Mormon Media Network

Porter Rockwell

Bodyguard, Mountain Man, Pioneer, Marshal

During his lifetime “Old Port” was as famous as Wyatt Earp.

EARLY LIFE QUICK FACTS

In 1817, due to several years of crop failure, the Rockwell family Birth Name: sold their farm in Massachusetts and moved to upstate New York. Orrin Porter Rockwell They settled near the town of Palmyra about a mile away from the Joseph Smith Sr. family. Birth date:

Orrin Porter Rockwell was a childhood friend of Mormon leader June 28, 1813 Joseph Smith. On April 6, 1830, the 16 year old became the youngest member of the church, being part of the first group Birth place: baptized the day the church was organized. Belchertown, Massachusetts As a boy, Porter gathered berries and cut firewood which he Death date: would sell to raise money to help pay for the publishing of the Book of Mormon. This was particularly significant because he himself was June 9, 1878 illiterate and never able to read the book. Place of Death: DEVOTED FRIEND TO THE PROPHET JOSEPH Salt Lake City, Utah In December 1838 Joseph Smith and a few associates were being held in the jail at Liberty, Missouri. The charges against them were Burial: spurious and the jail was miserably cold, cramped and filthy. Salt Lake City Cemetery Joseph asked his friend Porter to smuggle in some tools they might use to break out of the jail. Porter had been a nearly daily visitor to the jail, serving as a messenger between Joseph and Brigham His epitaph reads: Young. He was able to smuggle in tools, and the prisoners made good progress. However, when he attempted to smuggle in a “He was brave and loyal to his faith. True to the Prophet replacement handle for a broken auger, Porter was discovered by Jos. Smith. A promise made the jailer. him by the prophet. Through obedience it was fulfilled.” Speaking of the hole they had been able to make in the jail wall before being discovered, Joseph said, “It was a fine hole. It will

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cost the county a round sum to repair it, and for that I am glad.”

FALSELY ACCUSED

On October 27, 1838 Missouri Governor Lilburn Williams Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44. The order, which became known as the “Extermination Order” called for the removal of Latter-day Saints from the state because of their,

"...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 executive order escalated the tension between Mormons and other residents of Missouri and the Mormons eventually left the state.

On May 6, 1842 a would-be assassin shot former Governor Boggs in his home in Independence, Missouri. Suspicions were immediately cast on Joseph Smith and his unofficial bodyguard Porter Rockwell. A year after the assassination attempt, Rockwell was arrested. After 8 months in prison he was tried and acquitted of the charge. Many of Boggs’ supporters remained convinced that Rockwell was the man responsible.

THE SAMPSON FACTOR

After 8 months in prison, Porter arrived at Joseph Smith’s home in Nauvoo, Illinois. Filthy and emaciated, he was not immediately recognized by those gathered at the home for a Christmas dinner. After his identity was confirmed, the Prophet welcomed him inside. Embracing him, the prophet said,

"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."

Years later, upon hearing that Agnes Coolbrith Smith Pickett, widow of Joseph Smith's brother Don Carlos, had lost her hair as a result of typhoid fever, Rockwell cut his hair to make a wig.

MINING MINERS

Rockwell was in California during the gold rush. He tried his luck at panning for gold and quickly realized he was not going to get rich doing it. Instead, he built a hotel and general store and collected the gold from miners after they had panned it.

THE MAN WHO COULD NOT BE KILLED

Because of Joseph Smith’s prophecy, Rockwell became known as the man who could not be killed. As a result, he became the target of many outlaws looking to make a name for themselves.

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As with many legends, the stories get distorted and even run to the absurd. He was not a “hit man” for Brigham Young sent to kill less-valiant Mormons. He was not a vigilante hell bent on avenging victims of the extermination order. He was a pioneer, scout, mountain man, husband, father, hotel owner, storeowner, Deputy US Marshal, and friend.

THE PASSING OF A LEDGEND

Rockwell died of natural causes in June 1878. At his death, he had been a member of the church longer than anyone living at the time. He is buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery.

Image credits: Porter Rockwell portraits – public domain

Rockwell grave marker – Wikimedia commons, The Epopt

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