Six Days in August: Brigham Young as You’ve Never Seen Him Before

When those shots rang out at Carthage, the death of Joseph Smith threw the Latter-day Saints into the deepest, sometimes inconsolable mourning, but it also left the Church with a question. How could the church move forward? What could the Church do without the prophet who had been indispensable to them? What did succession look like?

Could anyone, anyone, possibly stand in Joseph Smith’s place, who had been the head of the dispensation, and whose soul penetrated so far into the heavens and source of all things?

From our future vantage point, it seems obvious that Brigham Young would come to lead the Church, but it wasn’t so clear then. The question of succession would be a showdown, and the drama of the moment is something the new film, Six Days in August, now available in theaters, captures intensely.

It manages to be both riveting and inspiring at the same time, catching us in the drama of the succession question and all that hangs on it, while we are moved by the spiritual manifestations that weave through the story.

Behind the scenes lies another miracle. This film, produced by Daniel C. and Deborah Peterson and written and directed by Mark Goodman, is the product of The Interpreter Foundation, who does so much good in publishing in-depth and academic papers on the scriptures and history, and is now showing, once again, its deft ability to also reach a popular audience. This film grew out of the vision, faith and determination of people who believed the story needed to be told.

It’s a bold thing for a film to take on a spiritual topic. How do you possibly show a spiritual gift or being transformed to look like Joseph in a movie and keep its transcendence and not drift to corniness? Our eyes cannot see spiritual things.

Put this movie on your must-see list.

We have seen movies that put Joseph Smith front and center, but this time our attention is turned to Brigham Young.

Goodman understood that as viewers, we don’t know Brigham quite as well, and so to augment our hope that he becomes the leader of the Church, we are introduced more fully to him. Many of us are used to seeing a 70-year-old Brigham Young with a stoic face, whom we admire as an organizer, colonizer and pioneer leader. He is tough and determined as he builds settlements in the American West and takes the Latter-day Saints out of the United States where they can be protected from their persecutors. He is the American Moses. who led a people who otherwise might have scattered and been lost to history and the gospel.

We know far less of the stalwart, determined younger Brigham whose knees never buckled in following the gospel, no matter how hard that was, and whose considerable leadership Joseph counted on. We are invited in the film to meet Brigham who has his own spiritual gifts and whose oratory would one day thrill the church.

He was the rock to be counted on, always the right man for the job.

As the film opens, the Twelve are away from Nauvoo campaigning for Joseph Smith for president, when several days after the martyrdom, they receive the news of the desolating event. Joseph and Hyrum are gone. They are immediately overcome with sorrow. Wilford Woodruff wrote of the night of July 17, 1844, that he “veiled” his face and “gave vent to my grief and mourning.” He was “bathed in a flood of tears.”

The film moves forward then between flashbacks into Brigham’s life and the urgency of the succession decision at hand. Meeting Brigham Young is delightful, and for many viewers may be surprising. Here is the young Brigham, awkwardly courting his first wife, Miriam Works, and then losing her to death four months after they were baptized. Here is the Brigham who makes his way to Kirtland and first meets Joseph. Their camaraderie is instant (which is true).

Here is a Brigham so sick he shouldn’t be out of bed, struggling to get to his feet to go on a mission to England. Here is Brigham helping Wilford Woodruff baptize at the Benbow Farm and making the expensive, and risky decision to have 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon printed in England. Here is Brigham speaking in tongues to oxen (and the actor carrying it off with dignity and believability).

John Donovan Wilson is a likeable Brigham Young and plays his part well. Paul Wuthrich, reprises his role as Joseph Smith.

The Question of Succession

Before the Twelve can join together and make their way back to Nauvoo to talk about succession, Sidney Rigdon, who had been living in Pittsburgh and had been somewhat disaffected from Joseph, had a plan. He claimed that he had seen in vision that he was to be the guardian of the church and build it up to Joseph Smith. With his mastery in speaking, he can be very convincing and beyond that, he often in earlier days had given the long talks while Joseph gave the short ones. His claim was not to be taken lightly and was quite convincing to many Latter-day Saints. He wanted the matter settled before the Twelve arrive.

