~2025-33747-36: /* Utah years */

2025-11-16T04:54:49Z

Utah years

New page

{{Short description|United States Marshal; Latter-day Saint}}
{{Infobox Latter Day Saint biography
| name = Porter Rockwell
| image = OPRockwell.png
| birth_name = Orrin Porter Rockwell
| birth_date = [[Wiktionary:circa|c.]] {{Birth date|1813|06|28}}
| birth_place = [[Belchertown]], [[Hampshire County, Massachusetts|Hampshire County]], [[Massachusetts]], United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1878|06|09|1813|06|28}}
| death_place = [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah Territory]], United States
| resting_place = [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]]
| resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|40.776|N|111.862|W|type:landmark|display=inline}}
| known_for = Personal [[bodyguard]] to [[Joseph Smith]] and [[Brigham Young]], Deputy US Marshal Known as "The Destroying Angel of Mormondom" and "Modern-day Samson"
| occupation = businessman, bodyguard, lawman, frontiersman, scout
| spouse = Mary Ann Neff (1854)<ref>{{harvnb|Schindler|1993|pages=197, 205}}</ref> Christina Olsen Luana Hart Beebe
| children = At least 7
| parents = Orin and Sarah Rockwell

| position_or_quorum1 = Members of the [[Council of Fifty]]
| called_by1 = Joseph Smith
| start_date1 = {{start date|1844|03|19}}
| end_date1 = {{end date|1878|06|09}}
}}

'''Orrin Porter Rockwell''' (June 28, 1813 or June 25, 1815 – June 9, 1878) was a figure of the [[Wild West]] period of [[American history]]. A lawman in the [[Utah Territory]], he was nicknamed ''Old Port'', ''The Destroying Angel of Mormondom'' and ''Modern-day Samson''.

Rockwell served as a [[bodyguard]], and was a personal friend, of [[Latter Day Saint movement]] founder [[Joseph Smith]]. After Smith's death in 1844, Rockwell became a bodyguard of his successor, [[Brigham Young]], and traveled with him and members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) to the [[Salt Lake Valley]] in the present-day [[U.S. state]] of [[Utah]].

==Early years==
Rockwell was born in what was known as the "Dark Corner" section of [[Belchertown]], [[Hampshire County, Massachusetts]], to Orin and Sarah Witt Rockwell, on June 25, 1813.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CFHG Brigham Young University's Center for Family History and Genealogy |url=https://nauvoo.byu.edu/#/Person/6540/Orrin-Porter-Rockwell |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=nauvoo.byu.edu}}</ref><ref>Massachusetts General Court, House of Representatives. A Report of the Case of Belchertown Election, with the Documents, and Minutes of the Arguments in the Case. Isaac Munroe, printer to the state, Boston, 1811. "Oren Rockwell" in "Dark Corner district."</ref> Orin Rockwell came from [[Tolland County, Connecticut|Tolland, Connecticut]], arriving in Belchertown by 1809, where he married Sarah Witt who was born there. Both were swept up in the religious fervor of the [[Second Great Awakening]].

At age 4, in about 1817, Rockwell moved with his family to western New York's [[Burned-over district]], to [[Manchester, New York|Manchester]] and [[Palmyra, New York|Palmyra]]. They became neighbors of the [[Smith family (Latter Day Saints)|Smith family]], who had moved there from Vermont the year before.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Orrin Porter Rockwell b. 28 Jun 1813 Belchertown, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA d. 9 Jun 1878 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA: Early Latter-day Saints Database|url=http://www.earlylds.com/getperson.php?personID=I134866&tree=Earlylds|access-date=2021-03-24|website=www.earlylds.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Rockwell, Orrin Porter - Details | url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/orrin-porter-rockwell | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723013544/http://josephsmithpapers.org:80/person/orrin-porter-rockwell | access-date=2025-08-25 | archive-date=2012-07-23}}</ref>

Rockwell was said to be related to [[Joseph Smith]] through a "jumble of ancestral lines" through his paternal grandmother, Irene Porter, who descended from John Porter and Ann White, "progenitors of the Mormon prophet."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schindler |first=Harold |url=https://archive.org/details/orrinporterrockw00schi/mode/1up?q=Massachusetts |title=Orrin Porter Rockwell : man of God, son of thunder |date=1983 |publisher=Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87480-204-7}}</ref>

