“This certifies that the bearer, Elder A. B., is in full faith and fellowship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and by the general authorities of said Church has been duly appointed a mission to Liverpool to preach the Gospel, and administer in all the ordinances thereof pertaining to his office.
“And we invite all men to give heed to his teachings and counsels as a man of God, sent to open to them the door of life and salvation, and assist him in his travels, in whatsoever things he may need.
“And we pray God, the Eternal Father, to bless Elder A. B., and all who receive him and minister to his comfort, with the blessings of heaven and earth, for time and for all eternity, in the name of Jesus Christ: Amen.
“Signed at Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, ——, 186-, in behalf of said Church.”
Still bent upon collecting the shells of the Basin, I accepted Mr. S——’s offer of being my guide to Ensign Peak, where they are said to be found in the greatest number. Our route lay through the broken wall which once guarded the land against Lemuel, and we passed close by the large barn-like building called the Arsenal, where the military school will also be. Motives of delicacy prevented my asking questions concerning the furniture of the establishment. Anti-Mormons, however, whisper that it contains cannon, mortars, and other large-scaled implements of destruction, prepared, of course, for treasonable purposes. The Arsenal naturally led us into conversation concerning the Nauvoo Legion, the Mormon Battalion, the Danite band, and other things military, of which the reader may not be undesirous of knowing “some.”
THE NAUVOO LEGION.The Nauvoo Legion was organized in 1840, and was made to include all male Saints between the ages of sixteen and fifty. In 1842 it numbered 2000 men, well officered, uniformed, armed, and drilled. It now may amount throughout the Territory to 6000-8000 men: the Utah militia, however, is officially laid down in the latest returns at 2821. In case of war, it would be assisted by 30,000 or 40,000 Indian warriors. The Legion is commanded by a lieutenant general, at present Mr. Daniel C. Wells, the Martin Hofer of this Western Tyrol; the major general is Mr. C. D. Grant, who, in case of vacancy, takes command. The lieutenant general is elected by a majority of the commissioned officers, and is then commissioned by the governor: he organizes the Legion into divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, companies, and districts: his staff, besides heads of departments—adjutant, commissary quarter-master, paymaster, and surgeon general—consists of three aids and two topographical engineers with the rank of colonel, a military secretary with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and two chaplains. The present adjutant general is Mr. William Ferguson, one of the few Irish Saints, originally sergeant-major in the Mormon battalion, who, after the fashion of the Western world, combines with the soldier the lawyer and the editor. The minutest directions are issued to the Legion in “An Act to provide for the farther Organization of the Militia of the Territory of Utah” (Territorial Laws, chap. 35), and it is divided into military districts as below.[197] There is, moreover, an independent battalion of Life Guards in Great Salt Lake County not attached to any brigade or division, but subject at all times to the call of the governor and lieutenant general. There are also minute-men, picked fighters, ready to mount, at a few minutes’ notice, upon horses that range near the Jordan, and to take the field in pursuit of Indians or others, under their commandant Colonel Burton. These corps form the nuclei of what will be, after two generations, formidable armies. The increase of Saintly population is rapid, and from their childhood men are trained to arms: each adult has a rifle and a sabre, a revolver and a bowie-knife, and he wants only practice to become a good, efficient, and well-disciplined soldier. GRANTS.Grants amounting to a total of $5000 have at different times been apportioned to military purposes, buildings, mounting ordnance, and schools: Gentiles declare that it was required for education, but I presume that the Mormons, like most people, claim to know their own affairs best. As in the land of Liberty generally, there is a modified conscription; “all free male citizens”—with a few dignified exceptions and exempts—are subject to soldier’s duty within thirty days after their arrival at any military district in the Territory.
[197] There are eleven originally established, viz.:
1st. The Great Salt Lake Military District shall include all the militia within the boundaries of Great Salt Lake City.
2d. The Davis Military District shall include all the militia within the limits of Davis County.
3d. The Weber Military District shall include all the militia within the limits of Weber County.