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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power/Index
Index to claims made in The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power
A FAIR Analysis of: The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power A work by author: D. Michael Quinn
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Response to claim: 141 - "Smith sent an order...to Major-General Jonathan Dunham to lead the Nauvoo Legion in a military attack on Carthage "immediately" to free the prisoners"
The author(s) of The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power make(s) the following claim:
The morning of 27 July, Smith sent an order (in his own handwriting) to Major-General Jonathan Dunham to lead the Nauvoo Legion in a military attack on Carthage "immediately" to free the prisoners. Dunham realized that such an assault by the Nauvoo Legion would result in two blood baths—one in Carthage and another when anti-Mormons (and probably the Illinois militia) retaliated by laying siege to Nauvoo for insurrection. To avoid civil war and the destruction of Nauvoo's population, Dunham refused to obey the order and did not notify Smith of his decision. One of his lieutenants, a former Danite, later complained that Dunham "did not let a single mortal know that he had received such orders."
Author's sources: "Joseph Smith to Jonathan Dunham, 27 June 1844, in Jessee, Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, xxv, 616-17 [this is a forgery]; History of the Church, 6:529. Volume 6 link referred to this order but neither quoted nor summarized it....Allen J. Stout journal, 13; also T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints...,164n, told the incident without naming Dunham."
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim is false
The falsehood: The cited document is a Hofmann forgery, as had been known for several years prior to publication. See p. 179 where Quinn also cites this forged document as genuine.The facts: In the 1997 version, Quinn removes this claim. However, the 1998 CD-ROM collection New Mormon Studies CD-ROM from Signature Books still contains the error, though the collection is copyrighted 1998.For a detailed response, see: Quinn's use of forged document re: Dunham and Carthage:
Response to claim: 153 - William Smith stated that Apostle Willard Richards asked Hosea Stout to murder Samuel H. Smith
The author(s) of The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power make(s) the following claim:
William [brother of Joseph and Samuel H. Smith] eventually concluded that Apostle Willard Richards asked [Hosea] Stout to murder Samuel H. Smith. The motive was to prevent Samuel from becoming church president before the full Quorum of Twelve arrived. William's suspicions about Stout are believable since Brigham Young allowed William Clayton to go with the pioneer company to Utah three years later only because Stout threatened to murder Clayton as soon as the apostles left. Clayton regarded Hosea Stout as capable of homicide and recorded no attempt by Young to dispute that assessment concerning the former Danite.
Author's sources: *"Allen, Trials of Discipleship, 224; Clayton diary, 11, 13, 14 Apr. 1847, in Smith, An Intimate Chronicle, 295, neither of which explains what Clayton had said or done to trigger Stout's murderous anger. Reed A. Stout, ed., "Autobiography of Hosea Stout, 1810 to 1844," Utah Historical Quarterly 30 (Fall 1962): 344, makes no reference to nursing Samuel Smith or to any of Stout's activities between Joseph Smith's death and October 1844. Stout's daily diary entries do not begin until December 1844, more than four months after Samuel's death."
FAIR's Response
- For a detailed response, see: Murder of Samuel H. Smith?
Response to claim: 179 -When Nauvoo Mormons learned that Jonathan Dunham had ignored the prophet's direct order to lead the Nauvoo Legion in a rescue at Carthage Jail, some called him a "coward and traitor"
The author(s) of The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power make(s) the following claim:
However, another former Danite took self-inflicted retribution for the death of Joseph Smith. When Nauvoo Mormons learned that Jonathan Dunham had ignored the prophet's direct order to lead the Nauvoo Legion in a rescue at Carthage Jail, some called him a "coward and traitor." Others dismissed him as a "fool and idiot."
Author's sources: *"Joseph Smith to Jonathan Dunham, 27 June 1844, in Jessee, Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, 616-17 [this is a forgery]; also reported, without naming Dunham, in T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints: A Full and Complete History of the Mormons... (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1873), 164n."
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim is false
The falsehood: The cited document is a Hofmann forgery, as had been known for several years prior to publication. See p. 141 where Quinn also cites this forged document as genuine.The facts: In the 1997 version, Quinn removes this claim. However, the 1998 CD-ROM collection New Mormon Studies CD-ROM from Signature Books still contains the error, though the collection is copyrighted 1998.For a detailed response, see: Quinn's use of forged document re: Dunham and Carthage