This Day In History: Orrin Rockwell died on this day (June 9) in 1878. Rockwell was a figure of the Wild West period of American history. A lawman in the Utah Territory, he was nicknamed Old Port and The Destroying Angel of Mormondom.
Rockwell served as a bodyguard, and was a personal friend, of Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith. After Smith's death in 1844, Rockwell became a bodyguard of his successor, Brigham Young, and traveled with him and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to the Salt Lake Valley in the present-day U.S. state of Utah.
"While it is believed he killed many men as a gunfighter, religious enforcer, and Deputy Marshal, Rockwell told a crowd in 1869, 'I never killed anyone who didn’t need killing'. However, many considered him an outlaw, suspecting him in the murders of several in service to the church. This included ‘Aiken affair’, an incident involving six professional gamblers from California who would be murdered, allegedly by Rockwell, while being escorted out of Utah Territory in 1857. Rockwell would be indicted for the incident some 20 years later but died before his trial." Source
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