This is an 1857 photograph of the Nauvoo Legion in Utah. The Mormon militia was known as the Nauvoo Legion until it was disbanded by the federal government in the 1870s (I think). 1857, of course, was the year that the United States sent Johnston’s Army to invade Utah and put down the “Mormon rebellion.” Thus, this is what the Utah resistance would have looked like.
What other American church had its own army? Isn’t it fun to be a Mormon!
Does anyone know whether there are documents listing who served in the Nauvoo Legion in Utah? I have an ancestor who in his journal writes about participating in an Indian War and posting guard at Provo Canyon, and I figure he must have been in the legion. Documents would help me verify that information.