Lyr Add: 3 Mormon Folk Songs

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BULLFIGHT ON THE SAN PEDRO^^^ et al.
From: Jon W.
Date: 01 Oct 97 - 11:55 AM

As mentioned in the Some Must Push... thread I have a book of Mormon Folksongs I intend to input and submit. A couple are already in DT - "Echo Canyon" and "Root Hog or Die" (the version that mentions Salt Lake City). Here are three which have familiar tunes. The rest will have to wait until I have time to input the music (wish I had a MIDI interface).

THE BULLFIGHT ON THE SAN PEDRO^^^

Under the command of Colonel Cook,
When passing down San Pedro's brook,
Where canegrass growing tall and high
Was waving as the breeze passed by;
There as we gained ascending ground,
Out from the grass with fearful sound,
A wild ferocious bull appeared,
And challenged fight with horns upreared.

Chorus (repeats after each verse):
On the road to California;
On our hard and tedious journey
Far along the Rocky Mountains,
By San Pedro's crystal fountains.

"Stop, stop" said one, "just see that brute."
"Hold," was responded, "let me shoot."
He flashed but failed to fire the gun;
Both stood their ground and would not run.
The man explained, "I want some meat,
It's time again we had a treat."
And saying thus again he shot,
And felled the creature on the spot.

It soon arose to run away,
And then the guns began to play;
All hands at work amid the roar,
The bull was dropped to rise no more.
But lo, it did not end the fight--
A furious herd rushed into sight,
And then the bulls and men around
Seemed all resolved to stand their ground.

In nature's pasture, all unfenced,
A dreadful battle was commenced.
We knew ourselves we must defend,
And must to others aid extend.
The bulls with maddened fury raged,
The men with skillful warfare waged,
Though some from danger had to flee,
And had to clamber up a tree.

A bull at one man made a pass,
Who hid himself amid the grass,
And breathless lay until the brute
Passed him and took another shoot.
The bulls rushed on like unicorns,
And gored the mules with piercing horns,
As if the battle ground to gain
When men and mules should all be slain.

With brutal strength and iron will,
Poised on his horns with master's skill,
A bull, one mule o'er mule did throw
The made the latter's entrails flow.
One bull was shot and when he fell,
A butcher ran his blood to spill,
The bull threw up his horns and caught
The butcher's cap, upon the spot.

"Give up my cap, exclaimed the man,
And chased the bull as on he ran;
The butcher beat, and with his knife,
Cut the bull's throat and closed his life.
O, Cox from on bull's horn was thrown,
Ten feet in air; when he came down,
A gaping flesh wound met his eye.
The vicious bull had gored his thigh.

The colonel and his staff were there,
Mounted and witnessing the war;
A bull one hundred yards away
Eyed Colonel Cook as easy prey.
But Corp'ral Frost stood bravely by,
And watched the bull with steady eye;
The brute approached near, and more near,
But Frost betrayed no sign of fear.

The colonel ordered him to run,
Unmoved he stood with loaded gun;
The bull came up with daring tread,
When near his feet, Frost shot him dead.
Whatever cause, we do not know,
But something prompted them to go;
When all at once in frantic flight
The bulls ran bellowing out of sight.

And when the fearful fight was o'er,
And sound of muskets heard no more,
At least a score of bulls were found
And two mules dead upon the ground.

Tune: Old Dan Tucker
This song tells of an incident which happened to the Mormon Battalion, a group of 500 Mormon volunteers who wer e mustered into the US Army for the war with Mexico. They marched from Iowa to So. California and back, but this was the only battle in which they participated. Casualties: two men wounded, several mules killed, and on the other side, between 20 and 60 bulls killed. The battle took place in December 1846(?)

ZACK, THE MORMON ENGINEER^^^

Old Zack, he came to Utah, way back in seventy three,
A right good Mormon gentleman and a bishop too was he.
He drove a locomotive for the D. and R. G.,
With women he was popular, as popular as could be.

