York and Illinois

Haight was born in 1813 in Windham, Greene County, New York. During his adulthood, Haight kept extensive diaries which provide a detailed sketch of his life. From these we glean that Haight was married around 1836 at the age of twenty-three.

In 1838, he was converted to the Mormon Church and was baptized the following year. In 1841, he preached "Mormonism" and the next year he moved to the main Mormon settlement in Nauvoo on the banks of the Mississippi River in western Illinois. The next year, he proselytized for Mormonism in New York. Upon his return to Nauvoo he served on the city police.

Following the death of the Mormon leaders Joseph and Hyrum Smith in 1844, tensions remained high among Mormons and the original settlers of Hancock County. In 1846, the Mormons agreed to withdraw from Nauvoo and move west.

Immigration to Utah

Haight joined in the Mormon exodus into Iowa territory. Haight enlisted in the Mormon Battalion and was elected a captain of Ten. After much hardship the Mormon Battalion arrived in California where the Mexican-American War was still on. The Battalion boys played some role in ensuring the transition of California from Mexican to American control.

After his discharge from military service Haight returned to Utah, arriving in September 1847. Haight described the difficult years of 1847–49 with its scarcity of timber, hard winters, crickets and moral backsliding.

During the fall and winter of 1849-50, Haight joined the Pratt exploration of southern Utah.

Mission to Great Britain

In 1850 he began a mission to Great Britain. Returning in 1853 Haight acted as the Church purchasing agent in the East, acquiring wagons, teams, livestock and supplies for emigrant trains. He traveled west with a Scottish convert, Isabella Macfarlane, and her two sons. They arrived in Utah in the fall of 1853 and Haight married Isabella and her sons, John M. Macfarlane and Daniel Macfarlane, became his stepsons.

The early ironworks in Cedar City.

To Cedar City and the Ironworks

Returning to Iron County in the south, Haight became the general manager of the ironworks and was elected mayor of the city. Over the next years, Haight and his Scottish, Irish, Welsh and English iron workers struggled to develop a reliable blast furnace for smelting iron. These efforts eventually failed. In 1855, he was selected as president of the Cedar City stake.

In 1856, he attended the legislative assembly at Fillmore and the constitutional convention in Salt Lake. From fall 1856 to spring the following year, Haight preached the Reformation in southern Utah. Haight also superintended the work at the ironworks. In addition, on occasion he hauled coal to the ironworks to supply the blast furnace.

For instance, during the blast furnace run in late August-early September 1857, just prior to the massacre at Mountain Meadows, Haight was among those who used their wagons and teams to haul coal, rock, sand and other materials to support the operation.

In the Iron Military District: Major Isaac Haight of the 2nd Battalion

In the June 1857 militia muster rolls, Haight, 44, was listed as a private in one of the Cedar City militia platoons. However, in the militia reorganization that summer he was elected to the position of major in command of the 2nd Battalion. Thus, by 1857, Haight held every major position in Cedar City: mayor, president of the iron works, stake president and major in the militia.

Preparations for Feared Invasion

In summer 1857, the 10th Regiment was reorganized to improve its military readiness. In early August, reports from Great Salt Lake City brought news that United States Army troops were approaching Utah Territory. Rumors also circulated that an army detachment was maneuvering to "invade" southern Utah. Colonel William H. Dame, 38, was the commanding officer of the Iron Military District. He oversaw military preparations in southern Utah, including harvesting and stockpiling foodstuffs, guarding inlets, surveying arms, obtaining munitions and drilling local militias. Dame also ordered scouting parties into the eastern mountains to encounter the army detachment thought to be approaching. Besides being the major over the 2nd Battalion, Isaac Haight was also a lieutenant colonel in the Iron Military District. This made him second in command to Col. William Dame of Parowan in the 10th Regiment and the senior militia officer in Cedar City.

Militia units from the 10th Regiment, or Iron Military District, were responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. In the midst of this crisis the Arkansas wagon train reached Cedar City and some explosive episode occurred between a few emigrants and some Mormon settlers in Cedar city. The local settlers thought them impudent and "saucy."

Major Haight and Unfolding Events at Mountain Meadows

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What led to the exaggerated perception of events and equally exaggerated response in Cedar City was the wild rumors that had circulated since mid-August of an approaching U.S. Army detachment invading Utah through the backdoor -- an invasion through southern Utah. What cemented these perceptions in Cedar City was when community leaders heard and accepted as true the rumor that the passing emigrant train were in league with the army detachment thought to be invading their valley over the Fremont Trail.

