31 August 2014.
Since the time of Joseph Smith, the terms “Lamanite” and “Nephite” have come to be linked to the ancestors of the present-day American Indians and indigenous peoples of the American continent. While members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are well-versed with names such as “Nephi,” “Lehi,” and others from their study of the Book of Mormon, one name of such a Lamanite is lesser known—that of Zelph.
Since the time of Joseph Smith, the terms “Lamanite” and “Nephite” have come to be linked to the ancestors of the present-day American Indians and indigenous peoples of the American continent. While members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are well-versed with names such as “Nephi,” “Lehi,” and others from their study of the Book of Mormon, one name of such a Lamanite is lesser known—that of Zelph.
A quick look on the internet will bring up these basic thoughts about Zelph: that he was a white general among the Lamanites, a righteous man, and that Joseph Smith offered little else about who he was, other than that he served under the prophet Onandagus.(1)
Yet what we know about Zelph comes from transcribed accounts and, perhaps, hearsay of what Joseph Smith did say. In fact, Joseph Smith recorded nothing about Zelph on 3 June 1834, the day others wandering with Smith wrote Zelph as being identified, and Smith only mentions retrieving bones of ancient peoples in a letter to his wife written the following day, 4 June 1834. In this letter, Smith writes that, while “wandering over the plains of the Nephites,” he and his men also were “recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon” and also were “picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity.”(2)
So what do subsequent recollections and recounting of Zelph say? We will look at accounts from the following men: Reuben McBride, Moses Martin, Wilford Woodruff, Levi Hancock, Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith. We will also look at the account of Zelph written by Willard Richards in The History of the Church, and how this accounting, referenced quite frequently, is, perhaps, not entirely historically accurate. We will also draw heavily from writings by historian Kenneth Godfrey.
Reuben McBride
Reuben McBride wrote in his journal that, “His name was Zelph a war[r]ior under the Prophet Onandague,” that this Zelph was “a white Laman[i]te,” and that it appeared his death was caused by “an arrow found in his Ribs.” McBride also wrote that Zelph “was known from the atlantic to the Rocky Mountains.”(3) It should also be noted that Kenneth Godfrey believed that although McBride’s account is shorter and less detailed it might have been the first one recorded.(4)
Moses Martin
In Godfrey’s article, he writes that, although Martin “was present when the digging occurred,” and that he “was impressed with the size of the skeleton and Joseph’s vision of the unnamed prophet,” Martin never mentioned that Zelph was a white Lamanite or that he served under a prophet named Onandagus. According to Godfrey, “in the Martin account, the deceased man was ‘a mighty prophet.’”(5)
Wilford Woodruff
As for the Wilford Woodruff account, Godfrey writes in his article that, according to Woodruff, “Joseph Smith was told in an open vision that the bones were those of a white Lamanite whose name was Zelph, a warrior under the great prophet who was known from the Hill Cumorah to the Rocky Mountains.” Godfrey writes that “This is the earliest source for this geographical data.” Godfrey also writes that “Later in his life President Woodruff penned two other accounts of this incident, but their wording is essentially identical.”(6)
Levi Hancock
But the longest account of Zelph’s discovery came from Levi Hancock. As Godfrey writes:
Hancock reports that the land was named Desolation and Onendagus was a king and a good man but says nothing about his being a prophet. However, he does inform us that Zelph lost all his teeth but one and implies that Zelph was relatively aged at death. He makes no mention of the Hill Cumorah or of Onendagus’s wide fame but does write that Zelph was a white Lamanite.(7)
Heber C. Kimball
Heber C. Kimball wrote the following about the finding of the bones in the mound.
