Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship
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The Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship is the theory that the
Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...
was
plagiarized Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...
in part from an unpublished manuscript written by
Solomon Spalding Solomon Spalding (February 20, 1761 – October 20, 1816) was an American author who wrote two related texts: an unfinished manuscript entitled ''Manuscript Story – Conneaut Creek'', and an unpublished historical romance about the lost civilizati ...
. The theory first appeared in print in the book ''
Mormonism Unvailed ''Mormonism Unvailed'' is a 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 manusc ...
'' , published in 1834 by
E. D. Howe Eber Dudley Howe (June 9, 1798 – November 10, 1885) was the founder and editor of the ''Painesville Telegraph'', a newspaper that published in Painesville, Ohio, starting in 1822. Howe was the author of one of the first books that was critical ...
. The theory is that a Spalding manuscript was stolen by
Sidney Rigdon Sidney Rigdon (February 19, 1793 – July 14, 1876) was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Biography Early life Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1793. He was ...
, who used it in
collusion Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to att ...
with
Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...
and
Oliver Cowdery Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American Mormon leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized ...
to produce the Book of Mormon. Although Rigdon claimed that he was converted to the
Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...
through reading the Book of Mormon, Howe argued that this story was a later invention to cover the book's true origins. While this theory was once extremely popular among critics of the Book of Mormon, most contemporary historians state that the theory has been disproved and is discredited. As such, this theory sees little popularity today among naturalistic explanations for the Book of Mormon's origins.


Spalding's works

Around 1812, Spalding completed a
historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
entitled ''Manuscript, Found'' which "purported to have been a record found buried in the earth". Spalding moved to
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
and reportedly took ''Manuscript, Found'' to the publisher Patterson & Lambdin. Spalding died in 1816, without ''Manuscript, Found'' being published.


Oberlin Manuscript

An unfinished manuscript copy of a historical fiction by Spalding, written from 1809 to 1812, about a Roman discovery of the Americas exists, called the ''Oberlin Manuscript'' or ''Honolulu Manuscript''. It is a
historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
"purporting to have been translated from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, found on 24 rolls of
parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...
in a
cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
, on the banks of the
Conneaut Creek Conneaut Creek is a tributary of Lake Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio in the United States. Via Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, it is part of the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, which flows to the Atl ...
". It tells of a Roman ship which discovers America. In 1884, this manuscript, known as ''Manuscript Story – Conneaut Creek'', was discovered and published, and the manuscript now resides at
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
in Ohio. Some authors claim it contains parallels in theme and narrative.


Plot

This Spalding Manuscript is a fictional story about a group of Romans who, while sailing to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
early in the fourth century AD, were blown off course and landed in eastern North America. One of them kept a record of their experiences among eastern and midwestern American Indian tribes."


Full Manuscript

An 1885 book printed by the
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The churc ...
(RLDS Church) said it contained the wording of the original, previously unpublished work, and was a "verbatim copy of the original now in the Library of
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
.
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
; including correspondence touching the Manuscript, its preservation and transmission until it came into the hands of the publishers."


Hypothetical lost manuscript

Though the Oberlin manuscript, ''Manuscript Story – Conneaut Creek'', is not the same story as ''Manuscript Found'', Vernon Holley allegedly thought he found many similarities between the earlier manuscript and the Book of Mormon. In 1977, nationally known graphology experts Henry Silver, William Kaye, and Howard Doulder announced via the Los Angeles Times that they noticed potential similarities between Spaulding’s handwriting and the writing on some of the original manuscripts of the Book of Mormon. After considerable media attention, all three experts clarified that they would need to see more original manuscripts of Spaulding‘s work to “definitely come to a conclusion”


