By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

In the preface to his new and fascinating biography, Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder, Harold Schindler states:

For those members of my church who may feel that I have wrongly opened forbidden doors, I offer these words by the late Brigham H. Roberts, assistant church historian, scholar, and member of the First Council of The Seventy:

We need not follow our researches in any spirit of fear and trembling. We desire only to ascertain the truth; nothing but the truth will endure; and the ascertainment of the truth and the proclamation of the truth in any given case, or upon any subject, will do no harm to the work of the Lord which is itself truth. . . . (New Witnesses For God (Salt Lake City, 1909) vol. III, page 503)

—Harold Schindler
October, 1966

In writing his book on Orrin Porter Rockwell, Harold Schindler has brought to light an ugly chapter in Mormon history. Mr. Schindler does not take a Mormon point of view, nor does he take an anti-Mormon position, but instead examines Orrin Porter Rockwell in a scholarly and objective manner.

On June 11, 1878, the Salt Lake Tribune stated that it was estimated Orrin Porter Rockwell had “participated in at least a hundred murders for the Church, none of which he ever divulged” (Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder, page 9).

The Mormon writer Nicholas Van Alfen, on the other hand, states:

He killed many men. But these cases were always in the performance of his duty as an officer. Notwithstanding the many attempts of Porter’s critics to slander him, there is not a single proof of his ever having taken a life wantonly. (Porter Rockwell—The Mormon Frontier Marshal, by Nicholas Van Alfen, 1964, page 93)

Harold Schindler does not go to either of the above extremes, but instead he tries to find the real history of Mr. Rockwell. Mr. Schindler has spent many years researching documents, journals, manuscripts, and rare books. The result is a book that can be relied upon.

According to Mr. Schindler’s research, Orrin Rockwell was born on June 28, 1813. He was one of the first to join the Mormon Church. In Missouri, Rockwell joined the dreaded Danite band. The Mormon writer William E. Berrett states that the Danites were organized for the “purpose of plundering and murdering the enemies of the Saints” (The Restored Church, 1956 ed., page 198). He is, however, unwilling to admit that Joseph Smith had anything to do with the Danites.

Harold Schindler devotes a great deal of space to the Danite band. He quotes from journals, manuscripts, and other sources to establish the fact that the Danite band did exist and that Joseph Smith probably was responsible for its existence. On page 44 of his book, Mr. Schindler states:

One of the great controversies surrounding the Sons of Dan concerns the question of whether or not Joseph knew and approved of its existence prior to the society’s public exposure in November, 1838. The point is relevant because if his denials of such knowledge are true, it marked the only occasion in Orrin Porter Rockwell’s life when he strayed from the dictates of the church by entering into an unauthorized doctrinal venture. His close relationship and devoted obedience to the prophet makes it inconceivable that he would have failed to inform Joseph of the Danites. Even so, the prophet’s absolute grip on the church precludes the possibility that Avard could have carried out an undertaking of such magnitude in secrecy. Finally, the argument presents itself that the prophet probably encouraged the concept, since it played a dual role of preventing a recurrence of the Kirtland rebellion by uncovering potential apostates almost immediately while at the same time protecting the Mormons against their Gentile enemies.

After the Mormons had been driven from Missouri by order of Lilburn W. Boggs, governor of the state, they literally hated the man. Mr. Schindler states:

About this time Joseph angrily prophesied that Lilburn Boggs would “die by violent hands within a year.” And in a fit of pique he added that Governor Carlin would die in a ditch. (Orrin Porter Rockwell, page 72)

On May 6, 1842, an attempt was made on the life of Lilburn W. Boggs. The Mormon writer John J. Stewart stated:

Unfortunately for Joseph, the Mormons and mankind generally, Boggs recovered despite three bullet wounds in the head and neck. (Joseph Smith—The Mormon Prophet, 1966 ed., page 171)

John Whitmer, one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, wrote a history of the Church in which he states:

As soon as the Lord gave Smith and the church favor in the eyes of the people among whom they lived, and began to prosper them and many began to gather to Nauvoo, Smith and the leaders began to exercise their hatred to those whom he called his enemies. He hired a man by the name of Porter Orin Rockwell (who was one of the Gadianton band of whom I heretofore spoke) to go and murder a man by name of L. W. Boggs who had been elected governor by the people of the state of Missouri, but was not governor at the time Smith sent him to commit this crime. Boggs resided at Independence, the place appointed for the land of Zion, yea, the New Jerusalem; so Rockwell went to Independence, and at night he went to the house of Boggs and shot him through the window; but he recovered. Rockwell was caught and put to jail, and I believe he was tried by a jury of inquest, but was not sufficient testimony to condemn him, though it is a well-known fact that he was hired by Smith to kill Boggs. (John Whitmer’s History, chapter 21)