While on our way we felt anxious to know who the person was who had been killed by the arrow. It was made known to Joseph that he had been an officer who fell in battle in the last destruction among the Lamanites, and his name was Zelph. This caused us to rejoice much, to think that God was so mindful of us as to show these things to His servant. Brother Joseph had inquired of the Lord, and it was made known in a vision.(8)
Godfrey adds this information about Kimball’s account:
Kimball’s account is also unique in that he says he went with Joseph Smith to the top of the mound and relates that they felt prompted to dig down into the mound but first had to send for a shovel and hoe. The other early accounts do not say that Joseph was present when the bones were dug up; rather, they either state or imply that he was not involved until some later time. According to Kimball, it was later in the day while continuing on the journey westward that the Prophet made the identification of the person whose bones they had found. This is consistent with Hancock’s statement that Joseph spoke ‘as the camp was moving off the ground.’ Kimball’s account makes no explicit reference to the Nephites, and he sees the value of Joseph’s vision primarily not in what is revealed about the ancient inhabitants of that region, but in how it showed that ‘God was so mindful of’ the camp and especially his ‘servant, Brother Joseph.’(9)
George A. Smith
George A. Smith didn’t write much, only that:
Monday, 2 June 1834; Some of us visited a mound on a bluff about 300 feet high and dug up some bones, which excited deep interest among the brethren. The President [Joseph Smith] and many others visited the mound on the following morning.(10)
Willard Richards
Godfrey writes about Richards that:
In 1842 Willard Richards, then church historian, was assigned the task of compiling a large number of documents and producing a history of the church from them. He worked on this material between 21 December 1842 and 27 March 1843. Richards, who had not joined the church until 1836, relied on the writings or recollections of Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, and perhaps others for his information regarding the discovery of Zelph. Blending the sources available to him, and perhaps using oral accounts from some of the members of Zion’s Camp, but writing as if he were Joseph Smith, historian Richards drafted the story of Zelph as it appears in the “Manuscript History of the Church, Book A-1. (11)
The writing in the History of the Church reads as follows:
The brethren procured a shovel and a hoe, and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot, discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between his ribs the stone point of a Lamanitish arrow, which evidently produced his death. Elder Burr Riggs retained the arrow. The contemplation of the scenery around us produced peculiar sensations in our bosoms; and subsequently the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thickset man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph. He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains. The curse was taken from Zelph, or at least, in part—one of his thigh bones was broken by a stone flung from a sling, while in battle, years before his death. He was killed in battle by the arrow found among his ribs, during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites. (12)
Godfrey also adds this information about the Richards manuscript:
Following the death of Joseph Smith, the Times and Seasons published serially the ‘History of Joseph Smith.’ When the story of finding Zelph appeared in the 1 January 1846 issue, most of the words crossed out in the Richards manuscript were, for some unknown reason, included.)(13)
Basically, what is known for certain is that some bones were found. Even though Godfrey mentions that the “1904 first edition of the seven-volume History of the Church, edited by B. H. Roberts, repeats the manuscript version of Richards’s account,” the story of Zelph has found its way into other writings, such as Doctrines of Salvation.(14)
In the face of this evidence coming from the Prophet Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, we cannot say that the Nephites and Lamanites did not possess the territory of the United States and that the Hill Cumorah is in Central America. Neither can we say that the great struggle which resulted in the destruction of the Nephites took place in Central America. If Zelph, a righteous man, was fighting under a great prophet-general in the last battles between the Nephites and Lamanites; if that great prophet-general was known from the Rocky Mountains to ‘the Hill Cumorah or eastern sea,’ then some of those battles, and evidently the final battles did take place within the borders of what is now the United States.
There were no righteous prophets, save the Three Nephites, after the death of Moroni, and we learn that Zelph was slain during one of these battles during the great last struggle between the Nephites and Lamanites and was buried near the Illinois River.
In the Book of Mormon story the Lamanites were constantly crowding the Nephites back towards the north and east. If the battles in which Zelph took part were fought in the country traversed by the Zion's Camp, then we have every reason to believe from what is written in the Book of Mormon, that the Nephites were forced farther and farther to the north and east until they found themselves in the land of Ripliancum, which both Ether and Mormon declare to us was the land of Ramah or Cumorah, a land of ‘many waters,’ which ‘by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all.’
