While American Primeval portrays its take on Brigham Young as largely evil, the real-life man was a bit more complicated than that.
The hit new Netflix mini-series, sets itself against the backdrop of real-world American history, following the battle for the West in 1857 during what has become known as the Utah War.
The series centers on a cast of characters on both sides of the conflict, members of the Mormon Church and the U.S. government itself. At the forefront of this battle is Kim Coates' Brigham Young (the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
Who Was Brigham Young In Real Life?
Brigham Young is at the forefront of Netflix's American Primeval historical war, but the TV character was based on a real man.
In the series, Young (played by Kim Coates) is portrayed as a mainly evil presence, serving as the primary antagonist of the show's ongoing conflict.
This includes his involvement in the on-screen version of the deadly Mountain Meadows Massacre, where members of the Mormon church committed a mass murder of emigrants passing through on the famous Baker–Fancher wagon trail.
While Young is depicted in the series as the mastermind behind this bloody affair, that is not necessarily the case in real life. The Mountain Meadows Massacre was a real-life historical event, that took place during the Utah War of 1857.
While it is true that the event was a mass killing of emigrants traveling through Mormon territory in Southern Utah, Brigham Young has never been proven to have had any knowledge leading into it.
However, historians maintain the real-life former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contributed in some way whether intentional or not, through fearmongering amongst his followers.
In his recount of the events of the Utah War, Life and Confessions of John D. Lee, Lee (who was convicted for his work in the Mountain Meadows Massacre), claimed that the mass murder occurred "by the direct command of Brigham Young," and that Young had "[led] the people astray" (via Smithsonian Magazine):
"Lee claimed that he was a scapegoat, and that other Mormons were more directly involved in the planning and in the killing. And although he maintained at first that Young was unaware of the massacre until after it took place, Lee would later state, in his 'Life and Confessions of John D. Lee,' that the massacre occurred 'by the direct command of Brigham Young.' And on the morning of his execution, Lee would write that Young was 'leading the people astray' and that he was being sacrificed 'in a cowardly, dastardly manner.'"
Historians Patrick Q. Mason and Thomas A. Wayment addressed Young's involvement in the Massacre in their 2017 paper on the subject, Discussing Difficult Topics: The Mountain Meadows Massacre.
The pair of Brigham Young University professors wrote "Brigham Young contributed to a climate of fear" toward those who opposed him, indirectly making him "culpable;" however, they think if he had known what would happen he "would have stopped it if he could have:"
"There is no doubt that Brigham Young contributed to a climate of fear though his violent rhetoric toward the government, toward emigrants, toward the Gentiles, toward dissenters. This rhetoric was in the context of the Mormon Reformation, when he and other Mormon leaders were traveling around Utah, using violent rhetoric to get people to repent. There is no doubt in my mind that Brigham Young was culpable in that way. But I strongly believe in and agree with the interpretation of most historians, who say Brigham Young was not directly responsible for the massacre and would have stopped it if he could have."
"Even if he was not directly responsible for Mountain Meadows, his hands were not clean," the two scholars added, but do not think he had any active knowledge of a premeditated attack on the pioneer trail:
"We know that Brigham Young sanctioned violence in the 1850s against Native Americans, dissenters, and others, so even if he was not directly responsible for Mountain Meadows, his hands were not clean concerning the violence of the 1850s. So we have to recognize that our leaders, just like us, operate in history. They are part of a culture; they are not perfect. God is still working with them and is working with the Church to purify it and sanctify it. I don’t think we can excuse our Church leaders for whatever degree of responsibility they carry, nor do we have to pin everything on them. Not everything that happened in Utah Territory can be blamed on Brigham Young. He wasn’t involved in everything, despite what people sometimes say, so I think we need to be careful historians."
Brigham Young star Kim Coates took all of this real-life information and tried to bring pieces of it to his portrayal of the former Mormon leader.
In a conversation with Netflix, the American Primeval actor said, "We mustn’t shy away from both the nastiness and the goodness in our history," hoping there are some lessons the world can take from his work in the series:
"As an actor, you have to make choices. Things start at the top and filter down, and we mustn’t shy away from both the nastiness and the goodness in our history. And this particular story has some of both, and it has some lessons that we can and should learn from. But boy, it was tough to survive in 1857. I don’t know how anyone did."
Coates' work is just a small part that makes up the greater American Primeval story, one that includes breakout star Shawnee Pourier (read more about the Two Moons actress here).
American Primeval is now streaming on Netflix.
