Anti-Mormonism's history

Joanna Brooks asks, Why do Southerners call Mormonism a cult? The easy answer is that it is the residue of the anti-Mormon violence of the nineteenth century. But what this article does not mention is how the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857 figured into the story. Many Mormons blamed the members of the wagon train, who were largely from Arkansas, for the death of Parley P. Pratt near Fort Smith. This tragic massacre still festers with some  people.

Of course Mitt Romney's campaign for the GOP nomination raises the topic again.