The Mormon Battalion

In 1846, the United States went to war with Mexico.  President Polk brushed off his plans for how the war should go.  One of his plans was to dispatch General Stephen Watts Kearney to secure New Mexico and California.  While he was arranging this, he met Mr. Jesse Little.  Little was a Mormon who looked for governmental assistance for the Mormon migration to the Great Salt Lake.  This was timely.  Polk needed more Americans headed west just then and proposed that the Mormons raise a battalion to join the Army of the West under Kearney.  Little eagerly agreed and set out for Iowa, where the Mormons were currently encamped.  Soon thereafter, James Allen of the First Dragoons met with Brigham Young to discuss the details.  Five companies - approximately 500 men - were recruited and set out for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

As with most volunteer units, the Mormons elected their officers from among them.  Of course, Colonel Allen remained as the overall commander.  He had several other US Army officers as part of his staff, notably Lt. AJ Smith and Lt. Stoneman.  Allen's death at Fort Leavenworth left command of the battalion in confusion.  Captain Jefferson Hunt of Company A was now the highest-ranking officer.  Lt. Smith noted that he was still only a volunteer with no real rank in the US military, which meant Smith was in command.  The various officers didn't much like that reasoning, but Smith got his way on account of being able to control government funds.  He was not a popular commander.

The battalion commenced its march on August 12, 1846.  They arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico between October 9th and October 12.  The city had already been captured by Kearney and was currently governed by Colonel Doniphan of the First Missouri Mounted Volunteers.  News returned from General Kearney that Colonel Philip St. George Cooke would take command of the battalion as it blazed a wagon road to California.  Cooke found many of the recruits to be in poor condition and mustered them out of service.  The remaining troops began the grueling trek across the southwestern desert.

As the men had sent their clothing allowance back to Iowa to aid in the support of their families, the men only had the clothes in which they arrived.  After so long a march, their clothes - especially footwear - were in poor condition.  Soldiers fashioned makeshift shoes out of hides and otherwise unwearable clothing.  Thirst and hunger were constant companions and the labor was intense.  At times, the men had to help the mules drag wagons through deep sands and at other times they had to hew a path through a rocky canyon.

On the 27th of January, the Mormon Battalion spotted the Pacific Ocean near what is now Oceanside.  The battle for California was already won.  The Battalion found itself on garrison duty until the end of their enlistment.  The men had enlisted for 1 year.  When that year was up, the governor and General Kearney urged them to re-enlist.  The Mormons had been exemplary soldiers.  However, fewer than 100 chose to enlist for another year.  Most of the rest set out for Salt Lake City.  Many found themselves in what would soon be the gold fields of California.

BH Roberts was a prolific writer on Mormon topics.  He addressed the Mormon Battalion in this 1919 book.  It is a quick read that hits the highlights without going into much depth.  An excellent summary that provides a good overview of the Mormon Battalion and its service in the Mexican-American War.  Recommended.

The Conquest of New Mexico and California

In 1878, Brigadier General Philip St. George Cooke penned The Conquest of New Mexico and California: An Historical and Personal Narrative.  It opens in July of 1846, when Cooke was a lieutenant in the 1st Dragoons.  Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny had been given command of the Army of the West and set out to conquer New Mexico and California.  Shortly after arriving in New Mexico, Kearny ordered Cooke to ride ahead and demand the surrender of Santa Fe.  After a refusal, he departed with the witty comment, "I'll call again in a week."  Indeed, when he came back with the rest of the army, Santa Fe fell without a shot fired.  The army spent the next month securing the territory before Kearny set out for California.  He had not gone far when word of the Mormon Battalion arrived.  Its original commander, Colonel James Allen, had died.  Kearny placed Cooke in charge of the battalion and ordered him to make a road to California.  And here follows a rather dreary accounting of a trek across the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona via the Gila River.  There are the occasional bits of excitement (battle with wild bulls, Charboneaux's encounter with bears, the capture of Tucson), but it is mostly a bland narrative of thirst and starvation.  Upon his arrival in California, Cooke abandons his personal chronicle and relates the reports of others.  Thus, he details Kearny's disastrous battle as San Pasqual, squabbles with Fremont and Stockton, and the successful campaign to recapture Los Angeles.  He also outlines some battles in the bay area.  The allocation of his battalion is only vaguely discussed.

Mostly disappointing.  Being a first-person account, I had expected a lot more.  Not surprisingly, his desert crossing sounds like a balance sheet; 6 mules died today, acquired 11 mules from local Indians, no water in 2 days, etc.  That was surely important information, but it makes for very dry reading.  Of note, he did detail Fremont's march south, which saw multiple encounters with Californios who managed to delay the California Battalions' arrival in Los Angeles.  I do not recall reading that before.  Of course, Kearny captured Los Angeles without Fremont but his coming from the north while Kearny was approaching from the south would surely have made defending the city more difficult.  Here was a rare success for the Californios.

Cooke resigned his position as the Lt. Colonel of the Mormon Battalion in May 1847 and, once again just a lieutenant, joined Kearny on the march back to Fort Leavenworth.

This is a book only for the diehard historian.  Skip.