1886 ed. | RLDS eds. | Broadhurst typescript | Jackson typescript | e-text | color-coded e-text
The Oberlin Spalding Manuscript
1910 LDS Edition (color-coded scans *)
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Contents | 055 Ch. XI | 066 Ch. XII | 081 Ch. XIII | 089 Ch. XIV | 114 End Matter
* For explanation of Book of Mormon textual parallels color-coding see the comments section.
To facilitate loading of page icons, introduction, chapters 1-10 and front matter are on page one.
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CHAPTER XI (pp. 055b-066a)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 103-115) Relations Between the Ohian Imperial Families -- Prince Elseon of Kentuck Visits Sciota -- Eleson's Infatuation with Princess Lamesa -- Elseon's Attempt to Arrange a Marriage with Lamesa -- Emperor Rambock's Negative Reply to Elseon -- Rambock Commands Lamesa to Marry King Sambal -- The Young Lovers Plan an Elopement -- Elseon Departs Sciota, Escorted by Lamesa and Friends -- Eleson and Lamesa Flee to Kentuck -- The Lovers are Received in Kentuck and are Married. |
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CHAPTER XIIa (pp. 066b-073a)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 115-124) Sciotan Emperor Rambock is Informed of the Elopement -- King Sambal Hears of the Elopement and Seeks Revenge -- Rambock Consults with his Councilors -- Sambal Demands the Return of Lamesa -- Rambock' Letter Demands Lamesa's Return -- The Kentuck Emperor Hamboon Attempts Negotiation -- Hamboon Meets with his Councilors -- Prince Eleson Advises Preparations for War with Sciota -- Hamboon Sends a Letter of Refusal to Rambock -- Sambal uses Prophets and Seers to Stir up War Sentiment. |
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CHAPTER XIIb (pp. 074a-081a)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 124-131) Emperor Rambock a Peaceable Man -- Rambock's Council Discusses the Merits of War -- Boakim and Hamkol's Speechs -- Lakoonrod's Speech Demanding Holy War -- War Declared upon the Kentucks. |
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CHAPTER XIII (pp. 081b-088a)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 135-142) Kings Habolan, Ulipoon, Nunapon and Ramock Lead their Troops into Kentuck -- Emperor Rambock Addresses his Army -- Rambock Leads His Army to Invade Kentuck -- Emperor Hamboon Assembles His Army at Gamba -- Hamboon Addresses His Troops -- Hamboon Leads His Army to Defend Kentuck -- Romantic Reunion of Elseon and Lamesa -- Elseon Promises to Spare Lamesa's Family -- Elseon Leaves to Fight the Invading Sciotans. |
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CHAPTER XIVa (pp. 089a-094a)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 142-151) Hamboon's Battle Council With His Officers -- The Armies Readied for Battle -- The Sciotan Charge Upon the Kentucks -- Elseon's Attack upon the Sciotans -- His Single Combat with Hamkol -- Elseon Slays Hamkol -- Labanco Counter-charges Sambal -- Labanco Kills two Sciotan Chiefs -- Sambal Kills Labanko Dishonorably -- Labanco's Eulogy -- Hanock Battles Habelain; Thousands Slaughtered -- Hamul Battles Sabamah; An Immence Slaughter -- Taboon Attacks Hamelick and Rameck -- The Sciotan Retreat -- A Thunderstorm Saves the Sciotans -- Kentucks and Sciotans Disengage; the Battle of Geheno Ended. |
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CHAPTER XIVb (pp. 095a-100a)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 151-157) The Soldiers Encamp for the Night -- Description of the Carnage-covered Battlefield -- Spirits of the Slain Rise to Heavenly Rewards -- Two Day Truce to Bury the Dead -- Earthen Burial Mounds Raised -- Sciotan Plunderers Ravage the Kentuck Countryside -- Kentuck Warriors Hamko and Kelsock Plan a Night-time Stratagem -- The Two Kentucks Sneak into the Midst of the Sleeping Enemy -- The Two kill Hundreds of Sleeping Warriors -- Kelsock and Hamko are killed by Pursuing Sciotans -- Their Eulogy -- The Sciotans March on Gamba -- The Kentucks Pursue the Marching Sciotans -- The Sciotans Ravage Villages on their Way to Gamba -- The Sciotans Attack Gamba -- Lamack Prepares the Defense of Gamba -- Sciotan Prince Moonrod Attacks the Kentuck Defenders -- The Kentucks Retreat to their Fort. |
