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Mormon Battalion, Its History and Achievements-B. H. Roberts · History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution

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Speaker 1: Chapter one of the Mormon Battalion, Its History and Achievements.
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Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Wayne Cook. The Mormon
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Speaker 1: Battalion Its History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts. The
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Speaker 1: march of the Battalion compared with other historical marches. The
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Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Commanding congratulates the Battalion on their safe arrival
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Speaker 1: on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the conclusion
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Speaker 1: of their march of over two thousand miles. History will
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Speaker 1: be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry.
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Speaker 1: So wrote Lieutenant Colonel P. Saint George Cook in Order
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Speaker 1: number one from Headquarters, Mormon Battalion, Mission of San Diego,
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Speaker 1: under date of January thirtieth, eighteen forty seven. If Colonel
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Speaker 1: Cook is accurate in his statement, and one has a
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Speaker 1: right to assume that he is, since he was a
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Speaker 1: graduate of the United States Military Academy of West Point
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Speaker 1: and hence versed in the history of such military incidents,
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Speaker 1: then the march of this battalion is a very wonderful performance.
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Speaker 1: For if history might be searched in vain for an
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Speaker 1: equal march of infantry when Colonel Cook wrote his order
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Speaker 1: number one, then certainly no march of infantry since that
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Speaker 1: time has equaled it. The only other historical marches that
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Speaker 1: are comparable with the Mormon Battalion's march are Xenophons and Donophans,
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Speaker 1: the former in ancient the latter in modern times. Retreat
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Speaker 1: of the ten thousand Xenophan's March is commonly known as
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Speaker 1: the Retreat of the ten thousand, four oh one BC.
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Speaker 1: The account of the retreat is given in zennophans Anabasis.
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Speaker 1: About fourteen thousand Greek soldiers under spartan leader named Clercus,
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Speaker 1: entered the service of a Persian prince, Cyrus, surnamed the
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Speaker 1: younger brother of the then reigning king of Persia and
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Speaker 1: Exerxes the second. The purpose of Cyrus was to deprive
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Speaker 1: his brother of the throne of Persia and reign in
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Speaker 1: his stead. The expedition marched through Asia Minor to Canaxa,
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Speaker 1: near Old Babylon, where an army of nine hundred thousands
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Speaker 1: Persians engaged the army of Cyrus, which with his Greek
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Speaker 1: auxiliaries numbered but three hundred thousand. The smaller army was
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Speaker 1: really successful in the battle, but a rash attempt on
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Speaker 1: the part of Cyrus to slay his brother during the engagement,
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Speaker 1: in which he himself was killed, changed the fortunes of
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Speaker 1: the day. The expedition ended in failure, and hence the
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Speaker 1: retreat of the Greek ten thousand up the valley of
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Speaker 1: the Tigris through our Armenia to Trebizond, a Greek city
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Speaker 1: on the uxigin our modern Black Sea. The march of
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Speaker 1: Greek infantry, though attended with almost incredible hardships from cold,
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Speaker 1: hunger and the assaults of enemies, was not equal to
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Speaker 1: the march of the Mormon battalion for the reason that
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Speaker 1: it covered but fifteen hundred miles as against the two
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Speaker 1: thousand miles covered by the battalion. While the Greek infantry
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Speaker 1: and their retreat numbered more men than the battalion and
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Speaker 1: fought many battles, their march was for the most part
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Speaker 1: through settled lands and along well defined roads, while the
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Speaker 1: greater part of the battalion's march was through desert lands
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Speaker 1: and four hundred and seventy four miles of it through
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Speaker 1: trackless deserts where nothing but savages and wild beasts were found,
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Speaker 1: or deserts where, for want of water, there was no
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Speaker 1: living creature. Donophan's Expedition into Mexico Donophan's March, which occurred
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Speaker 1: in the same year and in the same war in
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Speaker 1: which the battalion served, the War with Mexico eighteen forty six.
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Speaker 1: The march is known as Donophan's Expedition into Mexico. The
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Speaker 1: expedition started from Santa Fe and marched to Matamoras, near
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Speaker 1: where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico,
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Speaker 1: a distance of about thirteen or fourteen hundred miles. Footnote
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Speaker 1: I am aware that the historian of Donophan's expedition, William E. Connolly,
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Speaker 1: credits the expedition with a grand circuit of fifty five
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Speaker 1: hundred miles twenty five hundred miles of which he states
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Speaker 1: was by water, leaving a distance of thirty five hundred
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Speaker 1: miles by land, But he accounts the expedition as starting
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Speaker 1: from Independence, Missouri and returning to it, Whereas the expedition
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Speaker 1: was organized and began its great march at Santa Fe
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Speaker 1: and then in at Matamoras, who had embarked for home
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Speaker 1: and footnote. The march was via El Paso, Chihuahua, Parras, Saltillo,
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Speaker 1: and Monterrey, thence to Mattemoras. Here the expedition embarked for
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Speaker 1: New Orleans, where the men were mustered out of service.
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Speaker 1: The important battles of Brasito and Sacramento were fought en route,
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Speaker 1: the former placing El Paso, and the latter at the
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Speaker 1: city of Chihuahua, capital of the state of the same name.
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Speaker 1: In the hands of the Americans, the expedition numbered about
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Speaker 1: nine hundred men, mostly from Missouri and under the command
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Speaker 1: of Colonel Alexander W. Donophan of that state, and returned
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Speaker 1: to Missouri via the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi.
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Speaker 1: The march overland, it will be observed, was less than
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Speaker 1: that of the battalions for the most part. Moreover, Donophan's
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Speaker 1: march was through a settled country and over roads long
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Speaker 1: used between Santa Fe and points in northern and central Mexico. Besides,
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Speaker 1: the expedition was not exclusively made up of infantry, being
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Speaker 1: mixed cavalry and infantry, and therefore would not strictly come
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Speaker 1: in competition with the battalion, which was entirely of infantry
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Speaker 1: with accompanying baggage wagons. Donophan's expedition is so wonderful a performance, however,
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Speaker 1: and has been so generously acclaimed, that if unmentioned in
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Speaker 1: connection with the performance of the battalion and the contrast
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Speaker 1: made above, it might be thought by some to rival
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Speaker 1: the march of the latter. This, however, is not the
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Speaker 1: case the world's record for a march of infantry. Not
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Speaker 1: even in the World's Great War, now happily ended, has
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Speaker 1: the Mormon Battalion's march been equalled, though in all other
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Speaker 1: things that war has surpassed the previous war experiences of mankind.
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Speaker 1: And since the battalion's march has not been equalled by
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Speaker 1: any march of infantry in the World's Great War, nor
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Speaker 1: in ancient times, it is not likely now, owing to
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Speaker 1: the new methods for the transportation of troops that have
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Speaker 1: been developed, that the Mormon battalions march across more than
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Speaker 1: half of the North American continent will ever be equalled.
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Speaker 1: It will stand as a world's record for a march
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Speaker 1: of infantry. End of Chapter one, Chapter two of the
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Speaker 1: Mormon Battalion Its History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
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Speaker 1: Wayne Cook. The Call of the Battalion. The Mormon Battalion
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Speaker 1: owes its existence to the exodus of the Mormon people
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Speaker 1: from the state of Illinois to the then eighteen forty
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Speaker 1: six little known region of the Rocky Mountain West. The
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Speaker 1: leaders of that people had decided that there was little
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Speaker 1: prospect for their being able to live in peace with
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Speaker 1: their neighbors Illinois or in any of the surrounding states,
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Speaker 1: owing to the existence of strong prejudices against their religion,
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Speaker 1: and therefore there resolved upon seeking a new home in
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Speaker 1: the West quote within the basin of the Great Salt
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Speaker 1: Lake or Bear River Valley, believing that to be a
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Speaker 1: point where a good living will require hard labor and
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Speaker 1: consequently will be coveted by no other people, while it
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Speaker 1: is surrounded by so unpopulous but a fertile country. End
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Speaker 1: footnote from a letter of Brigham Young to President James K. Polk,
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Speaker 1: date of August ninth, eighteen forty six, and a footnote.
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Speaker 1: The Mormon appealed to the United States government for help
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Speaker 1: before the exodus from Illinois began as early as the
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Speaker 1: twentieth of January eighteen forty six, the High Council at
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Speaker 1: Nauvoo made public announcement of the intention of the Mormon
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Speaker 1: people to move to quote some good valley of the
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Speaker 1: Rocky US Mountains end quote. And in the event of
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Speaker 1: President Polk's quote recommendation to build blockhouses and stockade forts
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Speaker 1: on the route to Oregon becoming a law, we have encouragement,
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Speaker 1: they said, of having that work to do, and under
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Speaker 1: our peculiar circumstances, we can do it with less expense
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Speaker 1: to the government than any other people. Six days later,
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Speaker 1: Jesse C. Little was appointed by the Mormon Church authorities
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Speaker 1: president of the Eastern States Mission, and in his letter
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Speaker 1: of appointment was instructed as follows. Quote if our government
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Speaker 1: shall offer any facilities for emigrating to the western coast,
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Speaker 1: embrace those facilities if possible, as a wise and faithful man.
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Speaker 1: Take every honorable advantage of the times you can end
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Speaker 1: quote quote in consonance with my instructions, says mister Little
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Speaker 1: in his report to Brigham Young, which is recorded in
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Speaker 1: the latter's manuscript History. I resolved upon visiting James K. Polk,
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Speaker 1: President of the United States, to lay the situation of
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Speaker 1: my brethren before him, and ask him, as the representative
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Speaker 1: of our country, to stretch forth the Federal arm in
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Speaker 1: their behalf end quote. In pursuance of this design, mister
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Speaker 1: Little obtained a letter of introduction from John H. Steele,
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Speaker 1: Governor of New Hampshire, in which state mister Little had
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Speaker 1: been reared. The Governor, in his letter declared that he
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Speaker 1: had known mister Little from childhood and believed him honest
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Speaker 1: in his views and intentions, and added quote, mister Little
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Speaker 1: visits Washington, if I understand him correctly, for the purpose
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Speaker 1: of procuring or endeavoring to procure the freight of any
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Speaker 1: provisions or naval stores which the Government may be desirous
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Speaker 1: of sending to Oregon, or to any portion of the Pacific.
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Speaker 1: He is thus desirous of obtaining freight for the purpose
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Speaker 1: of lessening the expense of chartering vessels to convey him
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Speaker 1: and his followers to California, were the intend going and
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Speaker 1: making a permanent settlement the present summer end quote from
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Speaker 1: Luke Milburgh, also Peterborough, New Hampshire. Mister Little secured a
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Speaker 1: letter to Honorable Mace Moulton in Washington, which, in addition
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Speaker 1: to vouching for the high character of mister Little, based
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Speaker 1: upon personal knowledge of him for twelve years, announced that
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Speaker 1: he was quote soliciting some aid from the General Government
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Speaker 1: to assist himself and brethren throughout the United States in
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Speaker 1: emigrating to California end quote. In May of the same year,
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Speaker 1: at a church conference held in Philadelphia, mister Little made
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Speaker 1: the acquaintance of the Canes. They were an old and
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Speaker 1: honorable Pennsylvania family. The father, Judge John K. Kine, had
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Speaker 1: been Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania, and at
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Speaker 1: the time of mister Little's visit at his home, he
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Speaker 1: was United States Judge for the District of Pennsylvania, also
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Speaker 1: president of the American Philosophical Society. Doctor Elisha Kent Kane,
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Speaker 1: the famous Arctic explorer and scientist, was his son, as
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Speaker 1: was also Thomas L. Kane, who afterwards served with distinction
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Speaker 1: as colonel and brigadier general in the Union Army in
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Speaker 1: the War between the States. From the latter mister Little
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Speaker 1: received a letter of introduction to Honorable George M. Dallas,
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Speaker 1: Vice President of the United States. Quote he visits Washington,
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Speaker 1: said Caine's letter to mister Dallas, with no other object
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Speaker 1: than the laudable one of desiring aid of the government
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Speaker 1: for his people end quote Vittle's consultation with the President.
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Speaker 1: The arrival of mister Little at Washington on the twenty
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Speaker 1: first of May was most opportune for the business he
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Speaker 1: had in hand. He called upon President Polpe that same evening,
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Speaker 1: in company with a mister Dame of Massachusetts and mister King,
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Speaker 1: a representative of the same state. Sam Houston of Texas,
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Speaker 1: and other distinguished gentlemen were present. News of the capture
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Speaker 1: of an American reconnoitering troop of dragoons under command of
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Speaker 1: Captain Thornton on the east side of the Rio Grande,
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Speaker 1: sixteen of whom were killed, had reached Washington early in May,
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Speaker 1: and enabled the President, in his message to Congress on
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Speaker 1: the eleventh of that month, to say that quote Mexico
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Speaker 1: had invaded our territory and shed the blood of our
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Speaker 1: citizens on our own soil end, which led Congress two
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Speaker 1: days later to declare war and vote the funds necessary
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Speaker 1: to its vigorous prosecution. By the time mister Little called
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Speaker 1: upon the President, the news had reached Washington of the
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Speaker 1: victory of the American forces under General Taylor at the
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Speaker 1: battles of Palo Alto the Resaca de la Palma, fought
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Speaker 1: on the eighth and ninth of May, respectively. News of
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Speaker 1: these victories are aw the worst spirit throughout the land
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Speaker 1: and hastened all the government's schemes for prosecuting the war,
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Speaker 1: including the plan of gathering the Army of the West
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Speaker 1: at Fort Leavenworth under Colonel Stephen W. Kearney to invade
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Speaker 1: New Mexico and ultimately cooperate with the Pacific Fleet, which
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Speaker 1: it was designed, should sweep around to Cape Horn and
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Speaker 1: attack on the Pacific coast of Mexico. It was this
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Speaker 1: Army of the West that the Mormon Battalion was destined
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Speaker 1: to be connected. Mister Little a few days later, was
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Speaker 1: informed by his friends in Washington that the plan for
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Speaker 1: the Mormon participation in this movement to the West, discussed
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Speaker 1: by the President and his cabinet, was for mister Little
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Speaker 1: to go directly to the camps of the Mormon people
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Speaker 1: in the West and have one thousand men fitted out
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Speaker 1: and plunge into California, officershered by their own men. The
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Speaker 1: commanding officer to be appointed by President Polk and to
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Speaker 1: send one th thousand more by way of Cape Horn,
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Speaker 1: who will take cannon in everything needed in preparing defense.
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Speaker 1: Those by land to receive pay from the time Little
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Speaker 1: should see them, and those going by water from September first.
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Speaker 1: At this point, mister Little seems to have taken up
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Speaker 1: the matter personally and directly with the President, and under
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Speaker 1: the date of June first, addressed an appeal to him.
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Speaker 1: In it, mister Little expresses confidence in the President, else
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Speaker 1: he would not have left his home to ask favors
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Speaker 1: of him. For his people, i e. The Mormons, he
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Speaker 1: gave an account of himself and his forefathers who fought
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Speaker 1: quote in the battles of the revolution end quote of
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Speaker 1: his own character, vouched for by his letters of introduction
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Speaker 1: from men of high standing, and then avers that the
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Speaker 1: people he represents are as of high character as himself. Quote.
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Speaker 1: I come to you, he said, fully believing that you
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Speaker 1: will not suffer me to depart without rendering me some
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Speaker 1: pecuniary assistance. Our brethren in the West are compelled to
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Speaker 1: go west, and we in the Eastern country are determined
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Speaker 1: to go and live, and if necessary, to suffer and
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Speaker 1: die with them. Our determinations are fixed and cannot be changed.
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Speaker 1: From twelve to fifteen, thousand have already left Nauvou for California,
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Speaker 1: and many others are making ready to go. Some have
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Speaker 1: gone round Cape Horn, and I trust before this time
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Speaker 1: have landed at the Bay of San Francisco. We have
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Speaker 1: about forty thousand members in British Isles, and hundreds upon
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Speaker 1: the Sandwich Islands, all determined to gather to this place,
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Speaker 1: and thousands will sail this fall. There are yet many
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Speaker 1: thousands scattered through the States, besides the great number in
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Speaker 1: and around Navou, who are determined to go as soon
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Speaker 1: as possible. But many of them are poor but noble
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Speaker 1: men and women, and our destitute of means to pay
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Speaker 1: their passage, either by sea or land. If you assist
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Speaker 1: us in this crisis, said the appeal, I hereby pledge
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Speaker 1: my honor, my life, my property, and all I possess
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Speaker 1: as the representative of this the Mormon people, to stand
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Speaker 1: ready to recall, and that the whole body of the
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Speaker 1: people will act as one man in the land to
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Speaker 1: which we are going. And should our territory be invaded,
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Speaker 1: we hold ourselves ready to enter the field of battle,
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Speaker 1: and then like our patriot fathers, make the battlefield our
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Speaker 1: grave or gain our liberty end quote. Mister Little sins
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Speaker 1: himself agent of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
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Speaker 1: day Saints in the Eastern States. Interviews followed with President
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Speaker 1: Polk on the third, fourth, and fifth of June. Of
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Speaker 1: the visit to the President on the fifth, mister Little
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Speaker 1: writes in his report quote, I visited President Polk informed
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Speaker 1: me that we should be protected in California and that
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Speaker 1: five one hundred or one thousand of our people should
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Speaker 1: be taken into the service officered by our own men.
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Speaker 1: Said that I should have letters from him and from
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Speaker 1: the Secretary of the Navy to the squadron. I waived
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Speaker 1: the President's proposal until evening, when I wrote a letter
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Speaker 1: of acceptance. There followed another and final interview with President
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Speaker 1: Polk on the eighth of June. I called on the President.
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Speaker 1: He was busy but sent me word to call on
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Speaker 1: the Secretary of War. I went to the War Department,
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Speaker 1: but as the Secretary was busy, I did not see him.
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Speaker 1: The President wished me to call at two p m.
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Speaker 1: Which I did and had an interview with him. Expressed
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Speaker 1: as good feelings to our people regarded us as good citizens,
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Speaker 1: said that he had received our suffrages and we should
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Speaker 1: be remembered. He had instructed the Secretary of War to
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Speaker 1: make out our papers, and that I could get away tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: The orders to enlist to Mormon volunteers. Colonel Thomas L.
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Speaker 1: Caine was entrusted with the orders to Colonel. Afterwards, General
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Speaker 1: Stephen W. Kearney and accompanied mister Little as far as
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Speaker 1: Saint Louis. Here they separated Cain to go with his
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Speaker 1: orders to Kearney, then to Fort Leavenworth, and Little to
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Speaker 1: the camps of his people, then moving through southern Iowa.
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Speaker 1: It is not known just what considerations led President Pope
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Speaker 1: to cut down the number of Mormons to be sent
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Speaker 1: to occupy California from two thousand to five hundred, but
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Speaker 1: in the order sent to Colonel Kearney that officer was
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Speaker 1: directed not to take into the service a greater number
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Speaker 1: of Mormons than one third of his command, which was
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Speaker 1: limited to about fifteen hundred men. Quote. It is known,
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Speaker 1: said Kearney's order to enlist Mormon volunteers, that a large
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Speaker 1: body of Mormon emigrants are enroute to California for the
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Speaker 1: purpose of settling in that country. You are desired to
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Speaker 1: use all proper means to have a good understanding with them,
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Speaker 1: to the end that the United States may have their
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Speaker 1: cooperation in taking possession of and holding that country. It
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Speaker 1: has been suggested here that many of these Mormons would
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Speaker 1: willingly enter into the service of the United States and
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Speaker 1: aid us in our expedition against California. You are hereby
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Speaker 1: authorized to muster into service such as can be induced
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Speaker 1: to volunteer, not however, to a number exceeding one third
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Speaker 1: of your entire force. Should they enter the service, they
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Speaker 1: will be paid as other volunteers, and you can allow
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Speaker 1: them to designate, as far as it can be properly done,
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Speaker 1: the persons to act as officers terms of enlistment. Under
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Speaker 1: this order, Kearney issued instructions to Captain James Allen of
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Speaker 1: the First Regular Dragoons to proceed to the camps of
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Speaker 1: the Mormons and endeavor to raise from them four or
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Speaker 1: five companies of volunteers to join him in his expedition
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Speaker 1: to California. The character of the battalion, terms of enlistment
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Speaker 1: pledges of the government are clearly set forth in Allen's instructions.
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Speaker 1: Each company to consist of any number between seventy three
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Speaker 1: and one hundred nine. The officers of each company will
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Speaker 1: be a captain, first lieutenant, and second lieutenant, who will
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Speaker 1: be elected by the privates and subject to your approval.
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Speaker 1: The captains then to appoint the non commissioned officers, also
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Speaker 1: subject to your approval. The companies, upon being thus organized,
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Speaker 1: will be mustered by you into the surface of the
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Speaker 1: United States, and from that day will commence to receive
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Speaker 1: the pay rations and other allowances given to other infantry volunteers,
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Speaker 1: each according to his rank. You will, upon mustering into
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Speaker 1: service the fourth company be considered as having the rank,
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Speaker 1: pay and emoluments of lieutenant colonel and infantry, and are
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Speaker 1: authorized to appoint an addujant, sergeant major, and quartermaster sergeant
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Speaker 1: for the battalion. The companies, after being organized, will be
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Speaker 1: marched to this post, that is Fort Leavenworth, whence the
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Speaker 1: order was issued, where they will be armed and prepared
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Speaker 1: for the field, after which they will, under your command,
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Speaker 1: follow on my trail in the direction of Santa Fe
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Speaker 1: and where you will receive further orders from me. You will,
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Speaker 1: upon organizing the companies, require provisions, wagons, horses, mules, et cetera.
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Speaker 1: You must purchase everything that is necessary and give the
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Speaker 1: necessary drafts upon the Quartermaster and commissary departments at this post,
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Speaker 1: which drafts will be paid upon presentation. You will have
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Speaker 1: the Mormons distinctly to understand that I wish to have
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Speaker 1: them as volunteers for twelve months, that they will be
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Speaker 1: marched to California, receiving pay and allowances during the above time,
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Speaker 1: and at its expiration they will be discharged and allowed
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Speaker 1: to retain as their private property the guns and accouterments
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Speaker 1: furnished to them at this post. Each company will be
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Speaker 1: allowed for women as laundresses, who will travel with the company,
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Speaker 1: receiving rations and other allowances given to the laundresses of
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Speaker 1: our army. With the foregoing conditions which are hereby pledged
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Speaker 1: to the Mormons, and which will be faithfully kept by
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Speaker 1: me and other officers in behalf of the government of
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Speaker 1: the United States, I cannot doubt but that you will
23:29
Speaker 1: in a few days be able to raise five hundred
23:31
Speaker 1: young and efficient men for this expedition. End Captain Allen
23:37
Speaker 1: in the Mormon camps. Captain Allen arrived at Mount Piska
23:41
Speaker 1: on the twenty sixth of June, accompanied by three dragoons,
23:45
Speaker 1: and presented to the leading men of that place a
23:47
Speaker 1: circular to the Mormons. In harmony with his instructions. The
23:52
Speaker 1: presiding brethren at Mountpiske did not feel authorized to take
23:56
Speaker 1: any steps in the matter of Captain Allen's communication on
24:00
Speaker 1: the enlistment of a battalion, but gave him a letter
24:03
Speaker 1: of introduction to President Young at Council Bluffs, for which
24:07
Speaker 1: place the Captain started immediately and arrived on the thirtieth
24:11
Speaker 1: of June. The following day, he met with President Young
24:14
Speaker 1: and others in council and presented the whole question of
24:18
Speaker 1: raising a battalion from the Mormon camps. The question arose
24:22
Speaker 1: in the minds of the Mormon leaders as to the
24:24
Speaker 1: disposition of the camps, which would be materially crippled by
24:28
Speaker 1: the withdrawal of so many young, strong, and able bodied men. Already,
24:33
Speaker 1: the question of wintering the camps and caring for so
24:37
Speaker 1: large an amount of stock possessed by them loomed large
24:40
Speaker 1: among their difficulties. About one hundred and fifty miles through
24:44
Speaker 1: the west, at Laplatte River was Grand Island, fifty two
24:48
Speaker 1: miles long, with an average width of a mile and
24:51
Speaker 1: three quarters and well timbered. In the neighborhood of which
24:54
Speaker 1: were also immense areas of grass that might be cut
24:57
Speaker 1: for hay, and the rank growth of rushes here and there,
25:00
Speaker 1: along the extensive river bottoms would enable much of the
25:03
Speaker 1: stock to winter on this range. Could government permission be
25:07
Speaker 1: obtained for a large contingent of the camp to be
25:10
Speaker 1: stationed there. This country, as well as the one the
25:13
Speaker 1: camps were then occupying, was within the Louisiana Purchase and
25:18
Speaker 1: largely divided into Indian reservations, hence could only be occupied
25:22
Speaker 1: by the Whites by permission of the government. The question
25:26
Speaker 1: of government permission, therefore, in the event of the battalion
25:30
Speaker 1: being raised, was submitted to Captain Allen, and he assumed
25:34
Speaker 1: the responsibility of saying that the camps might locate on
25:37
Speaker 1: Grand Island until they could prosecute their journey. In his
25:41
Speaker 1: speech made to the camp that same day, the captain
25:45
Speaker 1: promised to write President Pope to give leave to the
25:48
Speaker 1: Mormon camps to stay on the route wherever it was necessary.