Chorus:

And when he'd whistle ooh! ooh! Mamma'd understand
That Zack was headed homeward on the Denver and Rio Grande.

Old Zack, he claimed to love his wives and love them all the same,
But always little Mabel was the one that Zack would name.
And as he would pass her he'd blow his whistle loud,
And when she'd throw a kiss at him old Zack would look so proud.

Old Zack, he had a wifey in every railroad town.
No matter where he stopped he had a place to lay him down.
And when the his train was coming, well, he wanted her to know,
So as he passed each wifey's home his whistle he would blow.

Now listen everybody, because this story's true,
Old Zack, he had a wife in every town that he passed through.
They tried to make him transfer on to the old U. P.
But Zack said, "No" because his wives were on the D. and R. G.

Tune: Oh Susanna "This song depicts in comic form life in one type of plural marriage. It is not intended to be sarcastic. Zack Black was a Mormon bishop who worked as an engineer for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and the tale is told that he had a wife in every town he passed through. Mormon audiences have always enjoyed the humor of the lyrics, especially when Zack won't accept a transfer to another railroad line because it is routed through the wrong towns."(Music of the Mormons, p. 28)
Note: "Plural Marriage" is the LDS term for their form of polygamy, which was practiced from the late 1840's up to 1896, when the US Supreme Court upheld a law forbidding it. Mormon clergy were (and are) laymen, who are not paid for their church service and therefore work "civilian" jobs to sustain their families.

BRIGHTER DAYS IN STORE^^^

I will sing of the Mormons, the people of the Lord,
Since the time that Joseph prayed for light,
And the way they've been guided by Jesus' holy word,
And saved by the power of his might.

Chorus:
'Tis the song, the sigh of the Mormons,
Hard times, hard times long have pressed us sore;
Many days they have lingered around our cabin door,
But now we've brighter days in store.

Each time that the wicked have tried to overthrow
And to bring the work of God to naught,
The way has been opened for the saints to escape,
A ram in the thicket was caught.

The grasshoppers, crickets, and mobbers all combined
Were powerless to crush our noble cause;
The more we are hated, the more we are maligned,
The more the Church of Jesus grows.

Tune: Hard Times Come Again No More (Stephen Foster)
"Through all their hardships and persecutions the Mormon people always had a hope burning brightly within them that all would work out for the best. Even after they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, trials still were heaped upon them. Persecutors followed them; the government sent an army to put down their presumed rebellion; even the elements and insects seemed to be against them. Through all this the remained steadfast, believing, and rightly so, that brighter days lay ahead."(Music of the Mormons, p. 40)
This is one version that the Mormons made of the famous Stephen Foster song. It is said to have been a favorite of Brigham Young. Some of the versions were less serious, one was about irrigation and had the chorus "Ditches, ditches, ditches break no more."

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Ferrara
Date: 05 Oct 97 - 02:26 AM

Any chance of getting "Ditches, ditches..." or any of the other comic Mormon parodies of Hard Times? They sound like they'd be neat. There's at least one parody from the Civil War, "Hard Crackers Come Again No More."

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Oct 97 - 09:10 PM

Hard Crackers is in the database.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 06 Oct 97 - 10:20 AM

Alas, I only know the "ditches ditches" line given above, and that from the liner notes of a cassette on which the group did the original Stephen Foster version. I too would like more versions of this song.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jan 02 - 07:48 PM

Ditches, Ditches, Break Again No More Here

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DOUBLE TRAGEDY
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jan 02 - 08:38 PM

Lyr. Add: THE DOUBLE TRAGEDY

Tune: "The Blind Child"

Bright lights were shining in the hall,
Everyone seemed happy and gay;
Making merry one and all
As by music they did sway.
Tripping feet of dainty maid,
Scuffling feet of booted men,
Laughing remarks to partners made,
Rang out o'er mountain glen.

