UTAH GOTHIC

The Morrisite War, Part One: Praying Joe Meets the Mormons

By Contributing Writer, 1-02-06

By Clint Wardlow, UtahGothic.com

A 1,000-strong government troop surrounded a ragtag Mormon splinter group. The government posse was headed by a territorial Marshal loyal to Brigham Young. The cult of true believers, the Morrisites, had deserted Young’s fold to create a “purer� version of Mormonism. They waged a three-day battle royal that ended after a gunfight left six cultists (including the leader, Joseph Morris, a self-proclaimed prophet of God) and two posse members dead.

It was June 1862. As the posse fired cannon volleys into the Morrisite encampment, the weary cult members hunkered down waiting for the second coming of Christ. Morris, while bullets and cannonball rained down upon his flock, prayed for guidance.

Sound familiar? It’s not so different from some modern-day fracases involving the government and a band of wacky Mormon separatists (remember the Singer-Swapp siege in Marion?).

Joseph Morris shared a lot with modern Mormon Fundamentalists. He fled the orthodox Mormon Church because, in his mind, its teachings had become corrupt. He chose to set up his own version of Joseph Smith’s religion. One that was closer to what he felt Smith and God intended. And like the Singer-Swapp siege, it ended badly for Morris and his devotees.

But there are important differences between Morris and his present-day counterparts. Morris loathed the practice, unlike typical LDS fundamentalists, who go ga-ga over collecting beaucoup teenage wives.

Although a fervent follower of Joseph Smith, Morris was repulsed by the plural marriage doctrine of 1800s Mormonism. He couldn’t believe Smith, his hero, practiced such an abomination and believed a demon in human guise had foisted it on the one true Church. That devil, in his mind, was Brigham Young.

Morris’ differences with Young led to the aforementioned fray at an abandoned fort in Uintah, a small valley south of Ogden. This is the story of the Morrisite War, probably the first battle between the government and a Mormon splinter group in Utah.

Morris Meets the Mormons

There are good guys and bad guys in this tale, but who equaled what has been hotly debated since Marshal Robert T. Burton gunned down a praying Joe Morris minutes after the Morrisites surrendered.

Joseph Morris was twenty-three and living in England when he heard the siren song of the Mormon missionaries. The Church had spread its wings all over Europe in its search for converts to the newly articulated word of God. These disseminators of the good word found particular success in Great Britain and Scandinavian countries. Both regions seemed to be peopled with folks hungry for a new gospel. These new Mormons often immigrated to Utah just to be near the prophet of their new faith.

Morris had worked as a farmhand and coal miner. However, when Joseph Smith’s inspired teachings took hold, he embarked on a road to a new profession: prophet of God. The road to revelation was a windy one, and it would take many years and several odd jobs before Morris would thrust himself into his new vocation.

After his baptism into the LDS church, young Joseph took a bride, Mary Thorpe, and left England for Utah. Before reaching the new Zion, Morris and his wife spent a two-year detour in St. Louis where he worked as a fireman on a Mississippi riverboat.

Next, it was off to Pittsburgh where Morris would get his first taste of preaching to the masses. He served as branch president for a local congregation, but only briefly: the congregation, unhappy with Morris’ teachings, gave him his walking papers. Still smarting from the rebuke, Morris moved his wife and new child to the Utah’s Great Basin. It is here, in 1853, he would find his voice and begin to attract followers—and receive his first shock.

In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith kept the practice of polygamy secret. A new religion was controversial enough; polygamy would only stir more negativity toward the Mormons. Thus, polygamy was kept on the down-low; only the most faithful of the faithful would be let in on the secret.

However, it was as different story in Salt Lake City. One thousand miles away from the prying eyes of nosy gentiles, polygamy could be practiced in the open. Upon seeing this, Young Joe Morris was flabbergasted. He had no idea that this was a component of his beloved new religion. To make matters worse, a Sanpete County bishop convinced Mary to ditch Morris. She packed up their child and belongings and split for greener pastures.

Despite these tribulations, Morris choked down his doubts and remained in Utah, keeping faith with the Mormon Church. He remarried in 1855, but this marriage was also doomed: it lasted only six months. Still faithful, Joseph relocated to Provo just as a religious fervor exploded across Utah. This would be the Mormon Reformation of 1857—and the beginning of Morris’ split from the Church proper.

Tuesday, Part Two: Praying Joe Has A Revelation

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