25:52
Speaker 1: At a council meeting held later in the day, on
25:55
Speaker 1: Brigham Young asking Captain Allen if an officer enlisting men
26:00
Speaker 1: in an Indian country had not a right to say
26:02
Speaker 1: to their families, you can stay until your husband's return.
26:06
Speaker 1: The captain replied that he was the representative of President
26:10
Speaker 1: Polk and could act till he notified the President, who
26:14
Speaker 1: might ratify his engagements or indemnify for damages. The President
26:19
Speaker 1: might give permission to travel through Indian country and stop
26:22
Speaker 1: whenever and wherever circumstances required. After the first council meeting
26:27
Speaker 1: between Captain Allen and the Mormon leaders, a public meeting
26:30
Speaker 1: was held at noon on the same day. Brigham Young
26:34
Speaker 1: introduced Captain Allen, who addressed the people. He said he
26:38
Speaker 1: was sent by Colonel Stephen W. Kearney, through the benevolence
26:42
Speaker 1: of James K. Polk, President of the United States, to
26:46
Speaker 1: enlist five hundred of our men, that there were hundreds
26:49
Speaker 1: of thousands of volunteers ready to enlist in the States.
26:53
Speaker 1: He read his order from Colonel Kearney and the circular
26:56
Speaker 1: which he himself had issued from Mount Piska, and ex
27:00
Speaker 1: end quote footnote history of Brigham young En footnote the
27:07
Speaker 1: statement of Captain Allen that there were hundreds of thousands
27:10
Speaker 1: of volunteers ready to enlist in the states was quite true.
27:14
Speaker 1: The declaration of warp on Mexico by the Congress quote
27:18
Speaker 1: authorized the President to accept the service of fifty thousand
27:21
Speaker 1: volunteers and placed ten millions of dollars at his disposal.
27:26
Speaker 1: The call for volunteers was answered by the prop tender
27:30
Speaker 1: of the service of more than three hundred thousand men
27:33
Speaker 1: end quote quote. Four regiments were called from Illinois. Nine
27:37
Speaker 1: answered the call, numbering eight thousand, three hundred seventy Only
27:41
Speaker 1: four of them, numbering three thousand, seven hundred twenty men,
27:45
Speaker 1: could be taken end quote. Brigham Young's activities and raising
27:50
Speaker 1: the battalion. Brigham Young followed Captain Allen in an address
27:54
Speaker 1: at the aforesaid meeting. His own account of his remarks
27:58
Speaker 1: stand in his manuscle script history as follows. I addressed
28:03
Speaker 1: the Assembly, wish them to make a distinction between this
28:07
Speaker 1: action of the General government and our former oppressions in
28:10
Speaker 1: Missouri and Illinois. I said, the question might be asked,
28:14
Speaker 1: is it prudent for us to enlist to defend our country?
28:18
Speaker 1: If we answering the affirmative, all are ready to go.
28:22
Speaker 1: Suppose we were admitted into the Union as a state
28:25
Speaker 1: and their government did not call on us, we would
28:28
Speaker 1: feel ourselves neglected. Let the Mormons be the first to
28:32
Speaker 1: set their feet on the soil of California. Captain Allen
28:36
Speaker 1: has assumed the responsibility of saying that we may locate
28:39
Speaker 1: on Grand Island until we can prosecute our journey. This
28:43
Speaker 1: is the first offer we have ever had from the
28:45
Speaker 1: government to benefit us. I propose that the five hundred
28:50
Speaker 1: volunteers be mustered, and I would do my best to
28:53
Speaker 1: see all their families brought forward as far as my
28:57
Speaker 1: influence extended, and feed them when I had anything to
29:00
Speaker 1: eat myself. At the close of the public meeting, another
29:05
Speaker 1: council meeting was held, with Captain Allen present, when the
29:09
Speaker 1: question of the people having a right to remain on
29:12
Speaker 1: Indian lands during the absence of the soldiers, and indeed
29:15
Speaker 1: along their whole route of travel, was further considered. Captain
29:19
Speaker 1: Allen withdrew from the council, and the twelve Says Brigham
29:23
Speaker 1: Young continued to converse on the favorable prospect before us.
29:28
Speaker 1: It was arranged that Brigham Young should go to Mount
29:31
Speaker 1: Piske to raise volunteers for the battalion, and that other
29:35
Speaker 1: leaders should prosecute the work of raising volunteers in the
29:38
Speaker 1: camps around Council Bluffs. There was apparently some reluctance among
29:43
Speaker 1: the people to respond to this unexpected call, and it
29:47
Speaker 1: required some considerable persuasion to dispel it. On the eleventh
29:52
Speaker 1: of July, Colonel Thomas L. Kane reached the Mormon camps
29:55
Speaker 1: at Council Bluffs and gave assurance that the General Government
29:59
Speaker 1: had taken the Mormon's case into consideration inferentially with benevolent intentions.
30:06
Speaker 1: When within eleven miles of Mount Piska, Brigham Young and
30:09
Speaker 1: Heber C. Kimball met Jesse C. Little, president of the
30:13
Speaker 1: Eastern States Mission, who reported his labors at Washington. His
30:17
Speaker 1: written report was incorporated in Brigham Young's manuscript history for
30:21
Speaker 1: that year. While at Piska, Brigham Young wrote the camp
30:26
Speaker 1: at Garden Grove and sent his letter by special messenger.
30:30
Speaker 1: After describing the terms of enlistment and the conditions under
30:33
Speaker 1: which the volunteers would be mustered out of service in California,
30:36
Speaker 1: et cetera, he said, they may stay i e. In California,
30:41
Speaker 1: look out the best locations of themselves and their friends,
30:45
Speaker 1: and defend the country. This is no hoax, mister Little
30:50
Speaker 1: President of the New England Churches. He is here direct
30:53
Speaker 1: from Washington, who has been to see the President on
30:56
Speaker 1: the subject of emigrating the Saints to the western coast,
30:59
Speaker 1: and confirms all that Captain Allen has stated to us.
31:03
Speaker 1: The United States want our friendship, and the President wants
31:07
Speaker 1: to do us good and secure our confidence. The outfit
31:10
Speaker 1: of this five hundred men costs us nothing, and their
31:14
Speaker 1: pay will be sufficient to take their families over the mountains.
31:18
Speaker 1: There is a war between Mexico and the United States,
31:21
Speaker 1: to whom California must fall a prey. And if we
31:24
Speaker 1: are the first settlers, the old citizens cannot have a
31:28
Speaker 1: Hancock County or Missouri pretext to mob the Saints. The
31:33
Speaker 1: thing is from above for our good end. Quote. A
31:37
Speaker 1: letter of like spirit was sent by Brigham Young to
31:40
Speaker 1: the trustees at Nauvou. In that letter, the following passage occurs.
31:44
Speaker 1: Quote this is the first time the government has stretched
31:48
Speaker 1: forth its arm to our assistance, and we receive their
31:51
Speaker 1: proffers with joy and thankfulness. We feel confident they the
31:56
Speaker 1: battalion will have little or no fighting. The pay of
31:59
Speaker 1: the five hundred men will take their families to them.
32:03
Speaker 1: The Mormons will then be the old settlers and can
32:06
Speaker 1: have a chance to choose the best locations muster of
32:11
Speaker 1: the battalion. When Brigham Young returned from Moultpiska, a public
32:16
Speaker 1: meeting was held on the thirteenth of July, and the
32:18
Speaker 1: final work of enrollment of the battalion began. At the
32:22
Speaker 1: opening meeting, Brigham Young said, if we want the privilege
32:26
Speaker 1: of going where we can worship God, according to the
32:29
Speaker 1: dictates of our conscience, we must raise the battalion. I
32:33
Speaker 1: say it is right, and who cares for sacrificing our
32:36
Speaker 1: comfort for a few years. I would rather have undertaken
32:40
Speaker 1: to raise two thousand a year ago in twenty four
32:42
Speaker 1: hours than one hundred and one week now end quote.
32:48
Speaker 1: Later he said to the mustering companies, quote, you could
32:51
Speaker 1: not ask for anything more acceptable than this mission. Quote.
32:57
Speaker 1: An American flag, the flag of the United States, brought
33:00
Speaker 1: out from the storehouse of things rescued in the Mormon
33:03
Speaker 1: Exodus of Illinois, was hoisted to a tree mast, and
33:07
Speaker 1: under it the enrollment took place. End quote. Footnote Cain's
33:12
Speaker 1: Lecture the Mormons, page eighty and footnote the enrollment of
33:17
Speaker 1: the battalion was completed on the sixteenth of July, and
33:21
Speaker 1: that day Captain Allen took the organization under his command
33:26
Speaker 1: farewell scenes. There was no sentimental affection in their leave taking,
33:30
Speaker 1: remarks Colonel Cain, and his account of the departure of
33:33
Speaker 1: the battalion from the camps. The afternoon before their departure,
33:38
Speaker 1: a ball was given in their honor. Of this ball,
33:41
Speaker 1: Colonel Kaine says, quote a more merry dancing route I
33:45
Speaker 1: have never seen, though the company went without refreshments, and
33:49
Speaker 1: their ball room was of the most primitive kind. Parentheses
33:54
Speaker 1: under a bowery where the ground had been trodden, firm
33:57
Speaker 1: and hard by frequent use, and parentheses to the canto
34:01
Speaker 1: of debonair violins, the cheer of horns, the jingle of
34:05
Speaker 1: sleigh bells, and the jovial snoring of the tambourine. They
34:10
Speaker 1: did dance none of your minuets or other mortuary processions
34:15
Speaker 1: of gentles in etiquette, tight shoes and pinching gloves, but
34:20
Speaker 1: the spirited and scientific displays of our venerated and merry
34:24
Speaker 1: grand parents, who were not above following the fiddle to
34:27
Speaker 1: the fox chase inn or the gardens of Gray's ferry,
34:30
Speaker 1: French fours, Copenhagen jigs, Virginia reels, and the like. Forgotten
34:35
Speaker 1: figures executed with the spirit of people too happy to
34:39
Speaker 1: be slow or bashful or constrained. Light hearts, lithe figures,
34:45
Speaker 1: and light feet had it their own way from an
34:48
Speaker 1: early hour till after the sun had dipped behind the
34:51
Speaker 1: sharp sky line of the Omaha Hills on the twentieth
34:56
Speaker 1: of July, the Battalion took up its march for Fort Leavenworth,
35:00
Speaker 1: who had derived on the first of August, and began
35:03
Speaker 1: preparations for the Great Western March. End of Chapter two
35:14
Speaker 1: Chapter three of the Mormon Battalion Its History and Achievements
35:20
Speaker 1: by B. H. Roberts. This LibriVox recording is in the
35:23
Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Wayne Cook. Advantages and disadvantages to
35:30
Speaker 1: the Mormons arising from the enlistment of the Battalion. The
35:35
Speaker 1: call for the Mormon Battalion was not an unfriendly act
35:39
Speaker 1: on the part of the United States Government towards the
35:41
Speaker 1: Mormon people. A representative of the Church, as we have seen,
35:46
Speaker 1: had appealed most earnestly to the executive of the Nation
35:49
Speaker 1: for aid in the Western emigrations of that people. And
35:53
Speaker 1: when it was decided by the administration to accept the
35:57
Speaker 1: services of such a force of volunteers, the Mormon leaders
36:01
Speaker 1: received the decision as an answer to their appeal for aid,
36:06
Speaker 1: a sacrifice nevertheless, but notwithstanding that government service was asked
36:12
Speaker 1: for by the representative of the Mormon people, and the
36:15
Speaker 1: grattening of it was regarded by the Mormon leaders at
36:18
Speaker 1: the time as a great advantage to their people. It
36:22
Speaker 1: brought to the volunteers and to the people generally, much
36:26
Speaker 1: of sacrifice for one thing, The opportunity to avail themselves
36:31
Speaker 1: of their tendered service to the government came in an
36:34
Speaker 1: unexpected and a most inconvenient time, as explained afterwards by
36:39
Speaker 1: Colonel Cain. The young and those who could best have
36:44
Speaker 1: been spared, were then away from the main body, either
36:48
Speaker 1: with pioneer companies in the van or their faith unannounced,
36:52
Speaker 1: seeking work and food about the northwest settlements to support
36:56
Speaker 1: them till the return of the season for commencing emigration.
37:00
Speaker 1: The force was therefore to be recruited from among the
37:03
Speaker 1: fathers of families and others whose presence it was most
37:07
Speaker 1: desirable to retain. Practically five hundred wagons were left without
37:14
Speaker 1: teamsters and as many families were left without their natural
37:18
Speaker 1: protectors and providers. The families of the battalion, with the
37:23
Speaker 1: families of their friends in whose care they must leave
37:26
Speaker 1: their loved ones and upon whom they must depend for succor,
37:30
Speaker 1: were then scattered in a string of camps for some
37:33
Speaker 1: hundreds of miles between Nauvou and Council Bluffs, with no
37:38
Speaker 1: certain abiding place designated and no immediate prospect of being
37:42
Speaker 1: permanently settled. To volunteer for a war march of two
37:47
Speaker 1: thousand miles, much of which was desert under such circumstances
37:52
Speaker 1: was doubly hard Moreover, the Mormon people, from their then
37:57
Speaker 1: point of view, had little to be grateful for to
38:01
Speaker 1: the government of the United States. Their appeals from what
38:05
Speaker 1: to them was the injustice of Missouri and Illinois had
38:09
Speaker 1: met with but cold reception In Washington. They did not
38:13
Speaker 1: and could not be expected to understand, much less sympathize
38:17
Speaker 1: with the refinements employed by the national legislatures and drawing
38:22
Speaker 1: nice distinctions about the division of sovereignty between the states
38:26
Speaker 1: and the general government. They were self conscious of wrongs
38:30
Speaker 1: inflicted upon their communities in the two states in which
38:34
Speaker 1: they had settled Missouri and Illinois. They had appealed to
38:38
Speaker 1: the General government for a redress of these grievances without avail,
38:43
Speaker 1: and now they were asked by their leaders to go
38:46
Speaker 1: into the service of that government, which might mean the
38:50
Speaker 1: sacrifice of life, and surely meant abandonment of their families
38:54
Speaker 1: to the care of others. Under circumstances the most trying
38:59
Speaker 1: to respond to the call made upon them, both as
39:02
Speaker 1: to the volunteers and the kempt community whence they were mustered,
39:07
Speaker 1: was a manifestation of unselfishness not often paralleled in history.
39:13
Speaker 1: Advantages of the enlistment. Notwithstanding all the sacrifices involved, Brigham
39:20
Speaker 1: Young and those associated with him were too astute as
39:24
Speaker 1: leaders not to appreciate the advantages of having a considerable
39:27
Speaker 1: number of their people to enter the service of the
39:30
Speaker 1: United States. The charge of disloyalty to the American government
39:34
Speaker 1: had often been made against the Mormons, which not all
39:38
Speaker 1: their protests and denials could overcome. But to enter the
39:42
Speaker 1: service of the government in time of war, involving such
39:45
Speaker 1: inconveniences as must be theirs, would be an evidence of
39:49
Speaker 1: loyalty that would stand forever. Both unimpeached and unimpeachable. That
39:56
Speaker 1: such was the understanding of Brigham Young is specifically pressed
40:00
Speaker 1: by him about a month after the departure of the battalion.
40:04
Speaker 1: Let everyone distinctly understand, said he that the Mormon Battalion
40:10
Speaker 1: was organized from our camp to allay the prejudices of
40:13
Speaker 1: the people, prove our loyalty to the Government of the
40:16
Speaker 1: United States, and for the present and temporal salvation of Israel.
40:22
Speaker 1: That this act left nearly five hundred teams destitute of
40:26
Speaker 1: drivers and provisions for the winter, and nearly as many
40:29
Speaker 1: families without protection and help. The right to settle on
40:36
Speaker 1: Indian lands secured. Another advantage appealed to the leaders. It
40:42
Speaker 1: had become evident before the call was made for the
40:44
Speaker 1: battalion that while it might be possible for a specially
40:48
Speaker 1: organized pioneer company to go over the mountains that season,
40:52
Speaker 1: preparations for which were being rapidly made, the very great
40:56
Speaker 1: majority of the camps would be under the necessity of
40:59
Speaker 1: suspending a year or more in southern Iowa, principally on
41:02
Speaker 1: Indian lands. The prospects of remaining upon such lands and
41:07
Speaker 1: peace would be much enhanced if it could be pleaded
41:10
Speaker 1: that five hundred of their men were in the service
41:13
Speaker 1: of the government of the United States, and subsequent events
41:17
Speaker 1: demonstrated the validity of such a plea. Also, it was
41:21
Speaker 1: the advantage sought to be secured by Brigham Young in
41:24
Speaker 1: his first conference with Captain Allen on the subject of
41:27
Speaker 1: the enlistment of the battalion. Under these arrangements of occupancy,
41:31
Speaker 1: as the Indian titles and lands in Iowa expired, the
41:35
Speaker 1: Mormon occupants acquired valuable preemption rights up and down the
41:40
Speaker 1: Missouri River from Council Bluffs for a distance of between
41:44
Speaker 1: fifty and sixty miles, stretching back on the east side
41:47
Speaker 1: of said river some thirty or forty miles money value
41:52
Speaker 1: of the enlistment. Another consideration of importance was the renumeration
41:58
Speaker 1: of these soldiers years pay for their clothing in advance
42:02
Speaker 1: at the rate of three dollars fifty cents per man
42:05
Speaker 1: per month, would amount to forty two dollars each, and
42:08
Speaker 1: to twenty one thousand dollars for the battalion. Deciding to
42:13
Speaker 1: make their march in the clothing they had when enlisting,
42:16
Speaker 1: part of their money for clothing was sent back from
42:18
Speaker 1: Fort Leavenworth to be used for the benefit of the
42:21
Speaker 1: families of the battalion and part of it to assist
42:25
Speaker 1: the Mormon leaders. Subsequently, agents were secretly sent to Santa
42:30
Speaker 1: Fe to bring back to the camps the pay of
42:32
Speaker 1: the soldiers that had accrued by the time they arrived there.
42:36
Speaker 1: This amounted to three months pay at the following rates.
42:39
Speaker 1: Captain fifty dollars per month, rations twenty cents per day,
42:44
Speaker 1: First lieutenant thirty dollars per month, rations twenty cents per day,
42:49
Speaker 1: Second lieutenant twenty five dollars per month, rations twenty cents
42:54
Speaker 1: per day, first sergeant sixteen dollars per month, sergeants thirteen
43:00
Speaker 1: dollars per month, corporals nine dollars per months, musicians eight
43:05
Speaker 1: dollars per month, and privates seven dollars per month. The
43:10
Speaker 1: payment at Santa Fe was made in government checks not
43:14
Speaker 1: very available in Santa Fe. That is not easily negotiable,
43:18
Speaker 1: writes Colonel Cook. It has often been claimed that the
43:22
Speaker 1: battalion was paid a bounty forty two dollars per man
43:26
Speaker 1: on entering the service. This was not the case. The
43:30
Speaker 1: payment for clothing one year in advance at the rate
43:34
Speaker 1: of three dollars fifty cents per month has been mistaken
43:37
Speaker 1: for bounty. It was only by foregoing the purchase of
43:41
Speaker 1: clothing that the battalion could send the payment for it
43:44
Speaker 1: to their families and to the Mormon leaders. This source
43:48
Speaker 1: of revenue to the camps was accounted a very great
43:51
Speaker 1: blessing at the time. In official letters to the battalion
43:55
Speaker 1: from the Mormon leaders under date of August sixteenth and
43:58
Speaker 1: twenty first respect it was said in the first that
44:02
Speaker 1: the battalion had been placed in circumstances which enabled them
44:06
Speaker 1: to control more means than all the rest of the
44:09
Speaker 1: Mormon people in the wilderness. In the second, Brigham Young said, quote,
44:14
Speaker 1: we consider the money you have received as compensation for
44:18
Speaker 1: your clothing a particular manifestation of the kind providence of
44:22
Speaker 1: our heavenly Father at this particular time, which is just
44:26
Speaker 1: the time for the purchasing of provisions and goods for
44:29
Speaker 1: the winter supply of the camp end quote the equipment
44:34
Speaker 1: of the battalion to be retained. In addition to this
44:38
Speaker 1: payment for clothing and the monthly pay, there was the
44:42
Speaker 1: five hundred stand of arms and camp equipment, which were
44:45
Speaker 1: to become the personal property of the men when discharged.
44:48
Speaker 1: In California, these several considerations led John Taylor, who became
44:54
Speaker 1: the successor to Brigham Young and Mormon leadership, and addressed
44:57
Speaker 1: to the Mormons in England to say, quote, the President
45:02
Speaker 1: of the United States is favorably disposed to us. He
45:06
Speaker 1: has sent out orders to have five hundred of our
45:08
Speaker 1: brethren employed for one year in an expedition that was
45:12
Speaker 1: fitting out against California, with orders for them to be
45:16
Speaker 1: employed for one year and when to be discharged in California,
45:20
Speaker 1: and to have their arms and implements of war given
45:23
Speaker 1: to them at the expiration of the term. As there
45:27
Speaker 1: is no prospect for any opposition. It amounts to the
45:31
Speaker 1: same as paying them for going to the place where
45:33
Speaker 1: they were destined to go. Without appreciation of Mormon leaders.
45:39
Speaker 1: In a letter to President Polk under date of August ninth,
45:42
Speaker 1: eighteen forty six, after reminding the President of the disadvantages
45:47
Speaker 1: the Mormon camps experienced in raising the battalion, Brigham Young
45:50
Speaker 1: said quote, but in the midst of this we were
45:55
Speaker 1: cheered with the presence of our friend mister Little of
45:57
Speaker 1: New Hampshire, who assures us of the personal friendship of
46:01
Speaker 1: the President in the act before us. And this assurance,
46:05
Speaker 1: though not doubted by us in the least was soon
46:08
Speaker 1: made doubly sure by the testimony of Colonel Caine in Philadelphia.