When quickly out upon the floor
In anger strode Tom Roach,
His gun was glistening in his hand,
There was no one to reproach.
At the bark of gun the startled crowd
Whirled 'round toward the door.
The smoke was billowing as a shroud
About the gunman on the floor.

"Out, file out, everybody out,
Speed up all," cried he.
He knew not what he was about,
He was filled with raw whiskey.
Men and women in grasping dread,
Fled out upon the street,
When with a shout and flying lead,
He cut off their retreat.

"Now there are some that may return,
But others out must stay;"
With planted feet and countenance stern
He forced them to obey.
Then walked up in confidence,
Smiling, came Joe McCord.
he said to Tom, "You'll let me in,
For I've always been your pard."

But with a flick of gun Tom barred his way.
"Not another step," he said.
McCord advanced that fatal step
And Roach's gun belched lead.
A look of surprise flashed in his eyes,
"Roach, you've killed me," he said.
And with a last heartbreaking sigh,
At Roach's feet fell dead.

The music swelled in sweet refrain,
The floorman gave his call;
"Swing your pardners to the set!
Let's on, boys, with the ball."
Mrs. Walton standing by,
With gentle voice did plead,
And Tom with ever calming eye
Her quieting voice did heed.

When suddenly within the door
Frank Adams sprang.
In his hand a Winchester bore.
His voice loudly rang:
"Roach!" Roach swayed aside,
As the trigger was pressed,
And Mrs. Walton falling died
With a bullet in her breast.

The confusion of the moment
Of this last tragedy
Was the cover by which Roach
In silent haste did flee;
The fatal shot that Adams fired,
When in anger driven,
By Mrs. Walton's friends and kin
Was in deep sorrow forgiven.

Mormon Songs From the Rocky Mountains, ed. Thomas E. Cheney, pp. 197-200.
@mormon @bad man @western

This occurred on Utah Pioneer Day, July 24, 1891, in Monticello, southeastern Utah on the east slopes of the Abajo Mts. Mrs. Jane Walton was one of the pioneers of the town. Roach escaped. A possee went after him, but he had the drop on them from the heights. The officers went for more help, but Roach escaped to Arizona and was never apprehended (Discussion accompanying the song).
The composer was Otho Murphy, of Moab, who gave the song to Fife.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Deckman
Date: 19 Jan 02 - 01:36 PM

Jon W. ... Does your book of songs have any background on the song: "Star of Bannock?" also, how about any song relating to the Mountain Meadows Massacre? Thanx ... Bob

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jan 02 - 08:04 PM

In addition to the version of Meadows Massacre in the DT, there are 3 very short versions in the Max Hunter site. A version mostly similar to the one in the DT is printed in Mormon Songs From The Rocky Mountains, but with a couple of different verses. A short version from 1870 (different author) is also reproduced. The story is given briefly, but see Juanita Brooks, 1950, "Mountain Meadow Massacre," for a full treatment of the incident. This book has been reprinted by the Univ. Okla. Press.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL ARE TALKING OF UTAH
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 09:14 PM

Lyr. Add: ALL ARE TALKING OF UTAH

Verses missing from DT:

They say that Utah cannot be numbered as a State,
They wished our lands divided, but left it rather late;
'Tis hard to tell of Mormons, what yet may be their fate,
For all are talking of Utah.

Whatever may be coming, we cannot well forsee,
For it may be the Railroad, or some great prodigy;
At least the noted Mormons are watching what's to be,
For all are talking of Utah.

Two of the verses by the author, John Davis, which are missing in the DT lyrics. First published in 1868, "The Bee Hive Songster," Salt Lake City, under the pseudonym Ieuan. Also published by William Willes, 1872, in "The Mountain Warbler." Also Thomas E. Cheney, ed., 1968 (1981), "Mormon Songs From The Rocky Mountains," pp. 108-109. Tune: Work, Marching Through Georgia.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 11:35 PM

Thanks for the responses to this and my other thread. I think the sense of anxiety about what the "outsiders" think of us in Utah that is expressed in "All are Talking Of Utah" is still very much present as we felt during the recent Olympics. Maybe that's what brought the song to mind. Anyway, I think I'll try to sing it at the next song circle (if anyone out there is in the Salt Lake area or will be on March 28, PM me and I'll send you the details and you can come).

To Bob (Deckman): sorry, I don't have any Mountain Meadows songs. The massacre is back in the news again now though. A US Park Service employee found what is purported to be a message from John D. Lee written on a lead plate that puts the blame on Brigham Young. It was in John D. Lee's house that they are beginning to reconstruct or restore or something. No word yet as to its authenticity.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 04:18 PM

Utah Phillips has a wonderful song about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, I forget the name of it.

He clearly (between the notes and the song itself) thinks John D. Lee was innocent, and implies, as I read the notes, that he was a scapegoat, to satisfy the federals, who were leaning real hard on the government of Deseret at the time.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHN D. LEE (Bruce U. Utah Phillips)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 04:49 PM

These words were previously posted, in 1999, but are not in the DT, and there's no "birdie" on the post showing that it's been harvested. This is the song I mentioned in my previous post.

I have made some minor adjustments to the words as previously submitted, to conform to Utah Phillips' singing on a CD I have.

JOHN D. LEE by Bruce U. Utah Phillips

Here's news come to the city about a wagon train,
Here's news come to the city about a wagon train,
How men and all their families by John D. Lee was slain.

Brigham Young sent out a runner, bid Squire Wells to come (2X)
"Go down in yonder country and see my justice done."

He gathered up a posse--a dozen men or more (2X)
They tracked across the desert to the Colorado shore.

No sooner they crossed over than John D. Lee was found,(2X)
Down in the Indian village, the squaws were camped around.

The horses from Missouri were found in his corral, (2X)
The Squire read him guilty, the facts we find here tell.

A wagon and a coffin--they make a heavy load,(2X)
To haul up to the meadow upon the Black Ridge Road.

Way up in Mountain Meadows they made him dig his grave, (2X)
Though loudly he protested--his life he sought to save.

The wagons they still smoldered--their ashes blew around,(2X)
In sight of this mute evidence, they shot their victim down.

Some say he was not guilty, so I have heard it said,(2X)
The deed fell to his captors, who should have died instead.

His grave is undiscovered, the grass it grows so tall,(2X)
Such was the Saints' own vengeance, on John D. Lee did fall.

The tune is that of a song related to the Civil War period, variously called Hiram Herbert or Hiram Hubbard, which told of a man wrongly convicted of murder by "the Rebels".

DRO

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DESERT ROUTE
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 05:11 PM

Jon W, The Bullfight on the San Pedro was written by Levi Hancock of Company E, The Mormon Batallion. (Enter San Pedro in the DT and the song comes up; enter Bullfight and it does not) Cheney, T. E., 1968 (1981); Golder, Grant A., 1928, March Of The Mormon Batallion. Hancock also wrote this song:

Lyr. Add: THE DESERT ROUTE

While here beneath the sultry sky
Our famished mules and cattle die,
Scarce aught but skin and bones remain
To feed poor soldiers on the plain.

Chorus:
How hard to starve and wear us out
Upon this sandy desert route.

Now half-starved oxen, over-drilled,
Too weak to draw, for beef are killed
And gnawing hunger prompted men
To eat small entrails and the skin.

We sometimes now for lack of bread
Are less than quarter rations fed,
Then soon expect for want of meat
Not less than broke-down mules to eat.

Sometimes we quarter for the day
While men are sent ten miles away
On our back track to place in store
An ox gave out the day before.

And when an ox is like to die
The whole camp halts and we lay by;
The greedy wolves and buzzards stay
Expecting rations for the day.