Rockwell was eight years younger than Smith. While Smith was publishing the [[Book of Mormon]], Rockwell picked berries at night and hauled wood into town to help pay for the publishing.<ref name=Cummins1984>{{citation |last= Cummins |first= Lawrence |date=May 2004 |title= Orrin Porter Rockwell |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/friend/1984/05/orrin-porter-rockwell?lang=eng |journal= [[The Friend (LDS magazine)|The Friend]] }}</ref>

In 1830, at 16 years old,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/friend/1984/05/orrin-porter-rockwell?lang=eng |title=Orrin Porter Rockwell |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |date=27 January 2014}}</ref> Rockwell was [[Baptism (Latter Day Saints)|baptized]] into Smith's [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]] in [[Fayette, New York]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/orrin-porter-rockwell|title = Orrin Porter Rockwell – Biography}}</ref> Historically, the date of Rockwell's baptism is April 6, the day the church was organized, but original documents suggest a probable date of June 9.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-june-october-1839-draft-1/15|title = History, circa June–October 1839 [Draft 1], Page 15}}</ref> Rockwell was the youngest member of the first group to be baptized into the church.<ref name=Cummins1984 /><ref>{{citation |url= http://josephsmithpapers.org/person?name=Orrin+Porter+Rockwell |title= Rockwell, Orrin Porter |website=[[The Joseph Smith Papers]] |access-date= 2013-05-06 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130406024501/http://josephsmithpapers.org/person?name=Orrin+Porter+Rockwell |archive-date=2013-04-06}}</ref>

On February 2, 1832, Rockwell married Luana Beebe in [[Jackson County, Missouri]], and was [[Endowment (Mormonism)|endowed]] in the [[Nauvoo Temple]] on January 5, 1846.<ref>{{citation |url= http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,1249,400008518,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040302111111/http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C400008518%2C00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= March 2, 2004 |title= Books to help answer the question, 'are we there yet?' |first= Carma |last= Wadley |date= 2002-05-24 |newspaper=[[Deseret News]]}}</ref>

Rockwell killed many men as a gunfighter, a religious enforcer, and Deputy [[United States Marshals Service|United States Marshal]].<ref name=lehi /> According to legend, Rockwell told a crowd listening to [[Vice-President of the United States|United States vice president]] [[Schuyler Colfax]] in 1869, "I never killed anyone who didn't need killing",<ref name=lehi>{{cite web |title=Timeline of Porter Rockwell's Life |url=https://www.lehi-ut.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/TimelineofPorterRockwell.pdf |publisher=Lehi City |access-date=18 January 2021}}</ref> a quote used by actor [[John Wayne]] in a movie decades later.<ref>{{citation |first= Ovando James |last= Hollister |title= Life of Schuyler Colfax |page= [https://archive.org/stream/lifeofschuylerco00hollrich#page/342/mode/2up 342] |year= 1886 |location= New York |publisher= [[Funk & Wagnalls]] |oclc=1370045}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In 1870, Fitz Hugh Ludlow recorded "he [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.<ref>{{citation |author-link= Fitz Hugh Ludlow |first= Fitz Hugh |last= Ludlow |year= 1870 |title= The Heart of the Continent: a record of travel across the plains and in Oregon, with an examination of the Mormon principle." |location= New York |publisher= [[Hurd & Houghton]] |oclc= 761423 |page= [https://archive.org/stream/heartofcontinent00ludl#page/355/mode/1up 355] }}</ref>}}

==Boggs attempted assassination accusation==
[[File:Boggs-assassin.jpg|thumb|Marker on the Mormon Walking Tour in Independence commemorating the house where Rockwell was accused of shooting Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs<hr/>Boggs, from Independence, moved to the house on the original [[City of Zion]] plot after he left office and the Mormons were evicted from their homes and lands in Missouri by his [[Missouri Executive Order 44]]. Rockwell was exonerated of all charges related to the attempted murder of Boggs.<hr />The steeple of the [[Independence Temple]] by the [[Temple Lot]] is visible in the trees at the top of the hill.]]
On the evening of May 6, 1842, [[Lilburn Boggs]] was [[Attempted assassination of Lilburn Boggs|shot]] by an unknown party who fired at him through a window as he read a newspaper in his study. He was badly wounded but survived. Boggs was the [[governor of Missouri]] who had signed the Executive Order 44 on October 27, 1838, known as the "[[Extermination Order (Mormonism)|Extermination Order]]" evicting [[Mormons]] from Missouri by violent and deadly means.