46:14
Speaker 1: End of Chapter three, Chapter four of the Mormon Battalion
46:24
Speaker 1: Its History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts. This LibriVox
46:29
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Wayne Cook,
46:34
Speaker 1: the march of the Battalion from Fort Leavenworth. At Fort Leavenworth,
46:39
Speaker 1: the battalion received its equipment of one hundred tenths one
46:43
Speaker 1: for every six privates, also their arms and camp accouterments.
46:49
Speaker 1: When drawing the checks for clothing, the paymaster expressed great
46:52
Speaker 1: surprise to find that every man was able to sign
46:55
Speaker 1: his own name to the payroll. Death of Colonel Allen
47:00
Speaker 1: question of successor at Fort Leavenworth. Colonel Allen was taken ill,
47:07
Speaker 1: but on the twelfth of August he ordered the battalion
47:09
Speaker 1: to start on his western march, while he would remain
47:12
Speaker 1: a few days recuperate and overtake them. He died on
47:17
Speaker 1: the twenty third, much lamented by the battalion, which had
47:21
Speaker 1: become warmly attached to him. Commenting on his demise, the
47:25
Speaker 1: author of the Donophan Expedition, William E. Connolly, says, Thus
47:32
Speaker 1: died Lieutenant Colonel Allen of the first US Dragoons, in
47:36
Speaker 1: the midst of a career of usefulness under the favoring
47:40
Speaker 1: smiles of fortune, beloved while living, regretted after death by
47:44
Speaker 1: all who knew him, both among the volunteers and the troops.
47:50
Speaker 1: On the death of Colonel Allen, the question of succession
47:54
Speaker 1: and command was considered. It appears that this subject was
47:58
Speaker 1: mooted at the time the company of the battalion were enlisted,
48:02
Speaker 1: and Colonel Allen repeatedly stated us Says Brigabing, that there
48:07
Speaker 1: would be no officer in the battalion except himself only
48:11
Speaker 1: from among our people, that if he fell in battle,
48:15
Speaker 1: or was sick or disabled by any means, the command
48:18
Speaker 1: would devolve on the ranking officer, which would be the
48:21
Speaker 1: captain of Company A and B, and so on. According
48:25
Speaker 1: to the letter, the battalion appears to have had the
48:29
Speaker 1: same understanding, for at a council meeting of the officer,
48:32
Speaker 1: since was agreed by them the Captain Jefferson Hunt of
48:37
Speaker 1: Company A should assume command, which decision was afterwards sustained
48:42
Speaker 1: by the unanimous vote of the men. Meantime, however, Major Horton,
48:48
Speaker 1: in command at Fort Leavenworth, sent Lieutenant A. J. Smith
48:52
Speaker 1: of the Regular Army to take command of the battalion.
48:56
Speaker 1: This led to a threatened complication for an appeal to
49:00
Speaker 1: such written military authorities as were available to the officers
49:03
Speaker 1: of the battalion, left them hopelessly divided in their conclusions.
49:09
Speaker 1: On the arrival of Lieutenant Smith, a council of officers
49:12
Speaker 1: was held in which the battalion officers demanded to know
49:16
Speaker 1: what reasons existed for their acceptance of him as commander
49:20
Speaker 1: rather than Captain Hunt, to which it was answered that
49:24
Speaker 1: the government property and possession of the battalion was not
49:27
Speaker 1: yet receiped for, but that Lieutenant Smith could receipt for it,
49:32
Speaker 1: and being a commissioned officer of the Regular Army, he
49:35
Speaker 1: would be known at Washington and his actions and orders recognized,
49:40
Speaker 1: whereas the officers of the battalion had not yet received
49:43
Speaker 1: their commissions and it would be doubtful if their selection
49:47
Speaker 1: of a commander would be approved. After this discussion, Captain
49:51
Speaker 1: Hunt submitted the matter to the officers, and all but
49:54
Speaker 1: three voted in favor of accepting Lieutenant Smith as the
49:57
Speaker 1: commander of the battalion. Complaints of the volunteers. With Lieutenant
50:04
Speaker 1: Smith had come doctor George B. Sanderson, whom Colonel Allen
50:09
Speaker 1: at Leavenworth had appointed a surgeon a U. S. Army
50:13
Speaker 1: to serve with the Mormon Battalion. According to the historian
50:17
Speaker 1: of the battalion, the volunteers suffered much because of the
50:21
Speaker 1: quote arrogance, inefficiency, and petty oppressions end quote of these
50:26
Speaker 1: two officers. This view of the officers, however, is to
50:30
Speaker 1: be accounted for by the volunteers being suddenly brought under
50:33
Speaker 1: the enforced discipline of the U. S. Army regulations. The
50:38
Speaker 1: heat of the season was excessive. The men had been
50:41
Speaker 1: already much exhausted by the strenuous labor and exposure during
50:45
Speaker 1: the journey through Iowa with their people earlier in the season,
50:50
Speaker 1: and as a result, many of them fell a prey
50:52
Speaker 1: to the malaria prevalent in that country and at this
50:56
Speaker 1: season of the year. For this, doctor Sanderson proscript ribed
51:00
Speaker 1: calamel and arsenic and as the men were adverse to
51:04
Speaker 1: taking medicine, pleading even religious scruples against the drugs, the
51:09
Speaker 1: matter gave rise to much unpleasantness between the battalion physician
51:13
Speaker 1: and the command involving therein Lieutenant Smith, who, in the
51:17
Speaker 1: interest of what he no doubt regarded as discipline, sided
51:21
Speaker 1: with the physician. The line of march. The battalion's line
51:27
Speaker 1: of march from Fort Leavenworth, after crossing the Ka or
51:30
Speaker 1: Kansas River, followed that of the first Missouri Dragoons, led
51:35
Speaker 1: over the route that same year by Colonel Donovan via
51:38
Speaker 1: Council Grove, thence some distance up there Arkansas River to
51:43
Speaker 1: a little beyond Fort Mann, where they crossed that river
51:46
Speaker 1: in order to take what was known as the Cimarron route,
51:50
Speaker 1: because it crossed Cimarron River and followed some distance up
51:54
Speaker 1: the south branch of the stream called Cimarron Creek, the
51:58
Speaker 1: last crossing of the Arkansas, they reached on the sixteenth
52:02
Speaker 1: of September, and here the commanding officer insisted that most
52:06
Speaker 1: of the families, about twelve or fifteen in number, which
52:10
Speaker 1: so far had accompanied the battalion, should be detached and
52:14
Speaker 1: sent under a guard of ten men up the Arkansas
52:17
Speaker 1: to Pueblo, which nestles at the east base of the
52:20
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain Range. There were stout protests against this division
52:24
Speaker 1: of the battalion, as it was held to be a
52:27
Speaker 1: violation of the promise that the battalion would not be divided,
52:31
Speaker 1: also that these families should be permitted to travel with
52:34
Speaker 1: the battalion to California. Unquestionably, however, the arrangement was in
52:39
Speaker 1: the best interests both of the families and of the battalion,
52:43
Speaker 1: and accordingly, the depatchment was made up as proposed and
52:47
Speaker 1: marched to Pueblo under command of Captain Nelson Higgins. Arrival
52:52
Speaker 1: at Santa Fe condition of the command, the main body
52:56
Speaker 1: of the command continued its march southwestward to San Miguel,
53:01
Speaker 1: thence turning the point of a mountain range, marched northwest
53:04
Speaker 1: to Santa Fe, where they arrived in two detachments on
53:08
Speaker 1: the ninth and twelfth of October, respectively. Upon the arrival
53:12
Speaker 1: of the first detachment, the battalion was received by a
53:15
Speaker 1: salute of one hundred guns by order of Colonel Donophan,
53:19
Speaker 1: then in command both as civil and military head of
53:23
Speaker 1: the Department of New Mexico, but making ready for what
53:27
Speaker 1: was to be his great and historic march upon Chihuahua.
53:31
Speaker 1: On the arrival of the battalion at Santa Fe, it
53:34
Speaker 1: was learned that General Kearney, previous to his departure for
53:38
Speaker 1: the West, had designated Colonel p Saint George Cook to
53:42
Speaker 1: take command of the battalion and to follow on his
53:45
Speaker 1: trail with wagons to California. Speaking of the condition of
53:49
Speaker 1: the battalion on its arrival at Santa Fe and remarking
53:53
Speaker 1: on its physical and fitness to undertake the march to California,
53:56
Speaker 1: Colonel Cook, in his conquests of New Mexico, as everything
54:02
Speaker 1: conspired to discourage the extraordinary undertaking of marching this battalion
54:07
Speaker 1: eleven hundred miles for the much greater part through an
54:10
Speaker 1: unknown wilderness without road or trail, and with a wagon train.
54:17
Speaker 1: It was enlisted too much by families. Some were too
54:20
Speaker 1: old and feeble, and some were too young. It was
54:24
Speaker 1: embarrassed by many women. It was undisciplined. It was much
54:28
Speaker 1: worn by traveling on foot and marching from Nauvoo, Illinois.
54:32
Speaker 1: Their clothing was very scant. There was no money to
54:35
Speaker 1: pay them or clothing to issue. Their mules were utterly
54:39
Speaker 1: broken down. The quartermaster department was without funds and its
54:44
Speaker 1: credit bad, and animals were scarce. Those procured were very
54:50
Speaker 1: inferior and were deteriorating every hour. For lack of forager grazing,
54:56
Speaker 1: so every preparation must be pushed. A small party with
55:02
Speaker 1: families had been sent from our Kansas, crossing up the
55:05
Speaker 1: river to winter at a small settlement close to the
55:08
Speaker 1: mountains called Pueblo. The battalion was now inspected and eighty
55:13
Speaker 1: six men found inefficient were ordered under two officers, with
55:17
Speaker 1: nearly all the women to go to the same point.
55:20
Speaker 1: Five wives of officers were reluctantly allowed to accompany the march,
55:24
Speaker 1: but furnish their own transportation by special arrangement and consent.
55:29
Speaker 1: The battalion was paid in checks not very available in
55:32
Speaker 1: Santa Fe that is negotiable. With every effort, the quartermaster
55:37
Speaker 1: could only undertake to furnish rations for sixty days, and
55:40
Speaker 1: in fact full rations of only flour, sugar, coffee and
55:44
Speaker 1: salt salt, pork only for thirty days, and soap for
55:48
Speaker 1: twenty to venture without pack saddles would be grossly imprudent,
55:53
Speaker 1: and so that burden was added en invalid detachment sent
55:59
Speaker 1: to Poeibls. It was understood that men invalided and their escort,
56:04
Speaker 1: together with the women and children belonging to the battalion,
56:08
Speaker 1: would have the privilege in the spring of intercepting the
56:10
Speaker 1: main body of their people moving to the west and
56:13
Speaker 1: going with them at government expense. The above arrangement was
56:18
Speaker 1: the result of a council of the officers of the
56:20
Speaker 1: battalion with Colonel Donovan of Missouri, then in charge of
56:25
Speaker 1: military and civil affairs at Santa Fe, and with Colonel Cook,
56:29
Speaker 1: who had been designated by General Kearney to take command
56:32
Speaker 1: of the battalion in its march to the Pacific, on
56:35
Speaker 1: his own departure from Santa Fe to California. Captain James
56:39
Speaker 1: Brown of Company C and Saint Alem Leddington of Company
56:44
Speaker 1: B were the two officers above referred to as being
56:47
Speaker 1: placed in charge of the detachment. This company arrived at
56:51
Speaker 1: Pueblo on the seventeenth of November and went into winter
56:55
Speaker 1: quarters near the encountment of Captain Higgins, who had preceded
56:59
Speaker 1: them to that point, and the next spring, according to
57:02
Speaker 1: the above arrangement, joined in the western movement of their people,
57:06
Speaker 1: following so closely the Pioneer Company led by Brigham Young,
57:10
Speaker 1: that they entered Salt Lake Valley on the twenty ninth
57:12
Speaker 1: of July, five days after the arrival of the first
57:16
Speaker 1: Pioneer Company to the wife of one of the members
57:19
Speaker 1: of the battalion, Missus Catherine Campbell Steele, wife of John
57:23
Speaker 1: Steele Company d was born the first white child in
57:28
Speaker 1: Utah August ninth, eighteen forty seven. End of Chapter four,
57:40
Speaker 1: Chapter five of the Mormon Battalion Its History and Achievements
57:45
Speaker 1: by B. H. Roberts. This LibriVox recording is in the
57:49
Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Wayne Cook the march of the
57:54
Speaker 1: battalion from Santa Fe to the mouth of the Hila.
57:59
Speaker 1: The battalion began its march from Santa Fe on the
58:02
Speaker 1: nineteenth of October, Colonel Cook in command. Lieutenant A. J. Smith,
58:07
Speaker 1: who had led the battalion to Santa Fe, became the
58:11
Speaker 1: acting Commissary of Subsistence, and Lieutenant George Stoneman acting quartermaster
58:17
Speaker 1: instead of Lieutenant Samuel E. Gully, who had resigned. Both
58:22
Speaker 1: Smith and Stoneman were of the regular Army. Doctor Sanderson
58:26
Speaker 1: was continued as physician surgeon to the command. The guides
58:30
Speaker 1: to the expedition appointed by General Kearney were Weaver, Charbonneau
58:35
Speaker 1: and Leroux, and Steven C. Foster, called doctor in all
58:40
Speaker 1: the narratives, was employed as interpreter. More invaliding the course
58:48
Speaker 1: of the march, for some time was southward down the
58:50
Speaker 1: valley of the Rio Grande. On the tenth of November,
58:54
Speaker 1: fifty five more men were declared physically unable through sickness
58:58
Speaker 1: to continue the march, and accordingly were detached, and under
59:03
Speaker 1: Lieutenant W. W. Willis, ordered back to Pueblo to join
59:07
Speaker 1: the other detachments that had been sent there. After much
59:11
Speaker 1: suffering from the hardships of the journey, weak teams, scant
59:15
Speaker 1: supplies of food, illy clad, general sickness among the men,
59:20
Speaker 1: the fall of December snows in the mountain ranges north
59:23
Speaker 1: of Santa Fe, excessive cold, and several deaths occurring. This
59:29
Speaker 1: detachment finally arrived at Pueblo between the twentieth and twenty
59:33
Speaker 1: fourth of December in a most pitiable condition, but they
59:38
Speaker 1: were warmly received by members of the battalion already quartered there,
59:42
Speaker 1: numbering now all told, about one hundred and fifty hardship
59:48
Speaker 1: of excessive toil. One cause of so many men breaking
59:52
Speaker 1: down in health was the excessive toil at the wagons
59:56
Speaker 1: through the sand stretches of the road began in the
1:00:00
Speaker 1: march from Santa Fe, while yet in the valley of
1:00:03
Speaker 1: the Real del Norte, in fact, and continuing along the
1:00:07
Speaker 1: whole route to and through the California Desert, lying between
1:00:12
Speaker 1: the Colorado and the Coast Range Mountains. Our course now
1:00:16
Speaker 1: laid down the Rio del Norte, the Rio Grand, says
1:00:21
Speaker 1: Sergeant Tyler. We found the roads extremely sandy in many places,
1:00:25
Speaker 1: and the men, while carrying blankets, knapsacks, cartridge boxes each
1:00:31
Speaker 1: containing thirty three rounds of ammunition and muskets on their
1:00:35
Speaker 1: backs and living on short rations, had to pull at
1:00:39
Speaker 1: long ropes to aid the teams. The deep sand alone
1:00:43
Speaker 1: without any load, was enough to wear out both men
1:00:46
Speaker 1: and beast. Later he remarks, we had to leave the
1:00:51
Speaker 1: river for a time and have twenty men to each
1:00:53
Speaker 1: wagon with long ropes to help the teams pull the
1:00:57
Speaker 1: wagons over the sand hills. The commander himself on one
1:01:01
Speaker 1: of the hills like a hawk on a fence post,
1:01:04
Speaker 1: sending down his orders with the sharpness of well to
1:01:08
Speaker 1: the battalion is enough, to say Colonel Cook. One of
1:01:13
Speaker 1: the battalions celebrates this incident of the march and dogral
1:01:17
Speaker 1: verse of which two stanzas follows Our hardships reach their
1:01:22
Speaker 1: rough extremes when valued men are roped with teams hour
1:01:27
Speaker 1: after hour and day by day, to wear our strength
1:01:31
Speaker 1: and lives away. We see some twenty men or more
1:01:35
Speaker 1: with empty stomachs and foot sore, bound to one wagon,
1:01:40
Speaker 1: plodding on through sand beneath the burning sun. In the
1:01:46
Speaker 1: trackless part of the battalion's march through the sand stretches.
1:01:50
Speaker 1: In addition to pulling at the wagons, companies marched at
1:01:54
Speaker 1: double single file in each other's footsteps to make tracks
1:01:58
Speaker 1: for the wagon wheels. Irrigation in New Mexico. It was
1:02:04
Speaker 1: while at Santa Fe, and while passing down the Real
1:02:07
Speaker 1: del Norte, that the battalion saw for the first time
1:02:11
Speaker 1: irrigation in operation, Tyler describes it. Canals used for irrigation
1:02:18
Speaker 1: purposes were found all along the banks of the river,
1:02:22
Speaker 1: some of them several miles in length. They conveyed water
1:02:25
Speaker 1: to the farms, or, as they were called in that country, ranchos.
1:02:30
Speaker 1: There being little or no rang during the growing season,
1:02:34
Speaker 1: the water was made to flow over the ground until
1:02:36
Speaker 1: it was sufficiently saturated, and then shut off until needed
1:02:40
Speaker 1: again for the same purpose. March down the Rio Grande
1:02:47
Speaker 1: as the command in its southward movement down the Rio
1:02:50
Speaker 1: Grande reached the point where General Kearney left the valley
1:02:54
Speaker 1: for direct march westward, two hundred and twenty eight miles
1:02:57
Speaker 1: south of Santa Fe, and where too Kearney had abandoned
1:03:02
Speaker 1: his wagons. The guys declared it impossible to follow the
1:03:06
Speaker 1: heeler route proper with the wagons, and hence a circuit
1:03:10
Speaker 1: to the south through Sonora by Aconos and Fronteras was
1:03:14
Speaker 1: proposed and determined upon at a council of officers. In
1:03:18
Speaker 1: the first stages of this changed course, however, the road
1:03:22
Speaker 1: bore to the southeast, and this was not to the
1:03:25
Speaker 1: liking of Colonel Cook, because it would carry his command
1:03:28
Speaker 1: within hailing distance of General wool who might incorporate it
1:03:32
Speaker 1: in the Army of the Center, as the General's division
1:03:36
Speaker 1: of the invading forces against Mexico was called to operate
1:03:39
Speaker 1: against Chihuahua. In that event, as the colonel himself expressed it,
1:03:45
Speaker 1: he would lose his trip to California. To bear to
1:03:48
Speaker 1: the southeast was not to the liking of the battalion,
1:03:51
Speaker 1: as that was not in the direction of California, but
1:03:55
Speaker 1: one which might lead them within the sphere of the
1:03:58
Speaker 1: Army of the Center, and they would find themselves discharged
1:04:02
Speaker 1: in Old Mexico instead of California at the end of
1:04:05
Speaker 1: their term of an enlistment. The entire command was thrown
1:04:09
Speaker 1: into gloom by this change in the line of march.
1:04:13
Speaker 1: All of our hopes and conversations and songs, says the
1:04:16
Speaker 1: historian of the battalion, Tyler, was centered on California. Somewhere
1:04:22
Speaker 1: on that broad domain we expected to join our families
1:04:25
Speaker 1: and friends. Oh the right the westward turned on the
1:04:32
Speaker 1: morning of the twenty first, says Tyler. The command resumed
1:04:36
Speaker 1: its journey, marching in his southern direction about two miles
1:04:40
Speaker 1: when it was found that the road began to bear southeast,
1:04:43
Speaker 1: and said at southwest as stated by the guides. The
1:04:47
Speaker 1: currentel looked at the direction of the road, then to
1:04:49
Speaker 1: the southwest and to the west, saying I don't want
1:04:54
Speaker 1: to get under General Woold and lose my trip to California.
1:04:57
Speaker 1: He arose in his saddle in ordered to halt. Then
1:05:00
Speaker 1: he said with firmness, this is not my course. I
1:05:04
Speaker 1: was ordered to California, and he added with an oath,
1:05:09
Speaker 1: I will go to there or die in the attempt. Then,
1:05:12
Speaker 1: turning to the bugler, he said, blow the right, turning
1:05:17
Speaker 1: westward at this point thirty two degrees forty one minutes
1:05:21
Speaker 1: north latitude, and but a short distance and some thirty
1:05:25
Speaker 1: miles north of the present city of al Paso. The
1:05:28
Speaker 1: course of march was westward to San Bernardino Rancho, thence Dianos,
1:05:33
Speaker 1: and so on to the San Pedro River, where the
1:05:36
Speaker 1: command arrived on the ninth of December. The fight with
1:05:41
Speaker 1: wild bulls here could the only fighting a battalion engaged
1:05:46
Speaker 1: in on his expedition a bat with wild bulls. This
1:05:51
Speaker 1: section of the country seemed to bound with herds of
1:05:53
Speaker 1: wild cattle, and the males among them were much more
1:05:57
Speaker 1: bold and ferocious than among the buffaloes. Attracted by a curiosity,
1:06:01
Speaker 1: these herds gathered along the line of march, alternately scampering
1:06:06
Speaker 1: away and approaching, and some of the bolder ones, as
1:06:10
Speaker 1: if in resentment the battalion's invasion, attacked the column. Several
1:06:15
Speaker 1: mules would gold to death by them, both in the
1:06:18
Speaker 1: teams and among the pack animals, and Colonel Kirk records
1:06:22
Speaker 1: how some of the wagons were thrown about by the
1:06:24
Speaker 1: mad charge of these furious beasts. The troops been ordered
1:06:28
Speaker 1: to march with guns unloaded, but in the presence of
1:06:32
Speaker 1: such a danger, the men loaded their muskets without waiting
1:06:36
Speaker 1: for an order to that effect, and when attacked, would
1:06:39
Speaker 1: fire upon the charging beasts, so that the rattle of
1:06:42
Speaker 1: musketry was for once heard all along the line. The
1:06:46
Speaker 1: bulls were very tenacious for life, however, and more desperate
1:06:49
Speaker 1: and dangerous when wounded than before. Tyler speaks of one
1:06:54
Speaker 1: fight between Doctor William Spencer and a bull which were
1:06:58
Speaker 1: shot five times, twice through the lungs, twice through the heart,
1:07:03
Speaker 1: and once through the head, and yet would alternately rise
1:07:07
Speaker 1: and fall and rush upon the doctor until a sixth
1:07:10
Speaker 1: ball between the eyes and near the curl of the
1:07:13
Speaker 1: paint proved fatal. Colonel Cook confirms Tyler's narrative about the
1:07:18
Speaker 1: bull continuing to rush after being twice shot through the heart,
1:07:22
Speaker 1: and adds, I have seen the heart. Cook also relates
1:07:27
Speaker 1: the feet of Corporal Frost in bringing down one of
1:07:30
Speaker 1: these ferocious animals. I was very near a Corporal Frost
1:07:34
Speaker 1: when an immense coal black bull came charging upon us
1:07:38
Speaker 1: a hundred yards distant. Frost aimed his musket, fledlock very deliberately,
1:07:44
Speaker 1: and only fired when the beast was within six paces
1:07:48
Speaker 1: it fell headlong, almost at our feet. Tyler ads the
1:07:53
Speaker 1: corporal was on foot, while, of course the colonel and
1:07:56
Speaker 1: staff were mounted. On the first appearance of the bull,
1:08:00
Speaker 1: the colonel, with his usual full matter of speech, ordered
1:08:03
Speaker 1: the corporal to load his gun, suppose, of course, that
1:08:06
Speaker 1: he had observed the previous order of prohibition. To this
1:08:10
Speaker 1: command he the corporal paid no attention, thinking of either
1:08:14
Speaker 1: stupefied or dumbfounded. With much warmth and avowed epithet, he
1:08:19
Speaker 1: next ordered him to run. But this mandate was as
1:08:23
Speaker 1: little heated as the other. Doubtless, Cook thought one man's
1:08:27
Speaker 1: ignorance with some stubbornness, was about to receive a terrible retribution.