Our hardships reach their rough extremes
When valiant men are roped with teams,
Hour after hour and day by day,
To wear our strength and lives away.

The teams can hardly drag their loads
Along the hills and sandy roads,
While traveling near the Rio Grande,
O'er hills and dales of heated sand.

We see some twenty men or more
With empty stomachs, and foot sore,
Bound to one wagon, plodding on
Through sand beneath the burning sun.

A doctor, which the government
Has furnished, proves a punishment;
At his rude call of "Jim along Joe,"
The sick and halt to him must go.

Both night and morn this call is heard;
Our indignation then is stirred,
And we sincerely wish in Hell
His arsenic and his calomel.

To take it if we are not inclined,
We're threatened, "You'll be left behind."
When bored with threats profanely rough
We swallowed down the poison stuff.

Some stand the journey well,
And some are by hardships overcome.
And thus the Mormons are worn out
Along this long and weary route.

Levi Hancock, Mormon Batallion Company E. From Cheney, T. E., 1968 (1981), pp. 41-42.
@soldier @pioneer @Mormon
The Mormon Batallion is important in United States as well as Mormon history. During the War With Mexico, "President Polk decided to make use of them to win the country. Five hundred men were called from the Mormon camps at Mount Pigsah and Council Bluffs (IA). The Mormons responded" [although Joseph Smith had been martyred only two years before]. Quoted from Cheney. The march traced a southern route, south of the mountains, that eventually led to the Gadsen Purchase and the construction of our southernmost railroad route to California. Other members of the Batallion wrote songs commemorating the "First Wagon Road Over the Great American Desert."

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 05:15 PM

Jon, what was the tune for "The Desert Route" ?

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Art Thieme
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 06:01 PM

Sandy,

Didn't I record "Zack" on one o' the albums I did for Folk Legacy? ('Twas great talking to you.)

Art

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Art Thieme
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 06:09 PM

Seems eons ago...
Art

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 11:07 PM

I've never seen "The Desert Route" before. The tune for the "Bullfight on the San Pedro" is "Old Dan Tucker." It looks like it might work for "The Desert Route" also except the chorus doesn't fit too well.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Amergin
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 11:25 PM

as a thread drift....I have a personal account of one of my ancestors...about his emigration to Utah from Massachusetts....in that account he also mentions how a young man named Joseph Smith came to work for his father....

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 12:13 AM

Music for "The Bullfight on the San Pedro" is given in Cheney, p. 43. It isn't Old Dan Tucker. Jenny Hancock, a descendant, gave the text and music in Cheney to Cheney. I will send a copy to Masato to see if it matches anything. Rosalie Sorrells sang it on her record, "Songs of the Mormon Pioneers," (Columbia Records) which I would very much like to find.

Subject: Lyr Add: EARLY THIS SPRING WE'LL LEAVE NAUVOO
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 07:34 PM

Lyr. Add: EARLY THIS SPRING WE'LL LEAVE NAUVOO

Early this spring we'll leave Nauvoo, and on our journey we'll pursue;
We'll go and bid the mob farewell, and let them go to heaven or hell.

Chorus:
So on the way to California in the spring we'll take our journey,
Far above Arkansas fountains, pass between the Rocky Mountains.

The mobocrats have done their best, old Sharp and Williams with the rest,
They've burnt our houses and our goods, and left our sick folks in the woods.

Below Nauvoo on the green plains, they burnt our houses and our grains;
And if fought, they were hell-bent to raise for help the government.

The old settlers that first claimed the soil, they thought that they would take a spoil,
And a fuss they did begin, but not much money did bring in.

Old Governor Ford, his mind so small, has got no room for soul at all;
If heaven and hell should do their best, he neither could be dammed or blest.

Backenstos, his mind so large, upon the mob he made a charge;
Some three or four he did shoot down, and left them lying on the ground.

The old State Marshall came to town and searched our temple up and down.
He told the Saints that he had come, and brought a writ for Brigham Young.