Isaac C. Haight held virtually every leadership position in Cedar City -- mayor, stake president, major in the militia, superintendent of the ironworks, and representative in the territorial legislature. However, Colonel William H. Dame was the commander of the regional militia, the Iron Military District. Thus, Haight had to consult with Dame about how to address the flareup in Cedar City. Haight recommended retaliation but Dame urged against hasty action. Haight was dissatisfied with this cautious approach. With the connivance of majors John D. Lee and John M. Higbee, Cedar City bishop Philip Klingensmith, and most (but not all) of the local high council, Haight pursued a plan involving an Indian incursion against the wagon train under the shadow leadership of local Indian Farmer, John D. Lee.

Thus, on Thursday evening, September 4 (or possibly the following evening) Haight summoned John D. Lee from Fort Harmony and together they laid plans to use local Paiute Indians to attack the emigrant train. Lee left Cedar City to implement the plan of attack.

Sunday, September 6

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On Sunday, September 6, community leaders met in their weekly council meeting. In attendance were Isaac Haight, John Higbee, Charles Hopkins, Philip Klingensmith, Samuel McMurdie, Laban Morrill, Elias Morris, John Morris, Joseph Pugmire, and several others. Haight acquainted them with their plan for the emigrant company. Laban Morrill (and possibly others) objected and extracted a promise from Haight that he seek Brigham Young’s counsel before executing the plan. Haight reluctantly agreed.

However, John D. Lee had left for Mountain Meadows on Sunday and was now incommunicado. There is strong evidence that the attack was not intended to take place until the emigrant train had moved down trail to Santa Clara Canyon. For reasons that are still unclear, Lee advanced the time of the attack.

Monday, September 7

The first attack occurred early Monday morning, September 7, followed by intermittent fighting with no clear winner emerging. Lee sent an Indian runner to Cedar City and he arrived in the afternoon with word of the attack. Major Haight ordered that a detachment be mobilized under the command of Major John M. Higbee, who was also Haight's counselor in the stake presidency.

Haight also sent out the couriers he had promised to send. But instead of sending them on Sunday, he delayed until Monday afternoon. One courier, James Haslam, rode north toward Salt Lake City; the other, Joseph Clews, headed west to Mountain Meadows with a message for Lee to delay action. But as we have already seen, Lee initiated the attack on the emigrants that morning. By Monday afternoon, Lee was disturbed that the promised support from the southern settlements had not arrived. He headed south in search of them. Thus, when the Cedar City courier arrived at the Meadows, he could not find Lee to deliver the express.

Meanwhile, back in Cedar City, John Higbee departed at the head of his detachment on Monday evening. Herdsman Henry Higgins was tending the livestock in the community field and saw them depart. While Major Higbee moved toward the Meadows, Major Lee moved away from it. Lee encountered the Washington and Fort Clara detachments south of the Meadows around 10 p.m. that evening, moving north but still some miles away. They spent the night there. Meanwhile, Higbee and his detachment traveled all night toward the Meadows.

Tuesday, September 8

Major Higbee's detachment arrived at the Meadows sometime that morning and the southern detachment arrived around noon. By early afternoon, Higbee had assessed the situation and sent an expressman to Cedar City to advise Major Haight of conditions at Mountain Meadows. There were some sporadic Indian attacks on the train. They also pursued the emigrants' cattle, which were now straying all over the Meadows.

Wednesday, September 9

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So far, the attacks had been unsuccessful and a desultory siege ensued. By mid-week, Haight and Lee realized that their ploy to have an all-Indian force do the dirty work was doomed to fail. Also, because of the killing of William Aden by Mormon sentries, it seemed probable to them that the emigrants knew of Mormon connivance in the attacks. Meanwhile, in Parowan -- 20 miles north of Cedar City -- Colonel William Dame sent his own scouts to Mountain Meadows to observe conditions. They came back expressing "disgust" with what they saw. The Haight-Lee gambit was becoming a fiasco.

The stalemate only deepened the sense of crisis. On Wednesday evening, the 9th, Haight and his Welsh adjutant Elias Morris met in council with William Dame in Parowan. In the council were Jesse N. Smith, Calvin Pendleton, and Newman and Tarlton Lewis. This meeting was characterized by considerable vacillation on Dame’s part in responding to the emergency at Mountain Meadows. Initially, the council adopted Pendleton’s proposal to send a company from Parowan to assist emigrants. But in the later so-called "Tan Bark council" (because they squatted on the tan bark near the east gate of the fort) Haight evidently persuaded Dame to change the orders. Because the emigrants had learned of Mormon connivance in the attacks, Haight argued that the company had to be silenced. At Haight's insistance, Dame approved an order authorizing further attacks on the train if such was deemed necessary to maintain peaceful relations with local Indians.

William Barton was nearby; however, he did not overhear Haight, rather Haight later told him what happened and of his own deep regrets.

Thursday, September 10

Haight and Morris returned to Cedar on Thursday morning and sent new orders to Major Higbee. These arrived Thursday afternoon and lead to the fateful Thursday night council meeting at Mountain Meadows attended by Lee, Higbee, Klingensmith and members of the Cedar City community leadership (who also held positions in the militia) who were on the grounds. It was a highly contentious meeting. Opinions varied from letting the emigrants leave unmolested to massacring them. The argument that ultimately prevailed was a coldly rational one -- at least it seemed rational based on what they believed at the time. The emigrants must be silenced because they had learned that Mormons were behind the Indian attacks. They would carry this news to California which would lead to a new invasion of U.S. troops into Utah from the west. In the surreal war environment that existed, the militia council reasoned that they had to silence all old enough "to tell the tale," so that they could then face the Army invaders from the east without fear of a separate army contingent from California. In the end, the senior officials -- Lee, Higbee, Klingensmith, and their subordinates -- all agreed to the plan and steeled themselves to execute it.

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Friday, September 11

On Friday, September 11, they executed the plan involving a ploy of offering safe passage to the emigrants. After decoying the emigrants from their wagon circle, at the agreed signal the militiamen and their Indian allies fell upon them and massacred approximately one hundred twenty men, women and children. Only seventeen small children survived.

Meanwhile in Cedar City, Col. William Dame and his party arrived from Parowan and together with Major Haight and his adjutants, they set out for Mountain Meadows. Traveling all night they arrived the following morning.

Saturday, September 12

Upon arriving at Mountain Meadows, Col. Dame, Major Haight and their subordinates found John D. Lee who showed them the scene of the massacre. Reviewing the ghastly scene, Dame in particular was struck by the unforeseen number of women and children among the victims. He was heard to exclaim, "I didn't know there were so many of them!" Lee observed Col. Dame and Major Haight quarreling among themselves over the disastrous result of their orders and who should bear responsibility for massacring some many women and children.

Sunday, September 13

The enormity of the disaster only increased the following day. Upon Col. Dame’s return to Parowan, he encountered his adjutant, James H. Martineau, who days earlier Dame had sent on a 300-mile scouting expedition through the eastern mountains. Martineau informed him that the scouts had not encountered any sign of troop movements and that the rumor of an army "invasion" was false. The report that the U.S. Army was invading southern Utah over the Fremont Trail was only a wild rumor fed by war hysteria, just as was the report that the California-bound immigrants were in league with this phantom army detachment.

Meanwhile, in Cedar City express rider James Haslam returned from Salt Lake City with orders from Brigham Young not to molest the emigrants while also maintaining peaceful relations with the Indians. Haight could only ruefully respond, "Too late!"

Mountain Meadows as a Moral Panic in the Fog of War

In modern sociological terms, the southern Utah settlers had experienced a severe "moral panic": In the war environment, they came to think that they were being invaded by the U.S. army. Next, they came to believe that the passing emigrants were in league with the supposedly invading army detachment. Wild rumors proliferated, leading to equally wild perceptions and an extreme overaction out of all proportion to their actual condition. In its distorted perception and extreme overreaction, the massacre at Mountain Meadows has similarities with other moral panics such as the European witch craze of the 14th through 17th centuries or, more recently, the Satanic ritual abuse craze of the 1980s. But war, or the threat thereof, presents the most common example of these distorted perceptions and responses. Von Clausewitz provided the classic analogy -- "the fog of war." Unrealistic perceptions and crazed responses are a ubiquitous part of warfare. And so it proved to be in southern Utah in September 1857.

The 1858 Search for New Places of Refuge

In early 1858, while the U.S. Army was still in its winter quarters near Fort Bridger in modern Wyoming, Colonel Dame with the assistance of other officers such as Major Haight organized an exploration of the western desert to reconnoiter new safe havens for Mormons in the event of an army invasion of northern Utah.

But the end result of these efforts was the recognition that there was no new sanctuary to which Mormons could retreat. That realization led Brigham Young to a negotiated settlement with federal officials. By July 1858, the crisis was defused and the Utah War was over.

The 1858 Church Council Considering Dame and Haight

Later in 1858, after the peace accord between the Buchanan administration and Mormon officials, George A. Smith and several other church leaders held a council in southern Utah to investigate charges against Dame in his ecclesiastical role. There was a laundry list of complaints about Dame's leadership, none of which specific mentioned Mountain Meadows. But Isaac C. Haight and several other witnesses to events at Mountain Meadows were in attendance and the council surely considered aspects of the chain of command regarding the massacre. The details of the council are not fully known but the outcome of the council was favorable to Dame. Following several days of testimony and deliberations, Dame retained his position in Parowan but a while later Isaac C. Haight was removed from his church positions in nearby Cedar City. According to the council minutes, those who found that the complaints against Dame were "without foundation" were the Mormon "general authorities," George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman, and the local community, church and militia leaders and members, James H. Martineau, Calvin C. Pendleton, H. M. Alexander, John Steel, Nephi Johnson, F. T. Whitney, Silas S. Smith, S. West, E. Elmer, William Barton, O. B. Adams, J. Lewis, C. Hall, J. T. Hall, Isaac C. Haight, Samuel O. White, M. Ensign, John M. Higbee, Tarlton Lewis, Piddy Meeks and Joseph H. Smith.

