The War of 1812 in the Book of Mormon?!

[_DonBradley]

Is Captain Moroni based on Andrew Jackson? Does Teancum inherit his courage from his real-life counterpart Tecumseh?

A few secular interpreters have identified such echoes of the War of 1812 in the Book of Mormon.

Robert Anderson in his Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith: Psychobiography and the Book of Mormon, finds the military exploits and personality of the bull-headed general Andrew Jackson reflected in the story of Captain Moroni. And Merry C. Baker, in "An Indian Interpretation of the Book of Mormon" ( http://solomonspalding.com/SRP/saga2/sagawt0i.htm ), identifies Teancum as an imitation of the recklessly daring warrior-chief Tecumseh, and perceives Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa in the fraternal pair of Book of Mormon villains Amalickiah and Ammoron.

From a non-LDS standpoint, that the Book of Mormon would have been shaped somewhat the War of 1812 makes perfect sense. If the book were written in 1829, this is only thirteen years after the conclusion of the war, so it would still be fresh in the minds of the author and his readers--their clearest, and perhaps only, memory of national war. If, on the other hand, the book was written by Solomon Spalding, it should also reflect the War of 1812--since Spalding's wife and daughter both specifically recalled him working on his book during the war.

Identifying influences from the War of 1812 could help date the text, and shed light on how it was composed?

Any ideas on how else the Book of Mormon may reflect the War of 1812? I'd appreciate any input, however speculative...

Thanks,

Don

[_CaliforniaKid]

Tom Donofrio suggests General Washington as a candidate for Captain Moroni. He made an interesting case for it, and I think I even agree (tentatively)!

[_DonBradley]

Hi Chris,

These models are not mutually exclusive. The War of 1812 was viewed as a "second American Revolution" against Britain, thus placing Jackson, the later war's chief hero, in parallel with Washington, the principal hero of the "first" American Revolution.

I would be reasonably certain that other War of 1812 figures, incidents, and themes reflect in a Book of Mormon written in the 1820s (or 1810s). Identifying such elements would be a significant step forward in Book of Mormon studies.

Don

[_Doctor Steuss]

Tom Donofrio suggests General Washington as a candidate for Captain Moroni. He made an interesting case for it, and I think I even agree (tentatively)!

I recall reading a Donofrio article a couple of months back (I have no idea how I stumbled upon it).

***WARNING, SPEAKING FROM MEMORY***

Some of the parallels he pointed out between Warren's history and the Book of Mormon text were interesting. It caused me to think a bit about how strong some of the parallels that are often noticed between the Book of Mormon and various apocryphal writings are as evidence for antiquity as I often believe them to be. If I'm not willing to grant the parallels pointed out by Donofrio, then to be honest to myself, I need to jettison many of the parallels I previously found impressive between the Book of Mormon and other sacred texts.


Don,
Good luck with hunting down information on this. Richard Bushman did a dilly in BYU Studies on this topic (called “The Book of Mormon and the American Revolution”). Although Bushman attempts to show that "most of the principles traditionally associated with the American Constitution are slighted or disregarded altogether" in the Book of Mormon, maybe it will contain some information that might help in your search.

I’m sorry I can’t offer more. Maybe this “sound bite” will make up for my lack of ability to contribute anything of substance:

Joseph Smith, an impressionable child during the War of 1812 whose ancestors had fought in the Revolutionary War, would have imbibed the democratic and libertarian sentiments of his age. Indeed, in 1843 he told a congregation, "It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul. Civil and religious liberty were diffused into my soul by my grandfathers while they dandled me on their knees."(From FARMS Insights, Volume 24 Issue 3, Patrick Henry, Gideon, and the Book of Mormon by Ross Geddes --- the Joseph Smith statement quoted by Geddes is from The Words of Joseph Smith pg 229)

[_DonBradley]

Hi Stu,

All information is good information. Exploring Bushman re: the Revolutionary context is a good idea, as is considering Joseph Smith's own memory of the wars and of his family's involvement in them.

Texas!