Second Chorus:
So out of the way, old Major Warren, you can't come it over the Mormons,
Far above Arkansas fountains, pass between the Rocky Mountains.

Now since it's so we have to go and leave the city of Nauvoo,
I hope you'll all be strong and stout, and then no mob can back you out.

The temple shining silver bright, and Christ's own glory gives the light,
High on the mountains we will rear a standard to the nations far.

Text from Fife and Fife, 1956, reprinted in Songs of the American West, R. E. Lingenfelter and R. A. Dwyer, 1968, Univ. California, pp. 202-203 with music. The Daughters of Utah pioneers published a variant in 1932. The tune is similar to Old Dan Tucker, especially the choruses, but the music to the verses is a variant.
The version in the DT, mistakenly under the name "On the Road to California," is much shortened and misses the point of the song.
@Mormon @pioneer @persecution

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 08:37 PM

Thanks, Dicho. I thought I had Fife & Fife but looking more closely I realize that what I have is a booklet that must have come with an LP with 19 songs. How many songs are in the original F&F book?

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 08:55 PM

I looked on the web for MIDIs of "Old Dan Tucker." Some are quite different but this one is quite similar to the tune on the cassette from which I got "On the Road To California" which is in the DT, and of which Dicho posted the more complete version above.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Mark Ross
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 09:07 PM

The tune for the song about the Mountain Meadows Masssacre by Utah Phillips(the songs title is JOHN D. LEE)is HIRAM HUBBARD tune from the singing of Jean Ritchie.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 09:58 PM

There are several tunes for the Mountain Meadow Massacre. One, music given in Lingenfelter and Dwyer, p. 234, is from Fife (1953), p. 234. Others are listed from Fife (variant), Burt, Hubbard, Toelken and Laws. I haven't heard the Cisco Houston recording or seen the others (which could be similar to each other).
Cheney, in Mormon Songs From The Rocky Mountains, p. 203, gives the tune and lyrics collected by Olive Burt.
The verses in Lingenfelter and Dwyer and in Cheney differ. Olive Burt said; "All the versions are incomplete in places, but as all are obviously the same ballad, I have supplied missing stanzas of one version from the other two to produce a complete ballad of the 'Mountain Meadows Massacre.'"
Jon, Fife's articles are in various volumes of "Western Folklore" and in the "Utah Humanities Review." Fife and Fife (1956), "Saints of Sage and Saddle," is a hardcover book published by the University of Indiana Press.
The version in the DT is very similar to Olive Burt's, and I would guess is a slight revision of hers.
The song "John D. Lee" seems to be a modern version, by Ritchie or another folk singer.
My next post is a version from the Ely White Pine News, Ely, Nevada, March 19, 1870. Fife printed it in 1953 in Western Folklore, XII no. 4.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE (2)
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 10:29 PM

Lyr. Add: MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE (2)

In Indian garb and color
Those bloody hounds were seen,
To flock around that little train,
All on the meadow green.

To see mothers and their children
All flowing in their gore,
Oh such an awful sight, I think
Was never seen before!

Then Lee, the leader of this band,
To them, his word did give,
That if their arms they would give up
He'd surely let them live.

But when their arms they did give up,
And turned to Cedar City,
They rushed on them in Indian style,
Oh, what a human pity!

They melted down with one accord,
Like wax before the flame;
Both men and women, old and young;
Oh, Utah, blush for shame!

By order of their General
This deed was done, you see;
The leader of this wicked band,
His name was John D. Lee.

Then afterward they tried to clean
Themselves of all the shame,

And to get out the best they could;
The Indians bear the blame.