1:08:32
Speaker 1: But when he saw the monster lifeless at his feet
1:08:35
Speaker 1: through the well directed aim of the brave and phyllous corporal,
1:08:39
Speaker 1: how changed must have been his feelings. The number of
1:08:43
Speaker 1: the wild bovine enemy killed in the engagement is variously
1:08:47
Speaker 1: reported from twenty to sixty, and by one writer as
1:08:51
Speaker 1: high as eighty one. Mexican opposition at Tucson. Leaving the
1:08:57
Speaker 1: San Pedro, the command to march northeastly to Tucson, a
1:09:01
Speaker 1: Mexican town of between four and five hundred inhabitants. It
1:09:05
Speaker 1: was guarantoned at the time by a Mexican force two
1:09:08
Speaker 1: hundred strong, according to Cook, commanded by Captain Comoderon, who
1:09:13
Speaker 1: was under order from the governor of Sonora, Don Mantel
1:09:16
Speaker 1: Gandhara not to allow an armed force to pass through
1:09:20
Speaker 1: the town without resistance. The guys furnished. The battalion by
1:09:24
Speaker 1: Colonel Kearney, however, declared it was for the command either
1:09:28
Speaker 1: to march through Tucson or make a detour, which would
1:09:31
Speaker 1: mean one hundred miles out of the way over a
1:09:35
Speaker 1: trackless wilderness and mountains. Cook determined to march through Tucson. Foster,
1:09:42
Speaker 1: the interpreter, went into the town in advance and was
1:09:45
Speaker 1: put under guard. A corporal, son of the Mexican commander,
1:09:49
Speaker 1: with three Mexican soldiers, was met by the command and
1:09:53
Speaker 1: questioned about Foster, and On admitting that he was under guard.
1:09:57
Speaker 1: The corporal and his escort were immediately pl d underrest
1:10:00
Speaker 1: by Cook to be held as hostages for the safety
1:10:04
Speaker 1: of the interpreter. One Mexican, however, was released, who with
1:10:08
Speaker 1: two of the battalion guides, carried a note demanding Foster's release.
1:10:14
Speaker 1: This was complied with, and about midnight, Foster was brought
1:10:18
Speaker 1: to camp, attended by two officers authorized to make a
1:10:22
Speaker 1: special armistice. Cook proposed that the Mexican commanded deliver up
1:10:26
Speaker 1: a few arms as a guarantee of surrender, and had
1:10:30
Speaker 1: token that the inhabitants of Tucson would not fight against
1:10:34
Speaker 1: the United States unless they were exchanged as prisoners of war.
1:10:38
Speaker 1: The Mexican prisoners were also released. These events occurred while
1:10:42
Speaker 1: the battalion was about sixteen miles from Tucson. The next day,
1:10:47
Speaker 1: when on the March, Cook received a message from Captain
1:10:50
Speaker 1: Commandaren declining the proposition to surrender. The battalion was ordered
1:10:55
Speaker 1: to load their guns with ball before reaching the town. However,
1:11:00
Speaker 1: another message was received saying that the garrison had retreated,
1:11:04
Speaker 1: taking two brass cannons and forcing most of the inhabitants
1:11:07
Speaker 1: to accompany them. About a dozen armed Mexicans met the
1:11:11
Speaker 1: American force to escort them into the town. Before passing
1:11:15
Speaker 1: through the gates, the commander of the battalion addressed the soldiers,
1:11:19
Speaker 1: saying in effect that the garrison and citizens had fled,
1:11:24
Speaker 1: leaving their property behind, but they had not come to
1:11:28
Speaker 1: make war upon Sonora. And there must be no interference
1:11:31
Speaker 1: with the private property of the citizens. Footnote. Previous to this,
1:11:37
Speaker 1: the Colonel had issued the following order Headquarters, Mormon Battalion,
1:11:42
Speaker 1: Camp on the San Pedro, December thirteenth, eighteen forty six.
1:11:47
Speaker 1: Thus far on our course we have followed the guides
1:11:50
Speaker 1: furnished us by the General Cournie. These guides now point
1:11:55
Speaker 1: to Tucson, a garrison town, as our road, and assert
1:11:59
Speaker 1: that any other course is one hundred miles out of
1:12:02
Speaker 1: the way and over trackless wilderness of mountains, rivers, and hills.
1:12:07
Speaker 1: We will march then to Tucson. We came not to
1:12:11
Speaker 1: make war on Sonora, and less still to destroy an
1:12:15
Speaker 1: important outpourse of defense against Indians. But we will take
1:12:20
Speaker 1: the straight road before us and overcome all resistance. But
1:12:25
Speaker 1: shall I remind you that the American soldier ever shows
1:12:29
Speaker 1: justice and kindness to the unarmed and unresisting the property
1:12:34
Speaker 1: of the individuals you will hold sacred. The people of
1:12:38
Speaker 1: Sonora are not our enemies. By order of Lieutenant Colonel Cook,
1:12:45
Speaker 1: signed P. C. Merrill, attugant and footnote. The battalion marched
1:12:52
Speaker 1: through Tucson and went into camp about half a mile
1:12:55
Speaker 1: beyond on a small stream. Before leaving the vicinity, Cook
1:13:01
Speaker 1: with a party of fifty reconnoitered the country above the
1:13:05
Speaker 1: town towards a village and church, where it was supposed
1:13:09
Speaker 1: the garrison and main body of the people had taken refuge.
1:13:12
Speaker 1: As the nature of the country, however, afforded excellent opportunities
1:13:16
Speaker 1: for ambush if the Mexicans should choose to make resistance.
1:13:20
Speaker 1: The company of fifty returned. However, the movement was not
1:13:24
Speaker 1: without its value, since, according to Colonel Cook, and as
1:13:28
Speaker 1: was afterward ascertained, it caused the Mexicans who had fled
1:13:32
Speaker 1: to the aforesaid village to still further retreat and reinforcements
1:13:37
Speaker 1: which had come from the presidios of Fronterras, Santa Cruz
1:13:40
Speaker 1: and Toubac, to return to their posts junction with Kearney's trail.
1:13:47
Speaker 1: Renewing its journey, the command, in the course of three days,
1:13:51
Speaker 1: by hard marching, reached the Heeler River and intersected the
1:13:55
Speaker 1: route followed by General Kearney four hundred and seventy four
1:13:59
Speaker 1: miles in the point at which they left it, in
1:14:01
Speaker 1: the valley of the Rio Grande. The Southern Pacific Railroad transverses,
1:14:06
Speaker 1: practically the route of the battalion between these two points.
1:14:10
Speaker 1: Colonel Cook made a map of this part of the
1:14:13
Speaker 1: battalion's journey, published in his book, and referring to it
1:14:17
Speaker 1: in connection with the Southern Pacific Railroad, he says, a
1:14:21
Speaker 1: new administration in which Southern interests prevailed with the great
1:14:26
Speaker 1: problem of the practicability and the best location of a
1:14:29
Speaker 1: Pacific railroad. An investigation had the map of this wagon
1:14:33
Speaker 1: route before them, with its continuance to the west, and
1:14:37
Speaker 1: perceived that it gave exactly the solution of its unknown element,
1:14:42
Speaker 1: that a southern route would avoid both the Rocky Mountains
1:14:46
Speaker 1: and Sierra Nevada with their snows, and would meet no
1:14:49
Speaker 1: obstacle in this great interval. The New Gadsden Treaty with
1:14:54
Speaker 1: the result, it was signed December thirtieth, eighteen fifty three.
1:15:00
Speaker 1: The march down the Hila, following more or less the
1:15:04
Speaker 1: windings of the HeLa, the way made difficult from alternating
1:15:08
Speaker 1: stretches of deep sand and Miri clay. The command arrived
1:15:12
Speaker 1: at the junction of the Heila with the Colorado on
1:15:15
Speaker 1: the eighth of January. An attempt at the shipment of
1:15:19
Speaker 1: part of the command's provisions down the river on a
1:15:22
Speaker 1: flat boat proved a sad failure and ended in considerable loss.
1:15:28
Speaker 1: The scheme was Colonel Cook's. The boat was constructed by
1:15:33
Speaker 1: placing two wagon beds end to end and lashing them
1:15:36
Speaker 1: to two dry cottonwood logs. On this improvised boat, two thousand,
1:15:42
Speaker 1: five hundred pounds of provision and corn were placed at
1:15:46
Speaker 1: places the river spread out over sand bars with but
1:15:50
Speaker 1: three or four inches of water covering them. The boat
1:15:53
Speaker 1: was repeatedly lodged on these, and the precious stores of
1:15:57
Speaker 1: food had to be landed in several places. The most
1:16:00
Speaker 1: of it was never recovered, though repeated efforts were made
1:16:04
Speaker 1: to regain it at the mouth of the Hila. Speaking
1:16:09
Speaker 1: of the HeLa at its junction with the Colorado, and
1:16:12
Speaker 1: of the conditions obtaining in the command at that stage
1:16:15
Speaker 1: of the march, Colonel Cook writes, a vast bottom the
1:16:21
Speaker 1: country about the two rivers is a picture of desolation,
1:16:25
Speaker 1: nothing like vegetation. Beyond the alluvium of the two rivers,
1:16:29
Speaker 1: bleak mountains, wild looking peaks, stony hills, and plains filled view.
1:16:35
Speaker 1: We are encamped in the midst of wild hemp. The
1:16:38
Speaker 1: mules are in mesquite thickets with a little bunch grass
1:16:42
Speaker 1: a half mile off. The mules are weak, and their
1:16:46
Speaker 1: flailing or flagging today in ten miles is very unpromising.
1:16:51
Speaker 1: For the one hundred mile stretch dry and barren before them.
1:16:57
Speaker 1: There is no grass and only scanty cotton wad it
1:17:00
Speaker 1: bows for them tonight. But I sent out forty men
1:17:04
Speaker 1: to gather the fruit called toriina, a variety of the mesquite.
1:17:08
Speaker 1: They have gathered twelve or fifteen bushels, which has been
1:17:12
Speaker 1: spread out to be eaten on a hard part of
1:17:14
Speaker 1: the sandbar. Francisco was sent across the river to fire
1:17:19
Speaker 1: the thickets beyond this to clear the way for the
1:17:23
Speaker 1: pioneer party. In the morning. He says, the river is
1:17:26
Speaker 1: deeper than usual. It is whiter than the Missouri, and
1:17:30
Speaker 1: of the same muddy color. It is said to be
1:17:33
Speaker 1: sixty miles to the mouth of the river the Colorado.
1:17:39
Speaker 1: End of Chapter five, Chapter six of the Mormon Battalion
1:17:49
Speaker 1: Its History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts. This LibriVox
1:17:54
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Wayne Cook,
1:18:00
Speaker 1: March of the Battalion from the Colorado to the Pacific Ocean.
1:18:04
Speaker 1: This part of The march led through what is now
1:18:06
Speaker 1: marked on the maps of southern California as the Colorado
1:18:10
Speaker 1: Desert quote nature's exhausted region lying between the Colorado River
1:18:16
Speaker 1: and the eastern base of the coast Range, some of
1:18:20
Speaker 1: it being below the sea level. Much of the dreary
1:18:23
Speaker 1: way lay through stretches of sand, and the men were
1:18:26
Speaker 1: compelled to aid the teams by pulling on ropes fifteen
1:18:30
Speaker 1: to twenty men to a wagon. No water was to
1:18:33
Speaker 1: be had but by the digging of deep wells in
1:18:36
Speaker 1: the desert sands. These often yielded but little, and that
1:18:41
Speaker 1: of poor quality of water. The suffering of both man
1:18:45
Speaker 1: and beasts was terrible. The march of the last five days,
1:18:50
Speaker 1: the time it took to cross the desert to the
1:18:52
Speaker 1: little running stream called Corriso Creek, was the most trying
1:18:57
Speaker 1: of any we have made on both men and animals,
1:19:01
Speaker 1: writes Colonel Cook. Destitution and suffering of the men and march.
1:19:08
Speaker 1: We here found the heaviest sand, hot at days, and
1:19:11
Speaker 1: cold as nights, says Tyler, with no water but little food.
1:19:16
Speaker 1: At this time, he continues, the men were nearly barefooted.
1:19:21
Speaker 1: Some use instead of shoes rawhide wrapped around their feet,
1:19:25
Speaker 1: while others improvised the novel style of boots by stripping
1:19:29
Speaker 1: the skin from the leg of an ox. Do this,
1:19:32
Speaker 1: a ring was cut around the hide above and below
1:19:35
Speaker 1: the gambol joint, and then the skin taken off without
1:19:38
Speaker 1: cutting it lengthwise. After this, the low end was sewed
1:19:42
Speaker 1: up with sinews, and when it was ready for the wear,
1:19:45
Speaker 1: the natural cook of the hide adapted somewhat to the
1:19:48
Speaker 1: shape of the foot. Others wrapped a cast off clothing
1:19:52
Speaker 1: around their feet to shield them from the burning sand
1:19:56
Speaker 1: during the day in the cold at night. Before we
1:19:59
Speaker 1: arrived to Curriso, many of the men were so nearly
1:20:02
Speaker 1: used up from thirst, hunger, and fatigue that they were
1:20:06
Speaker 1: not able to speak until they reached the water or
1:20:09
Speaker 1: had it brought to them. Those who were strongest reported
1:20:13
Speaker 1: when they arrived they had passed many lying exhausted by
1:20:17
Speaker 1: the wayside. Colonel Cook refers to these conditions in his
1:20:22
Speaker 1: Conquest of New Mexico. A great many of my men
1:20:26
Speaker 1: were wholly without shoes, and used every expedient, such as rawhide, moccasins,
1:20:31
Speaker 1: and sandals, and even wrapping their feet in pieces of
1:20:34
Speaker 1: woolen and cotton cloth. Of the march on the sixteenth
1:20:38
Speaker 1: of January, the colonel remarked, near eleven am, I reached
1:20:43
Speaker 1: with the foremost wagon the first water of the Curriso,
1:20:47
Speaker 1: a clear running stream, glad in the eyes. After the
1:20:50
Speaker 1: anxious dependence on muddy wells for five or six days,
1:20:55
Speaker 1: I found the march that is of the day to
1:20:57
Speaker 1: be nineteen miles, Thus without water for nearly three days
1:21:01
Speaker 1: for the working animals, and camping two nights in succession
1:21:05
Speaker 1: without water, the battalion made in forty eight hours four
1:21:09
Speaker 1: marches of eighteen, eight, eleven and nineteen miles, suffering from
1:21:14
Speaker 1: frost and from summer heat. Of the March of the seventeenth,
1:21:18
Speaker 1: he says, the men arrived here caresa creek camp completely
1:21:23
Speaker 1: worn down, staggered. As they marched as they did yesterday
1:21:27
Speaker 1: the eighteenth, some of the men did not find strength
1:21:30
Speaker 1: to reach the camp before daylight. This morning. I went
1:21:33
Speaker 1: through the companies. This morning they were eating their last
1:21:36
Speaker 1: four ounces of flour, of sugar and coffee. There had
1:21:39
Speaker 1: been none for weeks. I have remaining only five public wagons.
1:21:44
Speaker 1: There are three private property. Yet, as showing the spirit
1:21:48
Speaker 1: of these battalion men in such plight, he writes, of
1:21:51
Speaker 1: the evening and camp of that same day. The men
1:21:55
Speaker 1: who this morning were prostrate, worn out, hungry, heartless, have
1:22:00
Speaker 1: recovered their spirits to night, and are singing and playing
1:22:03
Speaker 1: the fiddle. From Creso Creek to San Phillips. The march
1:22:08
Speaker 1: from Cresa Creek was to San Phillips, an Indian village
1:22:12
Speaker 1: on a small stream of the same name. It was
1:22:15
Speaker 1: on approachy Sant Phillips that the rugged heart of the
1:22:18
Speaker 1: coast mountains was encountered, where it seemed to defy aught
1:22:22
Speaker 1: save the wild goat, according to Colonel Cook's description, over
1:22:27
Speaker 1: which with crowbar and pick and axe in hand, he continues,
1:22:32
Speaker 1: the battalion worked its way Here. Also, the chasm of
1:22:37
Speaker 1: living Rock, more narrow than their wagons, was encountered, through
1:22:41
Speaker 1: which they hewed a passage for the wagons, the colonel
1:22:44
Speaker 1: himself taking a hand in the hewing. I came to
1:22:48
Speaker 1: the canyon, said the Colonel, and found it much worse
1:22:51
Speaker 1: than I had been led to expect, that is, by
1:22:54
Speaker 1: the report of the guides. There were many rocks to surmount,
1:22:57
Speaker 1: but the worst was the narrow pass. Setting the example myself.
1:23:02
Speaker 1: There was much work done on it before the wagons came.
1:23:06
Speaker 1: The rock was hewn with axes to increase the opening.
1:23:10
Speaker 1: I thought it wide enough, and going on found a
1:23:13
Speaker 1: hill to be ascended to avoid a still narrower pass.
1:23:17
Speaker 1: A great rock had to be broken before it could
1:23:20
Speaker 1: be crossed. But when a trial was made at the
1:23:24
Speaker 1: first pass, it was found too narrow by a foot
1:23:27
Speaker 1: of solid rock. More work was done and several trials made.
1:23:32
Speaker 1: The sun was now only an hour high, and it
1:23:35
Speaker 1: was about seven miles to the first water. I had
1:23:38
Speaker 1: a wagon taken to pieces and carried through. Meanwhile, we
1:23:42
Speaker 1: still hewed and hammered at the mountain side, but the
1:23:45
Speaker 1: best road tools had been lost. The next wagon body
1:23:50
Speaker 1: was lifted through, and then the running gear by lifting
1:23:53
Speaker 1: one side. Then I rode on again and saw a
1:23:57
Speaker 1: wagon up a very steep hill and down again to
1:24:00
Speaker 1: the canyon. The work on the pass was perseveringly continued,
1:24:05
Speaker 1: and the last two wagons were pulled through by the
1:24:07
Speaker 1: mules with loads undisturbed. The confused information respecting the state
1:24:14
Speaker 1: of hostilities, the likelihood of meeting retreating bands of Californians
1:24:19
Speaker 1: en route for the Mexican state of Sonora, led the
1:24:22
Speaker 1: colonel to renew his march on the nineteenth in a
1:24:26
Speaker 1: more strictly military order than he had hitherto followed, and
1:24:30
Speaker 1: the battalion, while waiting for the wagons to come up,
1:24:33
Speaker 1: was exercised on a prairie in military tactics. The battalion
1:24:39
Speaker 1: was under orders to march to San Diego, and there
1:24:41
Speaker 1: joined General Kearney, but communication with that officer was now
1:24:46
Speaker 1: cut off, writes Colonel Cook. By the best information, the
1:24:50
Speaker 1: enemy were concentrated at Los Angeles, the General was marching
1:24:55
Speaker 1: on it from the south, and Lieutenant Colonel Fremont approaching
1:24:59
Speaker 1: from the north, so that a direct march on Los
1:25:02
Speaker 1: Angeles from the east was evidently the proper course, especially
1:25:06
Speaker 1: so as Captain Montgomery from San Diego had written January
1:25:10
Speaker 1: fifteenth that it was generally believed that parties of the Californians,
1:25:15
Speaker 1: headed by leaders who had broken their paroles, would endeavor
1:25:19
Speaker 1: to effect a retreat to Sonora rather than submit to
1:25:22
Speaker 1: our arms. It was determined to take the direct road
1:25:26
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles, and the guides were sent to warners
1:25:30
Speaker 1: to collect mules et cetera at Warner's Ranchero. Warner's Ranch
1:25:36
Speaker 1: was reached on the twenty first, the battalion being again
1:25:40
Speaker 1: drilled en route, it was found necessary to rest at
1:25:43
Speaker 1: Warners on the twenty second. This is a beautiful valley
1:25:47
Speaker 1: shut in by mountains or high hills on every side,
1:25:51
Speaker 1: writes Colonel Cook. The name Agua Coliente comes from a
1:25:56
Speaker 1: bold stream issuing from rock fissures at the temperature one
1:26:00
Speaker 1: hundred seventy degrees. It now sends up little clouds of
1:26:03
Speaker 1: steam for half a mile below. The valley a mile long,
1:26:07
Speaker 1: is elliptical, and its green, smooth surface really oval. At
1:26:12
Speaker 1: its center stands a wonderful evergreen oak, its boughs reaching
1:26:17
Speaker 1: a circle five feet above the ground and ninety feet
1:26:21
Speaker 1: in diameter. The hot stream runs round one side, a
1:26:25
Speaker 1: cold one round the other. The Indians of cold nights
1:26:30
Speaker 1: select spots below the spring of agreeable temperature to sleep,
1:26:34
Speaker 1: lying in the stream with sod bank for a pillow.
1:26:38
Speaker 1: The march directed to San Diego. On the twenty third
1:26:42
Speaker 1: of January, a march of eighteen miles was made over
1:26:45
Speaker 1: the hills from Warners Ranchero. It rains several hours in
1:26:49
Speaker 1: the afternoon and again at night, then continued for twenty
1:26:52
Speaker 1: four hours. The battalion had fallen upon the rainy season.
1:26:57
Speaker 1: All tents were blown down in the night, writes Captain Cook,
1:27:01
Speaker 1: speaking of the night of the twenty third. The ill
1:27:04
Speaker 1: clad battalion, he continues, were drenched and suffered much. A
1:27:10
Speaker 1: twelve mile march over the hills from Warners on the
1:27:13
Speaker 1: twenty fifth of January brought the battalion into the Temechula Valley.
1:27:18
Speaker 1: There an official despatch brought to Colonel Cook the announcement
1:27:21
Speaker 1: that General Kearney had returned to San Diego and that
1:27:25
Speaker 1: the battalion was expected there as originally ordered. Accordingly, the
1:27:29
Speaker 1: next morning, the march was directed southward towards the San
1:27:33
Speaker 1: Diego Mission. The San Luis Valley and River was crossed.
1:27:37
Speaker 1: On the twenty sixth. An encampment made Nara Ranchero in
1:27:42
Speaker 1: sight of the Pacific. About noon the next day, the
1:27:46
Speaker 1: deserted Catholic Mission of Saint Luisray was passed. One mile
1:27:51
Speaker 1: below the mission, writes Tyler. We ascended a bluff when
1:27:55
Speaker 1: the long, long look for great Pacific Ocean appeared plain
1:27:59
Speaker 1: to a only about three miles distant. The joy, the
1:28:04
Speaker 1: cheer that filled our souls, none but worn. Our pilgrims
1:28:08
Speaker 1: nearing a haven of rest, can imagine part leaving Nauvou.
1:28:12
Speaker 1: We had talked about and sung of the great Pacific Sea,
1:28:17
Speaker 1: and we were now upon its very borders, and its
1:28:20
Speaker 1: beauty fox seated our most sanguine expectations of this event.
1:28:26
Speaker 1: Colonel Cook says, the road wound through smooth, green valleys
1:28:30
Speaker 1: and over very lofty hills, equally smooth and green. From
1:28:34
Speaker 1: the top of one of these hills was caught the
1:28:37
Speaker 1: first and magnificent view of the great Ocean, and by
1:28:41
Speaker 1: rare chance, perhaps it was so calm that it shone
1:28:45
Speaker 1: as a mirror. Further describing what must have been to
1:28:49
Speaker 1: the desert and mountain worn battalion a wonderful scene, the
1:28:53
Speaker 1: colonel adds the charming and startling effect under our circumstances
1:28:59
Speaker 1: of this first view of the ocean could not be expressed.
