Morrisite Massacre, The

DESCRIPTION: "We'll see Morris, Banks, and others, Joseph, Hyrum with the Martyrs, On Mount Zion in great glory With the savior and his army." "Slain by Burton, cruel Mormon," the song tells of the coming joys for the believers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt-AmericanMurderBallads)
KEYWORDS: religious homicide
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 13, 1862 - The Morrisite Massacre
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 121-122, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES [3000 words]: The Morrisites are an effectively extinct sect (earlier editions of the Index said they were entirely exting), largely because of the actions described in this song.
Joseph Morris was born in England (lthough Powell gives the date as 1817 and Anderson, p. 31, as December 15, 1824, near Chester; I assume Anderson's date is based on the fact that George Morris said Joseph was 38 when he died -- Anderson, p. 33). He was said to be the fifth of eight children.
As a young man, he was a farm worker and coal miner in England (Anderson, pp. 31-32); he suffered at least one severe burn while working in the mines (Anderson, p. 32)
Morris became a Mormon in the late 1840s, moving to America, arriving in Utah in 1853 (Powell). During his early years in America he was married to one Mary Thorp (Anderson, p. 33). When he went on one of his peregrinations, she left him and took all that he owned, leaving him penniless. He then married a widow named Elizabeth Mills; she too dumped him (Anderson, p. 35). He had a child somewhere in there (Anderson, p. 40). In 1857, he managed to find another wife, Elizabeth Jones (Anderson, p. 41).
This is typical of his lack of social success; one of his surviving letters describes his quest to marry Jones; which went badly -- which he came to blame on the Mormon hierarchy (Anderson, p. 13; Morris's long letter explaining the situation, which I found close to incomprehensible, is on pp. 13-15). He also had trouble getting a decent job (Anderson, p. 25). According to Anderson, p. 22, he never ceased to believe in Joseph Smith; his disagreement was with Brigham Young and the post-Smith organization of the church. In this he had plenty of company, since Mormonism split half a dozen ways when Smith was murdered! The difference was, Morris came later and was active after, not before, the Church moved to Utah -- instead of founding a Mormon sect well separated from the main branch of the Latter-Day Saints, he was an irritant right there in the middle of them.
Morris had always been prone to "spiritual manifestations" (not by itself a crazy thing in Mormon circles; they had been founded by a modern-day prophet, after all!) George Morris described his brother as having the "gift of tongues" but "was unwise in the use of them" (Anderson, p 33).
From the sound of things, he was a genuine visionary, i.e. psychotic, rather than a con artist such as Joseph Smith; he believed what he was telling people. His brother attributed his mental aberrations to the psychological effects of his mining accident as a young man plus an illness he suffered while in the United States (Anderson, p. 33, quotes George Morris as saying that after the illness he became "very flighty and visionary in his mind" -- but he was already convinced "that he was in very high estimation with the Lord"). Morri's notion is barely possible; it's rare for disease to cause loss of contact with reality in those who are too young for a dementia, but it does happen once in a while. Usually, though, psychotic episodes simply come about because of a deeper mental condition with genetic roots, normally schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Morris clearly didn't have the latter; his failures with people might be additional evidence for the former.
His visions caused him to invent a truly original cosmology (Anderson, p. 37): his view of the "Rounds of Eternity" envisioned a universe over a billion years old, with 144,000 worlds. Much of this reminds me of first- and second-century gnosticism, which he can't possibly have known about. He also believed in transmigration of souls -- an idea that had some pedigree in both orthodox Christianity and Mormonism (Anderson, p. 37, thinks he got it from a Mormon schismatic named Charles B. Thompson), but his notion of the "Keys of the Priesthood" seems to have been his own. In addition to its cosmological ideas, Morris's system envisioned a series of angels who had "missions" on earth. Morris was the incarnation of the angel Seth, who previously had been Moses (Anderson, pp. 39-40). It's all very strange, and too screwy for me to try to summarize; if you really want to see it, consult pp. 36-40 or so of Anerrson.