Although Harold Schindler does not definitely state that Orrin Porter Rockwell was guilty of the attempted assassination, he does bring out the fact that Rockwell was in the area and that he was using an assumed name:

Therefore, in February of 1842 when Orrin Porter Rockwell gathered up his family to visit Independence so that Luana, eight months pregnant with their fourth child, could be with her parents, Bennett, so he says, was not surprised at Joseph’s explanation that Rockwell had gone to “fulfill prophecy.” Once in Independence, Rockwell set out to find work . . . Since Jackson County settlers still harbored a hatred for Mormons, Rockwell used an assumed name while in the area; he called himself Brown. (Orrin Porter Rockwell, page 73)

On pages 75 and 76 of the same book, Harold Schindler states:

Outside the house a crowd had quickly gathered at first report of the murder attempt and now numbered nearly two hundred persons; one of the spectators searching the spot where the gunman had stood found traces of footprints in the mud, and in a partially-filled puddle he discovered a gun. Sheriff Reynolds studied the firearm carefully . . . Reynolds surmised the recoil of such a heavy charge had kicked the pistol from the gunman’s grasp, and failing to find it in the rain, the assassin had fled. While the sheriff mulled these thoughts in his mind, a storekeeper named Uhlinger recognized the weapon as one stolen from his shop.

“I thought the niggers had taken it, but that hired man of Ward’s—the one who used to work with the stallion—he came in to look at it just before it turned up missing!” the storekeeper said.

Grateful for a genuine lead, Reynolds began looking for the hired hand, “to ask some questions,” but the man was nowhere to be found. It was not long before the sheriff determined that Mr. Brown, the suspect, was Orrin Porter Rockwell.

On page 80 of the same book, Mr. Schindler states:

If Rockwell did fire the fateful shot, it would appear the decision was of his own making; he had no love for Boggs, and in Rockwell’s eyes, the man had sinned against the church in ordering the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri. It also is possible Rockwell felt he was performing a religious duty as a member of the priesthood in fulfilling Joseph’s prophecy.

[Bold in quotations added for emphasis and does not appear in originals.]

In footnote 27 on page 82, Harold Schindler states:

Much has been written of Boggs’ true feelings in regard to the attempt on his life. Mormon writers suggest the former governor had made a number of Gentile enemies, so many in fact, that to insinuate the church was to blame was typical of his bigotry. Even though the controversy over the near assassination will never be resolved, one thing can be stated as a certainty—Boggs sincerely believed his attacker was a Mormon. In 1846, when he journeyed west, he confided to his traveling companions that he understood the Saints were headed in the same direction and confessed he feared for his life because they had made an earlier attempt to kill him.

It is said that the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, promised Orrin Porter Rockwell that if he “would never cut his hair he would never die at the hands of his enemies” (Orrin Porter Rockwell—The Mormon Frontier Marshal, p. 41).

At one time, Joseph Smith had Orrin Porter Rockwell run a bar for him. Harold Schindler states:

Here, too, Joseph had plans. In a city where liquor was controlled by the mayor, what better business to be in than tavern-keeping? As a matter of fact, Joseph mused as he glanced at Rockwell’s shoulder-length hair, Nauvoo could also use a barbershop. If the two enterprises were combined, the operator of such an establishment would surely make money, especially since the prophet could not hope to accommodate every visitor to the city at his new Mansion House barroom. The idea appealed to Rockwell, and it suited Joseph’s plans as well. (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, p. 110)

Joseph Smith’s son related the following:

About 1842, a new and larger house was built for us. . . . Father proceeded to build an extensive addition running out from the south wing toward the east. . . .

At any rate, it seemed spacious then, and a sign was put out giving it the dignified name of “The Nauvoo Mansion,” a house destined to become quite famous and interesting in its day. Mother was to be installed as landlady and soon made a trip to Saint Louis . . .

When she returned, Mother found installed in the keeping room of the hotel—that is to say, the main room where the guests assembled and where they were received upon arrival—a bar, with counter, shelves, bottles, glasses, and other paraphernalia customary for a fully-equipped tavern bar, and Porter Rockwell in charge as tender.

