Mormon Battalion: United States Army of the West, 1846-1848

The Mormon Battalion

U.S. ARMY OF THE WEST

1846-1848

Brigham Young enrolling volunteers in the Mormon Battalion as Colonel James Allen watches, Council Bluffs, Iowa. Painting by Dale Kilbourn, © Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah; used by permission.

The Mormon Battalion

U.S. ARMY OF THE WEST

1846–1848

Norma Baldwin Ricketts

Foreword by

David L. Bigler

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

LOGAN, UTAH

1996

Copyright © 1996 Utah State University Press

All rights reserved

Utah State University Press

Logan, Utah 84322–7800

Typography by WolfPack

Cover design by Michelle Sellers

Cover illustration:

The Mormon Battalion by George M. Ottinger, © Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, courtesy of the Museum of Church History and Art, Salt Lake City, Utah; used by permission.

10 9 8 7 6 5             05 06 07 08 09

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ricketts, Norma B. (Norma Baldwin)

   The Mormon Battalion: U.S. Army of the West, 1846-1848 / Norma

  Baldwin Ricketts ; foreword by David L. Bigler.

        p. cm.

    Includes bibliographical references and index.

    ISBN 0-87421-216-2 (cloth). — ISBN 0-87421-215-4 (paper)

    1. Mexican War, 1846-1848—Campaigns—Southwest, New. 2. Mexican

War, 1846-1848—Campaigns—California. 3. United States. Army.

Mormon Battalion—History. 4. Mexican War, 1846-1848—Regimental

histories. 5. Mexican War, 1846-1848—Participation, Mormon.

6. Mormons—Southwest, New—History. 7. United States. Army.

Mormon Battalion—Registers. 8. Southwest, New—History, Military.

9. California—History, Military. I. Title.

E405.2.R53 1996

973.6’24—dc20

                                                                                      96-35706

                                                                                      CIP

Contents

Foreword by David L. Bigler

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter

1.         The Enlistment

2.         Fort Leavenworth: Knapsacks and Muskets

3.         Santa Fe: Colonel Cooke Assumes Command

4.         Pima and Maricopa Indian Villages

5.         San Diego: Company B Makes Friends

6.         Los Angeles: Building Fort Moore

7.         General Kearny’s Escort to Fort Leavenworth

8.         After Discharge

9.         Monterey, San Francisco, and the Brooklyn

10.        Sutter’s Workmen

11.        Journey’s End

12.        Detached Service

13.        Mormon Volunteers

Epilogue

Appendix

A.         Analysis of Movement within Mormon Battalion

B.         Alphabetical Reconstructed Roster

C.         Men Who Reached California

D.         Hancock-Los Angeles Company

E.         Hancock-Sierra Company

F.         Sutter’s Workmen

G.         Purchase of Sutter’s Russian Cannon

H.         Military Documents

I.           Music and Poetry

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Maps

1.           Mormon Battalion Route

2.           Council Bluffs to Fort Leavenworth

3.           Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe

4.           Santa Fe to Tucson

5.           Tucson to San Diego

6.           After Discharge

7.           Holmes-Thompson Company: Mormon-Carson Pass

8.           Holmes-Thompson Company: Salt Lake Cutoff

9.           Cooke’s Wagon Road

Illustrations

Brigham Young Enrolling Battalion Volunteers

Brigham Young’s Address Prior to Battalion Departure

Fort Leavenworth

Accoutrements Issued to Company A

Rations Issued to Company A

Receipt for Equipment and Animals Issued to Company A

Crossing the Pecos River

Santa Fe

Guadalupe Pass

Pass of the Dome, San Bernardino Rancho

Tucson

Village of the Pima Indians

Junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers

Colonel Philip St. George Cooke

Court-martial of John Borrowman

San Diego

Los Angeles

San Francisco

Sutter’s Fort

Sutter’s Mill

Henry Bigler’s Journal Entry for January 24, 1848

The Grave at Tragedy Spring

The Stump from Tragedy Spring

Ezra Allen’s Gold Pouch

Mustering Out Roster of the Pueblo Detachments

Marginal Note from Mustering Out Roster

Melissa Burton Coray Kimball

Sarah Fiske Allen Ricks

Sarah Allen’s Gold Ring

Rejection of Melissa Coray’s Request for a Pension

Movement within the Mormon Battalion

Foreword

David L. Bigler

When Philip St. George Cooke of the First Dragoons took command of the Mormon Battalion at Santa Fe in October, 1846, he was deeply disappointed at the extraordinary assignment he had been given. The thirty-seven-year-old professional soldier had hoped to win glory and advancement at the seat of conflict in the war with Mexico. Instead he had been handed the most remarkable body of volunteers ever to report at Fort Leavenworth for duty in the U.S. Army.