{{wikisource|John C. Bennett}}
The ''Sangamo Journal'' published [[s:John C. Bennett|a letter]] by [[John C. Bennett]], a recently excommunicated Mormon who, prior to the assassination, had served as mayor of Nauvoo, Major General of the Nauvoo Legion, and Chancellor of the University of Nauvoo.

Bennett implicated Rockwell in the assassination attempt, writing:
:"In 1841, Joe Smith predicted or prophesied in a public congregation in Nauvoo, that Lilburn W Boggs, ex-Governor of Missouri, should die by violent hands within one year. From one or two months prior to the attempted assassination of Gov. Boggs, Mr. O. P. Rockwell left Nauvoo for parts unknown to the citizens at large. I was then on terms of close intimacy with Joe Smith, and asked him where Rockwell had gone? "Gone," said he, "GONE TO FULFILL PROPHECY!" Rockwell returned to Nauvoo the day before the report of the assassination reached there."

Smith and his supporters vehemently denied Bennett's account.

Rockwell was apprehended in St. Louis on March 6, 1843.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/IL/sang1842.htm#0930 |title=Uncle Dale's Old Mormon Articles: Sangamo Journal 1842 |publisher=Sidneyrigdon.com |date=2006-01-01 |access-date=2013-10-29}}</ref> In late May, Rockwell briefly escaped from the Independence jail where he was being held.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/MO/Misr1843.htm |title=Uncle Dale's Old Mormon Articles: Mo. Republican (1843-44) |publisher=Sidneyrigdon.com |date=2012-04-02 |access-date=2013-10-29}}</ref>

On September 30, 1843, it was reported:
: "Orin Porter Rockwell, the Mormon confined in our county jail some time since for the attempted assassination of ex-governor Boggs, was indicted by our last grand jury for escaping from the county jail some weeks since, and sent to Clay county for trial. Owing, however, to some informality in the proceedings, he was remanded to this county again for trial. There was not sufficient proof adduced against him to justify an indictment for shooting ex-Governor Boggs; and the grand jury, therefore, did not indict him for that offence."<ref name="sidneyrigdon1">{{cite web|url=http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/MA/nilesre2.htm |title=Uncle Dale's Old Mormon Articles: Niles Register 1841-1850 |publisher=Sidneyrigdon.com |date=2006-01-12 |access-date=2013-10-29}}</ref>

Though never indicted for the attempted assassination, Rockwell was tried and convicted of jailbreak. Rockwell was released on December 13, 1843—nine months after his arrest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lehi-ut.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/TimelineofPorterRockwell.pdf |title=Timeline of Porter Rockwell's Life |publisher=Lehi-ut.gov |access-date=2013-10-29}}</ref>

==Utah years==
The morning of September 16, 1845, Lieutenant Frank Worrell of the nearby Carthage militia was shot and killed by Rockwell after refusing an order to stop by non-Mormon Sheriff William Backenstos.<ref name="Schindler19932">Schindler, Benita N. Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God Son of Thunder (p. 66, 133). University of Utah Press. 1993</ref><ref name="Bennett20102">Bennett, R. E., Black, S. E., & Cannon, D. Q. (2010). The Nauvoo Legion in Illinois: A history of the Mormon Militia, 1841-1846. Arthur H. Clark Co./University of Oklahoma Press. pgs 106, 204-208, 247</ref> Worrell had been the sergeant of the guard at Carthage when the Smiths were assassinated.<ref name="Prince20162">Prince, Stephen L. Hosea Stout: Lawman, Legislator, Mormon Defender. Utah State University Press. 2016 pgs 90-110</ref>

Following [[death of Joseph Smith|Smith's death]], Rockwell [[Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)|followed]] Brigham Young and the LDS Church to the Salt Lake Valley. In 1849, Rockwell was appointed as deputy marshal of [[Salt Lake City, Utah|Great Salt Lake City]], and remained a peace officer until his death. He was well known for his endurance, loyalty, and relentlessness.<ref name="Cummins1984" />

