The Mormon Battalion

The Mormon Battalion

Sam Brannon and the saints on the ship Brooklyn arrived in Yerba Buena in July of 1846. That same month, 541 men enlisted in what has become known as the Mormon Battalion. When war broke out with Mexico, President James K. Polk sent messengers to the beleaguered saints moving across Iowa. Brigham Young was informed that if he enlisted 500 of his men for a year, they would be paid for their service. This opportunity to serve the country appeared to be a real boon to Brigham Young. He said, “Let the Mormons be the first [U.S. soldiers] to set their feet on the soil of California” (Macomber, “The Mormon Battalion,” Friend, July 1996). He encouraged their service and gathered them together before they left. Brother Brigham made a promise that “on condition of faithfulness,” they would be spared from battle, their expedition would result in great good, and their names would “be handed down in honorable remembrance to all generations” (Urtinus, Journal of William Hyde, July 18,1846; 1:60). Brigham had good reason to recognize this as an opportunity. The saints could show their loyalty to the country while earning money for their families. (Macomber, “Exploring,” Friend, July 1996).

“On July 21, 1846, the Mormon Battalion began their march. There were thirty-five women and forty-two children, most of whom were families of the soldiers who accompanied the battalion on their journey” (Macomber, “Exploring,” Friend, July 1996). The women were employed as seamstresses, laundresses, and cooks for the marching men.

Five companies of men endured brutal forced marches by Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Jackson Smith who replaced Lieutenant J. Allen whom the battalion had greatly admired. If marching through desert sands without sufficient water weren’t enough, the men who became ill, suffered from the battalion’s brutal doctor. His treatment for all ailments was a spoonful of calomel and arsenic. Daniel Tyler wrote in his memoirs the doctor was tyrannical, abusive, cruel, and wicked. “It appears that the Colonel and Surgeon are determined to kill us, first by forced marches to make us sick, then by compelling us to take calomel or to walk and do duty” (Tyler, A Concise History, 160).

The battalion arrived at their California destination shortly after the Mexicans surrendered in January 1847. The promise Brigham Young declared had been fulfilled in the sense they never engaged in battle. It took them six months through the most miserable conditions to arrive; six months later they were discharged. Eighty-one were pressured to re-enlist for another six to eight months.

As the majority of the Battalion members were mustered out July 16, 1847, they were anxious to reunite with their wives and families. Many of them traveled northeast, where they were met by Sam Brannon along with a few members of the Mormon Battalion sick detachment who had wintered at Pueblo, Colorado. Brannon’s group made a hasty trip to California to secure back wages for those in the sick detachment; those who became too ill to continue the march. They traversed the same route through the Truckee Meadows as before.

Brannon’s group also carried a message from Brigham Young stating the scarcity of supplies necessitated the single men of the Battalion stay in California. They were directed to seek gainful employment for the winter before they resumed their trek to Utah, which they did. Some of these men went to work for John Sutter who employed them to build a mill at Coloma and Natoma. As luck would have it, six of these Battalion men were with James Marshall at Coloma when gold was discovered on January 24, 1848. One of the Battalion veterans at the site was Henry Bigler who recounted the initial discovery in his journal. It is from his diary the official account of the event is taken.

When the Mormon Battalion finally finished their long, arduous, 18-month trek from Iowa, back again to Winter Quarters, they had walked 4,000 miles in all. Many of them found their families had not fared much better than themselves. The ultimate goal of securing funds and showing loyalty to the government had been achieved with a toll: some of their family members had died and some of their wives had given birth under extreme poverty. Both battalion men and their families had been refined by fire. Dire circumstances either broke them or made them stronger.

Those who profited from their experience in pioneering went on to great leadership in religious as well as community affairs. Early western history would never be the same if it weren’t for many of the battalion members who broke ground for agriculture or who colonized and organized cities throughout the future states of Arizona, California, Utah, and just as importantly, Nevada.