Later Life

In 1859, Haight heard that federal officials supported by government troops from northern Utah were coming to arrest him and others for their complicity in the massacre. Haight was released as stake president and went into hiding, remaining in the local mountains until the troops had withdrawn.

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Over the next fifteen years Haight strove to maintain a low profile. In 1871, Haight and George Washington Adair, another militiaman involved in the massacre, were in Jacob Hamblin’s party in the remote regions of the Colorado River when they encountered Major John Wesley Powell’s expedition. Over time, they provided guide and freighting services and other logistical support to Powell's exploratory party.

Indicted for Murder

In 1874, the federal district court in Beaver issued an indictment for murder against William H. Dame, Isaac C. Haight, John M. Higbee, Philip Klingensmith, John D. Lee, and William C. Stewart plus three other low-level militiamen, George Washington Adair, Samuel Jewkes, and Ellott Willden. Lee tried to escape but was arrested as was William Dame and several others.

Fugative From Justice

But Haight, John Higbee, and William Stewart fled and went into hiding. In the ensuing years, Philip Klingensmith turned state’s evidence and testified against John D. Lee and Lee was tried, convicted and executed. The charges against William Dame were dropped, evidently for lack of sufficient evidence to convict. Meanwhile, Haight remained in hiding, reportedly passing through Utah, Arizona and Mexico.

Final Years

By the 1880s, the Mountain Meadows prosecutions had stalled. The national focus had shifted from the massacre to polygamy and the national anti-polygamy crusade was in full sway. Federal energies were poured into anti-polygamy legislation and federal dollars, into unlawful cohabitation prosecutions. The indictment against Haight and others, however, was still pending and he remained a fugitive from justice. Near the end of his life, he was in hiding in Thatcher, Arizona in the home of a nephew.

Isaac C. Haight died of pneumonia in 1886 at the age of 73. To avoid undue attention, his body was buried in his nephew's basement. Decades later, sometime after Arizona obtained statehood in 1912, his family deemed it safe to disinter his remains and rebury them in the cemetery in Graham County, Arizona.

References

Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries, 133-34; Bagley, Blood of the Prophets, 14, 18, 22, 30-31, 52, 75, 84-85, 115, 118-20, 126-133, 140-41, 156-58, 171-72, 174, 183, 185, 187, 213-14, 220, 224, 226, 242, 244, 271-72, 274, 283, 290, 292, 298, 323-26; Bigler and Bagley, Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives, 349-351, 373-75, 380-81, 384-86, 393-97, 472; Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre, 36-37, 52-53, 63-65, 72, 86-88, 93-94, 180, 184-185, 192-93, 197-98, 212; Diaries of Isaac C. Haight; "Diary of Almon Harris Thompson," Utah Historical Quarterly, 7:1-3 (Jan., Apr., Jul., 1939), 59; Dalton, ed., History of the Iron County Mission, 118-20, 123, 144, 156, 166; Dellenbaugh, A Canyon Voyage, 153, 157; FamilySearch.org; Fielding, ed., The Tribune Reports of the Trials of John D. Lee, 47-50, 210; Jones, Mayors of Cedar City, 10-20; Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church . . . , 185; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, ; Lee Trial transcripts; Newell and Talbot, A History of Garfield County, 48, 80; Newell, A History of Piute County, 40-41; Robinson, ed., History of Kane County, 48; Seegmiller, A History of Iron County, 3-4, 43-44, 64, 69, 267, 269-70; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, 346-47, 371-73, 386, 388, 390-91, 394-95, 397, 416; Turley and Walker, Mountain Meadows Massacre: Jenson and Morris Collections, 35, 44, 48, 55, 57, 62, 68, 90, 103, 116-117, 181, 204, 211-12, 247, 248-49, 254-56, 260, 325, 330, 332-33; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, 131, 136, 139, 144, 174-75, 178-79, 180-81, 212, 226, Appendix C; Woolley, Personal History of Isaac Haight, 134 (photo), 162 (photo), 187-89, 191 (photo). See Bibliography.

External Links

For further information on Isaac C. Haight see:

• http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_C._Haight
• http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/isaac_haight.htm
• Deseret Iron Company Account Book, 1854-1867: http://www.footnote.com/document/241905844/

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