Don

[_CaliforniaKid]

Lucy Harris, born 1 May 1792 to Rufus and Lucy
Hanis in Palmyra, was the ninth child in a family of ten
children. Rufus Harris was brother to Nathan Harris, the
father of Martin Harris, making Martin Harris and Lucy
Hanis first cousins. Martin was nine years older than
Lucy. Martin (age twenty-five) and Lucy Harris (age sixteen)
were married on 27 March 1808. The couple parented
at least five childrenbom between 1809 and 1821:
Lucy, Hemy, Duty, George, and Elizabeth called Betsy.
The couple lost one child to an early death. Martin
fought in the Great Lakes Campaigns of the War of 1812
against the British, aktahhg to the rank of sergeant. Tbe
town and county records show both Martin and Lucy as
industrious, hardworking, and civic-minded--real people
with deep feelings, emotions, and convictions.

http://www.mormonhistoricsitesfoundatio ... /James.pdf
Nauvoo Journal, Spring 1997

One possible place to look (though I can't guarantee it will be of any help at all) is

Eber D. Howe, Autobiography and Recollections of a Pioneer Printer: Together with Sketches of the War of 1812 on the Niagara Frontier (Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Steam Printing House, 1878)

JMH 19:1 (SP 1993) p. 26 mentions that the Pottawatamie Indians (who tried to ally with Smith against the United States) had been British allies during the War of 1812. The war resulted in large tracts of Indian land being annexed by the US and the Indians pushed out, which certainly might be the impetus for some of the commentary in 1 Nephi (chapter 14, is it?) about God judging the Lamanites. (On that see also 19:2, p. 132)

Marvin Hill connects the War to the Second Great Awakening. - Journal of Mormon History, Volume 02, 1975, p. 2

That exhausts all the even remotely relevant references to the War of 1812 I could find in Dialogue, JMH, and the Nauvoo Journal.

-CK

[_The Nehor]

These kind of parallelisms are about as silly as the crazy ones some apologists come up with. The recent thread regarding Moses being stronger than many waters comes to mind.

I'm reminded of what C.S. Lewis said about his books. Many people tried to figure out why he wrote what he wrote but they were 100% always wrong about why he used something or where he got it from. He questioned how if people from his own generation and culture are virtually always wrong judging his books how can we look back in time and really expect to figure out what influenced what and where so-and-so got their ideas from unless they themselves said it was the case.

[_Uncle Dale]

...

A few secular interpreters have identified such echoes of the War of 1812 in the Book of Mormon.
...
Don

Probably so -- a less controversial approach here would be to first locate such parallels (or "echoes") in Spalding's Oberlin story. Since he and his family fled south from the lakeshore border area with Canada, to escape a possible British/Canadian/Indian invasion of northern Ohio, there are naturally numerous parallels with the northwestern front of the
War of 1812 and Spalding's story.

Also, Spalding was one of the early settlers to re-occupy Cherry Valley, NY after the Revolutionary War -- the British/Indian massacre of settlers there also has "echoes" in Spalding.

After investigating those overlaps in literary/historical theme, THEN I'd wade into the more controversial "echoes" in the Book of Mormon.

Cheers,
UD

[_DonBradley]

Hi Nehor,

How would you know the quality of the parallels when only a few have been mentioned, and they haven't been explicated?

In any case, you're mistaking two different phenomena. I'm not looking for War of 1812 echoes as "evidence" that the Book of Mormon is 19th-century. Although they were for several years, history debates are no longer my thing. I've already concluded that the Book of Mormon is a 19th century text. Now, moving on from there, I'm interested in comparing the Book of Mormon to its apparent context of origin. Such secular scholarly explanation is fundamentally different than either apologetic or critical arguments.

Don

[_The Nehor]

Hi Nehor,

How would you know the quality of the parallels when only a few have been mentioned, and they haven't been explicated?

In any case, you're mistaking two different phenomena. I'm not looking for War of 1812 echoes as "evidence" that the Book of Mormon is 19th-century. Although they were for several years, history debates are no longer my thing. I've already concluded that the Book of Mormon is a 19th century text. Now, moving on from there, I'm interested in comparing the Book of Mormon to its apparent context of origin. Such secular scholarly explanation is fundamentally different than either apologetic or critical arguments.

Don

I don't see the difference. Both approaches are looking at the perceived context of the text's origin and trying to find explanations.