Givens, Terryl, The Book of Mormon: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press: 99, 2009 ("the three witnesses all defected from Smith and his church, (only Whitmer permanently), though all maintained until death the truth of the affidavits.")
In 1838, Joseph Smith called Cowdery, Harris, and Whitmer "too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them." B.H. Roberts, ed. History of the Church (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1905), 3: 232. Technically, Whitmer resigned before the High Council decided that he "be no longer considered a member of the Church of Christ of Latter day Saints." Ronald E. Romig, "Faithful Dissenter, Witness Apart," in Roger D. Launius and Linda Thatcher, Dissenting Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, p. 36; Michael Marquardt, "David Whitmer: His Evolving Beliefs and Recollections," in Scattering of the Saints, Schism within Mormonism, eds. Newell G. Bringhurst and John C. Hamer, (Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books, 2007) p. 50.
Anderson, Richard Lloyd. Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company. 1981. ISBN 978-0-87747-846-1.