The schism with the Mormons came about because, in 1857-186, he received a series of revelations that contradicted the party line (Powell).
He believed that he was called to replace Brigham Young as prophet of the Mormon Church. (Maybe as secular head, too, but certainly as prophet; Anderson, p. 2). In all, he recorded more than 300 revelations (Anderson, p. 26).
He had no education, so when he wrote to Young, the result was near-gibberish: "to si exelency Governor young" (Anderson, p. 11; I checked that orthography twice!). Little wonder Young, or someone, scribbled in the margin, "He's weak minded" (Anderson, p. 12). Nonetheless, his writings show a clear familiarity with the style and language of the King James Bible (which Joseph Smith had imitated, somewhat imperfectly, in the Book of Mormon -- but which, it should be noted, was not the style of the actual Bible; the King James Bible was slightly archaic even when it was published, whereas the original Greek and Hebrew of the Bible was the normal language of the time. Thus the evidence is that Morris -- and Smith -- did not have a hot line to God, because God would have told them to talk English, not a fake jargon.) His second message to Brigham Young, shown on pp. 27-29 of Anderson, shows him shifting smoothly from archaizing to modern English as he shifts from his alleged divine message to his suggestions to Young.
The Mormons did not accept his revelations (not surprising, given that he called Brigham Young a fallen prophet!), so after being ignored by Young yet again in late 1860 (Anderson, pp. 51-53), he finally set out on his own. Few took him seriously for a long time (any sane man would surely have given up!), but eventually a Mormon bishop named Richard Cook accepted his revelation and he was in business (Anderson, p. 62). He gathered followers among the Mormons and founded his own community (Powell), very close to Salt Lake City -- on the banks of the Weber River (Anderson, p. 3).
By mid-1861, Morris had managed to gather some 300 followers, with the number of members reaching 507 by 1862 (Anderson, p. 66) -- surprising, since he was anything but eloquent and made few efforts to recruit new followers (Anderson, pp. 67-68). It is possible that the eloquent John Banks, another disappointed ex-Mormon from England, made up for Morris's lack of charisma. Morris's ability to deal with people was a problem, though; there was apparently already some internal dissension about organization almost from the start (Anderson, p. 65). Their base was called "Kington Fort," but it was unfinished and, being in a valley with hills on all sides, hard to defend -- but isolated from the people around it (Anderson, p. 64).
His inability to come up with clear revelations was both strength and weakness. When he seemed to predict the Second Coming in the fall of 1861, he probably drew followers (for some reason, a lot of people seemed to expect the end of the world around then!) -- but of course it meant a lot of disappointment when the world stayed put. Morris did offer another vision to correct things (Anderson, pp. 72-73) -- but he had made no attempts to found an economically viable organization (Powell), and many failed to raise crops or do useful work that year. The community lived for a time on the proceeds of the members' selling their property (Anderson, p. 35). When they ran out of cash from this, Morris was unable to control dissension among his followers. The armed guard that had earlier been formed to hold off Mormon harrassers was by 1862 being used to intimidate some of the Morrisites themselves (Anderson, p. 86). Morris was even having to aim revelations at his two leading followers, Cook and Banks, who were apparently not friendly (Anderson, pp. 86-87). Certainly Morris's personal skills hadn't improved much; he managed to find a bride, Mary Olsen, among his followers -- but within a month, they were apparently fighting so much that Morris had a revelation directed *explicitly to her* telling her to stop arguing and obey him (Anderson, p. 87). Even if God had nothing better to do than be Morris's relationship counselor, God would at least be competent at it! The two did have a son, born in May 1862, but it died almost at once (Anderson, pp. 104-105) -- perhaps a small mercy, since it spared the boy from inheriting his father's mental condition, plus he would have been orphaned within wees.