Ely White Pine News, Ely, Nevada, March 19, 1870, p. 3; reprinted in T. E. Cheney 1968 (1981), Mormon Songs From the Rocky Mountains, p. 202. Tune, if any, unknown. The affair took place in 1857. Lee was convicted, and shot at the site 20 years later, on March 23, 1877.
The train consisted of 140 emigrants led by Captain Charles Fancher. All but 17 small children were killed. A large band of Paiutes were with Ford and his attackers. At the time, war was imminent between the Mormons and the US Army under Johnson. Feelings ran high, many of the Mormons remembered the persecutions from Missourians (where Joseph Smith, who founded the new religion, was martyred), the burning of their temple at Nauvoo and losses of all their possessions.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: masato sakurai
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 10:48 PM

The tune to EARLY THIS SPRING WE'LL LEAVE NAUVOO is not from Fife & Fife (1956), but from Damon (1936), which is definitely "Old Dan Tucker" itself. The source (S. Foster Damon, Series of Old American Songs, Brown University Library, 1936) is a collection of songs "Reproduced in Facsimile From Original or Early Editions in the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, Brown University." The facsimile edition of "Old Dan Tucker" (which Damon dates 1843) is one and the same as this item in Levy (Click on the title):

Title: Old Dan Tucker. A Celebrated Ethiopian Ballad.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: na
Publication: New York: Atwill's, 201 Broadway, n.d..
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: I come to town de udder night, I hear de noise an saw de fight
First Line of Chorus: So get out de way! get out de way! get out de way, Ole Dan Tucker

Dan Emmett's "first edition" is:

Title: Old Dan Emmit's Original Banjo Melodies. The Original Old Dan Tucker.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Arranged for the Piano Forte by Rice. Words by Old Dan D. Emmit.
Publication: Boston: Chas. H. Keith, 67 & 69 Court St., 1843.
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: I come to town de udder night, I hear de noise an saw de fight
First Line of Chorus: So get out de way! get out de way!
Performer: As performed by the Virginia Minstrels

Richard Jackson says of this editon: "Though the text of 'Old Dan Tucker' was indeed written by Emmett, the melody was not his composition. Its origin is not known." (Popular Songs of Nineteenth-Century America, Dover, 1976, p. 278). See also The Fiddler's Companion (s.v. Old Dan Tucker).

The Cheney tune (verse part) Dicho sent to me is not the Emmett version, but somewhat resembles the "Johnn Cake" tune (in Fife & Fife, Cowboy and Western Songs, Potter, 1969, p. 22).

~Masato

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 11:43 PM

These songs all have the same meter, but the rise and fall of the notes differ. They may be said to belong to the "Dan Tucker" cluster. Chords for "Early This Spring We'll Leave Nauvoo" are given in Lingenfelter and Dwyer.
(G)Early this spring we'll leave Nauvoo, and on our journey (D)we'll pursue;
We'll (G)go and bid the mob farewell, and let them go to (D7)heaven or hell.
Cho.: So (G)on the way to California (D7)in the spring we'll (G)take our journey,
Far above (C)Arkansas fountains, (D7)pass be (G)tween the (D7)Rocky (G)Mountains.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MORMON BATTALION SONG
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 12:47 AM

Lyr. Add: THE MORMON BATTALION SONG

In forty-six we bade adieu
To loving friends and kindred too;
For one year's service, one and all
Enlisted at our country's call,
In these hard times.

We onward marched until we gained
Fort Leavenworth, where we obtained
Our outfit- each a musket drew-
Canteen, knapsack, and money too,
In these hard times.

Our colonel died- Smith took his place,
And marched us on at rapid pace;
O'er hills and plains, we had to go,
Through herds of deer and buffalo,
In these hard times.

At length we came to Santa Fe,
As much fatigued as men could be;
With only ten days there to stay,
When orders came to march away,
In these hard times.

Three days and twenty we march'd down
Rio Del Norte, past many a town;
Then changed our course- resolved to go
Across the mountains, high or low,
In these hard times.

We found the mountains very high,
Our patience and our strength to try;
For, on half rations, day by day,
O'er mountain heights we made our way,
In these hard times.

