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Show l4o and perhaps other responsibilities prevented his inclusion. Like President Young, Dame was a native New Englander, having been bom in New Hampshire. He joined the Latter-day Saints in l84l at Nauvoo and went through the persecutions and drivings of the Saints incident to that era. Now, at age thirty-eight, he was probably the most powerful man in southern Utah. He was a colonel in the Nauvoo Legion, commanding the Iron regiment. The Iron military district encompassed the entire southern country from Beaver to the Rio Virgin. But Dame was also the president of the Parowan Stake of the church, a position superior to bishop in the church's e c c l e s i a s t i c a l structure. Furthermore, Dame had served three successive terms in the T e r r i t o r i a l Legislature from 1854 through I856. He was a big man, well proportioned, even handsome. His brown wavy hair receeded deeply at the temples. According to Brooks, he was "a mild mannered, kindly man."" Nevertheless, he is alleged to have given the order to dispose of the Fancher party at Mountain Meadows during the war hysteria of the previous September. Upon his arrival in Parowan, Colonel Dame set out to recruit his expeditionary force from the ranks of the regiment he commanded. It was on the evening of April 13 that John D. Lee lodged at the Dame home. Lee was on a tour of the southern settlements trying to get wagons and teams to be forwarded to Salt Lake City to aid in the evacuation. In his conversations with Dame, he was told of Brigham Young's strategy. Lee wrote of his discussion with Dame in his diary: Spent the night at Pres. W. H. Dame, who had Just returned from G.S.L.c. with instructions from Pres. B. Young t o . . . P e n e t r a t e the Desert in search of a resting place for the Saints. Said that he {Brigham Young) hoped that the co. would find a Desert that would take them 8 days t o cross, 12 but was affraid that i t would take them only 3 days t o cross i t. The idea of a desert requiring eight days to cross was an important part of the Mormon defense plan. James H. Mirtineau, who was a member of Dame's company, |