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In the late summer of 1894, Ottoman soldiers murdered thousands of Armenians in the Sasun mountains. This extreme state violence must be understood as part of a much broader phenomenon: the efforts of the Ottoman Empire to control its upland spaces during the nineteenth century. Ottoman state efforts to conquer and control the mountains throughout the empire were accompanied by its attempt to control legitimate narrative. Making use of a variety of sources, from the accounts of locals (including missionaries) to those of outsiders (such as Ottoman military officers, foreign consuls, and investigative journalists), this article will examine and explain why the violence in Sasun took place, how it happened, as well as how it was remembered.