Porter Rockwell

"Porter Rockwell was that most terrible instrument that can be handled by fanaticism; a powerful physical nature welded to a mind of very narrow perceptions, intense convictions, and changeless tenacity. In his build he was a gladiator; in his humor a Yankee lumberman; in his memory a Bourbon; in his vengeance an Indian. A strange mixture, only to be found on the American continent."
—Fitz Hugh Ludlow, 1870.

Orrin Porter Rockwell (June 28, 1813, or June 25, 1815 – June 9, 1878) was a colorful figure of the Wild West period of American History and a law man in the Utah Territory. Nicknamed Old Port and labeled "the Destroying Angel of Mormondom", during his lifetime he was as famous and controversial as Wyatt Earp or Pat Garrett.

Biography

Orrin Porter Rockwell was born on June 28, 1812 in Belchertown, Hampshire County, Massachusetts to Orin and Sarah Rockwell. He was baptized into the LDS church on April 6, 1830 at Fayette, New York. He married Luana Beebe on February 2, 1832 in Jackson County, Missouri, and was endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on January 5, 1846. A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as a loyal personal bodyguard to both Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young. Separating fact from legends, folklore and myths concerning Rockwell is difficult for historians, in large part because Rockwell was only semi-literate and kept no personal diary.

He had the distinction of being the subject of a direct prophecy by Joseph Smith. After spending eight months in jail, a filthy and emaciated Rockwell traveled to Nauvoo, where he crashed a Christmas party at Joseph Smith's home. When his identity was confirmed, Smith was moved to say, "I prophesy, in the name of the Lord, that you — Orrin Porter Rockwell — so long as ye shall remain loyal and true to thy faith, need fear no enemy. Cut not thy hair and no bullet or blade can harm thee." . The promise echoes that given by an angel to the parents of the Biblical Samson.

Rockwell was a character of contrasts. On one hand he was said to be generous to a fault, even to strangers. For example, upon hearing of a widow who was balding from typhoid fever, he gave up his famous long hair to make the woman a wig. (The recipient of the hair was Agnes Coolbrith Smith Pickett, widow of Joseph Smith's brother Don Carlos, and mother of Ina Coolbrith, who grew up to be Poet Laureate of California.)

On the other hand, he was reputed to have killed many men as a gunfighter, as a religious enforcer, and Deputy United States Marshal. It is said that Porter once told a crowd listening to United States Vice President Schuyler Colfax in 1869, "I never killed anyone who didn't need killing."

Rockwell was accused of attempting the assassination of Lilburn Boggs, the former governor of Missouri, who was notorious for signing an executive order on October 27, 1838 known as the "Extermination Order 44" in Latter Day Saint history. The order was governor's response to the 1838 Mormon War and to what Boggs termed "open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this State... the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description." The order was not formally rescinded until 1976.

Rockwell was in St. Louis,Missouri at the time of the assassination attempt. Across the State from the assassination attempt. But he was arrested for it anyhow. A grand jury was unable to find sufficient evidence to indict him, convinced in part by his reputation as a deadly gunman and his statement that he "never shot at anybody, if I shoot they get shot!... He's still alive, ain't he?" Rockwell denied involvement in oblique terms, stating that he had "done nothing criminal". Some Mormons saw the assassination attempt positively: An anonymous contributor to The Wasp, a pro-Mormon newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois, wrote on May 28 that "Boggs is undoubtedly killed according to report; but who did the noble deed remains to be found out."

Also at about this time, John C. Bennett, a man who had been excommunicated from the Mormon church for sexual misconduct, and a man who had sworn to seek revenge on Joseph Smith for his excommunication, made some groundless accusations. He alleged that Smith had offered a cash reward to anyone who would assassinate Boggs, and that Smith had admitted to him that Rockwell had done the deed. He went on to say that Rockwell had made a veiled threat against Bennett's life if he publicised the story. It must be noted that Bennett was so angry at being caught in his own misdeeds and subsequently excommunicated from the Mormon Church, that he had "sworn to drink the blood of Joseph Smith."² This hatred most certainly incited his desire to bring trouble upon Joseph Smith. This attempt would fail, however, as it was upheld in court that Joseph Smith was not even in Missouri at the time of the attempted assassination of Boggs. And, as previously stated, it was also found in court that Rockwell had not been involved either. Writer Monte B. McLaws, writing in the Missouri Historical Review, averred that while there was no clear finger pointing to anyone, Governor Boggs was running for election against several violent men, all capable of the deed. He also noted that Rockwell may have had cause, but that otherwise there was no particular reason to suspect him of the crime. Harold Schindler, Rockwell's most noted biographer,a journalist who was noted for separating fact from fiction, did not share Bennetts opinion, either.

