Utah Territorial Militia

A predecessor known as the Nauvoo Legion was formed as a state-authorized militia of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, United States and was active February 4, 1841 until January 1845.{{Cite journal |last=Sweeney |first=John |date=1974-01-01 |title=A History of the Nauvoo Legion in Illinois |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5155 |journal=Theses and Dissertations}}

In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young reformed the remnants of 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.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)

{{main|Wakara's War}}

In the 1849 conflicts with Native Americans in Utah County, such as the attack at Battle Creek, Utah, and Battle at Fort Utah, foreshadowed the 1853–1854 Walker War between the Nauvoo Legion and Indians led by Chief Walkara ("Walker"). Twenty Mormon militiamen and many Native Americans died in the Walker War.

{{main|Utah War}}

File:Mountain Meadows massacre (Stenhouse).png was known as the Nauvoo Legion and accused of perpetrating the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre in which 120–140 non-Mormon settlers were murdered.]]

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. The militia clashed with the United States government during the Utah War. With strength of around 6,000 personnel, segments of the northern contingent mobilized to impede the advance of Albert Sidney Johnston's army into Utah. This army was sent in by president James Buchanan to put down the rebellion by the people of Utah, as they called it. Both sides stopped engagements after agreement was reached permitting the army's passage through Salt Lake City, establishing Camp Floyd.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://ut.ng.mil/History/ |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=ut.ng.mil}}

After this conflict, the Federal government appointed Utah's territorial governor, and the force 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.

{{main|Mountain Meadows Massacre}}

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|date=August 2017}}

{{see also|Utah in the American Civil War|Lot Smith Cavalry Company}}

File:Third Regiment of Nauvoo Legion two.PNG

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.{{cite news |url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/the-mormons-sit-out-the-civil-war/ |title=The Mormons Sit Out the Civil War |newspaper=The New York Times (online) |date=May 1, 2012 |first=John G. |last=Turner |series=Disunion: following the Civil War as it unfolded}}

{{main|Black Hawk War (1865–1872)}}

The final use of the militia 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|date=May 2012}} (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.

The Utah Territorial Militia 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|date=May 2012}}

File:UtahTerritorialMilitiaWeapons.jpg

{{unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}

A small artillery piece, an 1841 12-pound mountain howitzer was issued to the territorial militia. It arrived in Salt Lake in 1852. 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. There 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.

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.

The flags carried by the militia were usually made by locals of the community. They often contained religious symbols and mottos of their faith.{{Cite web |title=Protecting the Home Front: The Utah Territorial Militia During the Civil War {{!}} Religious Studies Center |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/civil-war-saints/protecting-home-front-utah-territorial-militia-during-civil-war |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=rsc.byu.edu}}

File:Nauvoo Legion Mormon Battalion Flag.jpg|The alleged Nauvoo Legion Flag. It is not known if it was used in Nauvoo, Illinois, or in the later Nauvoo Legion Utah period. It may have also been used by the Mormon Battalion in the U.S. Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1847).Groote, M. D. (2010, January 7). [https://www.deseret.com/2010/1/7/20363005/secrets-of-the-patriarch-s-bear-flag Secrets of the patriarch’s bear flag.] Deseret News.

File:Edward H. Williams Flag.png|Remake of the flag given to the Salt Creek militia by Edward H. William{{Cite web |title=Historical Flags of Our Ancestors - State of Utah - USA |url=https://www.loeser.us/flags/utah.html |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=www.loeser.us}}

File:Utah Territorial Militia Flag.png|Digital reconstruction of the flag carried by the Kaysville militia, 1856{{Cite web |title=Deseret News {{!}} 1856-08-13 {{!}} Page 8 {{!}} Celebrations |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2573611&q=banner+flag&sort=date_tdt+asc,parent_i+asc,page_i+asc |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=newspapers.lib.utah.edu |language=en}}

File:Second Brigade, First Division, of the Nauvoo Legion company flag 1864.png|Digital reconstruction of the flag flown by Nauvoo Legion in 1864{{Cite web |title=Sacramento Daily Union 6 June 1864 — California Digital Newspaper Collection |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18640606.2.3&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=cdnc.ucr.edu}}

File:Alpine, Utah flag (c. 1860).png|Digital reconstruction of the flag used by the Alpine militia in the 1860s{{Cite web |title=Deseret Evening News {{!}} 1907-07-27 {{!}} Page 2 {{!}} Pioneer Celebrations |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2148724&q=Pioneer+flag+banner&rows=200&sort=rel&year_start=1850&year_end=1910 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=newspapers.lib.utah.edu |language=en}}

• Morrisite War
• Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States

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{{succession box

| title = Utah Territorial Milita

| years = 1852–1887

| before = Nauvoo Legion
(Illinois State Militia)
1840–1845

| after = Utah National Guard
1887–today

}}

{{S-end}}

Category:1870 disestablishments

Category:Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)

Category:History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Category:Mormon Militias

Category:Pre-statehood history of Utah

Category:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah

Category:Utah in the American Civil War

Category:Utah War