It hardly took eighteen years of service on the American frontier for the six-foot-four officer to see that some of the men assigned to his command were too old, others too young, and that the whole outfit was embarrassed by many women. Cooke also thought his untrained soldiers often showed great heedlessness and ignorance, and some obstinacy. It was certainly true that these men usually marched to a different drummer than the one to which he was accustomed.

The newly promoted lieutenant colonel would change his mind by the time his Mormon footmen, trimmed to an efficient body of 335, had reached California, completing one of the longest marches in the annals of military history. Of all the apocryphal stories about the battalion, the one that rings most true is that Cooke bared his head in tribute to his former comrades when in 1858 he rode into Great Salt Lake City at the head of the Second Dragoons, a unit in Albert Sidney Johnston’s Utah Expedition.

By then, it would have been difficult to find many noteworthy events in western history during the important period of 1846 to 1848 in which members of this company, so unique in the annals of American military history, did not somehow take part. They made possible the 1847 Mormon move to Utah, occupied California for the United States, took part in the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, opened the Mormon-Carson Emigrant Trail over the Sierra Nevada, and drove the first wagons over the Spanish Trail and Hensley’s Salt Lake Cutoff of the California Trail.

These and other exploits have been more or less recognized over the years. Not so well known or understood, however, has been the larger role the Mormon Battalion performed in American and western history. Too often historians have seemed to adopt the limited outlook of Daniel Tyler as reflected in his highly partisan and outdated account, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War, 1846–47, first published in 1881.

From that perspective, the march of the volunteers appears to go forward as a kind of heroic, self-contained epic possessing little relation to the world around it. For Latter-day Saints, the story is without question inspirational and faith promoting. But the failure to step back and see it in relation to the larger picture of American history has resulted in the undervaluing or forgetting altogether of some of the command’s most notable contributions.

To focus, for example, on the battalion’s Battle of the Bulls as a significant event in itself overlooks the important relationship that exists between this bovine encounter on southern Arizona’s San Pedro River and President James Polk’s plan to take over the region that now forms most of the American Southwest. The connection between the bull fight and Manifest Destiny lies in the answer to an obvious question: Where did the wild bulls come from in the first place?

All those belligerent bulls came from an abandoned ranch established in 1822 by one Ignacio Perez under a grant from the Mexican government to create a buffer against Apache incursions from the east. By 1846, however, the invading warriors had overrun the region and turned Perez’s 73,240-acre spread and its animals into their own game preserve, where they hunted the cattle left behind as they did any other game. Easiest to bring down safely were the cows and calves, which left the bulls to grow older, wilder, and more aggressive.

As this episode illustrates, except for a little island of soldiers and their suffering families at Tucson, the northern Sonoran region had reverted to Indian control by 1846, and the Hispanic frontier had effectively retreated south of the present international border between Arizona and Mexico. The Mormon Battalion’s march across the Southwest demonstrated that Mexico’s claim on the region was hollow and that an expansionist president’s bid for sovereignty was as good as that of anyone else except native Indians, including the Pima and Papago but not including the Apaches, who were themselves not original inhabitants.

Nor was the brief, but exciting, fight with these dangerous animals the only evidence that the land could belong to whoever had the will to occupy, govern, and defend it. The most effective means of conquest, employed by both Cooke and General Stephen W. Kearny, was not muskets or money but the promise to protect the inhabitants from hostile Indians. Easily given, such pledges took forty years to fulfill.

More immediate dividends came from the battalion’s work to open a wagon road from New Mexico to southern California, but in another often overlooked respect. The new road would demonstrate that a route west, well to the south of the Gila River’s upper reaches, was not only feasible but the way of the future.

Cooke’s decision to march due west from the old Spanish road that ran between the abandoned Santa Rita copper mines and Janos, Mexico, was not taken in answer to the prayers raised by spiritual leader Levi Hancock. Cooke’s purpose was to find a shortcut to San Bernardino Spring, a historic site on today’s Mexican border in Arizona and the destination he had in mind all along. The alternative was to go the long way around by known roads to the south, via Janos and Fronteras, where the battalion might be exposed to military garrisons at both places.

Portions of the new route, known as Cooke’s Wagon Road, would become thoroughfares for emigrants on the southern trail to California, for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line, and for the Butterfield Overland Stage. By demonstrating the importance of the Gila River’s southern tributaries as corridors of commerce and travel, the battalion influenced the decision to acquire in 1854 a block of land of almost incomparable worth. This was the some 30,000 square-mile section that now encompasses southern Arizona, including Tucson, and known as the Gadsden Purchase.

On completing its epic march, the battalion finally gave General Kearny the force he needed to back up his mandate from President Polk to occupy and govern California for the United States. Prior to the Gold Rush, the non-Indian inhabitants of California numbered fewer than 15,000. Some 335 Mormon muskets under a capable officer, like Cooke, were more than enough for Kearny to uphold his authority against rebellious Californians, hostile natives, or his reckless countrymen, Commodore Robert Stockton and John C. Frémont.

These and other contributions make gratifying indeed the growing interest in recent years in the Mormon Battalion story and the large and significant role it played. For as time goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that the occupation of New Mexico and California during the Mexican War was among the most decisive chapters in all of American history.

Yet the role of the Mormon volunteers in these events has not only been understated, but many questions about this singular company have for too long gone unanswered. Considering that Mormon annals usually number cows and chickens, it is puzzling that more has not been done simply to identify the exact number and correct names of those who enlisted in Iowa, much less tell what finally became of them.

In this landmark work, historian Norma Baldwin Ricketts has now given the story of the Mormon Battalion the comprehensive treatment it deserves. To this subject she brings a heartfelt interest sustained over many years and exceptional gifts as a researcher and writer, which make her uniquely qualified to write this book.

Not only has the author placed the battalion in the larger context it merits, she has also provided a valuable source of new information about the company and its members. For the first time, her work presents an accurate roster, lists dependents, and identifies who went where by name and number over the three-year period 1846 to 1848 and beyond.

Especially noteworthy are the author’s treatment of a subject too long ignored, the women of the Mormon Battalion, and her success in throwing new light on the role of battalion members or veterans in the early history of California. In the process, she has demonstrated that she is a foremost authority on this important subject and has made a significant contribution to Mormon, western, and American history.

Preface

For many years the historic journey of the Mormon Battalion has been, for me, a story waiting to be told. My interest began in the early 1960s while living in California. The gold rush era was fascinating. I became aware of Mormons in California very early, some as long as two years before Brigham Young and the pioneer company arrived in Salt Lake Valley in July 1847. As I studied the books written on the battalion up to that time, I found accounts incomplete, leaving many questions unanswered. The battalion was five hundred straight-backed soldiers marching in unison with muskets on their shoulders from Fort Leavenworth to San Diego, a group of nameless faces serving a year in the United States Army of the West.

Who were these soldiers, how did they endure months of constant hunger and thirst, inadequate clothing and no shoes? Why did nearly one third never reach California? Seventy-nine men reenlisted for an additional six months, another untold story. Mormon folklore contains numerous stories about the pioneers walking across the plains, the handcart companies that were pushed and pulled along the trail, and the trials of the early settlers in Salt Lake Valley. Yet, few stories could be found that told of the courage, hardships, faith, and perseverance of the battalion soldiers.

This dearth has been corrected recently to a great extent by several excellent publications of individual journals, whose editors have provided readers not only with an understanding of a particular journal, but with invaluable footnotes as well. Two examples are David L. Bigler’s The Gold Discovery Journal of Azariah Smith and Will Bagley’s Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn’s Narrative. However, areas of the battalion experience still remained unknown. As an example, the movement of the men after discharge was lacking. For me, the cycle was incomplete ending the story in California. The men must return to their families and church. Only then would the saga of the Mormon Battalion be finished. The existing overview beginning with enlistment and ending with discharge simply was not enough.

My original intention was to extract individual stories and weave them together to bring the Mormon Battalion into the twentieth century, to read, to enjoy, and to learn of their challenges and accomplishments. I wanted to show these men as real people with real problems day after day, who somehow managed to fulfill their commitment under very difficult circumstances. The resulting battalion stories could then take their place among Mormon folklore and be told over and over.

One of the unique characteristics of the battalion is the large number of daily journals. A careful study of these pioneer writings reveals much more than a recitation of miles traveled, weather conditions, and campsites. Tucked into each journal is a story here and there and then another, stories that run the gamut of emotions, stories telling too much and yet not enough. These unforgettable stories provide glimpses into the soldiers’ lives and connect us to the men who wrote them.

Unexpectedly, early research provided two additional avenues to be considered. First, the battalion became a giant jigsaw puzzle. A sentence in one journal provided a better, more complete understanding of facts in other journals. Comparing several journals on a specific day revealed an incredible amount of information. Because of the men’s honest, realistic style of recording events, pieces of information from journal to journal fit perfectly. Once these pieces were put together, as the face of the puzzle grew, it seemed the resulting information should not be lost again. I began an elaborate system of cross filing names and events in order to preserve the data. The corroboration the diaries gave each other was fascinating and consistent. One only has to compare the same date in available diaries to confirm a fact and to obtain a more complete picture of what was happening.

For example, when Company B was stationed in San Diego, four men recorded the same incident, all incomplete. The first said a sailor named Beckworth was baptized in the ocean. The second told the name of the sailor’s ship. The third diarist wrote only the name and company of the man performing the baptism, while a fourth thought this was the first Mormon convert in California.

This is the resulting entry for April 18, 1847, using these four diaries. The words are theirs, only the arrangement is mine: "A sailor named Beckworth from the ship Congress was baptized in the ocean, probably the first Mormon convert in California. He was baptized by William Garner of Company B."

For years it has been puzzling how Samuel Lewis went to Salt Lake Valley. He was discharged in Los Angeles in July 1847, worked at Sutter’s Fort for a short time. Several records indicate he reached Salt Lake in December 1847. Yet there was no known group of discharged veterans who went to Utah at that time, so the puzzle remained. Recently, I was rereading Abner Blackburn’s journal. Blackburn spent the winter of 1846–47 in Pueblo with the sick detachments and did not travel to California with the original battalion. He went to California in the summer of 1847 with James Brown to collect the mustering-out pay of the Pueblo soldiers and stayed in California only a short time. While writing about the return trip from California to Salt Lake Valley, Blackburn mentioned they were joined by Samuel Lewis for the return trip. This Brown group arrived in Utah in December 1847. The question of how Lewis reached Salt Lake Valley in midwinter was solved. This is an example of how information fits together from one journal to another even though at first thought one would not be inclined to make this pairing because Lewis was in California and Blackburn was in Pueblo.

Another fact that became evident during early research was the participation of battalion members in major historical events in early California history. It seemed once these men were identified as participating in these historic moments, their names should be preserved. There was no desire or attempt to turn them into superheroes using impressivesounding adjectives. It was enough just to identify them as being in a particular place at a certain time.

There were six men known as The California Star Express riders. For many years, only the names of three were known. After several years of research, the names of two more were located. Finally, in 1992 the name of the sixth rider was found. Since these six men participated in a major event in California history, it is gratifying to know they are all identified.

Another benefit of this cross-filing, all done before I became familiar with computers, was unexpected. The actual number of men serving in the battalion has fluctuated in heretofore published accounts. To my knowledge, there never has been an official roster established. The total enlistees have varied from 500 (five companies at 100 each) to as high as 540 men. During the course of this work each name was studied from the mustering-in roster, the mustering-out roster, the pension records, and individual journals and histories. When duplicates were removed, and other problems were cleaned out, the reconstructed roster matches that which Lieutenant Colonel James Allen and William Coray recorded just prior to arriving at Fort Leavenworth. Both Allen’s record and Coray’s journal state there were 474 enlisted men and 22 officers, totaling 496. A month later, during the second roster count, again recorded by Coray, the figure is the same: 496. The analysis and description of how the final enrollment in the battalion reached 496 is presented in Appendices A–G. This may be the most significant contribution of this work.

How to connect so many facts together in a cohesive manner while retaining historical accuracy was the next decision. I decided to tell their stories by combining many journals to form a composite picture of a day-by-day account of this epic march. Actual words, thoughts, phrases, and, sometimes, entire sentences from various journals were selected. These were then arranged to tell what happened on the trail each day of their year in the army, from July 1846 to July 1847. No adjectives were added, no conversation was built, and no emotion supplemented that of the pioneer diarists. Spelling was not changed in quotations and only light punctuation was added. A tight journalistic style of writing was utilized to match the frugal style of most pioneer diarists. I hope this method will animate the human aspect of this historic journey.

The battalion diarists wrote on small pages under difficult circumstances; it is a wonder they wrote at all, but they did. Their personalities frequently peak out as the pages flip by. Azariah Smith, a sweet-spirited young man, saw rainbows after a storm while others wrote about the mud. Some recorded brief half sentences using no subject; others wrote in greater detail. One very methodical journalist recorded events so repetitiously it was as if he filled out a blank form each evening. Abner Blackburn made me laugh out loud—and more than once. William Coray’s journal is quoted extensively because he wrote in greater detail than most of his comrades, providing new insight into several events on the trail. Also, his entries previously have not been quoted frequently because a typed copy of his journal was not located until 1994. Prior to that his writings were available only in the Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a compilation of the daily events in early Mormon history as extracted from individual journals.

In most journals the date, campsite, and miles traveled are difficult to locate because they are scattered through the body of the journal. To facilitate following the journey, these facts have been highlighted in italics at the beginning of the entry for each day.

The date in a diary occasionally may be off by a day or two from another. Perhaps one chronicler wrote at night and another wrote the next morning. Frequently, an entry will read, Two days ago ... and this makes a date vary briefly in some instances. In most cases, however, the diaries coincide again in a day or two. I have shown the location of each day’s travel as a prominent place or area they departed, passed, traveled through, or reached that day. Occasionally, these place names are those battalion members used, but these generally are identified with more common names.

