Danite - Alleged Survival in Utah

Alleged Survival in Utah

Historian Leland Gentry asserts that after Sampson Avard was captured in November 1838, the Danite movement "died a quick death." Gentry cites numerous evidences supporting this position in his book, "The Danite Band of 1838." Nevertheless, after the Mormons settled in Nauvoo, Illinois and later in Utah, they were dogged by rumors the Danites continued to exercise influence within the Mormon community. These beliefs were fueled by the fact that many former Danites occupied prominent paramilitary or law enforcement roles in the new settlements.

For example, alleged former Danite Hosea Stout became the chief of police in Nauvoo. Then, after Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844, Brigham Young made Stout head of the "Whistling and Whittling Brigade" — a group of young boys who followed strangers around Nauvoo "whistling" until they left. Another alleged former Danite, Orrin Porter Rockwell, became a body guard to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, and later to Brigham Young. Disaffected and disgraced ex-Mormon, Ann Eliza Young, alleged that Rockwell gained fame as one of Young's alleged "Destroying Angels" - though no reference to the existence of any such group can be found outside the writings of Ann Eliza Young.

Despite the presence of alleged former Danites within the LDS Church, there is little or no evidence that they continued to exist as an organized body after 1838, or that they participated in any actions against anti-Mormons in Utah. For instance, while former Danite John D. Lee's lengthy confessional describes the operations of the Danites in Missouri, he makes no indication that the organization continued to exist after the Mormons were forced out of the state.

Still, the rumors continued, for instance, when the expedition of Lt. John W. Gunnison was killed by Indians in 1853, some claimed that the Danites had a hand in the affair. However, these claims were entirely refuted by an official investigation led by Gunnison's own second in command. Similar rumors circulated when Indians killed territorial official Almon W. Babbitt on the plains in 1856, though there is no evidence supporting the truth of these rumors.

In the 1870s, Ann Eliza Young and Fanny Stenhouse (both former Mormons) authored exposés on Mormonism. Young and Stenhouse claimed that the Danites were active, and primarily occupied with the task of discreetly murdering and disposing of Mormon dissenters and outsiders perceived to be a threat to Brigham Young's power. Neither Ms. Young nor Ms. Stenhouse provided any evidence to back-up their claims. Not a single "murder" was reported during that time to support these allegations, not to mention evidences which would support allegations of multiple homicides. To date, both LDS and non-LDS researchers have failed to produce any evidence providing (even remotely) the support of such claims - leading to the majority position among scholars of Mormon History that the allegations and positions of Ms. Young and Ms. Stenhouse were false.