Writings: Latter-day SaintsThe Witness Statements4 of 10

Writings: Latter-day Saints

The Witness Statements

The Witness Statements are two short testimonies printed at the end of the Book of Mormon from its first edition in 1830. Three men say an angel showed them the gold plates, and eight say Joseph Smith showed them. The earliest surviving copy, in Oliver Cowdery's hand, dates to about 1830. No signed original is known.

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Three dates, kept apart

  1. The text's date: the tradition's view

    late June 1829 to early 1830, the writing of the Three Witnesses' statement after the experience the Three describe (the Joseph Smith Papers editors write that the original was written between the June 1829 experience and early 1830; for the Eight Witnesses' statement they give the editorial date line late June 1829 and no writing window, and call the author unknown)

  2. The text's date: critical scholars' view

    late June 1829 to early 1830, borrowed from the Joseph Smith Papers editors for the writing of the Three Witnesses' statement (the critical sources read, Vogel, Brodie, and Russell, dispute what the witnesses experienced and who drew up the statements, and give no dates of their own for writing them; the editors give no writing window for the Eight Witnesses' statement)

  3. This copy made

    about February 1830, when Oliver Cowdery copied the Three Witnesses' statement at the end of the printer's manuscript, the earliest surviving copy (the Joseph Smith Papers editors, who work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, give sometime around February 1830, when the printer's copy was finished, and say the Eight Witnesses' statement follows on the next page in Cowdery's hand with no date of its own; they date the whole manuscript circa August 1829 to circa January 1830)

  4. This copy found

    Not a find: the statements were printed in the book from 1830, and the earliest handwritten copy, in the printer's manuscript, passed from Oliver Cowdery to David Whitmer before 1850, to the Whitmer family, to the Reorganized Church, now Community of Christ, in April 1903, and to the Latter-day Saint church in 2017 (the Joseph Smith Papers editors trace the owners; Baugh writes that no signed original is known)

All four rows share one timeline. A row with no marker says why in words. How ancient texts are dated.

What it is

The Witness Statements are two short English testimonies printed at the end of the Book of Mormon from its first edition in 1830. The first, the Testimony of Three Witnesses, carries the names of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris. They say that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes1 the plates and their engravings.1

The second, the Testimony of Eight Witnesses, carries the names of eight men of the Smith and Whitmer families. They say Joseph Smith showed them the plates and that we have seen and hefted2 them, meaning they handled and lifted them.23 The plates are the gold plates that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches Smith translated into the Book of Mormon.4

How the copy was dated

The earliest surviving copy is Oliver Cowdery's handwritten one, at the end of the printer's manuscript, the copy of the Book of Mormon made for the typesetter. The editors of the Joseph Smith Papers, the Latter-day Saint church's own scholarly publication, date the Three Witnesses' copy to sometime around February 1830, when the printer's copy was finished. They place the Eight Witnesses' copy on the next page, also in Cowdery's hand. The editors describe no test of ink or paper.567

Neither copy is a signed original. The editors write that Harris's and Whitmer's signatures on the Three Witnesses' copy are in Cowdery's hand, and that Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt told Whitmer in 1878 that the witness pages carried copied signatures. Whitmer said in the 1870s that each of the Three signed his own name, so the editors infer an original written between the experience the Three describe in June 1829 and early 1830. That window is for the Three only. For the Eight's statement they give only the date line late June 1829, no writing window, and they do not know whether the Eight signed one.567

Alexander Baugh, a professor at Brigham Young University, which the church founded, supports, and guides, reports that critics have argued Cowdery signed the names himself. He holds that Cowdery was copying them and that no document with the actual signatures is known.89

The first printing of the Eight Witnesses' statement called Smith Author and Proprietor10 of the work. The current edition reads the translator of this work2 in the same place.2 Fawn Brodie, a historian, suggests the first phrase may merely have followed the copyright form.10 For the methods, see how ancient texts are dated.

The text: its date and authorship

The strip marks the writing of the Three Witnesses' statement, not the experience it describes. The critical bar borrows the editors' range for that original because the critical sources read dispute what the witnesses experienced, not when the statements were written. The editors write that Smith may have helped write the Three's statement, that Cowdery or one of the other two was likely its author, and that the Eight's author is unknown.56

The tradition's view

This column carries the Latter-day Saint church's history topic page and scholars who write within the tradition. The church teaches that in June 1829 an angel showed the Three Witnesses the plates near Peter Whitmer Sr.'s home in Fayette, New York. It teaches that Smith showed the Eight the plates and let each hold them. Each of the Three later parted from the church, it says, and Cowdery and Harris returned. All three kept affirming their testimony, and each of the Eight reaffirmed his, though some became estranged from the church.3

Richard Lloyd Anderson, whom Vogel calls an emeritus Brigham Young University professor, holds that the Eight describe the plates in plain view and that not one reversed his written testimony.111112 Steven Harper, then a historian at the church's Church History Department, argues that the witnesses' own words outweigh later hearsay.13 Baugh holds that no record shows Smith used hypnosis or other mind control, and that none of the eleven ever talked about such a thing.8 Richard Bushman writes that the statements were never repudiated.14