Mileage traveled each day varies from soldier to soldier. One man records ten miles while another writes twelve miles for the same day. Perhaps one overestimated while the next understated the distance. By using the same source throughout, the mileage is consistent.

Segment maps, showing all routes used by the battalion, are included. These maps do not have the detail trail historians need to track and preserve trails. Rather they are provided to assist the reader gain a visual concept of this long and arduous journey and of how many steps, day after day, it takes to fill six months.

When the spelling of a last name varied, I used the spelling on the headstone if known. If not, the name on the mustering-out list was used. There are hundreds of names in the pages ahead and, for the most part, both first and last names are used. There simply were too many Williams, Georges, and Henries to do otherwise. Only Azariah could be used singly since no one else had his name. Using both names, although slightly repetitious at times, provides proper identification and saves countless hours of future research. The reader is invited to enjoy the face and story of the moment without trying to remember all the names.

History constantly unfolds—lost journals will be found in dusty trunks, additional documents will come from unexpected sources, and new research will be released, all before the ink on this work can dry. Hopefully, these efforts will allow readers to become acquainted with and to enjoy the battalion’s story 150 years after its incredible journey. Perhaps historians will find this work a starting point to which they can add new pieces of the battalion puzzle as they are found.

Constructing this manuscript over the past six years has been a rewarding and, at times, a surprising experience. Journals and needed information have been received unexpectedly from unusual sources. At times it seemed as if pieces were guiding themselves to the puzzle and my job was merely to put them in place.

With keen observations and usually strict adherence to the truth, these men were chroniclers of history. Without meaning to do so, they also became master storytellers with unforgettable voices. Each individual story, when lifted from its journal, provides a unique view of the writer’s world and becomes part of a complex, big picture. Suddenly there are no more blank faces; each has a name and each shines in the spotlight when his story is being told.

Their stories continue to unfold today. For example, during 1997–1998 all five graves of persons dying in San Diego during the battalion’s stay were located. Two (Lydia Hunter and Albert Dunham) are buried in what is now the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetary on Point Loma. Lafayette Frost and Neal Donald were buried one-half mile southeast of Old Town San Diego. The grave of David Smith, buried in San Luis Rey, was the last to be found. Nathaniel V.Jones recorded Smith was buried through the sallyport in the garden between the main building and the chapel in the northeast corner. The five graves will be marked during 1998 by San Diego Company B, U.S. Mormon Battalion, Inc..

The time has come to write finis to this manuscript. It is hard, very hard, to put it down. Tomorrow’s mail may bring another piece of the puzzle.

Acknowledgments

During the past thirty-five years descendants of the Mormon Battalion have been most generous in sharing journals, family histories, and anecdotal information. Therefore, it is necessary to reach across the years and express appreciation to all those who shared their valuable items with me. Since there literally are dozens of you, too many to name, I hope you will recognize excerpts from your ancestor’s journal and enjoy reading his name and story. Without your collective material, this story could not have been written in its present form.

I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of many individuals over nearly four decades of research and writing as well as individuals who have responded to this specific project.

Robert E. Coates, director, Mormon Battalion Memorial Visitors Center, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, San Diego, was most helpful. Sincere appreciation goes to Matthew Heiss, Mary S. Kiessling, and Grant Allen Anderson, all of the Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, for research assistance. Archivist Michael Landon, also with the LDS Church Historical Department, and historians Will Bagley and Lorin K. Hansen have been kind to advise and encourage my efforts; Diane Parkinson, librarian, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, helped with several problem areas; Joseph Rinker provided Catholic research; Tom Mahack and Ben E. Lofgren walked the trail from Pleasant Valley over Carson Pass, logging nightly stops and mileage. Sincere appreciation to them for making map 7 possible.

Staff of the following libraries have been particularly helpful during the past four decades: San Diego Public Library, San Diego; Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles; Salt Lake City Public Library, Salt Lake City; the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; California Room, California State Library, Sacramento; and Oakland Public Library, Oakland. Special mention must be made of the late James de T. Abajian, librarian, California Historical Society, San Francisco, who guided and directed my initial research during the early 1960s and taught me the importance of meticulous research. The five series of pioneer history published by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers have been used to locate leads for journals, histories, and biographical information.

To my daughter, Susan Green, and Crystal Baldwin, acknowledgment not only for many constructive suggestions and hours of editing, but, most of all, thanks for believing in the concept and encouraging me over the years. To my sons, Robert A. Ricketts and John L. Ricketts, whose loving support and belief that I could do it were greatly appreciated, and to Jean and Nagatoshi Kami, who introduced me to the computer and guided me through the early days at the keyboard, thereby speeding this endeavor to conclusion by at least two years, my heartfelt gratitude; to Paul Jennings and Gordon Jennings, who answered urgent calls when the computer stopped me cold, sincere appreciation and thanks. Special recognition goes to Chuck Hackley and to David Packer. Finally, I want to recognize John R. Alley, executive editor, Utah State University Press, Logan, whose suggestions, editing, and quest for excellence have brought this manuscript to its present form.

In every undertaking there are those who keep one on course and moving forward with wise counsel, constructive criticism, and kind encouragement. Sincere appreciation to Ben E. Lofgren and David L. Bigler for so doing.

Written, retrospectively, in 1887:

I often wonder why no writer... ever dares to list the services of that Battalion to our country in the Mexican War.

—John J. Riser

Private, Company C,

Mormon Battalion

Brigham Young’s address prior to the departure of the Mormon Battalion, Council Bluffs, Iowa. Painting by C. C. Christensen, © Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah; used by permission.

Introduction

Mobbings, murders, expulsions, and religious bigotry often were the lot of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its beginning in New York state in 1830. Church members were forced to flee from New York to Ohio and Missouri in the mid-1830s. The Ohio Saints arrived in Missouri just in time to witness the final expulsion during the winter of 1838–39. From 1839 to 1844, Illinois seemed to be a haven for the peaceful way of life these outcasts sought, but the cycle repeated itself. After the murder of their leader, Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum in 1844, the Latter-day Saints experienced increased persecution. Under Brigham Young, the Mormon Church began its exodus west from Nauvoo across the frozen Mississippi River in January 1846 to escape the armed mobs and continued persecution.

From the Mississippi River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, there were approximately 20,000 Mormons scattered on the prairies in a thin line that stretched more than four hundred miles. They had only what they could load into wagons or carts, along with cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep, and a few horses. Although several temporary settlements were built along the four hundred—mile route, thousands were camped by the roadside in wagons, tents, and dugouts. The winter just past had been severe, one of exposure, illness, and hunger.

Under such conditions it is easy to understand the disbelief with which the Mormons greeted the army recruiting officers who arrived at Mount Pisgah, Iowa, June 26, 1846. Captain James Allen brought an order from Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, First Dragoons, U.S. Army of the West, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, authorizing him to enlist five hundred Mormon volunteers to help secure California in the war with Mexico.¹

The Mormons had many reasons to be reluctant to enlist: They had received no protection from persecution and mob action in Missouri and Illinois; their families were destitute and spread over a wide area; and they had hundreds of miles of hostile Indian territory to cross. They were worried how their families would survive another bitter plains winter, and they were concerned about protection for their families in this unfamiliar western frontier. The call to arms had come at a time when the fleeing emigrants were the least prepared to provide men: Surprised as we were at the government’s demand, we were still more so to think our leaders would entertain for a moment the idea of compliance therewith (James S. Brown).²

Hosea Stout’s infant son died in his arms while fleeing from Nauvoo. His response to the request for a battalion was strong and immediate: I was glad to hear of war against the United States and was in hopes it might never end until they were entirely destroyed for they had driven us into the wilderness.³ Henry Bigler wrote:

This body ... [was] made up from the camp of Latter-day Saints just after the expulsion from their homes ... then to cap the climax the government would call for five hundred of our best men to go and help fight their battles.... Here were the Saints with their wives and children in an Indian country, surrounded by savages, without a house, and a scanty supply of provisions ... to leave them thus to go at the call of our country, to say the least, was rather trying.⁴

What the Mormons didn’t know was that Brigham Young had solicited help from the United States Government. He sent Jesse C. Little To Washington, D.C., to see what aid, if any, could be secured. His people were in such dire straits Young wanted to get some type of government assistance in the forced exodus. He offered to haul supplies for the army, to establish posts, or to render any service needed to earn enough to buy supplies, wagons, and teams for the western migration. None of these proposals was accepted, but the timing of Little’s visit may have played a major role in the enlistment of the Mormon Battalion.

President James K. Polk and members of Congress had adopted the policy of Manifest Destiny, the idea of extending national boundaries from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Only the Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico prevented Manifest Destiny from becoming a reality. President Polk also did not want the area to fall under British or French rule. Neither did he want a large body of Mormons joining forces with Britain or France.

Trouble had existed for some time between Mexico and the United States over the western boundary of Texas. When Texas was annexed to the United States on December 29, 1845, it reawakened the anger of the Mexican government, which bitterly disputed the borders of Texas set up by the United States. On January 13, 1846, President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to march to the eastern bank of the Rio Grande River, claiming it to be the western boundary of the nation. Mexico insisted that the Nueces River one hundred miles to the east was the true western boundary of Texas and that General Taylor’s advance was an act of agression.⁵

The first blood was shed on April 25, 1846, when Mexican troops crossed to the eastern side of the Rio Grande and attacked Taylor’s company of American soldiers. General Taylor won battles at Palo Alto and Reseca de la Palma and forced the Mexicans back across the Rio Grande. The news of this action was communicated to President Polk, who sent a message to Congress asserting that war existed by an act of agression by Mexico on American soil. The date was May 13, 1846. President Polk met again with Jesse Little on June 5 and informed Little that five hundred or more Mormons would be enlisted upon their arrival in California and allowed to particpate in the war with Mexico. Little accepted the offer on behalf of the Mormon Church and left Washington to notify Brigham Young. It did not fall upon Little, however, to deliver the news. Different instructions reached the Mormons first. On the secretary of war’s authority, General Kearny sent Captain James Allen to recruit and enlist Mormon volunteers. Since there were enough volunteers from other areas, Kearny only requested five hundred men from the Mormons.

Kearny, who was in Fort Leavenworth, began building the Army of the West. He sent for two captains and their commands, Captain E. V. Sumner and Captain Philip St. George Cooke, to rejoin the regiment, the First Dragoons, at Fort Leavenworth. Kearny next sent Captain James Allen, First Dragoons, to enlist the Mormons. When Kearny left Fort Leavenworth, his troops included the First Dragoons and a regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers under Colonel Alexander Doniphan. Later Company F, Third Artillery, and a regiment of New York Infantry Volunteers joined him in California as did the Mormon Battalion.

Polk’s next step was to order General Taylor to conquer Mexico City. General John Wool formed a column at San Antonio, Texas, for the invasion of Chihuahua, and Colonel Stephen W. Kearny was to organize a force to conquer New Mexico and California. In June 1845, President Polk had sent Commodore John D. Sloat of the Pacific Squadron the following confidential order: If you ascertain with certainty that Mexico has declared war against the United States, you will at once possess yourself of the port of San Francisco, and blockade and occupy such other ports as your forces may permit.⁶

When word of the war reached him a year later, Sloat occupied Monterey July 7 and issued a proclamation announcing that henceforth California will be a portion of the United States. Mexico’s General José Castro and his army fled south from Monterey with Sloat’s arrival. Under Sloat’s orders Captain John B. Montgomery, of the USS Portsmouth, and his crew raised the American flag over Yerba Buena (San Francisco) on July 9, 1846.

At this time another problem was developing in northern California. A group of ranchers heard rumors that Mexican authorities were going to drive all Americans out of California. Banding together under William B. Ide, this small rebel group stormed the military post at Sonoma on June 14, 1846, and captured, among others, Mariano G. Vallejo, one of California’s wealthiest citizens. These rebels declared California to be an independent republic with Ide as president. They raised a home-made flag, showing a field with a crudely drawn bear and a star, which gave the incident its name—the Bear Flag Revolt.⁷ California was a republic for fourteen days until John C. Frémont arrived and raised the American flag.

Frémont and his group of topographical engineers joined with the Bear Flaggers into what was known as the California Volunteers. When Frémont and his California Volunteers arrived in Monterey July 19, he wanted to join Commodore Sloat’s command to legitimize his rebel forces. Sloat would not muster Frémont’s band into United States service and opposed Frémont’s proposal to march against Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Commodore Robert F. Stockton arrived and took command from Sloat July 25. Stockton commissioned Frémont’s troops as the Navy Battalion of Mounted Riflemen and sent Frémont and the California Volunteers by sea to San Diego to cut off the remnants of Castro’s fleeing army. Stockton sailed down the coast to San Pedro.

General Castro continued his flight into Mexico and Governor Don Pio Pico fled to lower California. Without opposition, Frémont and Stockton occupied Los Angeles August 14, 1846, and the conquest of California was complete. Four days later, Stockton formally annexed California to the United States and appointed John C. Frémont as its military governor or commandant. Stockton also divided California into three military districts placing Archibald Gillespie in command in Los Angeles, Frémont in Monterey, and himself in San Diego. He sent Kit Carson overland with dispatches announcing the conquest of California. Carson left Los Angeles September 5, 1846, with the news the Mexican generals were in flight, all ports and towns were occupied, the people were reconciled to American rule, and Frémont was the military governor, stationed in Monterey.

The natives in Los Angeles rebelled against Lieutenant Gillespie’s arrogant control and arbitrary regulations. Led by General José Maria Flores and other Californians, the rebels gave Gillespie the choice of fighting or evacuating Los Angeles. Taking the latter course, Gillespie fled to San Pedro and embarked on a merchant ship. The Californians increased the scope of their rebellion and Americans fled from Santa Barbara and San Diego. Commodore Stockton began the reconquest of southern California when he returned to San Pedro October 27, 1846. Without horses, he was unable to lead his soldiers to Los Angeles. Stockton was content to reoccupy San Diego. Frémont left northern California November 30, 1846, with the California Volunteers, traveling south through California’s central valleys.

