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Original 48" x 96" (32 sq. ft.) Acrylic/Canvas Painting by Artist Frank Thomas This painting is now part of the artist's collection.
Historical Background:
Major Lot Smith and his hundred man Nauvoo Legion cavalry company (U.S. Army, May 1862) proceeding up Immigration Canyon, bound for the plains of Wyoming.

Lot Smith, an early Mormon Church leader and rugged frontiersman was an officer in the Nauvoo Legion. In 1857 he led a territorial militia force against supply trains and livestock of the approaching U.S. Army's Utah Expedition (the Utah War), commanded by General Albert S. Johnson. His actions in capturing 1,400 animals and burning many wagons, to stop Johnson in Wyoming, earned him the title "Mountain Fox."

Early in 1862, the Civil War began. By that Spring, following deployment of the U.S. Army's 4th Cavalry Regiment into Tennessee, a disturbing lack of military influence was felt along the Overland Trail. As a result, the Shoshone Indians increased their murderous depredations against travelers and commercial shippers following the route through the Rocky Mountains.
CANVAS Art Prints
signed by the artist

(36" x 72")
Open Edition, Shipped Rolled Tube $245.00
(36" x 72")
Open Edition, Shipped Stretched, Crated
Extra Shipping will Apply		 $245.00
(18" x 36")
Open Edition, Shipped Rolled Tube $120.00
(18" x 36")
Open Edition, Shipped Stretched, Crated
Extra Shipping will Apply		 $165.00

*Please note*: Artist Frank Thomas' studio lithographic art print sales are discontinued from 10 March 2007 until 1 October of 2008. He and his wife are serving for eighteen months in the Ohio-Cleveland Mission, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), at the Kirtland Historic Sites, Kirtland, Ohio. He has set up his art studio and is producing additional LDS historical paintings at that location. Rolled canvas art prints (only) are available and may be purchased by calling Frank at (435) 406-9526 or contact by email wildgoose@crystalpeaks.com.
Finally, in April, 1862, LDS Church President Brigham Young received a telegram from United States President Abraham Lincoln authorizing him to raise, equip and arm a company of cavalry for service on the Overland Trail, to be funded by the U.S. Government. (See Deseret News, 7 May 1862.) When requisitioned on short (two day) notice by Territorial Adjutant General Daniel Wells, the Legionıs horses were quickly supplied by Orin Porter Rockwell.

Under command of Major Lot Smith (the "Mountain Fox"), Utah Territory's Nauvoo Legion horse soldiers took to the field in Wyoming.

Our Territorial Nauvoo Legion militia was a forerunner of Utahıs Army National Guard, and is, today, found only in the lineage of southern Utahıs modern 2/222 Field Artillery Battalion, now on active duty...and bound for service in Iraq.

The artist, Frank Thomas, a former Utah National Guard officer, once commanded Service Battery (Beaver) of the 2/222 Field Artillery. The current commanding officer of the battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Rawlinson, is portrayed as the horse soldier on the far right.