1:29:04
Speaker 1: But in an old diary, Once sunk and lost in
1:29:08
Speaker 1: a river, I find what follows. I caught my first
1:29:12
Speaker 1: side of the ocean, as smooth as a mirror, and
1:29:16
Speaker 1: reflecting the full blaze the declining sun. From these sparkling
1:29:20
Speaker 1: green hilltops, it seemed that the lower world had turned
1:29:24
Speaker 1: to impalpable, dazzling light, while by contrast, the clear sky
1:29:29
Speaker 1: looked dim. We rode on into the valley, which was
1:29:32
Speaker 1: nearer but out of view of the sea. Its smooth
1:29:35
Speaker 1: sod was in sunlight and shade. A gentle brook wound
1:29:40
Speaker 1: through it. The joyous lark, the gay blackbird, the musical
1:29:44
Speaker 1: blue bird, even the household wren warbled together the evening song.
1:29:50
Speaker 1: It seemed a sweet domestic scene which must have touched
1:29:54
Speaker 1: the hearts of my rude far wanderers. But coming to
1:29:58
Speaker 1: us so suddenly there was a marvelous accompaniment, the fitful
1:30:02
Speaker 1: roar of tide and surf upon a rock bound shore,
1:30:06
Speaker 1: while now and then some great troller burst upon the
1:30:10
Speaker 1: rocks with a booming thunder. It was not a discord.
1:30:16
Speaker 1: From this point the march was down the coast for
1:30:18
Speaker 1: the most part, in sight of the ocean, in clear,
1:30:21
Speaker 1: bright sunlight. The battalion no longer suffered from the monotonous
1:30:26
Speaker 1: hardships of the deserts and cold temperature of the snow
1:30:29
Speaker 1: capped mountains. January there seemed as pleasant as May in
1:30:34
Speaker 1: the Northern States San Diego Mission. On the twenty ninth
1:30:39
Speaker 1: of January, the battalion passed into the Solidad Valley, danced
1:30:43
Speaker 1: by cross roads over high Hills Miri from recent rains
1:30:48
Speaker 1: into a firm regular road to the Mission of San Diego,
1:30:53
Speaker 1: encampment being made on the flat about a mile below
1:30:56
Speaker 1: the old mission buildings and about four or five miles
1:30:59
Speaker 1: from the Sea of San Diego. In the evening, Colonel
1:31:03
Speaker 1: Cook rode down to San Diego and reported the arrival
1:31:07
Speaker 1: of his command on the Pacific. The march of the
1:31:10
Speaker 1: Mormon Battalion was completed. Colonel Cook's bulletin on the Battalion's
1:31:16
Speaker 1: march on the thirtieth of January. The following bulletin was
1:31:21
Speaker 1: written by the Lieutenant Colonel Commanding, though not read to
1:31:25
Speaker 1: the battalion until the fourth of February. It tells and
1:31:29
Speaker 1: studied military brevity, the achievements and faithfulness of the battalion,
1:31:34
Speaker 1: its service to the country, and is an imperishable monument
1:31:38
Speaker 1: in the literature of the nation. Bulletin Headquarters, Mormon Battalion,
1:31:45
Speaker 1: Mission of San Diego, January thirtieth, eighteen forty seven, Orders
1:31:50
Speaker 1: number one. The Lieutenant Colonel Commanding congratulates the battalion on
1:31:56
Speaker 1: their safe arrival on the shores of the Pacific Ocean,
1:31:59
Speaker 1: inclusion of their march of over two thousand miles. History
1:32:04
Speaker 1: may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry.
1:32:08
Speaker 1: Half of it has been through a wilderness where nothing
1:32:11
Speaker 1: but savages and wild beasts are found, or deserts where,
1:32:16
Speaker 1: for want of water, there is no living creature there.
1:32:20
Speaker 1: With almost hopeless labor, we have dug deep wells which
1:32:25
Speaker 1: the future traveler will enjoy without a guide who had
1:32:29
Speaker 1: traversed them. We have ventured into trackless table lands where
1:32:33
Speaker 1: water was not found for several marches. With crowbar and
1:32:37
Speaker 1: pick and axe in hand, we worked our way over
1:32:40
Speaker 1: mountains which seem to defy aught, save the wild goat
1:32:45
Speaker 1: and hue, to pass through a chasm of living rock
1:32:48
Speaker 1: more narrow than our wagons. To bring these first wagons
1:32:52
Speaker 1: to the Pacific, we have preserved the strength of our
1:32:55
Speaker 1: mules by hurting them over large tracts which you have
1:32:58
Speaker 1: laboriously guarded without loss. The garrison of four presidios of Sonora,
1:33:04
Speaker 1: concentrated within the walls of Tucson, gave us no pause.
1:33:09
Speaker 1: We drove them out with their artillery, but our intercourse
1:33:13
Speaker 1: with the citizens was unmarked by single active injustice. Thus
1:33:18
Speaker 1: marching half naked and half fed, and living upon wild
1:33:22
Speaker 1: animals we have discovered and made a road of great
1:33:25
Speaker 1: value to our country, arrived at the first settlements of
1:33:29
Speaker 1: California after singles day's rest, who cheerfully turned off from
1:33:34
Speaker 1: the route to this point of promised repose to enter
1:33:37
Speaker 1: upon a campaign and meet, as we supposed, the approach
1:33:42
Speaker 1: of an enemy, And this too without even salt, to
1:33:46
Speaker 1: seize your sole substance of fresh meat. Lieutenants A. J.
1:33:51
Speaker 1: Smith and George Stoneman of the First Dragoons have shared
1:33:54
Speaker 1: and given invaluable aid in all these labors. Thus, volunteers,
1:34:00
Speaker 1: you have exhibited some high and essential qualities of veterans,
1:34:04
Speaker 1: but much remains undone. Soon you will turn your attention
1:34:08
Speaker 1: to the drill, to the system and order to forms also,
1:34:12
Speaker 1: which are all necessary to the soldier. By order, signed
1:34:17
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel P. Saint George Cook, signed P. C. Merrill,
1:34:22
Speaker 1: Etuchant footnote Cook's Conquest, Page one ninety seven. Subsequently, Viz
1:34:29
Speaker 1: on the ninth of May, on the occasion of General
1:34:32
Speaker 1: Kearney visiting the battalion at Los Angeles, is reported to
1:34:36
Speaker 1: have said that history will be searched in vain for
1:34:39
Speaker 1: an infantry march equal to that of battalions, and added
1:34:44
Speaker 1: Buonaparte crossed the Alps, but these men have crossed a
1:34:49
Speaker 1: continent and footnote small wonder though the reading of this
1:34:55
Speaker 1: bulletin to the Battalion was unaccountably delayed for four days,
1:35:00
Speaker 1: that the Mormon volunteers received this official announcement of their
1:35:03
Speaker 1: achievements with hearty cheers and of chapter six Chapter seven
1:35:16
Speaker 1: of the Mormon Battalion Its History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts.
1:35:21
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by
1:35:26
Speaker 1: Wayne Cook. The battalion in California. Subsequent movements of the
1:35:33
Speaker 1: battalion were as follows at San Luis Rey Mission. On
1:35:38
Speaker 1: the evening of their second day at San Diego Mission,
1:35:41
Speaker 1: an order was issued for the battalion to return to
1:35:44
Speaker 1: San Luis Rey Mission to garrison that station. This mission
1:35:49
Speaker 1: was somewhat midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and
1:35:53
Speaker 1: it was doubtless thought that the battalion, by being stationed there,
1:35:57
Speaker 1: could keep that important position out of the enemy's hands
1:36:01
Speaker 1: should Mexican hostilities again be resumed, as at the time
1:36:05
Speaker 1: seemed probable, and they would also be available there for
1:36:09
Speaker 1: a quicker movement either to Los Angeles or to San Diego,
1:36:14
Speaker 1: should danger threaten at either point. Accordingly, on February first,
1:36:19
Speaker 1: the return march was begun and ended about noon on
1:36:22
Speaker 1: the third clean up and drill. Here orders were given
1:36:28
Speaker 1: for a general clean up of arms and clothes, such
1:36:31
Speaker 1: as they had, shaving, cutting hair and the like. Some
1:36:35
Speaker 1: may had not shaved since the march began, and would
1:36:38
Speaker 1: have preferred not to do so until they returned to
1:36:41
Speaker 1: their people, says the battalion's historian, But the order was imperative.
1:36:46
Speaker 1: It described that no beard be allowed to go below
1:36:50
Speaker 1: the tip of the ear, hence the mustache only could
1:36:53
Speaker 1: be saved. The hair also must be clipped, even with
1:36:56
Speaker 1: the tip of the air, hence the long entangled lock
1:37:00
Speaker 1: and shots at hair of a year's ago had to
1:37:02
Speaker 1: be sacrificed. By the sixth of February, the man had
1:37:06
Speaker 1: finished cleaning up and repaired their quarters, which in some
1:37:10
Speaker 1: respects even then were not the most pleasant, writes Tyler,
1:37:15
Speaker 1: as we were overrun with fleas as well as with
1:37:19
Speaker 1: the more filthy vermen, and no person, however clinton he
1:37:23
Speaker 1: aimed to be, could escape from them. On the eighth
1:37:27
Speaker 1: of February, according dear Tyler, Colonel Kirchhan Lieutenant Stoneman commenced
1:37:33
Speaker 1: a squad drill with off a switch continued and extended
1:37:36
Speaker 1: to companies and fence to the battalion, and lasted all
1:37:40
Speaker 1: together for twenty days, when the battalion is supposed to
1:37:43
Speaker 1: have learned the drill and all the officers was considered
1:37:46
Speaker 1: capable of teaching it. Company B at San Diego on
1:37:51
Speaker 1: the fifteenth of February, Company B was ordered to be
1:37:54
Speaker 1: detached from the battalion and directed to march to the
1:37:58
Speaker 1: port of San Diego to perform garrison duty at that place,
1:38:02
Speaker 1: though the order apparently for the removal of the company
1:38:06
Speaker 1: was not given until the fifteenth of March. Los Angeles
1:38:11
Speaker 1: garrisoned by Companies A, C, D, E. On the eighteenth
1:38:15
Speaker 1: of the same month, nine privates of Company A, eight
1:38:19
Speaker 1: from C, five from D, and eight from E were
1:38:23
Speaker 1: designated as a detachment under command of Lieutenant Omen and
1:38:27
Speaker 1: Sergeant Brown to garrison the mission of San Luis Ray,
1:38:31
Speaker 1: while the remainder of the companies A, C, D, and
1:38:33
Speaker 1: E were designated to go to Los Angeles for garrison duty.
1:38:38
Speaker 1: These companies began their march on the nineteenth and arrived
1:38:41
Speaker 1: at Los Angeles on the twenty third. The chief activities
1:38:44
Speaker 1: here were maintaining, by successive details from the command and
1:38:49
Speaker 1: out posted Cohonne Pass, fifty miles northeast of Los Angeles
1:38:54
Speaker 1: as a protection against Tostil bands of Indians, and the
1:38:57
Speaker 1: erection of a fort on an eminence commanding the U
1:38:59
Speaker 1: S City of Los Angeles. The San Luisray Detachment remained
1:39:04
Speaker 1: at that post until the sixth of April, when under orders,
1:39:07
Speaker 1: the station was abandoned and the detachment marched to Los Angeles.
1:39:12
Speaker 1: The companies thus grouped so remained until near the expiration
1:39:16
Speaker 1: of the term of their enlistment the conquest of California.
1:39:22
Speaker 1: The conquest of California was easily achieved. Fremont in the north,
1:39:26
Speaker 1: with a company of but sixty Americans, with whom he
1:39:29
Speaker 1: had been sent to explore portions of New Mexico and California,
1:39:33
Speaker 1: was opposed in the vicinity of Monterey by a force
1:39:36
Speaker 1: under General Castro in June eighteen forty six, with the
1:39:41
Speaker 1: aid of American settlers in the vicinity of San Francisco,
1:39:44
Speaker 1: Fremont defeated the Mexicans in two engagements, and on the
1:39:48
Speaker 1: fifth of July, the American Californians declared themselves independent and
1:39:53
Speaker 1: placed Fremont at the head of their affairs. On the
1:39:57
Speaker 1: seventh of the same month, Commodore Sloat, then in command
1:40:01
Speaker 1: of the U. S. Squadron in the Pacific, bombarded and
1:40:04
Speaker 1: captured Monterey. On the ninth, Commodore Montgomery took possession of
1:40:09
Speaker 1: San Francisco. Commodore Stockton arrived on the fifteenth of July, and,
1:40:14
Speaker 1: in co operation with Colonel Fremont, took possession of the
1:40:17
Speaker 1: city of Los Angeles on the seventeenth of August. There was, however,
1:40:21
Speaker 1: subsequent uprising in the south, an attempt of the Mexicans
1:40:25
Speaker 1: to regain possession of the country. The attempt, however, proved abortive,
1:40:30
Speaker 1: and was chiefly noteworthy as occurring at such a time
1:40:35
Speaker 1: as to allow General Kearney's troop of one hundred soldiers,
1:40:38
Speaker 1: who had marched from Santa Fe, to participate in some
1:40:42
Speaker 1: of the last engagements December sixteenth, eighteen forty sixth and
1:40:47
Speaker 1: January eighth, eighteen forty seven. These ended in the conquest
1:40:52
Speaker 1: and brought to pass the pacification of California. The Kearney
1:40:57
Speaker 1: Fremont controversy a question of authority arose between Colonel Fremont
1:41:03
Speaker 1: and General Kearney. The former had acted in the self
1:41:07
Speaker 1: appointed capacity of military Commandant of California. General Kearney refused
1:41:13
Speaker 1: to recognize him in that capacity, since, in addition to
1:41:16
Speaker 1: being Fremont's superior military officer, Kearney also had been instructed
1:41:21
Speaker 1: himself to establish civil government in California. Fremont refused to
1:41:27
Speaker 1: obey the orders of his superior and was ordered home
1:41:30
Speaker 1: to be tried for his disobedience. He was deprived of
1:41:33
Speaker 1: his commission, but in consideration of previous service, it was
1:41:37
Speaker 1: offered to him again, but refused, and Fremont quote went
1:41:42
Speaker 1: again to the wilderness and engaged in exploration end quote
1:41:48
Speaker 1: end of chapter seven, Chapter eight of the Mormon Battalion
1:41:58
Speaker 1: Its History and Achievement by B. H. Roberts. This librivot
1:42:03
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Wayne Cook,
1:42:09
Speaker 1: the record of the Battalion in California. The battalion had
1:42:13
Speaker 1: opened a wagon road to the Pacific, but had arrived
1:42:17
Speaker 1: too late to participate actively in the conquest of California.
1:42:21
Speaker 1: It was useful, however, in the performance of a garrison
1:42:24
Speaker 1: duty at San Diego. Saint Louis Ray and Los Angeles,
1:42:29
Speaker 1: and in connection with the New York Volunteers recently arrived
1:42:33
Speaker 1: under command of Colonel Jonathan D. Stephenson vy Cape Horn
1:42:37
Speaker 1: to San Francisco Bay. Also in connection with it constantly
1:42:41
Speaker 1: increasing naval forces along the coast, they assisted in making
1:42:44
Speaker 1: secure the conquest achieved. While performing garrison duty, many members
1:42:50
Speaker 1: of the battalion at San Diego obtained permission to accept
1:42:53
Speaker 1: employment of the inhabitants of the town, such as making adobes,
1:42:58
Speaker 1: dicking wells, building houses, and making bricks. The first bricks
1:43:02
Speaker 1: in San Diego and for matter of that in California
1:43:06
Speaker 1: were made and mourned by members of the Mormon Battalion.
1:43:10
Speaker 1: They made an enviable reputation for industry and frugality. Efforts
1:43:16
Speaker 1: to re enlist the battalion. As the expiration of the
1:43:19
Speaker 1: term of the battalion's enlistment drew nearer, strong efforts were
1:43:23
Speaker 1: made for their reenlistment by General Kearney before departing for
1:43:27
Speaker 1: the East in May. On the fourth of May, writes Tyler,
1:43:32
Speaker 1: an order was read from Colonel Cook given the battalion
1:43:35
Speaker 1: the privilege of being discharged on condition of being re
1:43:39
Speaker 1: enlisted for three years as US dragoons, but under the
1:43:43
Speaker 1: circumstances the generous proposition could not consistently be accepted. General
1:43:50
Speaker 1: Kearney addressed the battalion on the tenth of May. He
1:43:53
Speaker 1: sympathized with us in the unsettled condition of our people,
1:43:57
Speaker 1: says Tyler, but thought as their final destination was not
1:44:01
Speaker 1: definitely settled. In this, of course, the General's information was defective.
1:44:07
Speaker 1: We had better re enlist for another year, by which
1:44:10
Speaker 1: time the war would doubtless be ended and our family
1:44:13
Speaker 1: settled in some permanent location. In conclusion, he said that
1:44:18
Speaker 1: he would take pleasure in representing our patriotism to the
1:44:21
Speaker 1: President and in the halls of Congress, and give us
1:44:25
Speaker 1: the justice our praiseworthy conduct has merited. It was on
1:44:30
Speaker 1: this occasion, according to Tyler, the General Kearney, and praising battalion, said,
1:44:36
Speaker 1: Bonaparte crossed the Alps, but these men have crossed a continent.
1:44:40
Speaker 1: Colonel Jonathan D. Stephenson of the New York Volunteers, who
1:44:44
Speaker 1: succeeded Colonel Cook in command of the battalion by being
1:44:48
Speaker 1: given command of the Southern Dixtardy of California. Colonel Cook
1:44:52
Speaker 1: having been detailed to accompany Kearney, on his return to
1:44:55
Speaker 1: the east, made an effort to induce the battalion to reenlist.
1:45:00
Speaker 1: Stevenson's effort was prompted by Governor Richard B. Mason's instructions.
1:45:05
Speaker 1: Stevenson represented, among the advantages of the battalion's re enlistment,
1:45:10
Speaker 1: the privilege of choosing their own officers, and the fact
1:45:13
Speaker 1: that the Mormon commander would be the third in rank
1:45:16
Speaker 1: among the officers of California and might become first. The
1:45:21
Speaker 1: battalion's officers quite generally favored re enlistment, but not so
1:45:25
Speaker 1: the men, who, under the leadership of Father Petigrew, William Hyde,
1:45:30
Speaker 1: and Sergeant Tyler, were in favor of returning to their
1:45:34
Speaker 1: families and the body of their people. The result of
1:45:37
Speaker 1: the effort at re enlistment was that a company of
1:45:41
Speaker 1: eighty one officers and men re enlisted for six months
1:45:45
Speaker 1: and performed a garrison's service at San Diego, homeward bound.
1:45:51
Speaker 1: The rest of the battalion, on being mustered out of
1:45:54
Speaker 1: service in July, began their march for the Great Basin
1:45:58
Speaker 1: of the Rocky Mountains, going via Sutter's Fort at the
1:46:01
Speaker 1: juncture of the American and Sacramento Rivers. Northeastward from San Francisco,
1:46:06
Speaker 1: about seventy five miles and now the site of Sacramento,
1:46:10
Speaker 1: capital of the state. About half of these returning volunteers
1:46:15
Speaker 1: arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the first of October.
1:46:18
Speaker 1: The reason for not more than one half of this
1:46:21
Speaker 1: number reaching the Salt Lake Valley that fall they numbered
1:46:24
Speaker 1: about two hundred forty when leaving Los Angeles arose from
1:46:28
Speaker 1: the following circumstances. Arriving at Sutter's Fort and finding opportunity
1:46:33
Speaker 1: for employment at good wages, a number desired to take
1:46:37
Speaker 1: advantage of that opportunity, and accordingly, with the constantin approval
1:46:41
Speaker 1: of their associates, a few remained. On the sixth of September,
1:46:46
Speaker 1: when the returning volunteers were leaving the basin of Lake Tahoe,
1:46:49
Speaker 1: they met Samuel brannan leader of the Brooklyn Colony of
1:46:53
Speaker 1: Mormons to San Francisco Bay via Cape Horn in eighteen
1:46:57
Speaker 1: forty six. Brannon was returning to California from his visit
1:47:01
Speaker 1: to Brigham Young, whom he had met at the Green
1:47:04
Speaker 1: River crossing, and accompanied to Salt Lake Valley. He gave
1:47:08
Speaker 1: the battalion members a dull full account of the semi
1:47:12
Speaker 1: desert region where the Mormon people were settling, and predicted
1:47:16
Speaker 1: their final removal to California. He urged all except those
1:47:20
Speaker 1: known to have families in Salt Lake Valley to return
1:47:23
Speaker 1: to California and work until spring. This without avail. The
1:47:29
Speaker 1: next day, however, the volunteers met Captain James Brown, ranking
1:47:33
Speaker 1: officer of the Pueblo Detachment of the Battalion, and a
1:47:36
Speaker 1: small party and wrote for California. He brought with him
1:47:41
Speaker 1: letters from many of the families of the battalion, also
1:47:44
Speaker 1: an epistle from the Mormon leaders advising those who had
1:47:48
Speaker 1: no means of subsistence to remain in California and labor
1:47:51
Speaker 1: during the winter and make their way to Salt Lake
1:47:54
Speaker 1: Valley the spring, bringing their earnings with them. About one
1:47:58
Speaker 1: half of the volunteers excs accepted this suggestion and returned
1:48:02
Speaker 1: to Sutter's Fort, where they found employment. The rest of
1:48:05
Speaker 1: the company continued their journey to Salt Lake Valley, where
1:48:08
Speaker 1: they arrived at the time already stated the discharge and
1:48:13
Speaker 1: payment of the Pueblo Detachment. Captain Brown took with him
1:48:17
Speaker 1: to California the muster rolls of the Pueblo Detachment of
1:48:21
Speaker 1: the battalion, and also had a power of attorney from
1:48:24
Speaker 1: all its members to draw their pay. The Peblo Detachment
1:48:28
Speaker 1: had drawn their pay per Captain Brown up to May
1:48:30
Speaker 1: at Santa Fe, at which time he received orders to
1:48:33
Speaker 1: resume the march to California vy Fort Laramie. The detachment
1:48:38
Speaker 1: arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the twenty ninth of July,
1:48:41
Speaker 1: where they were disbanded since the term of their ar
1:48:43
Speaker 1: listment had expired on the sixteenth of that month. On
1:48:47
Speaker 1: the presentation of the claims for the three months pay
1:48:50
Speaker 1: still due to this detachment to Governor Mason of California,
1:48:54
Speaker 1: they were allowed pay. Master rich says the Governor paid
1:48:59
Speaker 1: to the Captain Brown the money due to the Pueblo
1:49:02
Speaker 1: Detachment up to that date, according to the rank they
1:49:05
Speaker 1: bore upon the muster rolls upon which the battalion had
1:49:09
Speaker 1: been mustered out of the service. The purchase of Ogden's
1:49:13
Speaker 1: site with battalion money sometime early in eighteen forty eight,
1:49:18
Speaker 1: the Goodyear claim to a tract of land at the
1:49:21
Speaker 1: mouth of Weaver Canyon, said to be twenty miles square,
1:49:25
Speaker 1: was purchased by Captain James Brown out of the battalion
1:49:28
Speaker 1: money collected by him and by the advice of the Council,
1:49:32
Speaker 1: meaning the High Council at Salt Lake City. The sum
1:49:35
Speaker 1: paid was one thousand, nine hundred fifty dollars cash down.
