The Hill Cumorah and Oliver Cowdery – Part I

The Hill Cumorah is a “drumlin,” a word taken from the Irish droimnín, which means “littlest ridge,” and is usually a about a quarter-of-a-mile-long with sloping sides and a downward slanted end formed under an advancing continental ice sheet that pushed up as it advanced (in this case, southward). These drumlins are elongated, teardrop-shaped hills of rock, sand, and gravel that have been streamlined by glacier flow and formed under moving glacial ice that runs north and south in this region. 

Drumlins are hills of sediment (generally a quarter of a mile or more in length) that have been streamlined by glacier flow

 

They are unsorted glacial sediment and an accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock) formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine. They are often referred to as till-covered areas forming sheets on flat or irregular topography, creating a mound of debris covered with dirt where grass and sometimes trees grow.

Oliver Cowdery, who in 1830 visited the gently-rolling low hill in Manchester hill described it as: “The north end rose suddenly from the plain, forming a promontory without timber, but covered with grass. As you passed to the south you soon came to scattering timber, the surface having been cleared by art or by wind; and a short distance further left, you are surrounded with the common forest of the country.”

Hundreds of these hills occur in the greatest density eastward on the Lake Ontario plain primarily from Wayne and Ontario Counties east to Oswego County where they form one of the largest groupings of drumlins on earth. Theorists mistakenly assume, without concrete evidence, that this hill in Manchester next to Palmyra, is the same Hill Cumorah as that described in the Book of Mormon, and called Ramah by the Jaredites and Cumorah by the Nephites.

Despite the fact that there is no record of Moroni having told Joseph Smith that the place where the plates were buried was called Cumorah, or that the hill was once a great battleground, North American theorists all claim otherwise. However, if the hill in Manchester had been the place of those great battles, it would be rather surprising that it was not mentioned in any of the writings or talks by Joseph.

The only one attributed to Joseph that is known, is the comment by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, who wrote: “To keep <​prevent​> you from keeping the commandments of God <​that you migh may not suceed in doing his work​> and you must tell your father of this for he will believe every word you say the record is on a side hill on the Hill of Cumorah 3 miles from this place remove the Grass and moss and you will find a large flat stone pry that up and you will find the record under it laying on 4 pillars <​of cement​>— then the angel left him” (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, Book 3, pp10-11).

Following the death of Joseph and Hyrum, and later, Samuel, Lucy Mack Smith wrote to her only surviving son, William, on 23 January, 1845, in which she said: “I have by the council of the 12 undertaken a history of the family, that is my Fathers Family and my own.” She added: “People are often enquiring of me the particulars of Joseph’s getting the plates seeing the angels at first and many other thing which Joseph never wrote or published I have told over many things pertaining to these matters to different persons to gratify their curiosity indeed have almost destroyed my lungs giving these recitals to those who felt anxious to hear them I have now concluded to write down every particular as far as possible and if those who wish to read them will help me a little they can have it all in one piece to read at their leasure—“ (Lucy Mack Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois, to William Smith, 23 January, 1845, CHL History).

Copies of Lucy Mack Smith’s writing of her history

 

This history, which was begun with what is now called Book 1, was written when Lucy Mack Smith was 70 years old (about 10 years before her death), and about 15 years after the Church was organized, starting with events that took place some 25-30 years after the event in Book 3. The writing, which is in the first person, is fraught with numerous changes, including errors, crossouts, and overwriting.

It should be kept in mind that by the time Lucy Mack Smith began this history, the Church members were calling the hill in Manchester the “hill Cumorah.” It is likely that she used the name which she knew the hill by, and to make it clear what hill she meant. It is unlikely that Joseph Smith used the name before he ever went to, or saw, the hill itself—which had no name prior to obtaining the plates there and possibly did not acquire one until Oliver Cowdery used that name in his Letter VII, which publication of his 8 letters to William W. Phelps was widespread in the early Church. Had he used that name, it is unlikely it never appeared in any of his writings, or in any speeches made, discussions or recorded in any journal, of which there were many in the early Church, especially those who wrote down Joseph’s words.

The hill Cumorah in New York, a low lying, sloping drumlin hill

 

• Argument: “We have no first person record of Joseph Smith naming the hill from which he received the plates of the Book of Mormon. However, it appears that only a small fraction of the words that Joseph Smith spoke were ever written down–and we can include in that fraction the scriptures that he revealed. “

Response: Had he used that name, it is unlikely it would not have appeared in any of his writings, or in any speeches made, discussions or recorded in any journal, of which there were many in the early Church, especially those who wrote down Joseph’s words. We also have to keep in mind that Prophets are human beings who God has chosen to speak through—but not everything they say is being said by God. Joseph Smith acknowledged that and said that "a prophet is only a prophet when acting as such” (History of the Church, 5:265).

Argument: “On pages 93-4 in Joseph Smith Papers Documents, Volume 1, July 1828-1831, most of the Preface is written in first person, active voice. The exception is the final clause in the last sentence: “I would also inform you that the plates of which hath been spoken, were found in the township of Manchester, Ontario county, New-York” (footnote #5). This footnote reads: In September 1827, JS removed the plates from a hill in Manchester Township. (See JS History, vol. A-1, and Oliver Cowdery, “Letter VII,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1835, 1:158).”

Response: There is nothing special about this footnote. It would appear, because of the change in tense, that it was written by someone else, perhaps Oliver Cowdery or a scribe before publication. It is also a source—Messenger and Advocate—that was controlled at the time by Oliver Cowdery and had wide distribution in the early Church.

(See the next post, “The Hill Cumorah and Oliver Cowdery – Part II,” for more of the comments made by theorists regarding the Hill Cumorah and its location)