So after all is said and done, the 1870s controversy over the Article of Marriage seems more public relations than a defense for or against polygamy...For more than two generations, Cowdery’s Article on Marriage was entrenched as part of the Doctrine and Covenants, although not considered a revelation. However, its inclusion turned into a public relations embarrassment for the LDS Church after it publicly embraced polygamy.
Well, the “question” then becomes – exactly when did the Mormon church publicly embrace polygamy?
Answer? The Lds church was finally forced to publicly concede polygamy in 1852 when government surveyor Captain John W. Gunnison penned this book: The Mormons, or, Latter-day saints, in the valley of the Great Salt Lake: a history of their rise and progress, peculiar doctrines, present condition, and prospects, derived from personal observation: during a residence among them
(Gunnison had been surveying the Utah Territory, and had opportunity to view Mormons in their natural environs)
“But for all the shocking revelations in Gunnison's treatise, none had a greater impact than the expose' of polygamy. Gunnison's confirmation of the widespread practice of plural marriage in Utah – vehemently, repeatedly denied by Young and his apostles throughout the world—made his book a best-seller in the nation and abroad.” (Sally Denton, American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 Vintage Books, division from Random House, p. 69
As a "thank you" of "sorts" from Lds leaders to Gunnison for unveiling its rampant Utah polygamy, Gunnison and a party of seven others were massacred in their camp when Gunnison had returned to Utah in 1853...
While many reports blamed the Native Americans, a Chicago Judge discovered otherwise in 1857 -- the same year that Lds leaders were to try the same ruse with the 9/11 massacre of 120 innocent children, moms & dads known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre...initially blaming it, too, on Native Americans. (The Native Americans DID participate in the initial shooting barrage on the wagon party, but opted out when it turned into a multi-day siege).
Here's SEVERAL sources on the Gunnison massacre:
(1) Liberty Weekly Tribune – May 8, 1857 The Murder of Capt. Gunnison; Letter from Judge Drummond. The mystery of the murder of poor Capt. Gunnison, whose sad and tragic fate in Utah in 1853, we all remember, is gradually clearing up, confirming the suspicion that he and his eight companions were not murdered by Indians, but by Mormons. -- In the Chicago press of yesterday, is a correspondence between Mrs. M. D. Gunnison, widow of the murdered officer, and Judge Drummond, late Judge of the Federal District Court for Utah. In answer to Mrs. Gunnison's inquiries concerning the death of her husband, Judge Drummond mentions a chain of circumstances which prove conclusively that the murderers of Gunnison and his party were Mormons and Indians, and that the whole affair, to use Judge Drummond's own words, "was a deep and maturely laid plan by the Mormons to murder the whole party of engineers and surveyors, and charge the murder upon the Indians." The murderers were a company of Indians and Mormons, led by one Enies, a friend and favorite of Brigham Young. The names of the Mormons who participated in the affair, are William A. Hackman [sic]. Anson Call, Alexander McRay, Ephraim Hanks, James W. Cummings, Edwin D. Wooley, George Peacock, Levi Abrams, and Bronson -- all of them members in good standing of the Mormon church. The Indians were tried for the offence, but acquitted in obedience with an express order to that effect from Brigham Young to the jury. These disclosures by Judge Drummond will produce a sensation in the country. Liberty Weekly Tribune – May 8, 1857 The Murder of Capt. Gunnison; Letter from Judge Drummond
(2) See also: Frank Kirkman's Mountain Meadow Massacre Web site: NARRATIVE OF THE DEATH OF CAPT. GUNNISON
(3) Per Author Sally Denton (for online excerpt direct from her book, see American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 Vintage Books, division from Random House, pp. 88-89 -- there were indications at least one Native American was involved along with the Mormons:
(Speaking of Judge Drummond: “...'at the same court a favorite Indian warrior of Gov. [Brigham] Young, by the name of Eneis,' was also tried for the murders of the Gunnison party. 'Upon his trial I became convinced beyond the possibility of a doubt,' Drummond wrote, 'that the whole affair was a deep and maturely laid plan to murder the whole party of engineers, or surveyors, and charge the murders upon the Indians.' Trial evidence revealed that Eneis was 'the property of Governor [Brigham] Young, and that he could speak English quite fluently, and that when he left the city of Salt Lake, he went under the order of Governor Young and the church.' Further much testimony indicated that Eneis was in the company of 'several white men on the day before the murder, and that they were all on their way toward the engineers' camp.'” (pp. 88-89) “'The white men [the murderers] were so accurately described,' Drummond continued, that he felt certain in identifying them. 'This I do for the benefit of those men who may go to Utah as apointees under the present administration, viz: William A. Hickman, Anson Call, Alexander McRay, Ephraim Hanks, James W. Cummings, Edward D. Wolley, George Peacock, Levi Abrams, and ___________ Bronson, all of whom are in good standing to this day in the [Mormon] church.” (p. 89) ”After the surveyors had been shot, their arms and legs had been cut off. Most brutal of all was Eneis' final act. He 'cut Capt. Gunnison's body open and took out his heart while he was yet alive, and the heart so full of blood that it bounded on the ground after being taken out; and not content with this, but cut out his tongue.'” (Denton, p. 89)
Note: William A. Hickman was the notorious “Wild Bill Hickman,” a confessed Mormon mass murderer who was a “hit man” for Brigham Young: Murderpedia: William Adams Hickman – his confession given in the 19th century book, Brigham's Destroying Angel
So What’s the point? Oliver Cowdery, who is not the leader of the LDS church gives his opinion? If Oliver Cowdery’s opinion is so important to you ....
....then you’ll be impressed about his lifelong testimony that the Book of Mormon was true, even after he was excommunicated from the LDS church ....
.....even though his testimony had prevented him from winning the Governorship for the State of Wisconson!
Truly this man had an extroadinary commitment to the revelation he had wherein he stated God had shown him that the Book of Mormon was true.
I’m pleased that you have chosen to
So...
do we ANTIs (as we are lovingly called) have any worries today, of retribution from rabid MORMONs, because WE are exposing the things that MORMONism, Inc. wishes would stay tucked away in the background?