Zelph
Encyclopedia
Zelph is a minor figure in Mormon
history. In May and June 1834 Joseph Smith led a Mormon group (a paramilitary
expedition known as Zion's Camp
) on a march from Kirtland, Ohio
to Jackson County, Missouri
. On June 3, while passing through southern Illinois
near Griggsville
, some bones were discovered buried in a mound. These bones were supposedly identified by Smith as belonging to a Lamanite
prophet-warrior named Zelph. The mound in question is now known as Naples Mound 8
.
." On June 3, 1834, in Pike County, Illinois
, some of the men of Zion's Camp located some bones and an arrowhead about a foot below the ground. Smith himself wrote nothing about the event, however, seven of the members of Zion's Camp who were with him either recorded or orally related their accounts of what was said. These accounts declared that the bones were from Zelph, a "white Lamanite
" general who was a righteous man.
A reference to this event is made in E.D. Howe
's 1834 anti-Mormon book Mormonism Unvailed
, which states:
Contrary to Howe's statement that the group found the remains of a "General among the Nephites," all of the recorded accounts agree that Zelph was identified as a Lamanite.
wrote in 1841 that several of the group, along with Joseph Smith, walked to the top of a mound that they had located on the bank of the Illinois
river. Kimball states that "[o]n the top of this mound there was the appearance of three altars, which had been built of stone, one above another, according to the ancient order; and the ground was strewn over with human bones." This prompted Kimball and the others to dig into the mound after sending for a shovel and a hoe. "At about one foot deep we discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire; and between two of his ribs we found an Indian arrow, which had evidently been the cause of his death. We took the leg and thigh bones and carried them along with us to Clay county. All four appeared sound."
After continuing on their journey, Kimball reports that "[i]t was made known to Joseph that he had been an officer who fell in battle, in the last destruction among the Lamanites, and his name was Zelph. This caused us to rejoice much, to think that God was so mindful of us as to show these things to his servant. Brother Joseph had enquired of the Lord and it was made known in a vision."
Reuben McBride’s journal account states that "His name was Zelph a war[r]ior under the Prophet Onandagus Zelph a white Laman[i]te." McBride also wrote that "an arrow was found in his
Ribs…which he said he sup[p]osed oc[c]aisoned his death." McBride wrote that Zelph "was known from the atlantic to the Rocky Mountains." Moses Martin stated "Soon after this Joseph had a vision and the Lord shewed him that this man was once a mighty Prophet and many other things concerning his dead which had fal[l]en no doubt in some great bat[t]les." Levi Hancock's journal also refers to "Onendagus," stating that "Zelf he was a white Lamanite who fought with the people of Onendagus for freedom." Onandaga is the name of a county in New York state as well as the name of a tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy that once occupied the area. Wilford Woodruff's journal mentions that the bones were "probably" from the Lamanites and Nephites, even though the printed vision omitted the "probably." After comparing the various accounts Williams Hamblin argued that "there are many difficulties that make it nearly impossible for us to know exactly what Joseph Smith said in 1834 as he reflected on the ruins his group encountered in Illinois."
scholars to suggest that the Lehites inhabited the entire North American continent as proposed by the Hemispheric Geographical Model, rather than merely portions of Central America as suggested by the Limited Geography Model
. (See also Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
)
Although Smith did not mention the Zelph event specifically in his journal, it is clear that during this period he considered the area in which the group was traveling to have been part of the land described in the Book of Mormon
. In a letter that Smith wrote to his wife Emma the following day (June 4, 1834), he stated:
Smith's statements in later years suggests that his thinking regarding the location of Book of Mormon events evolved over time. Smith stated that he believed that the discovery of ancient Maya ruins on the Yucatán Peninsula
in the late 1830s offered evidence to the Book of Mormon's authenticity. After reading about the accounts, Smith proclaimed the ruins were likely Nephite. Zelph is not an individual mentioned in the Book of Mormon narrative and would therefore not necessarily be associated with any of the events presumed by some people, including many FARMS
apologists, to have occurred in Mesoamerica.
The implication of belief in a hemispheric Book of Mormon geography by these men is supported by several references made by Wilford Woodruff. Woodruff writes that he "visited many of the mounds which were flung up by the ancient inhabitants of this continent probably by the Nephites & Lamanites." Woodruff also states that Zelph "that was known from the hill Cumorah on East sea to the Rocky mountains," thus implying that the hill Cumorah in New York is the same hill Cumorah referred to in the Book of Mormon. Some LDS scholars believe that "hill Cumorah" was Woodruff's term rather than Joseph Smith's, since other accounts refer only to the sea and fail to mention either Nephites or the hill Cumorah.
