| John D. Lee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theCouncil of Fifty[1] | |
| 1844 – March 23, 1877 (1877-03-23) | |
| Called by | Brigham Young 14 March and 11 April 1844. |
| End reason | Death[1] |
| Member of theUtah Territorial Legislature | |
| In office | |
| 1858 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Doyle Lee (1812-09-06)September 6, 1812 Illinois Territory, U.S. |
| Died | March 23, 1877(1877-03-23) (aged 64) Mountain Meadows,Utah Territory, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Resting place | Panguitch City Cemetery 37°48′57.96″N112°24′56.88″W / 37.8161000°N 112.4158000°W /37.8161000; -112.4158000 (Panguitch City Cemetery) |
| Spouse(s) | Agatha Ann Woolsey Nancy Bean Louisa Free Sarah Caroline Williams Rachel Andora Woolsey Polly Ann Workman Martha Elizabeth Berry Delethia Morris Nancy Ann Vance Emoline Vaughn Woolsey Nancy Gibbons Mary Vance Young Lavina Young Mary Leah Groves Mary Ann Williams Emma Louise Batchelor Terressa Morse Ann Gordge |
| Children | 56 |
John Doyle Lee (September 6, 1812 – March 23, 1877) was an American pioneer, and prominent early member of theLatter Day Saint Movement inUtah. Lee was laterexcommunicated from the Church and convicted ofmass murder for his complicity in the 1857Mountain Meadows Massacre. He was sentenced to death and, in 1877, wasexecuted by firing squad at the site of the massacre.
Lee was born on September 6, 1812, inKaskaskia,Illinois Territory, and joined theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1838. He was a friend ofJoseph Smith, founder of the church, and was the adopted son ofBrigham Young under the early Latter Day Saintlaw of adoption doctrine. In 1839, Lee served as amissionary with his boyhood friend, Levi Stewart. Together they preached in Illinois,Ohio,Kentucky, andTennessee. During this period Lee converted and baptized"Wild Bill" Hickman. Lee practicedplural marriage and had 19 wives (at least eleven of whom eventually left him) along with 56 children.
Lee was a member of theDanites, a fraternal vigilante organization. The Danites were first organized inCaldwell County, Missouri, during theMormon War. Lee was also an official scribe for theCouncil 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 theRocky Mountains. After Smith's death, Lee went with Brigham Young and other Latter Day Saints to what is nowUtah, and worked towards establishing several new communities there. Some of those communities includedLee's Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch, located nearPage, Arizona. A successful and resourcefulfarmer andrancher, in 1856, Lee became a United StatesIndian Agent in theIron County, Utah, area, where he was assigned to helpNative Americans establish farms.[2][3] In 1858, Lee served a term as a member of theUtah Territorial Legislature, and following church orders in 1872, Lee moved from Iron County and established a heavily usedferry crossing on theColorado River, where the site is still calledLee's Ferry. The nearby ranch was named theLonely Dell Ranch and is now listed on theNational Register of Historic Places, together with the ferry site.
In September 1857, theBaker–Fancher party, an emigrant group fromArkansas, camped atMountain Meadows, a staging area in southern Utah used to prepare for the long crossing of theMojave Desert by groups travelling westward toCalifornia.[4] They were attacked by a combined group of Native Americans andMormon 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 (seeUtah War of 1857–1858) and a rumor that the Baker–Fancher party included those who had murdered Mormons at the 1838 event known asHaun'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 nearbyCedar City. The emigrants accepted the offer and surrendered, however approximately 120 of the Baker–Fancher party were then killed by Mormon militia andPaiute 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. Lee was excommunicated in 1870 under mounting federal attention to the massacre.
In 1874, Lee was arrested and tried for leading the massacre. The first trial ended inconclusively with ahung 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 ascapegoat 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 theLife and Confessions of John D. Lee he (or an editor) wrote, "I have always believed, since that day, that GeneralGeorge 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]
On March 23, 1877, Lee wasexecuted 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 Churchposthumously reinstated Lee's membership in the church.[12]
Lee had 19 wives and 56 children, and his descendants are now numerous. Former solicitor generalRex E. Lee is a direct descendant of John Lee, as are his sons SenatorMike Lee of Utah and Utah Supreme Court justiceThomas R. Lee.[13][14] Another descendant,Gordon H. Smith, was a U.S. senator from Oregon.[15]: 812 U.S. representativesMo Udall (D–AZ) andStewart Udall (D–AZ) and their respective sons, senatorsMark Udall (D–CO) andTom Udall (D–NM) are also descendants.[15]: 804, 806–807 Stewart Udall served asUnited States Secretary of the Interior under presidentsJohn F. Kennedy andLyndon B. Johnson. See also theLee–Hamblin family for a list of more of his noteworthy descendants.
John Lee was portrayed byJon Gries in the filmSeptember Dawn (2007).
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.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Digital reprint (pdf)Archived 2011-07-14 at theWayback Machine by the Mountain Meadows Massacre organizationHaight 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 theHaun's Mill massacre...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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