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(Mormon Battalion) - Using online resource

The Mormon battalion was a force of 500 U.S. Army soldiers that marched from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California, from July, 1846 to January, 1847.

[edit] Formation

Brigham Young's sent a letter on January 26, 1846 to Jesse C. Little, presiding elder over the New England and Middle States Mission. Young asked Little to petition the federal government for aid to help the church travel across the plains. Little arrived in Washington D.C. on May 21, 1846, just eight days after war had been declared on Mexico.

Meeting with President James K. Polk on 5 June 1846, Little asked him to help the church. He offered to help the nation fortify and defend the West. The president offered to raise a battalion of 500, who were to join Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, Commander of the Army of the West, and fight in the Mexican War. Little agreed. Captain James Allen went to the mormon camps in Council Bluffs, Iowa to recruit 5 companies of about 100 men each.

Captain Allen arrived in Mt. Pisgah on June 26, 1846. The mormons there were distrustful of Captain Allen and the true intentions of the government.

Opinion of the federal government was not positive among the mormons at the time. Having refused to protect the church from mobs and conspiring politicians, many felt that they owed the federal government nothing. Joining would not be easy regardless of their negative opinions. The travel from Nauvoo, Illinois to Council Bluffs, Iowa was difficult and the mormons were busy establishing a temporary settlement. Joining the army would mean abandoning their families and church in the very hour of their need.

Captain Allen arrived in Council Bluffs, Iowa on July 1, 1846. Once there, he met with the leaders of the church. Offering to allow them to stay on government property during their exodus in exchange for the raising of the battalion, they soon came to a mutual agreement and trust.

There were positive benefits of joining the army. A regular paycheck would provide their families and the church with much-needed cash to purchase supplies. It would also help restore mutual trust between the United States and the young, slandered church. Most importantly, it would show everyone that the church was not setting out to form a competing nation, but rather to be loyal citizens and expand the reach of the growing United States.

The presiding members urged the men to join the army. An army of five companies with a total 543 men, 33 women (20 serving as paid laundresses), and 51 children, including accompanying family members and volunteers was formed. They were mustered July 16, 1846 in Council Bluffs.

Brigham Young prophesied upon their enlistment:

"Brethren, you will be blessed, if you will live for those blessings which you have been taught to live for. The Mormon Battalion will be held in honorable remembrance to the latest generation; and I will prophesy that the children of those who have been in the army, in defense of their country, will grow up and bless their fathers for what they did at that time. And men and nations will rise up and bless the men who went in that Battalion. These are my feelings in brief respecting the company of men known as the Mormon Battalion. When you consider the blessings that are laid upon you, will you not live for them? As the Lord lives, if you will but live up to your privileges, you will never be forgotten, without end, but you will be had in honorable remembrance, for ever and ever."

[edit] March

formation The Mormon battalion was recruited from Latter-day Saints who were moving west after being forced from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois. They were each paid a clothing allowance which most of them turned over to Brigham Young to help finance the Latter-day Saint's move to the Salt Lake valley. During the march they opened the first southern wagon route to California. While in San Diego they built the first fired clay brick building in southern California. After their discharge from the army, some traveled to Sacramento, where they were a major part of the work force building Sutter's Mill in 1848 when gold was discovered there, which led to the 1849 California gold rush.