Similarity to Book of Mormon

In 1832, Latter Day Saint missionaries Samuel H. Smith and
Orson Hyde Orson Hyde (January 8, 1805 – November 28, 1878) was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and a member of the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus ...
visited
Conneaut, Ohio Conneaut ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, along Lake Erie at the mouth of Conneaut Creek northeast of Cleveland. The population was 12,841 at the 2010 Census. Conneaut is located at the far northeast ...
, and preached from the
Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...
. Nehemiah King, a resident of Conneaut, who knew Spalding when he lived there, felt that the Mormon text resembled the story written by Spalding years before. In 1833, Spalding's brother John and seven other residents of Conneaut signed
affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a statemen ...
s stating that Spalding had written a manuscript, portions of which were identical to the Book of Mormon. Spalding's widow told a similar story, and stated that "the names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh in my memory, as being the principal heroes of his tale." These statements were published in
E. D. Howe Eber Dudley Howe (June 9, 1798 – November 10, 1885) was the founder and editor of the ''Painesville Telegraph'', a newspaper that published in Painesville, Ohio, starting in 1822. Howe was the author of one of the first books that was critical ...
's 1834 book ''
Mormonism Unvailed ''Mormonism Unvailed'' is a 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 manusc ...
''. Historian
Fawn Brodie Fawn McKay Brodie (September 15, 1915 – January 10, 1981) was an American biographer and one of the first female professors of history at UCLA, who is best known for ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (1974), a work of psychobiography, ...
expressed suspicion regarding these statements, claiming that the style of the statements was too similar and displayed too much uniformity. Brodie suggested that the witnesses had a "little judicious prompting". (Despite her suspicions about these claims, Brodie, in her study of Joseph Smith, ''No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith,'' found him to be a fraud who "improvised" the Book of Mormon.) In an article published in June 1834, the
Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan statistical area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, th ...
''Observer'' printed interviews with some of the Conneaut witnesses.


Sidney Rigdon

The theory that
Sidney Rigdon Sidney Rigdon (February 19, 1793 – July 14, 1876) was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Biography Early life Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1793. He was ...
was the true author of the Book of Mormon first appeared in print in a February 15, 1831 article. Rigdon's role as author was also proposed in an August 1831 article by James Gordon Bennett, who had visited the
Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
area and interviewed several residents.


Rigdon's denial

In 1839, Rigdon published a letter to the editor in which he denied that he had anything to do with the creation of the Book of Mormon. Rigdon acknowledged a "slight acquaintance" with publisher Robert Patterson, but denied any firsthand knowledge of a printing office. He emphatically denied any prior knowledge of Solomon Spalding or his manuscripts.


Later statements supporting the theory

In January 1841, Adamson Bentley gave a statement saying, "I know that Sydney Rigdon told me there was a book coming out (the manuscript of which had been found engraved on gold plates) as much as two years before the Mormon book made its appearance in this country or had been heard of by me." In 1873, Darwin Atwater gave a statement saying, in part: "That igdonknew before of the coming of The Book of Mormon is to me certain, from what he said the first of his visits to my father's some years before t about the close of January 1827" "He gave a wonderful description of the mounds and other antiquities found in some parts of America, and said they must have been made by the aborigines. He said there was a book to be published containing an account of those things. In 1879, Rebecca Eichbaum gave a statement connecting Rigdon to the Patterson & Lambdin printing office. An 1816 notice in the Pittsburgh ''Commonwealth'' shows mail at the Pittsburgh post office for both Rigdon and Spalding. In 1884, Lorenzo Saunders gave an interview where he reportedly claimed that Peter Ingersoll introduced him to
Sidney Rigdon Sidney Rigdon (February 19, 1793 – July 14, 1876) was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Biography Early life Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1793. He was ...
in 1827. ''Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?'' by Robert Patterson, the son of the Patterson of Patterson and Lambdin book publishers, contains these statements and others by about 30 witnesses who knew the people involved in these events and stated that they knew the Spalding story to be true. Rigdon's grandson, Walter Sidney Rigdon, stated in an interview that the family knew that the "Golden Bible" was a hoax, contrived by Rigdon and Joseph Smith Junior, to make money and that it was based on the Spalding manuscript.


