General Joseph Smith commanding the Nauvoo Legion infantrymen in formation between 1839 and 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, with the Nauvoo Temple on a hill in the background
The Nauvoo Legion was a state-authorized militia of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, United States from February 4, 1841 until January 1845. It was led by Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and mayor of Nauvoo. Its main function was the defense of Nauvoo and surrounding Latter Day Saint areas of settlement.
In 1845 the Nauvoo Legion lost its official sanction as an arm of the Illinois militia, following a controversy in which the Nauvoo Expositor newspaper was destroyed by the Legion on Joseph Smith's orders.[1][2] Joseph Smith was ordered to the Carthage Jail under charges of treason, where Smith was then killed by a mob.
In 1849, the State of Deseret organized what would become the Utah Territorial Militia. After 1852 this militia was generally referred to as the Nauvoo Legion. The Legion was involved in several engagements including the Utah War, the Walker War, and the Black Hawk War. The Nauvoo Legion was permanently disbanded in 1887 as part of the Edmunds-Tucker Act. In 1894, the former Utah Territorial Militia was reactivated and officially designated the Utah National Guard.
Formation in Nauvoo
In 1839, Joseph Smith relocated his followers from a hostile environment in Missouri to Commerce, Illinois, which he renamed Nauvoo. Aiming to win the Mormon voting bloc, Illinois Democrats and Whigs (including Abraham Lincoln) passed a bipartisan city-state charter for Nauvoo in 1840. [3][4] On December 16, 1840 Governor Thomas Carlin approved the charter, which was certified by then Secretary of StateStephen A. Douglas.[3] In February 1841 the law went into effect, granting Smith and the city of Nauvoo broad powers including the authority to create a militia.[4] This military force was a militia similar to the Illinois State Militia, and it became known as the "Nauvoo Legion". The Legion was organized into two regiments (called cohorts) of infantry and one regiment of cavalry. A few light cannons were also attached.[4]
By April 1841, over 600 men had enrolled in the Legion.[5] By the end of 1841 that number had grown to around 1,500.[5] At its peak, the militia had, by conservative estimates, at least 2,500 troops, in comparison to the approximately 8,500 troops within the entire United States Army as of 1845.[6]
The Legion was unique among American militia organizations for its disproportionate number of high-ranking officers to regular soldiers.[4] At one point there were 13 major-generals and an even higher number of brigadier-generals.[4] Other ranks commissioned for the Nauvoo Legion included Judge Advocate, Assistant Chaplain, and Herald and Armour-Bearer.[4] Although the United States army and other contemporary militias held no office higher than a major-general, Joseph Smith held the rank of lieutenant-general, an honor that had not been bestowed on any American since George Washington [5]
Joseph Mustering the Nauvoo Legion by C.C.A. ChristensenDepiction of the Battle of Nauvoo by C.C.A. Christensen, which occurred from June 10, 1844, to September 16, 1846. The Nauvoo Legion was ordered to stand down by the church elders and not take part in the armed defense but withdrawal of the Saints from Nauvoo for the long trip to Utah.
Authority over Legion
Although the charter authorizing the Nauvoo Legion created an independent militia, it could be used at the disposal of the state governor or the President of the United States as well as for the mayor of Nauvoo. Joseph Smith himself was Nauvoo's second mayor, and the Nauvoo court martial also appointed him as highest-ranking officer of the Legion, a Lieutenant General. This rank is one step above Major General, which most contemporary militias employed as their commanding rank. One motive for the higher rank was to prevent Smith from being tried in a court-martial by officers of lesser rank. In 1838 the Missouri militia had contemplated a court-martial against Smith, an action that might have been illegal had it been carried out, as Smith was only a civilian at that time.
Nauvoo under Mormon martial law
Tensions between Nauvoo and surrounding non-Mormon settlements peaked by the summer of 1844, in part because the Nauvoo Legion came to be regarded as Smith's private army.[3] Governor Thomas Ford called the militia "a military force at their own command."[3][4] Tensions were further exacerbated by defectors from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including brothers William Law and Wilson Law, who was the Legion's ranking major General.[4] The Laws were key in starting the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper critical of Joseph Smith and his doctrines of plural marriage.
On June 10, 1844, the Nauvoo City council declared the Nauvoo Expositor to be a public nuisance.[4] Joseph Smith ordered acting major general Jonathan Dunham to use the Nauvoo Legion in assisting the city marshal to destroy the Expositor press and equipment [4] Non-Mormons claimed the Legion was instrumental in destroying the press and called for the arrest of Joseph Smith and other members of the city council for riot.[4] They were arrested but released by the Nauvoo city court on a writ of habeas corpus.[4]
In response to the rising tensions, the Nauvoo Legion was called out and the city placed under martial law.[4] An opposing force mobilized of armed Illinois Militia, numbered between 1600-1800 men.[4] Offering his protection if they surrendered, Governor Ford disbanded the militia and Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith agreed to submit to arrest on charges of inciting a riot.[4] On June 27, 1844 the Carthage Jail where they were held was attacked and they were killed.