During this same period General Kearny and Captain Cooke and their troops continued on their way to California. They had nearly reached Albuquerque when Kearny received an express message from Colonel Price telling of the death of Lieutenant Colonel Allen, commander of the Mormon Battalion, at Fort Leavenworth. He decided to send Cooke back to Santa Fe to assume command of the Mormon Battalion when it arrived. He instructed Cooke to bring the battalion and to make a wagon road to the Pacific. Kearny continued on to California. Cooke left Kearny at La Joya, New Mexico, October 3 for Santa Fe. He was assigned three men, two of whom he left to guard his baggage until he returned. The third, a bugler, traveled with him to Santa Fe. When Cooke assumed command of the battalion, his rank became lieutenant colonel.

Kearny entered San Diego December 12, 1846, and met with Commodore Stockton. He told Stockton President Polk wanted Kearny to be the governor of California, but Stockton was not convinced. In spite of their differences, the two commanders combined their forces and, under joint attack, defeated a force of Californians at the San Gabiel River in the Battle of the Mesa January 9. They entered Los Angeles January 10 unopposed.

The Californians, defeated in the battle with Stockton and Kearny, fled northward where they met Frémont on his southward trip and surrendered to him. Together with Frémont, they signed the Cahuenga Capitulation January 13, 1847. Under the agreement, the Californians agreed to deliver their arms to Frémont and to refrain from participation for the duration of the Mexican War. Frémont did not require an oath of allegiance to the United States and extended amnesty to the Californians who had violated their paroles. John C. Frémont signed the Cahuenga Capitulation as the Military Commandant of California. Two weeks later the Mormon Battalion arrived. With strict discipline and long, hard days of marching, Cooke and the battalion arrived in San Diego January 29, 1847, without firing a single shot. California was under American rule, but it took another year with several main encounters, all in Mexico, before the war was over officially.⁸

After the initial opposition, Brigham Young and the governing council of the Mormon Church met little resistance as they urged the men to enlist and to prove their loyalty to America. The clothing allowance of $3.50 a month, plus their monthly pay, would produce much-needed cash. Forming the battalion also provided for five hundred men to reach California at government expense. By this time Brigham Young and the other leaders realized it would not be possible to move the displaced emigrants west immediately. They made receiving permission to remain on Indian lands through the approaching winter season a condition for forming the battalion. Allen met with leaders of the Potawatomi and arranged a treaty for the Mormons to remain temporarily on Indian lands.

At first recruits were slow to sign up. After the men understood the feelings of their leaders, the murmuring stopped. Upon learning that Mormon Church officials approved of enlisting, one eighteen-year-old boy wrote:

This was quite a hard pill to swallow—to leave wives and children on the wild praries, destitute and almost helpless, having nothing to rely on only the kindness of neighbors, and go to fight the battles of a government that had allowed some of its citizens to drive us from our homes, but the word comes from the right source and seemed to bring the spirit of conviction of its truth with it and there was quite a number of our company volunteered, myself and brother among them. (Zadock K. Judd)⁹

After Brigham Young delivered an eloquent appeal for volunteers, the quota was reached in less than two weeks. Brigham Young promised the men:

You are now going into an enemy’s land at your country’s call. If you live your religion, obey and respect your officers, and hold sacred the property of the people among whom you travel, and never take anything but what you pay for, I promise you in the name of Israel’s God that not one of you shall fall by the hand of the enemy. Though there will be battles fought in your front and in your rear, on your right hand and on your left, you will not have any fighting to do except with wild beasts.¹⁰

This battalion was unique in several ways. First, all of its members belonged to the Mormon Church except six soldiers, the commanding officer (Captain Allen), and a handful of regular army officers. A religious group had been asked to form a military unit solely from its own members. The church was only sixteen years old; the men had joined the church because of sincere, personal conviction. They were not just members. Many held offices in the church’s lay priesthood, being either elders, seventies, or high priests. All of their officers, except three, had been to the Mormon temple in Nauvoo, Illinois. This meant the officers had received certain sacred ordinances reserved for members endeavoring to live up to all the teachings of the Mormon Church.¹¹

The volunteers voted unanimously to have Brigham Young and the Council of Twelve Apostles, the governing body of the Mormon Church, nominate the officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned. The soldiers, therefore, were committed to obedience to their officers ecclesiastically as well as by military jurisdiction.

On Saturday, July 18, President Brigham Young and Apostles Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Willards Richards, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff met in private council with the commissioned and non-commissioned officers on the banks of the Missouri River. The church officials gave the men their last charge and blessings, with a firm promise that on condition of faithfulness their lives should be held in honorable remembrance to all generations.¹² They instructed the officers to be "as fathers to the privates, to remember their prayers, to see that the name of Deity was strictly observed and revered,