History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 509
asts, rising against the might of a great nation. He
declared, as the Mormons relate, that if the United
States made war on them, he would withdraw from
the army. Quitting Salt Lake City a few days afterward,
he arrived at Washington in November, and
delivered his report to the secretary of war. 49
On the day after the captain's departure, Brigham
issued a proclamation declaring martial law in Utah,
forbidding all armed forces to enter the territory
under any pretence whatever, and ordering the Mormon
militia to be in readiness to march at a moment's
notice. 50
It is probable that the Nauvoo legion,
which now included the entire militia force of the territory,
mustered at this date from four to five thousand
men. 51 Though imperfectly armed and equipped,
and of course no match for regular troops, they were
not to be held in contempt. In July 1857 the legion
had been reorganized, the two cohorts, now termed
divisions, having each a nominal strength of two thousand.
The divisions consisted of two brigades, the
brigades of two regiments, the regiments of five battalions,
each of a hundred men, 52 the battalion being
divided into companies of fifty, and the companies into
platoons of ten. Each platoon was in charge of a
lieutenant, whose duty it was carefully to inspect the
49 A copy of it will be found in House Ex. Dor,., 35th Cong. 1st Sess., ii.
pt 2, pp. 24-7, 37-8. It contains no specific statements not already made,
except that Brigham's only objection to the troops entering Utah was that in
doing so they would open the door for the rabble of the western frontier, which,
as in former days, would persecute and annoy the saints. Copies of the correspondence
between Van Vliet and Brigham as to the purchase of forage and
lumber for army use will be found in Id., 35-7-
30 For copies of the proclamation, dated Sept. 15, 1851, and comments
thereon, see Id., 32-3; Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 35S-9; Hist. B.
Young, MS.; Wake's The Mormon Prophet, 43-5; Tucker's Mormonism, 232-7;
S. F. Alta, Nov. 25, 30, 1857; S. F. Herald, Nov. 25, 1857; Sac. Daily Union,
Nov. 25, 1857.
51 In a report of the secretary of war, in Sen. Doc, 33d Cong. 2d Sess.,
vi. no. 33, the strength of the Utah militia in 1854 is given at 1,744 infantry
and 1,004 cavalry, or a total of 2,748 men. In this return it is stated that
they had no ordnance except one howitzer, and no ordnance stores; but, as we
have seen, some of their forts were mounted with cannon. Brigham, in his
message of Dec. 11, 1854, in Utah, Jour. Legist., 1S54-5, anticipates a considerable
increase in the new enrolments. In the Oregon Argus of Feb. 13,
1858, the Mormon forces are estimated at 5,000.
62 The brigades contained 1,000 and the regiments 500 men.