In 1842 Willard Richards
compiled a number of records in order to produce a history of the church. Among the records examined were the various accounts related to Zelph. In the process of combining the accounts, Richards crossed out Woodruff's references to "hill Cumorah," and Heber C. Kimball's reference to the "last" great struggle with the Lamanites."
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
history. In May and June 1834 Joseph Smith led a Mormon group (a paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
expedition known as Zion's Camp
Zion's Camp
Zion's Camp was a paramilitary expedition of Latter Day Saints, led by Joseph Smith, Jr., from Kirtland, Ohio to Clay County, Missouri during May and June 1834 in an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settlers...
) on a march from Kirtland, Ohio
Kirtland, Ohio
Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, USA. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census. Kirtland is famous for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Origins of Kirtland:...
to Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. With a population of 674,158 in the 2010 census, Jackson County is the second most populous of Missouri's counties, after St. Louis County. Kansas City, the state's most populous city and focus city of the Kansas City Metropolitan...
. On June 3, while passing through southern Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
near Griggsville
Griggsville, Illinois
Griggsville is a city in Pike County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,258 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Griggsville is located at ....
, some bones were discovered buried in a mound. These bones were supposedly identified by Smith as belonging to a Lamanite
Lamanite
According to the Book of Mormon, a Lamanite is a member of a dark-skinned nation of indigenous Americans that battled with the light-skinned Nephite nation...
prophet-warrior named Zelph. The mound in question is now known as Naples Mound 8
Naples Mound 8
The Naples Mound 8 is a Havana Hopewell culture mound site located somewhere in or near the Pike County, Illinois city of Griggsville...
.
Background
In 1834, Joseph Smith said he received a revelation from God, calling for a militia to be raised in Kirtland which would then march to Missouri and "redeem Zion." About 200 men and a number of women and children volunteered to join this militia, which became known as "Zion's CampZion's Camp
Zion's Camp was a paramilitary expedition of Latter Day Saints, led by Joseph Smith, Jr., from Kirtland, Ohio to Clay County, Missouri during May and June 1834 in an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settlers...
." On June 3, 1834, in Pike County, Illinois
Pike County, Illinois
Pike County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 16,430, which is a decrease of 5.5% from 17,384 in 2000...
, some of the men of Zion's Camp located some bones and an arrowhead about a foot below the ground. Smith himself wrote nothing about the event, however, seven of the members of Zion's Camp who were with him either recorded or orally related their accounts of what was said. These accounts declared that the bones were from Zelph, a "white Lamanite
Lamanite
According to the Book of Mormon, a Lamanite is a member of a dark-skinned nation of indigenous Americans that battled with the light-skinned Nephite nation...
" general who was a righteous man.
A reference to this event is made in E.D. Howe
Eber Dudley Howe
Eber Dudley Howe was the founder and editor of the Painesville Telegraph, a newspaper that published in Painesville, Ohio from 1822 to 1835. Howe was the author of one of the first books that was critical of the spiritual claims of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement...
's 1834 anti-Mormon book Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed is an anti-Mormon book published in 1834 by Eber D. Howe. The title page proclaims the book to be a contemporary exposé of Mormonism, and makes the claim that the historical portion of the Book of Mormon text was based upon a manuscript written by Solomon Spalding.The...
, which states:
A large mound was one day discovered, upon which Gen. Smith ordered an excavation to be made into it; and about one foot from the top of the ground, the bones of a human skeleton were found, which were carefully laid out upon a board, when Smith made a speech, prophesying or declaring that they were the remains of a celebrated General among the Nephites, mentioning his name and the battle in which he was slain, some 1500 years ago.
Contrary to Howe's statement that the group found the remains of a "General among the Nephites," all of the recorded accounts agree that Zelph was identified as a Lamanite.
Accounts
Heber C. KimballHeber C. Kimball
Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...
wrote in 1841 that several of the group, along with Joseph Smith, walked to the top of a mound that they had located on the bank of the Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
river. Kimball states that "[o]n the top of this mound there was the appearance of three altars, which had been built of stone, one above another, according to the ancient order; and the ground was strewn over with human bones." This prompted Kimball and the others to dig into the mound after sending for a shovel and a hoe. "At about one foot deep we discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire; and between two of his ribs we found an Indian arrow, which had evidently been the cause of his death. We took the leg and thigh bones and carried them along with us to Clay county. All four appeared sound."