Some think the Mormons would have come down on the Morrisites in 1861, except that the American government was threatening to suppress the Mormons themselves; Brigham Young and his supporters didn't want to get in more trouble (Anderson, p. 81). But that protection (if protection it was) would not last. Both Morris's visions of the Seeond Coming -- which was saying would come any day -- and his political problems were reaching a crescendo. A disgruntled follower named William Jones tried to leave (Anderson, pp. 96-100). The exact details are hazy -- the witnesses disagree, and all are biased -- but Jones and two others ended up in Morrisite custody, in chains. The Morrisites were not a government body; they did not have the right to imprison people.
Then one of them, Lars Gurtsen, escaped (Anderson, p. 100) and called on the Utah authorities, who -- being left largely free of federal control due to the Civil War -- could now safely settle the dissident faction (Powell). A judge, John F. Kinney -- a non-Mormon but one who generally accepted Mormon advice (Bagley, p. 251) -- issued a writ of habeas corpus, addressed to Morris, Banks, Cook, and one other (Anderson, p. 105). A group of deputies tried to deliver the writ. The Morrisites refused to accept it -- some witnesses said they burned it (Anderson, p. 101). Morris, in fact, was having revelations telling his followers to ignore the authorities (Anderson, p. 102. It simply amazes me that anyone would believe God would worry about things like that at a time when, for instance, the Civil War was killing thousands of young men each week!). Morris also gave a new date for the Second Coming: May 30, 1862 would be "Foreshadowing of the Kingdom of God Day" (Anderson, p. 103).
Morris may not have been worried, but the situation was critical. The Morrisites were in open defiance of the law. The state marshal was unwilling or unable to serve a writ in circumstances which might result in violence (Anderson, pp. 107-108), but his top assistant was up for the job. Deputy marshal Robert T. Burton led a posse against the community (Powell). No one knows how many were involved, but there were probably several hundred, most of them Mormons of the Nauvoo legion -- the Mormon militia, although it was technically considered a Federal force (Anderson, pp. 110-111).
The idea was probably to induce a surrender (Anderson, p. 111), but apparently Morris had a revelation anticipating a large army coming. He took it as more evidence of the second coming, and perhaps had another revelation. So there was no surrender. (Many of the Morrisites were probably afraid to surrender. They were aware of the Mountain Meadows Massacre -- Bagley, p. 251 -- where a group of Mormons attacked a passing wagon train, induced the people to surrender, then slaughtered them; for background on this, see "The Mountain Meadows Massacre" [Laws B19].)
Burton captured a Morrisite herder and sent him in with a demand for surrender. It is claimed that he allowed only thirty minutes to think about it, which simply wasn't enough time for the message to be brought to the leaders, let alone for them to decide what to do (Anderson, pp. 112-113), though others claim Burton allowed two hours.
Whatever the timing, Burton fired shots -- warning shots, some said, but the first one fell among the assembled Morrisites (Anderson, pp. 114-115), killing two and leaving one teenager with a permanently disfigured jaw (Anderson, p. 127; p. 119 shows the disfigured woman in later life). Morris, rather than do something useful, reeled off another vision promising better things to come (Anderson, pp. 127-128). For about a day, both sides settled down to a siege; during this, one of the attackers, Jared Smith, was killed (Anderson, p. 132). The next day brought heavy rain, which was hard for the Morrisites in their damaged fort (Anderson, p. 134), especially as they were almost out of ammunition and even food.
Burton apparently sent a message to the territorial governor asking for instructions, pointing out that the Morrisites were resisting and that a man had been killed. Acting Governor Fuller told him to enforce the law (Anderson, p. 133). So, even though the next day was Sunday (Anderson, pp. 134-135), Burton moved in. He ordered a small group of men to storm one of the outbuildings of the fort. One of those who went in, Peter Wahlin, became the second fatality among the Mormons, but they took the building and brought up more equipment (Anderson, pp. 136-137). The Morrisite position was no longer tenable, and they surrendered (Anderson, p. 137).
