the encyclopedic entry of Cumorah

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Cumorah

Cumorah (also called Mormon Hill) is a drumlin near Manchester, New York, where Joseph Smith, Jr. said he found a set of golden plates which he translated and published as the Book of Mormon.

The hill Cumorah is also a place described in the Book of Mormon where it says that two hundred fifty thousand Nephite soldiers were killed in a final battle with the Lamanites, and where centuries earlier, the last battle of the Jaredites took place, which destroyed their civilization. The Nephites called the hill "Cumorah", and the Jaredites called the hill "Ramah" and "Shim".

Mormon researchers have debated whether the hill discussed in the Book of Mormon is the same as the drumlin in New York or whether it was located somewhere in Mesoamerica or elsewhere. Given the information provided in the text of the Book of Mormon itself, it seems reasonable to conclude that the latter is named in honor of the former, perhaps by Moroni in memory of his slain Nephite brethren. Mainstream scholars have not expressed opinions on the matter because there is generally no mainstream academic support for the historicity of the Book of Mormon.

New York

The hill Cumorah in western New York (coordinates: ) is where Smith said he discovered the golden plates which contained the writings of the Book of Mormon. Smith wrote: "On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box."

Smith visited the hill each year on 22 September between 1823 and 1827 and claimed to be instructed by "holy messengers", including Moroni. Smith said he was finally allowed to take the record on September 22, 1827. No one else saw the plates until June 1829, when twelve other men claim to have seen them.

The hill (which was then unnamed) stood only a few miles from Joseph Smith's home and sat on a farm that was owned by a local farmer, Alonzo Sanders. This farm is four miles (6 km) south of Palmyra, and was on the main road toward Canandaigua from Palmyra to Manchester and is not far from Carangrie Creek and the Clyde River. According to geologists, the hill was formed during the retreat of the Ice Age glaciers and it rises approximately above the surrounding valley floor.

Although Mormons have called the hill "Cumorah" since 1829, the hill was called "Mormon Hill" or "Mormon Bible Hill" by locals prior to the purchase of the hill in the 1920s by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under the direction of church president Heber J. Grant. The transaction involved two separate purchases — the purchase of the "Inglis farm" and the purchase of the "Sexton farm." The Inglis farm consisted of ninety-six acres on both sides of the Canandaigua–Palmyra road and encompassed one third of the western edge of the hill. The Sexton farm was purchased from the heirs of Pliny T. Sexton, who owned the "Mormon Hill Farm" which encompassed the remainder of the hill.

Book of Mormon

Nephites

In the Book of Mormon, Cumorah is mentioned in six verses, five in Chapter 6 and one in Chapter 8 of the Book of Mormon. According to the Book of Mormon, Mormon is the caretaker of the record of his people. His people, called the Nephites, were near to being destroyed by the Lamanites who had had many previous wars with the Nephites. Mormon wrote to the leader of the Lamanites to ask that he may gather his "people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle. Cumorah is described as being in a land with "many waters, rivers, and fountains".

The leader of the Lamanites agreed, and all of the Nephites gathered together, including their women and children. Mormon wrote, "And when three hundred and eighty and four years had passed away [since the sign of the birth of Christ], we had gathered in all the remainder of our people unto the land of Cumorah. Mormon then hid all of the records of his people in the hill, except for the plates that he was currently writing on, which he gave to his son Moroni.

The Lamanites then attacked the Nephites, who were led by twenty-three men each with ten-thousand men under their command. After the battle was finished, "even all my people, save it were those twenty and four who were with me", except for those who fled to the south or defected to the Lamanites. The usage of "ten-thousand men" in relation to those who were killed may or may not have included the women and children.

Mormon then records his mourning for his people and a last message to those who will read his record later, then again turns the records over to his son Moroni. Moroni records, "after the great and tremendous battle at Cumorah, behold, the Nephites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites, until they were all destroyed. And my father also was killed by them, and I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people.

Jaredites

This hill known as "Cumorah" among the Nephites was called "Shim" and "Ramah" by the Jaredites:

In the Book of Mormon, during the time of the Book of Alma, this land (of Cumorah) was part of the land of Desolation, "the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken". This land is identified as being north of the land of Zarahemla.

Moroni lived several years after recording the destruction of his people. He translated and abridged the plates which were the record of the Jaredites as the Book of Ether on to the plates that he was keeping. During this process, he wrote, "Omer ... passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed, and "... it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah; and it was that same hill where my father Mormon did hide up the records unto the Lord, which were sacred. These pasages identified the hill Cumorah as the same hill where the Jaredites had fought their final battle.

Archaeology

There has been discussion within the Latter Day Saint movement about whether the hill in New York is the same as the place mentioned in the Book of Mormon, or if the hill in New York was only given the same name in order to honor it as the hiding place of the plates when Smith found them. The LDS Church has not conducted any on-site archaeological research at the New York hill.

New York hill

At least 10 different secondhand accounts refer to a certain cave and events that occurred at the hill in New York. According to one of these accounts by Brigham Young, Smith and Oliver Cowdery went to the hill which opened up and they walked into a cave where there was a large and spacious room filled with wagon loads of metallic plates. The Sword of Laban was on a large table upon which Smith placed the golden plates. The wording of this account and the fact that no such room at the New York hill has been found may imply that the events described occurred in a vision rather than physically, and because archaeological evidence doesn't appear to support the theory that the events described in the Book of Mormon occurred near the hill Cumorah in New York, some have accordingly interpreted this account as a vision.

Cerro Vigia

LDS scholars have proposed the "Cerro Vigia" (coordinates: ) in Veracruz, Mexico, as the hill Cumorah in the Book of Mormon for a variety of reasons. John L. Sorenson has listed 15 cultural criteria (based on contextual clues from the text of the Book of Mormon) for the hill Cumorah. They are: cities, towers, agriculture, metallurgy, formal political states, organized religion, idolatry, crafts, trade, writing, weaponry, astronomy, calendar systems, cement, and wheels. He says that the hill in New York at least partly fits four of these requirements while the "Cerro Vigia" meets all of them.

Theorized origin of the name

Some scholars have theorized that Smith created the name "Cumorah" through his study of the treasure-hunting stories of Captain William Kidd. Because Kidd was said to have buried treasure in the Comoros islands, it has been suggested that Smith used the name of the islands and applied it to the hill where he found buried treasure—the golden plates. Complementing this proposal is the theory that Smith borrowed the name of a settlement in the Comoros—Moroni—and applied it to the angel which led him to the golden plates.

Latter-day Saint apologists have argued that this line of argument commits the logical error of appeal to probability; they also point out that it is unlikely that Smith had access to material which would have referred to the then-small settlement of Moroni.

Pageant

Currently, the site near Palmyra, New York hosts the annual " Hill Cumorah Pageant" This large, outdoor Latter-day Saint Pageant typically occurs in early July and is free to the public.