He served as a body guard to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He was one of the first six official members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (more commonly known as The Mormons.) He was a law man in the Utah territory.
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.
Amazingly, he died of old age June 8, 1878 in Salt Lake City.
Richard Lloyd Dewey wrote a biography entitled "Porter Rockwell: a Biography 1986"
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.
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."