Scholars of the witnesses: Vogel, Brodie, and Russell

This column carries Dan Vogel, who wrote a biography of Smith, the historian Fawn Brodie, and William Russell. Vogel's response essay is posted on MormonThink with no original publisher or date given. He argues that the Three's later words show an experience more subjective than their published group statement implied12 (Harris, for example, spoke of spiritual eyes). For the Eight, he suggests they hefted a set of fake plates12 concealed in a box or cloth and saw the rest in vision.12

Brodie, in her biography of Smith, first published in 1945, writes that, according to the local press of the time, the Three told different versions of their experience. She holds that this made it all the more likely10 that they were not conspirators but victims of Smith's unconscious but positive talent at hypnosis.1010

Russell reviews Anderson's book in Dialogue, a journal that calls itself independent. He writes that it shows honest men who reaffirmed their account, but that concluding the plates existed takes a leap of faith.1516 Grant Palmer's view that the Eight saw the plates in a mind vision reaches this page only through other writers: Anderson, Baugh, and Harper, who disagree with him, and Vogel, who discusses it.1181312

How it was found

It was not found: the statements have been printed in the book since 1830, and the handwritten copy was kept. Before Cowdery died in 1850 he passed the printer's manuscript to David Whitmer. It went to Whitmer's son and then to George Schweich, and the church now called Community of Christ bought it in April 1903.7 The Latter-day Saint church acquired it in 2017, and the Papers say it is held at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.7 No signed original is known, and the editors write that most of the original manuscript is lost.85

What it shows, and what it does not

The statements show that eleven named men stood behind a public account of seeing the plates when the first edition appeared in 1830. Sources on both sides agree that none of the Three denied their account. The church's history page says they kept affirming it, and Brodie writes that none ever denied its reality.310

The statements do not show what the plates were made of, whether they were ancient, whether the experience was physical or visionary, or who drafted the Eight Witnesses' statement. Later reports of the Three's statements vary in some details, the church's history page says, but are generally consistent, while Vogel reads them as subjective.312 Anderson, Baugh, Vogel, and Brodie each argue one thesis in the works cited here.

Sources

  1. Testimony of Three Witnesses. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (scriptures, Book of Mormon), the whole page. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  2. Testimony of Eight Witnesses. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (scriptures, Book of Mormon), the whole page. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  3. Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Topics. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  4. Book of Mormon Translation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gospel Topics Essays, 2016. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  5. Joseph Smith Papers editors (Church Historian's Press). Appendix 4: Testimony of Three Witnesses, Late June 1829. The Joseph Smith Papers, Church History Department (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), source note and historical introduction. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  6. Joseph Smith Papers editors (Church Historian's Press). Appendix 5: Testimony of Eight Witnesses, Late June 1829. The Joseph Smith Papers, Church History Department (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), source note, historical introduction, and the closing paragraph. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  7. Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press). Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, circa August 1829 to circa January 1830 (source note). The Joseph Smith Papers, Church History Department, source note. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  8. Alexander L. Baugh. The Testimonies of the Book of Mormon Witnesses. In A Reason for Faith: Navigating LDS Doctrine and Church History, ed. Laura Harris Hales (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016), pp. 45 to 58, 2016, pp. 45 to 58 (the saved web text has headings, not page numbers; the sections cited are named). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  9. About BYU (mission statement). Brigham Young University. Accessed 2026-11-04.
  10. Fawn M. Brodie. No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (chapters 4 and 5, 'A Marvelous Work and a Wonder' and 'Witnesses for God'). Alfred A. Knopf, 1945; the scan read is of a later printing (the 1971 second edition) uploaded to the Internet Archive; the scan's page numbers are cited, 1971, chapter 4, pp. 50 to 52 (Harris, the characters, and Anthon); chapter 5, pp. 76 to 79 (the witnesses). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  11. Richard Lloyd Anderson. Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses. Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14, no. 1 (2005), pp. 18 to 31 and 125 to 127 (Maxwell Institute and Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University), 2005, the abstract and the full text as posted by Scripture Central (the posted text has no page numbers; sections cited by name). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  12. Dan Vogel. Book of Mormon Witnesses Revisited: A Response to Richard L. Anderson, Stephen C. Harper, Daniel C. Peterson, Richard L. Bushman, and Alan Goff. Posted on the MormonThink website (mormonthink.com); the page says it is taken in its entirety from another location it does not name, and gives no date or original publisher. Written about a decade after Vogel's 2002 essay., the whole posted essay (no page numbers; sections cited by name). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  13. Steven C. Harper. The Eleven Witnesses. In The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon, ed. Dennis L. Largey and others (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015), 117-32, 2015, 117-32. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  14. Richard Lyman Bushman. What Are We to Make of the Gold Plates?. BYU Studies 64, no. 1, page 97. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  15. William D. Russell. Investigating the Investigation (a review of Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, volume 16, number 2, 1983, the whole review. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  16. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (home page). Dialogue Foundation. Accessed 2026-11-04.