I'm reading Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy. The book is obviously about one specific event, but author David Roberts gives some background about various aspects of Mormon culture.
He introduces the Danites as, "The most nefarious organization ever to coalesce within the Mormon church... a devastatingly effective cadre of assassins." But less than a page later, he references Leonard J. Arrington's work, Brigham Young: American Moses, which denies that the Danites were much more than "western fiction."
So which is it? Mormon assassins or figment of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's imagination? Thanks in advance for any kind replies.
The short answer is that while some stories are most definitely fiction, a majority of them have some basis in truth.
The longer story is more complex, but here are some quick points you can use to kick off your research:
The group you're referring to were known as the Danites.
They existed as a paramilitary force directly under the command of Joseph Smith. Letters also show that they were also used as a secret police, primarily to threaten dissidents and maintain theocratic order.
The Danites were involved in both the 1838 Missouri War (see also the salt sermon)and the 1857 Mormon[Utah]/USA war.
The build up to the 1838 war involved Danite raids (which were either what instigated or resulted from the Missourian raids, depending on who you ask).
The build up to the 1857 war saw massacres such as the Mormons Meadows Massacre where Danite bands, pretending to be indians, attacked and murdered a wagon train of settlers passing through the territory. Note that a Danite by the name of John D Lee was blamed and excommunicated by the church for instigating the massacre. He was executed by the government officials for the act. He's of note because he claimed innocence with his dying breath. The church officially and quietly restored his blessings (reversed the excommunication and gave him back his second anointing [guaranteed entry to heaven]), in 1961
Even in the late Utah period, there were several documented killings attributed to the Danites who were enforcing the doctrine of Blood Atonement (the belief that some crimes are not covered by Christ's atonement, and one must shed their own blood through ritual death to atone for them, the accepted forms were slitting of the throat, vivisection, and disembowelment. These were mimed in the temple ceremony up until the 1990 changes )
In recent years, the LDS church has admitted the existence of the Danites in one of their apologetic essays; however, they distance the Danites from the early leadership of the church. This is still an improvement over the 1970 claims that the Danites were fictional
I hope that helps.
https://archive.org/details/documentcontaini00miss
You can start on phone 97. Testimony of Sampson Avard. The church has tried to hide or spin this very damming evidence. The church's version is that a group of Mormons formed the group without their direction. But the group's whole purpose is to keep the members loyal to the leaders even using force. They are to kill anyone who won't obey when they invade the non Mormon communities.
Affidavit of Thomas B Marsh (misspelled as March) on page 57 also adds insight.