Short film on ‘Cane Creek massacre’ draws attention to early Latter-day Saint tragedy in Tennessee

In the middle of the humble Paradise, Utah, cemetery is an oversized grave marker stating that Elder John H. Gibbs “died a martyr to the cause of truth” at Cane Creek, Tennessee.

In the nearly a decade we’ve lived in Paradise, I was never aware that four others died in what historians call the “Cane Creek Massacre” or the “Tennessee Massacre” in 1884.

It’s that general lack of awareness that prompted Josh Coates, executive director of the B.H. Roberts Foundation, to create a new 7-minute film, “Cane Creek,” which has been featured at three film festivals so far, including the Culver City Film Festival, the recent Utah International Film Festival and the upcoming Zions Indie Film Festival on Feb. 27 in Orem, Utah…

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