J. H. Beadle's version of the theory

In the book ''Life in Utah'' (1870) by J. H. Beadle, a version of the theory was presented with some additional details. Beadle states that in 1812, Spalding presented ''Manuscript, Found'' to a bookseller named Patterson in Pittsburgh, wishing to have it published as a "historical romance, to account for the settlement of America", and proposing to write a fictional preface describing "its having been taken from plates dug up in Ohio." Patterson declined, as he "did not think the enterprise would pay." Beadle states that Rigdon was then at work in the office of Patterson, who died in 1826. Spalding had died of tuberculosis in 1816, and apparently the manuscript had not been returned, because the subsequent fate of that copy of the manuscript was said by Beadle to be unknown. According to Beadle, Spalding's widow "had another complete copy, but in the year 1825, while residing in Ontario Co., N. Y., next door to a man named Stroude, for whom Joe Smith was digging a well, that copy was also lost. Mrs. Spalding thinks it was stolen from her trunk." Beadle’s story seems to be an abridgement of that in the 1855 book ''The Mormons: Their Book, Prophets and Mysteries''. There, Rigdon was a journeyman printer for the publisher Patterson in Philadelphia. Spaulding brought the manuscript to Patterson, they could not come to terms as to its publication, and Spaulding left a copy with Patterson, who was intrigued with the story, and often read bits aloud to various people. Rigdon would sometimes borrow the manuscript, and read it to his co-workers for their amusement, though Rigdon was fascinated by its oddity, and protested it sounded vastly like truth, with all its absurdities. Rigdon obtained the manuscript when Paterson died in 1826.


Reaction within the Latter Day Saint movement

Most Mormons give the Spalding–Rigdon theory little credence, believing that it has, as asserted by the
Maxwell Institute The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, or Maxwell Institute, is a research institute at Brigham Young University (BYU). Made up of faculty and visiting scholars who study religion (primarily the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- ...
, "fallen on hard times". In a paper titled "The Mythical 'Manuscript Found, Matthew Roper concludes:
Whether one accepts the Spalding explanation or some other theory, one still has to explain not only if, but how Joseph Smith or any other candidate could write such a book, a point upon which critics have never agreed and probably never will agree. The Book of Mormon will always be an enigma for the unbeliever. The Latter-day Saint, of course, already has an explanation that nicely circumvents that puzzle. For those who are unwilling to believe Joseph Smith's explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon but who still cannot see the ignorant Palmyra plowboy as responsible for its contents, some variation of the Spalding theory with its mythical "Manuscript Found" may be the best fiction they can contrive.
In 1840,
Benjamin Winchester Benjamin Winchester (August 6, 1817 – January 25, 1901) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. Winchester was the youngest adult member of Zion's Camp, an original member of the first Quorum of the Seventy, editor of the first inde ...
, a Mormon defender who had been "deputed ... to hunt up the Hurlbut case", published a book rejecting the Spalding theory as "a sheer fabrication". Winchester attributed the creation of the entire story to Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, one of Howe's researchers. Regarding Rigdon's alleged involvement, Rigdon's son John recounted an interview with his father in 1865:
My father, after I had finished saying what I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of he Book of Mormonis true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of he Book of Mormonwas what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but one story."
Daniel C. Peterson Daniel Carl Peterson (born January 15, 1953) is a former professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University (BYU). Background A native of southern California, Peterson receiv ...
contends that there is little or no evidence supporting the Spalding–Rigdon theory and that extensive evidence, including "very sophisticated statistical analysis", renders it "deeply improbable and only desperate necessity would ever have given rise to it in the first place. But the Spalding theory nonetheless limps on in certain circles." Peterson also argues that the Spalding–Rigdon theory must be placed in the larger historical context of the advent of Mormonism, asserting that " en so, it doesn't even begin to explain the Witnesses, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and a host of other matters."


Computer analysis

Computer analyses of authorship of the Book of Mormon have resulted in conflicting results and dueling assertions about which methodologies yield the most reliable analyses. Early wordprint or computer studies led by the Mormon
Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response), formerly known as FairMormon and the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that specializes in Mormon apologetics and responds to criticism of th ...
claimed the Spalding–Rigdon theory to have little support from such analysis. A 1980 study done by Mormon John Hilton with non-Mormon colleagues at Berkeley concluded that the probability of Spalding having been the sole author of the
First Book of Nephi The First Book of Nephi: His Reign and Ministry (), usually referred to as First Nephi or 1 Nephi, is the first book of the Book of Mormon and one of four books with the name Nephi. The original translation of the title did not include the word "f ...
was less than 7.29 x 10−28 and less than 3 x 10−11 for the
Book of Alma The Book of Alma: The Son of Alma (), usually referred to as the Book of Alma, is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The title refers to Alma the Younger, a prophet and "chief judge" of the Nephites. Alma is the longest book in the ...
.John L. Hilton
"On Verifying Wordprint Studies: Book of Mormon Authorship"
in ''Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins'', Noel B. Reynolds (ed.), (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1997), chapter 9.


