February 9, 2025
I've said it before and I'll probably say it until the day I die, but you can't make up anything stranger than real life. One of the key characters in the Utah War who is not portrayed in American Primeval, is this guy.
Daily Whip Out:
"John D. Lee Takes A Knee"
If his name sounds familiar it's probably because when you went rafting in the Grand Canyon you put in and took off from Lee's Ferry. Yes, that was his ferry when he went to hide out after his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. He was also the adopted son of Brigham Young, which makes it even odder that of all the people involved in the massacre, only Lee took the fall. He wasn't real happy about it, either.
"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."
—John D. Lee, before he faced a firing squad at Mountain Meadows, Utah.
John D. Lee sitting on his own coffin
before the execution
You know me—Check out those hats! Massive crowns, hipster dips and curls. A glimpse at the hat styles of 1877, when Lee faced a firing squad. Is it just me or does he looks slightly amused? I would chalk that up to a strain of Mormon zane, of which I am very familiar with, having growing up in Kingman, Arizona just south of Mountain Meadows and the Arizona Strip where polygamy still thrives to this day.
And, speaking of polygamy, John D. Lee had 19 wives and 56 children and they sure ran up the scorecard on civil servant achievement. One of his sons became Senator Mike Lee of Utah and another son became a Utah Supreme Court justice, Thomas R. Lee. Another descendant, Gordon H. Smith was a U.S. senator from Oregon. Then we get U.S. representative Mo Udall and Stewart Udall from Arizona, and their respective sons, senator Mark Udall and Tom Udall from Colorado and senator Tom Udall from New Mexico.
And, then there are more lawmakers and successful politicos if you include the Lee offspring who intermarried with Jacob Hamblin's offspring.
Daily Whip Out:
"Jacob Hamblin Goes Ramblin"
Brigham Young named Hamblin an ambassador to the Indians so he had four Shoshone wives in addition to his other wives. And after his testimony against John D. Lee they became enemies and both fathers demanded their kids have nothing to do with each other. So, of course they intermarried like crazy and many of those offspring also had stellar careers in politics.
Meanwhile, I took this screen grab last Saturday while rewatching American Primeval. This is the director Peter Berg, portraying Fancher, the leader of the doomed wagon train.
Peter Berg before the slaughter
The Native American Response?
As Henry Parke notes in his forthcoming, steller piece on the series: Julie O’Keefe, who was Indigenous Cultural Consultant on Killers of the Flower Moon before taking on this series, replies, when asked about the excessive violence, “After reading historical accounts of what happened to Native people of that time period, the violence in American Primeval is tame.”
"Now do you believe me when I say life is stranger than anything you could ever make up?"
—BBB