Orrin Porter Rockwell served as U.S. Deputy Marshall, Indian fighter, guerilla, and bodyguard to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
In his earlier Missouri days he suffered months of dungeon-style imprisonment at the hands of anti-Mormon persecuters, but unlike many Mormons, Rockwell fought back…and earned the nick-name, “The Destroying Angel.”
In the West he purportedly killed more men than Wyatt Earp, Doc Holladay, Batt Masterson, and Tom Horn combined. He was charged with literally hundreds of killings. He also held a supernatural mystique to outlaws. He claimed Joseph Smith commanded if he would not cut his hair, he could not die in a fight. Thus, he became known as the latter-day Samson of the West, where outlaws actually gathered about campfires and sang ballads about him.
His story as a guerilla fighter against 2,500 U.S. Cavalry in the Utah War is a gripping tale, unknown even to many scholars.
In this book, explosive early Mormon history is unraveled with Rockwell in the forefront. Richard Lloyd Dewey quotes hundreds of original sources-journals, letters, and court records-some from sources never before tapped-and answers questions left hanging over a hundred years. In the process he reports little-known events and reveals a colorful, intensely loyal character to his church-yet a portrait in dichotomy, due to human frailties.
Although much of Rockwell’s life is pieced together from painstaking research, the frontiersman is still somewhat shrouded in mystery, according to the author. Yet all known, recorded “Porter Rockwell stories” are included in this volume. The result is an intriguing trip through American history…a delightful and stimulating trip indeed.
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