Jockers study

A 2008 Stanford study (Jockers et al.) of the text of the Book of Mormon compared it to writings of possible authors of the text showed a high probability that the authors of the book were Spalding, Rigdon, and
Oliver Cowdery Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American Mormon leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized ...
. It concluded that "our analysis supports the theory that the Book of Mormon was written by multiple, nineteenth-century authors, and more specifically, we find strong support for the Spalding–Rigdon theory of authorship. In all the data, we find Rigdon as a unifying force. His signal dominates the book, and where other candidates are more probable, Rigdon is often hiding in the shadows".Jockers et al.
Reassessing authorship of the ''Book of Mormon'' using delta and nearest shrunken centroid classification
''Literary and Linguistic Computing'', December 2008.
The study did not include Smith as one of the possible authors, arguing that because of Smith's use of scribes and co-authors, no texts can be identified with a surety as having been written solely by Smith. Mormon critics of the study have argued that this is a significant problem, claiming that a "naive application of NSC methodology" led to "misleading results" by Jockers et al. because they had used a closed set of seven authors for their study. In their own study (Schaalje et al., 2009), these critics from Brigham Young University found that an open set of candidate authors "produced dramatically different results from a closed-set NSC analysis."Schaalje, G. Bruce, Paul J. Fields, Matthew Roper, Gregory L. Snow
"Extended nearest shrunken centroid classification: A new method for open-set authorship attribution of texts of varying sizes."
''Literary and Linguistic Computing''.
The Jockers study found a strong Spalding signal in the books of Mosiah,
Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...
, and
Ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...
and the first half of the
Book of Helaman The Book of Helaman ( ) is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The book continues the history of the Nephites and the Lamanites "according to the records of Helaman, who was the son of Helaman, and also according to the records of hi ...
. The Spalding signal was weak in those parts of the Book of Mormon likely produced after the lost pages incident ( 1 Nephi,
2 Nephi The Second Book of Nephi (), usually referred to as Second Nephi or 2 Nephi, is the second book of the Book of Mormon. The original translation of the title did not include the word "second". First and Second were added to the titles of The Books ...
, some of the middle part of 3 Nephi, Moroni). They found the Rigdon signal distributed throughout the Book of Mormon (except for the known Isaiah chapters), and a weak Pratt signal in 1 Nephi. They also found a strong Cowdery signal in mid-Alma and weaker Cowdery signals in locations that contain content similar to Ethan Smith's ''
View of the Hebrews ''View of the Hebrews'' is an 1823 book written by Ethan Smith (clergyman), Ethan Smith, a Congregationalist minister in Vermont, who argued that Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of I ...
.'' The Schaalje study, also published in the ''Journal of Literary and Linguistic Computing'', critiqued the methodology used by Jockers et al. claiming that the closed set analysis forced the choosing of a winner while excluding the possibility that an author outside the closed set could be selected. By using Jocker's methodology to analyze the (known) authorship of the ''
Federalist Papers ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...
'' by including and excluding
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
as a candidate author, Jockers's methodology picked Rigdon when Hamilton was excluded. Using Schaalje’s open-set method, Schaalje's method picked "none of the above" when Hamilton was excluded. When Hamilton was included, both Jockers's and Schaalje's method correctly picked Hamilton. By using Smith's personal writings written in his own handwriting, the Schaalje rebuttal concluded that stylometric evidence supports neither Smith nor Spalding–Rigdon authorship.


Notes


References

*. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *.


External links


Spalding StudiesLDS Church historian Bruce D. Blumell response to Spalding–Rigdon theory
*
Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

"Spaulding Again?"
''
Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...
'', September 1977 {{DEFAULTSORT:Spalding-Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship Authorship debates Book of Mormon studies Criticism of Mormonism Mormonism-related controversies Sidney Rigdon