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=== In the Iron Military District: Private Swen Jacobs, Company E, Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion === | === In the Iron Military District: Private Swen Jacobs, Company E, Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion === | ||
In 1857, Swen Jacobs, 33, was | In 1857, Swen Jacobs, 33, was a private in one of the platoons in the Iron County militia. | ||
On Thursday evening, September 10, according to [[John_D._Lee|John D. Lee]], Jacobs and many others from Cedar City attended the war council on the grounds of Mountain Meadows. | |||
On Friday, September 11, many members of the militia contingent from Cedar City acted as guards alongside the emigrant men as they marched northward from their fortified position inside the wagon circle. As the massacre commenced, the duty of the guards was to wheel and fire on the emigrant men, quickly dispatching them. Yet during the actual massacre, reactions varied among the guards. Some shrank from their duty, others fired over the heads of their victims, while others still undertook their bloody duty with zeal. Within minutes, members of the Cedar City unit had killed all but three of the emigrant men. However, whether Swen Jacobs was in this guard unit and if so, how he acted during the massacre will probably never be known with any certainty. | |||
Jacobs was not listed in the 1859 federal arrest warrant. | |||
=== Leaving Cedar City for Lehi in Utah Valley === | === Leaving Cedar City for Lehi in Utah Valley === | ||
Revision as of 07:55, 18 January 2012
Swen Jacobs, his personal and family background, and his involvement of the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Swen Jacobs
1823-1890
Biographical Sketch
[Under Construction.]
Early Life in Norway
Svend Svendson (Swen Jacobs or Swen Johnson Jacobs) emigrated from Norway to the United States.
Immigration to America and onto Utah
He was 26 years old when he immigrated to Utah in 1849. (Heart Throbs of the West, 10:458; 11:423.)
To Cedar City and the Ironworks
In the 1850s he was a pioneer in southern Utah.
In the Iron Military District: Private Swen Jacobs, Company E, Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion
In 1857, Swen Jacobs, 33, was a private in one of the platoons in the Iron County militia.
On Thursday evening, September 10, according to John D. Lee, Jacobs and many others from Cedar City attended the war council on the grounds of Mountain Meadows.
On Friday, September 11, many members of the militia contingent from Cedar City acted as guards alongside the emigrant men as they marched northward from their fortified position inside the wagon circle. As the massacre commenced, the duty of the guards was to wheel and fire on the emigrant men, quickly dispatching them. Yet during the actual massacre, reactions varied among the guards. Some shrank from their duty, others fired over the heads of their victims, while others still undertook their bloody duty with zeal. Within minutes, members of the Cedar City unit had killed all but three of the emigrant men. However, whether Swen Jacobs was in this guard unit and if so, how he acted during the massacre will probably never be known with any certainty.
Jacobs was not listed in the 1859 federal arrest warrant.
Leaving Cedar City for Lehi in Utah Valley
Following the disaster at Mountain Meadows and the collapse of the Cedar City ironworks, Swen Jacobs and his younger brother moved north to Lehi in Utah County. During the 1860s, Swen Jacobs and his brother John were city policeman in Lehi.
References
Carter, Heart Throbs of the West, 10:458; 11:423; Gardner, History of Lehi, 161; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 232, 380 (refers to "Irvin" Jacobs); Lee Trial transcripts; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, ; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.
For full bibliographic information see Bibliography.
External Links
For further information on Swen Jacobs, see:
- http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
- Deseret Iron Company Account Book, 1854-1867: http://www.footnote.com/document/241905844/
Further information and confirmation needed. Please contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.
