Mormon Battalion
The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously enlisted unit in United States military history . The battalion was a volunteer unit of approximately 534 to 559 Mormons led by Mormon NCOs and commanded by regular officers in the American Army. During its deployment, the battalion conducted a grueling 2000 mile march from Council Bluffs to San Diego . This march played an important role with regard to the cession of large areas in the American southwest of Mexico to the USA ( Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ) and the Gadsden purchase . The march also opened up a southern wagon route to California . Veterans of the Mormon Battalion played an important role during the westward expansion of the United States .
recruitment
Brigham Young planned to lead the Mormons west in the summer of 1847 . On the way they received the call from the US federal government to provide 500 men for the war with Mexico. This was an opportunity to prove loyalty to the United States and also to receive much-needed money for the train to the Rocky Mountains. The salary and clothing allowance of $ 42 were essential financial support for the men of the Mormon Battalion (who were not given uniforms) to obtain supplies and equipment for the train. The battalion's pay until the next year was nearly $ 30,000. After the Mormons were forced to leave their home in Nauvoo , they had to spend the winter on the banks of the Missouri River . Putting a force together was difficult; many men were already looking for work in the surrounding areas to give financial support to the group of Mormons displaced from Nauvoo. Young wrote a letter to the Mormons who lived there explaining the recruitment and asking for their help:
“The President wants to do us good and secure our trust. The equipment of these 500 men costs us nothing and their pay is enough to carry their families over the mountains. It's war between Mexico and the United States; California must become our prey. Because if we are the first settlers, the old citizens cannot have an excuse like in Hancock and Missouri to rob the Saints. This thing is from heaven for the good of all of us. "
Public support from Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was necessary to achieve the entry of the men. While some men were quick to volunteer, Young had to convince others who refused. It took three weeks for the five companies to be fully recruited.
The march
The battalion arrived at Fort Leavenworth on August 1st . For the next two weeks they received pay, equipment and were organized as a combat battalion. The newly promoted Lieutenant James Ellen fell ill, but ordered the march along the Santa Fe Trail to catch up with Stephen W. Kearny's Western Army . Lieutenant Ellen died on August 23. He was succeeded by Captain Jefferson Hunt. A few days later, Andrew Jackson Smith arrived from West Point and took command. Over the next few weeks, Mormon soldiers learned to hate AJ Smith for his dealings with the men and the long marches through the arid regions of Kansas and New Mexico .
Upon arriving in Santa Fe , Philip St. George Cooke became the battalion's commanding officer. His assignment was to march into California and build a carriage road on the way there. For the next four months and 1,100 miles , Cooke led the battalion through one of the most arduous areas in North America. Many of the Mormon soldiers soon respected him and willingly followed him. In New Mexico, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau , who had migrated across the continent with his mother with his mother on the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a child , joined the group as leader.
The battle of the bulls
The only real battle the battalion fought was in what is now Arizona , against large numbers of ferocious bulls. The battalion reached this area in November 1846 and its presence made the animals restless. After some bulls in this herd destroyed some wagons and injured two men, the battalion opened fire. The battalion killed 10 to 15 of the animals; the argument was sarcastically referred to as the "battle of the bulls".
Temecula massacre
Nearly at the end of their journey, the battalion marched through Temecula shortly after a massacre among rival indigenous tribes there. The Mormons took care not to spill more blood; a tribe buried its dead while the battalion watched over them.
End of the journey
After the march began on January 29, 1847, the battalion arrived in San Diego on July 16, 1847 after having covered 1,900 miles . For the next five months, leading up to his release in Los Angeles on July 16, 1847, the battalion conducted several observation missions in southern California . 22 men died from illness or other natural circumstances during the trip. About 80 men were recruited by the army. Mormon Battalion members transferred $ 17,000 in gold to the economy of their new home after they returned from California.
Monuments
Monuments associated with the Mormon Battalion are:
- Mormon Battalion Historical Monument, a visitor center in Old Town San Diego
- Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial, the largest single- relief military memorial in the United States
literature
- John F. Yurtinus: Mormon Battalion in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Individual evidence
- ^ Susan Easton Black: Utah History Encyclopedia ( English ) University of Utah Press. 1994. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved on April 9, 2013.
- ↑ a b Historic Events ( English ) In: CaliforniaPioneer.org . California Pioneer Heritage Foundation. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
- ^ R. Scott Lloyd: Monument honoring Mormon Battalion to regain its luster ( English ) June 6, 1992.
- ↑ a b The Pioneer Story: Pioneer Trail Map ( English ) In: LDS.org . Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Joseph D. Brown: The Mormon Trek West ( English ). Doubleday, Garden City, NY 1980, ISBN 0-385-13030-9 , pp. 50-52.
- ↑ Chapter Twenty-Six: Pioneers to the West . In: Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manual: Religion 341–343 ( English ). Institutes of Religion, Church Educational System , LDS Church, 2003, p. 323.
- ^ Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel: 1847–1868 ( English ) In: History.LDS.org . Church History Department, LDS Church. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
- ↑ Kevin Hallaran, Allene Archibald, Lowell John Bean, Sylvia Brakke Vane: The Indian Cemetery at Old Temecula ( English ). Archaeological Research Unit, University of California, Riverside , Riverside, California 1991, OCLC 44431925 .
- ^ Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial