A zealous Mormon, he served as a personal body guard to both Joseph Smith, Jr and Brigham Young. He was one of the first six official members of the Church of Christ, which later became the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

According to rumors, Rockwell was involved in an attempted revenge-based assassination of Lilburn Boggs, the ex-governor of Missouri. Boggs was notorious for signing an "Extermination Order" against Mormons which forced them to leave the state and settle in Nauvoo, Illinois. While Rockwell was in Missouri at the time and arrested for the incident, a grand jury failed to find evidence sufficient to indict him. There were also rumors that Rockwell attempted the assassination at the behest of Joseph Smith, Jr, however, there is no definitive evidence of Smith's involvement.

Porter was in a great number of gunfights, exactly how many is hard to say, but it is fair to say that there are only a handful of western figures who come even close to his body count. He summed up the carnage that seemed to follow him around with something that would look good coming out of Clint Eastwood, "I never killed anyone who didn't need killing." Amazingly, however, he died of old age June 8, 1878 in Salt Lake City.

He was a very controversial figure. Labelled the "Destroying Angel of Mormondom" during his life, he was also a very loyal friend who would spend days doing a favor for someone he just met.

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