I seem to bring up Orrin Porter Rockwell and what I call the OP Rockwell Philosophy quite often. It matches the sheepdog philosophy where good men learn violence to protect the sheep from the wolves.
We are invaded by a hostile force who are evidently assailing us to accomplish our overthrow and destruction. . . . Our opponents have availed themselves of prejudice existing against us because of our religious faith, to send out a formidable host to accomplish our destruction. . . . (I order) that all the forces in said Territory hold themselves in readiness to march, at a moment's notice, to repel any and all such invasion. — Territorial Gov. Brigham Young's proclamation, 1857
The first commander named for the U.S. Army expedition was Gen. William Harney. His biographer would later write that he "had fully determined, on arriving at Salt Lake City, to capture Brigham Young and the twelve apostles and execute them in summary fashion." But Harney would never go to Utah, for he was soon sent instead to quell unrest in Kansas.
He was replaced by Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, who was far away in Texas.
Officers didn't expect much opposition from Mormons to such a powerful force.
When Col. Johnston’s army marched toward Utah in 1857 for the Mormon War, Rockwell was named captain of a 100-man ranger company to lead guerrilla raids against the insurgent army to “disrupt supply trains and harass military columns.”
Many people are familiar with the outcome of the "war" — how after being harassed by Rockwell, Bill Hickman, Lot Smith and other Mormons who burned their supply trains, emissaries, including Col. Thomas Kane, were able to negotiate a peaceful settlement. The government was willing to offer blanket amnesty, provided the Army was allowed to stay.
“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.”
—Fitz Hugh Ludlow, 1870.
In the chaos that ensued after the death of Joseph Smith, the Mormons often engaged in battles with mobs of non-Mormons. On September 16, 1845 Rockwell was hastily deputized by the Sheriff of Hancock County Illinois, Jacob Blackenstos. Blackenstos was a non-Mormon but was friendly to the Mormons. He was being chased by an anti-Mormon mob led by Frank Worrell, who had been in charge of the militia unit that failed to protect Joseph Smith when he was murdered. Rockwell took out his rifle and stopped the mob by shooting to death Worrell. Worrell thus became the first man killed by Rockwell, a total that would grow to 40-100, no one is certain, by the end of Rockwell’s life.
British adventurer Captain Richard F. Burton visited Great Salt Lake City in 1860
“When he heard I was preparing for California, he gave me abundant good advice--to carry a double-barreled gun loaded with buckshot; to keep my eyes skinned,' especially in canyons and ravines; to make at times a dark camp--that is to say, unhitching for supper and then hitching up and turning a few miles off the road--ever to be ready for attack when the animals were being inspanned and outspanned, (hitching and unhitching) and never to trust to appearances in an Indian country."
Then Rockwell added the clincher: "For the purpose of avoiding 'White Indians,' the worst of their kind, he advised me to shun the direct route, which he represented to be about as fit for traveling as is hell for a powder magazine." They parted with a handshake and a "here's how." Burton later would send the "old Mormon Danite" a bottle of brandy for his kindness to a passing stranger and for his excellent trail advice.
The time had been that an Illinois sheriff had gotten the drop on Rockwell, and shaking him down, the lawman found the Mormon carried the fire power to get off 71 pistol rounds before he would have had to fort up and reload. That would have meant he had ten, eleven, or twelve guns on board—plus ramrods, nipple pricks, wadding, and shot. For comparison, a Smith and Wesson .357 weighs 46 ounces, unloaded. A Ruger .44 weighs 48 ounces (an even three pounds). For either, a box of 50 cartridges comes in at a pound and a half. Figuring that a modern weapon weighs roughly what one of Rockwell's would have, along with its paraphernalia, he could have been riding along with as much as 38, 39, or 40 pounds of steel slapping against him with his horse's gait. Add to that the weight of the hostlers and belts his outfit would have required. And more—add the weight of a formidable array of knives he had sheathed beside his guns. The sheriff, whoever he was, came away from the arrest with a story that was to last him a long time.
Porter knew a little about being an insurgent, or Guerilla warfare. He also knew a little about preparation for defense and thinking tactically. The above advice Captain Burton is proof that he thought this way. He carried concealed and knew about situational awareness. He taught avoidance (taking a different trail), and firepower (carry a double-barreled shotgun, loaded with buckshot). We can learn a lot from ol’ Port. Also his loyalty to Prophets and to the Church are pretty good traits.
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn
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