Part 2

=Terms of Enlistment.=--Under this order Kearny issued instructions to Captain James Allen, of the First Regular Dragoons, to proceed to the camps of the Mormons and endeavor to raise from among them four or five companies of volunteers to join him in his expedition to California. The character of the Battalion, terms of enlistment, pledges of the government are clearly set forth in Allen's instructions:

"Each company to consist of any number between 73 and 109; the officers of each company will be a captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant, who will be elected by the privates, and subject to your approval; and the captains then to appoint the non-commissioned officers, also subject to your approval. The companies, upon being thus organized, will be mustered by you into the service of the United States, and from that day will commence to receive the pay, rations and other allowances given to the other infantry volunteers, each according to his rank. You will, upon mustering into service the fourth company, be considered as having the rank, pay and emoluments of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and are authorized to appoint an adjutant, sergeant-major, and quartermaster-sergeant for the battalion.

"The companies, after being organized, will be marched to this post [i. e., Fort Leavenworth, whence the order was issued] where they will be armed and prepared for the field, after which they will, under your command, follow on my trail in the direction of Santa Fe, and where you will receive further orders from me.

"You will, upon organizing the companies, require provisions, wagons, horses, mules, etc. You must purchase everything that is necessary and give the necessary drafts upon the quartermaster and commissary departments at this post, which drafts will be paid upon presentation.

"You will have the Mormons distinctly to understand that I wish to have them as volunteers for twelve months; that they will be marched to California, receiving pay and allowances during the above time, and at its expiration they will be discharged, and allowed to retain, as their private property, the guns and accoutrements furnished to them at this post.

"Each company will be allowed four women as laundresses, who will travel with the company, receiving rations and other allowances given to the laundresses of our army.

"With the foregoing conditions, which are hereby pledged to the Mormons, and which will be faithfully kept by me and other officers in behalf of the government of the United States, I cannot doubt but that you will in a few days be able to raise five hundred young and efficient men for this expedition."

=Captain Allen in the Mormon Camps.=--Captain Allen arrived at Mount Pisgah on the 26th of June, accompanied by three dragoons and presented to the leading men of that place "A Circular to the Mormons" in harmony with his instructions. The presiding brethren at Mount Pisgah did not feel authorized to take any steps in the matter of Captain Allen's communication on the enlistment of a Battalion, but gave him a letter of introduction to President Young at Council Bluffs, for which place the Captain started immediately and arrived on the 30th of June. The following day he met with President Young and others in council and presented the whole question of raising a Battalion from the Mormon camps.

The question arose in the minds of the Mormon leaders as to the disposition of the camps which would be materially crippled by the withdrawal of so many young, strong, and able-bodied men. Already the question of wintering the camps and caring for so large an amount of stock possessed by them, loomed large among their difficulties. About one hundred and fifty miles to the west, in La Platte river, was "Grand Island," fifty-two miles long, with an average width of a mile and three-quarters, and well timbered; in the neighborhood of which also were immense areas of grass that might be cut for hay, and the rank growth of rushes here and there along the extensive river bottoms would enable much of the stock to winter on this range, could government permission be obtained for a large contingent of the camp to be stationed there. This country, as well as the one the camps were then occupying, was within the Louisiana Purchase, and largely divided into Indian reservations, hence could only be occupied by the whites by permission of the government.

The question of government permission therefore, in the event of the Battalion being raised, was submitted to Captain Allen, and he assumed the responsibility of saying that the camps might locate on Grand Island until they could prosecute their journey. In his speech made to the camp the same day, the captain promised to write President Polk to give leave to the Mormon camps to stay on their route wherever it was necessary. At a council meeting held later in the day, on Brigham Young asking Captain Allen "if an officer enlisting men in an 'Indian country' had not a right to say to their families, You can stay till your husbands return," the Captain replied "that he was the representative of President Polk and could act till he notified the President, who might ratify his engagements, or indemnify for damages. The President might give permission to travel through the Indian country and stop whenever and wherever circumstances required."[15:l]

After the first council meeting between Captain Allen and the Mormon leaders a public meeting was held at noon on the same day. Brigham Young introduced Captain Allen who addressed the people: "He said he was sent by Col. Stephen W. Kearny through the benevolence of Jas. K. Polk, President of the United States, to enlist five hundred of our men; that there were hundreds of thousands of volunteers ready [to enlist] in the states. He read his order from Col. Kearny and the circular which he himself had issued from Mount Pisgah and explained."[15:m]

The statement of Captain Allen that there were hundreds of thousands of volunteers ready to enlist in the states was quite true. The declaration of war upon Mexico by the congress "authorized the President to accept the service of fifty thousand volunteers, and placed ten millions of dollars at his disposal. * * * The call for volunteers was answered by the prompt tender of the service of more than 300,000 men."[16:n] "Four regiments were called for from Illinois, nine answered the call, numbering 8,370; only four of them, numbering 3,720 men, could be taken."[16:o]

=Brigham Young's Activities in Raising the Battalion.= Brigham Young followed Captain Allen in an address, at the aforesaid meeting. His own account of his remarks stand in his Ms. history as follows:

"I addressed the assembly; wished them to make a distinction between this action of the general government and our former oppressions in Missouri and Illinois. I said, the question might be asked, is it prudent for us to enlist to defend our country? If we answer in the affirmative, all are ready to go.

"Suppose we were admitted into the union as a state, and the government did not call on us, we would feel ourselves neglected. Let the Mormons be the first to set their feet on the soil of California. Captain Allen has assumed the responsibility of saying that we may locate on Grand Island, until we can prosecute our journey. This is the first offer we have ever had from the government to benefit us.

