Morrisite War

Morrisite War
Date June 1862 Location South Weber, Utah 41°08′48″N 111°58′08″W / 41.1467°N 111.9688°W / 41.1467; -111.9688Coordinates: 41°08′48″N 111°58′08″W / 41.1467°N 111.9688°W / 41.1467; -111.9688 Result Utah Territory victory
Belligerents
Morrisites	Utah Territory
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Morris	Stephen S. Harding Robert T. Burton
Strength
200 - 500 Morrisite followers	1,000 members of the territorial militia
Casualties and losses
Eight Morrisites (including at least four women)	One militia member

The Morrisite War was a skirmish between a Latter Day Saint sect known as the "Morrisites" and the Utah territorial government.

In 1857 Joseph Morris, an English convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, reported receiving revelations naming him the Seventh Angel from the Book of Revelation. He wrote to Brigham Young, seeking recognition of his calling from the church.

In 1860 Morris began to collect followers to a group that was commonly known as the Morrisites. In February 1861 John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff excommunicated him. On April 6, 1861 he organized the Church of the Firstborn and called all of his followers to gather at Kington Fort, a 3-acre (12,000 m²) fort on the Weber River which had been abandoned in 1858. By Fall 1861, the group contained several hundred followers.

Morris told his followers that the Second Coming was imminent and not to bother with planting crops. They may have trampled some of their crops into the ground as evidence of their faith. The group pooled available supplies and waited at Kington Fort.

By spring 1862, food was scarce and some members were becoming discontented. Morris repeatedly designated certain days for the Second Coming, only to have those days pass uneventfully. Each time this happened, a handful of members would recover their possessions from the community pool and leave the congregation.

With the steady outflux of members, the question of property entitlement became contentious. Those who stayed behind felt those who left were taking better stock and other items than they had initially contributed to the community pool. Soon after three departing members — William Jones, one of Morris's first converts, John Jensen, and Lars C. Geertsen — vowed revenge after what they perceived as an unfair reckoning, they seized a load of wheat en route from Kington to Kaysville for milling. The Morrisites sent a group of men after them, and the group soon captured the three and the wheat. The church held the men prisoner in a small cabin, to be "tried by the Lord when he came."

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