independent militarymen". This military force was a militia similar to the Illinois State Militia, and it became known as the "Nauvoo Legion". At its peak, the militia had, by conservative estimates, at least 2,500 troops, in comparison to the approximately 8,500 troops within the entire United States Army as of 1845. The Legion was organized into two regiments (called cohorts) of infantry and one regiment of cavalry. A few light cannons were also attached. The Legion tended to be very top-heavy, in that there was a disproportionate number of high-ranking officers to regular soldiers. Supposedly, this was to elevate the social status and official standing of some members of the city. Authority over Legion Although the charter authorizing the Nauvoo Legion created an independent militia, it could be used at the disposal of the state governor or the President of the United States as well as for the mayor of Nauvoo. Joseph Smith himself was Nauvoo's second mayor, and the Nauvoo court martial also appointed him as highest-ranking officer of the Legion, a Lieutenant General. This rank is one step above Major General, which most contemporary militias employed as their commanding rank. One motive for the higher rank was to prevent Smith from being tried in a court-martial by officers of lesser rank. In 1838 the Missouri militia had contemplated a court-martial against Smith, an action that might have been illegal had it been carried out, as Smith was only a civilian at that time. Nauvoo under Mormon martial law In the last month of his life, June 1844, Joseph Smith declared martial law in Nauvoo in response to various civil disturbances and initially deployed the Nauvoo Legion to defend the city, only to restrain the Legion from any action later. He urged Legion members to not take any action when the Illinois governor ordered the arrests of the Smith brothers, for violating state statutes and by not receiving authorized permission to impose martial law from the Governor of Illinois. Death of Smith brothers Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum surrendered at the Carthage, Illinois, jail, with the promise of protection from Governor Thomas Ford and the Carthage Greys, the local state militia in Hancock County. However, on June 27, 1844, the Carthage Greys were vastly outnumbered by the mob surrounding the jail, and did not intervene in the ensuing assassination. Legion survival after death of Joseph Smith The Nauvoo