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CHAPTER XIVc (pp. 101a-106b)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 157-164) Ulipoon Sacks and Fires the City of Gamba -- The Kentuck Army Relieves the Siege of Gamba -- The Kentucks prepare to Attack the Sciotans at Dawn -- Hamboon Sends out Hanock's Division -- Ulipoon Flees -- Hanock Pursues and Surrounds Ulipoon's Division -- Ulipoon and his Troops are Destroyed -- The Dead are Buried -- The Sciotan Fugitives are Pursued and Attacked -- Sambal Plans to Attack the Kentuck Fort -- Rambock Moves his Camp -- Sambal's Division is Sent Out to Fight -- Sambal Attacks the Fort at Gamba -- The Sciotans Storm the Fort -- Massacre of the Kentucks -- Sambal Discovers Lamesa on the Fort -- He Slays Lamesa's Friend Heliza -- His advances are refused by Lamesa. |
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CHAPTER XIVd (pp. 107a-113a)
(Oberlin Spalding Manuscript Storyline pp. 164-171) Sambal Attacks Lamack's Band of Defenders -- he Sciotans Storm the Fort -- Massacre of the Kentucks -- Sambal Enters the Fort's Blockhouse and Discovers Lamesa -- He slays Lamesa's Friend Heliza 164:21b-164:27a His Advances are Refused by Lamesa -- Sambal Abandons the Fort -- He Moves his Troops to Engage Elseon -- Elseon's Battle Speech to his Warriors -- The Opposing Divisions Engage in Battle -- Helicon is Killed in Single Combat with Sambal -- Elseon Engages Sambal in Single Combat -- The Defeated Sambal Pleads for his Life -- Elseon Slays Sambal -- The Kentucks Regain the Fort -- Lamesa is Rescued -- Sambal's Division Flees and is Decimated by Elseon -- Eulogy for Helicon and Heliza Elseon and Lamesa are Reunited -- Elseon Leaves a Garrison at the Fort and Returns to Hamboon -- [the unfinished story ends abruptly in the middle of MS page 171]. |
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End Matter (pp. 114-116) 114 THE "MANUSCRIPT FOUND." The Writings of Sollomon Spalding Proved by Aron Wright Oliver Smith John Miller and others The testimonies of the above Gentelmen are now in my possession D P Hurlbut THE "MANUSCRIPT FOUND." 115 Annexed to the foregoing are three pages of manuscript, in the same hand writing, apparently unconnected, and expressing the writer’s sentiments as to revealed religion. The following is a literal copy: But having evry reason to place the highest confidence in your friendship & prudence I have no reluctance in complying with your request in giving you my sentiments of the christian Religion -- & so far from considering the freedom you took in making the request, impertinence, I view it as a mark of your [high esteem for me] affectionate solicitude for my happiness. In giving you my sentiments of the christian religion you will perceive [that I am not tramelled with traditionary & vulgar prejudice] That I do not believe certain facts [& certain facts] & certain propositions to be true merely because that my ancestors believed them -- & because they are popular. -- In forming my creed I bring everything to the standard of reason -- [that intellectua] This is an uerring & sure guide in all matters of faith & practice. Having divested myself therefore of traditionary & vulgar prejudice & submitting to the guidance of reason it is impossible for me to have the same sentiments of the christian religion which its advocates consider as orthodoxy -- It is in my view a mass of contradictions & an heterrogeneous mixture of wisdom & folly -- nor can I find any clear & incontrovertable evidence of its being a revelation from an infinite benevolent & wise God. It is true that I never have had the leisure nor patience to read [the elaborate & learned productions of divines in its vindication] evry part of it with very critical attention or to study the metaphissical jargon of divines in its vindication -- It is enough for me to know that propositions which are in contradiction to each other cannot both be true & that doctrines & facts which represent the Supreme Being as a barbarous & cruel tyrant can never be dictated by infinite wisdom. Whatever the clergy say to the contrary can have no 116 THE "MANUSCRIPT FOUND." effect in altering my sentiments. -- I know as well as they that two & two make four & that three angles of a triangle are equal to two right ones. -- But notwithstanding I disavow any belief in the divinity of the Bible & consider it a mere human production