The Nauvoo Legion was a state-authorized militia of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, United States. With growing antagonism from surrounding settlements it came to have as its main function the defense of Nauvoo, and surrounding Latter Day Saint areas of settlement. The Illinois state legislature granted Nauvoo a liberal city charter that gave the Nauvoo Legion extraordinary independence even though it was still a component of the Illinois State Militia and under the ultimate authority of the Governor of Illinois. Led by Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and a mayor of Nauvoo, the Legion quickly became a formidable concentration of military power. Previously, from May to June 1834 Joseph Smith led an expedition of Latter Day Saints, known as Zion's Camp from Kirtland, Ohio, to Clay County, Missouri, in an attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settlers. He organized the first Mormon militia group known as the "Armies of Israel" to protect his people. In 1844, after a controversy where the Nauvoo Expositor newspaper was burned to the ground on Joseph Smith's orders, due to the publication of articles publicly exposing Smith's covert practice of polygamy; Joseph Smith was ordered to the Carthage Jail under charges of Treason. It was there Smith was killed by a mob. Soon thereafter, the Nauvoo charter was revoked, and the Nauvoo Legion lost its official sanction as an arm of the Illinois militia. After the revocation of the Nauvoo Charter, the members of the Nauvoo Legion continued to operate under the command of Brigham Young, leader of the movement's largest faction, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Young led the Latter-day Saints to what later became the Territory of Utah. In Utah, the Deseret Militia and Utah Territorial Militia used the official name of the Nauvoo Legion. The Nauvoo Legion was permanently disbanded in 1887. In 1894, the former Utah Territorial Militia was reactivated and officially designated the Utah National Guard. Formation in Nauvoo In 1839, Joseph Smith relocated his followers from a hostile environment in Missouri to Commerce, Illinois, which he renamed Nauvoo. Voter-conscious Illinois Democrats and Whigs (including Abraham Lincoln) passed a bipartisan city-state charter for Nauvoo in 1840. On December 16 the governor signed it into law, granting Smith and the city of Nauvoo broad powers. Among these was the authority to create a "body of