Did the Book of Mormon witnesses ever recant?
No—there is no reliable evidence that the Book of Mormon witnesses recanted
The Three Witnesses—Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris—and the Eight Witnesses continued to affirm that they had seen or handled the plates. Some witnesses later left the Church or became estranged from Joseph Smith, but leaving the Church is not the same as denying their testimony. Their published statement remained their formal testimony, and several reaffirmed it repeatedly in later years.
For example, Oliver Cowdery declared that God had sent an angel to testify of the plates and that he would continue declaring their truth even under threat of death. David Whitmer explained that although the experience was spiritual, they were also physically present and that everything appeared natural. Hyrum Page reportedly refused to deny the Book of Mormon even when beaten by a mob. Thus, claims that the witnesses universally recanted usually depend on hostile, secondhand, late, or selectively quoted accounts rather than on an actual denial by the witnesses themselves.
The honest conclusion is that the witnesses’ later lives and statements contain complexities, but no general recantation occurred. Their consistent testimony is one important line of evidence for the reality of the Book of Mormon plates and record.
Behold, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea.
And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established; and the testimony of three, and this work, in the which shall be shown forth the power of God and also his word, of which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost bear record—and all this shall stand as a testimony against the world at the last day.
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