MORGAN COUNTY AND THE WORLD Military Service In 1840 provisions were granted under the incorporation of the Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois, to the city council to organize the inhabitants of the city subject to military duty to perform the same amount of military duty as other bodies of regular militia. They were to submit to the call of the governor for public defense.' After leaving Nauvoo and coming west, the necessity to have a defense against hostile Indians who resented the encroachment of Mormons and foreigners on their territory became apparent.
Militia in Morgan In 1857 an order was issued by Lt. Gen. D. H. Wells dividing the territory into military districts. Allen Taylor was appointed to organize Davis County with Philemon C. Merrill as district commander. James Brook, captain of the militia of Davis County in 1867, reported reviewing the men at Morgan, then a part of the Davis County group:
