Oliver Cowdery, Cumorah, and the Heartland Theory – Part I

 

Oliver Cowdery, Cumorah, and the Heartland Theory – Part I

Many modern-day theorists claim that the hill Cumorah in western New York is the same hill Cumorah mentioned in the Book of Mormon. However, like the disparity in the mountains, the New York hill Cumorah has few characteristics of that mountain in the Land of Promise.

First of all, these theorists all claim that the hill Cumorah in New York is where Moroni buried the plates; however, at no time is this written in the scriptural record. It is merely assumed by these theorists. What Moroni actually said, 36 years after the brutal battle at Cumorah, which ended the Nephite Nation, is: “Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth” (Mormon 8:4). He does not say where he will hide them, or where in the earth that hiding place will be.

The chances Moroni would still be around the hill Cumorah where at least 300,000 people died—and likely many more—is unrealistic given the fact that the Lamanites did not bury any of the dead at Cumorah. In fact, Moroni writes about this. Speaking of the dead, they “had fallen; and their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth” (Mormon 6:15).

Moroni hiding the plates in the ground

 

This is Moroni, the same who said: “I am the same who hideth up this record unto the Lord” (Mormon 8:14). And again, “Therefore, I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not” (Mormon 8:4, emphasis added).
And in another statement: “I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life” (Moroni 1:3, emphasis added). It simply did not matter to Moroni where he went and where he would be when he hid the record in the earth. Obviously, he could not stay arount the rotting corpses of more than 300,000 people scattered across the Cumorah battle site—the smell alone would have been staggering. Not to mention all the predators that would have been drawn to the area.

In addition, in the immediate area of the Land of Cumorah, a civil war broke out among the Lamanites: “behold also, the Lamanites are at war one with another; and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war” (Mormon 8:8). Obviously, Moroni would not have stayed near Cumorah due to this war, which was so broadly fought with hundreds of thousands of Lamanites involved, and willing to kill anyone who was not of their tribe.

There is simply no reason to claim that Moroni buried the plates in a specific place, especially in the hill Cumorah. After all, the hill in New York was not even called the hill Cumorah until members of the early Church began to call it such. Others called it Mormon Hill, and Gold Bible Hill. In addition, it is unlikely that Oliver Cowdery in his Letter VII, had any inspiration regarding this doubtful. It is well known among scholars that Oliver’s overwrought verbosity, his penchant for “rhetorical flourishes” which make “the story more Oliver’s than Joseph’s,” his telltale “flowery journalese,” and his ”florid romantic language“ have been noted by careful readers.

While there is no official declaration by Joseph Smith or any other leader that this New York hill was the same as the one in the Book of Mormon, Oliver makes certain to tie the two together in the most specious verbose manner.

The Three Witnesses see the Gold Plates

 

First of all, Oliver Cowdery, along with David Whitmer and Martin Harris, signed an official document in which they became known as the Three Witnesses, that they had seen the plates which contained the record, a statement that has appeared in almost every publication of the Book of Mormon, yet no such indication is given by these or other men regarding the Hill Cumorah. In addition, Cowdery’s letters to William W. Phelps, an experienced editor and contributor for the first Church newspapers, especially Letter VII, was not written by Joseph Smith, it was never published under the supervision of Joseph Smith, it was  never canonized, and contains factual errors and embellishments.

In 1834 and 1835, with the help of Joseph, Cowdery published a contribution to an anticipated "full history of the rise of the church of Latter Day Saints" as a series of articles in the church's Messenger and Advocate. This became the famed Letters I through VIII that Cowdery wrote to W.W. Phelps; however, his version was not entirely congruent with the later official history of the church (letter from W. W. Phelps to Oliver Cowdery, December 25, 1834, EMD, 3: 28; Arthur Henry King, The Abundance of the Heart, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, 1986), p204).

For instance, Cowdery ignored the First Vision but described an angel (rather than God or Jesus) who called Joseph to his work in September 1823. He placed the religious revival that inspired Joseph in 1823 (rather than 1820) and stated that this revival experience had caused Joseph to pray in his bedroom (rather than the woods of the official history) (Grant Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, Signature Books, Salt Lake Cit, 2002, p239; Richard Abanes, One Nation Under God: A History of the Mormon Church, Four Walls Eight Windows, New York, p2002).

Further, after first asserting that the revival had occurred in 1821, when Joseph was in his "fifteenth year," Cowdery corrected the date to 1823 and stated that it was in Joseph’s 17th year (though 1823 was actually Joseph’s 18th year). Cowdery said that the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites had occurred in the vicinity of the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph found the golden plates. However, there is little evidence for mass graves or huge decomposition of former bodies of tens of thousands of warriors and families at the site. Many modern Mormon historians now argue that the events likely took place in Central America (Messenger and Advocate, 1, no. 3, December 1834, 42, pp78-79. "You will recollect that I mentioned the time of a religious excitement, in Palmyra and vicinity to have been in the 15th year of Joseph’s age—that was an error in the type—it should have been in the 17th—You will please remember this correction, as it will be necessary for the full understanding of what will follow in time. This would bring the date down to the year 1823” (Richard L. Bushman, Oliver’s Joseph: Days Never to be Forgotten, Alexander L. Baugh, Editor, BYU Religious Studies Center, Provo, 2009; Davidson et al., eds., The Joseph Smith Papers: Histories, Volume 1, p38).

The fact is that Oliver, while attractive and intelligent, did not have the rocklike qualities of Brigham Young or Wilford Woodruff. He wavered; he waxed hot and cold. His record reinforces the sense that Joseph had to work with the people who came his way. He was not given giants to help him build the kingdom. The early converts were good-hearted, spiritually sensitive souls with very human flaws, Oliver among them. Joseph had to build his own giants using the human materials that happened to be drawn into the Restoration.

Oliver's Church career peaked from 1834 to 1836. Minutes and letters picture him as a highly effective preacher, writer, and administrator. Brigham Young added that Oliver impetuously proceeded without Joseph's permission, not knowing "the order and pattern and the results" (Charles Walker Journal entry, July 26, 1872, Church Archives). Professionally, Cowdery was characterized as "an able lawyer," well informed, with "brilliant" speaking ability; yet "he was modest and reserved, never spoke ill of anyone, never complained" (Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1981, 1989, p41).

(See the next post, “Oliver Cowdery, Cumorah, and the Heartland Theory – Part II,” regarding Oliver Cowdery and his writing about the location and events of the battle at Cumorah)