Not to defend the killing of the people in this incident but...at the time of thie massacre the U.S. government had serious discussions regarding sending the army in to Utah to inforce a number of federal laws (taxes, etc.) and most Mormons were under the belief at that time that they would be attacked and rounded up and forced to live under s different set of laws than what they did at that time...Not a far fetched assumption on their part given how they were harrassed and attacked (sometimes of their own fault, sometimes not...) in a number of different places in the Eastern U.S. and the assasination of their founder Joseph Smith....All this WAS included in the "Under the Banner of Heaven" book by Krakaur...but I guess some of us have decided to gloss over his very balanced coverage to focus on what our given prejudices would like to highlight...

Overall, "Under the Banner of Heaven" presents an EXCELLENT primer on the Moromon religon, presenting both its good and bad sides (which ALL religions have) and saves its heaviest criticism for those who have perverted the tenets of Mormonism for their own purposes...