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  2. Nauvoo Legion Senior Officers, August–December 1843

Nauvoo Legion Senior Officers, August–December 1843

The charter for the city of , Illinois, enacted in December 1840 to take effect in February 1841, allowed for the formation of a unit of the state militia in Nauvoo. On 3 February 1841, the city council passed an ordinance officially organizing the . On the following day, JS and other commissioned officers of the Illinois state militia elected the general officers of the legion. Additional positions were created and staffed at various points between 1841 and 1843.
The Nauvoo Legion was headed by a lieutenant general, with a major general under him. Under the major general were two brigades, or cohorts, each headed by a brigadier general. The first cohort consisted of two cavalry regiments and the second cohort of five infantry and artillery regiments (regiments were commanded by colonels). The regiments were subdivided into battalions (commanded by a lieutenant colonel or a major) and then companies (commanded by a captain). Officers retained their rank unless they were terminated by resignation, death, or cashiering out of the Nauvoo Legion. At times, when officers of the legion were absent or had been cashiered from the legion but not officially replaced, persons in lower ranks could be appointed to act temporarily in their place.
The following chart identifies the lieutenant general, major general, brigadier generals, and colonels of the Nauvoo Legion during the period covered in this volume; it does not include the general officers’ staffs.
August–December 1843
Lieutenant General Joseph Smith
Major General
  Brigadier General (First Cohort) (absent circa October 1842–March 1844)
(colonel, December 1843)
Colonel of First Regiment
Colonel of Second Regiment George Coulson
  Brigadier General (Second Cohort)
Colonel of First Regiment
Colonel of Second Regiment
Colonel of Third Regiment Henry J. Young
Colonel of Fourth Regiment
Colonel of Fifth Regiment
  1. 1

    Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.

  2. 2

    Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841; Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.

  3. 3

    John C. Bennett, “Officers of the Nauvoo Legion,” [1841], Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL; Minutes, 12 Mar. 1842; Order Book, 1843–1844, 3–4, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  4. 4

    Commissioned on 10 March 1841. (Commission from Thomas Carlin, 10 Mar. 1841.)

  5. 5

    Elected on 3 August 1842. (Stout, History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, p. [5]).

    Stout, Hosea. History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, ca. 1844–1845. Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 10. One of three drafts of the history; includes material dated 4 February 1841 through September 1843. Pages are out of order; in the current order, this draft includes pp. [1]–[4], [13]–[14].

  6. 6

    Miller was elected on 23 September 1842, but did not receive his commission until 27 April 1843. Miller spent nearly eighteen months overseeing the church’s logging camps and lumber mills in Wisconsin Territory, returning to Nauvoo on a few occasions to deliver lumber. (Wilson Law, Nauvoo, IL, to Moses K. Anderson, Springfield, IL, 24 Apr. 1843, Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; Nauvoo Legion, Hancock Co., Illinois State Militia Commission Records, 1834–1855, vol. 14, p. 1163, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; Stout, History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, p. [5]; Mills, “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla,” 93, 95; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2]; JS, Journal, 8 Mar. 1844.)

    Military Correspondence, 1839–1844. Microfilm. CHL. MS 8716.

    Illinois State Militia Commission Records, 1834–1855. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    Stout, Hosea. History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, ca. 1844–1845. Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 10. One of three drafts of the history; includes material dated 4 February 1841 through September 1843. Pages are out of order; in the current order, this draft includes pp. [1]–[4], [13]–[14].

    Mills, H. W. “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla.” Annual Publications Historical Society of Southern California 10 (1917): 86–174.

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

  7. 7

    Pay Order to William Clayton for Stephen Markham and Charles C. Rich, 9 Dec. 1843.

  8. 8

    Elected Colonel on 24 September 1842. (Stout, History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, p. [5].)

    Stout, Hosea. History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, ca. 1844–1845. Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 10. One of three drafts of the history; includes material dated 4 February 1841 through September 1843. Pages are out of order; in the current order, this draft includes pp. [1]–[4], [13]–[14].

  9. 9

    Elected on 3 July 1841; commissioned 8 July 1842. (Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 68; Stout, History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, p. [2].)

    Stout, Hosea. History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, ca. 1844–1845. Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 10. One of three drafts of the history; includes material dated 4 February 1841 through September 1843. Pages are out of order; in the current order, this draft includes pp. [1]–[4], [13]–[14].

  10. 10

    Elected on 4 Sept. 1841; commissioned 8 July 1842. (Stout, History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, p. [3]; “Rank Roll, 1843,” Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL; Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 68.)

    Stout, Hosea. History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 2, ca. 1844–1845. Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 10. One of three drafts of the history; includes material dated 4 February 1841 through September 1843. Pages are out of order; in the current order, this draft includes pp. [1]–[4], [13]–[14].

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  11. 11

    Commissioned on 21 July 1843. (“Rank Roll, 1843,” Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  12. 12

    Commissioned on 30 July 1842. (“Rank Roll, 1843,” Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  13. 13

    Commissioned on 15 April 1843. (“Rank Roll, 1843,” Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  14. 14

    Commissioned on 2 April 1842. (“Rank Roll, 1843,” Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  15. 15

    Commissioned on 23 June 1843. (“Rank Roll, 1843,” Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

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