This being true, what would be more natural then that Moroni, like his father Mormon, would deposit the plates in the land where the battles came to an end and the Nephites were destroyed? This Moroni says he did, and from all the evidence in the Book of Mormon, augmented by the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, these final battles took place in the territory known as the United States and in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes and hills of Western New York. And here Moroni found the resting place for the sacred instruments which had been committed to his care.(15)
What should be noted in the Doctrines of Salvation entry is that references to the hill Cumorah and Nephites are reintroduced (see Godfrey).(16)
And then this summarization from an article in the Deseret News:
This account, however, is not a first-hand report from the Prophet. In typical 19th-century fashion, the official ‘history’ comprised details from a variety of journal entries but was written as if Joseph, himself, were authoring the history. Willard Richards, who was responsible for compiling the events into one narrative, made some alterations that affected how future generations understood the details of the event.(17)
In conclusion, Godfrey sums up the discovery of the bones referred to as Zelph as the following:
If the history of the church were to be revised today using modern historical standards, readers would be informed that Joseph Smith wrote nothing about the discovery of Zelph, and that the account of uncovering the skeleton in Pike County is based on the diaries of seven members of Zion's Camp, some of which were written long after the event took place. We would be assured that the members of Zion's Camp dug up a skeleton near the Illinois River in early June 1834. Equally sure is that Joseph Smith made statements about the deceased person and his historical setting. We would learn that it is unclear which statements attributed to him derived from his vision, as opposed to being implied or surmised either by him or by others. Nothing in the diaries suggests that the mound itself was discovered by revelation.
Furthermore, readers would be told that most sources agree that Zelph was a white Lamanite who fought under a leader named Onandagus (variously spelled). Beyond that, what Joseph said to his men is not entirely clear, judging by the variations in the available sources. The date of the man Zelph, too, remains unclear.(18)
The account of finding the remains of Zelph has been recorded in various ways, but one thing is for certain—bones of an ancient man were found, and Joseph Smith made statements about who he was.
This diagram shows what the accounts have in common about the finding of the bones referred to as being those of the white Lamanite known as Zelph.
Reuben McBride
Name: Zelph
Appearance: White Lamanite
Location of Remains: Mound
Location of where he was known: Known from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains
Military Rank: A warrior under the prophet Onendagus
Religious Calling:
Cause of Death: Death caused by an arrow found in his ribs
How information was obtained:
Was Onendagus mentioned?: Onandagus was a prophet
Moses Martin
Name:
Appearance: Impressed with the size of the skeleton
Location of Remains: Mound
Location of where he was known:
Military Rank:
Religious Calling: Deceased man was a mighty prophet
Cause of Death:
How information was obtained: Vision
Was Onendagus mentioned?: Impressed with Joseph Smith’s vision of the unnamed
prophet
Wilford Woodruff
Name: Zelph
Appearance: White Lamanite
Location of Remains: Mound
Location of where he was known:
Military Rank: A warrior
Religious Calling:
Cause of Death:
How information was obtained:
Was Onendagus mentioned?: Zelph was a warrior under the great prophet who was
known from the Hill Cumorah to the Rocky Mountains
Levi Hancock
Name: Zelph
Appearance: White Lamanite, lost all his teeth but one
Location of Remains: Mound
Location of where he was known: The land was named Desolation
Military Rank:
Religious Calling:
Cause of Death: Relatively aged at death
How information was obtained:
Was Onendagus mentioned?: Onendagus was a king and a good man
Heber C. Kimball
Name: Zelph
Appearance:
Location of Remains: Mound
Location of where he was known:
Military Rank: Was an officer
Religious Calling:
Cause of Death: Killed by an arrow, fell in battle in the last destruction among the
Lamanites
How information was obtained: Joseph Smith inquired of the Lord and it was made
known to him in a vision. Smith and Kimball felt prompted to dig in the mound.
