Parley Pratt: Apostle at the End of the Road
Near Fort Smith, Arkansas
Near this spot outside Alma, Arkansas, the early Mormon Church lost one of its most prolific voices. Parley Parker Pratt was born in Burlington, New York, on April twelfth, eighteen oh seven, and became one of the original twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a tireless missionary and writer, authoring theological works that shaped early Latter-day Saint thought, and he helped convert thousands of followers across the United States and Britain.
On May thirteenth, eighteen fifty-seven, Pratt was shot and killed here in the Arkansas backcountry by a man who claimed a personal grievance. He was fifty years old. His death sent shockwaves through the church and contributed to rising tensions between the Utah Territory and the federal government, tensions that would erupt just months later in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Pratt is buried near this marker, a long way from the mission fields he crossed for nearly three decades.