Other ideas were also afloat. Emma hoped that William Marks, the president of the stake in Nauvoo would be the new leader. Lyman Wight wanted to lead a group to Texas.

The key succession events come down to six days in August, six really tense and confusing days, when Sidney was trying to maneuver himself into place before the Twelve arrived from their various destinations. The word came that President Rigdon was going to have a special meeting to choose a guardian, and it looked as if the Twelve might miss this meeting altogether.

What concerned Brigham most was what God wanted in this crucial moment and that those who had specifically been given the priesthood keys by Joseph could continue the work with this authority.

In the spring of 1844, a troubled Joseph had been with the Twelve in the Red Brick Store, and told them that he wanted to ensure that the authority to lead the Church would remain on the earth. “It may be that my enemies will kill me,” Joseph had said, “and in case they should, and the keys and power which rest on me not be imparted to you, they will be lost from the earth.”

Joseph had said, “Upon the shoulders of the Twelve must the responsibility of leading this church henceforth rest until you shall appoint others to succeed you. Thus, can this power and these keys be perpetuated in the earth.”

One of the best attested experiences in Church history is what happened on 8 August, 1844. With his sterling oratory, Sidney Rigdon addressed and nearly convinced the Latter-day Saints that he was to lead the Church, and then Brigham Young addressed the group.

We don’t know the size of the group addressed that day, but by some accounts, thousands were in attendance. It is impossible to verify the number of those who saw the physical transformation of Brigham Young into Joseph Smith. John W. Welch wrote, “Currently known records establish that 129 people gave written testimonies or say that a transformation or other spiritual manifestation occurred. Of these, sixty-eight people created firsthand documents: personal journals, personal narratives told to a scribe, or first-person testimonies published in Church magazine articles. Testimonies from sixty-one people are secondhand: accounts gleaned from biographies written by family members or from historical compilations.”

No matter how you look at it, the number was substantial. Welch wrote, “Of the witnesses to the transformation, a few provided specific details about the traits they recognized as Joseph’s. Homer Duncan not only commented on the voice of Brigham sounding like that of Joseph’s, but also referred to one of Joseph’s mannerisms: ‘The very gestures of his right hand when he was saying anything very positive reminded me of Joseph. My decision was then made as to who should lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for surely the mantle of Joseph has fallen upon Brigham’.

“Mosiah Lyman Hancock commented, ‘I saw in him the look of Joseph, and the voice of Joseph; and it seemed to me that he was as tall as Joseph too’.  Benjamin F. Johnson also observed Joseph’s ‘tall, straight and portly [robust] form.’ He then added his famous comments about Joseph’s speech and a missing tooth, remarking that he ‘heard the real and perfect voice of the Prophet, even to the whistle, as in years past caused by the loss of a tooth said to have been broken out by a mob at Hyrum [Ohio]’.

“’George Morris also described Joseph’s familiar speech patterns, noting: In the afternoon Presedent Young arose . . . when I was startled by Earing Josephs Voice—he had a way of Clearing his Throat before he began to speak—by a peculier Effort of His own—like Ah-hem— I raised my Head sudinly—and the first thing I saw was Joseph—as plain as I ever saw Him in my life. . . . That was Testemony anough to Convince me where the Proper athoraty rested.’

“George Romney said, ‘I testify to you in all fervor, before God, that the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young. It was Joseph’s voice; absolutely Joseph’s voice and manner, as Brigham Young addressed the people and told them who should be their leader. Now this is no fiction; this is true as I stand here after so many years, passing from the year 1844 up to the present time.’”

So, how does a film tell a story we already think we know, with surprise and tension? How does it take a complex history, that is rich in color and detail and portray it with just a few deft strokes? It takes skillful filmmakers and a thorough understanding of the larger events to accomplish this. Kudos to all those involved.

Brigham Young and the Twelve, Joseph and Sidney Rigdon all take on a new dimension as we watch them negotiate the unprecedented challenges they faced. Kudos to the filmmakers.

The film is currently playing in 90 theaters and for it to stick around, go early. Or as Dan Peterson says, “Go early and often.”

See:

Welch, John W. Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820-1844 . Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition.