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George W. Adair, Jr. - A private in the Fifth Platoon, Company I, of the Iron County Militia, was one of the few men ever indicted in the massacre. In the summer of 1874, an indictment for murder was handed down against Adair, and eight other men, but only John D. Lee would ever be tried. Though most accounts of the time claimed that the militia killed only the adult males and the Paiutes killed the women and children, later statements disputed this, indicating the the white men did most of the killing under orders from Major John M. Higbee.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was a five day siege between September 7 and September 11, 1857. 

Isaac Chauncey Haight (1813-1886) - Born in Windham, New York, Haight was an early convert to Mormonism and was in Nauvoo, Illinois when Joseph Smith, founder of the sect was killed. He migrated with other Mormon members in 1847 to Salt Lake City, Utah and a year later he and about 50 other members were sent south to establish the city of Parowan. By 1853, Haight was directing church immigration to Utah and in 1854 was sent to Cedar City, Utah to take charge of the iron works. There, he also became the ecclesiastical leader of several area congregations, was the mayor of the town, a territorial legislator (Council of Fifty), and the President of the Parowan "stake of Zion," reporting directly to Brigham Young. However, it was his role as second-in-command of the Iron County Militia that garnered his reputation as one of the leaders of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. In this capacity, he ordered the massacre of Baker-Fancher party on September 11, 1857. After the tragic event, the government began to look into the killings, but investigations were interrupted by the Civil War. Under public pressure, Haight was excommunicated from the Mormon Church in 1870, but four years later, was reinstated by Brigham Young. That same year, though, Haight and eight others were indicted for the crime. Haight went into hiding and a $500 reward was posted for his capture. Haight lived for a while in Manassa, Colorado before moving to Thatcher, Arizona where he took his mother's maiden name of Horton. He died there on September 8, 1886 of a lung affliction. Only John D. Lee ever stood trial for the killings, during which he was convicted and executed in 1876.

Jacob Hamblin (1819-1886) - Born in Ohio on April 6, 1819, Hamblin grew up to marry Lucinda Taylor in 1839, the two settled down in Wisconsin and would have four children. In 1842, the couple converted to Mormonism. In 1849, the same year that Jacob decided to fully embrace Mormonism and is polygamy policies, by marrying a second wife named Rachel Judd, was also the same year that Lucinda abandoned her husband and their children.  The following year, Jacob and his “new” wife went to Utah, where the settled near Tooele. He quickly became known for his good relations between the settlers and Indians and in 1854 he was called upon to serve a mission to the southern Paiutes and moved to a homestead near Santa Clara.

In August, 1857, Hamblin became the president of the Utah Indian Mission. That same month, Hamblin traveled to Salt Lake City with Apostle George A. Smith, who had been dispatched to the southern Mormon colonies to warn of the approaching United States army and recommend that the colonists not trade with any non-Mormons then traveling through their territory. On their way to Salt Lake City, Hamblin and Smith actually encountered the ill-fated Fancher party, and when questioned about where they pioneers might rest their cattle, Hamblin suggested his own homestead at Mountain Meadows. Some accounts say that he was “ordered” to make the suggestion.

In Salt Lake City, Hamblin met with Mormon leaders including Brigham Young, who urged Hamblin to "not permit the brethren to part with their guns and ammunition, but save them against the hour of need." He further instructed Hamblin that the Indians "must learn to help us or the United States will kill us both." In the meetings, the Southern Paiutes were authorized to steal cattle from travelers as a part of Brigham Young's Utah War strategy. He was also informed that the Fancher party was allegedly “behaving badly,” by robbing chicken roosts, poisoning water, and using abusive language to Mormons they met along the way. While at the capitol, Hamblin also took yet another wife, Sarah Priscilla Leavitt.

Hamblin had not yet returned home when the massacre occurred. On the trail south, met John D. Lee, who Hamblin would later say admitted his role in the killings. Though Hamblin was well known for his honesty, many historians believe that Hamblin's account of the events was to implicate Lee and shield other Mormons. In 1876, his testimony at John D. Lee's trial was paramount in Lee's conviction.

After the massacre, the surviving children were initially taken to Hamblin’s ranch, and three of them, Rebecca, Louisa and Sarah Elizabeth Dunlap would reside there for the next two years. The rest of the children were then taken to other Mormon families in the area, but not before one child, who was crying, was allegedly killed. When the three Dunlap children were rescued, there were allegations that they had been neglected and that Sarah Elizabeth Dunlap's blindness was a direct result of the negligent care. Though rumors were rampant of Hamblin’s participation in “setting up” the disaster, these were never proven and he was not indicted for any crime. In fact, he was known to adamantly express his horror of the massacre.

A year after the massacre, Hamblin was sent to northern Arizona, to mission to the Hopis. He took another wife in November, 1865 and over the years and between his four wives, he would father 24 children and adopt several more. In 1870, Hamblin acted as an adviser to John Wesley Powell’s second expedition into the Grand Canyon. Hamblin continued to serve as a missionary to the Native American tribes in the Southern Utah, where he continued to keep a ranch. However, following the enactment of Edmunds Act of 1882, an arrest order was issued naming Hamblin and others known to practice polygamy. Hamblin then permanently moved his families from Utah into Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico. Until he died on August 31, 1886, he continually moved from one family to another to evade federal officers.

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