Could the US army have potentially accepted Mormon units recruited from Utah at any point after 1859-60, to serve as integral combat formations just as black units did during the CW ? otl, Mormons did make a contribution to US combat efforts such as the interpreter Lemuel Spilsbury who served with the cavalry on the plains, and the 7th Inf Div HOURGLASS during WWII, as recruited from the southwest, containing a large no. of Mormons, but how would specifically all-LDS member units have affected things ?
Mormon units in US army
- Thread starter Melvin Loh
- Start date
Thats an interesting idea. Could they possibly see it as an opertunity to 'spread the word'?
Heh. Brigades of Mormon missionaries invading the south in a visious campaign of door knocking
I see a much shorter Civil War, with the South surrendering in a few short months, due to these devious tactics, which are later made illegal in the Geneva Convention.
Max Sinister
Banned
But the Mormons aren't a racial group, but a religion. Would a pure Mormon unit be constitutional at all? There are no Jewish or Catholic units either...
During the early days of the Civil War IIRC there were all manner of eccentric ideas for recruiting units from certain groups or areas. I'm not sure there was any legal restriction on how they could or could not be constituted, provided they were integrated into the regular command structure. If a body of a thousand-odd able-bodied Utah volunteers presented itself to the federal government with the request to be made a regiment, would anyone object? (As an aside, I assume that reruitment in the territories would have been a federal preserve?) Of course there would have to be a reason for such a unit to continue to exist. Maybe a Natl guard unit from Utah picks up the tradition? LDS into one unit, Gentiles into another, just so happens... I'm not sure you could make it official, but given the kinds of things that are possible with government connivance, would anyone really want to mess with a working arrangement?
Just looked at the census for 1860....they only had about 40,000 residents. This would only leave a pool of what?, maybe 5,000 men they could send without completely ruining their infra-structure, and even thats a stretch.
It would be interesting if the Government would be willing make some concessions in regards to polygamy and other bones of contention. If the Mormans were given a small bit of autonomy, ala the Indians on thier reservations, under the assumption that they field, say 8,000 soldiers, they would probably consider it a bit of a crusade, and fight rather zealously.
It didn't receive statehood until 1896, perhaps a way could be found to make it a Federal Territory, with certain rights to make local laws that can disagree with the Constitution, as long as 2/3 of the states voters choose to do so.
It would be interesting if the Government would be willing make some concessions in regards to polygamy and other bones of contention. If the Mormans were given a small bit of autonomy, ala the Indians on thier reservations, under the assumption that they field, say 8,000 soldiers, they would probably consider it a bit of a crusade, and fight rather zealously.
It didn't receive statehood until 1896, perhaps a way could be found to make it a Federal Territory, with certain rights to make local laws that can disagree with the Constitution, as long as 2/3 of the states voters choose to do so.
In the 1840s, the Mormons had the Nauvoo Legion, with between 2000-3000 soldiers, out of a population considerably smaller than the 40,000 listed. I'm sure they could have raised a formation had they made the attempt. But they were also in trouble, stemming from the recent Mormon War and subsuquent U.S. Army occupation in 1857 (led by none other than Albert S. Johnston).
Just have Utah send a few millitia units back east. Those millitia units would likely be wholely or mostly mormon with the off chance of a few catholics. (There were only a few Protestants at the time)
Joseph Smith had seen the Civil War coming for some time so he could have plans in place to aid the union. (The thing is it wasn't hard to see how divided the country was becoming...)
I would certainly suspect that Utah's population was at least 60 or 70 % Morman at this time. While I may be wrong, its not a great stretch of the imagination that the people who lived there had for the most part accepted Mormans at a certain level, having chosen to make the area thier home.
I'm not sure but I believe except for the mining towns later set-up that it was about 60% mormon, 30% Catholic, and 10% Protestant of various denominations and factions, outside of the Native Americans.
Max Sinister
Banned
OK, so their units would definitely have Mormon majority, but that's not the same thing.