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Title: The Mormon Battalion - Its History and Achievements
Author: Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933
Language: English
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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 this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mormon Battalion - Its History and Achievements" ***
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