Samuel R. Knight

Samuel Knight came south as one of Jacob Hamblin's missionaries to the Southern Paiute — the Nuwuvi — and settled at Fort Clara. In September 1857 that work turned monstrous. Ordered to help gather Paiutes for the attack, Knight drove a lead wagon of wounded and children into the Mountain Meadows, where a hundred and twenty emigrants died. Accounts diverge: John D. Lee said he joined the killing; Knight said he fought to hold his panicked horses, and a fellow militiaman swore he did. The Nuwuvi he was sent to convert were blamed for what white men had done.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 1.7 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone
• Snow Canyon State Park — 4.5 mi
  Red and white sandstone cliffs with ancient lava flows
• Hurricane Canal Trail — 21 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge

More markers nearby

• Wilford Woodruff and Josephine Barbara Baumann Knight — steps away
• Santa Clara Relief Society Hall — steps away
• Santa Clara Heritage Monument — steps away
• Swiss Colony — steps away