The Great Disappointment
00:09It's dusk on October 22nd, 1844 in Lohampton, New York.62-year-old William Miller stands alone,pulling his coat tight against the cold as the last light of day fades.The trees overhead are little more than crooked silhouettesagainst the deepening blue sky.William looks east, hoping to see some kind of light or movement in the darkness,but so far there's nothing.Still, he's sure that's about to change.
00:37For the last 13 years,William has preached that the second coming of Christ is near, and today, across the country,thousands of his followers are waiting, their souls prepared for judgment, confident,and the promise that this is the day the world will end.William has chosen to spend his final moments at home with his wifeand his greatest supporter, Pastor Joshua Himes.William turns and steps inside.The kitchen is warm and the smell of a hot meal fills the room,
01:07a thick stew made from the last remaining ingredients in the pantry.As they all take their seats at the table, William leads them in prayer,giving quiet thanks for the food before them, and then they eat.Every sound seems amplified, the scrape of a fork against a plate, the crackle of the fire.The diners' faces are tight with excitement and anticipation,and no one seems to know the right words to say, so they eat in silence.Taking another mouthful, William glances toward the window.and through its glass he can see the eastern sky is almost completely dark.
01:42He's sure that the Lord will come from that direction in a blaze of glory,and any moment now the world will come to an end.Inside William Miller's farmhouse, the last food slowly disappears.Years of preaching, thousands of converts,and one very precise piece of arithmetic have all led to this moment,and in just a few hours the day will be over,and William will discover whether he was right to.to believe that the second coming of Christ would occur on October 22, 1844.
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02:41More shows will be announced soon, too.So for information on tickets and upcoming dates, go to historydailylive.com.That's historydailylive.com.Come see my Days at Made America Tour, live on stage.Go to historydaily.com.From Noisor and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.History is made every day.On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.
03:28Today is October 22, 1844.The Great Disappointment.It's September 10th, 1814 in Plattsburgh, New York,30 years before the world is supposed to end.32-year-old Captain William Miller peers in through the flap of a canvas tent.Inside, a knot of soldiers kneel in prayer,candlelight illuminating their faces.William watches them for a moment, then shakes his head.
03:57Although he was raised a Baptist,he has long since abandoned his faith,and around the regiment he has a reputation for mocking those who take religion seriously.The kneeling men are asking for God's protection in the battle that's expected in the morning.The United States is at war with Britain,and although William enlisted soon after the outbreak of hostilities in 1812,he spent most of his time in uniform far from action, working as an army recruiter.It's only recently that he's been sent to the front lines.
04:26But William has no intention of joining the group of soldiers in the tent.Instead, he decides to have some fun at their expense.He returns to his own quarters and summons a sergeant from the group he just spied on.When the sergeant arrives, William wastes no time.He accuses the man of gambling, saying he just spotted him playing dice in the tent.The sergeant denies it, but he also won't meet William's eye.William presses him, and eventually the sergeant breaks.The men weren't gambling.
04:54They were praying, although he's clearly ashamed to admit it.He doesn't want to show William that he's frightened of what tomorrow may bring.William sends a man on his way, but humiliating his subordinate doesn't give him the satisfaction he was expecting.Shame starts to creep up his spine, but he doesn't have long to reflect on his cruel joke.The following day, the Battle of Plattsburgh begins, and William's first taste of combat is a brutal shock.One shell explodes only two feet away from him, killing one man and wounding three others.but William somehow survives the blast without a scratch.The American forces are outnumbered and take terrible losses,
05:34but they manage to hold their ground and eventually force the British into retreat.Several months later, the war comes to an end, and William is dischargedand purchases 200 acres of land in Hampton, New York.There he sets up as a farmer, determined to enjoy the simple life,but he cannot escape a nagging thought.His survival at the Battle of Plattsburgh seems miraculous,and he wonders if some divine force was responsible.William takes a logical approach to his new religious curiosity.
06:04He decides to study the Bible, reading it closely,determined to reconcile the passages that seem to contradict one another.But while reading the text, he stumbles onto a discovery that stops him cold.In William's reading, the Bible seems to specify a date for the end of the world.The book of Daniel says that in 2,300 days the sanctuary shall be cleansed.William believes this refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ.And by cross-referencing that verse with other passages,he identifies the date of the start of the prophecy as 457 BCE.
06:37If each biblical day is considered to be one year,then the year that the world will end is 1843.At first, William tells no one about his discovery.Instead, he spends years obsessively checking his calculations.He analyzes every date,the reign of every ancient king.It isn't just the fear of being wrong that prevents him from speaking out.William has a home, a family, and a reputation in his local community as an upstanding citizen.
07:06Preaching the apocalypse would threaten to end his quiet, comfortable existence.But by 1831, William is convinced, enough so to start discussing some of his ideas and letters and private conversations.Impressed by what he has to say, one of William's nephews asks him to preach at his church in nearbyDresden. William is initially reluctant to reveal his belief to an entire congregation,but he eventually agrees. When he travels to Dresden, William is dressed more like a farmlaborer than a church minister. He has no pulpit training and no polish, but what he doeshave is total conviction in his belief. And the congregation warms to that. As soon as William finishesspeaking, he's bombarded with questions, and the response is so enthusiastic that he agrees
07:52to address the congregation again.Over the next seven days, William will continue preaching in Dresden, and during that time,something will change deep within him.The farmer who was reluctant to reveal his biblical discovery will disappear, and in his place,a new William Miller will emerge, a man with a divine mission.It's December 1839 at Chardon Street Chapel in Boston, Massachusetts, eight years afterWilliam Miller first preached the apocalypse.34-year-old Joshua Himes takes his seat and smooths his coat, ready to hear today's guest.
08:37He isn't expecting much.Joshua is a city pastor, known for supporting social and political causes like abolitionism,pacifism, and temperance.And he's heard good things about William Miller and his message that people should preparetheir souls for the final judgment.But now that William has arrived, Joshua is disappointed.William's stocky, red-faced appearance, and simple clothes are nothing like the polished preachersthat Joshua is accustomed to. But then William begins to speak, and over the next hour, Joshua's
09:06first impression crumbles. William may be blunt, and he doesn't dress up his arguments or soften hisconclusions, but that direct way of speaking draws Joshua in. Soon he is convinced that the secondcoming of Christ is imminent and promises an end to all suffering, debt, grief, the hard grind ofordinary life that Joshua has long campaigned ease. Yet despite William's compelling present,His apocalyptic predictions have not traveled very far.He's published articles and pamphlets, and he's preached around New York and Vermont,but he rarely travels any farther from home due to poor health.So as Joshua listens, he realizes he's in a position to help.
09:48He knows how to campaign and organize, and most importantly, how to get ideas in front of people.So he makes up his mind.He's going to take William's personal crusade to the masses.Joshua founds a newspaper dedicated to William's ideas,and then he moves on to printing pamphlets by the wagonload.Within a few years, this religious movement known as Millerismis known throughout New England,expands into Michigan, through Canada, and even across the Atlantic to Britain.
10:16And by the time the predicted year of the end begins 1843,Millerites worldwide are excited.But months pass with no apocalypse.From his home in New York, William reassures his followers that the window for the end of the world closes in March 1844.But when that month also passes without incident, faith in Millerism begins to sag.Critics sees on the failed prediction and anti-millarism pamphlets begin to outsell the movement's own literature.Many followers drift away.Yet William and Joshua do not lose faith during what they call the tearing time.
10:52Instead, William states that he's always doubted the precise and his.accuracy of his calculations, but never the ultimate result. He is sure deliverance will come soon.And in August 1844, the Millerites decide on a new date for the apocalypse. At a meeting inExeter, New Hampshire, a preacher has interrupted mid-sermon with demands that a newcomer be allowedto address the congregation. This man, Samuel Snow, slowly rises to his feet and begins to speak.He says that William's calculations were not precise enough through close study of the Hebrewcalendar. He believes the date of the apocalypse is in fact October 22nd, 1844. Samuel's predictionspreads with astonishing speed, and eventually Joshua and William themselves are swept up in the
11:38enthusiasm and endorse this new calculation. Soon there's no controlling the excitement. Once again,tens of thousands of believers prepare for the end of the world. Farmers leave crops standing inthe fields because there will be no one left to eat them. Store owners, give away their merchandise,consciences are cleared, old debts and grudges are settled.In Philadelphia, a Millerite doctor is certain that his city is marked for destruction in theholy fire to come. So on October 21st, he leads 150 followers out of the city,away from the flames that are sure to consume it the next day. They make camp, sing hymns,praise the Lord, and wait for the end. But nothing happens. The sun rises on October 23rd,
12:22and life goes on. For William Miller, though, it feels like the world has ended, just not in the wayhe hoped. For him and his followers, the event becomes known as the great disappointment. Many despair,mocked by their neighbors for believing the Millerite predictions for a second time. William Millerhimself will never give up his personal belief in the second coming, but he will not live to see it.He'll die in 1849 at the age of 67, but his movement will not die with him. Instead, new,leaders will emerge, offering new explanations, new promises, and a new future for the peoplewho still believe that William Miller was right. It's February 1845 in a farmhouse in Atkinson,Maine, four months after the great disappointment. 17-year-old Ellen Harmon raises her voice in prayer.
13:23Cold air seeps through the cracks of the farmhouse walls, but the heat of 50 other Milleriteworshippers keeps the room warm. Just four months ago, these people were among the thousandconvinced that Jesus Christ was about to return. In the weeks that followed the great disappointment,many Millerites felt humiliated and broke with the movement for good. Newspapers carried reportsthat some believers were so overcome with grief and shame that they suffered breakdowns and enteredasylums. But some still cling to the idea that October 22nd was not a mistake. It's just thatthe event that occurred had been misunderstood. Some say Christ began a new work in heaven on that day.Others believe it was the day that the saved were chosen.
14:05They don't all agree on what will happen next,but they continue to worship, pray, and wait.At today's meeting, Ellen begins to feel peculiar, though.She's experienced strange sensations at prayer meetings before,but this time it's far stronger.She sinks to the floor and her body goes rigid.The other worshippers gather around, worried for her.Suddenly, Ellen sits bolt upright and begins to speak.
14:30She claims to have received a messagedirectly from God. She names several people in the room who must be baptized immediately,otherwise they will go to hell. Ellen's dramatic visions are a far cry from William Miller'scareful calculations and predictions. Even so, they offer Millerites hope for the future.If what Ellen says is true, God has not abandoned them. Over the next few decades, Ellen willcontinue to report visions. She and other former Millerites will develop new beliefs about what happenedin 1844 and how Christians should prepare for Christ's return. Eventually, their movement will formallyorganize as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It will grow far larger than Millerism ever did, one day
15:13reaching 24 million members around the world. But its origins can still be traced back to theapocalyptic prediction of one man. And though many of William Miller's followers came to believethat their faith in him had been misplaced, for a handful of others, a seed was planted when theworld did not come to an end on October 22, 1844.Next on History Daily, October 23, 1958. Boris Pasternac is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature,but the Soviet authorities force him to refuse the honor. From Noisor and Airship,this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham, audio editingby Mohamed Shazib, sound design by Molly Bond, music by throm. This episode is
16:08Written and research by Lori Harris.Edited by Scott Reeves.Managing producer Emily Byrne.Executive producers are William Simpson for airshipand Pascal Hughes for Noiser.
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