WRESTLING WITH THE PROPHET 1

WRESTLING WITH THE PROPHET 1

One notable characteristic of the Prophet Joseph Smith was his love of rigorous physical activity, his participation in individual athletic contests, and his demonstration of various feats of strength. A summary of the descriptions of Joseph Smith's physical build indicates he possessed strong arms and legs, a muscular chest, broad shoulders, weighed around 200 pounds, and was over six feet tall (possibly as much as six feet two) which was considerably above normal size for that period. Clearly, Joseph Smith had the necessary physical attributes to enable him to excel and achieve prominence in contests involving human strength and athletic prowess.

One such contest in which the Prophet excelled was stick pulling. In pulling sticks; two people would sit on the ground facing one another and place their feet against each other's. The contestants would then secure a grip on a stick held between them and then someone would call the start. The contest was won when the stronger person pulled the weaker one off the ground or when the weaker one lost his grip. Aroet Hale, our great-great grandfather on our (Grand)mother Wilma Clark Lott's side, recorded, "I have seen [Joseph Smith] sit down on the carpet in his office in the Mansion and pull sticks with the Nauvoo Police"2 Joseph Smith's proficiency in this activity is suggested by the following entry in his personal record: "I pulled sticks with the men coming along, and I pulled up with one hand the strongest man that could be found. Then two men tried, but they could not pull me up ... ,,3 Benjamin F. Johnson, a close associate of Joseph Smith for many years, remembered that on all the many occasions he saw the Prophet compete in stick pulling he never saw him beaten.4

Another type of contest in which Joseph Smith excelled was "freestyle" wrestling. By the 1830's, Americans had abandoned the traditional Greco-Roman style which forbids any holds below the waist, to the freestyle form, known in those days as "catch-as-catch-can." This style of wrestling allowed for almost any type of grip except strangle holds. It further appears the Prophet favored competing in matches where the object of the contest was not to pin the opponent to the ground, but to throw or oust him from a ring or circle. Major Joseph McGee, a resident of Gallatin, Missouri, specifically recalled a wrestling contest between the Prophet and a man by the name of John Brassfield, which occurred sometime after the Prophet had moved to Missouri. Brassfield was "the champion wrestler of the country," McGee reported, yet Smith won the bout handily, throwing Brassfield "the first two falls out of a match of three.”5

The Prophet recognized that physical activity could enliven souls and lift men's spirits. During mid-October 1838, a company of LDS militiamen, which included Joseph Smith, were encamped at Adam-ondi-Ahman to counteract the activities of Missouri vigilantes who had been operating in the region. One member of the Mormon company remembered that cold and rain had caused the men to become despondent and then noted the following:

The Prophet came up while the brethren were moping around, and caught first one and then another and shook them up, and said, "Get out of here, and wrestle, jump, run, do anything but mope around; warm yourselves up; this inactivity will not do for soldiers." ... A ring was soon formed [which] the Prophet stepped into ready for a tussle with any comer. Several went into the ring to try their strength, but each one was thrown by the Prophet, until he had thrown several of the stoutest of the men present. 6

In early April 1839, after five months of confinement in Missouri's jails, Joseph Smith and four fellow prisoners were conveyed from Liberty to Gallatin for trial on the charge of treason against the state of Missouri. One of the guards, who had the reputation of being the champion wrestler in Davies County, wanted to "try strength with the Mormon Prophet," having previously boasted that he could easily throw him. After such a long and unhealthy confinement Joseph was in no condition for any type of physical contest, and he excused himself and declined the in~tation to wrestle on this occasion. However, after several soliciations by the guard the match was agreed to and a circle was formed. The Missourian made several attempts to secure a hold and hurl the Prophet from the ring, even resorting to trickery, but he was unsuccessful. Joseph then took the offensive, and on his first pass, picked the man up and threw him flat on his back into a pool of water, much to the delight of the other guards.7

Although some might like to believe the Prophet never lost a wrestling contest, this was not the case. Joseph Smith III remembered one man who prevailed over his father. He recalled that on one occasion several of the brethren came to visit and converse with Joseph at his Red Brick store in Nauvoo. The conversation eventually turned into a wrestling tournament which took place on an open space just west of the store. Each man took his turn grappling with the Prophet, but all were defeated one by one and the men returned to converse inside the store. While chatting, an elderly gentleman by the name of Cornelius P. Lott stopped by the establishment. Upon seeing the old man, young Smith recalled his father saying in a jolly tone, "Here! I have thrown down pretty nearly everybody about the place except Brother Lott, and I believe I can throw him down, too!" Cornelius, who was also a man of considerable brawn and muscle despite his age, was not to be intimidated by the more youthful Joseph Smith and agreed to the match. He also gave his rules for the contest. "Well, my boy, if you'll take it catch-as-catch-can you can't throw old man Lott!" Joseph III remembered all of the men "immediately piled out of the house" to witness the competition. He stated that, during the contest,. "They ran together several times, but the best Father could do was to get the old man down to his knees. .. He gave up his efforts to throw the sturdy old fellow." Some of the men who witnessed the event gave him a good-natured badgering for not being able to defeat the elderly gentleman. And in the midst of this Cornelius exclaimed, "I told you, my boy, that you couldn't throw old man Lott!"8

As you know, Cornelius Peter was our first Lott ancestor in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But most of us probably did not know about his wrestling match with the Prophet Joseph Smith or about many other interesting and inspiring events in the life of C. P. Lott which have come to light since completion of James Walter Lott: His Progenitors and Posterity. I hope, through brief articles on the history of some of these events, that we may gain a greater understanding of the history of the Church and a greater appreciation of the role of our ancestors in paving the way for us.

by Dan R. Lott

ENDNOTES

1 This article is condensed from Baugh, Alexander L. "Joseph Smith's Athletic Nature," pp. 137- 152 in Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate, eds, Joseph Smith: The Prophet, the Man. Provo, UT: B.YD. Religious Studies Center, 1993.

2 First Book or Journal of the Life and Travels of Aroet Hale. LDS Church Archives, p24.

3 Smith, Joseph, Jr. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 5:466. Salt Lake City: Deseret Books, 1978.

4 Johnson, Benjamin F. "Letter from Benjamin F. Johnson to Elder George F. Gibbs." Salt Lake City: Pioneers; p.14.

5 "Special Correspondence from Caldwell County, Missouri." Deseret Evening News. 10 Sept 1904; p.23.

6 John D, Lee, Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, Moffat, 1881; pp76-77.

7 Autobiography of Andrew Jensen, Assistant Historian of the Church. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938; pp.164-65.

8 Smith, Joseph, III. "The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith (1832-1914)." Mary A. Smith Anderson, ed. Saint's Herald (18 Dec 1934) 81: 1611-14. It is interesting that Joseph Smith III recalled Cornelius as being an "old man" or that Cornelius would have described himself as such. If he correctly recalls the event as occurring outside the Red Brick Store, Joseph III would have been between nine and eleven years old at the time while "old man Lott" (who was 7 years and 4 months older than the Prophet) would have been between 43 and 45 years of age when the match took place.