165 years ago today - Sep 13, 1857

James Holt Haslam arrives in Cedar City from Salt Lake City two days after the Mountain Meadows Massacre with orders from Brigham Young to let the emigrants pass unharmed. When Isaac Haight reads Young's letter he says, "Too late, too late," and "cried like a child." At Sunday services in Cedar City Patriarch Elisha H. Groves speaks"upon the principles of the gospel, and of the Lamanites [being] the battle axe of the Lord." "John D. Lee, with a large band of Indians loaded with loot from the massacre, arrive back at Fort Harmony. Entering the gates, they ride around the center of the fort, their tinware jangling and the bundles of clothing tied awkwardly; they ride around once and stop while the Indians give their whoop of victory, and Lee declares loudly, 'Thanks be to the Lord God of Israel, who has this day delivered our enemies into our hands'" Meanwhile in Salt Lake City Apostle George A. Smith preaches that there is "a spirit in the breasts of some [at Parowan, southern Utah] to wish that their enemies might come and give them a chance to fight and take vengeance for the cruelties that had been inflicted upon us in the States."