1:49:40
Speaker 1: In this statement, I followed the journal History of Brigham Young,
1:49:43
Speaker 1: which under date of March sixth, eighteen forty eight, contains
1:49:47
Speaker 1: a letter from Father John Smith, president of the Salt
1:49:51
Speaker 1: Lake High Council, giving the Mormon leader, absent at the
1:49:54
Speaker 1: time in winter quarters, the above information. The Goodyear tract
1:49:59
Speaker 1: is specifically they described as commencing at the mouth of
1:50:02
Speaker 1: Weber Canyon, thence following the Wasatch Mountains north to the
1:50:07
Speaker 1: Hot Springs, thence westward to the shores of the Salt Lake,
1:50:11
Speaker 1: along the shores southward to a point opposite Weber Canyon,
1:50:15
Speaker 1: thence eastward to the point of beginning. Goodyear was supposed
1:50:20
Speaker 1: to have held this tract of land on which Ogden
1:50:23
Speaker 1: City now stands, by virtue of a Mexican grant. This, however,
1:50:28
Speaker 1: it was subsequently discovered, was not the case. Goodyear's title
1:50:33
Speaker 1: amounted to no more than a squatter's claim, as there
1:50:36
Speaker 1: were evidently no Mexican grants of land in the eastern
1:50:40
Speaker 1: and northern parts of the territory ceded to the United
1:50:43
Speaker 1: States by Mexico that rested upon any clearly valid evidence
1:50:47
Speaker 1: of title from Mexico, and the Government of the United
1:50:51
Speaker 1: States in subsequent years refused to recognize the so called
1:50:56
Speaker 1: Mexican Grant of Good Years, and held that title inhered
1:51:00
Speaker 1: in the government of the United States alone, and that
1:51:04
Speaker 1: by virtue of the secession of the territory to the
1:51:06
Speaker 1: United States. Such title, however, as Goodyear claimed, was purchased
1:51:12
Speaker 1: as above related and by Battalion money, and while the
1:51:16
Speaker 1: title of Goodyear was not valid, the purchase quit claimed
1:51:20
Speaker 1: his title such as it was, and gave a sense
1:51:23
Speaker 1: of security to the colonists who first settled upon one
1:51:27
Speaker 1: of the most desirable tracts of land in the Salt
1:51:30
Speaker 1: Lake Valley. The Battalion's contribution of seeds to Utah Colonies.
1:51:36
Speaker 1: These returning members of the Battalion brought to Utah various
1:51:41
Speaker 1: kinds of garden and fruit seeds, as well as grain
1:51:44
Speaker 1: from California, all which were found to be very useful
1:51:48
Speaker 1: in the new colonies, where both variety and quantity of
1:51:52
Speaker 1: seeds were limited. Lieutenant James Pace introduced the club head wheat,
1:51:57
Speaker 1: which proved to be hardy and of three rifty growth
1:52:00
Speaker 1: in Utah soil. Daniel Tyler brought the California pea, which
1:52:05
Speaker 1: in the early years grew so prolific as the field
1:52:09
Speaker 1: pea of Utah. The detached members of the battalion who
1:52:13
Speaker 1: wintered at Pueblo brought with them to Salt Lake Valley
1:52:16
Speaker 1: the variety of wheat known as taos, which mixed with
1:52:20
Speaker 1: the clubhead, became for many years the staple seed wheat
1:52:23
Speaker 1: sown in Utah fields. The battalion's part in the discovery
1:52:29
Speaker 1: of gold in California, as already stated, a number of
1:52:33
Speaker 1: the Mormon the battalion members found employment at Sutter's Fort,
1:52:38
Speaker 1: with mister John Sutter himself, in fact, who was a
1:52:41
Speaker 1: rather enterprising Swiss, one who had houses and land, and
1:52:46
Speaker 1: flocks and herds, mills and machinery. He counted his skilled
1:52:51
Speaker 1: artisans by the scorer, says the count I am following,
1:52:55
Speaker 1: and his savage retainers by the hundred. He was moreover
1:52:59
Speaker 1: a man of progress. Among his pressing needs and the
1:53:04
Speaker 1: needs of the country at large, was a saw mill.
1:53:08
Speaker 1: The flour mills he then had in course of construction
1:53:11
Speaker 1: needed timbers, and there would be large profit in shipping
1:53:14
Speaker 1: lumber to San Francisco. Accordingly, his foreman, a mister James W. Marshall,
1:53:20
Speaker 1: a native of New Jersey and then about thirty three
1:53:23
Speaker 1: years of age and a carpenter, took in hand the
1:53:26
Speaker 1: task of building a saw mill. After considerable exploration, the
1:53:31
Speaker 1: requisite combination of water power, timber, and the possibility of
1:53:36
Speaker 1: easy access to the fort was found in the Colomba Valley,
1:53:40
Speaker 1: on the south fork of the American River and about
1:53:43
Speaker 1: forty five miles due east of the fort. In the
1:53:47
Speaker 1: latter part of August or the first of September, mister Marshall,
1:53:50
Speaker 1: with a party of about a dozen white men, nine
1:53:53
Speaker 1: of whom were discharged members of the Mormon Battalion, and
1:53:57
Speaker 1: about as many Indians, went to Colombe Valley and began
1:54:01
Speaker 1: the construction of the proposed mill. A brush dam was
1:54:05
Speaker 1: built in the river and a mill race constructed along
1:54:08
Speaker 1: a dry channel to economized labor. The largest stones were
1:54:13
Speaker 1: thrown out of this and during the night the water
1:54:15
Speaker 1: were to be turned in to carry off the dirt
1:54:18
Speaker 1: and sand. On the twenty fourth of January, while sauntering
1:54:23
Speaker 1: along the trail race. Inspecting the work, mister Marshall noticed
1:54:27
Speaker 1: yellow particles mingled with the excavated earth, which had been
1:54:32
Speaker 1: washed by late rains. Sending an Indian to his cabin
1:54:36
Speaker 1: for a tin plate, Marshall washed out some of the
1:54:39
Speaker 1: soil and obtained a small quantity of yellow metal. During
1:54:43
Speaker 1: the evening, he remarked to his associates of the camp
1:54:46
Speaker 1: that he believed he had found gold, which was received
1:54:50
Speaker 1: with some doubts, the expressions being I reckon not and
1:54:55
Speaker 1: no such luck. But Henry W. Bigler, one of the
1:55:00
Speaker 1: battalion members, made the following entry in his journal that day,
1:55:05
Speaker 1: Monday twenty four January. This day some kind of metal
1:55:10
Speaker 1: was found in the tail race that looks like gold.
1:55:14
Speaker 1: January thirtieth clear and has been all the last week.
1:55:18
Speaker 1: Our metal has been tried and proves to be gold.
1:55:21
Speaker 1: It is thought to be rich. We have picked up
1:55:24
Speaker 1: more than one hundred dollars worth this week the date
1:55:29
Speaker 1: of the discovery of gold. Thus it is the journal
1:55:33
Speaker 1: of a member of the Mormon Battalion which determines the
1:55:36
Speaker 1: date of the event which startled the world. Usually the
1:55:40
Speaker 1: nineteenth of January is given as the date, but in
1:55:44
Speaker 1: his history of California. Bancroft discusses the subject as follows.
1:55:49
Speaker 1: The nineteenth of January is the date usually given, but
1:55:52
Speaker 1: I am satisfied that it is incorrect. There are but
1:55:56
Speaker 1: two authorities to choose, between Marshal the discovery and one
1:56:01
Speaker 1: Henry W. Bigler, our Mormon engaged upon the work at
1:56:05
Speaker 1: the time. Besides confusion of mind and other respects, Marshal
1:56:09
Speaker 1: admits that he does not know the date. Honor About
1:56:13
Speaker 1: the nineteenth of January, he says Hutchin's Magazine two two hundred,
1:56:19
Speaker 1: I am not quite certain to a day, but it
1:56:22
Speaker 1: was between the eighteenth and the twentieth, whereupon the nineteenth
1:56:27
Speaker 1: has been generally accepted. Bigler, on the other hand, was
1:56:30
Speaker 1: a cool, clear headed, methodical man. Moreover, he kept a
1:56:34
Speaker 1: journal in which he entered occurrences on the spot, and
1:56:38
Speaker 1: it is from this journal I get my date. If
1:56:41
Speaker 1: further evidence be wanting, we have it. Marshall states that
1:56:46
Speaker 1: four days after the discovery, he proceeded to New Helvetia,
1:56:50
Speaker 1: identical as to the location with Sutter's Fort with specimens. Now,
1:56:55
Speaker 1: by reference to another journal, knew Javetia Diary, we find
1:56:59
Speaker 1: that Marshall arrived at the fort on the evening of
1:57:01
Speaker 1: the twenty eighth. If we reckon the day of discovery
1:57:05
Speaker 1: as one of four days, allow Marshall one night on
1:57:08
Speaker 1: the way which Parsons gives him, and account the twenty
1:57:12
Speaker 1: eighth one day we have the twenty fourth as the
1:57:15
Speaker 1: date of discovery trebly proved the tide of Western civilization started.
1:57:23
Speaker 1: The discovery of gold is the historical event that turned
1:57:26
Speaker 1: the eyes of the civilized world to California. Within a year,
1:57:31
Speaker 1: it started that mighty wave of Western emigration from all
1:57:34
Speaker 1: parts of the United States, many parts of Europe, and
1:57:37
Speaker 1: even from Asia. It was to be a subject of
1:57:40
Speaker 1: the President's message to Congress before the close of the year.
1:57:44
Speaker 1: Within two years it would make California one of the
1:57:48
Speaker 1: sovereign states of the American Union, but the population of
1:57:51
Speaker 1: nearly one hundred thousand. In seven years, it would result
1:57:57
Speaker 1: in adding nearly five hundred million dollars to the world's
1:58:00
Speaker 1: store of gold. And then, as the gold from soil
1:58:04
Speaker 1: and sand was exhausted and costly operations upon gold bearing
1:58:09
Speaker 1: quartz ledges and delving into the earth were required to
1:58:13
Speaker 1: secure the precious metal. Many men who had come to
1:58:16
Speaker 1: the mines turned their attention to agriculture and to horticulture,
1:58:21
Speaker 1: and found in the grain fields, vineyards, and the orchards
1:58:24
Speaker 1: of the Pacific Slope even a greater source of wealth
1:58:28
Speaker 1: than the gold mines. For a time, an effort was
1:58:31
Speaker 1: made to keep the discovery of gold quiet, but gradually
1:58:34
Speaker 1: it became known, and the secret of the Sierras was
1:58:37
Speaker 1: revealed to the world, with the result already noted. San Francisco, however,
1:58:43
Speaker 1: was indifferent for some time. The final conversion of that
1:58:47
Speaker 1: town to the discovery of gold did not take place
1:58:50
Speaker 1: until Samuel Brannan, the leader of the Brooklyn Colony of
1:58:54
Speaker 1: Mormons to California, came down from Sutter's Fort, where he
1:58:57
Speaker 1: had a store, to San Francisco in company with a
1:59:01
Speaker 1: number of others who had with them specimens of collected gold,
1:59:05
Speaker 1: in both dust and nuggets. Brannon, holding in one hand
1:59:09
Speaker 1: a bottle of yellow dust and with the other swinging
1:59:12
Speaker 1: his hat, rushed down the streetch outing gold, gold, gold
1:59:17
Speaker 1: from the American River. This in May, and soon afterwards
1:59:22
Speaker 1: San Francisco was deserted for the gold fields. The Mormon
1:59:27
Speaker 1: battalion diggings on the American River the spare time of
1:59:32
Speaker 1: the Mormons at Setter's Sawmill was devoted to washing out
1:59:35
Speaker 1: gold in the mill race and from the deposits of
1:59:38
Speaker 1: the sand bars along the river. Henry Bigler, on the
1:59:41
Speaker 1: twenty first of February wrote to members of the battalion
1:59:45
Speaker 1: at Sutter's Fort, telling them of the discovery of gold,
1:59:49
Speaker 1: but cautioned them to impart the information only to those
1:59:52
Speaker 1: who could be relied upon to keep the secret. They
1:59:56
Speaker 1: entrusted it to three other members of the battalion. Six
1:59:59
Speaker 1: days later, three of the number, Sidney Willis, Levi Fifield,
2:00:04
Speaker 1: and Wilfrid Hudson, came up to the saw mill and
2:00:07
Speaker 1: frankly told mister Sutter they had come to search for gold,
2:00:12
Speaker 1: and he gave them permission to mine in the tail
2:00:14
Speaker 1: of the mill race. The next day they began work
2:00:17
Speaker 1: and were fairly successful. Hudson picked out one piece of
2:00:21
Speaker 1: gold worth six dollars. After a few days, however, these
2:00:25
Speaker 1: men felt under obligations to return to the fort, as
2:00:29
Speaker 1: they had given it out that they were merely going
2:00:31
Speaker 1: to the saw mill on a visit, and a few
2:00:33
Speaker 1: days shooting returning, Willis and Hudson followed down the stream
2:00:38
Speaker 1: for the purpose of prospecting. Fifield, accompanied by Biggler, followed
2:00:43
Speaker 1: the wagon road. About half way between the sawmill and
2:00:47
Speaker 1: the fort, Hudson and Willis, on a bar opposite a
2:00:50
Speaker 1: little island in the river, found a small quantity of gold,
2:00:54
Speaker 1: not more than half a dollar in value. And while
2:00:57
Speaker 1: the smallest of the find filled the two specters with disgust,
2:01:01
Speaker 1: the other battalion members at the fort insisted upon being
2:01:05
Speaker 1: taken to the point where the gold had been found,
2:01:08
Speaker 1: that together they might examine the place. It was with
2:01:12
Speaker 1: difficulty they prevailed upon them to do so, remarks Bancroft,
2:01:17
Speaker 1: But finally Willis and Hudson consented, and the soul lately
2:01:21
Speaker 1: slighted spot continues. The historian of California presently became famous
2:01:27
Speaker 1: as the rich Mormon Diggins, the island Mormon Island, taking
2:01:32
Speaker 1: its name from these battalion boys who had first found
2:01:36
Speaker 1: gold there. But notwithstanding this new discovery by these members
2:01:41
Speaker 1: of the battalion, and notwithstanding their development of the discovery
2:01:46
Speaker 1: of mister Marshall and the huge excitement which followed, and
2:01:50
Speaker 1: the fact that whenever they could get released a day
2:01:53
Speaker 1: from their duty to their employer, they could usually obtain
2:01:56
Speaker 1: in gold several times over theirs a day's wages. History
2:02:00
Speaker 1: has to record that they were true to their engagement
2:02:04
Speaker 1: to mister Sutter. They had promised Sutter, says Bancroft, to
2:02:09
Speaker 1: stand by him and finish the saw mill. This they did,
2:02:13
Speaker 1: starting and running on the eleventh of March. Henry Biggler
2:02:17
Speaker 1: was still there. On the seventh of April, Bigler, Stevens,
2:02:21
Speaker 1: and Brown presented themselves at the fort to settle accounts
2:02:24
Speaker 1: with Sutter. The call of duty. The call of duty
2:02:30
Speaker 1: was also pressing upon these battalion men from another direction.
2:02:35
Speaker 1: The instructions from the Mormon leaders to the members of
2:02:38
Speaker 1: the battalion, as we have seen, was that they should
2:02:40
Speaker 1: remain in California during the winter, but to make their
2:02:44
Speaker 1: way to the Salt Lake Valley in the spring, bringing
2:02:47
Speaker 1: their earnings with them. Hence, when settling with Sutter on
2:02:51
Speaker 1: the seventh of April, the preliminaries were arranged for this
2:02:54
Speaker 1: prospective journey to the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains.
2:02:58
Speaker 1: The first of June was fixed upon as the time
2:03:01
Speaker 1: of their departure. Notice was given to Setter accordingly, so
2:03:05
Speaker 1: that by that time he could replace the Mormon workmen
2:03:08
Speaker 1: in his employ by others. Horses, cattle, and the seeds
2:03:12
Speaker 1: they intended taking with them were to be bought of him.
2:03:16
Speaker 1: Also two brass cannons, to be a defense against possible
2:03:20
Speaker 1: Indian attacks en route, and for defensive use against a
2:03:24
Speaker 1: like foe in the Salt Lake Valley. At first a
2:03:27
Speaker 1: company of eight went into the mountains to explore a route,
2:03:31
Speaker 1: but found the snow too deep for passage. At that time,
2:03:34
Speaker 1: the constantly growing gold excitement, also in consequence of its
2:03:38
Speaker 1: general and settling of things, delay their departure a month
2:03:42
Speaker 1: beyond the time fixed upon for starting. Meantime, many of
2:03:46
Speaker 1: the battalion members availed themselves of the opportunity to search
2:03:49
Speaker 1: for gold. Bigler and two others of the battalion followed
2:03:54
Speaker 1: up the American River from the fort about fifteen miles,
2:03:57
Speaker 1: finding gold. As they went diving at Mormon Island, they
2:04:01
Speaker 1: came upon the seven members of the battalion mining there,
2:04:04
Speaker 1: who that day had taken out two hundred and fifty dollars.
2:04:09
Speaker 1: Bigler and his associates mined for two months about one
2:04:13
Speaker 1: mile below the sawmill, dividing with Sutter and Marshall, who
2:04:17
Speaker 1: furnished the tools and provisions, the landowners demanded one half
2:04:21
Speaker 1: of the product. For a time, this was finally reduced
2:04:25
Speaker 1: to one third. In the midst of this prosperous mining
2:04:28
Speaker 1: activity and the daily growing gold fever the bad rush
2:04:33
Speaker 1: from San Francisco and other parts of California, the members
2:04:36
Speaker 1: of the battalion sought out a rendezvous for their gathering
2:04:40
Speaker 1: preparatory to their journey across the mountains. The place of
2:04:43
Speaker 1: rendezvous was called by them Pleasant Valley, near the present
2:04:48
Speaker 1: site of Placerville, a short distance up the south fork
2:04:51
Speaker 1: of the American River, and not far from the place
2:04:54
Speaker 1: where gold was first discovered on that stream. Parties came
2:04:57
Speaker 1: in one after another, until the third of July, when
2:05:01
Speaker 1: about forty five men and one woman, the wife of
2:05:04
Speaker 1: one of the party, had assembled, bringing with them wagons, horses, cattle,
2:05:09
Speaker 1: and other effects. On the third, a start was made
2:05:13
Speaker 1: as the wagons rolled up along the divide between the
2:05:16
Speaker 1: American River and the Consomknees. On the national fourth, writes H. H. Bancroft,
2:05:22
Speaker 1: their cannon thundered independence before the high sierras. Thus, as
2:05:28
Speaker 1: further remarked by the author, here followed amidst the scenes,
2:05:32
Speaker 1: now every day becoming more and more absorbing, bringing to
2:05:35
Speaker 1: the front the strongest passions of man's nature. At the
2:05:39
Speaker 1: call of what they deemed duty, these devotees of their religion,
2:05:43
Speaker 1: unhasittainingly laid down their wealth winning implements, turned their back
2:05:48
Speaker 1: on what all the world was, just then, making ready
2:05:52
Speaker 1: with hot haste and mustard strength to grasp, bat and
2:05:56
Speaker 1: struggle for, and march through new toil and dangers to
2:06:01
Speaker 1: meet their exiled brethren in the desert. The fame of
2:06:06
Speaker 1: having discovered gold may not be claimed for members of
2:06:10
Speaker 1: the Mormon battalion that belongs to mister Marshall. Unquestionably, though,
2:06:15
Speaker 1: the Mormons in camp when it was found of white
2:06:18
Speaker 1: men were in the majority, and the shovels in their
2:06:22
Speaker 1: industrious hands. It was which threw up the gold laden soil,
2:06:27
Speaker 1: and they were the first to extend the discovery. And
2:06:30
Speaker 1: there's the honors to first chronicle the date in fact
2:06:33
Speaker 1: of the event that was to mean so much to
2:06:36
Speaker 1: the Pacific coast of America and to the world. But
2:06:41
Speaker 1: while the honor of making the mere discovery of gold
2:06:43
Speaker 1: may not be claimed for them, that which is infinitely
2:06:47
Speaker 1: better may be claimed for them. The honor of writing
2:06:50
Speaker 1: into the annals of California and of the world's history.
2:06:55
Speaker 1: This fine example of fidelity to duty detailed above, and
2:07:00
Speaker 1: which is not overmatched in any of the records written
2:07:03
Speaker 1: by men acent of the Sierras from the western side.
2:07:09
Speaker 1: It was a difficult task to cut a wagon road
2:07:11
Speaker 1: from the west side through the lofty Sierras, to face them,
2:07:16
Speaker 1: a task of infinite toil, and in the presence of
2:07:19
Speaker 1: great danger from the lurking savages. Three pioneers who had
2:07:24
Speaker 1: insisted upon going in advance to blaze the route for
2:07:27
Speaker 1: the main company, had been murdered by the Indians. These
2:07:31
Speaker 1: pioneers were named Daniel Browitt, ezra H Allen, and Henderson Cox.
2:07:38
Speaker 1: The main camp came upon their mutilated bodies that a spring,
2:07:41
Speaker 1: which because of this event still bears the name Tragedy Spring.
2:07:47
Speaker 1: What numbers of these savages the main company would encounter,
2:07:51
Speaker 1: What their mood would be murderous or friendly, of course,
2:07:54
Speaker 1: could not be conjectured. It was of the dangers they
2:07:58
Speaker 1: must risk by all most incredible toil in patience. However,
2:08:03
Speaker 1: this company of Mormon battalion men conquered the ascent of
2:08:06
Speaker 1: the Sierras from the western side hewing a roadway for
2:08:10
Speaker 1: their seventeen wagons through stony heights, and in like manner
2:08:15
Speaker 1: down steep declivities and narrow gorges until the eastern sloping
2:08:19
Speaker 1: deserts beyond were reached, and finally the valley of the
2:08:24
Speaker 1: Great Salt Lake about the first of October eighteen forty eight,
2:08:29
Speaker 1: to them for the time the place to which duty
2:08:33
Speaker 1: had called them. Wagon trail from Los Angeles to Salt Lake.
2:08:39
Speaker 1: The company that re enlisted at Los Angeles for six
2:08:42
Speaker 1: months beyond the battalion's original term of enlistment, served eight
2:08:46
Speaker 1: months and then were mustered out of the service. Some
2:08:50
Speaker 1: of these, on being disbanded, went by way of the
2:08:53
Speaker 1: coast to the mines or engaged in other industries in
2:08:57
Speaker 1: California for a time, but most of them finally made
2:09:01
Speaker 1: their way to Salt Lake Valley in the course of
2:09:03
Speaker 1: one or two years, although a few remained permanently in California.
2:09:08
Speaker 1: A squad of twenty five from this company, however, on
2:09:11
Speaker 1: being mustered out of the service, organized at once for
2:09:14
Speaker 1: the journey to Salt Lake Valley, taking with them one
2:09:17
Speaker 1: wagon and a band of one hundred and thirty five mules.