Burton then occupied the place (Powell). What happened once he and his troops met the assembled, mostly-unarmed Morrisites is unclear -- the witness accounts disagree, and all are self-serving. What is clear is that Burton personally killed a few people including Morris and Banks (Anderson, pp. 138-139). Then his troops took prisoner those men who had been found with arms or were listed as part of the Morrisite army (Anderson, pp. 140-141; this was about ninety people, according to Powel).
With the attack over, the question was what to do about the survivors. Two of the state militia had died, after all. Most of the armed men eventually went on trial. In 1863, although two men were acquitted, seven men were convicted of second degree murder and 66 of "resistance." The latter group were fined; the former were given prison terms of ten years and up (Anderson, p. 143). Territorial governor Stephen S. Harding, who thought he saw in this more resistance to Federal control, pardoned them (Powell) -- on the grounds, one suspects, that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," even though the Morrisites were no more pro-United States than the Mormons.
As early as 1863, there were people who wanted Burton charged with murder. (Justifiably, I think; we don't know how Morris and Banks died, but it's hard to believe they attacked Burton or his troops after the surrender!) In 1870 a grand jury brought charges against him, but in 1872 the U. S. Supreme Court threw the case out on a technicality (Anderson, pp 148-149). Apparently that ended the possibility of charging him for those deaths, which were probably the ones easier to link to him. In 1879, Burton was charged with another of the Morrisite deaths (Anderson, p. 149; on p. 228, Anderson notes that this was only after Burton's supporter Brigham Young was dead), but was acquitted (Powell).
You'd think that seeing their psychotic "prophet's" visions dramatically disproved would have spelled the end of the Morrisite movement. And some did abandon the faith, either returning to Mormonism or abandoning both Utah faiths and moving away (Anderson, p. 142). But a surprising number tried to preserve their belief system (Anderson, p. 222, concludes that Morris's death actually helped preserve his movement, because his mismanagement had been driving his church into the ground). Few wanted to stay in Utah, though -- most had lost their property, and they faced a hostile population. So they took the opportunity to migrate. In the process, they became divided into two groups (Anderson, pp. 156-157). At first, the separation was merely geographical, but in a denomination that was built around a prophet, the two soon became separate in other ways. There were several post-Morris branches; Anderson has photos of their some of their leaders and one of their meeting sites. Some of them lasted a long time, but none was in any way noteworthy; I checked my several catalogs of denominations and histories of the church without finding any hint of the Morrisites. Such importance as they have seems to be greater for the history of Utah than the history of Christianity.
C. Leroy Anderson's book about this -- the main reference for anyone who cares -- was published under three titles. The first edition,For Christ Will Come Tomorrow: The Saga of the Morrisites, was published in 1981. In 1988 a slightly revised edition was published by Utah State University Press as Joseph Morris and the Saga of the Morrisites. The final version, from 2010, is Joseph Morris and the Saga of the Morrisites (revisited), which is the version cited here. Those wishing to see Morris's own writings may attempt to find Joseph Morris, The Spirit Prevails: Containing the Revelations, Articles, and Letters Written by Joseph Morris, George S. Dove and Company, 1886. Dove was one of Morris's associates (Anderson, p. 3; Dove is all over Anderson's index); I doubt the portrayal is unbiased (and Anderson more than enough Morris quotes for my taste, thank you!).
There is also a book about Colonel Burton, Janet Burton Seegmiller, Be Kind To The Poor : The Life Story Of Robert Taylor Burton. Although copies are obtainable, the prices were too ridiculous for me to bother trying to find a copy.
This poem definitely seems to be by a Morrisite, and probably near-contemporary, since it refers to seeing Morris and Banks in the afterlife. It also correctly refers to the massacre as being on the banks of the Weber, to Morris as being slain by Burton, refers to Burton as a Mormon,
Joseph and Hyrum are, of course, the brothers Joseph and Hyrum Smith, who were slain by a mob near Nauvoo, Illinois, one of the key events in Mormon history. They were off the scene by the time Morris started having his visions. - RBW
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