Rockwell was reportedly a leader together with Ephe Hanks and Bill Hickman of the Danites, a Mormon vigilante group sworn to exact blood vengeance. Stewart Durham writes, "The most notorious Danite was Ephe Hanks , who went against Joseph Smith wishes and started the Danites, on his own." Porter Rockwell never supported the action of Ephe Hanks, and was faithful to Joseph and the Lord, Jesus Christ.

It was Porter's fame as a "mountain man" that attracted the explorer Richard Francis Burton to him. In 1860, on his trip across America to the west coast, Burton stopped to explore Salt Lake City and its environs. He stayed with Bishop Lysander Dayton (from Ohio) in a village near the city one evening and Dayton invited Porter Rockwell to dinner. Porter sent for a bottle of Valley Tan Whiskey and he and Burton drank shot for shot into the night with Porter outlining steps that Burton should take for safety during his passage to Sacramento. Porter advised Burton to carry a loaded double-barreled shotgun, sleep in a "dark camp" (unlit, miles from where supper was cooked), to never trust appearances, and to avoid the main trail, where "White Indians" (so-called because they were white robbers who disguised themselves as Indians to pass off blame) preyed on travelers.

Born in Belchertown, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Rockwell died in Salt Lake City, Utah of natural causes.

Grave marker of Orrin Porter Rockwell

Films

With the exception of the 1994 bomb Rockwell: A Legend of the Wild West[1] (starring NBA MVP Karl Malone), Hollywood has neglected to produce any feature film about Rockwell, though he appears as a character in two films: John Carradine plays him in the 1940 20th Century-Fox film, Brigham Young [2](also starring Dean Jagger in the title role and Vincent Price as Joseph Smith) and James Coburn plays him in the 1995 TNT TV-movie The Avenging Angel[3] (starring Tom Berenger as Miles Utley/Bill Hickman and Charlton Heston as Brigham Young). Some people believe that the character of The Preacher, played by Clint Eastwood in the 1985 film Pale Rider, was based in part on Porter Rockwell.

Trivia

There is a modern day restaurant in Lehi, Utah named for Rockwell called Porter's Place. The edifice was built in 1915 and the restaurant contains a clock from the Hotel Utah ca. 1912. On the menu is the Destroying Angel, a one-pound burger.

Porter operated the Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery at the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley, in an area known as "Point of the Mountain." The former site of the hotel is now on the grounds of a state prison. A nearby stone marker commemorates the spot.

It was rumored that Rockwell had been a member of the same Masonic lodge in Nauvoo as had Smith and many of the early Mormon leaders. However, the only record of his having ever attended is that he was present for one meeting, and no records indicate him ever having been actually made a member. However, for him to have attended the meeting, it is logical to believe that he was at least an Entered Apprentice Freemason.

Further reading

• Dewey, Richard Lloyd Dewey. Porter Rockwell: A Biography. Paramount Books, 1986, Hardcover: 2nd edition, 1988. ISBN 0-9616024-0-6
• Durham, Stewart. The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America. Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1990. ISBN 1-55670-105-5
• McLaws, Monte B. “The Attempted Assassination of Missouri’s Ex-Governor, Lilburn W. Boggs,” Missouri Historical Review, 60.1 (October 1965): 59.
• Schindler, Harold. Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder. University of Utah Press, 1966: Paperback, 1993. ISBN 0-87480-440-X

External links

• Rockwell biography from Utah History
• "Did Orrin Porter Rockwell Shoot Lilburn Boggs, Governor of Missouri?"
• The Life and Legacy of Orrin Porter Rockwell