2:09:21
Speaker 1: They went by way of what was called the Southern Route, hitherto, however,
2:09:26
Speaker 1: traveled only by packers, and the wagon of this battalion
2:09:29
Speaker 1: company was the first to make the journey over the
2:09:32
Speaker 1: pack trail. This company reached Salt Lake Valley on the
2:09:35
Speaker 1: fifth of June eighteen forty eight. Evidence of appreciation of
2:09:40
Speaker 1: the battalion services. The best evidence that the service of
2:09:45
Speaker 1: the Mormon Battalion was honorable and appreciated by both the
2:09:49
Speaker 1: people of California and the U. S Government exists in
2:09:53
Speaker 1: the fact of the efforts that were made on the
2:09:55
Speaker 1: part of both the people and the government to prolong
2:09:58
Speaker 1: their service, some of which efforts have already been noted
2:10:01
Speaker 1: in these pages. As the time approached for the company
2:10:05
Speaker 1: that had re enlisted to be mustered out of service,
2:10:08
Speaker 1: known as the Company of Mormon Volunteers, the people of
2:10:12
Speaker 1: San Diego drafted a petition baking the governor to use
2:10:16
Speaker 1: his influence to keep the company in the service. The
2:10:19
Speaker 1: petition was signed by every citizen in the town, and
2:10:23
Speaker 1: Governor Mason tried hard to induce the company to remain
2:10:26
Speaker 1: in the service another year, failing in that then to
2:10:30
Speaker 1: stay six months longer, all to no purpose. However, the
2:10:34
Speaker 1: volunteers were determined to join their friends and families in
2:10:37
Speaker 1: Salt Lake Valley and made the journey. As stated above,
2:10:42
Speaker 1: efforts to raise a second Mormon battalion. When the battalion
2:10:47
Speaker 1: proper was mustered out of service in July eighteen forty seven,
2:10:51
Speaker 1: efforts were set on foot at that time to raise
2:10:54
Speaker 1: a second Mormon battalion, of which Captain Jefferson Hunt was
2:10:58
Speaker 1: to be given the command with the office of Lieutenant colonel,
2:11:02
Speaker 1: the office held by its first commander, Allen, and later
2:11:05
Speaker 1: by Colonel Cook. It is learned from a report made
2:11:08
Speaker 1: by Governor Mason that the War Department, and hence the
2:11:12
Speaker 1: National Administration, also sought the enlistment of this second battalion.
2:11:17
Speaker 1: In his report to the Attugant General of September eighteenth,
2:11:21
Speaker 1: eighteen forty seven, Governor Mason says, of the service of
2:11:26
Speaker 1: this battalion, of their patients, subordination, and general good conduct
2:11:31
Speaker 1: you have already heard, and I take great pleasure in
2:11:34
Speaker 1: adding that as a body of men, they have religiously
2:11:38
Speaker 1: respected the rights and feelings of these conquered people, and
2:11:41
Speaker 1: not a syllable of complaint has reached my ears. Of
2:11:45
Speaker 1: a single insult offered or outraged done by a Mormon volunteer.
2:11:49
Speaker 1: So high an opinion did I entertain of the battalion
2:11:53
Speaker 1: and of their special fitness for the duties now performed
2:11:56
Speaker 1: by the garrisons in this country, that I made strenuous
2:11:59
Speaker 1: effort to engage their services for another year. The month
2:12:05
Speaker 1: following after Governor Mason had met Captain Brown of the
2:12:08
Speaker 1: Pueblo Detachment and received his report and paid off that
2:12:13
Speaker 1: division of the command. Also after, Captain Hunt, who had
2:12:17
Speaker 1: been for some time acting as Indian agent at Saint
2:12:20
Speaker 1: Louis Ray, was well on his way to Salt Lake
2:12:23
Speaker 1: Valley to raise the proposed second battalion to Mormon volunteers.
2:12:27
Speaker 1: Governor Mason wrote to Washington. Captain Brown, after making his
2:12:33
Speaker 1: report and receiving the pay of the Pueblo Detachment, started
2:12:37
Speaker 1: immediately to Fort Hull. Reported that he had met Captain Hunt,
2:12:41
Speaker 1: late of the Mormon the battalion, who was on his
2:12:44
Speaker 1: way to meet the emigrants and bring into the country
2:12:47
Speaker 1: this winter, if possible, a battalion according to the terms
2:12:51
Speaker 1: offered in my letter to him of the sixteenth of August,
2:12:55
Speaker 1: a copy of which you will find among the military
2:12:57
Speaker 1: correspondents of the Department. In my letter, I offered Captain
2:13:01
Speaker 1: Hunt the command of the battalion with the rank of
2:13:04
Speaker 1: lieutenant colonel with an adjutant. But I find by the
2:13:08
Speaker 1: orders lately received that a battalion of four companies is
2:13:12
Speaker 1: only entitled to a major and acting etutant. I will
2:13:16
Speaker 1: notify Captain Hunt of this change, and as early a
2:13:20
Speaker 1: moment as I can communicate with him, I am pleased
2:13:23
Speaker 1: to find by the dispatches that in this matter I
2:13:26
Speaker 1: have anticipated the wish of the Department. When, however, the
2:13:31
Speaker 1: subject of raising a second battalion was presented to Brigham Young,
2:13:36
Speaker 1: both through Colonel Jonathan D. Stevenson of the New York
2:13:39
Speaker 1: Regiment of Volunteers, prompted by Governor Mason, also through Captain
2:13:44
Speaker 1: Hunt in person, the proposition was declined regarding the first
2:13:49
Speaker 1: enlistment from the standpoint alone of the sacrifices it involved,
2:13:53
Speaker 1: President Young saw no occasion to make like sacrifices a
2:13:57
Speaker 1: second time, and no effort was made in Utah law
2:14:00
Speaker 1: to raise a second Mormon Battalion. End of Chapter eight
2:14:12
Speaker 1: Chapter nine of The Mormon Battalion Its History and Achievements
2:14:16
Speaker 1: by B. H. Roberts. This LibriVox recording is in the
2:14:20
Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Wayne Cook, The Battalion in the
2:14:26
Speaker 1: perspective of seventy three years, The story of the Mormon
2:14:31
Speaker 1: Battalion is now before the reader. The perspective of seventy
2:14:35
Speaker 1: three years corrects many of the misapprehensions that once obtained
2:14:39
Speaker 1: respecting the purpose of its being called and its mission.
2:14:43
Speaker 1: And as this perspective corrects the misconceptions of the past,
2:14:47
Speaker 1: so also does it enable us to recognize the real
2:14:51
Speaker 1: importance and the value of the incident and the greatness
2:14:55
Speaker 1: of the achievements of this battalion of the United States Troops.
2:14:58
Speaker 1: For such they were, and the matter of their coming
2:15:01
Speaker 1: from the westward migrating camps of the Mormon people should
2:15:05
Speaker 1: not be allowed to obscure that fact. The Battalion as
2:15:10
Speaker 1: Utah pioneers also, which should be always held in mind,
2:15:14
Speaker 1: that the members of the battalion were among the pioneers
2:15:17
Speaker 1: and founders of the state of Utah. For though the
2:15:20
Speaker 1: main body of the battalion went to California, its members
2:15:24
Speaker 1: were never for a day separated in thought or purpose
2:15:28
Speaker 1: from the main body of their people, whom they had
2:15:31
Speaker 1: assisted in their westward moving pilgrimage by means sent to
2:15:34
Speaker 1: them from their pay from both Fort Leavenworth and from
2:15:38
Speaker 1: Santa Fe, the seeds and the tents in arms, equipment
2:15:43
Speaker 1: they brought with them when returning from their historic march,
2:15:46
Speaker 1: and the newly mined gold for currency, all of which
2:15:50
Speaker 1: was so helpful in founding the Commonwealth to be, to
2:15:54
Speaker 1: say nothing of the advantage their service in the Army
2:15:56
Speaker 1: of the West had been to their people and secure
2:16:00
Speaker 1: during the effective elopment in the plea for their right
2:16:03
Speaker 1: to occupy Indian lands along the Missouri River in Iowa
2:16:06
Speaker 1: and Nebraska. Besides, one hundred and fifty of their number,
2:16:10
Speaker 1: with their tents, arms, teams, wagons, and other equipment, quartered
2:16:15
Speaker 1: at Pueblo during the winter of eighteen forty six. Forty
2:16:18
Speaker 1: seven followed so closely upon the heels of the First
2:16:22
Speaker 1: Company of Pioneers led by Brigham Young, that they arrived
2:16:25
Speaker 1: in the Salt Lake Valley only five days after the
2:16:28
Speaker 1: advent of the First Pioneer Company. Achievements of the Battalion
2:16:34
Speaker 1: four great movements made possible the development of the West,
2:16:38
Speaker 1: the Great inter Mountain region, and the Pacific Slope. These
2:16:42
Speaker 1: were one the opening of the highways two the conquest
2:16:47
Speaker 1: of northern Mexico, three the discovery of gold in California,
2:16:52
Speaker 1: and four the adoption of irrigation farming by an Anglo
2:16:56
Speaker 1: Saxon people. In all of these movements, the Battalion was
2:17:01
Speaker 1: an important factor. The part that the Battalion took in
2:17:05
Speaker 1: opening the highways to the Pacific has already been detailed
2:17:08
Speaker 1: in the story of their march and fully recognized in
2:17:11
Speaker 1: the military order already quoted in these pages, and which
2:17:15
Speaker 1: is now on file as a government document in Washington.
2:17:20
Speaker 1: Territory added to the United States by the conquest of Mexico.
2:17:24
Speaker 1: In all, says a reliable authority, more than five hundred
2:17:28
Speaker 1: and ninety thousand square miles were added to the territory
2:17:31
Speaker 1: of the United States as a result of the Mexican War.
2:17:36
Speaker 1: This included the west half of what is now the
2:17:38
Speaker 1: state of New Mexico, the west half of Colorado, all
2:17:42
Speaker 1: of Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California. For this territory, which
2:17:47
Speaker 1: equalled in extent two thirds of the territory of the
2:17:51
Speaker 1: original thirteen states of the Union, the government paid Mexico
2:17:55
Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars, including Texas. Says the authority followed. The
2:18:01
Speaker 1: additions of territory were more than nine hundred and sixty
2:18:04
Speaker 1: five thousand square miles, or, as another historian states it,
2:18:10
Speaker 1: territory equal in area to Germany, France, and Spain. Added
2:18:15
Speaker 1: together the Gadsden Purchase and the Battalion Route. Commenting on
2:18:21
Speaker 1: the Battalion's march in the map he made of it,
2:18:24
Speaker 1: Colonel Cook says, a new administration this was the Pierce
2:18:28
Speaker 1: administration eighteen fifty three eighteen fifty seven, in which the
2:18:32
Speaker 1: Southern interests prevailed with a great problem of the practicability
2:18:37
Speaker 1: and best location of a Pacific railroad under investigation, had
2:18:41
Speaker 1: the map of this wagon route before them, with its
2:18:45
Speaker 1: continuance to the west, and perceived that it gave exactly
2:18:48
Speaker 1: the solution of its unknown element, that a southern route
2:18:52
Speaker 1: would both avoid the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas with
2:18:56
Speaker 1: their snows, and would meet no obstacle in this great interval.
2:19:01
Speaker 1: The Duke Gadsden Treaty, with the result it was signed
2:19:04
Speaker 1: December thirtieth, eighteen fifty three. This purchase added to the
2:19:10
Speaker 1: territory of the United States forty five thousand, five hundred
2:19:14
Speaker 1: and thirty five square miles for which was paid ten
2:19:17
Speaker 1: million dollars. The purchase was made by James Gadson of
2:19:21
Speaker 1: South Carolina, Minister to Mexico, hence the name Gadsden Purchase.
2:19:28
Speaker 1: In addition to the wagon road opened westward through southern
2:19:31
Speaker 1: New Mexico, Arizona, and California, we have seen that it
2:19:35
Speaker 1: was a detachment of twenty five discharge members of the
2:19:38
Speaker 1: battalion which brought the first wagon through from the coast
2:19:41
Speaker 1: by a Cajone pass to Salt Lake Valley, following what
2:19:45
Speaker 1: is now the general course of the sem Pedro Los
2:19:48
Speaker 1: Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and which became known in
2:19:51
Speaker 1: the early Utah California times as the Southern California Route
2:19:56
Speaker 1: to the coast. Also, as we have seen, the battalion members,
2:20:00
Speaker 1: returning from the gold fields of the American River region,
2:20:03
Speaker 1: cut a new wagon road much of the way for
2:20:06
Speaker 1: their seventeen wagons and two cannons, from the western side
2:20:09
Speaker 1: of the Sierra across the summit of that lofty range,
2:20:13
Speaker 1: thence down to the eastern sloping deserts of Nevada and
2:20:16
Speaker 1: so to Salt Lake Valley. The conquest of northern Mexico,
2:20:20
Speaker 1: including of course California, and Utah, as well as New
2:20:24
Speaker 1: Mexico and Bracket Transcriber's note text is missing in the
2:20:30
Speaker 1: original n Bracket lengths of their conduct not only on
2:20:34
Speaker 1: the march to the Pacific fleet of the American Navy
2:20:37
Speaker 1: and the Army of the West, the main division of
2:20:40
Speaker 1: which was under the command of General Stephen W. Kearney.
2:20:44
Speaker 1: The Battalion's part in the conquest is detailed in the
2:20:47
Speaker 1: foregoing narrative and also is acknowledged in the military order
2:20:51
Speaker 1: by Colonel Cook, referred to several times and given in
2:20:54
Speaker 1: full in a preceding page of this book. In addition
2:20:58
Speaker 1: to all this, the battalion reflected great credit upon the
2:21:01
Speaker 1: community of Utah, pioneers of whom it never ceased to
2:21:05
Speaker 1: be a part, by reason of the excellence of their conduct,
2:21:09
Speaker 1: not only on the march to the Pacific Coast, but
2:21:12
Speaker 1: also when doing garrison duty in southern California. The efforts
2:21:16
Speaker 1: to secure the reenlistment of the battalion, and failing that,
2:21:20
Speaker 1: the effort to secure the enlistment of a second Mormon battalion,
2:21:24
Speaker 1: were the conscious confessions of both California and Federal officials,
2:21:28
Speaker 1: since both participated in such efforts to the worth of
2:21:32
Speaker 1: these United States soldiers quote. They religiously respected their rights
2:21:37
Speaker 1: and feelings of the conquered people of California. Not a
2:21:41
Speaker 1: syllable of complaint of a single insult offered or any
2:21:45
Speaker 1: outrage done by a Mormon volunteer. End is the record
2:21:49
Speaker 1: of the battalion and the re enlisted volunteers, according to
2:21:53
Speaker 1: the report of them by Governor Mason. Such is the
2:21:56
Speaker 1: reputation of the battalion, of its officers chosen from their ranks,
2:22:01
Speaker 1: and of its men their rank and file. The bart
2:22:05
Speaker 1: the battalion played in the discovery of gold has already
2:22:08
Speaker 1: been detailed. Connection with irrigation. The connection of members of
2:22:13
Speaker 1: the battalion with the introduction of irrigation among an Anglo
2:22:17
Speaker 1: Saxon people, and most likely coming from their suggestion, is
2:22:21
Speaker 1: a deduction from circumstances rather than of fact sustained by
2:22:24
Speaker 1: direct and positive proof. When Brigham Young's company of pioneers
2:22:29
Speaker 1: were about to leave Green River on July fourth, eighteen
2:22:32
Speaker 1: forty seven, they were overtaken by a detachment of thirteen
2:22:35
Speaker 1: men from the battalion, who were in pursuit of men
2:22:38
Speaker 1: who had stolen horses from their camps. Some seven days
2:22:42
Speaker 1: travel eastward. These men had been with the several invalid
2:22:47
Speaker 1: detachments from the battalion, about one hundred fifty in all
2:22:51
Speaker 1: that had wintered in Pueblo and what is now the
2:22:54
Speaker 1: state of Colorado. They were incorporated into the Pioneer Company
2:22:58
Speaker 1: and came on with it to Salt Lake Valley, and
2:23:01
Speaker 1: undoubtedly members of this group would be upon the ground
2:23:04
Speaker 1: that twenty third day of July when plowing was first
2:23:07
Speaker 1: attempted on the south fork of City Creek, on the
2:23:10
Speaker 1: present site of Great Salt Lake City. The annals of
2:23:14
Speaker 1: that day say that the ground was so dry and
2:23:17
Speaker 1: hard that in the attempt to plow it, several plows
2:23:20
Speaker 1: were broken, whereupon, at someone's suggestion. Who it was that
2:23:24
Speaker 1: made it, the annals do not disclose, and it is
2:23:27
Speaker 1: not known, a company was set at work to put
2:23:30
Speaker 1: in a dam in the creek and flood the land
2:23:33
Speaker 1: in order to plow it. This was the beginning of
2:23:35
Speaker 1: Anglo Saxon irrigation, as already stated. Who it was that
2:23:40
Speaker 1: made the fortunate suggestion that the water be turned out
2:23:43
Speaker 1: upon the land in order to make it possible to
2:23:46
Speaker 1: plow it is not known, but we have seen that
2:23:49
Speaker 1: thirteen members of the battalion were among the pioneers, and
2:23:53
Speaker 1: some of them had seen irrigation in operation among the
2:23:55
Speaker 1: Mexicans at Santa Fe and further south in the valley
2:23:59
Speaker 1: of the Rio Grande. What more likely than that some
2:24:02
Speaker 1: of those men who had seen irrigation in progress should
2:24:06
Speaker 1: suggest the flooding of the land prepared for plowing, as
2:24:09
Speaker 1: they had seen it conducted over the land to convey
2:24:12
Speaker 1: moisture to the growing vegetation, the probability of it as
2:24:17
Speaker 1: moral certainty. End of Chapter nine, Chapter ten of the
2:24:28
Speaker 1: Mormon Battalion Its History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts.
2:24:34
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
2:24:38
Speaker 1: Wayne Cook, the subsequent distinction achieved by the battalion's commanding officers,
2:24:46
Speaker 1: It may be of interest, and certainly belongs to the
2:24:49
Speaker 1: history of the battalion to say that its commanding officer
2:24:52
Speaker 1: and the two lieutenants of the regular Army his staff
2:24:55
Speaker 1: officers rose later to honorable distinction during the War between
2:24:59
Speaker 1: the States Colonel Cook. Colonel Cook, after returning to the
2:25:04
Speaker 1: East with Stephen W. Kearney, continued in the military service
2:25:08
Speaker 1: of the United States and was active in the Kansas,
2:25:11
Speaker 1: Nebraska troubles of the early fifties. In eighteen fifty seven
2:25:15
Speaker 1: eight he commanded the cavalry in the Johnston Expedition to Utah,
2:25:20
Speaker 1: and it is of record that when that command passed
2:25:23
Speaker 1: through the streets of Salt Lake City en route from
2:25:26
Speaker 1: the mouth of Immigration Canyon to the place of its
2:25:29
Speaker 1: encampment west of the Jordan, the Colonel road with uncovered
2:25:33
Speaker 1: head through the city out of respect to the brave
2:25:37
Speaker 1: men of the Mermon Battalion he had commanded in their
2:25:40
Speaker 1: march to the Pacific. For a time, after the departure
2:25:45
Speaker 1: of Albert Sidney Johnston to the East, or rather to
2:25:49
Speaker 1: the south, for that officer espoused the cause of the
2:25:52
Speaker 1: Southern Confederacy against the Union. Colonel Cook, for a time
2:25:56
Speaker 1: was in command of Johnston Army at Camp Floyd in
2:26:00
Speaker 1: Cedar Valley, west of Utah Lake. During the Civil War,
2:26:05
Speaker 1: Colonel Cook, though of Virginia, served on the side of
2:26:08
Speaker 1: the Union Army and rose to the grade of Brigadier
2:26:11
Speaker 1: general eighteen sixty one, to the rank of Brevet major
2:26:15
Speaker 1: general eighteen sixty five. Lieutenant A. J. Smith Lieutenant A. J.
2:26:21
Speaker 1: Smith in the same war rose to the grade of
2:26:24
Speaker 1: commander of California Volunteers to that of Brigadier General of
2:26:29
Speaker 1: Volunteers eighteen sixty two and to Major General of Volunteers
2:26:34
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. In the Battle of Nashville, he commanded
2:26:37
Speaker 1: the sixteenth Corps of General Thomas's Wright and received the
2:26:41
Speaker 1: brevet of Major General in the Regular Army for his
2:26:44
Speaker 1: services in that battle. Lieutenant George Stoneman Lieutenant George Stoneman
2:26:51
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty one was in command at Fort Brown, Texas,
2:26:55
Speaker 1: with the rank of Captain. Later, he was in command
2:26:58
Speaker 1: of the Union Cavalry in the Peninsul Campaign. After the
2:27:02
Speaker 1: death of General Philip Kearney at Chantilly, Stoneman took the
2:27:06
Speaker 1: command of the fallen General's Division and commanded the third
2:27:10
Speaker 1: Corps at Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville, he commanded the Federal Cavalry
2:27:15
Speaker 1: and a raid upon Andersonville, the object of which was
2:27:19
Speaker 1: to liberate the Federal soldiers in prison There he was
2:27:22
Speaker 1: captured by the Confederates. After the war, he was in
2:27:25
Speaker 1: command of one of the many military departments created by
2:27:28
Speaker 1: the government, and from eighteen eighty three to eighteen eighty
2:27:31
Speaker 1: seven was Governor of California. End of Chapter ten Chapter
2:27:43
Speaker 1: eleven of the Mormon Battalion Its History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts.
2:27:49
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
2:27:53
Speaker 1: Wayne Cook anecdotes, Colonel Cook, in addition to natural austerity
2:28:01
Speaker 1: of temperament, was a strict disciplinarian and generally held himself
2:28:05
Speaker 1: aloof from the men. A few anecdotes that fortunately survived
2:28:10
Speaker 1: the march, and which were related by Wilfred Woodruff at
2:28:14
Speaker 1: the celebration of Pioneer's Day in eighteen eighty, show the
2:28:18
Speaker 1: Colonel in some of his better moods, and witnessed the
2:28:21
Speaker 1: fact that he could be somewhat broadly tolerant of the
2:28:25
Speaker 1: independent attitude of some members of his Mormon command. The
2:28:30
Speaker 1: wood Iff narratives follow character of Colonel Cook. Those who
2:28:36
Speaker 1: marched with him. Colonel Cook can understand him much better
2:28:39
Speaker 1: than I can describe him. I think he possessed a
2:28:43
Speaker 1: better heart that his language would sometimes indicate. He was
2:28:47
Speaker 1: a strict disciplinarian, and, like Lord Nelson, expected every man
2:28:52
Speaker 1: to do his duty, but he had a peculiar streak
2:28:56
Speaker 1: in his composition at times that induced him to see
2:29:00
Speaker 1: how far the Mormon Battalion would go in obeying his
2:29:04
Speaker 1: commands and that were inconsistent with reason and good judgment.
2:29:10
Speaker 1: As an illustration of this, for the edification or amusement
2:29:14
Speaker 1: of the remnant of the battalion or present, I will
2:29:17
Speaker 1: refer to a few incidents, and if I do not
2:29:20
Speaker 1: get everything as it transpired, I will get it as
2:29:24
Speaker 1: nearly as I can, from the reports of those who
2:29:27
Speaker 1: were present, Colonel Cook and Christopher Layton. On one occasion,
2:29:34
Speaker 1: while the battalion was crossing a river with a ferry boat,
2:29:37
Speaker 1: Colonel Cook was sitting on his mule on the bank
2:29:40
Speaker 1: looking at them. The boat went down into such deep
2:29:44
Speaker 1: water that the setting poles did not touch bottom. Try
2:29:48
Speaker 1: the upper side, said he. They did so, but could
2:29:51
Speaker 1: not touch bottom. The colonel then took off his hat
2:29:55
Speaker 1: and said, goodbye, gentlemen. When you get down to the
2:29:58
Speaker 1: Gulf of California, give my respects to the folks. He
2:30:02
Speaker 1: then rode off and left them, not waiting to see
2:30:05
Speaker 1: whether they would reach shore or go down the river.
2:30:09
Speaker 1: He soon returned and found they had got ashore. While
2:30:13
Speaker 1: sitting there, Christopher Layton rode up to the river on
2:30:16
Speaker 1: a mule to let it drink. Colonel Cook said to
2:30:19
Speaker 1: him young man, I want you to ride across the
2:30:23
Speaker 1: river and carry a message from me to Captain Hunt.
