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diff --git a/42152-0.txt b/42152-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..69bf419 --- /dev/null +++ b/42152-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3366 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42152 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 42152-h.htm or 42152-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42152/42152-h/42152-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42152/42152-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/mormonbattalioni00robe + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + A group of asterisks represents an ellipsis. + + A complete list of typographical corrections follows the + text. + + + + + +THE MORMON BATTALION + +Its History and Achievements + +by + +B. H. ROBERTS + + + + + + + +The Deseret News +Salt Lake City, Utah +1919 + +Copyright, 1919. +By B. H. Roberts. + + + + +Table of Contents + + +I. + +The March of the Battalion Compared With Other Historical Marches. + + Retreat of the Ten Thousand 1 + Doniphan's Expedition into Mexico 3 + The World's Record for a March of Infantry 4 + + +II. + +The Call of the Battalion. + + The Mormon Appeal to the United States Government for Help 5 + Little's Consultations with the President 7 + The Order to Enlist Mormon Volunteers 11 + Terms of Enlistment 12 + Captain Allen in the Mormon Camps 13 + Brigham Young's Activities in Raising the Battalion 16 + Muster of the Battalion 18 + Farewell Scenes 19 + + +III. + +Advantages and Disadvantages in the Call of the Battalion. + + A Sacrifice Nevertheless 21 + Advantages of the Enlistment 22 + Money Value of the Enlistment 24 + The Equipment of the Battalion to be Retained 25 + Appreciation of the Mormon Leaders 26 + + +IV. + +The March of the Battalion From Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe. + + Death of Colonel Allen. Question of a Successor 27 + Complaints of the Volunteers 28 + The Line of March 29 + Arrival at Santa Fe. Condition of the Command 30 + Invalided Detachment Sent to Pueblo 32 + + +V. + +The March of the Battalion From Santa Fe to the Mouth of the Gila. + + More Invaliding 34 + Hardship of Excessive Toil 35 + Irrigation in New Mexico 36 + March Down the Rio Grande 36 + "Blow the Right." The Westward Turn 37 + The Fight with Wild Bulls 38 + Mexican Opposition at Tucson 39 + Junction with Kearny's Trail 42 + March Down the Gila 42 + At the Mouth of the Gila 43 + + +VI. + +The March of the Battalion From the Colorado to the Pacific Ocean. + + Destitution and Suffering of the Men en March 45 + From Carriso Creek to San Phillipe 47 + At Warner's Rancho 49 + The March Directed to San Diego 49 + In Sight of the Pacific 50 + San Diego Mission 51 + Col. Cooke's Bulletin on the Battalion's March 51 + + +VII. + +The Battalion in California. + + At San Luis Rey Mission 54 + Clean up and Drill 54 + Company B at San Diego 55 + The Conquest of California 56 + The Kearny-Fremont Controversy 56 + + +VIII. + +Record of the Battalion in California. + + Efforts to Re-enlist the Battalion 58 + Homeward Bound 60 + The Discharge and Payment of the Pueblo Detachments 61 + The Purchase of Ogden Site with Battalion Money 61 + The Battalion's Contribution of Seeds to Utah Colonies 63 + The Battalion's Part in the Discovery of Gold 63 + The Date of the Discovery of Gold 65 + The Tide of Western Civilization Started 67 + The Mormon Battalion's "Diggings" on the American River 68 + The Call of Duty 69 + Ascent of the Sierras from the Western Side 72 + Wagon Trail from Los Angeles to Salt Lake 72 + Evidence of Appreciation of the Battalion's Services 73 + Efforts to Raise a Second Mormon Battalion 74 + + +IX. + +The Battalion in the Perspective of Seventy-Three Years. + + The Battalion as Utah Pioneers 76 + Achievements of the Battalion 77 + Territory Added to the United States 77 + The Gadsden Purchase and the Battalion Route 78 + Connection with Irrigation 80 + + +X. + +The Subsequent Distinction Achieved by the Battalion's Commanding +Officers. + + Colonel Cooke 83 + Lieut. A. J. Smith 84 + Lieut. George Stoneman 84 + + +XI. + +Anecdotes. + + Character of Col. Cooke 85 + Col. Cooke and Christoper Layton 85 + Col. Cooke and Lot Smith 86 + The Colonel, the Mule, and Bigler 87 + "Wire, Wire, Wire D----n You Sir!" 88 + Col. Cooke's Respect for the Battalion 88 + + +ADDENDA. + +The Battalion's Monument. + + The State of Utah's Mormon Battalion Monument Commission 89 + Description of the Monument 91 + The Duty of the People of Utah 95 + + + + +The Mormon Battalion + + + + +I. + +THE MARCH OF THE BATTALION COMPARED WITH OTHER HISTORICAL MARCHES. + + +"The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding congratulates the Battalion on their +safe arrival on the shores of the Pacific ocean, and the conclusion of +their march of over two thousand miles. History will be searched in vain +for an equal march of infantry." + +So wrote Lieutenant-Colonel P. St. George Cooke in "Order No. I," from +"Head Quarters Mormon Battalion, Mission of San Diego", under date of +January 30th, 1847. If Col. Cooke is accurate in his statement--and one +has a right to assume that he is, since he was a graduate of the United +States Military academy of West Point, and hence versed in the history +of such military incidents--then the march of this Battalion is a very +wonderful performance. For if history might be searched in vain for an +equal march of infantry when Col. Cooke wrote his "Order No. I," then +certainly no march of infantry since that time has equaled it. + +The only other historical marches that are comparable with the Mormon +Battalions' march are Xenophon's and Doniphan's, the former in ancient, +the latter in modern times. + +"=Retreat of the Ten Thousand.="--Xenophon's march is commonly known as +the "Retreat of the Ten Thousand," 401 B. C. The account of the +"Retreat" is given in Xenophon's Anabasis. About fourteen thousand Greek +soldiers under a Spartan leader named Clearchus entered the service of a +Persian prince, Cyrus, surnamed the younger, brother of the then +reigning King of Persia, Artaxerxes II. The purpose of Cyrus was to +deprive his brother of the throne of Persia, and reign in his stead. The +expedition marched through Asia Minor to Cunaxa, near old Babylon, where +an army of 900,000 Persians engaged the army of Cyrus, which, with his +Greek auxiliaries number but 300,000. The smaller army was really +successful in the battle, but a rash attempt on the part of Cyrus to +slay his brother during the engagement--in which he himself was +killed--changed the fortunes of the day, the expedition ended in failure +and hence the retreat of the Greek ten thousand up the valley of the +Tigris, through Armenia to Trebizond, a Greek city on the Euxine--our +modern Black Sea. + +This march of Greek infantry though attended with almost incredible +hardships from cold, hunger, and the assaults of enemies, was not equal +to the march of the Mormon Battalion for the reason that it covered but +fifteen hundred miles, as against the two thousand miles covered by the +Battalion. While the Greek infantry in their retreat numbered more men +than the Battalion, and fought many battles, their march was, for the +most part, through settled lands and along well defined roads, while the +greater part of the Battalion's march was through desert lands; and four +hundred and seventy-four miles of it through trackless deserts where +nothing but savages and wild beasts were found, "or deserts where, for +want of water, there was no living creature."[2:a] + +=Doniphan's Expedition into Mexico.=--Doniphan's march occurred in the +same year, and in the same war in which the Battalion served--the war +with Mexico, 1846. The march is known as Doniphan's Expedition into +Mexico. The expedition started from Santa Fe and marched to Matamoras, +near where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico--a distance of +about thirteen or fourteen hundred miles.[3:b] The march was via El +Paso, Chihuahua, Parras, Saltillo and Monterey, thence to Matamoras. +Here the expedition embarked for New Orleans, where the men were +mustered out of service. The important battles of Brazito and Sacramento +were fought enroute, the former placing El Paso, and the latter the city +of Chihuahua--capital of the state of the same name--in the hands of the +Americans. The expedition numbered about nine hundred men, mostly from +Missouri, and under the command of Col. Alexander W. Doniphan of that +state, and returned to Missouri via the Gulf of Mexico and the +Mississippi. + +The march overland it will be observed was less than that of the +Battalion's. For the most part, moreover, Doniphan's march was through a +settled country, and over roads long used between Santa Fe and points in +northern and central Mexico. Besides, the Expedition was not exclusively +made up of infantry, being mixed cavalry and infantry, and therefore +would not strictly come in competition with the Battalion which was +entirely of infantry, with accompanying baggage wagons. Doniphan's +Expedition is so wonderful a performance, however, and has been so +generously acclaimed, that if unmentioned in connection with the +performance of the Battalion, and the contrast made as above, it might +be thought by some to rival the march of the latter. This, however, is +not the case. + +=The World's Record for a March of Infantry.=--Not even in the World's +Great War, now happily ended, has the Mormon Battalion's march been +equaled, though in all other things that war has surpassed the previous +war experiences of mankind. And since the Battalion's march has not been +equaled by any march of infantry in the World's Great War, nor in +ancient times, it is not likely now, owing to the new methods for the +transportation of troops that have been developed, that the Mormon +Battalion's march across more than half of the North American continent +will ever be equaled. It will stand as the world's record for a march of +infantry. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2:a] See Cooke's Wagon Road Map for this part of the route. + +[3:b] I am aware that the historian of "Doniphan's Expedition"--William +E. Connelley, credits the expedition with a grand circuit of 5,500 +miles, 2,500 miles of which he states was by water, leaving a distance +of 3,500 miles by land; but he accounts the expedition as starting from +Independence, Mo., and returning to it. Whereas the expedition was +organized and began its great march at Santa Fe, and ended at Matamoras, +where it embarked for home. + + + + +II. + +THE CALL OF THE BATTALION. + + +The Mormon Battalion owes its existence to the exodus of the Mormon +people from the state of Illinois to the then (1846) little known region +of the Rocky Mountain west. The leaders of that people had decided that +there was little prospect of their being able to live in peace with +their neighbors in Illinois, or in any of the surrounding states, owing +to the existence of strong prejudices against their religion, and +therefore they resolved upon seeking a new home in the west--"within the +Basin of the Great Salt Lake, or Bear River Valley * * * believing that +to be a point where a good living will require hard labor, and +consequently will be coveted by no other people, while it is surrounded +by so unpopulous but fertile a country."[5:a] + +=The Mormon Appeal to the United States Government for Help.=--Before the +exodus from Illinois began, as early as the 20th of January (1846), the +high council at Nauvoo made public announcement of the intention of the +Mormon people to move to "some good valley of the Rocky Mountains;" and +in the event of President Polk's "recommendation to build block houses +and stockade forts on the route to Oregon, becoming a law, we have +encouragement," they said "of having that work to do, and under our +peculiar circumstances, we can do it with less expense to the government +than any other people."[5:b] + +Six days later Jesse C. Little was appointed by the Mormon Church +authorities president of the Eastern States Mission, and in his letter +of appointment was instructed as follows: + +"If our government shall offer any facilities for emigrating to the +western coast, embrace those facilities, if possible. As a wise and +faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can."[6:c] + +"In consonance with my instructions," says Mr. Little, in his report to +Brigham Young, which is recorded in the latter's manuscript history, "I +* * * resolved upon visiting James K. Polk, President of the United +States, to lay the situation of my brethren before him, and ask him, as +the representative of our country, to stretch forth the federal arm in +their behalf." + +In pursuance of this design Mr. Little obtained a letter of introduction +from John H. Steel, governor of New Hampshire, in which state Mr. Little +had been reared. The governor in his letter declared that he had known +Mr. Little from childhood, and believed him honest in his views and +intentions, and added: + +"Mr. Little visits Washington, if I understand him correctly, for the +purpose of procuring, or endeavoring to procure, the freight of any +provisions or naval stores which the government may be desirous of +sending to Oregon, or to any portion of the Pacific. He is thus desirous +of obtaining freight for the purpose of lessening the expense of +chartering vessels to convey him and his followers to California, where +they intend going and making a permanent settlement the present +summer."[6:d] + +From Luke Milber, also of Petersboro, N. H., Mr. Little secured a +letter to Hon. Mace Moulton in Washington, which in addition to vouching +for the high character of Mr. Little, based upon personal knowledge of +him for twelve years, announced that he was "soliciting some aid from +the general government, to assist himself and brethren throughout the +United States in emigrating to California." + +In May of the same year, at a church conference held in Philadelphia, +Mr. Little made the acquaintance of the Kanes. They were an old and +honorable Pennsylvania family. The father, Judge John K. Kane, had been +attorney general of the state of Pennsylvania; and at the time of Mr. +Little's visit at his home he was United States judge for the district +of Pennsylvania, also President of the American Philosophical Society. +Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the famous arctic explorer and scientist, was his +son; as was also Thomas L. Kane, who afterward served with distinction +as Colonel and Brigadier General in the Union Army in the war between +the states. From the latter Mr. Little received a letter of introduction +to Hon. Geo. M. Dallas, Vice-President of the United States. "He visits +Washington," said Kane's letter to Mr. Dallas, "with no other object +than the laudable one of desiring aid of the government for his people." + +=Little's Consultation with the President.=--The arrival of Mr. Little at +Washington on the 21st of May was most opportune for the business he had +in hand. He called upon President Polk that same evening in company with +a Mr. Dame of Massachusetts, and Mr. King, a representative of the same +state. Sam Houston of Texas and other distinguished gentlemen were +present. News of the capture of an American reconnoitering troop of +dragoons under command of Captain Thornton, on the east side of the Rio +Grande, sixteen of whom were killed, had reached Washington early in +May, and enabled the President in his message to Congress, on the 11th +of that month, to say that "Mexico had invaded our territory, and shed +the blood of our citizens on our own soil;" which led Congress two days +later to declare war and vote the funds necessary to its vigorous +prosecution. By the time Mr. Little called upon the President the news +had reached Washington of the victory of the American forces under +General Taylor at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, +fought on the 8th and 9th of May respectively. News of these victories +aroused the war spirit throughout the land,[8:e] and hastened all the +government schemes for prosecuting the war, including the plan of +gathering the "Army of the West" at Fort Leavenworth, under Col. Stephen +W. Kearny, to invade New Mexico, and ultimately co-operate with the +Pacific fleet which it was designed should sweep round Cape Horn and +attack on the Pacific coast of Mexico.[8:f] It was with this "Army of +the West" that the Mormon Battalion was destined to be connected. + +Mr. Little a few days later was informed by his friends in Washington +that the plan for the Mormon participation in this movement to the west, +discussed by the President and his cabinet, was for Mr. Little to go +directly to the camps of the Mormon people in the west and have one +thousand men fitted out and plunge into California, officered by their +own men, the commanding officer to be appointed by President Polk; and +to send one thousand more by way of Cape Horn, who will take cannon and +everything needed in preparing defense; those by land to receive pay +from the time Little should see them, and those going by water, from +September first.[9:g] + +At this point Mr. Little seems to have taken up the matter personally +and directly with the President, and under date of June 1st addressed an +"Appeal" to him. In it Mr. Little expresses confidence in the President, +else he would not have left his home "to ask favors" of him for his +people (i. e., the Mormons). He gave an account of himself and his +forefathers, who fought "in the battles of the Revolution;" of his own +character, vouched for by his letters of introduction from men of high +standing; and then avers that the people he represents are of as high +character as himself. "I come to you," he said, "fully believing that +you will not suffer me to depart without rendering me some pecuniary +assistance. * * * Our brethren in the west are compelled to go [west]; +and we in the eastern country are determined to go and live, and, if +necessary, to suffer and die with them. Our determinations are fixed and +cannot be changed. From twelve to fifteen thousand have already left +Nauvoo for California, and many others are making ready to go. Some have +gone around Cape Horn, and I trust before this time have landed at the +Bay of San Francisco. + +"We have about forty thousand (members) in the British Isles, and +hundreds upon the Sandwich Islands, all determined to gather to this +place, and thousands will sail this fall. There are yet many thousands +scattered through the states, besides the great number in and around +Nauvoo, who are determined to go as soon as possible, but many of them +are poor (but noble men and women), and are destitute of means to pay +their passage either by sea or land. + +"If you assist us at this crisis," said the "Appeal," "I hereby pledge +my honor, my life, my property and all I possess as the representative +of this (the Mormon) people to stand ready at your call, and that the +whole body of the people will act as one man in the land to which we are +going, and should our territory be invaded we hold ourselves ready to +enter the field of battle, and then like our patriot fathers * * * make +the battlefield our grave or gain our liberty." Mr. Little signs himself +"Agent of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern +States."[10:h] + +Interviews followed with President Polk on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of +June. Of the visit to the President on the 5th Mr. Little writes in his +Report: + +"I visited President Polk; he informed me that we should be protected in +California, and that five hundred or one thousand of our people should +be taken into the service, officered by our own men; said that I should +have letters from him, and from the secretary of the navy to the +squadron. I waived the President's proposal until evening, when I wrote +a letter of acceptance."[10:i] + +There followed another and final interview with President Polk on the +8th of June: + +"I called on the President, he was busy but sent me word to call on the +secretary of war. I went to the war department, but as the secretary was +busy, I did not see him; the President wished me to call at two p. m., +which I did, and had an interview with him; he expressed his good +feelings to our people--regarded us as good citizens, said he had +received our suffrages, and we should be remembered; he had instructed +the secretary of war to make out our papers, and that I could get away +tomorrow."[11:j] + +=The Orders to Enlist Mormon Volunteers.=--Colonel Thomas L. Kane was +entrusted with the orders to Colonel, afterwards General, Stephen W. +Kearny, and accompanied Mr. Little as far as St. Louis. Here they +separated, Kane to go with his orders to Kearny, then at Fort +Leavenworth, and Little to the camps of his people; then moving through +southern Iowa. + +It is not known just what considerations led President Polk to cut down +the number of Mormons to be sent to occupy California from two thousand +to five hundred. But in the orders sent to Col. Kearny, that officer was +directed not to take into the service a greater number of Mormons than +one-third of his command, which was limited to about fifteen hundred +men. "It is known," said Kearny's order, to enlist Mormon volunteers, +"that a large body of Mormon emigrants are en route to California, for +the purpose of settling in that country. You are desired to use all +proper means to have a good understanding with them, to the end that the +United States may have their co-operation in taking possession of, and +holding, that country. It has been suggested here that many of these +Mormons would willingly enter into the service of the United States, +and aid us in our expedition against California. You are hereby +authorized to muster into service such as can be induced to volunteer; +not, however, to a number exceeding one-third of your entire force. +Should they enter the service they will be paid as other volunteers, and +you can allow them to designate, so far as it can be properly done, the +persons to act as officers."[12:k] + +=Terms of Enlistment.=--Under this order Kearny issued instructions to +Captain James Allen, of the First Regular Dragoons, to proceed to the +camps of the Mormons and endeavor to raise from among them four or five +companies of volunteers to join him in his expedition to California. The +character of the Battalion, terms of enlistment, pledges of the +government are clearly set forth in Allen's instructions: + +"Each company to consist of any number between 73 and 109; the officers +of each company will be a captain, first lieutenant and second +lieutenant, who will be elected by the privates, and subject to your +approval; and the captains then to appoint the non-commissioned +officers, also subject to your approval. The companies, upon being thus +organized, will be mustered by you into the service of the United +States, and from that day will commence to receive the pay, rations +and other allowances given to the other infantry volunteers, each +according to his rank. You will, upon mustering into service the fourth +company, be considered as having the rank, pay and emoluments of a +lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and are authorized to appoint an +adjutant, sergeant-major, and quartermaster-sergeant for the battalion. + +"The companies, after being organized, will be marched to this post [i. +e., Fort Leavenworth, whence the order was issued] where they will be +armed and prepared for the field, after which they will, under your +command, follow on my trail in the direction of Santa Fe, and where you +will receive further orders from me. + +"You will, upon organizing the companies, require provisions, wagons, +horses, mules, etc. You must purchase everything that is necessary and +give the necessary drafts upon the quartermaster and commissary +departments at this post, which drafts will be paid upon presentation. + +"You will have the Mormons distinctly to understand that I wish to have +them as volunteers for twelve months; that they will be marched to +California, receiving pay and allowances during the above time, and at +its expiration they will be discharged, and allowed to retain, as their +private property, the guns and accoutrements furnished to them at this +post. + +"Each company will be allowed four women as laundresses, who will travel +with the company, receiving rations and other allowances given to the +laundresses of our army. + +"With the foregoing conditions, which are hereby pledged to the Mormons, +and which will be faithfully kept by me and other officers in behalf of +the government of the United States, I cannot doubt but that you will in +a few days be able to raise five hundred young and efficient men for +this expedition." + +=Captain Allen in the Mormon Camps.=--Captain Allen arrived at Mount +Pisgah on the 26th of June, accompanied by three dragoons and presented +to the leading men of that place "A Circular to the Mormons" in harmony +with his instructions. The presiding brethren at Mount Pisgah did not +feel authorized to take any steps in the matter of Captain Allen's +communication on the enlistment of a Battalion, but gave him a letter of +introduction to President Young at Council Bluffs, for which place the +Captain started immediately and arrived on the 30th of June. The +following day he met with President Young and others in council and +presented the whole question of raising a Battalion from the Mormon +camps. + +The question arose in the minds of the Mormon leaders as to the +disposition of the camps which would be materially crippled by the +withdrawal of so many young, strong, and able-bodied men. Already the +question of wintering the camps and caring for so large an amount of +stock possessed by them, loomed large among their difficulties. About +one hundred and fifty miles to the west, in La Platte river, was "Grand +Island," fifty-two miles long, with an average width of a mile and +three-quarters, and well timbered; in the neighborhood of which also +were immense areas of grass that might be cut for hay, and the rank +growth of rushes here and there along the extensive river bottoms would +enable much of the stock to winter on this range, could government +permission be obtained for a large contingent of the camp to be +stationed there. This country, as well as the one the camps were then +occupying, was within the Louisiana Purchase, and largely divided into +Indian reservations, hence could only be occupied by the whites by +permission of the government. + +The question of government permission therefore, in the event of the +Battalion being raised, was submitted to Captain Allen, and he assumed +the responsibility of saying that the camps might locate on Grand +Island until they could prosecute their journey. In his speech made to +the camp the same day, the captain promised to write President Polk to +give leave to the Mormon camps to stay on their route wherever it was +necessary. At a council meeting held later in the day, on Brigham Young +asking Captain Allen "if an officer enlisting men in an 'Indian country' +had not a right to say to their families, You can stay till your +husbands return," the Captain replied "that he was the representative of +President Polk and could act till he notified the President, who might +ratify his engagements, or indemnify for damages. The President might +give permission to travel through the Indian country and stop whenever +and wherever circumstances required."[15:l] + +After the first council meeting between Captain Allen and the Mormon +leaders a public meeting was held at noon on the same day. Brigham Young +introduced Captain Allen who addressed the people: "He said he was sent +by Col. Stephen W. Kearny through the benevolence of Jas. K. Polk, +President of the United States, to enlist five hundred of our men; that +there were hundreds of thousands of volunteers ready [to enlist] in the +states. He read his order from Col. Kearny and the circular which he +himself had issued from Mount Pisgah and explained."[15:m] + +The statement of Captain Allen that there were hundreds of thousands of +volunteers ready to enlist in the states was quite true. The declaration +of war upon Mexico by the congress "authorized the President to accept +the service of fifty thousand volunteers, and placed ten millions of +dollars at his disposal. * * * The call for volunteers was answered by +the prompt tender of the service of more than 300,000 men."[16:n] "Four +regiments were called for from Illinois, nine answered the call, +numbering 8,370; only four of them, numbering 3,720 men, could be +taken."[16:o] + +=Brigham Young's Activities in Raising the Battalion.= Brigham Young +followed Captain Allen in an address, at the aforesaid meeting. His own +account of his remarks stand in his Ms. history as follows: + +"I addressed the assembly; wished them to make a distinction between +this action of the general government and our former oppressions in +Missouri and Illinois. I said, the question might be asked, is it +prudent for us to enlist to defend our country? If we answer in the +affirmative, all are ready to go. + +"Suppose we were admitted into the union as a state, and the government +did not call on us, we would feel ourselves neglected. Let the Mormons +be the first to set their feet on the soil of California. Captain Allen +has assumed the responsibility of saying that we may locate on Grand +Island, until we can prosecute our journey. This is the first offer we +have ever had from the government to benefit us. + +"I proposed that the five hundred volunteers be mustered and I would do +my best to see all their families brought forward, as far as my +influence extended, and feed them when I had anything to eat +myself."[16:p] + +At the close of the public meeting another council meeting was held, +with Captain Allen present, when the question of the people having a +right to remain on Indian lands during the absence of the soldiers, and +indeed along their whole route of travel, was further considered. +Captain Allen withdrew from the council "and the Twelve," says Brigham +Young, "continued to converse on the favorable prospect before +us."[17:q] + +It was arranged that Brigham Young should go to Mount Pisgah to raise +volunteers for the Battalion; and that other leaders should prosecute +the work of raising volunteers in the camps about Council Bluffs. + +There was apparently some reluctance among the people to respond to this +unexpected call, and it required some considerable persuasion to dispel +it. + +On the 11th of July, Col. Thomas L. Kane reached the Mormon camps at +Council Bluffs, and gave assurance that the general government had taken +the Mormon case into consideration, inferentially with benevolent +intentions.[17:r] + +When within eleven miles of Mount Pisgah, Brigham Young and Heber C. +Kimball met Jesse C. Little, president of the Eastern States Mission, +who reported his labors at Washington. His written report was +incorporated in Brigham Young's Ms. History for that year. + +While at Pisgah Brigham Young wrote the camp at Garden Grove, and sent +his letter by special messenger. After describing the terms of +enlistment and the conditions under which the volunteers would be +mustered out of service in California, etc., he said: + +"They may stay (i. e. in California), look out the best locations for +themselves and their friends, and defend the country. This is no hoax. +Mr. Little, President of the New England churches, is here direct from +Washington, who has been to see the President on the subject of +emigrating the saints to the western coast, and confirms all that +Captain Allen has stated to us. The United States want our friendship, +the President wants to do us good and secure our confidence. The outfit +of this five hundred men costs us nothing, and their pay will be +sufficient to take their families over the mountains. There is war +between Mexico and the United States, to whom California must fall a +prey, and if we are the first settlers, the old citizens cannot have a +Hancock [county] or Missouri pretext to mob the saints. The thing is +from above, for our good." + +A letter of like spirit was sent by Brigham Young to the trustees at +Nauvoo. In that letter the following passage occurs: "This is the first +time the government has stretched forth its arm to our assistance, and +we receive their proffers with joy and thankfulness. We feel confident +they [the Battalion] will have little or no fighting. The pay of the +five hundred men will take their families to them. The Mormons will then +be the old settlers and have a chance to choose the best +locations."[18:s] + +=Muster of the Battalion.=--When Brigham Young returned from Mount Pisgah, +a public meeting was held on the 13th of July, and the final work of +enrollment of the Battalion began. At the opening meeting Brigham Young +said: + +"If we want the privilege of going where we can worship God according to +the dictates of our conscience, we must raise the Battalion. I say it is +right, and who cares for sacrificing our comfort for a few years. I +would rather have undertaken to raise 2,000 a year ago in 24 hours, +than 100 in one week now."[19:t] + +Later he said to the mustering companies, "You could not ask for +anything more acceptable than this mission."[19:u] An American +flag--flag of the United States--"brought out from the store-house of +things rescued"--in the Mormon exodus from Illinois--"was hoisted to a +tree mast, and under it the enrollment took place."[19:v] The enrollment +of the Battalion was completed on the 16th of July, and that day Captain +Allen took the organization under his command. + +=Farewell Scenes.=--"There was no sentimental affectation at their +leave-taking," remarks Col. Kane in his account of the departure of the +Battalion from the camps. The afternoon before their departure a "ball" +was given in their honor. Of this "ball," Col. Kane says: + +"A more merry dancing rout I have never seen, though the company went +without refreshments and their ball room was of the most primitive kind. +[Under a bowery where the ground had been trodden firm and hard by +frequent use.] To the canto of debonair violins, the cheer of horns, the +jingle of sleigh bells, and the jovial snoring of the tambourine, they +did dance! None of your minuets or other mortuary processions of gentles +in etiquette, tight shoes, and pinching gloves, but the spirited and +scientific displays of our venerated and merry grandparents, who were +not above following the fiddle to the Foxchase Inn, or Gardens of Gray's +Ferry. French fours, Copenhagen jigs, Virginia reels, and the like +forgotten figures executed with the spirit of people too happy to be +slow, or bashful, or constrained. Light hearts, lithe figures, and light +feet, had it their own way from an early hour till after the sun had +dipped behind the sharp sky line of the Omaha hills."[20:w] + +On the 20th of July the Battalion took up its march for Fort +Leavenworth, where it arrived on the 1st of August, and began +preparations for the great western march. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5:a] From a letter of Brigham Young to President James K. Polk, date of +August 9, 1846. History of Brigham Young, MS. Bk. 2 p. 137. + +[5:b] Times and Seasons, Vol. V, p. 1096. + +[6:c] Little's Report, Hist. of Brigham Young, MS. Bk. 2, pp. 11-12. + +[6:d] Little's Report to Brigham Young. + +[8:e] Mr. Little notes this excitement in his Report, to Brigham Young, +by saying in recording his movements of the 23rd of May: "There was +considerable excitement in consequence of the news that Gen. Taylor had +fought two battles with the Mexicans" (Little's Report, Hist. of Brigham +Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 16). And Lossing says that when "news of the two +brilliant victories reached the states a thrill of joy went throughout +the land, and bonfires, illuminations, orations, the thunder of cannons, +were seen and heard in all the great cities". (Hist. U. S., p. 483). + +[8:f] Lossing's History U. S., 1872 Edition, p. 483. + +[9:g] Little's Report, p. 16. + +[10:h] Little's Report, p. 20-22. + +[10:i] Ibid, p. 23. + +[11:j] Little's Report, p. 23. + +[12:k] Executive Document No. 60, Letter of Secretary of War to Gen. +Kearny, marked "Confidential", 1846. + +[15:l] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5. + +[15:m] Ibid, pp. 3, 4. + +[16:n] History of the United States, Marcus Wilson, appendix p. 682; +same Lossing, p. 482; Stephens, p. 488. + +[16:o] Gregg's History of Hancock Co. Ill., p. 118. + +[16:p] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5. + +[17:q] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5. + +[17:r] Taylor's Journal, entry of July 11th, 1846. + +[18:s] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 30-34. + +[19:t] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 44. + +[19:u] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 48. + +[19:v] Kane's Lecture "The Mormons", p. 80. + +[20:w] Kane's Lecture "The Mormons", pp. 80, 81. + + + + +III. + +ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES TO THE MORMONS ARISING FROM THE ENLISTMENT +OF THE BATTALION. + + +The "call" for the Mormon Battalion was not an unfriendly act on the +part of the United States' government towards the Mormon people. +A representative of the Church, as we have seen, had appealed +most earnestly to the executive of the nation for aid in the +western emigrations of that people; and when it was decided by the +administration to "accept" the services of such a force of volunteers, +the Mormon leaders received the decision as an answer to their appeal +for aid. + +=A Sacrifice Nevertheless.=--But notwithstanding the government service +was asked for by the representative of the Mormon people, and the +granting of it was regarded by the Mormon leaders at the time as a great +advantage to their people, it brought to the volunteers and to the +people generally much of sacrifice. For one thing the opportunity to +avail themselves of their tendered service to the government came at an +unexpected and a most inconvenient time. As explained afterwards by Col. +Kane, "The young and those who could best have been spared, were then +away from the main body, either with pioneer companies in the van, or, +their faith unannounced, seeking work and food about the northwest +settlements, to support them till the return of the season for +commencing emigration. The force was therefore to be recruited from +among the fathers of families, and others whose presence it was most +desirable to retain."[21:a] Practically five hundred wagons were left +without teamsters, and as many families were left without their natural +protectors and providers. The families of the Battalion, with the +families of their friends, in whose care they must leave their loved +ones, and upon whom they must depend for succor, were then scattered in +a string of camps for some hundreds of miles between Nauvoo and Council +Bluffs, with no certain abiding place designated, and no immediate +prospect of being permanently settled. To volunteer for a "war-march" of +two thousand miles, much of which was desert, under such circumstances, +was doubly hard. Moreover the Mormon people, from their then point of +view, had little to be grateful for to the government of the United +States. Their appeals from what to them was the injustice of Missouri +and Illinois had met with but cold reception at Washington. They did +not and could not be expected to understand, much less sympathize with, +the refinements employed by the national legislators in drawing +nice distinctions about the division of sovereignty between the states +and the general government. They were self-conscious of wrongs +inflicted upon their community in the two states in which they had +settled--Missouri and Illinois. They had appealed to the general +government for a redress of those grievances without avail; and now they +were asked by their leaders to go into the service of that government +which might mean the sacrifice of life, and surely meant the abandonment +of their families to the care of others under circumstances the most +trying. To respond to the call made upon them--both as to the volunteers +and the camped community whence they were mustered--was a manifestation +of unselfishness not often paralleled in history. + +=Advantages of the Enlistment.=--Notwithstanding all the sacrifices +involved, Brigham Young and those associated with him were too astute +as leaders not to appreciate the advantages of having a considerable +number of their people to enter the service of the United States. The +charge of disloyalty to the American government had often been made +against the Mormons, which not all their protests and denials could +overcome. But to enter the service of the government in a time of war, +involving such inconveniences as must be theirs, would be an evidence of +loyalty that would stand forever, both unimpeached and unimpeachable. +That such was the understanding of Brigham Young is specifically +expressed by him about a month after the departure of the Battalion. +"Let every one distinctly understand," said he, "that the Mormon +Battalion was organized from our camp to allay the prejudices of the +people, prove our loyalty to the government of the United States, and +for the present and temporal salvation of Israel; that this act left +near five hundred teams destitute of drivers and provisions for the +winter, and nearly as many families without protection and help."[23:b] + +=The Right to Settle on Indian Lands Secured.=--Another advantage appealed +to the leaders: It had become evident before the call was made for the +Battalion, that while it might be possible for a specially organized +pioneer company to go over the mountains that season--preparations for +which were being rapidly made--the very great majority of the camps +would be under the necessity of spending a year or more in southern +Iowa, principally on Indian lands. The prospects of remaining upon such +lands in peace would be much enhanced if it could be pleaded that five +hundred of their men were in the service of the government of the +United States; and subsequent events demonstrated the validity of such a +plea; also it was the advantage sought to be secured by Brigham Young in +his first conference with Captain Allen on the subject of the enlistment +of the Battalion. Under these arrangements of occupancy, as the Indian +titles in lands in Iowa expired, the Mormon occupants acquired valuable +pre-emption rights up and down the Missouri river from Council Bluffs +for a distance of between fifty and sixty miles, stretching back on the +east side of said river some thirty or forty miles.[24:c] + +=Money Value of the Enlistment.=--Another consideration of importance was +the remuneration of these soldiers. A year's pay for their clothing in +advance at the rate of $3.50 per man per month, would amount to $42.00 +each; and to $21,000 for the Battalion. Deciding to make their march in +the clothing they had when enlisting, part of their money for clothing +was sent back from Fort Leavenworth to be used for the benefit of the +families of the Battalion, and part of it to assist the Mormon leaders. +Subsequently agents were secretly sent to Santa Fe to bring back to the +camps the pay of the soldiers that had accrued by the time they had +arrived there. This amounted to three months' pay at the following +rates: captain, $50.00 per month--rations 20 cents per day; first +lieutenant, $30.00 per month--rations 20 cents per day; second +lieutenant, $25.00 per month--rations 20 cents per day; first sergeant, +$16.00 per month; sergeants, $13.00 per month; corporals, $9.00 per +month; musicians, $8.00 per month; and privates, $7.00 per month. + +The payment at Santa Fe was made in government checks--"not very +available at Santa Fe"--i. e. not easily negotiable--writes Col. +Cooke.[25:d] It has often been claimed that the Battalion was paid a +bounty--$42.00 per man--on entering the service. This was not the case. +The payment for clothing, one year in advance, at the rate of $3.50 per +month has been mistaken for bounty.[25:e] It was only by foregoing the +purchase of clothing that the Battalion could send the payment for it to +their families and to the Mormon leaders. This source of revenue to the +camps was accounted a very great blessing at the time. In official +letters to the Battalion from the Mormon leaders, under date of August +16th and 21st, respectively, it was said, in the first, that the +Battalion had been placed in circumstances which enabled them to control +more means than all the rest of the Mormon people in the wilderness; in +the second Brigham Young said: "We consider the money you have received, +as compensation for your clothing, a peculiar manifestation of the kind +providence of our Heavenly Father at this particular time, which is just +the time for the purchasing of provisions and goods for the winter +supply of the Camp."[25:f] + +=The Equipment of the Battalion to be Retained.=--In addition to this +payment for clothing, and the monthly pay, there was the five hundred +stand of arms and camp equipment which were to become the personal +property of the men when discharged in California. These several +considerations led John Taylor--who became the successor to Brigham +Young in Mormon leadership--in an address to the Mormons in England--to +say: + +"The President of the United States is favorably disposed to us. He has +sent out orders to have five hundred of our brethren employed for one +year in an expedition that was fitting out against California, with +orders for them to be employed for one year, and when to be discharged +in California, and to have their arms and implements of war given to +them at the expiration of the term, and as there is no prospect of any +opposition, it amounts to the same as paying them for going to the place +where they were destined to go without."[26:g] + +=Appreciation of Mormon Leaders.=--In a letter to President Polk, under +date of August 9th, 1846, after reminding the President of the +disadvantages the Mormon camps experienced in raising the Battalion, +Brigham Young said: + +"But in the midst of this we were cheered with the presence of our +friend, Mr. Little, of New Hampshire, who assures us of the personal +friendship of the President in the act before us; and this assurance, +though not doubted by us in the least, was soon made doubly sure by the +testimony of Col. Kane, of Philadelphia." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21:a] Transcriber's Note: Footnote missing in original. + +[23:b] History of Brigham Young, August 14, 1846, Ms., Bk. 2, pp. 151-2. + +[24:c] See Orson Pratt in Millennial Star, Vol. X, pp. 241-7. + +[25:d] Conquest of New Mexico, p. 92. + +[25:e] See History of the Mormon Church (Roberts), Americana, March, +1912, p. 308, for a letter from the United States War Department on this +subject. + +[25:f] History Mormon Church, Americana, March, 1912, p. 310. + +[26:g] Mill. Star, Vol. VIII, p. 117. + + + + +IV. + +THE MARCH OF THE BATTALION FROM FORT LEAVENWORTH. + + +At Fort Leavenworth the Battalion received its equipment of 100 tents, +one for every 6 privates; also their arms and camp accoutrements. When +drawing the checks for clothing, the paymaster expressed great surprise +to find that every man was able to sign his own name to the pay roll. + +=Death of Col. Allen. Question of a Successor.=--At Fort Leavenworth Col. +Allen was taken ill; but on the 12th of August he ordered the Battalion +to start on its western march, while he would remain a few days, +recuperate and overtake them. He died on the 23rd, much lamented by the +Battalion, which had become warmly attached to him. Commenting upon his +demise the author of the "Doniphan Expedition," William E. Connelly, +says: + +"Thus died Lieutenant-Colonel Allen, of the first U. S. dragoons, in the +midst of a career of usefulness under the favoring smiles of fortune, +beloved while living, regretted after death by all who knew him, both +among the volunteers and the troops." + +On the death of Col. Allen the question of succession in command was +considered. It appears that this subject was mooted at the time the +companies of the Battalion were enlisted; and "Col. Allen repeatedly +stated to us," says Brigham Young, "that there would be no officer in +the Battalion, except himself, only from among our people; that if he +fell in battle, or was sick, or disabled by any means, the command would +devolve on the ranking officer, which would be the Captain of Company +'A' and 'B', and so on according to letter." The Battalion appears to +have had the same understanding, for at a council meeting of the +officers it was agreed by them that Captain Jefferson Hunt, of Company +"A", should assume command, which decision was afterwards sustained by +the unanimous vote of the men. Meantime, however, Major Horton, in +command at Fort Leavenworth, sent Lieutenant A. J. Smith, of the regular +army, to take command of the Battalion. This led to a threatened +complication; for an appeal to such written military authorities as were +available to the officers of the Battalion, left them hopelessly divided +in their conclusions. On the arrival of Lieutenant Smith a council of +officers was held in which the Battalion officers demanded to know what +reasons existed for their acceptance of him as commander rather than +Captain Hunt. To which it was answered that the government property in +possession of the Battalion was not yet receipted for, but that +Lieutenant Smith could receipt for it, and being a commissioned officer +of the regular army, he would be known at Washington, and his actions +and orders recognized; whereas the officers of the Battalion had not yet +received their commissions, and it would be doubtful if their selection +of a commander would be approved. After this discussion Captain Hunt +submitted the matter to the officers, and all but three voted in favor +of accepting Lieutenant Smith as the commander of the Battalion. + +=Complaints of the Volunteers.=--With Lieutenant Smith had come Dr. George +B. Sanderson, whom Col. Allen, at Leavenworth, had appointed a surgeon +in the U. S. army, to serve with the Mormon Battalion. According to the +historian of the Battalion,[29:a] the volunteers suffered much because +of the "arrogance, inefficiency and petty oppressions" of these two +officers. This view of these officers, however, is to be accounted for +by the Volunteers being suddenly brought under the enforced discipline +of the U. S. army regulations. The heat of the season was excessive, the +men had been already much exhausted by the strenuous labor and exposure +during the journey through Iowa with their people earlier in the season, +and as a result many of them fell a prey to the malaria prevalent in the +country and at this season of the year. For this Dr. Sanderson +prescribed calomel and arsenic, and as the men were averse to taking +medicine, pleading even religious scruples against the drugs, the matter +gave rise to much unpleasantness between the Battalion physician and the +command, involving therein Lieutenant Smith, who, in the interest of +what he no doubt regarded as discipline, sided with the physician. + +=The Line of March.=--The Battalion's line of march, from Fort +Leavenworth, after crossing the Kaw or Kansas river, followed that of +the first Missouri Dragoons, led over the route that same year by Col. +Doniphan, via Council Grove, thence some distance up the Arkansas River +to a little beyond Fort Mann, where they crossed that river in order to +take what was known as the "Cimmeron Route"--because it crossed Cimmeron +river and followed some distance up the south branch of the stream, +called Cimmeron Creek. The last crossing of the Arkansas they reached on +the 16th of September, and here the commanding officer insisted that +most of the families--about twelve or fifteen in number, which had so +far accompanied the Battalion--should be detached and sent under a guard +of ten men up the Arkansas to Pueblo, which nestles at the east base of +the Rocky mountain range. There were stout protests against this +"division of the Battalion;" as it was held to be a violation of the +promise that the Battalion would not be divided, also that these +families should be permitted to travel with the Battalion to California. +Unquestionably, however, the arrangement was in the best interests both +of the families and of the Battalion, and accordingly the detachment was +made up as proposed, and marched to Pueblo under command of Captain +Nelson Higgins. + +=Arrival at Santa Fe; Condition of the Command.=--The main body of the +command continued its march south-westward to San Miguel, thence turning +the point of a mountain range marched north westward to Santa Fe, where +they arrived in two detachments on the 9th and 12th of October, +respectively. Upon the arrival of the first detachment the Battalion was +received by a salute of one hundred guns by order of Col. +Doniphan,[30:b] then in command both as civil and military head of the +department of New Mexico; but making ready for what was to be his great +and historic march upon Chihuahua. + +On the arrival of the Battalion at Santa Fe it was learned that General +Kearny, previous to his departure for the west, had designated Col. P. +St. George Cooke[31:c] to take command of the Battalion and to follow on +his trail with wagons to California. + +Speaking of the condition of the Battalion, on its arrival in Santa Fe, +and remarking on its physical unfitness to undertake the march to +California, Col. Cooke, in his "Conquest of New Mexico," says: + +"Everything conspired to discourage the extraordinary undertaking of +marching this Battalion eleven hundred miles, for the much greater part +through an unknown wilderness, without road or trail, and with a wagon +train. + +"It was enlisted too much by families; some were too old and feeble, and +some too young; it was embarrassed by many women; it was undisciplined; +it was much worn by traveling on foot, and marching from Nauvoo, +Illinois; their clothing was very scant; there was no money to pay them, +or clothing to issue; their mules were utterly broken down; the +quartermaster department was without funds, and its credit bad; and +animals were scarce. Those procured were very inferior, and were +deteriorating every hour for lack of forage or grazing."[31:d] "So every +preparation must be pushed--hurried. A small party with families had +been sent from Arkansas crossing up the river, to winter at a small +settlement close to the mountains, called Pueblo. The Battalion was now +inspected, and eighty-six men found inefficient were ordered, under two +officers, with nearly all the women, to go to the same point; five wives +of officers were reluctantly allowed to accompany the march, but +furnished their own transportation. By special arrangement and consent, +the Battalion was paid in checks--not very available at Santa Fe (i. e. +negotiable). + +"With every effort, the quartermaster could only undertake to furnish +rations for sixty days; and, in fact, full rations, of only flour, +sugar, coffee and salt; salt pork only for thirty days, and soap for +twenty. To venture without pack-saddles would be grossly imprudent, and +so that burden was added."[32:e] + +=Invalided Detachment Sent to Pueblo.=--It was understood that the men +invalided and their escort, together with the women and children +belonging to the Battalion, would have the privilege in the spring of +intercepting the main body of their people moving to the west, and going +with them "at government expense."[32:f] The above arrangement was the +result of a council of the officers of the Battalion with Colonel +Doniphan of Missouri, then in charge of military and civil affairs at +Santa Fe, and with Col. Cooke who had been designated by Gen. Kearny to +take command of the Battalion in its march to the Pacific, on his own +departure from Santa Fe to California. Captain James Brown, of Company +C., and St. Elam Luddington, of Company B, were the two officers above +referred to as being placed in charge of the detachment. This company +arrived at Pueblo on the 17th of November, and went into winter quarters +near the encampment of Captain Higgins, who had preceded them to that +point; and the next spring, according to the above arrangement, joined +in the westward movement of their people, following so closely the +pioneer company led by Brigham Young, that they entered Salt Lake Valley +on the 29th of July, five days after the arrival of the first pioneer +company. To the wife of one of the members of the Battalion, Mrs. +Catherine Campbell Steele, wife of John Steele, Company D, was born the +first white child in "Utah," August 9th, 1847. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29:a] This is Sergeant Daniel Tyler, author of "A Concise History of +the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War." The work was published in +1881. H. H. Bancroft speaks very highly of this work in his History of +California, Vol. V, p. 477, note. + +[30:b] Col. Doniphan had come to Santa Fe with Kearny, commanding the +first Missouri regiment; and after the departure of the General for +California, he was left in command at Santa Fe until the arrival of Col. +Sterling Price, who when he arrived, was to take command at Santa Fe +(Doniphan's expedition, Connelley, 1907, pp. 250-1-3). The historian of +the Mormon Battalion notes that the command of Col. Price, numbering +about 1,200 men, received no such marked honor on their arrival in Santa +Fe as was accorded to the Battalion. (Tyler's Battalion, p. 164.) + +[31:c] The Colonel was born in Virginia in 1809. Graduated from West +Point in 1827; was in the Black Hawk war in Illinois--1832, and at the +Battle of Bad Ax, fought in July of that year. In 1833 he was made a +Lieutenant; saw service on the plains, principally in what is now +Kansas, before the Mexican war; in this war he took a prominent part in +the affairs at Santa Fe and marched the Mormon Battalion to California. +"During the fifties, in the border troubles in Kansas he saw much +service; in the Civil War he was for the Union. He was retired in 1873, +having served in the army continuously for forty-six years. He died +March 20, 1895." "Doniphan's Expedition," p. 264. + +[31:d] Later, Col. Cooke again complains of his teams, in the following +passage: "I have brought road tools and have determined to take through +my wagons; but the experiment is not a fair one, as the mules are broken +down at the outset. The only good ones, about twenty, which I bought +near Albuquerque, were taken for the express for Fremont's mail--the +General's order requiring the twenty-one best in Santa Fe." (Cooke's +Conquest, p. 93). To this Sergeant Tyler adds: "It is but justice to the +Colonel to state here that with few exceptions, the mule and ox teams +used from Santa Fe to California were the same worn out and broken down +animals that we had driven all the way from Council Bluffs and Fort +Leavenworth; indeed, some of them had been driven all the way from +Nauvoo, the same season." (Tyler's Battalion, p. 175). + +[32:e] Conquest of New Mexico and California. An Historical and Personal +Narrative by P. St. George Cooke, G. P. Putnam and Sons, N. Y. 1878: pp. +91-2. + +[32:f] See History of the Mormon Church, Americana, (Roberts), April No. +p. 3776--note. + + + + +V. + +THE MARCH OF THE BATTALION FROM SANTA FE TO THE MOUTH OF THE GILA. + + +The Battalion began its march from Santa Fe on the 19th of October, +Colonel Cooke in command, Lieutenant A. J. Smith, who had led the +Battalion to Santa Fe, became the acting commissary of subsistence; and +Lieutenant George Stoneman, acting quartermaster, instead of Lieutenant +Samuel E. Gully, who had resigned. Both Smith and Stoneman were of the +regular army. Dr. Sanderson was continued as Physician-surgeon to the +command. The guides to the expedition--appointed by Gen. Kearny--were +Weaver, Charbonneau, and Leroux; and Stephen C. Foster, called "Doctor," +in all the narratives, was employed as interpreter. + +=More Invaliding.=--The course of the march for some time was southward +down the valley of the Rio Grande. On the 10th of November, fifty-five +more men were declared physically unable through sickness to continue +the march, and accordingly were detached, and under Lieutenant W. W. +Willis were ordered back to Pueblo to join the other detachments that +had been sent there. After much suffering from the hardships of the +journey--weak teams, scant supplies of food, illy clad, general sickness +among the men, the fall of December snows in the mountain ranges north +of Santa Fe, excessive cold, and several deaths occurring, this +detachment finally arrived at Pueblo between the 20th and 24th of +December, in a most pitiable condition; but they were warmly received +by members of the Battalion already quartered there,[35:a] numbering, +now, all told, about one hundred and fifty. + +=Hardship of Excessive Toil.=--One cause of so many men breaking down in +health was the excessive toil at the wagons through the sand stretches +of the road, began early in the march from Santa Fe--while yet in the +valley of the Rio del Norte, in fact, and continuing along the whole +route to and through the California desert lying between the Colorado +and the coast range of mountains. "Our course now lay down the Rio del +Norte [The Rio Grande]," says Sergeant Tyler. "We found the roads +extremely sandy in many places, and the men while carrying blankets, +knapsacks, cartridge boxes (each containing thirty-six rounds of +ammunition), and muskets on their backs, and living on short rations, +had to pull at long ropes to aid the teams. The deep sand alone, without +any load was enough to wear out both man and beast." Later he remarks: +"We had to leave the river for a time, and have twenty men to each wagon +with long ropes to help the teams pull the wagons over the sand hills. +The commander perched himself on one of the hills, like a hawk on a +fence post, sending down his orders with the sharpness of--well, to the +Battalion, it is enough to say--Colonel Cooke." + +One of the Battalion celebrates this incident of the march in doggerel +verse of which two stanzas follow: + + "Our hardships reach their rough extremes, + When valiant men are roped with teams, + Hour after hour, and day by day, + To wear our strength and lives away. + + * * * * * + + "We see some twenty men or more + With empty stomachs and foot sore, + Bound to one wagon plodding on + Through sand, beneath a burning sun."[36:b] + +In the trackless part of the Battalion's march through the sand +stretches, in addition to pulling at the wagons, companies marched in +double-single file, in each other's footsteps, to make tracks for the +wagon wheels. + +=Irrigation in New Mexico.=--It was while at Santa Fe, and while passing +down the Rio del Norte, that the Battalion saw, for the first time, +irrigation in operation. Tyler thus describes it: "Canals for irrigation +purposes were found all along the banks of the river. Some of them +several miles in length. They conveyed water to the farms, or as they +were called in that country, ranchos. There being little or no rain +during the growing season, the water was made to flow over the ground +until it was sufficiently saturated, and then shut off until needed +again for the same purpose." + +=March Down the Rio Grande.=--As the command in its southward movement +down the Rio Grande reached the point where General Kearny left the +valley for a direct march westward--228 miles south of Santa Fe--and +where, too, Kearny had abandoned his wagons; the guides declared it +impossible to follow the Gila route proper with the wagons; and hence a +circuit to the south through Sonora via Janos and Fronteras was proposed +and determined upon at a council of officers. + +In the first stages of this changed course, however, the road bore to +the southeast, and this was not to the liking of Col. Cooke, because it +would carry his command within hailing distance of General Wool, who +might incorporate it in the "Army of the Centre,"--as the General's +division of the invading forces against Mexico was called--to operate +against Chihuahua. In that event, as the Colonel himself expressed it, +he would lose his trip to California. To bear to the southeast was not +to the liking of the Battalion, as that was not in the direction of +California, but one which might lead them within the sphere of the "Army +of the Centre," and they would find themselves discharged in Old Mexico +instead of California, at the end of their term of enlistment. The +entire command was thrown into gloom by this change in the line of +march: "All of our hopes, conversations and songs," says the historian +of the Battalion--Tyler--"were centered on California. Somewhere on that +broad domain we expected to join our families and friends." + +="Blow the Right!" The Westward Turn.=--"On the morning of the 21st," says +Tyler, "the command resumed its journey, marching in a southern +direction for about two miles, when it was found that the road began to +bear southeast instead of southwest, as stated by the guides. The +Colonel looked in the direction of the road, then to the southwest, then +to the west, saying, 'I don't want to get under General Wool, and lose +my trip to California.' He arose in his saddle and ordered a halt. He +then said with firmness: 'This is not my course. I was ordered to +California,' 'and,' he added with an oath, 'I will go there or die in +the attempt.' Then turning to the bugler, he said, 'Blow the right!' + +"Turning westward at this point, 32° 41´ north latitude, and but a short +distance--some thirty miles--north of the present city of El Paso--the +course of march was westward to San Bernardino rancho, thence to Yanos +and so to the San Pedro river where the command arrived on the 9th of +December. + +"=The Fight with Wild Bulls.=--Here occurred the only fighting the +Battalion engaged in on its expedition, a battle with wild bulls. This +section of the country seemed to abound with herds of wild cattle, and +the males among them were much more bold and ferocious than among the +buffalos. Attracted by curiosity these herds gathered along the line of +march, alternately scampering away and approaching; and some of the +bolder ones, as if in resentment of the Battalion's invasion, attacked +the column. Several mules were gored to death by them, both in the teams +and among the pack animals; and Colonel Cooke records how some of the +wagons were thrown about by the mad charge of these furious beasts. The +troops had been ordered to march with guns unloaded, but in the presence +of such a danger the men loaded their muskets without waiting for an +order to that effect, and when attacked would fire upon the charging +beasts, so that the rattle of musketry was for once heard all along the +line. The bulls were very tenacious of life, however, and more desperate +and dangerous when wounded than before." + +Tyler speaks of one fight between Dr. William Spencer and a bull which +was shot five times, twice through the lungs, twice through the heart, +and once through the head, and yet would alternately rise and fall and +rush upon the doctor until a sixth ball between the eyes, and near the +curl of the pate, proved fatal.[38:c] Colonel Cooke confirms Tyler's +narrative about the bull continuing to rush on after being twice shot +through the heart, and adds: "I have seen the heart." Cooke also relates +the feat of Corporal Frost in bringing down one of these ferocious +animals: "I was very near Corporal Frost, when an immense coal-black +bull came charging upon us, a hundred yards distant. Frost aimed his +musket, a flintlock, very deliberately and only fired when the beast was +within six paces; it fell headlong, almost at our feet."[39:d] Tyler +adds: "The Corporal was on foot while, of course, the Colonel and staff +were mounted. On the first appearance of the bull, the Colonel, with his +usual firm manner of speech, ordered the corporal to load his gun, +supposing, of course, that he had observed the previous order of +prohibition. To this command he (the corporal) paid no attention. +Thinking him either stupified or, dumbfounded, with much warmth and a +foul epithet he next ordered him to run, but this mandate was as little +heeded as the other. Doubtless Cooke thought one man's 'ignorance with +some stubborness' was about to receive a terrible retribution, but when +he saw the monster lifeless at his feet, through the well-directed aim +of the brave and fearless corporal, how changed must have been his +feelings!"[39:e] The number of the wild bovine enemy killed in the +engagement is variously reported as from twenty to sixty, and by one +writer as high as eighty-one. + +=Mexican Opposition at Tucson.=--Leaving the San Pedro the command marched +northeasterly to Tucson, a Mexican town of between four and five hundred +inhabitants. It was garrisoned at the time by a Mexican force two +hundred strong, according to Cooke, commanded by Captain Comaduran, who +was under order from the Governor of Sonora, Don Manuel Gandara, not to +allow an armed force to pass through the town without resistance. The +guides furnished the Battalion by General Kearny, however, declared it +was for the command either to march through Tucson, or make a detour +which would mean a hundred miles out of the way over a trackless +wilderness and mountains. Cooke determined to march through Tucson. +Foster, the interpreter, went into the town in advance and was put under +guard; a corporal, son of the Mexican commander, with three Mexican +soldiers was met by the command and questioned about Foster, and on +admitting that he was under guard, the corporal and his escort were +immediately placed under arrest by Cooke, to be held as hostages for the +safety of the interpreter. One Mexican, however, was released, who, with +two of the Battalion guides, carried a note demanding Foster's release. +This was complied with, and about midnight Foster was brought to camp, +attended by two officers authorized "to make a special armistice." Cooke +proposed that the Mexican command deliver up a few arms as a guarantee +of surrender, and a token that the inhabitants of Tucson would not fight +against the United States unless they were exchanged as prisoners of +war; the Mexican prisoners were also released.[40:f] These events +occurred while the Battalion was about sixteen miles from Tucson. + +The next day, when on the march, Cooke received a message from Captain +Comaduran declining the proposition to surrender. The Battalion were +ordered to load their guns with ball. Before reaching the town, however, +another message was received saying that the garrison had retreated +taking two brass cannons and forcing most of the inhabitants to +accompany them. About a dozen armed Mexicans met the American force to +escort them into the town. Before passing through the gates, the +commander of the Battalion addressed the soldiers saying, in effect, +that the garrison and citizens had fled leaving their property behind; +but they had not come to make war upon Sonora, and there must be no +interference with the private property of the citizens.[41:g] The +Battalion marched through Tucson and went into camp about half a mile +beyond on a small stream. + +Before leaving the vicinity Cooke with a party of fifty reconnoitered +the country above the town towards a village and church, where, it was +supposed, the garrison and main body of the people had taken refuge. As +the nature of the country, however, afforded excellent opportunities for +ambush, if the Mexicans should choose to make resistance, the company of +fifty returned. However the movement was not without its value since, +according to Col. Cooke, and as was afterwards ascertained, it caused +the Mexicans who had fled to the aforesaid village to still further +retreat, and the reinforcements which had come from the presidios of +Fronteras, Santa Cruz and Tubac, to return to their posts.[42:h] + +=Junction With Kearny's Trail.=--Renewing its journey the command in the +course of three days, by hard marching, reached the Gila river and +intersected the route followed by General Kearny, four hundred and +seventy-four miles from the point at which they left it in the valley of +the Rio Grande. + +The Southern Pacific Railroad traverses practically the route of the +Battalion between these two points. Colonel Cooke made a map of this +part of the Battalion's journey--published in his book, (see map fold) +and referring to it, in connection with the Southern Pacific Railroad, +he says: "A new administration, in which Southern interests prevailed, +with the great problem of the practicability and best location of a +Pacific Railroad under investigation, had the map of this wagon route +before them with its continuance to the west, and perceived that it gave +exactly the solution of its unknown element, that a southern route would +avoid both the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, with their snows, and +would meet no obstacle in this great interval. The new 'Gadsden Treaty' +was the result; it was signed, December 30, 1853."[42:i] + +=The March Down the Gila.=--Following more or less the windings of the +Gila, the way made difficult from alternating stretches of deep sand and +miry clay, the command arrived at the junction of the Gila with the +Colorado on the 8th of January. + +An attempt at the shipment of part of the command's provisions down the +river on a flat boat proved a sad failure, and ended in considerable +loss. The scheme was Col. Cooke's. The "boat" was constructed by placing +two wagon beds end to end and lashing them to two dry cottonwood logs. +On this improvised boat two thousand five hundred pounds of provision +and corn were placed. At places the river spread out over sand bars with +but three or four inches of water covering them; the boat was repeatedly +lodged on these, and the precious stores of food had to be landed in +several places. The most of it was never recovered, though repeated +efforts were made to regain it. + +=At the Mouth of the Gila.=--Speaking of the Gila at its junction with the +Colorado, and of the conditions obtaining in the command at that stage +of the march, Col. Cooke writes: "A vast bottom; the country about the +two rivers is a picture of desolation; nothing like vegetation beyond +the alluvium of the two rivers; bleak mountains, wild looking peaks, +stony hills and plains, fill the view. We are encamped in the midst of +wild hemp. The mules are in mezquit thickets, with a little bunch grass, +a half a mile off. The mules are weak, and their failing, or flagging +to-day in ten miles, is very unpromising for the hundred mile stretch, +dry and barren, before them. There is no grass, and only scanty +cottonwood boughs for them to-night, but I sent out forty men to gather +the fruit, called tornia, a variety of the mezquit. They have gathered +twelve or fifteen bushels, which has been spread out to be eaten on a +hard part of the sand-bar. + +"Francisco was sent across the river to fire the thickets beyond--this +to clear the way for the pioneer party in the morning. He says the river +is deeper than usual; it is wider than the Missouri, and of the same +muddy color. * * * It is said to be sixty miles to the mouth of the +river."--the Colorado.[44:j] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35:a] See Tyler's Battalion Ch. XX. Lieutenant Willis gives the date of +arrival 24th of December. Captains Brown and Higgins, stationed at +Pueblo, give the 20th. The latter kept a daily journal. + +[36:b] Tyler's History of The Mormon Battalion, pp. 180-183. + +[38:c] Tyler's Battalion, pp. 219, 220. + +[39:d] Cooke's Conquest, pp. 145, 6. + +[39:e] Tyler's Battalion, p. 219. + +[40:f] Cooke's Conquest, p. 149. + +[41:g] Previous to this the Colonel had issued the following order: + + "Head Quarters Mormon Battalion, + "Camp on the San Pedro, + "December 13th, 1846. + + "Thus far on our course we have followed the guides furnished + us by the General [Kearny]. These guides now point to Tucson, + a garrison town, as our road, and assert that any other course + is a hundred miles out of the way and over a trackless + wilderness of mountains, rivers and hills. We will march, + then, to Tucson. We came not to make war on Sonora, and less + still to destroy an important outpost of defense against + Indians: but we will take the straight road before us, and + overcome all resistance. But shall I remind you that the + American soldier ever shows justice and kindness to the + unarmed and unresisting? The property of individuals you will + hold sacred. The people of Sonora are not our enemies. + + "By order of "Lieut.-Col. Cooke, + "(Signed) P. C. Merrill, + "Adjutant." + +[42:h] See Cooke's Conquest, p. 151; also Tyler's Battalion, pp. +228-230. + +[42:i] Cooke's Conquest, p. 159. + +[44:j] Conquest, pp. 170-1. + + + + +VI. + +THE MARCH OF THE BATTALION FROM THE COLORADO TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. + + +This part of the march led through what is now marked on the maps of +southern California as the "Colorado Desert," "nature's exhausted region +lying between the Colorado river and the eastern base of the coast +range"--some of it being below the sea level. Much of the dreary way lay +through stretches of sand, and the men were compelled to aid the teams +by pulling on ropes, fifteen to twenty men to a wagon. No water was to +be had but by the digging of deep wells in the desert sands. These often +yielded but little, and at that a poor quality, of water. The suffering +of both men and beasts was terrible. "The march of the last five +days"--the time it took to cross the desert to the little running stream +called "Carriso Creek,"--was "the most trying of any we had made on both +men and animals," writes Col. Cooke. + +=Destitution and Suffering of the Men en March.=--"We here found the +heaviest sand, hottest days, and coldest nights," says Tyler, "with no +water and but little food." "At this time," he continues, "the men were +nearly bare-footed; some used, instead of shoes, rawhide wrapped around +their feet, while others improvised a novel style of boots by stripping +the skin from the leg of an ox. To do this, a ring was cut around the +hide above and below the gambrel joint, and then the skin taken off +without cutting it lengthwise. After this, the lower end was sewed up +with sinews, when it was ready for the wearer, the natural crook of the +hide adapting it somewhat to the shape of the foot. Others wrapped +cast-off clothing around their feet, to shield them from the burning +sand during the day and the cold at night. + +"Before we arrived at the Carriso many of the men were so nearly used up +from thirst, hunger and fatigue, that they were unable to speak until +they reached the water or had it brought to them. Those who were +strongest reported, when they arrived, that they had passed many lying +exhausted by the way-side."[46:a] + +Col. Cooke refers to these conditions in his "Conquest of New +Mexico:"[46:b] "A great many of my men are wholly without shoes, and +used every expedient, such as rawhide moccasins and sandals, and even +wrapping their feet in pieces of woolen and cotton cloth." Of the march +on the 16th of January the Colonel remarks: "Near eleven, [A. M.] I +reached, with the foremost wagon, the first water of the Carriso +[Cooke's spelling is 'Cariza']; a clear running stream gladdened the +eyes, after the anxious dependence on muddy wells for five or six days. +I found the march [i. e. of the day] to be nineteen miles; thus without +water for near three days, (for the working animals) and camping two +nights in succession, without water, the battalion made in forty-eight +hours, four marches, of eighteen, eight, eleven and nineteen miles, +suffering from frost, and from summer heat."[46:c] + +Of the march of the 17th, he said: "The men arrived here, [Carriso Creek +camp] completely worn down; they staggered as they marched, as they did +yesterday, [the 18th:] Some of the men did not find strength to reach +the camp before daylight this morning. * * * I went through the +companies this morning; they were eating their last four ounces of +flour; of sugar and coffee there has been none for weeks. I have +remaining only five public wagons, there are three private property." +Yet, as showing the spirit of these Battalion men in such plight he +writes of the evening in camp of that same day--"The men, who this +morning were prostrate, worn out, hungry, heartless, have recovered +their spirits to-night, and are singing and playing the fiddle."[47:d] + +=From Carriso Creek to San Phillips.=--The march from Carriso Creek was to +San Phillips, an Indian village on a small stream of the same name. It +was on approaching San Phillips that the rugged heart of the coast +mountains was encountered, "which seemed to defy aught save the wild +goat," according to Col. Cooke's description; over which "with crow bar +and pick and axe in hand," he continues, "the Battalion worked its way." +Here also the "chasm of living rock, more narrow than their wagons," was +encountered, through which they hewed a passage for the wagons, the +Colonel himself taking a hand in the hewing. "I came to the canyon," +says the Colonel, "and found it much worse than I had been led to expect +[i. e. by the report of the guides]; there were many rocks to surmount, +but the worst was the narrow pass. Setting the example myself, there was +much work done on it before the wagons came; the rock was hewn with axes +to increase the opening. I thought it wide enough, and going on, found a +hill to be ascended, to avoid a still narrower pass, a great rock had to +be broken, before it could be crossed. But when a trial was made, at the +first pass, it was found too narrow by a foot of solid rock. More work +was done, and several trials made. The sun was now only an hour high, +and it was about seven miles to the first water. I had a wagon taken to +pieces, and carried through. Meanwhile, we still hewed and hammered at +the mountain side; but the best road tools had been lost. * * * The next +wagon body was lifted through, and then the running gear, by lifting one +side; then I rode on again, and saw a wagon up the very steep hill, and +down again to the canyon. The work on the pass was perseveringly +continued, and the last two wagons were pulled through by the mules, +with loads undisturbed." + +The confused information respecting the state of hostilities, the +likelihood of meeting retreating bands of Californians, en route for the +Mexican state of Sonora, led the Colonel to renew his march on the 19th +in a more strictly military order than he had hitherto followed, and the +Battalion, while waiting for the wagons to come up, was exercised on a +prairie in military tactics. + +The Battalion was under orders to march to San Diego and there join Gen. +Kearny. "But communication with that officer was now cut off," writes +Colonel Cooke. "By the best information the enemy were concentrated at +Los Angeles. The General was marching on it from the south, and +Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont approaching from the north; so that a direct +march on Los Angeles from the east was evidently the proper course; and +especially so, as Captain Montgomery, [from San Diego] had written, +January 15th, that it was generally believed that parties of +Californians, headed by leaders who had broken their paroles, would +endeavor to effect a retreat to Sonora, rather than submit to our arms. +* * * It was determined to take the direct road to Los Angeles; and the +guides were sent to Warner's, to collect mules, etc." + +=At Warner's Rancho.=--Warner's Ranch was reached on the 21st, the +Battalion being again drilled enroute. It was found necessary to rest at +Warner's on the 22nd. "This is a beautiful valley, shut in by mountains +or high hills on every side," writes Col. Cooke, "The name, Agua +Caliente, comes from a bold stream, issuing from rock fissures at the +temperature of 170°; it now sends up little clouds of steam for half a +mile below. The valley, a mile long, is elliptical, and its green smooth +surface really oval; at its centre stands a wonderful evergreen oak, its +boughs reaching a circle, five feet above the ground, and ninety feet in +diameter; the hot stream runs round one side, a cold one around the +other. The Indians, of cold nights, select spots below the spring, of +agreeable temperature to sleep, lying in the stream, with sod bank for a +pillow."[49:e] + +=The March Directed to San Diego.=--On the 23rd of January a march of +eighteen miles was made over the hills from Warner's Rancho. It rained +several hours in the afternoon, and again at night, then continued for +twenty-four hours. "The Battalion had fallen upon the rainy season. All +tents were blown down in the night," writes Col. Cooke, speaking of the +night of the 23rd. "The ill-clad Battalion," he continues, "were +drenched and suffered much." A twelve mile march over the hills from +Warner's, on the 25th of January, brought the Battalion into the +Temecala valley. There an official dispatch brought to Col. Cooke the +announcement that Gen. Kearny had returned to San Diego, and that the +Battalion was expected there as originally ordered. Accordingly the next +morning the march was directed southward, toward the San Diego mission. +The San Luis valley and river was crossed on the 26th, and encampment +made near a rancho. + +=In Sight of the Pacific.=--About noon the next day the deserted Catholic +mission of San Luis Rey was passed. "One mile below the mission," writes +Tyler, "we ascended a bluff, when the long-long-looked-for great Pacific +Ocean appeared plain to our view, only about three miles distant. The +joy, the cheer that filled our souls, none but worn-out pilgrims nearing +a haven of rest can imagine. Prior to leaving Nauvoo, we had talked +about and sung of 'the great Pacific sea,' and we were now upon its very +borders, and its beauty far exceeded our most sanguine expectations." + +Of this event Col. Cooke says: "The road wound through smooth green +valleys, and over very lofty hills, equally smooth and green. From the +top of one of these hills, was caught the first and a magnificent view +of the great ocean; and by rare chance, perhaps, it was so calm that it +shone as a mirror." + +Further describing what must have been to the desert and mountain-worn +Battalion a wonderful scene, the Colonel adds: "The charming and +startling effect, under our circumstances, of this first view of the +ocean could not be expressed; but in an old diary--once sunk and lost in +a river--I find what follows: + +"I caught my first sight of the ocean, as smooth as a mirror, and +reflecting the full blaze of the declining sun; from these sparkling +green hill-tops it seemed that the lower world had turned to impalpable +dazzling light, while by contrast, the clear sky looked dim. + +"We rode on into a valley which was near, but out of view of the sea; +its smooth sod was in sunlight and shade; a gentle brook wound through +it; the joyous lark, the gay blackbird, the musical bluebird even the +household wren, warbled together the evening song; it seemed a sweet +domestic scene which must have touched the hearts of my rude, far +wanderers. But coming to us so suddenly, there was a marvelous +accompaniment;--the fitful roar of tide and surf upon a rock-bound +shore; while now and then some great troller burst upon the rocks with a +booming thunder. It was not a discord."[51:f] + +From this point the march was down the coast, for the most part in sight +of the ocean, in "clear bright sunlight." The Battalion no longer +suffered from "the monotonous hardships of the deserts and cold +atmosphere of the snow-capped mountains." January there, seemed as +pleasant as May in the northern states. + +=San Diego Mission.=--On the 29th of January the Battalion passed into the +Solidad Valley, thence by cross roads over high hills, miry from recent +rains, "into a firm, regular road" to the Mission of San Diego, +encampment being made on the flat about a mile below the old mission +buildings, and about four or five miles from the seaport of San Diego. +In the evening Col. Cooke rode down to San Diego and reported the +arrival of his command on the Pacific. The march of the Mormon Battalion +was completed. + +=Col. Cooke's Bulletin on the Battalion's March.=--On the 30th of January +the following Bulletin was written by the Lieutenant-Colonel commanding, +though not read to the Battalion until the 4th of February. It tells in +studied military brevity the achievements and faithfulness of the +Battalion, its service to the country, and is an imperishable monument +in the literature of the nation. + + +BULLETIN. + + "Headquarters Mormon Battalion, + "Mission of San Diego, + "January 30, 1847. + + "(Orders No. 1) + + "The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding, congratulates the + Battalion on their safe arrival on the shore of the Pacific + Ocean, and the conclusion of their march of over two thousand + miles. + + "History may be searched in vain for an equal march of + infantry. Half of it has been through a wilderness, where + nothing but savages and wild beasts are found, or deserts + where, for want of water, there is no living creature. There, + with almost hopeless labor, we have dug deep wells, which the + future traveler will enjoy. Without a guide who had traversed + them we have ventured into trackless tablelands where water + was not found for several marches. With crowbar and pick, and + axe in hand, we worked our way over mountains, which seemed to + defy aught save the wild goat, and hewed a pass through a + chasm of living rock more narrow than our wagons. To bring + these first wagons to the Pacific, we have preserved the + strength of our mules by herding them over large tracts, which + you have laboriously guarded without loss. The garrison of + four presidios of Sonora concentrated within the walls of + Tucson, gave us no pause. We drove them out, with their + artillery, but our intercourse with the citizens was unmarked + by a single act of injustice. Thus, marching half naked and + half fed, and living upon wild animals, we have discovered and + made a road of great value to our country. + + "Arrived at the first settlements of California, after a + single day's rest, you cheerfully turned off from the route to + this point of promised repose, to enter upon a campaign, and + meet, as we supposed, the approach of an enemy; and this, too, + without even salt to season your sole subsistence of fresh + meat. + + "Lieutenants A. J. Smith and George Stoneman, of the First + Dragoons, have shared and given invaluable aid in all these + labors. + + "Thus volunteers, you have exhibited some high and essential + qualities of veterans. But much remains undone. Soon, you will + turn your attention to the drill, to system and order, to + forms also, which are all necessary to the soldier. + + "By order + [Signed] "Lieut.-Colonel P. St. George Cooke, + [Signed] "P. C. Merrill, Adjutant."[53:g] + +Small wonder, though the reading of this Bulletin to the Battalion was +unaccountably delayed for four days, that the Mormon volunteers received +this official announcement of their achievements with hearty cheers. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[46:a] Tyler, pp. 244-5. + +[46:b] Cooke's Conquest, p. 185. + +[46:c] Ibid, p. 184. + +[47:d] "Conquest," p. 187. + +[49:e] Conquest, p. 193. + +[51:f] Conquest, p. 195--note. + +[53:g] Cooke's Conquest, p. 197. Subsequently, viz., on the 9th of May, +on the occasion of General Kearny visiting the Battalion at Los Angeles, +he is reported to have said that history would be searched in vain for +an infantry march equal to the Battalion's, and added: "Bonaparte +crossed the Alps, but these men have crossed a continent." Tyler's +Battalion, p. 282. + + + + +VII. + +THE BATTALION IN CALIFORNIA. + + +Subsequent movements of the Battalion were as follows: + +=At San Luis Rey Mission.=--On the evening of their second day at San +Diego Mission, an order was issued for the Battalion to return to San +Luis Rey Mission, to garrison that station. This Mission was somewhat +midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and it was doubtless thought +that the Battalion by being stationed there could keep that important +position out of the enemies' hands, should Mexican hostilities again be +resumed, as at the time seemed probable; and they would also be +available there for quicker movement either to Los Angeles or to San +Diego should danger threaten at either point. + +Accordingly on February 1st, the return march was begun and ended about +noon of the 3rd. + +=Clean Up and Drill.=--Here orders were given for a general clean up of +arms and clothes--such as they had--shaving, cutting hair, and the like. +"Some had not shaved since the march began, and would have preferred not +to do so until they returned to their people," says the Battalion's +historian. But the order was imperative. "It prescribed that no beard be +allowed to grow below the tip of the ear, hence the mustache only could +be saved. The hair also must be clipped even with the tip of the ear," +hence the long and tangled locks and shocks of hair of a year's growth +had to be sacrificed. + +By the 6th of February the men had finished cleaning up and repairing +their quarters, which in some respects even then "were not the most +pleasant," writes Tyler, "as we were over-run with fleas, as well as the +more filthy vermin, and no person, however cleanly he aimed to be, could +escape from them." + +On the 8th of February, according to Tyler, "Colonel Cooke and +Lieutenant Stoneman commenced the squad drill with officers which, +continued and extended to companies and thence to the Battalion, and +lasted altogether for twenty days, when the Battalion was supposed to +have learned the drill, and all the officers were considered capable of +teaching it." + +=Company B at San Diego.=--On the 15th of February Company B was ordered +to be detached from the Battalion and directed to march to the port of +San Diego to perform garrison duty at that place, though the order, +apparently, for the removal of the company was not given until the 15th +of March. + +=Los Angeles Garrisoned by Companies A. C. D. E.=--On the 18th of the same +month nine privates of Company A., eight from C., five from D., and +eight from E., were designated as a detachment, under command of +Lieutenant Oman and Sergeant Brown, to garrison the Mission of San Luis +Rey, while the remainder of companies A. C. D. and E. were designated to +go to Los Angeles for garrison duty. These companies began their march +on the 19th, and arrived at Los Angeles on the 23rd. The chief +activities here were maintaining by successive details from the command +an out-post at Cajon Pass,--fifty miles north east of Los Angeles--as a +protection against hostile bands of Indians; and the erection of a fort +on an eminence commanding the city of Los Angeles. The San Luis Rey +detachment remained at that post until the 6th of April, when under +orders the station was abandoned and the detachment marched to Los +Angeles. The companies thus grouped so remained until near the +expiration of the term of their enlistment. + +=The Conquest of California.=--The conquest of California was easily +achieved. Fremont in the north with a company of but sixty Americans, +with whom he had been sent to explore portions of New Mexico and +California, was opposed in the vicinity of Monterey by a force under +General Castro, in June, 1846. With the aid of American settlers in the +vicinity of San Francisco, Fremont defeated the Mexicans in two +engagements and on the 5th of July, the American Californians declared +themselves independent, and placed Fremont at the head of their affairs. +On the 7th of the same month Commodore Sloat, then in the command of the +U. S. squadron in the Pacific, bombarded and captured Monterey. On the +9th Commodore Montgomery took possession of San Francisco. Commodore +Stockton arrived on the 15th of July and in co-operation with Colonel +Fremont took possession of the city of Los Angeles, on the 17th of +August. There was, however, a subsequent uprising in the south, an +attempt of the Mexicans to regain possession of the country. The +attempt, however, proved abortive, and was chiefly noteworthy as +occurring at such a time as to allow General Kearny's troop of one +hundred soldiers, who had marched from Santa Fe, to participate in some +of the last engagements--December 16th, 1846, and Jan. 8th, 1847--these +ended in the conquest, and brought to pass the pacification of +California. + +=The Kearny-Fremont Controversy.=--A question of authority arose between +Col. Fremont and General Kearny. The former had acted in the self +appointed capacity of "Military Commandant of California." General +Kearny refused to recognize him in that capacity, since in addition to +being Fremont's superior military officer, Kearny also had been +instructed himself to establish civil government in California.[57:a] +Fremont refused to obey the orders of his superior, and was ordered home +to be tried for his disobedience. He was deprived of his commission; but +in consideration of previous service, it was offered to him again, but +refused; and Fremont "went again to the wilderness and engaged in +exploration."[57:b] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[57:a] See Letter of Secretary of War to Kearny, Executive Document No. +60, of June 3rd, 1846, delivered to Kearny by Col. Kane. + +[57:b] Lossing's Hist. U. S. p. 487. Bancroft's Hist. of Cal., Vol. V., +passim, but especially pp. 411-468. + + + + +VIII. + +RECORD OF THE BATTALION IN CALIFORNIA. + + +The Battalion had opened a wagon road to the Pacific, but had arrived +too late to participate actively in the conquest of California. It was +useful, however, in the performance of garrison duty at San Diego, San +Luis Rey, and Los Angeles; and, in connection with the New York +volunteers, recently arrived under command of Col. Jonathan D. +Stevenson, via Cape Horn to San Francisco Bay, also in connection with +the constantly increasing naval forces along the coast, they assisted in +making secure the conquest achieved. + +While performing garrison duty many members of the Battalion at San +Diego obtained permission to accept employment of the inhabitants of the +town, such as making adobes, digging wells, building houses, and making +bricks. The first bricks in San Diego, and for matter of that in +California, were made and burned by members of the Mormon +Battalion.[58:a] They made an enviable reputation for industry and +frugality. + +=Efforts to Re-Enlist the Battalion.=--As the expiration of the term of +the Battalion's enlistment drew near, strong efforts were made for their +re-enlistment by General Kearny, before departing for the east in May. + +"On the 4th of May," writes Tyler, "an order was read from Col. Cooke, +giving the Battalion the privilege of being discharged on condition of +being re-enlisted for three years as U. S. Dragoons; but under the +circumstances the generous proposition could not consistently be +accepted." General Kearny addressed the Battalion on the 10th of May: +"He sympathized with us in the unsettled condition of our people," says +Tyler, "but thought, as their final destination was not definitely +settled, [in this of course the General's information was defective] we +had better re-enlist for another year, by which time the war would +doubtless be ended, and our families settled in some permanent location. +In conclusion he said he would take pleasure in representing our +patriotism to the President, and in the halls of congress, and give us +the justice our praiseworthy conduct had merited." It was on this +occasion, according to Tyler, that Gen. Kearny in praising the Battalion +said: "Bonaparte crossed the Alps, but these men have crossed a +continent."[59:b] + +Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson of the New York volunteers, who succeeded +Col. Cooke in command of the Battalion by being given command of the +southern district of California--Col. Cooke having been detailed to +accompany Kearny on his return to the east--made an effort to induce the +Battalion to re-enlist. Stevenson's effort was prompted by Governor +Richard B. Mason's instructions. Stevenson represented among the +advantages of the Battalion's re-enlistment, the privilege of choosing +their own officers, "and the fact that the Mormon commander would be the +third in rank among the officers of California, and might become first." + +The Battalion's officers quite generally favored re-enlistment, but not +so the men, who, under the leadership of "Father" Pettegrew, William +Hyde, and Sergeant Tyler, were in favor of returning to their families +and the body of their people. + +The result of the effort at re-enlistment was, that a company of +eighty-one, officers and men, re-enlisted for six months, and performed +garrison service at San Diego. + +=Homeward Bound.=--The rest of the Battalion, on being mustered out of +service, in July, began their march for the Great Basin of the Rocky +Mountains, going via Sutter's Fort, at the juncture of the American and +Sacramento rivers, north-eastward from San Francisco about seventy-five +miles, and now the site of Sacramento, capital of the state. About +one-half of these returning volunteers arrived in Salt Lake Valley on +the first of October. The reason for not more than one-half of this +number reaching Salt Lake Valley that fall--they numbered about 240 when +leaving Los Angeles--arose from the following circumstances: Arriving at +Sutter's Fort, and finding opportunity for employment at good wages, a +number desired to take advantage of that opportunity, and accordingly, +with the consent and approval of their associates, "a few" remained. On +the sixth of September, when the returning volunteers were leaving the +basin of Lake Tahoe, they met Samuel Brannan,--leader of the "Brooklyn +Colony" of Mormons to San Francisco Bay via Cape Horn, in 1846. Brannan +was returning to California from his visit to Brigham Young, whom he had +met at the Green River Crossing, and accompanied to Salt Lake Valley. He +gave the Battalion members a doleful account of the semi-desert region +where the Mormon people were settling, and predicted their final removal +to California. He urged all, except those known to have families in Salt +Lake Valley, to return to California and work until spring. This without +avail. The next day, however, the volunteers met Captain James Brown, +ranking officer of the Pueblo detachment of the Battalion, and a small +party enroute for California. He brought with him letters from many of +the families of the Battalion; also an epistle from the Mormon leaders +advising those who had no means of subsistence to remain in California +and labor during the winter, and make their way to Salt Lake valley in +the spring, bringing their earnings with them. About one-half of the +volunteers accepted this suggestion and returned to Sutter's Fort where +they found employment. + +The rest of the company continued their journey to Salt Lake valley +where they arrived at the time already stated. + +=The Discharge and Payment of the Pueblo Detachment.=--Captain Brown took +with him to California the muster rolls of the Pueblo detachment of the +Battalion, and also had a power of attorney from all its members to draw +their pay. The Pueblo detachment had drawn its pay per Captain Brown up +to May at Santa Fe, at which time he received orders to resume the march +to California, via Fort Laramie. The detachment arrived in Salt Lake +valley on the 29th of July, where they were disbanded, since the term of +their enlistment had expired on the 16th of that month. On the +presentation of the claims for the three months' pay still due to this +detachment to Governor Mason of California, they were allowed. +"Paymaster Rich," says the Governor, "paid to Captain Brown the money +due to the (Pueblo) detachment up to that date, according to the rank +they bore upon the muster rolls, upon which the Battalion had been +mustered out of the service." + +=The Purchase of Ogden Site with Battalion Money.=--Sometime early in 1848 +the Goodyear claim to a tract of land at the mouth of Weber Canyon, said +to be twenty miles square, was purchased by Captain James Brown out of +the Battalion money collected by him, and "by the advice of the +Council," meaning the high council at Salt Lake City. The sum paid was +$1,950.00, cash down. In this statement I follow the Journal History of +Brigham Young, which under date of March 6th, 1848, contains a letter +from "Father" John Smith, President of the Salt Lake high council, +giving to the Mormon leader,--absent at the time in Winter Quarters--the +above information.[62:c] + +The Goodyear tract is specifically described as commencing at the mouth +of Weber Canyon, thence following the Wasatch Mountains north to the Hot +Springs; thence westward to the shores of the Salt Lake; along the +shores southward to a point opposite Weber Canyon; thence eastward to +the point of beginning.[62:d] Goodyear was supposed to have held this +tract of land on which Ogden City now stands by virtue of a Mexican +grant. This, however, it was subsequently discovered, was not the case. +Goodyear's title amounted to no more than a squatter's claim, as there +were evidently no Mexican grants of land in the eastern and northern +parts of the territory ceded to the United States by Mexico that rested +upon any clearly valid evidence of title from Mexico; and the government +of the United States, in subsequent years, refused to recognize the +so-called Mexican grant of Goodyear's, and held that title inhered in +the government of the United States alone, and that by virtue of the +cession of the territory to the United States. + +Such title, however, as Goodyear claimed, was purchased, as above +related, and by Battalion money. And while the title of Goodyear was not +valid, the purchase quit-claimed his title, such as it was, and gave a +sense of security to the colonists who first settled upon one of the +most desirable tracts of land in the Salt Lake Valley. + +=The Battalion's Contribution of Seeds to Utah Colonies.=--These returning +members of the Battalion brought to Utah various kinds of garden and +fruit seeds, as well as grain from California, all which were found to +be very useful in the new colonies where both variety and quantity of +seeds were limited. Lieutenant James Pace introduced the club-head +wheat, which proved to be hardy and of thrifty growth in Utah soil. +Daniel Tyler brought the California pea which in the early years grew so +prolific as the field pea of Utah. The detached members of the Battalion +who wintered at Pueblo brought with them to Salt Lake Valley the variety +of wheat known as "taos," which, mixed with the club-head, became for +many years the staple seed wheat sown in Utah fields. + +=The Battalion's Part in the Discovery of Gold in California.=--As already +stated a number of the Mormon Battalion members found employment at +Sutter's Fort, with Mr. John Sutter himself, in fact, who was a rather +enterprising Swiss; one "who had houses and land, flocks and herds, +mills and machinery. He counted his skilled artisans by the score," says +the account I am following, "and his savage retainers by the hundred. He +was, moreover, a man of progress." Among his pressing needs and the +needs of the country at large, was a saw mill. The flour mills he then +had in course of construction needed timbers, and there would be large +profit in shipping lumber to San Francisco. Accordingly his foreman, a +Mr. James W. Marshall, a native of New Jersey, and then about +thirty-three years of age, and a carpenter, took in hand the task of +building a saw mill. After considerable exploration the requisite +combination of water power, timber, and the possibility of easy access +to the Fort, was found in the Coloma valley, on the south fork of the +American River, and about forty-five miles due east of the Fort. + +In the latter part of August, or the first of September, Mr. Marshall +with a party of about a dozen white men, nine of whom were discharged +members of the Mormon Battalion,[64:e] and about as many Indians, went +to Coloma valley and began the construction of the proposed mill. A +brush dam was built in the river and a mill race constructed along a +dry channel, to economize labor. The largest stones were thrown out of +this and during the night the water would be turned in to carry off the +dirt and sand. On the 24th of January while sauntering along the tail +race inspecting the work, Mr. Marshall noticed yellow particles mingled +with the excavated earth, which had been washed by late rains. Sending +an Indian to his cabin for a tin plate Marshall washed out some of the +soil and obtained a small quantity of yellow metal. During the evening +he remarked to his associates of the camp that he believed he had found +gold, which was received with some doubts, the expressions being "I +reckon not;" and, "no such luck." But Henry W. Bigler, one of the +Battalion members, made the following entry in his journal that day: + +"Monday 24 (January): This day some kind of metal was found in the tail +race that looks like gold." + +"Jan. 30th: Clear, and has been all the last week. Our metal has been +tried and proves to be gold. It is thought to be rich. We have picked up +more than a hundred dollars' worth this week." + +=The Date of the Discovery of Gold.=--Thus it is the journal of a member +of the Mormon Battalion which determines the date of the event which +startled the world. Usually the 19th of January is given as the date, +but in his History of California, Bancroft discusses the subject as +follows: + +"The 19th of January is the date usually given; but I am satisfied it is +incorrect. There are but two authorities to choose between, Marshall, +the discoverer, and one Henry W. Bigler, a Mormon engaged upon the work +at the time. Besides confusion of mind in other respects, Marshall +admits that he does not know the date. On or about the 19th of +January," he says (Hutchings' Magazine, II, 200); "I am not quite +certain to a day, but it was between the 18th and 20th." Whereupon the +19th has been generally accepted. Bigler, on the other hand, was a cool, +clear-headed, methodical man; moreover he kept a journal, in which he +entered occurrences on the spot, and it is from this journal I get my +date. If further evidence be wanting, we have it. Marshall states that +four days after the discovery he proceeded to New Helvetta [identical +as to the location with Sutter's Fort] with specimens. Now, by reference +to another journal, New Helvetta Diary, we find that Marshall arrived at +the Fort on the evening of the 28th. If we reckon the day of discovery +as one of the four days, allow Marshall one night on the way, which +Parsons gives him, and count the 28th one day, we have the 24th as the +date of discovery trebly proved. + +[Illustration: Facsimile of Henry W. Bigler's Journal, from a +photograph] + +=The Tide of Western Civilization Started.=--The discovery of gold is the +historical event that turned the eyes of the civilized world to +California. Within a year it started that mighty wave of western +emigration from all parts of the United States, many parts of Europe, +and even from Asia. It was to be a subject of the President's message to +Congress before the close of the year; within two years it would make +California one of the sovereign states of the American Union, with a +population of nearly one hundred thousand; in seven years it would +result in adding nearly five hundred million dollars to the world's +store of gold; and then as the gold from soil and sand was exhausted, +and costly operations upon gold-bearing quartz ledges, and delving into +the earth were required to secure the precious metal, many men who had +come to the mines turned their attention to agriculture and to +horticulture and found in the grain fields, vineyards and orchards of +the Pacific slope, even a greater source of wealth than in the gold +mines. + +For a time an effort was made to keep the discovery of gold quiet, but +gradually it became known, and the secret of the Sierras was revealed to +the world, with the result already noted. San Francisco, however, was +indifferent for some time, the final conversion of that town to the +discovery of gold did not take place until Samuel Brannan, the leader +of the Brooklyn Colony of Mormons to California, came down from Sutter's +Fort--where he had a store--to San Francisco, in company with a number +of others who had with them specimens of collected gold in both dust and +nuggets. Brannan, holding in one hand a bottle of yellow dust, and with +the other swinging his hat, rushed down the street shouting, "Gold! +Gold! Gold! from the American River." This in May; and soon afterwards +San Francisco was deserted for the gold-fields. + +=The Mormon Battalion "Diggings" on the American River.=--The spare time +of the Mormons at Sutter's saw-mill was devoted to washing out gold in +the millrace and from the deposits of the sand bars along the river. +Henry Bigler on the 21st of February wrote to members of the Battalion +at Sutter's Fort, telling them of the discovery of gold, but cautioned +them to impart the information only to those who could be relied upon to +keep the secret. They entrusted it to three other members of the +Battalion. Six days later three of the number, Sidney Willis, Levi +Fifield, and Wilford Hudson, came up to the saw-mill, and frankly told +Mr. Sutter they had come to search for gold, and he gave them permission +to mine in the tail of the millrace. The next day they began work and +were fairly successful. Hudson picked out one piece of gold worth six +dollars. After a few days, however, these men felt under obligations to +return to the Fort as they had given it out that they were merely going +to the saw-mill on a visit and a few days' shooting. Returning, Willis +and Hudson followed down the stream for the purpose of prospecting. +Fifield, accompanied by Bigler, followed the wagon road. About half way +between the saw-mill and the Fort, Hudson and Willis, on a bar opposite +a little island in the river, found a small quantity of gold, not more +than half a dollar in value; and while the smallness of the find filled +the two prospectors with disgust, the other Battalion members at the +fort insisted upon being taken to the point where the gold had been +found, that "together they might examine the place." "It was with +difficulty that they prevailed upon them to do so," remarks Bancroft; +but finally Willis and Hudson consented, "and the so lately slighted +spot," continues the historian of California, "presently became famous +as the rich 'Mormon Diggins:' the island, 'Mormon Island,' taking its +name from these Battalion boys who had first found gold there." + +But notwithstanding this new discovery by these members of the +Battalion, and notwithstanding their development of the discovery of Mr. +Marshall, and the huge excitement which followed, and the fact that +whenever they could get released a day from their duty to their employer +they could usually obtain in gold several times over their day's wages, +history has to record that they were true to their engagement to Mr. +Sutter. "They had promised Sutter," says Bancroft, "to stand by him and +finish the saw mill, this they did, starting it running on the 11th of +March. Henry Bigler was still there. On the 7th of April Bigler, +Stephens and Brown presented themselves at the fort to settle accounts +with Sutter." + +=The Call of Duty.=--The call of duty was also pressing upon these +Battalion men from another direction. The instructions from the Mormon +leaders, to the members of the Battalion, as we have seen, was that they +should remain in California during the winter, but make their way to the +Salt Lake Valley in the spring, bringing their earnings with them. Hence +when settling with Sutter on the 7th of April, the preliminaries were +arranged for this prospective journey to the Great Basin of the Rocky +Mountains. The first of June was fixed upon as the time of their +departure. Notice was given to Sutter accordingly, so that by that time +he could replace the Mormon workmen in his employ by others. Horses, +cattle and the seeds they intended taking with them were to be bought of +him; also two brass cannons to be a defense against possible Indian +attacks enroute, and for defensive use against a like foe in Salt Lake +valley. At first a company of eight went into the mountains to explore a +route, but found the snow too deep for passage at that time. The +constantly growing gold excitement, also, in consequence of its general +unsettling of things, delayed their departure a month beyond the time +fixed upon for starting. Meantime many of the Battalion members availed +themselves of the opportunity to search for gold. Bigler and two others +of the Battalion followed up the American river from the Fort about +fifteen miles, finding gold as they went. Arriving at Mormon Island they +came upon the seven members of the Battalion mining there who that day +had taken out two hundred and fifty dollars. Bigler and his associates +mined for two months about one mile below the saw-mill, dividing with +Sutter and Marshall, who furnished tools and provisions. The land owners +demanded one-half the product for a time; this was finally reduced to +one-third. + +In the midst of this prosperous mining activity, and the daily growing +gold fever, the mad rush from San Francisco and other parts of +California, the members of the Battalion sought out a rendezvous for +their gathering preparatory to the journey across the mountains. The +place of rendezvous was called by them "Pleasant Valley," near the +present site of Placerville, a short distance up the south fork of the +American river, and not far from the place where gold was first +discovered on that stream. Parties came in one after another until the +3rd of July, when about forty-five men and one woman, the wife of one of +the party, had assembled, bringing with them wagons, horses, cattle, and +other effects. On the 3rd a start was made. "As the wagons rolled up +along the divide between the American river and the Cosumnes, on the +national 4th," writes H. H. Bancroft, "their cannon thundered +independence before the high Sierras." "Thus," as further remarked by +the author here followed, "amidst the scenes now every day becoming more +and more absorbing, bringing to the front the strongest passions in +man's nature, * * * at the call of what they deemed duty, these devotees +of their religion unhesitatingly laid down their wealth-winning +implements, turned their back on what all the world was just then making +ready with hot haste and mustered strength to grasp at, and struggle +for, and marched through new toils and dangers to meet their exiled +brethren in the desert." + +The fame of having discovered gold may not be claimed for members of the +Mormon Battalion, that belongs to Mr. Marshall, unquestionably, though +the Mormons in camp when it was found, of white men, were in the +majority; and the shovels in their industrious hands it was which threw +up the gold-laden soil; and they were the first to extend the discovery; +and theirs the honors to first chronicle the date and fact of the event +that was to mean so much to the Pacific coast of America, and to the +world. But while the honor of making the mere discovery of gold may not +be claimed for them, that which is infinitely better may be claimed for +them, the honor of writing into the annals of California and of the +world's history this fine example of fidelity to duty, detailed above; +and which is not over-matched in any of the records written by men. + +=Ascent of the Sierras from the Western Side.=--It was a difficult task to +cut a wagon road from the west side through the lofty Sierras that faced +them. A task of infinite toil and in the presence of great danger from +the lurking savages. Three pioneers who had insisted upon going in +advance to blaze the route for the main company had been murdered by the +Indians. These pioneers were named Daniel Browett, Ezra H. Allen, and +Henderson Cox. The main camp came upon their mutilated bodies at a +spring which, because of this event, still bears the name "Tragedy +Spring." What numbers of these savages the main company would encounter, +what their mood would be--murderous or friendly--of course could not be +conjectured, it was of the dangers they must risk. By almost incredible +toil and patience, however, this company of Mormon Battalion men +conquered the ascent of the Sierras from the western side, hewing a +roadway for their seventeen wagons through stony heights, and in like +manner down steep declivities and narrow gorges, until the eastern +sloping deserts beyond were reached, and finally the valley of the Great +Salt Lake,--about the first of October, 1848,--to them, for the time, +the place to which duty had called them. + +=Wagon Trail From Los Angeles to Salt Lake.=--The company that re-enlisted +at Los Angeles for six months beyond the Battalion's original term of +enlistment, served eight months and then were mustered out of the +service. Some of these on being disbanded went by way of the coast to +the mines or engaged in other industries in California for a time, but +most of them finally made their way to Salt Lake valley in the course of +one or two years, though a few remained permanently in California. A +squad of twenty-five from this company, however, on being mustered out +of the service, organized at once for the journey to Salt Lake valley, +taking with them one wagon and a band of one hundred and thirty-five +mules. They went by way of what was called the "southern route;" +hitherto, however, traveled only by packers, and the wagon of this +Battalion company was the first to make the journey over the pack trail. +This company reached Salt Lake valley on the 5th of June, 1848. + +=Evidence of Appreciation of the Battalion's Services.=--The best evidence +that the service of the Mormon Battalion was honorable and appreciated +by both the people of California and the U. S. government, exists in the +fact of the efforts that were made on the part of both the people and +the government to prolong their service, some of which efforts have +already been noted in these pages. As the time approached for the +company that had re-enlisted to be mustered out of service--known as the +"Company of Mormon Volunteers,"--the people of San Diego drafted a +petition, begging the governor to use his influence to keep the company +in the service. The petition was signed by every citizen in the town, +and Governor Mason tried hard to induce the company to remain in the +service another year; failing in that, then to stay six months longer; +all to no purpose, however; the "Volunteers" were determined to join +their friends and families in Salt Lake valley, and made the journey as +stated above. + +=Efforts to Raise a Second Mormon Battalion.=--When the Battalion proper +was mustered out of service in July, 1847, efforts were set on foot at +that time to raise a second "Mormon Battalion," of which Captain +Jefferson Hunt was to be given the command, with the office of +Lieutenant-Colonel, the office held by its first commander Allen, and +later by Col. Cooke. It is learned from a report made by Governor Mason +that the war department, and hence the national administration, also +sought the enlistment of this second Battalion. + +In his report to the Adjutant General of September 18th, 1847, Governor +Mason says: + +"Of the service of this Battalion, of their patience, subordination, and +general good conduct, you have already heard; and I take great pleasure +in adding that as a body of men they have religiously respected the +rights and feelings of these conquered people, and not a syllable of +complaint has reached my ears of a single insult offered or outrage done +by a Mormon volunteer. So high an opinion did I entertain of the +battalion and of their special fitness for the duties now performed by +the garrisons in this country, that I made strenuous efforts to engage +their service for another year."[74:f] + +The month following, after Governor Mason had met Captain Brown of the +Pueblo detachment, and received his report, and paid off that division +of the command; also after Captain Hunt, who had been for some time +acting as Indian agent at Luis del Rey, was well on his way to Salt Lake +valley to raise the proposed 2nd Battalion of Mormon Volunteers, +Governor Mason wrote to Washington: + +"Captain Brown (after making his report and receiving the pay of the +Pueblo detachment) started immediately for Fort Hall. * * * He reported +that he had met Captain Hunt, late of the Mormon Battalion, who was on +his way to meet the emigrants and bring into the country this winter, if +possible, a battalion, according to the terms offered in my letter to +him of the 16th of August, a copy of which you will find among the +military correspondence of the department. In my letter I offered +Captain Hunt, the command of the battalion, with the rank of +lieutenant-colonel, with an adjutant; but I find, by the orders lately +received, that a battalion of four companies is only entitled to a major +and acting adjutant. I will notify Captain Hunt of this change at as +early a moment as I can communicate with him. I am pleased to find by +the despatches that in this matter I have anticipated the wish of the +department."[75:g] + +When, however, the subject of raising a second Battalion was presented +to Brigham Young, both through Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson, of the New +York regiment of volunteers, prompted by Governor Mason, also through +Captain Hunt in person, the proposition was declined. Regarding the +first enlistment from the standpoint alone of the sacrifices it +involved, President Young saw no occasion to make like sacrifices a +second time, and no effort was made in Utah to raise a second Mormon +Battalion. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[58:a] Tyler's Battalion, pp. 286-7. + +[59:b] Tyler's Battalion, pp. 281-2. + +[62:c] Others place the price paid for this tract of land at $3,000.00 +(Whitney's History of Utah, Vol. I, p. 375; Bancroft's Utah, p. 307, +note 4). I think the statement in John Smith's letter to Brigham Young +the more reliable, since the high council over which he presided advised +the purchase to be made, and would most likely know the price paid. + +There is also some confusion as to the time of the purchase. June 6th, +1848, is the time fixed upon by Jenson's Chronology, 1899 edition, p. +35. Whitney following the Brown family tradition places the time of the +purchase late in December, 1847, or early in January, 1848; and the +return of Captain Brown from California in December, 1847. Whereas +Brigham Young's Journal History--quoting John Smith's letter--referred +to above--places the date of the Captain's return "about the middle of +November, 1847"; and that he brought with him "about $5,000.00, mostly +in gold." Others say $10,000.00 in Mexican doubloons. Brown was gone (i. +e. from Salt Lake Valley) three months and seven days, History of +Brigham Young, Ms. March 6th, 1848, p. 16. + +[62:d] Bancroft's History of Utah, p. 307, note 3; he cites Stanford's +"Ogden City," Ms. p. 1, and F. D. Richards' Narrative, Ms. Both are +reliable sources of information. + +[64:e] Their names given by Bancroft are as follows--I add the given +names: Henry W. Bigler, Alexander Stephens, James S. Brown, James +Barger, William Johnson, Azariah Smith, William Ira Willis, Sidney +Willis, (Brothers) William Koutze (History of California, Vol. VI., p. +31, note). The brothers Willis and Koutze returned in September to work +on Sutter's flour mill, so they were not in the Coloma valley at the +time of the gold discovery. Israel Evans is given in addition to the +above by James S. Brown in his "California Gold, an Authentic History," +p. 6. (Hist. Cal., Vol. V., p. 31, note.) + +[74:f] Cal. and New Mexico Mess. and Doc. 1850; also quoted by Bancroft +Hist. Cal. Vol. V., p. 492. + +[75:g] Cal. and New Mex. Mess. and Doc. 1850, p. 355. Also quoted by +Bancroft, Hist. Cal., Vol. V., p. 494, note. + + + + +IX. + +THE BATTALION IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF SEVENTY-THREE YEARS. + + +The story of the Mormon Battalion is now before the reader. The +perspective of seventy-three years corrects many of the misapprehensions +that once obtained respecting the purpose of its being called, and its +mission. And as this perspective corrects the misconceptions of the +past, so also does it enable us to recognize the real importance and +value of the incident and the greatness of the achievements of this +Battalion of the United States' troops, for such they were, and the +matter of their coming from the westward migrating camps of the Mormon +people should not be allowed to obscure that fact. + +=The Battalion as Utah Pioneers.=--Also it should be always held in mind +that the members of the Battalion were among the pioneers and founders +of the state of Utah. For though the main body of the Battalion went to +California its members were never for a day separated in thought or +purpose from the main body of their people, whom they had assisted in +their westward-moving pilgrimage by the means sent to them from their +pay; both from Fort Leavenworth and from Santa Fe; the seeds and the +tents and arms equipment they brought with them when returning from +their historic march; and the newly mined gold for currency. All of +which was so helpful in founding the commonwealth to be, to say nothing +of the advantage their service in the army of the west had been to +their people in securing the effective element in the plea for their +right to occupy Indian lands along the Missouri river in Iowa and +Nebraska. Besides one hundred and fifty of their number with their +tents, arms, teams, wagons and other equipment, quartered at Pueblo +during the winter of 1846-7, followed so closely upon the heels of the +first company of pioneers led by Brigham Young, that they arrived in the +Salt Lake Valley only five days after the advent of the first pioneer +company. + +=Achievements of the Battalion.=--Four great movements made possible the +development of the west--the great intermountain region and the Pacific +slope. These were: + + 1. The opening of the highways; + + 2. The conquest of northern Mexico; + + 3. The discovery of gold in California; + + 4. The adoption of irrigation farming by an Anglo-Saxon people. + +In all of these movements the Battalion was an important factor. + +The part the Battalion took in opening the highways to the Pacific has +already been detailed in the story of their march, and fully recognized +in the military order already quoted in these pages, and which is now on +file as a government document in Washington. + +=Territory Added to the United States by the Conquest of Mexico.=--"In +all," says a reliable authority, "more than five hundred and ninety +thousand square miles were added to the territory of the United States +as a result of the [Mexican] war." This included the west half of what +is now the State of New Mexico, the west half of Colorado, all of Utah, +Nevada, Arizona and California. For this territory, which equaled in +extent two-thirds of the territory of the thirteen original states of +the Union, the government paid Mexico $15,000,000. "Including Texas," +says the authority here followed, "the additions of territory were more +than nine hundred and sixty-five thousand square miles."[78:a] Or, as +another historian states it, "territory equal in area to Germany, France +and Spain added together."[78:b] + +=The Gadsden Purchase and the Battalion Route.=--Commenting on the +Battalion's march and the map he made of it, Colonel Cooke says: "A new +administration, (this was the Pierce administration, 1853-1857) in which +southern interests prevailed, with the great problem of the +practicability and best location of a Pacific railroad under +investigation, had the map of this wagon route before them with its +continuance to the west, and perceived that it gave exactly the solution +of its unknown element, that a southern route would avoid both the Rocky +Mountains and Sierra Nevadas, with their snows, and would meet no +obstacle in this great interval. The new 'Gadsden Treaty' was the +result: it was signed December 30, 1853." This purchase added to the +territory of the United States forty-five thousand five hundred and +thirty-five square miles; for which was paid $10,000,000. The purchase +was made by James Gadsden of South Carolina, minister to Mexico, hence +the name Gadsden Purchase.[78:c] + +In addition to the wagon road opened westward through southern New +Mexico, Arizona, and California, we have seen that it was a detachment +of twenty-five discharged members of the Battalion which brought the +first wagon through from the coast via Cajon Pass to Salt Lake Valley, +following what is now the general course of the San Pedro, Los Angeles +and Salt Lake railroad, and which became known in the early Utah +California times as the southern California route to the coast. Also, as +we have seen, the Battalion members returning from the gold fields of +the American river region cut a new wagon road, much of the way, for +their seventeen wagons and two cannons from the western side of the +Sierra, across the summit of that lofty range, thence down to the +eastern sloping deserts of Nevada, and so to Salt Lake Valley. + +The conquest of Northern Mexico, including, of course, California and +Utah, as well as New Mexico and [Transcriber's Note: text is missing in +the original] lence of their conduct, not only on the march to the +Pacific fleet of the American navy, and the "Army of the West," the main +division of which was under the command of General Stephen W. Kearny. +The Battalion's part in the conquest is detailed in the foregoing +narrative, and also is acknowledged in the military order by Col. Cooke, +referred to several times and given in full in a preceding page of this +book. + +In addition to all this, the Battalion reflected great credit upon the +community of Utah pioneers--of whom it never ceased to be a part--by +reason of the excellence of their conduct not only on the march to the +Pacific coast, but also when doing garrison duty in southern California. +The efforts to secure the re-enlistment of the Battalion, and, failing +that, the effort to secure the enlistment of a second Mormon Battalion, +were the conscious confessions of both California and federal +officials--since both participated in such efforts--to the worth of +these United States soldiers. "They religiously respected their rights +and feelings of the conquered people of California; not a syllable of +complaint of a single insult offered, or any outrage done by a Mormon +volunteer," is the record of the Battalion, and the re-enlisted +volunteers, according to the report of them by Governor Mason. Such is +the reputation of the Battalion; of its officers, chosen from its ranks; +and of its men, the rank and file. + +The part the Battalion played in the discovery of gold has already been +detailed. + +=Connection with Irrigation.=--The connection of members of the Battalion +with the introduction of irrigation among an Anglo-Saxon people, and +most likely coming from their suggestion, is a deduction from +circumstances rather than a fact sustained by direct and positive proof. +When Brigham Young's company of pioneers were about to leave Green River +on July 4, 1847, they were overtaken by a detachment of thirteen men +from the Battalion, who were in pursuit of men who had stolen horses +from their camps some seven days' travel eastward. These men had been +with the several invalided detachments from the Battalion--about 150 in +all--that had wintered at Pueblo, in what is now the state of Colorado. +They were incorporated into the pioneer company and came on with it to +Salt Lake valley, and undoubtedly members of this group would be upon +the ground that 23rd day of July, when ploughing was first attempted on +the south fork of City Creek, on the present site of Great Salt Lake +City. + +The annals of that day say that the ground was so dry and hard that in +the attempt to plow it several plows were broken. Whereupon, at +someone's suggestion--who it was that made it the annals do not +disclose, and it is not known--a company was set at work to put in a dam +in the creek and flood the land in order to plow it. This was the +beginning of Anglo-Saxon irrigation. + +As already stated, who it was that made the fortunate suggestion that +the water be turned out upon the land in order to make it possible to +plow it, is not known, but we have seen that thirteen members of the +Battalion were among the pioneers, and some of them had seen irrigation +in operation among the Mexicans at Santa Fe and further south in the +valley of the Rio Grande. What more likely than that some of those men +who had seen irrigation in progress should suggest the flooding of the +land to prepare it for plowing, as they had seen it conducted over the +land to convey moisture to the growing vegetation? The probability of it +has moral certainty. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[78:a] History U. S. (Morris), 1877 ed., p. 326. + +[78:b] History of the U. S. (Fiske), 1877 ed., p. 336. + +[78:c] Conquest of Mexico and California--Cooke, p. 159. Also History of +the United States--Morris, p. 326. + + + + +X. + +THE SUBSEQUENT DISTINCTION ACHIEVED BY THE BATTALION'S COMMANDING +OFFICERS. + + +[Illustration: Philip St. George Cooke] + +It may be of interest, and certainly it belongs to the history of the +Battalion, to say that its commanding officer and the two lieutenants of +the regular army, his staff officers, rose later to honorable +distinction during the war between the States. + +=Colonel Cooke.=--Col. Cooke, after returning to the east with Stephen W. +Kearny, continued in the military service of the United States and was +active in the Kansas-Nebraska troubles of the early fifties. In 1857-8 +he commanded the cavalry in the Johnston expedition to Utah; and it is +of record that when that command passed through the streets of Salt Lake +City, en route from the mouth of Emigration Canyon to the place of its +encampment west of the Jordan, the Colonel rode with uncovered head, +through the city; "out of respect to the brave men of the Mormon +Battalion he had commanded in their march to the Pacific." + +For a time after the departure of Albert Sidney Johnston for the east, +or rather to the south,--for that officer espoused the cause of the +Southern Confederacy, against the Union, Col. Cooke for a time was in +command of "Johnston Army" at Camp Floyd, in Cedar Valley, west of Utah +Lake. + +During the Civil War Col. Cooke though a Virginian served on the side of +the Union army, and rose through the grade of brigadier general (1861), +to the rank of brevet Major General (1865). + +=Lieut. A. J. Smith.=--Lieutenant A. J. Smith in the same war rose from +the grade of commander of California volunteers to that of brigadier +general of volunteers (1862); and to major general of volunteers (1864). +In the battle of Nashville he commanded the sixteenth corps of General +Thomas' right, and received the brevet of major general in the regular +army for his services in that battle. + +=Lieut. George Stoneman.=--Lieutenant George Stoneman in 1861 was in +command at Fort Brown, Texas, with the rank of captain. Later he was in +command of the Union cavalry in the Peninsula campaign. After the death +of General Philip Kearny, at Chantilly, Stoneman took the command of the +fallen general's division, and commanded the Third Corps at +Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville he commanded the federal cavalry. In +a raid upon Andersonville, the object of which was to liberate the +federal soldiers imprisoned there, he was captured by the confederates. +After the war he was in command of one of the many military departments +created by the government; and from 1883 to 1887 was governor of +California. + + + + +XI. + +ANECDOTES. + + +Col. Cooke in addition to natural austerity of temperament was a strict +disciplinarian, and generally held himself aloof from the men. A few +anecdotes that fortunately survived the march, and which were related by +Wilford Woodruff at the celebration of Pioneer's Day, in 1880, show the +Colonel in some of his better moods, and witness the fact that he could +be somewhat broadly tolerant of the independent attitude of some members +of his Mormon command. The Woodruff narratives follow: + +=Character of Col. Cooke.=--"Those who marched with him (Colonel Cooke) +can understand him much better than I can describe him. I think he +possessed a better heart than his language would sometimes indicate. He +was a strict disciplinarian, and, like Lord Nelson, expected every man +to do his duty. But he had a peculiar streak in his composition at times +that induced him to see how far the Mormon Battalion would go in obeying +his commands and that were inconsistent with reason and good judgment. +As an illustration of this, for the edification or amusement of the +remnant of the Battalion who are present, I will refer to a few +incidents, and if I do not get everything as it transpired, I will get +it as nearly as I can, from the report of those who were present." + +=Col. Cooke and Christopher Layton.=--"On one occasion, while the +Battalion was crossing a river with a ferry-boat, Col. Cooke was sitting +on his mule on the bank looking at them. The boat went down into such +deep water that the setting poles did not touch bottom. 'Try the upper +side,' said he. They did so, but could not touch bottom. The colonel +then took off his hat and said: 'Good bye, gentlemen. When you get down +to the Gulf of California, give my respects to the folks.' He then rode +off and left them, not waiting to see whether they would reach shore or +go down the river. He soon returned and found that they had got ashore. +While sitting there, Christopher Layton rode up to the river on a mule +to let it drink. Col. Cooke said to him, 'Young man, I want you to ride +across the river and carry a message for me to Capt. Hunt.' It being +natural for the men to obey the Colonel's order, he [Layton] tried to +ride into the river, but he had gone but a few steps before his mule was +going in all over. So Brother Layton stopped. The colonel halloed out, +'Go on, young man; go on, young man.' But Brother Layton, on a moment's +reflection, was satisfied that if he attempted it both he and his mule +would stand a good chance to be drowned. The colonel himself was +satisfied of the same. So Brother Layton turned his mule and rode off, +saying, as he came out, 'Colonel, I'll see you in hell before I will +drown myself and mule in that river.' The colonel looked at him a +moment, and said to the by-standers, 'What is that man's name?' +'Christopher Layton, sir.' 'Well, he is a saucy fellow.'" + +=Col. Cooke and Lot Smith.=--On another occasion, (while the Battalion was +at Santa Fe) Col. Cooke ordered Lot Smith to guard a Mexican corral, and +having a company of United States cavalry camped by, he told Lot if the +men came to steal the poles to bayonet them. The men came and surrounded +the corral, and while Lot was guarding one side, they would hitch to a +pole on the other, and ride off with it. When the Colonel saw the poles +were gone, he asked Lot why he did not obey orders and bayonet the +thieves? Lot replied, "If you expect me to bayonet United States troops +for taking a pole on the enemy's ground to make a fire of, you mistake +your man." Lot expected to be punished, and he was placed under guard, +but nothing further was done about it. + +=The Colonel, the Mule and Bigler.=--"Col. Cooke called upon W. H. Bigler +as a provost guard one day to guard his tent. The colonel had a favorite +mule, which was fed some grain on a blanket. One of the freight mules +came up and helped to eat the grain. The Colonel drove him off several +times, but he would follow him again, until the colonel got vexed, and +said to Bigler, 'Is your musket loaded?' 'No sir.' 'Then load it and +give it to me.' Brother Bigler is the last man on earth that any one +acquainted with him would have supposed would have played any tricks on +the colonel. But he took out a cartridge and bit off the ball end, which +he dropped on the ground. He then rammed the powder and paper down the +gun, capped it and handed it to the colonel. Several of the officers of +the Battalion stood looking on. As the mule came back to get the grain +and had arrived within a rod of him, the colonel fired the charge into +its face; but the only effect that it had upon the mule was to cause it +to give a snort, wheel around and kick at him, and then run off a few +rods, after which it turned to come back again. This created a good deal +of amusement with the lookers on. The only remark the colonel made, as +he handed back the musket to Brother Bigler, was, 'Young man, that gun +was not properly loaded.'" + +=Wire, Wire, Damn You Sir.=--"Col. Cooke had rather more sternness than +familiarity in him. When he gave an order, if he was not fully +understood by the soldiers, they did not like to question him. On one +occasion he wanted some wire to fix up his tent. He ordered one of the +soldiers to go to a certain man and get some wire, but he did not speak +plainly and the soldier did not understand what he said. Nevertheless +the soldier started to go on the errand, but began to think that he +could not tell what to ask for. So he went back to the colonel and asked +him what he had told him to get. The colonel said, 'Wire, wire, wire, +damn you sir.' The soldier went to the man and asked for some wire for +Col. Cooke. But the man had not got any wire. 'What did you ask for?' +inquired the colonel, when the man returned. 'I asked for wire, wire, +wire, damn you sir.' 'That will do, that will do, young man. You may go +to your tent.'" + +=Col. Cooke's Respect for the Battalion.=--"These instances show a little +of the kind of temperament Col. Cooke possessed, but he had a good, +generous heart. He entertained great respect for the Mormon Battalion +and he always spoke kindly of them before the government and all men. +When he went through Salt Lake City with Col. A. S. Johnston, in 1858, +he uncovered his head in honor of the Mormon Battalion, that five +hundred brave men that he had led two thousand miles over sandy deserts +and through rocky canyons, in the midst of thirst, hunger, and fatigue, +in the service of their country. May God bless Col. Cooke; and may he +bless the Battalion and their posterity after them."[88:a] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[88:a] Wilford Woodruff in "Utah Pioneers"--1880--pp. 20-22. + + + + +ADDENDA. + +THE BATTALION'S MONUMENT. + + +The March and Achievements of the Mormon Battalion are worthy of +celebration in an enduring form that shall perpetuate the memory of them +to future generations. This has been recognized for many years and the +idea of such a memorial has been kept alive in the community by a +women's organization known as the Daughters of the Mormon Battalion, +composed of direct female descendants of the men of that organization. +Of late years the interest has taken on a wider scope, until now the +whole state of Utah and the surrounding intermountain states have become +awakened to the duty of properly commemorating by a Monument, this +unique event in the history of our country and of the Utah pioneers. + +=The State of Utah Mormon Battalion Monument Commission.