After continuing on their journey, Kimball reports that "[i]t was made known to Joseph that he had been an officer who fell in battle, in the last destruction among the Lamanites, and his name was Zelph. This caused us to rejoice much, to think that God was so mindful of us as to show these things to his servant. Brother Joseph had enquired of the Lord and it was made known in a vision."
Reuben McBride’s journal account states that "His name was Zelph a war[r]ior under the Prophet Onandagus Zelph a white Laman[i]te." McBride also wrote that "an arrow was found in his
Ribs…which he said he sup[p]osed oc[c]aisoned his death." McBride wrote that Zelph "was known from the atlantic to the Rocky Mountains." Moses Martin stated "Soon after this Joseph had a vision and the Lord shewed him that this man was once a mighty Prophet and many other things concerning his dead which had fal[l]en no doubt in some great bat[t]les." Levi Hancock's journal also refers to "Onendagus," stating that "Zelf he was a white Lamanite who fought with the people of Onendagus for freedom." Onandaga is the name of a county in New York state as well as the name of a tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy that once occupied the area. Wilford Woodruff's journal mentions that the bones were "probably" from the Lamanites and Nephites, even though the printed vision omitted the "probably." After comparing the various accounts Williams Hamblin argued that "there are many difficulties that make it nearly impossible for us to know exactly what Joseph Smith said in 1834 as he reflected on the ruins his group encountered in Illinois."
Zelph and the question of Book of Mormon geography
The accounts related to Zelph are used as evidence by some Book of MormonBook of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
scholars to suggest that the Lehites inhabited the entire North American continent as proposed by the Hemispheric Geographical Model, rather than merely portions of Central America as suggested by the Limited Geography Model
Limited geography model (Book of Mormon)
A limited geography model for the Book of Mormon is one of several theories by Latter Day Saint movement scholars that the book's narrative was a historical record of people in a limited geographical region, rather than of the entire Western Hemisphere as believed by some early Latter Day Saints...
. (See also Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
Since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, both Mormon and non-Mormon archaeologists have studied its claims in reference to known archaeological evidence...
)
Although Smith did not mention the Zelph event specifically in his journal, it is clear that during this period he considered the area in which the group was traveling to have been part of the land described in the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. In a letter that Smith wrote to his wife Emma the following day (June 4, 1834), he stated:
The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity, and gazing upon a country the fertility, the splendour and the goodness so indescribable, all serves to pass away time unnoticed.
Smith's statements in later years suggests that his thinking regarding the location of Book of Mormon events evolved over time. Smith stated that he believed that the discovery of ancient Maya ruins on the Yucatán Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
in the late 1830s offered evidence to the Book of Mormon's authenticity. After reading about the accounts, Smith proclaimed the ruins were likely Nephite. Zelph is not an individual mentioned in the Book of Mormon narrative and would therefore not necessarily be associated with any of the events presumed by some people, including many FARMS
Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies is an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship. The group is formally part of the Neal A...
apologists, to have occurred in Mesoamerica.
The implication of belief in a hemispheric Book of Mormon geography by these men is supported by several references made by Wilford Woodruff. Woodruff writes that he "visited many of the mounds which were flung up by the ancient inhabitants of this continent probably by the Nephites & Lamanites." Woodruff also states that Zelph "that was known from the hill Cumorah on East sea to the Rocky mountains," thus implying that the hill Cumorah in New York is the same hill Cumorah referred to in the Book of Mormon. Some LDS scholars believe that "hill Cumorah" was Woodruff's term rather than Joseph Smith's, since other accounts refer only to the sea and fail to mention either Nephites or the hill Cumorah.
In 1842 Willard Richards
Willard Richards
Willard Richards was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served as Second Counselor in the First Presidency to church president Brigham Young in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death.Willard Richards was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to...
compiled a number of records in order to produce a history of the church. Among the records examined were the various accounts related to Zelph. In the process of combining the accounts, Richards crossed out Woodruff's references to "hill Cumorah," and Heber C. Kimball's reference to the "last" great struggle with the Lamanites."
External links
- Another Round: DNA, Zelph, and the Book of Mormon Naples Russell Mound Number 8