During the early period of the church, the men of Zion’s camp were digging about on a large mound in Illinois where they came upon the skeleton of a man. Seven men, who were present at the time, made a record of this incident in their personal journals. These accounts were more or less consistent with each, but there were still a few points that were hazy, at best. The Prophet kept no written record of this incident so the "official" record came from the combined stories of these seven men.    This account was written by the historian Willard Richards. It appears in the Manuscript History of the Church. Book A-1 (The words in the following account that were underlined and italicized are words that were crossed out in the document. I underlined them instead to allow for easy reading.)     Tuesday the 3rd During our travels we visited several of the mounds which had been thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of this country, (--Nephites, Lamanites--) and this morning I went up on a high mound near the river, accompanied by several the brethren. From this mound we could overlook the tops of the trees and view the prairie on each side of the river as far as our vision could extend and the scenery was truly delightful.    On the top of the mound were stones which presented the appearance of three altars (--having been erected--) one above the other, according to ancient order and the remains of human bones were strewn over the surface of the ground. The brethren procured a shovel and hoe, and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between his ribs the stone point of was a Laman(=)itish arrow, which evidently produced his death. Elder Burr Riggs (--Brigham Young--)’ retained the arrow, (-- and the brethren carried some pieces of the skeleton to clay county--) The contemplation of the scenery around before us produced peculiar sensations in our bosoms and subsequently the vision of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered that the person whose Skeleton we had seen was (--before us--) was a white Lamanite, a large thick set man and a man of God. His name was Zelph. He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus who was known from the (--hill Cumorah or--) eastern sea, to the Rocky Mountains, (--His name was Zelph.--) The curse was taken from Zelph (--him--) or at least, in part. One of his thigh bones was broken by a stone flung from a sling, while in battle, years before his death. He was killed in a great struggle with the Lamanites (--and Nephites;--) Elder Woodruff carried the thigh bone to clay county.    This account seems pretty straight forward until you begin to delve into it a little further. Willard Richards was producing a lengthy narrative, and evidently did not take the time to check for minor differences between the seven different accounts and, therefore, produced a document that has been a continuing source of controversy ever since. In Wilford Woodruff’s account the "inhabitants of this continent" became the "inhabitants of this country." Others would later say it was the "county." In Wilford Woodruffs account he says that the mounds were "probably" built by the Nephites and Lamanites. This word "probably" was later left out in the official account, which would imply that it was "definitely" built by the Nephites and Lamanites. In the three early accounts the word "arrow" was used. It later became an "Indian arrow" and still later, in the official account, became a "Lamanitish arrow." In one account the term, "was known from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountain" was used. The Wilford Woodruff account said "from the Hill Cumorah or (which was later stricken out,) eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains." One journal records that the man Zelph was killed "among the Lamanites." The words "among the Lamanites" were later changed to "with the Lamanites." This version was drafted and revised several times with many crossed out words, which indicates that he was a little unsure of how to compile the various versions into one.    A second manuscript written by the hand of Wilmer Benson, as a back up manuscript, differs from the first in many ways. In the first work Zelph was referred to as a "man of god." Benson’s account referred to him as a "son of god." The first account of Richards records that Zelph was in a great struggle with the Lamanites." The second manuscript by Benson, reads that Zelph was in the last great struggle with the Lamanites. (The addition of just this one word (last) changes the complexion of things greatly.)    After the death of the Prophet, the Times and Seasons published the history of Joseph Smith, and in that history this incident was mentioned. But, this time, all the words that had been crossed out in the early manuscripts were included for some reason. These changes produced a story that seems embellished from the first accounts, and has been a cause of some confusion for many who diligently desire to understand all there is to know about Book of Mormon territory. The article went as follows:     We encamped on the bank of the river until Tuesday the 3rd during our travels we visited several of the mounds which had been thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of this country-Nephites, Lamanites, etc., and this morning I went up on a high mound, near the river, accompanied by the brethren. From this mound we could overlook the tops of the trees and view the prairie on each side of the river as far as our vision could extend, and the scenery was truly delightful.    On the top of the mound were stones which presented the appearance of three alters having been erected one above the other, according to the ancient order; and human bones were strewn over the surface of the ground. The brethren procured a shovel and a hoe, and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot, discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between his ribs was a Lamanitish arrow, which evidently produced his death. Elder Brigham Young retained the arrow and the brethren carried some pieces of the skeleton to clay county. The contemplation of the scenery before us produced peculiar sensations in our bosom; and the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God. He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea, to the Rocky mountains. His name was Zelph The curse was taken from him or, at least, in part; one of his thigh bones was broken, by a stone flung from a sling, while in battle years before his death. He was killed in battle by the arrow found among his ribs, during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and the Nephites. ( B. H. Roberts, History of the Church, pp. 79-80.)    Though these differences seem small and relatively insignificant, the changes in the story from one account to the other have produced questions that will never be answered. But, from all the evidence presented in these various accounts, and the historical and archeological information gleaned from the area, it appears Zelph was killed in a great battle during the closing epoch of the mound building era which flourished between 50 B.C.- 350 A.D. Evidence indicates that a considerable number of both Nephites and Lamanites merged with the Adena and Hopewell populations during that era, many of which lived in Illinois, right where the bones of Zelph were found. His huge size (upwards of nine feet,) shows his predecessors merger with the Red Ochre tribes who lived in Illinois as far back as the Jaredite era, a Celtic tribes of considerable importance in the area who made up the basic bloodline of the future Adena populations.    Now, since Joseph Smith did not write his own account of the incident relating to the discovery of Zelph, we have only the varying records of seven men who recorded the experience in their journals. Those who complied it, and then edited it, were undoubtedly honorable men, but you can see how stories change from person to person, and time to time. For this reason we must always go to the source, and since Joseph did not write on the matter we have no original source available. Seven sources can not help but lead to confusion. We must, therefore, be cautious that we don’t assume that every work, even though most honorable written, is an infallible piece of work. Yet from the vision God opened up to the inquiring mind of the prophet Joseph, we know he was a righteous man, and died at the hands of some warrior tribe in the area, probably the Adena who evidence shows merged with the Lamanites in both New York and Illinois.    (The Zelph story can be researched more fully by reading the papers written by Kenneth W. Godfrey, who took the time to research this subject fully. His work can be obtained from the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. F.A.R.M.S.)

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