Picturing history: Alexander Doniphan

By Kenneth Mays, For the Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, March 20 2013 5:05 a.m. MDT

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Although he was not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Alexander Doniphan will ever be known as one of the great heroes found in the history of the church. His kindness and fairness to Joseph Smith and the Saints in Missouri should never be forgotten. Doniphan and his law partner, David Atchison, were hired to defend the rights of the Latter-day Saints in court. Doniphan assisted in the creation of a special county (Caldwell) in northwestern Missouri for the Mormons. He is best known for refusing to obey an order to shoot Joseph Smith and several others in the public square at Far West without a trial during the so-called Mormon-Missouri War. The views seen here show a statue of Doniphan in Richmond, Ray County, Mo., and a site where his family had a home in Liberty, Clay County.

photos by Kenneth Mays, kenneth mays

Summary

Doniphan met the Prophet while they were both young men. Doniphan and his law partner, David Atchison, were hired to defend the rights of the Latter-day Saints in court.

Doniphan assisted in the creation of a special county (Caldwell) in northwestern Missouri for the Mormons. He is best known for refusing to obey an order to shoot Joseph Smith and several others in the public square at Far West without a trial during the so-called Mormon-Missouri War.

The views seen here show a statue of Doniphan in Richmond, Ray County, Mo., and a site where his family had a home in Liberty, Clay County.

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Craig Clark

Boulder, CO

If Doniphan had not taken a courageous stand, Joseph Smith and other Church leaders would have faced a firing squad without trial in 1838 instead of spending the winter in Liberty jail. The event was dramatized for television in 1964 in the TV series More..