We traveled twenty days or more,
Adown the Gila River's shore-
Crossed o'er the Colorado then,
And marched upon a sandy plain,
In these hard times.

We thirsted much from day to day,
And mules were dying by the way,
When Lo! to view, a glad scene burst,
Where all could quench our burning thirst,
In these hard times.

We traveled on without delay,
And quartered at San Luis Rey;
We halted there some thirty days,
And now are quartered in this place,
In these hard times.

A "Mormon" soldier band we are:
May our great Father's watchful care
In safety kindly guide our feet,
Till we again, our friends shall meet,
And have good times.

O yes, we trust to meet our friends
Where truth its light to all extends-
Where love prevails in every breast,
Throughout the province of the blest,
And have good times.

Composed by Azariah Smith, a Battalion private, while quartered in San Diego. From Daniel Tyler, 1881, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War, p. 287-289. Reproduced in Cheney, T. E., 1968 (1981), Mormon Songs From The Rocky Mountains, p. 47-48.
There are several songs about the Mormon Battalion. One was written by Eliza R. Snow, one of Brigham Young's wives. It was published in Tyler's book (1881) under the title "The Mormon Battalion and First Wagon Road Over the Great American Desert." One of the verses went:
Ere the Battalion started out
Upon that most important route,
'Twas thus predicted by the tongue
Of Apostle Brigham Young,
"If to your God and country true,
You'll have no fighting there to do."
Was General Kearney satisfied?
Yes, more- for he with martial pride
Said, "O'er the Alps Napoleon went,
But these men crossed a continent."

@Mormon @pioneer @military

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 12:39 PM

The last line of stanzas in the Mormon Battalion song, "In these hard times," appears in the songsheet "Hard Times," pub. by Leonard Deming (n. d.), prob. mid-19th C. Typical verse:

The tailor will cry out his dye-stuff is scarce,
And as for back bills, they are all but a farce;
So he must have silver for all that is due,
Yet logwood, soap and vinegar, make a good blue,
In these hard times.
From the American Memory, 19th C. song sheets.
The tune, not given, probably is "Courting the Widow's Daughter

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 03:02 PM

Another song by Levi Hancock has been posted on thread 46039, "The Black Hills Waltz." Black Hills

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 04:18 PM

Regarding Mountain Meadows, it seems doubtful that Lee and the other "Avenging Angels", as the Mormon Church Militia was called, would have carried out the massacre without instruction from church officials, and particularly from Brigham Young. Lee went to his grave protesting that he had been a fall guy. Thoroughbred horses, money, goods, and children surviving the massacre were distributed throughout the settlements. Since the massacre, Temple officials have avoided any comment on it, and a plaque at the sight only discloses that "a massacre occurred here". Recent excavations to accomodate a new monument disclosed a mass grave, and by law archaeologists were notified, but were given only 48 hours to examine the remains.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 3 Mormon Folk Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 21 May 12 - 04:01 PM

As there was no telegraph, there was no way possible Brigham Young in Great Salt Lake City could have communicated any orders or directives to the people in Cedar City concerning the Fancher Train. From the time the train arrived in Cedar and then out to Mountain Meadows, it was impossible for a rider to travel to Salt Lake and back with any instructions. As much as people would like Brigham Young to have been in on the plot, it simply does not fit the facts.

Furthermore, with the US Army on the march towards Salt Lake City in 1857, the idea of killing a wagon train full of people hardly fits Brigham Young's pragmatic thinking. It would obviously be an excaberation of an already volatile situation and provide the US government plenty of basis for retaliation. There would be no strategic rationale for such a move and flies in the face of Brigham Young's edict that no harm should occur to Army personnel.

John D. Lee was certainly not the only guilty party in the massacre however, and was without doubt, the scapegoat. There was such a veil of secrecy placed over the tragedy by those involved that it was impossible to ferret out all involved, and Lee wasn't talking. He got what he deserved and the rest of the perpetrators have since been accountable to God.