David Whitmer and Joseph Smith Meet a Nephite Messenger on the Road to Fayette

“When I was returning to Fayette with Joseph and Oliver, we were sitting in a wagon, having a pleasant time. I was driving the team, and Joseph was sitting next to me, and Oliver was sitting behind us. While traveling along in a clear open place, a very pleasant, nice-looking old man suddenly appeared by the side of our wagon and saluted us with, 'Good morning, it is very warm,' at the same time wiping his face or forehead with his hand. We returned the salutation, and, by a sign from Joseph, I invited him to ride if he was going our way. But he said very pleasantly, 'No, I am going to Cumorah.' This name was something new to me; I did not know what Cumorah meant. We all gazed at him and at each other, and as I looked around enquiringly of Joseph, the old man instantly disappeared, so that I did not see him again. He was, I should think, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches tall and heavy set, about such a man as Edward Stevenson is, and he had a face as large as he was. He was dressed in a suit of brown woolen clothes, his hair and beard were white, like Brother Pratt's, but his beard was not so heavy. I also remember that he had on his back a sort of knapsack with something in, shaped like a book. It was the messenger who had the plates, who had taken them from Joseph just prior to our starting from Harmony.”

— David Whitmer, interview with President Joseph F. Smith and Apostle Orson Pratt, September 17, 1878