by Will Bagley and Ron Walker | Apr 1, 2003 | Features & Gunfights On September 11, 1857, 120 men, women and childrenpioneers from Arkansas headed for Californiawere massacred after being promised safe passage through a Southern Utah valley known as Mountain Meadows. Will Bagley, a history columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, is the author of Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Nor did Pratts death stir blood lust. [21], However, not all reactions to Rockwell's death were positive. Very bad casting. On June 22, Ford wrote to Smith and the Nauvoo City Council, proposing a trial by a non-Mormon jury in Carthage and guaranteeing Smith's safety. Film buffs might see Porter Rockwell as an individual akin to Joaquin Phoenixs character Freddie Quell in the 2012 movie The Master, who defended Lancaster Dodd and The Cause with a radical fervor. [15], Following Smith's death, Rockwell followed Brigham Young and the LDS Church to the Salt Lake Valley. He shoots, rides & roughs it nicely. Baptized into the Mormon faith at the age of sixteen and noted to be one of the first members of the church, Porter Rockwell displayed a zealous religious fervor that he often expressed with gunfire. Daniels' account also states that one man tried to decapitate Smith for a bounty but was prevented by divine intervention. Rockwell, at one time, cut his hair. Initially, the primary contenders to succeed Smith were Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang. [19] He was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. [31], After using all of the shots in his pistol, Smith made his way towards the window. Of course, anti-Young historians say otherwise. Good history must be based on facts. . PORTER ROCKWELL was the last of the Avenging Angels. A promise made him by the prophet. But I am determined by the help of God never to bear false witness against My Neighbour. Later, he complained that those who questioned him wanted lies, not truth. Inaccurate Information about the Inaccurate Information In Review review posted here. On Christmas of 1843, Joseph Smith blessed Porter Rockwell, stating that the man would not be harmed by bullet or blade as long as he did not cut his hair. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. A year later, when the church celebrated the 50th anniversary of Brigham Youngs arrival in the Salt Lake ValleyYoung himself died in 1877the newly completed Mormon temple in Salt Lake City was draped in American flags. "[6]:v6,p549 He reluctantly submitted to arrest. [3][7], On February 2, 1832, Rockwell married Luana Beebe in Jackson County, Missouri, and was endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on January 5, 1846. He owned and operated a hotel and brewery in Salt Lake Valley area. Copies of Youngs letter exist both in rough draft and final draft form. Pratt had been murdered in Arkansas, where the Baker-Fancher party had its origin. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of mehe was murdered in cold blood. Typically, these women continued to live with their first husbands, not Smith. Controversy continued to follow Rockwell, with the gunslinger accused of a revenge killing shortly after being deputized. In the 1880s and early 1890s, more than 1,000 Mormon men would be convicted of charges relating to plural marriage. Copy. It sounds outlandish now, but the United States went to war with Mormons in the late 1850s. Again the Mormons brought suit, but in 1890 the Supreme Court ruled the Edmunds-Tucker Act constitutional. Taylor was shot four or five times and was severely wounded, but survived. In 2010, forensic research by J. Lynn Lyon of the University of Utah and Mormon historian Glen M. Leonard suggested that Taylor's watch was not struck by a ball, but rather broke against a window ledge. Mountain Meadows Massacre Young's defiant stance toward outside authority meant frequent clashes with the federal government, especially after the church's public embrace of plural marriage in. Tom Berenger who's a gun totin' sharp shootin' Mormon security man foils an attempted assassination of Brigham Young and is hardly thanked for his efforts. (She also established from the most impeccable Mormon sources that Brigham Young had obstructed a murder investigation for 18 years, which made him guilty of felony murder.). These men later insisted that no orders had come from Salt Lake City, and this testimony included that given by those who in later life left Utah and Mormonism. Apparently I succeeded, since critics in the employ of the LDS Church claim I dont prove Brigham Young ordered the murders. Fifty-three years ago Juanita Brooks classic study, The Mountain Meadows Massacre, concluded the crime was the result of one unfortunate circumstance after another. Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre? - True West Magazine Orrin Porter Rockwell (June 28, 1813 or June 25, 1815 June 9, 1878) was a figure of the Wild West period of American history. Shortly after the events occurred, Taylor wrote that he heard that two of the attackers died when Smith shot them with his pistol. John Wills was shot in the arm, William Vorhease was shot in the shoulder, and William Gallaher was shot in the face. The anti-Mormon[5] "Carthage Greys", a local militia, were assigned to protect the brothers. Whether Porter fired the gun used in the assassination attempt is debated, but Rockwell served nearly a year in jail awaiting trial before his release. Even though Young blessed it as a place to begin anew,his fears of continued religious persecution may have caused him to order a massacre. After the Great Mormon Migration, Porter Rockwell served as a Deputy Marshal of the State of Deseret during Mormon attempts at secession under Brigham Young, and later as a U.S. The film which takes a VERY sympathetic posture of the Avenging Angels, the well organized and well funded hit squad of the LDS which organized a number of out-right murders of both true believers and "Gentiles (as us non-subscribers to their faith are termed). At the time of his death, Rockwell had been a baptized Latter-day Saint longer than anyone living. After he was criticized by some followers, Smith returned and was reported to have said, "If my life is of no value to my friends it is of none to myself. I don't like this movie at all. Why all the hostility against Smith and his fellow Mormons? I remember watching it when it was released, and like many of you I do not understand why it hasn't been re-mastered on Blu Ray or DVD , I've e-mailed turner classic movies and have never received a reply on when this movie might be released again. So happy this movie was made. Rigdon was the senior surviving member of the First Presidency, a body that had led the Latter Day Saint movement since 1832. In this period, militia leaders at Cedar City and at Mountain Meadows changed their minds several times whether the killing should go forward. [16], Rockwell's fame as a "mountain man" attracted the explorer, Richard Francis Burton. The Porter Rockwell Trail is a walking trail that spans Lehi, Draper, White City, and Sandy.