She was very much surprised and disturbed over this arrangement, but said nothing for a while . . . she asked me where Father was. I told her he was in the front room . . . Then she told me to go and tell him she wished to see him. I obeyed and returned with him to the hall where Mother awaited him.
“Joseph,” she asked, “what is the meaning of that bar in this house?”

. . . “How does it look,” she asked, “for the spiritual head of a religious body to be keeping a hotel in which is a room fitted out as a liquor-selling establishment?”

He reminded her that all taverns had their bars at which liquor was sold or dispensed . . .

Mother’s reply came emphatically clear, though uttered quietly: “Well, Joseph, . . . I will take my children and go across to the old house and stay there, for I will not have them raised up under such conditions as this arrangement imposes upon us, nor have them mingle with the kind of men who frequent such a place. You are at liberty to make your choice; either that bar goes out of the house, or we will!”

It did not take Father long to make the choice, for he replied immediately, “Very well, Emma; I will have it removed at once”—and he did. (The Saints’ Herald, January 22, 1935, p. 110)

After Joseph Smith’s death, Orrin Porter Rockwell took another man’s wife. Harold Schindler states:

Prior to his arrest in 1843 on charges of assault on Governor Boggs, Rockwell had taken up residence in a tavern operated by Amos Davis, a Nauvoo Legion captain. It was this officer’s wife of whom Rockwell had become enamored. How long the affair had been blooming is not a matter of record, but he did acknowledge the lady publicly early in December of 1845. Because of his notoriety, the matter did not pass unnoticed. Said the Warsaw Signal of December 10:

O. P. Rockwell—This delectable specimen of humanity, . . . the assassin of Governor Boggs, has taken to himself a wife—not his own wife, for be it remembered that he cast off the woman that law regarded as his wife long since; but he has appropriated to himself the wife of Amos Davis. It is generally the case that when a wife leaves her husband to live with a seducer, they elope and settle in a place where they are not known; but there is no necessity for such a step in the Holy Nauvoo. So fashionable is it for the Heads of the church to appropriate the wives of other men to their own purposes, that it is regarded as no crime for one man to steal the companion of his neighbor and live with her in open unconcealed adultery. What a beautiful moral code is Mormonism!

. . . Davis did not depart from Nauvoo, a display of courage which placed him in a delicate and dangerous position, for one morning there appeared at his door the person of Mrs. Davis—in company with Rockwell. The astonished tavern keeper gawked in disbelief as his wife casually gathered together her belongings; Rockwell stood to one side and conspicuously inspected the trigger mechanism on his pistol. Scarcely had the couple closed the door on the hapless husband than word of the incident flashed through the streets of the city. (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, pp. 148-149)

After Joseph Smith’s death, Brigham Young became the leader of the Church. Among other things, Brigham Young is remembered for having taught that it was sometimes necessary to kill a person to save his soul. On one occasion, he stated:

This is loving our neighbor as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it. Any of you who understand the principles of eternity, if you have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto death, would not be satisfied nor rest until your blood should be spilled, that you might gain that salvation you desire. That is the way to love mankind. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, page 220)

Harold Schindler quotes Brigham Young as making this statement concerning those who did not belong to the Church:

They shall reverence and acknowledge the name of God and His priesthood, and if they set up their heads and seek to introduce iniquity into this camp and to trample on the priesthood, I swear to them, they shall never go back to tell the tale.
(Orrin Porter Rockwell, page 163)

Harold Schindler tells how the Mormons murdered the Aiken Party in 1857. From the evidence he presents, it would appear that Orrin Porter Rockwell and several others were involved in the murder of these men. On page 270 of his book, Schindler states:

The Californians had no way of knowing that a messenger had been dispatched by the wagonmaster alerting the Nauvoo Legion to their presence. Within hours, the unsuspecting travelers were arrested by men of Lot Smith’s command in Weber County. Their property confiscated, the gamblers were hustled off to Ogden for questioning. The next morning, the prisoners were turned over to Colonel Chauncey West for transfer to Great Salt Lake City, where they were confined in the Townsend House as spies. Mormons not assigned to Legion units in the field were rotated on guard duty over the six men until church authorities could reach a decision in their case.

