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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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23
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- Author's quote: Having suffered beatings and tarrings at the hands of Mormon baiters years earlier, and having faced impending death at various junctures, Smith sensed rightly that events in Nauvoo would be the grand finale of his life.
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- Internal contradiction: The author earlier characterized Joseph's persecutions as "imaginary"
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23
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- Author's quote: Building a spired marble temple took precedence over everything else…
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- History unclear or in error: the Nauvoo temple was made of limestone that was quarried locally, not marble which would have required importation.
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23-24
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- Joseph's "falling out" with John C. Bennett is claimed to have been over a woman that "each desired as a plural wife."
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- In fact, Bennett was given multiple opportunities to reform his ways before being excommunicated.
- John C. Bennett
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24
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- Nauvoo was claimed to be "the first genuine theocracy in American history."
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24
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- The Council of Fifty was "a group of princes" who would rule the "Mormon empire."
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- David L. Bigler, Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1998), 24. (bias and errors) Review
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25
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- Joseph had himself ordained "king" during the time that he was running for President.
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25
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- Joseph had a "narcissistic" "theme of deceiving self and others."
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- Robert D. Anderson, Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith, p. 225.
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26
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- Author's quote: Nauvoo, unlike Kirtland, had become the sanctuary for strange ceremonials and shrouded rites many members found increasingly alien and offensive…
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- Internal contradiction: The author earlier stated that these things were introduced in Kirtland
- On page 14, speaking of Kirtland, the author states: "He then initiated the secret rituals that would further repel their conventional Christian neighbors-anointings, endowments, proxy baptisms, visions, healings, writhing ecstasies, and, especially, the concepts of 'eternal progression' and 'celestial marriage.'"
- History unclear or in error: Proxy baptisms were not introduced until Nauvoo, they were not known at Kirtland. Healings and visions were present from the Church's very beginnings. "Writhing ecstasies" were condemned by LDS scripture by 1831 (see DC 50).
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26
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- A "Mormon historian," (Will Bagley) claims that celestial marriage "allowed the most ordinary backwoodsman to become a god and rule over worlds of his own creation with as many wives as his righteousness could sustain."
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26
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- "One historian" (Will Bagley) claimed that Joseph "plunged into new sealings to married women, sisters, and very young girls."
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27
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- The founders of the Nauvoo Expositor were "men who knew too much."
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27
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- Author's quote: Smith ordered the Nauvoo Legion to storm the newspaper, destroy the press, and burn all extant issues.
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- History unclear or in error
- The Nauvoo City Council (which included some non-Mormon members) ordered the destruction of the Expositor.
- The suppression of the paper was legal for the day.
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27
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- The author claims that "the constitutional defenders of the First Amendment" called for Joseph Smith's arrest after the destruction of the Expositor.
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- The suppression of the paper was legal for the day.
- History unclear or in error: The First Amendment did not apply to local or state governments until after the Civil War.
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28
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- The book claims that Joseph sent orders to the Nauvoo Legion from Carthage Jail to come and free him.
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28
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- The author claims that "lore had it" that Joseph gave the Masonic distress signal "before calling out: 'Oh Lord my God. Is there no help for the widow's son?"
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- History unclear or in error
- This is very sloppy research. Despite citing so many sources, the author gets the history wrong. There is no record of Joseph saying more than "Oh Lord, my God."
- In addition, the author states that Joseph gave the Masonic distress signal before calling out this phrase. In reality, the full phrase "Oh Lord my God. Is there no help for the widow's son" is the Masonic distress signal!
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29
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- The author claims that Joseph's death was "second in importance only to that of Jesus Christ."
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- Eliza Snow, Times and Seasons 5 (July 1, 1844), quoted in Hallwas and Launius, 237.
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29
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- Allen J. Stout's journal says that he will avenge Joseph's blood to the fourth generation.
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"Their dead bodies were brought to Nauvoo where I saw their beloved forms reposing in the arms of death, which gave me such feelings as I am not able to describe. But I there and then resolved in my mind that I would never let an opportunity slip unimproved of avenging their blood upon the head of the enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ. I felt as though I could not live. I knew not how to contain myself, and when I see one of the men who persuaded them to give up to be tried, I feel like cutting their throats. And I hope to live to avenge their blood, but if I do not, I will teach my children to never cease to try to avenge their blood and then their children and children's children to the fourth generation as long as there is one descendant of the murderers upon the earth." off-site
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- Stout journal, June 28, 1844.
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29
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- D. Michael Quinn said that Joseph "failed to clarify for the highest leadership of the church the precise method of succession God intended.
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30
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- Sidney Rigdon is claimed to have "recently apostatized over Smith's attempted seduction of his daughter in to a polygamous marriage."
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31
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- Author's quote: Knowing he could not compete with Smith as a seer...
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- Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
- Stenhouse (the author's source) did not become a member of the Church until after Joseph's death, and he joined the Church in England. He was in no position at all to know Sidney's thoughts or capabilities in the matter.
- The author's claim is false: Sidney's later post-Mormon religious activities show him to be quite convinced that he can deliver oracles from God as Joseph did.
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32
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- The temple is claimed to have "placed under themost sacred obligations to avenge the blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach their children to do the same."
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- John D. Lee in Henrie, 147.
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32
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- It is claimed that the "entire Mormon people [became] sworn and avowed enemies of the American nation."
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36
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- Brodie's claim that when Brigham spoke in the Adamic language, it "thus acquired status in the Church."
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- Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact
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36
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- The author claims that Brigham "disposed of his rivals." Stanley P. Hirshson is quoted as claiming that Nauvoo became a "police state."
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Engulfed by dissension from within and without, Young established in Nauvoo a police state. When he returned to the town after Smith's death and was served with several writs, he strapped on a pair of six-shooters and vowed he would kill any man who handed him another summons or grabbed hold of him. Until he left Nauvoo, he wore those guns. (pp 61-62)
- Note the following from the Journal of Discourses:
"When the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young, the enemies of God and His kingdom sought to inaugurate a similar career for President Young; but he took his revolver from his pocket at the public stand in Nauvoo, and declared that upon the first attempt of an officer to read a writ to him in a State that had violated its plighted faith in the murder of the Prophet and Patriarch while under arrest, he should serve the contents of this writ (holding his loaded revolver in his hand) first; to this the vast congregation assembled said, Amen. He was never arrested." (George A. Smith, Journal of Discourses 13:110.)
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- Stanley P. Hirshson, "The Lion of the Lord," 61.
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36
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- The author claims that John D. Lee was "an integral component in the new power structure" after Joseph's death.
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37
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- The author claims that Emma and other Smith relatives returned to Far West and founded the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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37
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- The author claims that Joseph wanted people to receive their endowments for the "Mormon road to heaven."
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- Nelson Winch Green, "Fifteen Years Among the Mormons," 41.
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37
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- It is claimed that LDS missionaries to England "capitalized on the intolerable social and economic conditions" in order to gain converts.
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38
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- Quoting D. Michael Quinn, the author notes that Brigham said that women "have no right to meddle in the affairs of the Kingdom of God."
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38
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- The author claims that Brigham "commended his police for nearly beating to death an apostate within the walls of the temple.
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- Although the author provides no source for the claim, it is likely that this refers to the flogging of three men by Nauvoo Police.
- See: Flogging those out of fellowship?
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38-39
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- The author mentions "the pending indictment of two leaders of the Church on counterfeiting charges..."
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- Although the author provides no source for the claim, it is likely that this refers a critical claim that Brigham Young, Willard Richards, Parley Pratt, and Orson Hyde were involved in making counterfeit coins.
- See: Counterfeiting by the apostles at Nauvoo?
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39
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- The author claims that "thousands of armed Mormons and Gentiles faced off" in Nauvoo.
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- Presentism or anachronism: Everyone on the frontier in 19th century America was armed—this was necessary for hunting and protection.
- The Saints were driven out of Nauvoo by the threat of military force.
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Claims made in "Chapter Four: Winter Quarters—Council Bluffs, 1846"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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47
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- The author claims that in 1846, the U.S. military planned to "seize New Mexico, California, and much of Utah."
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- That members of the Church volunteered for U.S. military service as part of the "Mormon Batallion" is a strange act for people who were "sworn enemies" of the U.S.A. (as she claims above).
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53
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- The author claims that John D. Lee was sent by Brigham to intercept the payroll from the Mormon battalion in order to consecrate it to the Church.
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- This puts an ominous spin on something benign. Members joined the Mormon battalion in part to provide needed funds for the Church and their families (most of whom remained with the church) to help with the migration west.
- According to the cited source:
On August 28, about dark, President Young visited John D. Lee in his tent. "I have a very dangerous but responsible mission for you to perform," he said. "I want you to to follow up the Mormon Batallion and be at Santa Fe when they receive their payment. Can you go?" "I am willing to do whatever I can to further the cause," Lee answered without hesitation.
. . .
"Go, and God will protect you," Brother Brigham said, laying a firm hand on his shoulder. "I shall see that your families do not want. It is most important that we have what money we can get if we are to have food to survive this winter. Even then I have a heavy heart when I think of what is ahead.."
Then Lee accepted one of the most important assignments of his career.
- It should be noted that there is no use of the words "intercept" or "consecrate it" anywhere in the chapter.
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- Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 95.
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53
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- The author claims that Brigham "used the battalion earnings to purchase food to stock a store he owned, which he then sold back to his starving Saints at inflated prices."
- The author claims that one of the battalion members said that "Some of the women, being entirely destitute, desired their husband's share, and some cried for the want of it."
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- No source provided. Possibly Lee in Henrie, 183.
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54
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- The author claims that Brigham declared "his own death and resurrection."
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55
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- The author claims that Brigham "overcame resistance" from the Council of the Twelve and "finalized his own ascendancy" in order to be "elevated to a deity."
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54
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- Author's quote: Young broke the tedium by courting Indian women along the way. Having been "sealed" to two Sioux squaws before leaving winter Quarters, he attempted to persuade others he met to unite with him on the spiritual journey.
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- No source provided. Possibly Werner, 220?
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59
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- The author claims that in Brigham's very first address to the Saints after arriving in the Salt Lake valley that he "gave an ominous warning to all who had come. From this point forward, anyone who refused to live the laws about to be set forth was free to leave."
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- Internal contradiction: This contradicts what the author states on page 106, where she says that anyone that wanted to leave was "hunted down and killed"
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59
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- The author claims that Brigham used a divining rod that once belonged to Oliver Cowdery to select the site for the Salt Lake Temple.
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- No source provided. Likely Quinn.
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Claims made in "Chapter 5: Salt Lake City, August 24, 1849"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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67
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- The author notes that several new federal officials fled the Utah Territory because they felt threatened.
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- House Exec. Doc. 25, 15 quoted in David L. Bigler, Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1998), 59. (bias and errors) Review
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68-69
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69
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- The author claims that apostasy and adultery were punishable by beheading.
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70
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- Brigham is claimed to have said that the revelation on polygamy said that "all worthy men" should cleave to as many women as possible.
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- According to the author, this was said by Brigham Young at "an emergency conference of Young's apostles organized in August 1852."
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70
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- Brigham said that Adam was God and was a polygamist.
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- According to the author, this was said by Brigham Young at "an emergency conference of Young's apostles organized in August 1852."
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73
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- Brigham is said to have threatened to "unsheathe" his bowie knife against the Gladdenites.
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I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here, I will unsheath my bowie knife, and conquer or die. [Great commotion in the congregation, and a simultaneous burst of feeling, assenting to the declaration.] Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be put to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. [Voices, generally, "go it, go it."] If you say it is right, raise your hands. [All hands up.] Let us call upon the Lord to assist us in this, and every good work.
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