[25]. He said Smith was "the most successful impostor in modern times,"[41] and that some people "expect more protection from the laws than the laws are able to furnish in the face of popular excitement."[42]. Why? War and extermination is inevitable! He investigates a little further and finds there's quite a complicated conspiracy at work. At Rockwell's funeral, apostle Joseph F. Smith, nephew of Joseph Smith and future church president, spoke the following about Rockwell: They say he was a murderer; if he was, he was the friend of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and he was faithful to them, and to his covenants, and he has gone to Heaven and apostates can go to Hell Porter Rockwell was yesterday afternoon ushered into Heaven clothed with immortality and eternal life, and crowned with all glory which belongs to a departed saint. Hiding Rockwells role in expressing Eleanor to Utah from my late friend Hal was evidence that had been carefully suppressed. Porter shot and killed Frank Worrell, a local vagabond who also happened to be the militia member in charge of protecting Joseph Smith on the day of Smith's murder. [39] Apart from Taylor's report of what he had heard, there is no evidence that Wills, Vorhease, Gallaher, or Allen died from their wounds.[40]. Porter Rockwell would spend the rest of his life, nearly twenty years, awaiting trial and punishment for the Aiken murders. Why did he shield the murderers and allow the churchs newspaper to blame the crime on the Paiutes for a dozen years after Jacob Hamblin told him Mormons were involved? He did disband them once he saw the true scope of activities and he excommunicated the band leader Joseph Avaard, however, Orrin Porter Rockwell, who is portrayed in the movie, was indeed a member of the Danites and was Joseph and Brigham's personal body guard. A strange mixture, only to be found on the American Continent.[11]. - True West Magazine Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre? Don't waste your time watching this since the are so many other classic western out there. Republican (1843-44)", "Uncle Dale's Old Mormon Articles: Niles Register 1841-1850", "S.L. Two years later, Young led the Mormons on their great trek westward through the wilderness some 1,300 miles to the Rocky Mountainsa rite of passage they saw as necessary in order to find their promised land. In 1849, he sent representatives to Congress with a proposed map of the state of Deseret (a word from the Book of Mormon meaning honeybee.) [23] The mob first attempted to push the door open to fire into the room, though Smith and the other prisoners pushed back and prevented this. Jones, who was present, relayed to Ford several threats against Joseph made by members of the Greys, all of which were dismissed by Ford.[18]. I would gladly recommend this movie to any and all who is interested in early American history. On Sept. 11, 1857, a group of California-bound pioneers camping in southern Utah were murdered by a Mormon militia and its Indian allies. Not circumstantial evidence. James Haslam, who rode the 500-mile circuit in six days, recalled, Young told me [when riding back south] . LET IT BE MADE WITH POWDER AND BALL!!! It's a good movie full of action and romance. What was the favorite type of mule used in the Old West? How far apart were Wild Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt in their famous 1865 showdown in Springfield, Missouri? Rockwell was the primary subject of the independent 1994 Rockwell. Though Young eventually agreed to be replaced as territorial governor, the Mormon practice of plural marriage would delay Utahs statehood for nearly four more decades. Very few on line markets know about it, and on e-bay it's rated as very rare. Before a trial could be held, a mob of about 200 armed men, their faces painted black with wet gunpowder, stormed Carthage Jail in the late afternoon of June 27, 1844. Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal in Warsaw, Illinois, a newspaper hostile to the church, editorialized:[11]. In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker Act took square aim at the Mormon church itself, disincorporating it and authorizing the federal government to seize much of its property. Marshal and displayed a generous soft side. First of all, it's been a while since I saw this movie. When Young and his followers first arrived in the Great Salt Lake, the region was still part of Mexican territory. The nation was and remains horrified by what happened at Mountain Meadows. Despite this violent life, Rockwell received a peaceful death, passing away due to natural causes in his mid-60s in his adopted hometown of Salt Lake City. When I learned that Orrin Porter Rockwell, the notorious Mormon lawman and Danite, had rushed Mrs. Pratt across the plains in record time, I knew what happened at Mountain Meadows. It's not very accurate, but what do you expect from an old western staring Charlton Heston? 28 Jun 1813 Belchertown, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA d. 9 Jun 1878 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA: Early Latter-day Saints Database", "History, circa JuneOctober 1839 [Draft 1], Page 15", "Books to help answer the question, 'are we there yet? Foster, a co-publisher of the Expositor, reported on June 12 that not only was the printing press destroyed, but that "several hundred minions injured the building very materially". Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images, The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith, https://www.history.com/news/why-the-mormons-settled-in-utah.