On pages 274-276 of the same book, Schindler continues:

Twenty years later, when Sylvanus Collett was on trial for his life (charged with the murder of John Aiken), two Mormons, Joseph Skeen and his son, William, both took the witness stand and testified that Collett had told them the whole story of the Aiken Party. . . . Troubled by the gossip, Skeen asked Collett about it and was told

that he (Collett) had been an escort to the Aiken party from the north, they having been delivered over to Rockwell . . . and himself, with the order to make away with them.

The Skeens, father and son, agreed in substance that Collett gave this account of what transpired after the eight-man party left Nephi:

Because the Californians were large and strong, a second group of men had been sent from Nephi south to the Sevier River while four Gentiles still were asleep at the settlement. When the gamblers and their escort arrived at the river that evening, they camped with the men who had preceded them the night before; the meeting was made to appear accidental. Owing to considerable Indian activity in the vicinity, the gamblers had no objection to teaming up with a few extra hands.

After dinner, the party sat around the campfire singing when someone shouted that Indians were attacking. The four men who had been sent in advance to act as reinforcements created confusion to distract the Californians, and at a signal (here the Skeens were in conflict, the father testifying Collett gave the sign, the son saying it was Rockwell), each of the four men in the escort, having selected a victim in advance, slipped a bar of iron from his sleeve and struck his man on the head. “. . . Collett missed (his) man,” William Skeen told the court. In fact, he said, Collett was being badly beaten until Rockwell pulled a revolver and, firing across the campfire, shot Collett’s man in the back. The wounded Californian lurched, fell into the brush, and escaped in the darkness. The bodies of the two Aikens and the colonel were thrown into the river; Tom Aiken and Richard were dead, but the icy water apparently revived John Aiken, who crawled to shore and made his way to Nephi.

. . . .

At any rate, after the two wounded men were patched up and put to bed in Foote’s hotel, Mrs. Frances Cazier, who had watched the drama with interest, noticed Rockwell and three others enter town after dark. The next morning she was standing in the doorway of her home adjacent to the Tithing Office and saw Rockwell sitting inside with several other men. At Collett’s trial, she testified she heard a voice say: “Boy, you’ve made a bad job of it; two got away. Nephi won’t be trusted with another job.”

Fourteen-year-old Alice Lamb listened to a conversation between several Nephi residents in which the return of Aiken and Wright was discussed and a decision was made to lure the two men to another spot and “there to make away with them.” Meanwhile, other people in Nephi were hearing and seeing things they would be asked about twenty years later. Guy Foote and Reuben Down had occasion to pass the Tithing Office corral; there they saw horses and pack animals belonging to the Aiken Party.

Four or five days after the two survivors had made their appearance in Nephi, they felt able to travel. . . . Shortly before they rode out of the settlement, Rockwell and several men were seen heading north.

The events of the next few hours remain much of a mystery, but William Skeen swore that Collett had boasted of ambushing Wright and Aiken at a place called Willow Creek, eight miles from Nephi. (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, pages 274-276)

Mr. Schindler goes on to tell that the Mormons attempted to murder another member of the Aiken Party “Near Point of the Mountain.” He escaped with “only bruises,” however, and came back to Great Salt Lake City. According to Bill Hickman, Brigham Young called him into his office and told him to murder the man who had escaped. Harold Schindler states:

Bill Hickman, fresh from a murder himself, enters the picture at this point. Told that “the boys have made a bad job of trying to put a man away,” Hickman says he was ordered to find Jones and “use him up.”

. . . Hickman claims he and a man named Meacham took up their vigil near the springs . . . Hickman fired point-blank at Jones, the bullet smashing into his head . . . The body was dumped into a shallow ditch along a fence line, and the spot was marked with a white rag. Then, said Hickman:

We returned to the city to Gen. Grant’s, as per agreement, and found him at home with Gen. Kimball, O. P. Rockwell, and somebody else whose name I do not recollect now. They asked if all was right, and I told them it was. They got spades, and we all went back, deepened the ditch, put him in and buried him, returned to Grant’s, took some whisky, and separated for the night. The next day Kimball and I went to Brigham Young’s, told him that (Jones) was taken care of, and there would be no more stink about his stories. He said he was glad of it. (Jones) was the last one of the Aiken’s party, of whom there has been considerable said. I never saw until I saw him in the wagon that evening.

