Joseph Morris: and the Saga of the Morrisites Revisited

10. Exodus

10 Exodus By the time the imprisonment, trial, sentencing, pardoning, and other immediate consequences of the Morrisite War had culminated in the spring of 1863, the Morrisite movement was in disarray and near collapse. Faithful Morrisites still held many previous expectations about the imminent Second Advent, and they had successfully redefined the role of Joseph Morris as martyr and foreshadower instead of deliverer, but they lacked a cogent ideology and competent leadership to sustain them until the expected millennium should arrive. Joseph Morris had been so sure of his divine right to leadership and so convinced of his own role in personally leading his people into and through the millennium that he had made no provisions whatsoever for a successor. Furthermore, his faithful disciples had given no thought to such a need either. At this point the Morrisites were in much the same situation as the Mormons had been in Illinois in 1844 when Joseph Smith was assassinated. What they desperately needed was another Brigham Young or at least a Sidney Rigdon. Instead, the most logical successor to leadership, the eloquent John Banks, had died along with Morris at Kington Fort. Moreover, the twelve apostles, who might have assumed leadership, were rendered virtually inoperative for several months because of imprisonment, indictment, or having fled the territory. Furthermore, by definition, Morrisite leadership required a prophet and a special kind of prophet at that. Joseph Morris had insisted that a living prophet who could regularly produce revelations was mandatory. During Morris’s reign there had been no need and no place for another prophet, but his unexpected death had created a vacuum that no one was immediately prepared to fill. Consequently, the Morrisites turned their immediate attention to basic survival needs. Certainly from the Morrisite perspective, the political climate in Utah had immeasurably improved from the previous year, for they now had a supportive governor and a protective military force supporting them. Despite these political changes, the economic and religious institutions were as firmly in Mormon hands as ever. A majority of the Morrisites who had 156 The Dispersion gathered at South Weber were either penniless or had consecrated what wealth they had to the church. Only a small minority had retained much personal property, and with few exceptions they owned no land, livestock, or tools for making a living. Of course a few of the earlier settlers around Slaterville, Ogden, and South Weber had joined the Morrisites, and some of them retained their lands even after the war. For the majority of the Morrisites the most pressing problem was how and where to make a living, and that problem dominated their efforts to the exclusion of nearly all other immediate postwar considerations. Clearly Utah, with its scant water resources, limited arable land, undeveloped industry, and openly hostile populace, was not a promising environment for the Morrisites. Except for the temporary employment opportunity while Camp Douglas was under construction, the economic prospects for Utah Morrisites could hardly have been worse. Consequently, when Connor announced he was sending a large government wagon train to Carson City, Nevada, and that Morrisites could travel along under its protection, the response was immediate. John Eardley stated: They made application for transportation for themselves and families, which the General very generously granted, and told them not only to come themselves, but to tell all others who wanted to leave Utah that there was room enough for all in the train he was about to send out. The news spread rapidly, and the Morrisites and others availed themselves of this opportunity of leaving Utah. So many came that the General found it necessary to order a second train, and determined to send one to Soda Springs, Idaho with a view of establishing a colony. Rations were furnished to those who were destitute, and each person chose the route they wished to take. On the 5th day of May, 1863, both trains moved out of the Fort together, one going north, and the other going south, like the “two wings of a great eagle,” both accompanied by a company of troops as a guard. The northern bound train arriving at Soda Springs, its passengers were induced to remain there by the government officers, and were fed and supported, and furnished with teams and seed by the government until they became self-supporting. This settlement continues to exist and flourish and has become a permanent point on the Short Line Railroad.1 Eardley’s publication in 1899 gave the impression...