On April 21st 1851,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Compton |first=Todd |date=2009 |title=Becoming a "Messenger of Peace": Jacob Hamblin in Tooele Todd M. Compton |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V42N01_13.pdf }}</ref> a group of [[Goshute]] confiscated some horses that had invaded their territory near [[Benson Grist Mill]]. General [[Daniel H. Wells]] sent a posse led by Rockwell to pursue the Goshute. They lost the trail of the Goshute that had taken the horses and encountered another group of 20 or 30 people belonging to the [[Ute people|Ute]] tribe, whom they took prisoner but did not disarm. When some of the captured Goshute tried to escape, one was shot by Custer, a non-Mormon member of the posse. Custer was then shot by one of the Native Americans, who was in turn shot by another posse member. All but four or five prisoners escaped; those that didn't escape were executed by Rockwell on April 22nd.<ref name="Compton">{{cite journal|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]|pages=11–12 |date=February 2011|volume=42|issue=1| last=Compton|first=Todd M. |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V42N01_13.pdf |title=Becoming a 'Messenger of Peace': Jacob Hamblin in Tooele|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]}}</ref>{{rp|11–12}}

Rockwell 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 (Utah)|Point of the Mountain]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vance |first1=Del |title=Beer in the Beehive |date=2008 |publisher=Dream Garden Press |location=Salt Lake City |page=98|edition=2}}</ref>

Rockwell's fame as a "mountain man" attracted the explorer, [[Richard Francis Burton]].<ref>Burton F. Richard, The City of Saints. Knopf, New York 1963. pgs.502-504</ref> {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} In 1860, on his trip across America to the west coast, Burton stopped to explore the Salt Lake City area. He stayed with Lysander Dayton in a village near the city, and Dayton invited Rockwell to dinner. Rockwell sent for a bottle of Valley Tan Whiskey, and he and Burton drank shot-for-shot into the night, with Rockwell outlining steps Burton should take for safety during his passage to Sacramento. Rockwell 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 disguised as Indians to avert blame) preyed on travelers.<ref>{{citation |title= The City of the Saints |year= 1862 |edition= 2nd |last= Burton |first= Richard Francis |location= New York |publisher= [[Harper (publisher)|Harper and Brothers]] |pages= [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hwkc3q;view=1up;seq=474 448]-450 }}</ref> In 1857 Rockwell participated in the [[Aiken massacre]], which was a murder of several Californian travelers.<ref name=Bigler>{{Cite journal |last=Bigler |first=David L. |date=2007 |title=The Aiken Party Executions and the Utah War, 1857–1858 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25443606 |journal=[[Western Historical Quarterly]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford, England |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=457–476 |doi=10.2307/25443606 |issn=0043-3810|jstor=25443606 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{rp|470}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Roger A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHitfBUfKdEC |title=Performing the American Frontier, 1870–1906 |date=August 16, 2001 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-79320-9 |pages=93, 228 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0crBDwAAQBAJ |title=Holy Murder: The Story of Porter Rockwell |last2=Hoffman |first2=Birney |date=November 22, 2019 |publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing |isbn=978-1-83974-043-5 |pages=120|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

==Death==
Rockwell died in [[Salt Lake City, Utah|Salt Lake City]], [[Utah Territory]], of natural causes on June 9, 1878.<ref>''[[Salt Lake Tribune]]'', June 12, 1878 {{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref> He was buried in the [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]]. At the time of his death, Rockwell had been a baptized Latter-day Saint longer than anyone living.<ref name=Cummins1984 /> His epitaph reads:

<blockquote>He was brave and loyal to his faith. True to the Prophet Joseph Smith. A promise made him by the prophet. Through obedience, it was fulfilled.<ref>{{citation |last= Arave |first= Lynn |title= S.L. Cemetery Is Alive with History The Famous and the Humble Rest in Peace Together |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/699746/SL-Cemetery-is-alive-with-history.html?pg=all |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131021171126/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/699746/SL-Cemetery-is-alive-with-history.html?pg=all |url-status= dead |archive-date= October 21, 2013 |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] |date= 19 May 1999 }}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:OPRockwellGrave.jpg|thumb|Grave marker of Orrin Porter Rockwell in [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]]]]
At Rockwell's funeral, which was held at the Salt Lake City 14th Ward school house, [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|apostle]] [[Joseph F. Smith]], nephew of [[Joseph Smith]] and future [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|church president]], spoke the following about Rockwell:

