The Civil War Prophecy

Chad Nielsen

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Section 87 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a curious document. It is a revelation Joseph Smith received on December 25, 1832 that foretold a war beginning with the rebellion of South Carolina, spreading to conflict between the Southern and Northern U.S. states, drawing in foreign powers, sparking slave uprisings, and culminating in global calamities including famine, disease, and widespread suffering. Early Latter-day Saints viewed this as proof of Smith’s prophetic authority. Today, however, the prophecy is mostly used by church leaders to encourage members to “stand in holy places” amid trials. In a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog, Scott C. Esplin discussed some information about the document. What follows here is a copost to the full interview.

What Was Joseph Smith’s Civil War Prophecy?

One interesting aspect of the section is that its history reflects the moment in which it was revealed, but came to also reflect another time in U.S. history. Scott C. Esplin explained:

While most associate the American Civil War with tensions regarding slavery, this wasn’t the issue that immediately drew forth Joseph Smith’s prophecy.

Late in 1832, the world was grappling with reports of cholera globally and, in India specifically, an outbreak of the plague. Closer to home, tensions simmered over protective tariffs imposed on foreign-manufactured goods that disproportionately impacted economic interests across the agrarian south. The state of South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union over the issue, believing it had the power to nullify the tariffs….

The conflict was averted when the federal government and the state of South Carolina reached a compromise in February 1833. However, the word of the Lord had been delivered, and Joseph Smith and his associates believed the revelation would still take effect.

In the short-term, the prophecy seemed to fail, but in the long term, aspects of it came true. 

When the U.S. Civil War erupted, there was some recognition of the prophecy in the newspapers.

In May 1861, just a month after the first shots were fired in the American Civil War, the Philadelphia Sunday Mercury referenced the early British printing of the text, noting, “We have in our possession a pamphlet, published at Liverpool, in 1851, containing a selection from the ‘revelations, translations and narrations’ of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.”

It continued:

The following prophecy is here said to have been made by Smith, on the 25th of December, 1832. In view of our present troubles, this prediction seems to be in progress of fulfilment, whether Joe Smith was a humbug or not.

Clearly aware of the language of the revelation, the Philadelphia Sunday Mercury concluded:

The war began in South Carolina. Insurrections of slaves are already dreaded. Famine will certainly afflict some Southern communities. The interference of Great Britain, on account of the want of cotton, is not improbable, if the war is protracted. In the meantime, a general war in Europe appears to be imminent. Have we not had a prophet among us? (A Mormon Prophecy,” Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, May 5, 1861, cited in Robert J. Woodford, “Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants” (Ph.D. dissertation, Brigham Young University, 1974), 2:1110, emphasis added.)

Church members thought the same and made good use of the prophecy in missionary efforts in the coming years.

Not every aspect of the revelation was fulfilled by the Civil War, however, leading to additional interpretations of the prophecy. 

Church leaders like B. H. Roberts, Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin, and Elder Neal A. Maxwell noted that the revelation did more than predict the Civil War between the states. …

Interpretations of Doctrine and Covenants 87 have shifted over time. Initially, applications of Joseph Smith’s Civil War prophecy focused on the conflict between Northern and Southern States. Later, the revelation was increasingly applied to other global conflicts. As the Church has grown globally, interpretations have evolved to emphasize how section 87 represents the Lord’s solution for living in times of conflict.

Today, the injunction to “stand ye in holy places” (D&C 87:8) exceeds all other recent uses in General Conference. For example, Church presidents like Harold B. Lee, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and Russell M. Nelson have quoted it in that context.

I’m not convinced that the revelation was fulfilled to the letter (i.e., the Civil War didn’t spiral into a world-wide war with Britain and then other nations getting involved). But there are still useful ways to study the text, as indicated above.

For more about D&C 87, head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk to read the full interview.

Comments

5 responses to “The Civil War Prophecy”

  1. Stephen Smoot

    I think D&C 87:3 was at least partially fulfilled in incidents such as the Trent Affair of 1861 and the rising tensions with Great Britain over British-built Confederate ships like the CSS Alabama. While this did not escalate to a full military alliance, it reflected the kind of foreign entanglement the prophecy describes.

    Although the Civil War did not directly trigger worldwide conflict, Section 87 can be read as an unfolding prophecy, with the Civil War serving as the first domino leading toward the prophesied world wars. The war devastated the Southern cotton economy, disrupting Britain’s textile industry and forcing it to seek alternate sources such as Egypt and India. This strengthened Britain’s imperial presence in Africa and Asia, contributing to the imperial rivalries that fueled World War I. At the same time, wartime manufacturing and postwar industrial growth transformed the United States into an emerging economic power, shifting global balances of power by the late 19th century. These imperial expansions and rivalries fed into the web of alliances and animosities that exploded in 1914.

    Notably, Britain did “call upon other nations” in both world wars, precisely as the prophecy in verse 3 describes.

  2. Stephen Smoot

    Also, Joseph Smith’s Civil War prophecy complicates the ex eventu argument often used in biblical criticism to support the late dating of certain texts (most famously Matthew, based on Jesus’s prediction of the temple’s destruction). It’s a well-documented, pre-event prophecy (naming South Carolina, national division, widespread death and mourning, etc.) that was recorded decades before fulfillment. Whatever one thinks about the actual reality of predictive prophecy, this case shows that political predictions (prophecies) are not necessarily post-event fabrications, and accuracy alone cannot serve as definitive proof for late authorship.

  3. Stephen Fleming

    I’ve had similar thoughts about some of the NT dating, Stephen S, particularly with Mark. I’m not a biblical scholar, but I’ve often heard statements about Mark dating related to Jesus making vague statements about the temple’s destruction, and I’ve often thought of the Civil War prophecy. Even from a “secular” point of view, prophesying of coming destruction is pretty common for prophets.

  4. Jack

    Depending on how one interprets the prophecy the events can be surprisingly specific in their fulfillment.

  5. Jonathan Green

    Stephens S. and F. – I’ve seen similar cases for late medieval prophecies that were once dated to the 16th century because they seemed to clearly refer to the Reformation, when in fact earlier versions of the prophecies are clearly attested by the mid-15th century. One aspect of this is survivorship bias – the prophecies that get preserved and recopied are those that manage to at least partially come true.

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