Legion survival after death of Joseph Smith
The Nauvoo Legion survived the loss of its commanding officer, Joseph Smith, when Brigham Young automatically assumed command as the new church president in August 1844, though he had never previously been active in Legion activities because Young was in England on a proselytizing mission for several years and only returned home to Nauvoo when hearing of the prophet's death to assist the family, church, and citizens of Nauvoo .[citation needed] Rather than employ the Legion to protect Nauvoo from increased mob violence, Young directed Nauvoo's tens of thousands of citizens to migrate peacefully to the western part of the continent which wasn't yet part of the United States and they founded the territory of Utah. Nauvoo was officially abandoned and the last remaining citizens had vacated Nauvoo by September 17, 1846, under gunfire and cannon artillery barrage as Illinois and Missouri militia and mobs raided and burned Nauvoo to the ground[citation needed].
Upon the revocation of the Nauvoo Charter in the winter of 1844–1845, the Nauvoo Legion was no longer recognized as state militia, and its members returned the majority of its government-issued arms. Depleted of its official status, remnants assumed roles such as guardians of the handcart and wagon companies heading west after being reorganized by Hosea Stout on September 22, 1846, as they amassed on the other side of the Mississippi River in the territory of Iowa where the citizens of Nauvoo were safe from attack by mobs and Illinois and Missouri militia, and waited for winter to end so they could migrate[citation needed]. An area memorialized by the somber Far West cemetery and LDS Temple.
There are however some reported incidents in diaries of Saints concerning gunfire exchange between legion members and mobs during the Nauvoo era[citation needed]. And also legion members participated in the rescue of Joseph from the state Militia who had unlawfully arrested him after luring him to what was supposed to be a peaceful political debate and were going to hang him[citation needed].
Officers and troops of the Third Regiment of Nauvoo Legion as reformed in Utah.[7]Officers and troops of the Third Regiment of Nauvoo Legion as reformed in Utah.[7]
Mormon Battalion in Mexican–American War
Not long after the arrival of the Mormons in Iowa, in 1846, Mormon legionnaires volunteered to serve in the 500 man Mormon Battalion for the U.S. government military expedition to Mexican California during the Mexican–American War.
State of Deseret Territorial Militia
In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young reformed the Nauvoo Legion into a fully functional paramilitary force, which was organized into sub-units for each of the Utah counties as the Deseret Territorial Militia akin to their contemporaries the Army of the Republic of Texas and the Texas Rangers.[8]
The Nauvoo Legion was called up again in the Utah War against Federal troops entering Utah in the "Utah Expedition" from 1857 to 1858. They employed tactics of supply destruction and avoided direct fighting. Local commanders and members of the Iron County, Utah Territorial Militia, overcome with suspicion and war hysteria, perpetrated the Mountain Meadows Massacre against a group of wagon trains travelling from Arkansas to California in September. At this point Daniel H. Wells was the chief military commander of the militia. It was also under the auspices of the militia that the groups of men were organized who were instructed to burn down Salt Lake City and other parts of northern Utah should the invading army try to take up residence.[citation needed]
After this conflict, the Federal government appointed Utah's territorial governor, and the Nauvoo Legion was allowed to exist at the command of the governor. It, however, was not as cooperative in imposing the colonial regime as federal authorities would have liked.
During the American Civil War, federal troops either were withdrawn from Utah, or in many cases left to join the rebellion, Johnston who had led the invading federal army being among the latter group. The Federal government made a reconciliatory approach to Brigham Young, requesting his help. With his permission, two units of the reorganized Nauvoo Legion were gainfully employed by the United States to protect western mail and telegraph lines from Indian attacks in what is today Utah and Wyoming, but saw no meaningful action. Neither the Legion nor any other Mormon troops participated in the main theaters of the war, and the Legion's involvement ended in 1862 after Congress had passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act.[9]
Utah Black Hawk War
The final use of the Legion was in Utah's Black Hawk War 1865–1872 when over 2,500 troops were dispatched against Indians led by Antonga Black Hawk.[citation needed] (Antonga Black Hawk was a Ute and has no connection to the Illinois Sauk chief Black Hawk of the 1830s.) In 1870 the Utah Territorial governor, J. Wilson Shaffer forced the Legion inactive unless he ordered otherwise. Federal troops dispatched in response to the 1870 Ghost Dance ensured Shaffer's order was enforced.
Transition to Utah National Guard
The Nauvoo Legion never gathered again, and the 1887 Edmunds-Tucker Act permanently disbanded it. In 1894, in anticipation of statehood, the non-sectarian Utah National Guard was organized as Utah's official state militia.[citation needed]
Uniforms, weapons, and equipment
Nauvoo era
Joseph Smith addressing the Nauvoo Legion.This was a preliminary sketch done in 1845 for a panorama painting for the Nauvoo Temple that was never completed.[10]
The Nauvoo Legion in Illinois was able to draw on Federal stands of arms. The most common musket issued to these militiamen was the Model 1816 Musket. This flintlock musket was an American built copy of the French 1777 Musket Model. Also, the Harper's Ferry Model 1803 Rifle was issued in smaller quantities. Personal arms were also used. A small artillery piece, an 1841 12-pound mountain howitzer was issued to the territorial militia. It arrived in Salt Lake in 1852. A carronade, a ship cannon, was purchased by the legion in Nauvoo. It was carried to Salt Lake by the early party that occasionally used it as a speakers podium. It was nicknamed the "Old Sow" and is on display at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City.
Utah era
When the Mormon Battalion was enlisted in July, 1846, about 450 Model 1816 muskets were issued to the infantry. Five 1803 Harpers Ferry rifles were issued to the hunters of company A. Records for the weapons issued to the other companies are missing. After the men were released from service in 1847, they headed for home, many stopping for temporary employment at Sutter's Fort. 6 of their group built the mill at Coloma, where gold was discovered. Many of them took time to pan for gold and they were quite successful. When they resumed their journey home, they bought two cannons from Sutter, a four pounder and a six pounder. These were thought at that time to have come from Sutter's purchase of the Russian Fort Ross and to have been either Russian or French cannons. This caused them to be lost after the deaths of the battalion members, because the source of the cannons was not written. Sutter wrote a letter to the pioneer society in the 1870s where he said that his cannons, except for one Russian 4-pounder, which he donated to a museum in San Francisco, were all Spanish guns. In 2001 three Spanish guns were identified in the LDS Church storage facility in Salt Lake City. The bronze 4-pounder was found to have the crest of King Carlos 3 of Spain. A 6-pound iron cannon, probably the other battalion cannon and a smaller, but similar, 2 pound cannon were in the warehouse. The provenance of the 2-pounder is currently unknown. All three Spanish cannons, which were brought to Salt Lake City on pallets, were mounted on carriages copied from the mountain howitzer carriage, probably in preparation for the Mormon defense against Johnston's army in 1857. Today the mountain howitzer is on display in the Fort Douglas museum in Salt Lake City. The 4 pound Spanish bronze is in the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center in San Diego, Calif. The is a copy of it in front of the center. The iron Spanish 2 and 6 pound cannons remain in storage in Salt Lake City.
^Wicks, Robert S., and Fred R. Foister. “Retributive Justice.” Junius And Joseph: Presidential Politics and the Assassination of the First Mormon Prophet, University Press of Colorado, 2005, pp. 132–44. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgn0s.16. Accessed 17 Sep. 2022.
^ abcd Burr, Nelson R. “The Charter of the Mormon City Of Nauvoo.” Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, vol. 6, no. 2, 1949, pp. 3–5. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29780530. Accessed 17 Jan. 2024.
^ abcdefghijklmnoGardner, Hamilton, et al. “The Nauvoo Legion, 1840-1845: A Unique Military Organization.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984), vol. 54, no. 2, 1961, pp. 181–97. Accessed 17 Jan. 2024. Cite error: The named reference "Gardner1961" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^ abc Park, Benjamin E. Kingdom of Nauvoo the Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier. Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2021. Page 49
^http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/BYUIBooks/id/3168 |Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, gives a person by person listing of the various local positions held in the legion, such as Hugh S. Gowans who in 1868 was elected adjutant of cavalry in a Tooele County-based Battalion of Cavalry of the Legion (Vol. 1, p. 355)
^Major, Jill C. “Artworks in the Celestial Room of the First Nauvoo Temple.” Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 41, no. 2, Brigham Young University, 2002, pp. 47–69, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43044321.
Roberts, Richard C. (2003), Legacy: the history of the Utah National Guard from the Nauvoo Legion era to Enduring Freedom, Utah: National Guard Association of Utah, pp. 5, 9, ISBN0972849068, OCLC53168159
State of Deseret (March 1857 – July 1858)
United States
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