Was Onendagus mentioned?:
George A. Smith
Name:
Appearance:
Location of Remains: Visited a mound on a bluff about 300 feet high and dug up some
Bones
Location of where he was known:
Military Rank:
Religious Calling:
Cause of Death:
How information was obtained: Joseph Smith visited the mound
Was Onendagus mentioned?:
Name
|
Appearance
|
Location of Remains
|
Location of where he was known
|
Military Rank
|
Religious Calling
|
Cause of Death
|
How information was obtained
|
Onandagus mentioned and what was said about him
| |
Reuben McBride
|
Zelph
|
White Lamanite
|
Mound
|
Known from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains
|
A warrior under the prophet Onendagus
|
Death caused by an arrow found in his ribs
|
Onandagus was a prophet
| ||
Moses Martin
|
Impressed with the size of the skeleton
|
Mound
|
Deceased man was a mighty prophet
|
Vision
|
Impressed with Joseph Smith’s vision of the unnamed prophet
| ||||
Wilford Woodruff
|
Zelph
|
White Lamanite
|
Mound
|
A warrior
|
Zelph was a warrior under the great prophet who was known from the Hill Cumorah to the Rocky Mountains
| ||||
Levi Hancock
|
Zelph
|
White Lamanite, lost all his teeth but one
|
Mound
|
The land was named Desolation
|
Relatively aged at death
|
Onendagus was a king and a good man
| |||
Heber C. Kimball
|
Zelph
|
Mound
|
Was an officer
|
Killed by an arrow, fell in battle in the last destruction among the Lamanites
|
Joseph Smith inquired of the Lord and it was made known to him in a vision. Smith and Kimball felt prompted to dig in the mound
| ||||
George A. Smith
|
Visited a mound on a bluff about 300 feet high and dug up some bones
|
Joseph Smith visited the mound
|
Sources:
1. In the accounts, the name Onandagus is spelled various ways.
2. The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, comp. and ed., Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1984), 324.
3. McBride, Reuben (3 June 1834), Reuben McBride Journal, Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church Archives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelph (accessed 31 August 2014).
4. Kenneth Godfrey, “What is the Significance of Zelph in the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography?,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 8/2 (1999): 73. http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/8/2/S00011-50be3d957147e10Godfrey.pdf (accessed on 31 August 2014).
5. Ibid., 73.
6. Ibid., 73.
7. Ibid., 73.
8. https://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/2/6.html (accessed on 31 August 2014). Also found in Times and Seasons. vol. 6, p.788.
9. Godfrey, “What is the Significance of Zelph in the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography?,” 74.
10. George A. Smith Journal (2 June 1834), LDS Church Archives. http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/341folder/Zelph%20Revisited%20Cannon.html (accessed on 31 August 2014).
11. Godfrey, “What is the Significance of Zelph in the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography?,” 74.
12. http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/341folder/Zelph%20Revisited%20Cannon.pdf (accessed on 31 August 2014). Also found in: History of the Church, by Joseph Smith, Deseret Book, 1976, vol. 2, ch. 5, pp. 79-80. http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary?target=X3467D120-5E4D-4EE6-9A27-AF991CBF3F03
13. Godfrey, “What is the Significance of Zelph in the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography?,” 74.
14. Ibid., 75.
15. Doctrines of Salvation, Joseph Fielding Smith. Compiled by Bruce R. McConkie. 3 vols. Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1954-56, p.238-240. http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/Cumorah-JFeS-DofS3.htm (accessed on 31 August 2014).
16. Godfrey, “What is the Significance of Zelph in the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography?,” 75.
17. Michael R. Ash, “Challenging Issues, Keeping the Faith: Account of ‘Zelph’ discovery does little to advance geography theory,” Deseret News, 27 December 2010. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705386909/Account-of-Zelph-discovery-does-little-to-advance-geography-theory.html?pg=all (accessed on 31 August 2014).
18. Godfrey, “What is the Significance of Zelph in the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography?,” 75.