In June, 1844, Porter Rockwell rode into Nauvoo carrying sad news: “Joseph is killed—they have killed him! Goddamn them! They have killed him!” Later, when the bodies of the first Mormon Prophet and his brother, Hyrum, were brought to Nauvoo, Orrin resolved never to let an opportunity slip by without avenging their blood.

The Mormons were to leave Nauvoo. Brigham Young, as leader of the twelve apostles, often sat in council with the other elders. On September 9th, a decision was made to send a company of men to the valley of the Great Salt Lake west of the Rockies to check things out. By October 1st, Brigham Young announced the Saints had decided to head west, perhaps to Oregon or to Vancouver Island. They would search for a place where they, as a people, could live in peace.

Previously reticent, Porter became aggressive and somewhat belligerent. He boasted openly the Gentile mob had killed the only man who could control him. On January 5, 1846, Porter received his first endowment (a ceremony promising blessings and protection in daily life) in the partially completed temple in Nauvoo. His plan was to join the endless columns of Mormons as they began ferrying the Mississippi for the long march across Iowa. He carried a sharpened and sheathed Bowie knife tucked in the side of his boot, a gun in his belt, and a rifle in his saddle boot. When he left Nauvoo, he did not look back.

Porter reached Council Bluffs, Iowa and met with the leading elders where he was informed he would be expected to carry messages between the widely scattered string of Mormon camps. The people had left Illinois in groups and now were spread out in at least nine separate encampments. Some people would break ground, build cabins, and plant crops in preparation for the continual coming of the Saints. When word arrived a force of Missourians planned to attack and seize Brigham and other church leaders, Rockwell was enlisted as bodyguard and scout. Often, it was his responsibility to carry the mail.

Porter had become a seasoned hunter and helped keep the camp supplied with fresh meat, be it rabbit, deer, elk or bison. On their arrival in the Great Salt Lake valley, Porter continued to hunt for food and scout the neighboring mountains. With Brigham’s approval, he also began trade with the Indians. Come fall, Porter was sent to scout for a party headed for California to purchase ‘cows, mules, mares, wheat, and seeds’. Two thousand Saints from the east were enroute to the Great Salt Lake. Supplies were scarce. Porter’s duties were mostly confined to hunting and scouting. Six months later, after separating from the original party he led to California, he led another party of twenty-five ex-soldiers who had been discharged from the Mormon Battalion to the Great Salt Lake City.

Porter enjoyed a short period of calm and then was assigned, along with four others, the task of rounding up the stray cattle and horses along the various trails. The intent was to reach the animals before the Indians had a chance to carry them off. Porter was also a part of a group of ninety-four men selected to search the valley and destroy any rapacious birds or wild animals. During this mission, it has been recorded that fifteen thousand predators were slaughtered.

In the spring of 1849, Porter helped operate the Mormon ferry on the north fork of the Platte River. He was elected deputy marshall for the provisional State of Deseret and released from his duty to the ferry. He was reassigned to join Elder Amasa Lyman on his trip to California to collect tithing from church members who had settled there.

Before leaving on this mission, Porter and young George Bean were to placate the Ute Indians who resented white intrusion on their tribal lands. It was a tense meeting. In the end, Chief Sowiette agreed to halt his raids and resume trade with the Saints while stubborn Chief Walkara made no such agreement.

The Indian issue temporarily settled, Rockwell led Amasa Lyman and his party to California and the camp of the Mormon, Samuel Brannan. He carried a letter from Brigham Young addressed to Brannan which stated the President wanted twenty thousand dollars in gold dust and another twenty thousand dollars to be divided between two leading elders who had suffered hardships. While Lyman went about the vicinity collecting tithes, Rockwell opened a saloon at Murderer’s Bar called The Round Tent Saloon, an Inn at Buckeye Flat, and a half-way house on Mormon Island.

On January 1st, Lyman and Porter confronted Brannan in his fashionable San Francisco home. When Lyman announced he had come for the Lord’s money, Brannan answered, “Give me a receipt from the Lord and you can have the money.” Lyman returned a month later with the same request and Brannan gave the same response. Eight months later, Rockwell guided Lyman and his men nearly two hundred miles through the Indian-infested Humboldt Valley before they separated. Porter returned to his Round Tent Saloon, the Humboldt House, and California.

Porter had been away from Salt Lake for nineteen months. When he returned to Utah, he was told to keep an eye on the Great Basin tribes and maintain peace in Brigham Young’s name. By June, things were serious. Brigham suspected Jim Bridger was taking steps to foment an Indian uprising and was actively engaged in selling arms and ammunition to Walkara’s band. As directed, Rockwell packed his horse, mule, and belongings and spent months ranging the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains, ever on the alert for Indian raiders. When snow came to the mountain peaks, Rockwell returned to town. He began 1852 with a call to officiate in the sacred ceremonies of endowment, one of the few times he was asked to fulfill his priestly obligations.

In the spring of 1854, Porter, assisted by young George Bean, was sent to Walkara’s camp near Beaver to present a letter penned by Brigham Young which outlined proposals for peace. The two elders made their way to Walkara territory and, at the end of one tense skirmish, the chief agreed to meet President Young at Upper Chicken Creek in fifteen days.

Two weeks later, Brigham Young’s company of eighty-two men, fourteen women, five children, and thirty-four wagons pulled out of the city on his yearly march south. They spent their first night in Nephi. By eleven o’clock the next morning, President Young and his entourage reached Walkara’s camp carrying a load of flour and a dozen beef cattle. Walkara was slightly soused. Porter had arrived before the president and slipped a bottle of whiskey in the old chief’s hands. By the time Brigham Young arrived, the chief was sulky and belligerent and refused to talk with him. Walkara ordered Brigham to leave his lodge. Brigham stayed near the camp that evening and administered a blessing to the chief’s sickly daughter. The next morning, Walkara was sober and his daughter had greatly improved. Young parted with Walkara at Chicken Creek leaving the promise that Porter and Bean would return with additional trade goods.

Porter continued to be faithful to the hierarchy of the church, acting at the command of President Brigham Young, fulfilling the role of scout, guide, hunter, indian trader, or mail carrier. He endured much for his religion, and he gave much of himself for his faith. His name will appear again and again as we continue to uncover 19th century events that affected the development of Salt Lake City.