The People's Temple: The Jonestown Massacre

During the civil war, there were two battles in Saltville, VA. The first battle took place on October 2, 1864, and it resulted in a confederate victory; the following day, the Saltville Massacre occurred. The second battle, the topic of this report, took place on December 20 and 21st. This was the second time Union troops actively attempted to capture the Saltworks. Days before the attack in Saltville, the Union troops fought in Marion and Wytheville.

He was a follower of the new church. Johnny Appleseed

The Valley Forge Tragedy Many people have talked about Valley Forge and the tragic things that have happened there. I would not like to stay at Valley Forge. In document A (Estimate Of Illness And Deaths at Valley Forge), it states how many died. Also, how many people got sick. There was about 3,989 soldiers who got sick, and 1800 of them who died.

The struggles on the battlefield such as extreme weather, loss of supply of wood and building the railroads caused major hardships for the 209th infantry. My group for the 209tH Amendment had Chapter 3, which was “A Winter in the Army of the Potomac.” History on the 209th regiment is they were made up of volunteers that were willing to fight for them in war. On November 24th which is where it takes place in Chapter 3 is the regiment was transferred with other Pennsylvania regiments from the Army of the James to the army of the Potomac.

In the year 1766, he was made First Mate of the slaver “Two Friends”. Jones soon became disgusted with it and deported the vessel two years later. In 1768, Jones traveled to Fredericksburg,VA in hope to obtain aid from his brother. In this time he found that his brother had died. Also at this time John Paul added Jones to his last name to distance himself from his past.

There are articles that ask the question, how did Jones convince people to move to this settlement in the middle of nowhere? It was a slow gradual change. There were many who stated with him from his first church in Indianapolis, but many did leave along the way. As Jones went on he gained more loyal supporters. He used religious tactics at first, preaching messages from the Bible but as he went on his message changed after he had convinced these people to stay with him.

By this time Jones started to be more paranoid and disturbed and he moved the Peoples Temple compound there with about 1000, followers. This little compound of Jones was named Jonestown. You would think that with that many followers he would treat them right so they don’t leave but Jones actually treated the compound as a prison camp. Jones followers were given little food and they weren’t allowed to leave or else. Jones was afraid that his followers would plot something against him.

In 1859 they released from their callings stake president Isaac Haight and other prominent Church leaders in Cedar City who had a role in the massacre. In 1870 they excommunicated Isaac Haight and John D. Lee from the Church. In 1874 a territorial grand jury indicted nine men for their role in the massacre. Most of them were eventually arrested, though only Lee was tried, convicted, and executed for the crime. Another indicted man turned state’s evidence, and others spent many years running from the law.

Jones was present during the Ludlow Massacre and Colorado Coal Strike in 1913 (Ford 265). She testified before Congress about the twenty women and children who were killed by the Colorado militia (Ford 265). She tried to bring an end to the violence by lobbying President Wilson and creating protest groups for miners (Ford 265). She tried to make a change for the better after she saw the violence against the women and children during that

Leading up to the Boston Massacre Who knew that a shot fired by British soldiers in the streets of Boston in 1770 would spark the American Revolution? It all started with King George III, who became king of Great Britain and Ireland in 1760. He was only 22 years old. The first war that he participated in was known as the French and Indian War. “When France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley brought repeated conflict with the claims of the British colonies, a series of battles led to the official British declaration of war in 1756.”

On March 5th 1770, British Soldiers shot and killed five colonists and injured 10 of them. The tragic event was nicknamed “The Bloody Massacre”, but the colonists were at fault because they were the ones that provoked the soldiers, they attacked the soldiers, and they created a chaotic scene. First reason why the colonists were at fault is because they are the ones that provoked the soldiers. (Paragraph 2 of page 155 from the book United States History Colonization through Reconstruction written by Michael B. Stoff and James West Davidson) “A crowd gathered…colonists shouted insults.”

The workshop was a church that people of color would go to because they were forced to worship from the balcony at the white church. Here he met a college student, such as himself, named Jim Lawson who talked about using nonviolence to eradicate the country of segregation. While Lawson explained himself, Lewis states that “His words liberated me. I thought, this is it, this is the way out.” (Lewis and Aydin 78).

Jonestown was created to bring peace to those of People’s Temple, but instead, led them to commit suicide via cyanide-laced juice. James Jones conducted “loyalty drills” in the middle of the night, later telling the people they were not going to die. A total of 918 people lost their lives over the course of the five years that Jonestown was thriving, with very little survivors. James Jones will always be remembered as the cult leader of People’s Temple who led many to their deaths. No one saw this coming, and not many even began to think that this massacre would take place.

AQUINAS: “These people killed their children and then themselves because of their faith in Jim Jones. How could someone with no motives of credibility be followed with such devotion? How could this be possible?” HUME: “I do not understand why they all killed themselves, but I do understand why they could follow him.

Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple Cult “Jim Jones of the Peoples’s Temple began as a sound, fairly mainstream Christian minister” (Sects, ‘Cults’ & Alternative Religions). Before all the madness Jones seemed like a caring person, that wanted to bring peace to a town he made, Jonestown. Instead it turned into something more horrific. Jim Jones was the manipulative mastermind behind the traumatic events that happened in Jonestown, Guyana, this essay will discuss interviews by people who are survivors of the mass suicide, and dive into the crazy conspiracies that have emerged, and finally conclude with the death of the Peoples Temple.