James M. Mangum

James Mangum, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

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James Mitchell Mangum

1820-1888

Biographical Sketch

James M. Mangum was a native of rural Alabama with American forebears in Virginia. During his lifetime he moved west to frontier Utah.

Early Life in the American South

James Mitchell Mangum was born in St. Clair County, Alabama. His earliest American forebears were from Boydton, Mecklenburg County in south-central Virginia, close to the border with North Carolina. His parents moved from Mecklenburg County to Warren County in southwest Ohio before moving south to St. Clair County, Alabama where Mangum was born.

Around 1844, Mangum married Eliza Jane Clark (1827-1862), a native of Green County, Alabama. Mangum and his wife as well as his mother and many of his siblings joined the Mormons.

Migration to Utah

In 1847, Mangum arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. In the early years, he plied his trade as a millwright, operating saw and grist mills on Mill Creek in Great Salt Lake City and later at Provo and Payson. By the early 1850s, he and his family had settled in Payson in central Utah.

The Cotton Mill in Washington County.

Joining the Southerners in Washington County and the Cotton Mission

In spring 1857, many in the Mangum clan were part of a migration of southerners to the new settlement of Washington in Washington County. These southerners founded the Cotton Mission in what came to be known as Utah's Dixie.

Although it eventually proved commercially unsuccessful, the Cotton Mission did succeed in producing cotton goods for local use and export at an important stage in Utah Territory's economic development.

James Mangum and his brother John and their families were pioneers in Washington County and founders of the new settlement of Washington.

Private James Mangum, Company I, John D. Lee's 4th Battalion, Washington

In 1857, the Iron Military District consisted of four battalions led by regimental commander Col. William H. Dame. The platoons and companies in the first battalion drew on men in and around Parowan. (It had no involvement at Mountain Meadows.) Major Isaac Haight commanded the 2nd Battalion whose personnel in its many platoons and two companies came from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the north such as Fort Johnson. Major John Higbee headed the 3rd Battalion whose many platoons and two companies were drawn from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the southwest such as Fort Hamilton. Major John D. Lee of Fort Harmony headed the 4th Battalion whose platoons and companies drew on its militia personnel from Fort Harmony, the Southerners at the newly-founded settlement in Washington, the Indian interpreters at Fort Clara, and the new settlers at Pinto.

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In September 1857, Mangum, 37, was a private in the fourth Washington platoon in Harrison Pearce’s Company I in John D. Lee’s 4th Battalion. Mangum and his older brother John Mangum were among those recruited from Washington to muster to Mountain Meadows. See A Basic Account for a full description of the massacre.

William Young and John D. Lee later stated that Mangum was present at Mountain Meadows. His exact role in the massacre is unknown. He was listed in the Judge John Cradlebaugh's 1859 arrest warrant.

Surprisingly, although John D. Lee's mentioned John Mangum in his autobiography, Mormonism Unveiled, he makes no mention of John's brother, James. Nor does William Bishop mention James Mangum in his list of massacre participants at the end of Lee's book.

=== Later Life; Move to Kanab in Kane County ===

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Map of Kane County, Utah.

In 1859, he married Rebecca Frances Mangum (1843-1928), a Mississippi native (and possibly his niece, a daughter of his brother John Mangum III). In 1861, he married Mary Ann Smith (1844-1912), who was born in Hancock County, Illinois but whose forebears were from Tennessee and Georgia. They remained in Washington through the 1860s.

Around 1870, James and his older brother John and their respective families relocated to Kanab, Kane County, Utah, and settled in the fort. There was a serious measles outbreak which caused much sickness. Reportedly, there were two deaths, one of which was James Mangum's seventeen-year old "Indian wife."

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Final Move to the Mormon Settlements in Arizona

Later, Mangum and his family moved to Arizona, joining the stream of Mormon colonizers who pioneered a series of settlements beginning on the lower Little Colorado River and eventually moving upstream to more hospitable environs on the upper reaches of the river. Mangum remained in Apache County, Arizona where he died in 1888. He was survived by his second and third wives and numerous children.

References

Fish, Mormon Migrations, 487; Lee Trial transcripts; New.FamilySearch.org; Robinson, ed., History of Kane County, 223; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, 170-71, Appendix C, 260.

For full bibliographic information see Bibliography.

External Links

For more information on James Mitchell Mangum, see:

• http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
• http://www.llggenealogysite.com/getperson.php?personID=I1321&tree=lovegrover

Further information and confirmation needed. Please comment below or contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.