With the last spadeful of dirt on “Honesty” Jones’s body, five members of the Aiken Party had been murdered. (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, pages 278-279)

Even Nicholas Van Alfen, whose book is written in defense of Orrin Porter Rockwell, has to admit that he sometimes took the law into his own hands:

One cannot resist the conclusion that Porter nourished a growing hatred and an attitude of revenge against the type of men that characterized lawlessness and brutality. He became a peril to them because at times he was his own court, judge, and executioner. (Porter Rockwell—The Mormon Frontier Marshal, pages 47-48)

On page 65 of the same book, we find this statement:

John F. Everet, an old-timer of Springville, Utah, knew Rockwell personally. Mr. Everet praised Porter highly but criticized him because too often he did not bother with the courts. If a man stole a horse and had to be chased a hundred miles, it was not likely that the thief would be brought in alive.

Harold Schindler tells that the U.S. marshal, P. K. Dotson, “held a warrant for Rockwell’s arrest on murder charges.” He was unable to arrest Rockwell, however, and in a letter to Judge John Cradlebaugh, he stated:

I have received from you certain warrants of arrest against many persons, in your Judicial district, charged with murder, including one against J. D. Lee, John Higbee (a bishop), Hoyte (his counselor), and thirty-six others, for the murder of one hundred and nineteen men, women, and children, at Mountain Meadows, also one against Porter Rockwell, John A. Wolf, president of the Seventies . . . for the murder of the Aiken Brothers and two others; . . .

I regret to inform you that it is not in my power to execute any of these processes. I have made repeated efforts by the aid as well of the military, as of the civil posse, to execute the warrants last alluded to, but without success. So great is the number of persons engaged in the commission of these crimes, and such the feelings of the Mormon Church, and the community in their favor, that I cannot rely on a civil posse to aid me in arresting them. . . . (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, pages 292-293)

The following statement concerning Rockwell appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune:

Brutal in his instincts, lawless in his habits, and a fanatical devotee of the Prophet, the commands of this gloomy despot he received as the will of the Lord, and with the ferocity borne of mistaken zeal, he grew to believe that the most acceptable service he could render the Almighty, was as Lear expresses it, to ‘kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!’ He killed unsuspecting travelers, whose booty was coveted by his prophet-master. He killed fellow Saints who held secrets that menaced the safety of their fellow criminals in the priesthood. He killed Apostates who dared to wag their tongues about the wrongs they had endured. And he killed mere sojourners in Zion merely to keep his hand in.

. . . The Danite Rockwell retired from the avenging business, and for some years past has been extensively engaged in raising horses and cattle. But the recollection of his evil deeds haunted him, and conscience preyed upon his soul like the undying worm. To gain escape from this fiery torment he sought the intoxicating bowl, and whenever he appeared in the streets of Salt Lake it was generally in the character of a vociferating maniac. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 1878, as quoted in Orrin Porter Rockwell, page 363)

There can be little doubt that Orrin Porter Rockwell did have a drinking problem. Harold Schindler quotes Elijah Averett as saying:

Porter Rockwell was along for a bodyguard to Brigham, and while at Pipe (Springs) on the way back Port got rather drunk, and as they left Pipe Brigham and the driver of the team were sitting in the front seat looking solemnly ahead and Port was shouting and waving his hat . . . (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, page 356)

Nicholas Van Alfen stated:

The extent of Porter’s drinking in later years and all that accompanies it must have been frowned upon by Brigham Young and the Church people as a whole. . . . It seems that Porter was given special leniency. Old timers could still remember Rockwell riding up and down Main Street in Salt Lake City yelling like a wild Comanche as he lassoed the signs on the storefronts. Only Porter could get away with it. (Porter Rockwell—The Mormon Frontier Marshal, pages 153-154)

Orrin Porter Rockwell was held in full fellowship by the Church, and in 1873 he was sent on a mission. He died in 1878. At the time of his death, he was awaiting trial for the murder of the Aiken party. The Salt Lake Tribune stated:

The gallows was cheated of one of the fittest candidates that ever cut a throat or plundered a traveler. (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, page 362)

The Apostle Joseph F. Smith, on the other hand, paid tribute to Orrin Porter Rockwell. Harold Schindler states:

Nearly a thousand persons filled the Fourteenth Ward assembly rooms on June 12 for Rockwell’s funeral. Joseph F. Smith, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles, delivered the eulogy. Elder Smith said: “He had his little faults, but Porter’s life on earth, taken altogether, was one worthy of example, and reflected honor upon the Church. Through all his trials he had never once forgotten his obligations to his brethren and his God.” (Orrin Porter Rockwell; Man of God, Son of Thunder, page 364)

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