Joseph Smith: Critics

William McClellan was a apostate.  Once an apostle, he was one of the ruffians who had Heber C Kimball face down I believe to just prior to Liberty Jail (need to check this) and said something like "What do you think of your Mormon prophet now".  Heber C Kimball in essence bore his testimony of Joseph.  This link is an interesting read in that William McClellan  never could deny the validity of the book of mormon

https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=4922

This letter is also amazing from William Mclellan.  He had lost his testimony of Joseph but what he said about the truthfulness of the B of M and his testimony of it is amazing.

https://byustudies.byu.edu/PDFLibrary/10.4PorterWilliam-77e21e5d-bed8-4a40-b144-98dbe80d5524.pdf

WE find that many of the apostates, even after loosing their testimonies, never deny the truthfulness of the book of mormon and many end up coming back.  Here is a running list

1.  Orson Hyde:  Lost faith soon after arriving back from his mission in England.   One reason was that of the Danite organization.  He felt Joseph sanctioned to much of their activities.  That, and other reasons, he testified against Joseph at the Richmond pretrial (just prior to liberty jail).  It was just a short time later when Joseph finally made it Nauvoo that he asked for forgiveness which Joseph gave.

2.  W W Phelps.  AFter being such a rock in the gospel, he and and JOhn Whitmer speculated on land in Far West which upset Joseph.  This lead to his eventual dismissal from the church.  He also came back later during the Nauvoo period which Joseph readily gave him membership back into the church with approval from the members.

3.  William McClellan.  Apostatized but never came back

4.  Lyman Wight.  WAs a very strong leader of the church up through the missouri period and part of Nauvoo (perhaps all of it, I'll check).   Got caught up in the the succession controversy and claimed that Joseph told him to take the Saints to Texas for safety. (check on authenticity).  he took a few but eventually joined the RLDS.

5.  Olivery Cowdery.  Apostatized .  Much can be said about him but he came back. (more on this later)

6.  Martin Harris.  same as Oliver Cowdery.

7.   David Whitmer.  SAme as Oliver and Martin  (research this more)

8.  John Corrill.  Help the church through the missouri period but ended up testifying against Joseph in Richmond.  Started his own church.  he never came back.  felt the saints didn't deserve the treatment they did.

9.  John Whitmer.  Apostatized and eventually joined the RLDS church.  Never denied his testimony of the book of Mormon.

10.  Reed Peck.  EArly member.  Wrote a short history of the saints during the missouri period.  Testified against Joseph in Richmond in 1839.  He also felt the saints were treated unjustly though.