designed to enrich & agrandize its authors & to enable them to manage the multitude -- yet casting aside a considerable mass of rubbish & fanatical rant, I find that it contains a system of ethicks or morals which cannot be excelled on account of their tendency to ameliorate the condition of man, & to promote individual social & public happiness, & that in various instances it represents the Almighty as possessing attributes worthy his trancendent character. Having a view therefore to those parts of the Bible which are truly good & excellent I sometimes speak of it in terms of high commendation -- & indeed I am inclined to believe that notwithstanding the mischiefs & miseries miseries which have been produced by the bigoted zeal of fanaticks & interested priests yet that such evils are more than counterbalanced in a christian land, by the benefits which result to the great mass of the people by their believing that the bible is of divine origin & that it contains a revelation from God. -- Such being my view of the subject I suffer my candle to remain under to remain under, nor make no exertions to dissipate their happy delusions. As |
The 1910 LDS Edition of Spalding's Story Beginning on 1976, the web-host of what is now SolomonSpalding.com began marking up a copy of the 1910 LDS edition of Solomon Spalding's manuscript story, with the intention of locating all of the major examples of the phraseology it shares with the Book of Mormon text. The unfinished project was terminated in 1980. A few years later the color coded, marked up pages of that book were scanned and preserved as jpeg computer images. They are now presented on the web, along with accompanying citations to the corresponding passages in a modern LDS edition of the Book of Mormon. The 1886 and 1910 LDS editions of Solomon Spalding's manuscript story are practically identical, save for a few omissions in the reprint edition and slightly differing pagination. However, neither LDS edition (nor the 1885 RLDS volume) are accurate reproductions of the Spalding text. They are not reliable source documents for serious study, for compiling concordances or performing computerized textual analysis. For that reason, in 1996 a standardized and corrected e-text was prepared and two years later its contents were matched against the 1830 Book of Mormon and color coded to indicate word overlap between the two texts. This 1998 e-text is thus an evolution of the color coding work that went into the computer images previously mentioned. It may be viewed in html format at this URL: http://solomonspalding.com/SRP/ColorSMS.htm and in pdf format at this URL: http://solomonspalding.com/SRP/ColorSMS.pdf. A preliminary attempt was made to quantify the vocabulary and phraseology overelap between the two texts in 1980. The chart shown below was derived from analysis of the marked up 1910 LDS edition of Solomon Spalding's manuscript story and is provided as a very rough visual guide to the degree of textual similary. For example, in the second half of Spalding's third chapter, the vocabulary and phraseology overlap with the Book of Mormon is very low; while in the second half of his fourteenth chapter the overlap is much higher.  Book of Mormon Vocabulary as Measured in the Oberlin Spalding Manuscript In a related project, the text on the pages of a modern LDS edition of the Book of Mormon was also color coded in order to help display that book's word and phraseology overlap with Spalding's story. Images of that textual mark-up are available on-line. The most significant block of "Spaldingish" text thus documented in the Book of Mormon extends from the 1830 edition's Book of Alma, Chapter XX to Chapter XXX (modern LDS Alma 43-63). This section of the "Nephite Record" is comprised of an account of General Moroni's battles with the forces of Zerahemnah, the record of Helaman I and the record of Shiblon. This substanial textual overlap with Spalding continues through Chapter I of the Book of Helaman (modern LDS Helaman 1-2), which is the account of Helaman II.  Spaldingish Text (Red) in the Last Part of 1830 Alma A sample of color-coded text from this Spaldingish section of the 1830 Book of Alma (Chapter XXIX, pages 403-405) is available on-line... (under construction) |
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Last Revised: Nov. 2, 2006