<blockquote>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. He has 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 never once forgot his obligations to his brethren and his God.<ref name="Porter Rockwell">{{citation |url=https://porter-rockwell.com/ |title= Porter Rockwell Unofficial Website }}</ref></blockquote>

However, not all reactions to Rockwell's death were positive. On June 11, 1878, the ''Salt Lake Tribune'' stated, "Porter Rockwell is another of the long list of Mormon criminals whose deeds of treachery and blood have reddened the soil of Utah, and who has paid no forfeit to offended law."<ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Porter Rockwell |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/search?facet_type=%22page%22&gallery=1&rows=200&parent_i=13010156#g1 |access-date=21 December 2022 |agency=Salt Lake Tribune |issue=49 |date=11 June 1878}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Rockwell fathered 21 children with three different wives. He had the distinction of being the subject of a direct [[List of prophecies of Joseph Smith|prophecy by Smith]]. After spending eight months in jail on charges of attempting to assassinate Boggs, Rockwell traveled to [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Nauvoo]], appearing unannounced at a Christmas party at Smith's home. After his identity was confirmed, Smith was moved to say:

<blockquote>I prophesy, in the name of the Lord, 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Schindler|1993|pages=108–109}}</ref></blockquote>

The promise echoes one given by an angel to the parents of the biblical [[Samson]].<ref name=Cummins1984 />

Rockwell, at one time, cut his hair. After hearing of a balding widow with [[typhoid fever]], he offered his famous long hair to make a wig. The recipient of the hair was Agnes Coolbrith Smith Pickett, widow of Smith's brother, [[Don Carlos Smith|Don Carlos]].<ref name=Sonne|1998-06-21>{{citation |first= Kristen |last= Sonne |date= June 21, 1998 |title= Rockwell's colorful history recounted |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/637159/Rockwells-colorful-history-recounted.html?pg=all |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131021174508/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/637159/Rockwells-colorful-history-recounted.html?pg=all |url-status= dead |archive-date= October 21, 2013 |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] }}</ref>

The Porter Rockwell Trail is a walking trail that spans [[Lehi, Utah|Lehi]], [[Draper, Utah|Draper]], [[White City, Utah|White City]], and [[Sandy, Utah|Sandy]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Carter |title=Sandy has its 'golden spike' moment with completion of popular trail 25 years later |url=https://www.ksl.com/article/50483359/sandy-has-its-golden-spike-moment-with-completion-of-popular-trail-25-years-later |access-date=21 December 2022 |agency=KSL |date=26 September 2022}}</ref>

==Cultural influence==
Two statues of Rockwell exist: one near the old site of his Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery near the Utah State Penitentiary, the other in [[Lehi, Utah]], off of Main Street behind.

In 1971, the restaurant "Porter's Place" was opened on Lehi Main Street<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Leann Burke The Salt Lake Tribune · |title=Porter Rockwells celebrate his birthday in look-alike contest |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=56527673&itype=cmsid |access-date=2025-07-23 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> but later in 2018, it moved to Eureka, Utah, and eventually closed permanently.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.porterrockwellutah.com/restaurant|title=Restaurant | Porter's Place|date=18 April 2010}}</ref>

Three comprehensive biographies have been written about Rockwell. ''Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder'' by Harold Schindler, ''Porter Rockwell: A Biography'' by Richard Lloyd Dewey, and ''Stories from the Life of Porter Rockwell'' by John Rockwell.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://porter-rockwell.com/books-film/|title=Books and Movies About Porter Rockwell|date=5 August 2024 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{annotated link|Bear River Massacre}}
* {{annotated link|Alexander William Doniphan}}
* {{annotated link|Chauncey Millard}}
* {{annotated link|Hawken rifle}}
* {{annotated link|Ironport (beverage)}}
* {{annotated link|Liberty Jail}}
* {{annotated link|List of bodyguards}}
* {{annotated link|List of Old West gunfighters}}
* {{annotated link|List of Old West lawmen}}
* {{annotated link|Mormon folklore}}
* {{annotated link|Perry, Utah}}
* {{annotated link|Pioneer Village (Utah)}}
* {{annotated link|This Is the Place Monument}}
* {{annotated link|Lauritz Smith}}
* {{annotated link|Lot Smith}}
* {{annotated link|Utah War}}
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
*{{citation
| last = Dewey
| first = Richard Lloyd
| title = Porter Rockwell: A Biography
| location = New York
| publisher = Paramount Books
| orig-year = 1998
| year = 1999
| isbn = 0-9616024-0-6
| oclc = 17300368
}}
*{{citation
| last = Dewey
| first = Richard Lloyd
| title = The Porter Rockwell Chronicles. 4 Vols
| date = August 2006
| location = Arlington, VA
| publisher = Stafford Books, Inc.
| orig-year = 2000-2002
| isbn = 0-929753-16-X
| oclc = 17300368
}}
*{{citation
| last = Johnson
| first = Clark V.
| year = 2000
| contribution = Rockwell, Orrin Porter
| editor = Arnold K. Garr |editor2=Donald Q. Cannon |editor3=Richard O. Cowan
| title = Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History
| location = Salt Lake City, Utah
| publisher = [[Deseret Book]]
| isbn = 1573458228
| oclc = 44634356
}}
*{{citation
|last = McLaws
|first = Monte B.
|title = The Attempted Assassination of Missouri's Ex-Governor, Lilburn W. Boggs
|journal = [[Missouri Historical Review]]
|volume = 60
|issue = 1
|date = October 1965
|pages = 50–62
|url = http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/cdm/ref/collection/mhr/id/30364/show/30285
|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130705045003/http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/cdm/ref/collection/mhr/id/30364/show/30285
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = July 5, 2013
}}
*{{citation
| last1 = Rockwell
| first1 = John W.
| last2 = Borrowman
| first2 = Jerry
| last3 = Hopkinson
| first3 = Harold I
| last4 = Price
| first4 = Clark Kelly
| last5 = Swanson
| first5 = Sarah
| title = Stories from the Life of Porter Rockwell
| location = American Fork, Utah
| publisher = [[Covenant Communications]]
| year = 2010
| isbn = 978-1-60861-005-1
| oclc = 611016993
}}
*{{citation
| last = Schindler
| first = Harold
| author-link = Harold Schindler
| title = Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder
| location = Salt Lake City
| publisher = [[University of Utah Press]]
| orig-year = 1966
| year = 1993
| isbn = 0585223009
| oclc = 44965777
}}
*{{citation
| last = Schindler
| first = Harold
| author-link = Harold Schindler
| year = 1994
| contribution = Rockwell, Orrin Porter
| chapter-url = http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/r/ROCKWELL_ORRIN.html
| editor-first = Allen Kent
| editor-last = Powell
| title = Utah History Encyclopedia
| location = Salt Lake City, Utah
| publisher = [[University of Utah Press]]
| isbn = 0874804256
| oclc = 30473917
}}
*{{citation
| last1 = Van Wagoner
| first1 = Richard S.
| author-link1 = Richard S. Van Wagoner
| last2 = Steven C.
| first2 = Walker
| chapter = Porter Rockwell (1813-1878)
| pages = 250–53
| title = A Book of Mormons
| location = Salt Lake City
| publisher = [[Signature Books]]
| year = 1982
| chapter-url = http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=17457
| isbn = 0941214060
| oclc = 8513697
}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050503143309/http://www2.ida.net/graphics/shirtail/orrin.htm "Did Orrin Porter Rockwell Shoot Lilburn Boggs, Governor of Missouri?"], ''Mormonism Researched'' by Kerry A. Shirts

{{LDScouncil50}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockwell, Porter}}
[[Category:1813 births]]
[[Category:1878 deaths]]
[[Category:American lynchers]]
[[Category:American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
[[Category:American mass murderers]]
[[Category:Bodyguards]]
[[Category:Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery]]
[[Category:Converts to Mormonism]]
[[Category:Danites]]
[[Category:Gunslingers of the American Old West]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Illinois]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Missouri]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah]]
[[Category:Law enforcement officials from Utah]]
[[Category:Leaders in the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)]]
[[Category:Mormon pioneers]]
[[Category:People of the Utah War]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:United States Marshals]]

Porter Rockwell - Revision history

~2025-33747-36: /* Utah years */