John Doyle Lee

The Mormon Menace, Being the Confession of John Doyle Lee - Danite (Dodo Press)

John Doyle Lee (1812-1877) was a prominent early Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon) who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre. In September 1857, the 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 Mohave desert by groups travelling to California. They were attacked by a group of Mormon militiamen dressed as Native Americans. After a siege, Lee approached the Fancher encirclement and convinced the emigrants to surrender their weapons and property to the Mormons in return for safe conduct to nearby Cedar City, whereupon approximately 120 of the Fancher party were killed by Mormon militia, leaving only about 17 small children as survivors. In 1874, he was arrested and tried for leading the massacre. The first trial ended in a hung jury, but he was tried again in 1877 and sentenced to death. On March 23, 1877, Lee was executed by firing squad at Mountain Meadows on the site of the 1857 massacre.