American LDS leader and mass murderer (1812?1877)
John Doyle Lee
(September 6, 1812 ? March 23, 1877) was an American pioneer, and prominent early member of the
Latter Day Saint Movement
in
Utah
. Lee was later convicted of
mass murder
for his complicity in the 1857
Mountain Meadows Massacre
and sentenced to death. In 1877, he was
executed by firing squad
at the site of the massacre.
Early Mormon leader
[
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]
Lee was born on September 6, 1812, in
Kaskaskia
,
Illinois Territory
, and joined the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
in 1838. He was a friend of
Joseph Smith
, founder of the church, and was the adopted son of
Brigham Young
under the early Latter Day Saint
law of adoption
doctrine. In 1839, Lee served as a
missionary
with his boyhood friend, Levi Stewart. Together they preached in Illinois,
Ohio
,
Kentucky
, and
Tennessee
. During this period Lee converted and baptized
"Wild Bill" Hickman
. Lee practiced
plural marriage
and had 19 wives (at least eleven of whom eventually left him) along with 56 children.
Lee was a member of the
Danites
, a fraternal vigilante organization. The Danites were first organized in
Caldwell County, Missouri
, during the
Mormon War
. Lee was also an official scribe for the
Council of Fifty
, a group of men who provided guidance in practical matters to the church, specifically concerning the move westward out of the established areas United States in the east to the
Rocky Mountains
. After Smith's death, Lee went with Brigham Young and other Latter Day Saints to what is now
Utah
, and worked towards establishing several new communities there. Some of those communities included
Lee's Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch
, located near
Page, Arizona
. A successful and resourceful
farmer
and
rancher
, in 1856, Lee became a United States
Indian Agent
in the
Iron County, Utah
, area, where he was assigned to help
Native Americans
establish farms.
[2]
[3]
In 1858, Lee served a term as a member of the
Utah Territorial Legislature
, and following church orders in 1872, Lee moved from Iron County and established a heavily used
ferry
crossing on the
Colorado River
, where the site is still called
Lee's Ferry
. The nearby ranch was named the
Lonely Dell Ranch
and is now listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
, together with the ferry site.
Mountain Meadows massacre
[
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]
Massacre
[
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]
In September 1857, the
Baker?Fancher party
, an emigrant group from
Arkansas
, camped at
Mountain Meadows
, a staging area in southern Utah used to prepare for the long crossing of the
Mojave Desert
by groups travelling westward to
California
.
[4]
They were attacked by a combined group of Native Americans and
Mormon militia
men dressed as Native Americans. There were multiple motives for the conflict, including a general atmosphere of rising tensions between the US Federal government and Mormon settlers (see
Utah War
of 1857?1858) and a rumor that the Baker?Fancher party included those who had murdered Mormons at the 1838 event known as
Haun's Mill massacre
.
[5]
On the third day of the siege, Lee (not dressed as a Native American) approached the Baker?Fancher encirclement under cover of a white flag and convinced the emigrants to surrender their weapons and property to the Mormons in return for safe conduct to nearby
Cedar City
. The emigrants accepted the offer and surrendered, however approximately 120 of the Baker?Fancher party were then killed by Mormon militia and
Paiute Indians
, leaving only about 17 small children as survivors.
[6]
[7]
William Ashworth notes in his autobiography that after the massacre, the "leaders among the white men had bound themselves under the most binding oaths to never reveal their part in it." Lee told Brigham Young that the Indians had been solely responsible, that "no white men were mixed up in it."
[8]
Lee later maintained that he had acted under orders from his militia leaders, under protest, and remained active in Mormonism and local government for several years afterwards.
Arrest and execution
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]
Photograph of Lee (seated next to the coffin) just prior to his execution.
In 1874, Lee was arrested and tried for leading the massacre. The first trial ended inconclusively with a
hung jury
, seemingly because of the prosecution's attempt to portray Brigham Young as the true mastermind of the massacre. A second trial in 1876, in which the prosecution placed the blame squarely on Lee's shoulders, ended with his conviction and he was sentenced to death.
[9]
Lee never denied his own complicity, but claimed he had not personally killed anyone. He said he had been a vocally reluctant participant and later a
scapegoat
meant to draw attention away from other Mormon leaders who were also involved. Lee further maintained that Brigham Young had no knowledge of the event until after it happened. However, in the
Life and Confessions of John D. Lee
he (or an editor) wrote, "I have always believed, since that day, that General
George A. Smith
was then visiting southern Utah to prepare the people for the work of exterminating Captain Fancher's train of emigrants, and I now believe that he was sent for that purpose by the direct command of Brigham Young."
[10]
Drawing of Lee's execution.
On March 23, 1877, Lee was
executed by firing squad
at Mountain Meadows on the site of the 1857 massacre. His last words included a reference to Young: "I do not believe everything that is now being taught and practiced by Brigham Young. I do not care who hears it. It is my last word... I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner."
[11]
On April 20, 1961, the LDS Church
posthumously
reinstated Lee's membership in the church.
[12]
Descendants
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]
Lee had 19 wives and 56 children, and his descendants are now numerous. Former solicitor general
Rex E. Lee
is a direct descendant of John Lee, as are his sons Senator
Mike Lee
of Utah and Utah Supreme Court justice
Thomas R. Lee
.
[13]
[14]
Another descendant,
Gordon H. Smith
, was a U.S. senator from Oregon.
[15]
: 812
U.S. representatives
Mo Udall
(D?AZ) and
Stewart Udall
(D?AZ) and their respective sons, senators
Mark Udall
(D?CO) and
Tom Udall
(D?NM) are also descendants.
[15]
: 804, 806?807
Stewart Udall served as
United States Secretary of the Interior
under presidents
John F. Kennedy
and
Lyndon B. Johnson
. See also the
Lee?Hamblin family
for a list of more of his noteworthy descendants.
Film portrayals
[
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]
John Lee was portrayed by
Jon Gries
in the film
September Dawn
(2007).
See also
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
a
b
Quinn, D. Michael
(1980).
"The Council of Fifty and Its Members, 1844 to 1945"
(.pdf)
.
BYU Studies
. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University: 22?26
. Retrieved
21 September
2017
.
- ^
Haymond, Jay M. (1994),
"Lee, John D."
,
Utah History Encyclopedia
, University of Utah Press,
ISBN
9780874804256
, archived from
the original
on November 3, 2022
, retrieved
June 19,
2024
,
In January 1856 Lee was appointed U.S. government Indian Agent in the Iron County environs. His job was to distribute tools, seed, and supplies, and to assist the Indians with farming methods.
- ^
"[Lee] became the local bishop and the Indian agent to the nearby Paiute Indians."
PBS.org,
John Doyle Lee (1812?1877)
- ^
Parker, B.G. (1901),
Recollections of the Mountain Meadow Massacre
, Plano, CA
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
Digital reprint (pdf)
Archived
2011-07-14 at the
Wayback Machine
by the Mountain Meadows Massacre organization
- ^
Denton, Sally (2007).
American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857
. Knopf Doubleday. p. 155.
ISBN
9780307424723
. Retrieved
August 17,
2016
.
Haight
had used his pulpit to begin a defamation campaign against the Fancher Train. The slander was carefully crafted, well placed, oft-repeated, the claims exaggerated with each retelling. [...] Word spread from settlement to settlement. Some on the train, it was said, had participated in the
Haun's Mill massacre
...
- ^
Denton, Sally (2003),
American Massacre
, New York:
Random House
, p. xxi
- ^
Walker; Turley, Jr.; Leonard, Ronald W.; Richard E.; Glen M. (2008).
Massacre at Mountain Meadows
. New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0195160345
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Ashworth 1934
, p. 37
- ^
"The West ? The Last Words of John D. Lee"
. PBS.
- ^
Lee 1877
, p. 225
- ^
PBS.org,
The Last Words of John D. Lee
- ^
Haymond, Jay M. (1994),
"Lee, John D."
,
Utah History Encyclopedia
, University of Utah Press,
ISBN
9780874804256
, archived from
the original
on November 3, 2022
, retrieved
June 19,
2024
- ^
Esplin, Ronald K.; Turley, Richard E. Jr. (1992),
"Mountain Meadows Massacre"
, in
Ludlow, Daniel H
(ed.),
Encyclopedia of Mormonism
, New York:
Macmillan Publishing
, pp. 966?968,
ISBN
0028796020
,
OCLC
24502140
- ^
"Mountain Meadows event remembered: Descendants join together in 'spirit of reconciliation'
"
,
Church News
, September 22, 1990
- ^
a
b
Manderscheid, Lorraine (1996).
Some Descendants of JOHN DOYLE LEE
. Bellevue, Washington: Family Research and Development.
References
[
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]
- Ashworth, William B. (1934),
Autobiography of William B. Ashworth 1845?1934
, Family History Collection, Brigham Young University, archived from
the original
on 2011-06-11
.
- Brooks, Juanita
(1992) [1961],
John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat
, Utah State University Press (paperback, 404pp),
ISBN
087421162X
.
- Cleland, Robert Glass;
Brooks, Juanita
, eds. (1955),
A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848?1876
, vol. 2 volumes, San Marino, California:
Huntington Library
. Reissued in single-volume paperback: Huntington Library, 2004:
ISBN
0873281780
- Kelly, Charles, ed.
Journals of John D. Lee, 1846?47 and 1859.
Salt Lake City, Priv. print. for R. B. Watt by Western printing company, 1938. Republished: Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1984.
- Lee, John D. (1877), Bishop, W.W. (ed.),
Mormonism Unveiled; Or The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop, John D. Lee; (Written by
Himself
)
, St. Louis: Bryan, Brand & Company
.
External links
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