2:30:26
Speaker 1: It being natural for the men to obey the colonel's order,
2:30:30
Speaker 1: he Layton tried to ride into the river, but he
2:30:33
Speaker 1: had gone but a few steps before his mule was
2:30:36
Speaker 1: going in all over. So brother Layton stopped. The colonel
2:30:40
Speaker 1: hallowed out, go on, young man, go on, young man.
2:30:44
Speaker 1: But brother Layton, on a moment's reflection, was satisfied that
2:30:48
Speaker 1: if he attempted it, both he and his mule would
2:30:52
Speaker 1: stand a good chance to be drowned. The colonel himself
2:30:55
Speaker 1: was satisfied of the same, so brother Layton turned his
2:30:59
Speaker 1: mule and rode off, saying as he came out, Colonel,
2:31:02
Speaker 1: I'll see you in Hell before I would down myself
2:31:04
Speaker 1: and mule in that river. The colonel looked at him
2:31:07
Speaker 1: for a moment and said, to the bystanders, what is
2:31:11
Speaker 1: that man's name? Christopher Lighton, sir, well, he is a
2:31:16
Speaker 1: saucy fellow. Colonel Cook and Lot Smith. On another occasion,
2:31:23
Speaker 1: while the battalion was a Santa Fe, Colonel Cook ordered
2:31:27
Speaker 1: Lot Smith to guard a Mexican corral, and having a
2:31:30
Speaker 1: company of the United States cavalry camped by. He told
2:31:34
Speaker 1: a Lot of the men came to steal the poles
2:31:36
Speaker 1: to baon at them. The men came and surrounded the corral,
2:31:40
Speaker 1: and while Lot was guarding one side, they would hitch
2:31:43
Speaker 1: to a pole on the other and ride off with it.
2:31:46
Speaker 1: When the colonel saw the poles were gone, he asked Lot,
2:31:49
Speaker 1: why did not obey orders and bayonet the thieves. Lot replied,
2:31:53
Speaker 1: if you expect me to bayon at United States troops
2:31:56
Speaker 1: for taking a pole on the enemy's ground to make
2:31:59
Speaker 1: a fire thereof you mistake your man. Lott expected to
2:32:04
Speaker 1: be punished, and he was placed under guard, but nothing
2:32:07
Speaker 1: further was done about it. The colonel the Mule and Biggler.
2:32:13
Speaker 1: Colonel Cook called upon W. H. Bigler as a provost
2:32:17
Speaker 1: guard one day to guard his tent. The colonel had
2:32:20
Speaker 1: a favorite mule which was fed some grain on a blanket.
2:32:25
Speaker 1: One of the freight mules came up and helped to
2:32:27
Speaker 1: eat the grain. The colonel drove him off several times,
2:32:31
Speaker 1: but he would follow him again until the colonel got
2:32:34
Speaker 1: vexed and said to Biggler, is your musket loaded? No, sir,
2:32:39
Speaker 1: then loaded and give it to me. Brother Biggler is
2:32:42
Speaker 1: the last man on earth that anyone acquainted with him
2:32:45
Speaker 1: would have supposed would have played any tricks on the colonel.
2:32:49
Speaker 1: But he took out a cartridge and bit off the
2:32:52
Speaker 1: ball end, which he dropped on the ground. He then
2:32:55
Speaker 1: rammed the powder and paper down the gun, tapped it
2:32:58
Speaker 1: and handed it to the colonel. Several of the officers
2:33:01
Speaker 1: of the battalion were looking on as the mule came
2:33:05
Speaker 1: back to get the grain, and had arrived within a
2:33:07
Speaker 1: rod of him. The Colonel fired the charging too its face,
2:33:11
Speaker 1: but the only effect it had upon the mule was
2:33:14
Speaker 1: to caustitute, give a snort, wheel round and kick at him,
2:33:17
Speaker 1: and then run off a few rods, after which it
2:33:20
Speaker 1: turned to come back again. This created a good deal
2:33:24
Speaker 1: of amusement with the lookers on. The only remarked the
2:33:27
Speaker 1: Colonel maid as he handed back the musket, who brother
2:33:30
Speaker 1: Bigler was, young man, That gun was not properly loaded
2:33:35
Speaker 1: wire wire, damn you, sir. Colonel Cook had rather more
2:33:40
Speaker 1: sternness than familiarity in him when he gave an order.
2:33:44
Speaker 1: If he was not fully understood by the soldiers, they
2:33:48
Speaker 1: did not like to question him. On one occasion he
2:33:51
Speaker 1: wanted some wire to fix up his tent. He ordered
2:33:55
Speaker 1: one of the soldiers to go to a certain man
2:33:57
Speaker 1: and get some wire, But he did not speak plainly,
2:34:00
Speaker 1: and the soldier did not understand what he said. Nevertheless,
2:34:05
Speaker 1: the soldier started to go on the errand, but began
2:34:08
Speaker 1: to think that he could not tell what to ask for.
2:34:12
Speaker 1: So he went back to the colonel and asked him
2:34:14
Speaker 1: what he had told him to get. The colonel said,
2:34:18
Speaker 1: wire wire. Why are damn you sir. The soldier went
2:34:22
Speaker 1: to the man and asked for some wire for Colonel Cook,
2:34:25
Speaker 1: but the man had not got any wire. What did
2:34:28
Speaker 1: you ask for, inquired the colonel. When the man returned,
2:34:32
Speaker 1: I asked for wire wire wire, damn you, sir. That
2:34:37
Speaker 1: will do. That will do, young man? You may go
2:34:40
Speaker 1: to your tent. Colonel Cook's respect for the battalion. These
2:34:46
Speaker 1: instances show a little of the kind of temperament Colonel
2:34:49
Speaker 1: Cook possessed. But he had a good, generous heart. He
2:34:53
Speaker 1: entertained great respect for the Mormon battalion, and he always
2:34:57
Speaker 1: spoke kindly of them. Before the government had all men.
2:35:01
Speaker 1: When he went through Salt Lake City with Colonel A. S.
2:35:03
Speaker 1: Johnston in eighteen fifty eight, he uncovered his head in
2:35:07
Speaker 1: honor of the Mormon Battalion, that five hundred brave men
2:35:12
Speaker 1: he had led two thousand miles over sandy deserts and
2:35:16
Speaker 1: through rocky canyons, in the midst of thirst, hunger, and fatigue,
2:35:21
Speaker 1: in the service of their country. May God bless Colonel Cook,
2:35:26
Speaker 1: and may He bless the Battalion and their posterity after them.
2:35:31
Speaker 1: And of Chapter eleven addenda of the Mormon Battalion, Its
2:35:42
Speaker 1: History and Achievements by B. H. Roberts. This LibriVox recording
2:35:48
Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Read by Wayne Cook, the
2:35:53
Speaker 1: Battalion's monument, the march and achievements of the Mormon Battalion
2:36:00
Speaker 1: are worthy of celebration in an enduring form that shill
2:36:03
Speaker 1: perpetuate the memory of them to future generations. This has
2:36:08
Speaker 1: been recognized for many years, and the idea of such
2:36:11
Speaker 1: a memorial has been kept alive in the community by
2:36:15
Speaker 1: a women's organization known as the Daughters of the Mormon Battalion,
2:36:20
Speaker 1: composed of direct female descendants of the men of that organization.
2:36:25
Speaker 1: Of late years, the interest is taken on a wider scope.
2:36:29
Speaker 1: Until now the whole state of Utah and the surrounding
2:36:33
Speaker 1: inter Mountain states have become awakened to the duty of
2:36:36
Speaker 1: properly commemorating by a monument this unique event in the
2:36:40
Speaker 1: history of our country and of the Utah Pioneers. The
2:36:45
Speaker 1: State of Utah Mormon Battalion Monument Commission. This awakened sense
2:36:51
Speaker 1: of duty led to the creation of the State of
2:36:54
Speaker 1: Utah Mormon Battalion Monument Commission. By the twelfth Legislature of
2:36:59
Speaker 1: the State of Utah. It is instructed to proceed with
2:37:02
Speaker 1: the erection of a monument upon the Capitol Grounds to
2:37:05
Speaker 1: commemorate the important contribution made to the early settlements of
2:37:09
Speaker 1: the State of Utah and the western portion of the
2:37:12
Speaker 1: United States by the Mormon Battalion. The appointment of this
2:37:17
Speaker 1: commission and the mandate given to it were the sequence
2:37:21
Speaker 1: of an act of the previous legislature, the eleventh, which
2:37:24
Speaker 1: had appointed a former commission of seven citizens to investigate
2:37:28
Speaker 1: the subject of such a monument, choose a site for
2:37:31
Speaker 1: it upon the Capitol Grounds, select a design, and report
2:37:35
Speaker 1: to the legislature next Succeeding accordingly, a site was selected,
2:37:40
Speaker 1: a competition held in which the architects and the sculptors
2:37:44
Speaker 1: of Utah and also of the United States were invited
2:37:48
Speaker 1: to participate, and in which prominent sculptors and architects from
2:37:52
Speaker 1: the whole country did participate, submitting plans and models of
2:37:56
Speaker 1: their designs, from which a committee composed of Utah's dominant
2:38:00
Speaker 1: artists and architects selected three as winning first, second, and
2:38:05
Speaker 1: third places, respectively, and to which were awarded cash prizes
2:38:09
Speaker 1: as per terms of the competition. Acting upon the judgment
2:38:13
Speaker 1: of this committee, the design accorded first place was recommended
2:38:17
Speaker 1: by the Monument Committee to the twelfth Legislature, and an
2:38:20
Speaker 1: appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars asked for, not to
2:38:25
Speaker 1: be available, however before nineteen twenty, and only when a
2:38:29
Speaker 1: like amount of money should be raised from other sources.
2:38:33
Speaker 1: The report of the first Committee resulted, as before stated,
2:38:37
Speaker 1: in the appointment of the present Commission, the making of
2:38:40
Speaker 1: the aforesaid appropriation of two thousand dollars additional for contingent expenses,
2:38:47
Speaker 1: and authorizing procedure with the work. Mister G. P. Riswold,
2:38:52
Speaker 1: the successful sculptor in the competition, associated with Messrs James R. M.
2:38:57
Speaker 1: Morrison and mister Walker architect Shure Cago, Illinois, were notified
2:39:02
Speaker 1: of the action of the Legislature. The following spring, mister Morrison,
2:39:06
Speaker 1: of the firm of the Sculptor and Associated Architects, being
2:39:10
Speaker 1: in Salt Lake City and meeting with some members of
2:39:13
Speaker 1: the Commission, volunteered the making of a larger model of
2:39:16
Speaker 1: the design submitted by mister Griswold. This model has been
2:39:20
Speaker 1: inspected by a special committee appointed by the Utah State
2:39:24
Speaker 1: Commission and finally adopted by the full Commission as the
2:39:27
Speaker 1: accepted design and model of the monument to be erected
2:39:31
Speaker 1: on the Capitol Grounds. Description of the monument the written
2:39:36
Speaker 1: report of mister Samuel C. Park, formerly Mayor of Salt
2:39:40
Speaker 1: Lake City, made on behalf of the committee that went
2:39:44
Speaker 1: to Chicago to inspect the model, to the Utah State
2:39:47
Speaker 1: Mormon Battalion Commission, may well be taken for a description
2:39:51
Speaker 1: of the Mormon Battalion Monument that is proposed to erect
2:39:54
Speaker 1: on the Capitol Grounds. To the Chairman of members of
2:40:00
Speaker 1: the Mormon Battalion Monument Commission. As a member of your
2:40:03
Speaker 1: subcommittee delegated to go to Chicago to inspect the model
2:40:07
Speaker 1: of the proposed Mormon Battalion Monument, I have the honor
2:40:10
Speaker 1: to report the base is in triangular form with concave
2:40:15
Speaker 1: sides and rounded corners. A bronze figure of a battalion
2:40:20
Speaker 1: man is mounted upon the front corner. Flanking him on
2:40:24
Speaker 1: two sides of the triangle are cut in high relief.
2:40:27
Speaker 1: On the left the scene of the enlistment of the
2:40:30
Speaker 1: battalion under the flag of the United States of America.
2:40:33
Speaker 1: On the right a scene of the march where the
2:40:36
Speaker 1: men are assisting in pulling the wagons of their train
2:40:39
Speaker 1: up and over a precipitous ascent, while still others are
2:40:43
Speaker 1: ahead widening a cut to permit the passage of the
2:40:46
Speaker 1: wagons between the out jutting rocks. The background is a
2:40:50
Speaker 1: representation of mountains of the character through which the battalion
2:40:54
Speaker 1: and its train passed on the journey to the Pacific.
2:40:58
Speaker 1: Just below the peak in the center and in front
2:41:01
Speaker 1: of it is chiseled a beautiful head and upper part
2:41:04
Speaker 1: of a woman, symbolizing the spirit of the West. She
2:41:09
Speaker 1: personifies the impulsive power and motive force that sustained these
2:41:14
Speaker 1: battalion men and led them as a vanguard of civilization
2:41:18
Speaker 1: across the trackless plains and through the difficult defiles and
2:41:22
Speaker 1: passes of the mountains. The idea of the sculptor in
2:41:26
Speaker 1: the Spirit of the West is a magnificent conception and
2:41:30
Speaker 1: should dominate the whole monument. The bronze figure of the
2:41:34
Speaker 1: battalion Man is dignified, strong and reverential. He excellently typifies
2:41:40
Speaker 1: that band of pioneer soldiers which broke away through the
2:41:43
Speaker 1: rugged mountains and over trackless wastes. Hovering over and above him,
2:41:48
Speaker 1: the beautiful female figure, with an air of solicitous care,
2:41:52
Speaker 1: guards him in his reverie. His face stands out in
2:41:56
Speaker 1: full relief, the hair and diaphanous drapery wafted mingling with
2:42:01
Speaker 1: the clouds, while the figure fades into dim outline in
2:42:05
Speaker 1: the massive peaks and mountains, seeming to pervade the air
2:42:09
Speaker 1: and the soil with their very soul. The Spirit of
2:42:13
Speaker 1: the West is but one of the many attributes of deity,
2:42:16
Speaker 1: symbolizing that infinite love and care which the deity has
2:42:21
Speaker 1: for all his children. And it represents the hope, courage,
2:42:24
Speaker 1: and determination which moved and impelled the battalion Man, his comrades,
2:42:31
Speaker 1: and all the others who have followed in their footsteps
2:42:33
Speaker 1: in the settlement and development of the Great West. It
2:42:37
Speaker 1: is the spirit back of the breaking of the soil
2:42:40
Speaker 1: by the farmer, back of the institution, of our schools,
2:42:45
Speaker 1: back of our minds, back of our government, and of
2:42:48
Speaker 1: our very hearth sides. It permeates the error the soil
2:42:52
Speaker 1: and the hearts of men. It tempers the character of
2:42:56
Speaker 1: all who come within the influence of the boundless plains
2:42:59
Speaker 1: and majestic peaks. It has led men to make a
2:43:03
Speaker 1: garden of a desert and a treasure house of the mountain.
2:43:07
Speaker 1: It has justified and approved every sacrifice to make this
2:43:11
Speaker 1: part of the world a better place in which to live.
2:43:15
Speaker 1: It is constant, never ending, infinite. It is pleasant to
2:43:21
Speaker 1: contemplate these thoughts as expressed in the model at this time,
2:43:26
Speaker 1: when the world is all but overcome with the idea
2:43:29
Speaker 1: of individualism, and while new governments shifting as the sands
2:43:34
Speaker 1: conceived in greed, envy, and malice daily are born, struggle
2:43:40
Speaker 1: and die. Our proposed monument represents and commemorates such ideal
2:43:47
Speaker 1: and cooperation, steadfast as and progress as sure to be
2:43:52
Speaker 1: a lesson and an inspiration to this and to succeeding generations.
2:43:58
Speaker 1: The back of the monument has been most happily designed.
2:44:02
Speaker 1: It is the third side of the triangle and remains
2:44:05
Speaker 1: to be described. The central ideas the dimly suggested figure
2:44:10
Speaker 1: of an Indian woman of the southwestern type, whose head
2:44:13
Speaker 1: shows in relief against the background peaks, and whose body
2:44:17
Speaker 1: and outstretched arms draped in the customary blanket are faintly
2:44:22
Speaker 1: suggested in the crags and rocks. In fact, the head
2:44:26
Speaker 1: is the only part of the figure that is chiseled
2:44:28
Speaker 1: clear in outlined, the balance of the figure being only
2:44:32
Speaker 1: dimly suggested the vanishment of race. Just as the spirit
2:44:38
Speaker 1: of the West in the front dominates and pervades, so
2:44:42
Speaker 1: this figure has the air of receding and disappearance, the
2:44:46
Speaker 1: vanishment of a former race. The figure is heroic in
2:44:51
Speaker 1: size and beautifully conceived. On either side, really on the
2:44:55
Speaker 1: lower folds of the blanket or on the rocks whereon
2:44:58
Speaker 1: the blanket is suggested, are two more scenes incidental to
2:45:02
Speaker 1: the journey at labors of the battalion. On the right
2:45:06
Speaker 1: half is a scene at Sutter's Mill, where some of
2:45:09
Speaker 1: the battalion members and digging the tail race for the mill,
2:45:13
Speaker 1: turned up the first gold bearing gravel that led to
2:45:16
Speaker 1: the Great Gold Rush to California in forty nine and
2:45:20
Speaker 1: contributed so many millions to the wealth of the country.
2:45:23
Speaker 1: On the left half has shown a battalion man digging
2:45:27
Speaker 1: a ditch and leading the water from a creek to
2:45:30
Speaker 1: overflow the land, so that the pioneers could break the
2:45:34
Speaker 1: ground that had shattered their plow points and broken their plows.
2:45:39
Speaker 1: This was the introduction of irrigation into Utah. The back
2:45:44
Speaker 1: of the monument, in its conception and treatment, by its
2:45:47
Speaker 1: stateliness and suggested grandeur and what the artists call atmosphere,
2:45:53
Speaker 1: made a distinct impression upon the committee, and no changes
2:45:56
Speaker 1: or modifications were thought of nor suggested. It seemed a
2:46:01
Speaker 1: very happy solution of a difficult problem. From the irrigating
2:46:06
Speaker 1: stream and the tail race of the mill, it is
2:46:08
Speaker 1: designed to have small streams of flowing water forming a
2:46:13
Speaker 1: pool in the shape of a half moon at the rear,
2:46:16
Speaker 1: and so arranged as to pass this water through to
2:46:19
Speaker 1: the other side to form two pools or lagoons on
2:46:23
Speaker 1: the front side of the monument. Immediately surrounding the monument,
2:46:27
Speaker 1: the architects have laid out a pavement in red brick
2:46:30
Speaker 1: tile with a border of an Indian design. This dark
2:46:34
Speaker 1: tile will save the glare and dazzling reflection of the
2:46:38
Speaker 1: bright sun of our clear atmosphere. Upon a white granite monument.
2:46:44
Speaker 1: There are also graceful and symmetrical walks, a granite coping,
2:46:49
Speaker 1: and seats suitably located in a range to give every
2:46:53
Speaker 1: one ample opportunity for a casual or steadied view of
2:46:57
Speaker 1: the monument and its parts. Beyond these walks and seats,
2:47:01
Speaker 1: immediately around the monument, the pools, lagoon and walks are
2:47:06
Speaker 1: designed to join in and harmonize with the rest of
2:47:09
Speaker 1: the Capitol grounds. Nothing like this monument has ever been
2:47:13
Speaker 1: designed or built before. It is original and unique. Few
2:47:18
Speaker 1: states can boast the achievements such as are commemorated in
2:47:21
Speaker 1: this design. More than seventy two years have elapsed since
2:47:26
Speaker 1: the battalion made its memorable march, and the most of
2:47:29
Speaker 1: its members have passed to the great Beyond. So this
2:47:33
Speaker 1: monument should be built at once. If we are to
2:47:36
Speaker 1: proceed according to first hand evidence in information, and not
2:47:40
Speaker 1: according to more or less fanciful and legendary tales concerning
2:47:45
Speaker 1: them and their difficult journey. It is sufficiently credible and
2:47:50
Speaker 1: glorifying to tell their history as it was and without adornment.
2:47:56
Speaker 1: The most important events are to be shown in bronze
2:47:59
Speaker 1: and stone upon this monument. Its execution will certainly tax
2:48:05
Speaker 1: the sculptor to its utmost. But I believe it is
2:48:08
Speaker 1: in thoroughly capable hands, and when built, will be one
2:48:12
Speaker 1: of the really great monuments of the United States. Therefore,
2:48:18
Speaker 1: let us adhere to the proposed model with steadfast purpose
2:48:21
Speaker 1: to build it not only as an added attraction to
2:48:24
Speaker 1: the many we have for the tourist and visitor, but
2:48:27
Speaker 1: more especially as an object of great interest, for study
2:48:31
Speaker 1: and inspiration for our children and our children's children. En
2:48:38
Speaker 1: duty of the people of Utah, such is the monument
2:48:42
Speaker 1: to be erected in commemoration of this great march of infantry,
2:48:46
Speaker 1: whose achievements are so closely and inseparably connected with winning
2:48:51
Speaker 1: for the United States or present inheritance in the Inner
2:48:54
Speaker 1: mounted West and on the shores of the Pacific. Also
2:48:58
Speaker 1: whose achievements in glory are so inseparably connected with the
2:49:02
Speaker 1: founding of the State of Utah, as the work of
2:49:05
Speaker 1: part of her pioneer state builders. It is the duty
2:49:09
Speaker 1: of the people of Utah doom. Appeal is now made
2:49:13
Speaker 1: to raise the one hundred thousand dollars necessary to make
2:49:17
Speaker 1: the state's appropriation of a like amount available to build
2:49:21
Speaker 1: a monument. To fail in such a duty would be
2:49:25
Speaker 1: to disgrace the state. No other state in the Union
2:49:29
Speaker 1: has such a unique incident to celebrate as this Battalion
2:49:34
Speaker 1: incident in our Utah Pioneer history. It is both heroic
2:49:38
Speaker 1: and dramatic, and in the results achieved, is one of
2:49:42
Speaker 1: the largest events contributed by any state to the history
2:49:46
Speaker 1: of our country. Utah owes it to the state and
2:49:50
Speaker 1: to the nation to build this monument. The memory of
2:49:54
Speaker 1: this greatest march of infantry in the world, and the
2:49:58
Speaker 1: heroism of those who made it, It shall not perish
2:50:02
Speaker 1: from among men. It is the purpose of the Utah
2:50:06
Speaker 1: State Mormon Battalion Monument Commission to raise this fund by
2:50:11
Speaker 1: the thirtieth day of January nineteen twenty, Battalion Day being
2:50:16
Speaker 1: the seventy third anniversary of the official ending of their
2:50:19
Speaker 1: march and arrival upon the shores of the Pacific. The
2:50:23
Speaker 1: respective counties have been organized for the campaign for the funds,
2:50:27
Speaker 1: subscription lists have been opened. It is proposed to conduct
2:50:31
Speaker 1: a campaign of public meetings in the interest of the
2:50:34
Speaker 1: monument throughout Utah and the surrounding states, and give the
2:50:38
Speaker 1: people of the Inner Mountain West every opportunity to honor
2:50:42
Speaker 1: themselves and their posterity and their state by fittingly memorializing
2:50:48
Speaker 1: the march and achievements of the Mormon Battalion. End of
2:50:55
Speaker 1: Addenda end of the Mormon Battalion History and Achievements by B. H.
2:51:02
Speaker 1: Roberts