Continuing with the previous post regarding Oliver Cowdery’s elaborate language in his writing about the location and events of the battle at Cumorah.
Oliver Cowdery, who was, at one-time a school teacher with a flair for writing, was well known to embellish facts and the truth. He also had a noticeable ego. As an example, in the first letter to William W. Phelps, he seems unduly concerned to present himself as a writer of high sensibility who will tell of events that “may be entertaining” to Church members. In standard sentimental fashion, he first exhibits himself in a contemplative mood, poised to set pen to paper:
Cowdery’s rhetorical flourishes carried over into a way of describing events that put himself in the forefront. His feelings and thoughts are always on display, making the story more Oliver’s than Joseph’s. “Not only have I been graciously preserved from wicked and unreasonable men, with this our brother,” he writes, “but I have seen the fruit of perseverance in proclaiming the everlasting gospel.” When John the Baptist appeared, “I received baptism, by the direction of the angel of God—the first received into this church, in this day” (Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Papers of Joseph Smith. Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1989–92, pp28–29.
A single sentence was sufficient for Joseph to tell everything about the temptation of riches, but Oliver devoted six pages to the struggle with greed. It took 221 words or Mormon to tell about the battle at Cumorah, but Cowdery needed 1,041words to cover it. As an example, Codery writes:
“The aged, whose silver locks in other places, and at other times, would command reverence; the mother, who, in other circumstances would be spared from violence—the infant, whose tender cries would be regarded and listened to with a feeling of compassion and tenderness— and the virgin, whose grace, beauty, and modesty, would be esteemed and held inviolate by all good men and enlightened nations, were alike disregarded and treated with scorn!”(Last 1/3 of Letter VII). None of which is in the scriptural record.
Nor was the following of Cowdery’s writing: “In vain did the hoary head and man of gray hairs ask for mercy— in vain did the mother plead for compassion—in vain did the helpless and harmless infant weep for very anguish— and in vain did the virgin seek to escape the ruthless hand of revengeful foes and demons in human form— all alike were trampled down by the feet of the feet of the strong, and crushed beneath the rage of battle and war!”
While Cowdery’s writing is certainly entertaining, it simply is not found in Mormon’s writings in the scriptural record. In other words, when reading Oliver Cowdery’s writings we are reading his opinion of events—not Mormon’s description. The same can be said about his claim in Letter VII that the battle at Cumorah took place in western New York state since there is nothing to warrant such a claim. Nor do the descriptions of the hill Mormon give us a match with the hill Cowdery describes in his Letter VII.
Cowdery wrote: “At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former, leaving a beautiful vale between…which gives a prospect at once imposing, when one reflects on the fact, that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed.”
Now, this area is only about one-mile-wide and a mile-and-a-half in length. It would be extremely difficult for the 230,000 Nephite warriors plus women and children, and about 400,000 Lamanites to hold such a battle—there simply would not have been enough room in this little valley for the battle Cowdery writes about and Mormon describes. Besides, Mormon tells us the Nephites: “did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents around about the hill Cumorah” (Mormon 6:4, emphasis added).
Now “around” means: “About; on all sides; encircling; encompassing,” and “about” means “Around; on the exterior part or surface.” Obviously, the Nephites surrounded the hill and the following batter took place all around the hill Cumorah, not in one little valley that Cowdery describes.
Another discrepancy in the New York hill Cumorah and the Book of Mormon hill Cumorah, is the height of the hill. Mormon writes about standing on the top of the hill and looking out over the battlefield the next morning and seeing the carnage of death of 230,000-plus Nephites and an untold number of Lamanites. First of all, the height of this hill at its highest, is a mere 110-feet high. The point is, if there were survivors of the initial battle that destroyed 230,000 Nephites, the Lamanites in overrunning this low hill with an easily accessible top up a gentle slope, would have easily uncovered such Nephites and destroyed them.
In addition, Mormon tells us that the Nephites occupied the ground around the base of the hill Cumorah, which makes it most likely that the Lamanites would have overrun the entire hill and attacked those remaining on the other side from the rear. There would have been no place for Mormon, Moroni and the other 22 survivors to have hidden from the blood-crazed attackers to be alive the next morning.
Thus, nothing about this New York hill would have impeded the Lamanites in their effort to kill every Nephite at Cumorah. After all, they killed 230,000 plus women and children—it is obvious they did not want to leave anyone alive. Overrunning this small hill would not only have been a simple matter, but one that was necessary for the Lamanites to complete their massacre and bring an end to their long-time enemy, the Nephites.
A crazed military force, bent on the total destruction of their enemy would have been able to easily ascend this hill from end to end to rout out any Nephites that had been missed earlier
Another problem that faced the early members was the fact that the plates were buried in this New York hill at the time Joseph Smith was visited by Moroni. This led to members making the assumption that Moroni originally buried them in the hill Cumorah and they had lain there for 1600 years. However, there
is nothing about this that suggests that Moroni originally buried the plates at Cumorah for the many reasons already discussed. The point is, Oliver Cowdery's Letter VII is not and cannot be accepted as doctrinal, nor used to try and prove a point. From the scriptural record we cannot say where the Hill Cumorah was located or whether there were one or two Cumoths, like there were two Bountifuls, or that Moroni buried the record at Cumorah, since he was alive for 36 years after the carnage at Cumotah as he traveled around tryng to avoid the thousands of Lamanites who would kill him on sight.
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