=--This awakened +sense of duty led to the creation of the State of Utah Mormon Battalion +Monument Commission, by the twelfth legislature of the State of Utah. It +is instructed to proceed with the erection of a monument upon the +capitol grounds to commemorate the important contribution made to the +early settlement of the state of Utah and the western portion of the +United States by the Mormon Battalion. + +The appointment of this commission and the mandate given to it were the +sequence of an act of the previous legislature (the eleventh), which had +appointed a former commission of seven citizens to investigate the +subject of such a monument, choose a site for it upon the capitol +grounds, select a design and report to the legislature next succeeding. +Accordingly a site was selected, a competition held in which the +architects and the sculptors of Utah and also of the United States were +invited to participate, and in which prominent sculptors and architects +from the whole country did participate, submitting plans and models of +their designs, from which a committee composed of Utah's prominent +artists and architects selected three as winning first, second and third +places, respectively, and to which were awarded cash prizes as per terms +of the competition. Acting upon the judgment of this committee the +design accorded first place was recommended by the Monument Committee to +the twelfth legislature and an appropriation of one hundred thousand +dollars asked for, not to be available, however, before 1920, and only +when a like amount of money should be raised from other sources. + +The report of the first committee resulted, as before stated, in the +appointment of the present Commission, the making of the aforesaid +appropriation of two thousand dollars additional for contingent +expenses, and authorizing procedure with the work. + +Mr. G. P. Riswold, the successful sculptor in the competition, +associated with Messrs. James R. M. Morrison and Mr. Walker, architects, +Chicago, Illinois, were notified of the action of the legislature. The +following spring Mr. Morrison of the firm of the sculptor and associated +architects, being in Salt Lake City, and meeting with some members of +the Commission volunteered the making of a larger model of the design +submitted by Mr. Riswold. This model has been inspected by a special +committee appointed by the Utah State Commission and finally adopted by +the full Commission as the accepted design and model of the monument to +be erected on the Capitol grounds. + +=Description of the Monument.=--The written report of Mr. Samuel C. Park, +formerly mayor of Salt Lake City, made on behalf of the committee that +went to Chicago to inspect the model, to the Utah State Mormon Battalion +Commission--may well be taken for a description of the Mormon Battalion +Monument that it is proposed to erect on the capitol grounds: + +"To the Chairman of Members of the Mormon Battalion Monument Commission: + +"As a member of your subcommittee delegated to go to Chicago to inspect +the model of the proposed Mormon Battalion Monument, I have the honor to +report: + +"* * * The base is in triangular form with concave sides and rounded +corners. + +"A bronze figure of a Battalion man is mounted upon the front corner. +Flanking him on two sides of the triangle are cut in high relief, on the +left, the scene of the enlistment of the Battalion under the flag of the +United States of America; on the right a scene of the march where the +men are assisting in pulling the wagons of their train up and over a +precipitous ascent while still others are ahead widening a cut to permit +the passage of the wagons between the out-jutting rocks. + +"The background is a representation of mountains of the character +through which the Battalion and its train passed on the journey to the +Pacific. + +"Just below the peak in the center and in front of it is chiseled a +beautiful head and upper part of a woman, symbolizing the 'Spirit of the +West.' She personifies the impulsive power and motive force that +sustained these Battalion men and led them, as a vanguard of +civilization, across the trackless plains and through the difficult +defiles and passes of the mountains. + +"The idea of the sculptor in the 'Spirit of the West' is a magnificent +conception and should dominate the whole monument. + +"The bronze figure of the battalion man is dignified, strong and +reverential. He excellently typifies that band of pioneer soldiers which +broke away through the rugged mountains and over trackless wastes. + +"Hovering over and above him the beautiful female figure, with an air of +solicitous care, guards him in his reverie. Her face stands out in full +relief: the hair and diaphanous drapery waft back mingling with the +clouds while the figure fades into dim outline in the massive peaks and +mountains, seeming to pervade the air and the soil with her very soul. + +"'The Spirit of the West' is but one of the many attributes of Deity +symbolizing that Infinite Love and care which the Deity has for all his +children and it represents the hope, courage, and determination which +moved and impelled the Battalion Man, his comrades and all the others +who have followed in their footsteps in the settlement and development +of the great west. + +"It is the Spirit back of the breaking of the soil by the farmer, back +of the institution of our schools, back of our mines, back of our +government and of our very hearthsides. It permeates the air, the soil +and the hearts of men. It tempers the character of all who come within +the influence of the boundless plains and majestic peaks. It has led men +to make a garden of a desert and a treasure house of the mountain. It +has justified and approved every sacrifice to make this part of the +world a better place in which to live. It is constant, never +ending--infinite. + +"It is pleasant to contemplate these thoughts as expressed in the model, +at this time when the world is all but overcome with the idea of +individualism, and while new governments, shifting as the sands, +conceived in greed, envy and malice daily are born, struggle and die. + +"Our proposed monument represents and commemorates such ideal in +co-operation, steadfastness and progress as should be a lesson and an +inspiration to this and to succeeding generations. + +"The back of the monument has been most happily designed. + +"It is the third side of the triangle and remains to be described. + +"The central idea is the dimly suggested figure of an Indian woman, of +the southwestern type, whose head shows in relief against the background +peaks and whose body and outstretched arms draped in the customary +blanket are faintly suggested in the crags and rocks. In fact the head +is the only part of the figure that is chiseled clear in outline, the +balance of the figure being only dimly suggested." + +=Evanishment of Race.=--"Just as the 'Spirit of the West' in the front +dominates and pervades so this figure has the air of receding and +disappearance. The evanishment of a former race. The figure is heroic in +size and beautifully conceived. On either side, really on the lower +folds of the blanket or on the rocks whereon the blanket is suggested, +are two more scenes incidental to the journey and labors of the +battalion. On the right half is a scene at Sutter's mill where some of +the battalion members in digging the tailrace for the mill turned up +the first gold bearing gravel that led to the great gold rush to +California in ''49,' and contributed so many millions to the wealth of +the country. + +"On the left half is shown a battalion man digging a ditch and leading +the water from a creek to overflow the land so that the pioneers could +break the ground that had shattered their plow points and broken their +plows. + +"This was the introduction of irrigation into Utah. + +"The back of the monument in its conception and treatment, by its +stateliness and suggested grandeur and what the artists call +'atmosphere' made a distinct impression upon the committee and no +changes or modifications were thought of nor suggested. It seemed a very +happy solution of a difficult problem. + +"From the irrigating stream and the tail-race of the mill it is designed +to have small streams of flowing water forming a pool in the shape of a +half moon at the rear and so arranged as to pass this water through to +the other side to form two pools or lagoons on the front side of the +monument. + +"Immediately surrounding the monument the architects have laid out a +pavement in red brick tile with a border of an Indian design. This dark +tile will save the glare and dazzling reflection of the bright sun of +our clear atmosphere upon a white granite monument. + +"There are also graceful and symmetrical walks, a granite coping and +seats suitably located and arranged to give everyone ample opportunity +for a casual or studied view of the monument and its parts. + +"Beyond these walks and seats immediately around the monument, the +pools, lagoon and walks are designed to join in and harmonize with the +rest of the capitol grounds. + +"Nothing like this monument has ever been designed or built before. It +is original and unique. Few states can boast the achievements such as +are commemorated in this design. More than 72 years have elapsed since +the battalion made its memorable march, and the most of its members have +passed to the great beyond. So this monument should be built at once if +we are to proceed according to first hand evidence and information and +not according to more or less fanciful and legendary tales concerning +them and their difficult journey. + +"It is sufficiently creditable and glorifying to tell their history as +it was and without adornment. The most important events are to be shown +in bronze and stone upon this monument. + +"Its execution will certainly tax the sculptor to his utmost, but I +believe it is in thoroughly capable hands and when built will be one of +the really great monuments of the United States. * * * + +"Therefore, let us adhere to the proposed model with steadfast purpose +to build it not only as an added attraction to the many we have for the +tourist and visitor, but more especially as an object of great interest +for study and inspiration for our children and our children's children." + +=The Duty of the People of Utah.=--Such is the Monument to be erected in +commemoration of this great march of infantry whose achievements are so +closely and inseparably connected with winning for the United States her +present inheritance in the intermountain west and on the shores of the +Pacific. Also whose achievements and glory are so inseparably connected +with the founding of the State of Utah, as the work of part of her +pioneer-state builders. It is the duty of the people of Utah, to whom +appeal is now made, to raise the $100,000 necessary to make the State's +appropriation of a like amount available to build the monument. To fail +in such a duty would be to disgrace the State. No other State in the +Union has such a unique incident to celebrate as this Battalion incident +in our Utah Pioneer history. It is both heroic and dramatic; and in the +results achieved is one of the largest events contributed by any state +to the history of our country. Utah owes it to the state and to the +nation to build this monument, that memory of this greatest march of +infantry in the world, and the heroism of those who made it, shall not +perish from among men. + +It is the purpose of the Utah State Mormon Battalion Monument Commission +to raise this fund by the 30th day of January, 1920,--Battalion +Day--being the seventy-third anniversary of the official ending of their +march, and arrival upon the shores of the Pacific. The respective +counties have been organized for the campaign for the funds, +subscription lists have been opened. It is proposed to conduct a +campaign of public meetings in the interest of the Monument throughout +Utah and the surrounding states, and give the people of the +inter-mountain west every opportunity to honor themselves and their +posterity and their state by fittingly memorializing the March and +Achievements of the Mormon Battalion. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the +original. + +The following corrections have been made to the text: + + Page iii: The Call of the Battalion. [period missing in + original] + + Page iii: From Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe. [period missing in + original] + + Page iv: From Santa Fe to the Mouth of the Gila. [period + missing in original] + + Page iv: Record of the Battalion in California. [period missing + in original] + + Page v: The Tide of Western Civilization Started 67 [original + has 66] + + Page v: The Mormon Battalion's "Diggings" on the American + River 68 [original has 67] + + Page v: Ascent of the Sierras from the Western Side 72 [original + has 71] + + Page v: Evidence of Appreciation of the Battalion's Services + 73 [original has 72] + + Page v: Efforts to Raise a Second Mormon Battalion 74 [original + has 73] + + Page v: Lieut. George Stoneman [original has Stonemen] + + Page 9: In it Mr. [period missing in original] Little expresses + + Page 14: in the event of [original has or] the Battalion being + raised + + Page 15: locate on Grand Island until [original has untill] + they could + + Page 15: [original has extraneous quotation mark] You can stay + till your husbands + + Page 16: "Four regiments were called [quotation mark missing + in original] + + Page 17: 11th of July, Col. [period missing in original] Thomas + L. Kane + + Page 17: with benevolent [original has benevolant] intentions + + Page 17: His [original has Hisc] written report + + Page 18: The United [original has Unied] States want our + friendship + + Page 18: "This is the first time [original has single quote] + + Page 18: choose the best locations." [quotation mark missing in + original] + + Page 19: affectation at their leave-taking," [original has ','] + + Page 19: firm and hard by frequent use. [period missing in + original] + + Page 19: the canto of debonair [original has debonnair] violins + + Page 22: To volunteer [original has volunter] for a "war-march" + + Page 24: said river some thirty or forty miles. [period missing + in original] + + Page 24: would amount [original has amout] to $42.00 each + + Page 24: pay of the soldiers that had accrued [original has + accured] + + Page 24: first [original has fiirst] sergeant, $16.00 per month + + Page 25: winter supply of the Camp." [quotation mark missing in + original] + + Page 26: where they were destined to go without." [quotation + mark missing in original] + + Page 26: experienced in raising [original has rasing] the + Battalion + + Page 28: commissioned officer of the regular army [original has + mary] + + Page 32: [original has extraneous quotation mark] By special + arrangement + + Page 32: not very available at Santa Fe [original has + extraneous comma] + + Page 36: Through sand, beneath a burning sun." [quotation mark + missing in original] + + Page 36: through Sonora via [original has of] Janos and + Fronteras + + Page 37: 'I will go there or die in the attempt. [period + missing in original]' + + Page 40: message from Captain Comaduran [original has + Comandurau] + + Page 41: "Adjutant." [quotation mark missing in original] + + Page 42: it was signed, December 30, 1853. [period missing in + original] + + Page 43: called tornia, a variety of the mezquit. [period + missing in original] + + Page 45: was [original has kas] "the most trying of any + + Page 45: the skin from the leg of an ox. [period missing in + original] + + Page 46: Near eleven, [A. M. [period missing in original]] I + reached + + Page 46: dependence on muddy wells for five or six + days. [period missing in original] + + Page 48: too narrow by a foot of solid rock. [period missing in + original] + + Page 49: round one side, a cold one around the other. [period + missing in original] + + Page 49: fallen upon the rainy season. [original has extraneous + quotation mark] + + Page 49: "The ill-clad [original has ill-crad] Battalion," he + continues + + Page 49: the announcement that Gen. [period missing in + original] Kearny + + Page 51: of the snow-capped mountains." [quotation mark missing + in original] + + Page 51: military brevity the achievements [original has + achievemets] + + Page 52: these first wagons to the Pacific [original has + Pacifice] + + Page 53: Lieutenants A. [period missing in original] J. Smith + and George Stoneman + + Page 54: "Some had not shaved [quotation mark missing in + original] + + Page 54: a year's growth had to be sacrificed [original has + sacrified] + + Page 55: vermin, and no person, however [original has howevevr] + cleanly + + Page 55: "Colonel Cooke and Lieutenant Stoneman commenced + [quotation mark missing in original] + + Page 55: nine privates of Company A. [period missing in + original] + + Page 59: be accepted. [period missing in original] + + Page 59: induce the Battalion to re-enlist. [period missing in + original] + + Page 60: and work until spring. [period missing in original] + + Page 61: mustered out of the service. [period missing in + original] + + Page 62: $1,950.00, cash down. [original has extraneous + quotation mark] + + Page 63: Goodyear's title amounted to no more [original has + momre] + + Page 65: 24th of January [original has extraneous quotation + mark] while + + Page 65: Jan. [period missing in original] 30th: Clear, and + + Page 65: he does not know the date. [period missing in + original] + + Page 67: date of discovery trebly proved. [original has + extraneous quotation mark] + + Page 67: civilized world to California. [period missing in + original] + + Page 68: Bigler, followed the wagon road. [period missing in + original] + + Page 69: might examine the place." [original has single quote] + + Page 71: Parties [original has Patrties] came in one after + another + + Page 71: national 4th," writes H. [period missing in original] + H. Bancroft + + Page 72: been murdered by the Indians. [period missing in + original] + + Page 73: California and the U. [period missing in original] S. + government + + Page 75: he had met Captain Hunt [original has Hrnt] + + Page 75: rank of lieutenant-colonel, with an adjutant [original + has adjustant] + + Page 75: the wish of the department. [period missing in + original] + + Page 76: and that he [original has be] brought with him + + Page 77: 4. [original has comma] The adoption of irrigation + farming + + Page 77: The part [original has extraneous of] the Battalion + took + + Page 78: government paid Mexico $15,000,000. [period missing in + original] + + Page 78: Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas [original has + Nevavda] + + Page 78: for which was paid $10,000,000. [period missing in + original] + + Page 80: Such is [word is missing in original] the reputation + of the Battalion + + Page 80: The part the Battalion played [word missing in + original] in the discovery of gold + + Page 80: with the several invalided [original has invallided] + detachments + + Page 83: the streets [original has tsreets] of Salt Lake City + + Page 84: grade of brigadier general (1861) [opening parenthesis + missing in original] + + Page 85: natural austerity of temperament [original has + temperment] + + Page 85: from the report of those who were present." [quotation + mark missing in original] + + Page 86: Col. [period missing in original] Cooke said to him + + Page 87: load it and give it to me. [period missing in + original] + + Page 87: was not properly loaded.'" [double quote missing in + original] + + Page 88: You may go to your tent.'" [double quote missing in + original] + + Page 88: Col. [period missing in original] A. S. Johnston, in + 1858 + + Page 89: the erection of a monument [original has monumen] + + Page 90: a site was selected, [comma missing in original] a + competition + + Page 90: Mr. G. P. [period missing in original] Riswold + + Page 90: Mr. [period missing in original] Morrison of the firm + + Page 93: world is all but overcome [original has ovrcome] + + Page 93: being only dimly suggested." [quotation mark missing + in original] + + Page 93: the front dominates and pervades [original has + prevades] + + Page 93: whereon the blanket is suggested [original has + suggsted] + + Page 94: the wealth of the country. [original has comma] + + Page 94: shattered their plow points [original has poitns] + + Page 94: also graceful and symmetrical [original has + symetrical] + + Page 95: with steadfast purpose to build [original has built] + it + + Page 96: with the founding of the [original has te] State + + Page 96: duty would be to disgrace [original has disgrance] + + Page 96: not perish from among men. [period missing in + original] + + Page 96: their state by fittingly memorializing [original has + memoralizing] + + [8:e] Hist. of Brigham Young, [comma missing in original] Ms. + Bk. 2 + + [8:e] (Hist. U. S., [comma missing in original] p. 483) + + [17:q] History of Brigham Young, [comma missing in original] + Ms. Bk. 2 + + [18:s] History of [of missing in original] Brigham Young [comma + missing in original] Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 30-34. + + [19:v] Kane's Lecture [original has Licture] "The Mormons" + + [19:t] History of Brigham Young, [comma missing in original] + Ms. Bk. 2 + + [19:u] History of Brigham Young, [comma missing in original] + Ms. Bk. 2 + + [21:a] [Transcriber's note: Footnote missing in original.] + + [25:e] History of the Mormon Church (Roberts), [comma missing + in original] Americana, March, 1912 + + [30:b] their arrival in Santa [original has Sant] Fe + + [31:d] driven all the [original has he] way from Nauvoo + + [32:e] Personal Narrative by P. St. George Cooke, G. P. + Putnam [original has Putman] and Sons + + [62:g] middle of November, 1847" [quotation mark missing in + original] + + [64:e] time of the gold discovery [original has discvery] + + [75:g] quoted by Bancroft, [comma missing in original] Hist. + Cal. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42152 *** |