"I proposed that the five hundred volunteers be mustered and I would do my best to see all their families brought forward, as far as my influence extended, and feed them when I had anything to eat myself."[16:p]

At the close of the public meeting another council meeting was held, with Captain Allen present, when the question of the people having a right to remain on Indian lands during the absence of the soldiers, and indeed along their whole route of travel, was further considered. Captain Allen withdrew from the council "and the Twelve," says Brigham Young, "continued to converse on the favorable prospect before us."[17:q]

It was arranged that Brigham Young should go to Mount Pisgah to raise volunteers for the Battalion; and that other leaders should prosecute the work of raising volunteers in the camps about Council Bluffs.

There was apparently some reluctance among the people to respond to this unexpected call, and it required some considerable persuasion to dispel it.

On the 11th of July, Col. Thomas L. Kane reached the Mormon camps at Council Bluffs, and gave assurance that the general government had taken the Mormon case into consideration, inferentially with benevolent intentions.[17:r]

When within eleven miles of Mount Pisgah, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball met Jesse C. Little, president of the Eastern States Mission, who reported his labors at Washington. His written report was incorporated in Brigham Young's Ms. History for that year.

While at Pisgah Brigham Young wrote the camp at Garden Grove, and sent his letter by special messenger. After describing the terms of enlistment and the conditions under which the volunteers would be mustered out of service in California, etc., he said:

"They may stay (i. e. in California), look out the best locations for themselves and their friends, and defend the country. This is no hoax. Mr. Little, President of the New England churches, is here direct from Washington, who has been to see the President on the subject of emigrating the saints to the western coast, and confirms all that Captain Allen has stated to us. The United States want our friendship, the President wants to do us good and secure our confidence. The outfit of this five hundred men costs us nothing, and their pay will be sufficient to take their families over the mountains. There is war between Mexico and the United States, to whom California must fall a prey, and if we are the first settlers, the old citizens cannot have a Hancock [county] or Missouri pretext to mob the saints. The thing is from above, for our good."

A letter of like spirit was sent by Brigham Young to the trustees at Nauvoo. In that letter the following passage occurs: "This is the first time the government has stretched forth its arm to our assistance, and we receive their proffers with joy and thankfulness. We feel confident they [the Battalion] will have little or no fighting. The pay of the five hundred men will take their families to them. The Mormons will then be the old settlers and have a chance to choose the best locations."[18:s]

=Muster of the Battalion.=--When Brigham Young returned from Mount Pisgah, a public meeting was held on the 13th of July, and the final work of enrollment of the Battalion began. At the opening meeting Brigham Young said:

"If we want the privilege of going where we can worship God according to the dictates of our conscience, we must raise the Battalion. I say it is right, and who cares for sacrificing our comfort for a few years. I would rather have undertaken to raise 2,000 a year ago in 24 hours, than 100 in one week now."[19:t]

Later he said to the mustering companies, "You could not ask for anything more acceptable than this mission."[19:u] An American flag--flag of the United States--"brought out from the store-house of things rescued"--in the Mormon exodus from Illinois--"was hoisted to a tree mast, and under it the enrollment took place."[19:v] The enrollment of the Battalion was completed on the 16th of July, and that day Captain Allen took the organization under his command.

=Farewell Scenes.=--"There was no sentimental affectation at their leave-taking," remarks Col. Kane in his account of the departure of the Battalion from the camps. The afternoon before their departure a "ball" was given in their honor. Of this "ball," Col. Kane says:

"A more merry dancing rout I have never seen, though the company went without refreshments and their ball room was of the most primitive kind. [Under a bowery where the ground had been trodden firm and hard by frequent use.] To the canto of debonair violins, the cheer of horns, the jingle of sleigh bells, and the jovial snoring of the tambourine, they did dance! None of your minuets or other mortuary processions of gentles in etiquette, tight shoes, and pinching gloves, but the spirited and scientific displays of our venerated and merry grandparents, who were not above following the fiddle to the Foxchase Inn, or Gardens of Gray's Ferry. French fours, Copenhagen jigs, Virginia reels, and the like forgotten figures executed with the spirit of people too happy to be slow, or bashful, or constrained. Light hearts, lithe figures, and light feet, had it their own way from an early hour till after the sun had dipped behind the sharp sky line of the Omaha hills."[20:w]

On the 20th of July the Battalion took up its march for Fort Leavenworth, where it arrived on the 1st of August, and began preparations for the great western march.

FOOTNOTES:

[5:a] From a letter of Brigham Young to President James K. Polk, date of August 9, 1846. History of Brigham Young, MS. Bk. 2 p. 137.

[5:b] Times and Seasons, Vol. V, p. 1096.

[6:c] Little's Report, Hist. of Brigham Young, MS. Bk. 2, pp. 11-12.

[6:d] Little's Report to Brigham Young.

[8:e] Mr. Little notes this excitement in his Report, to Brigham Young, by saying in recording his movements of the 23rd of May: "There was considerable excitement in consequence of the news that Gen. Taylor had fought two battles with the Mexicans" (Little's Report, Hist. of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 16). And Lossing says that when "news of the two brilliant victories reached the states a thrill of joy went throughout the land, and bonfires, illuminations, orations, the thunder of cannons, were seen and heard in all the great cities". (Hist. U. S., p. 483).

[8:f] Lossing's History U. S., 1872 Edition, p. 483.

[9:g] Little's Report, p. 16.

[10:h] Little's Report, p. 20-22.

[10:i] Ibid, p. 23.

[11:j] Little's Report, p. 23.

[12:k] Executive Document No. 60, Letter of Secretary of War to Gen. Kearny, marked "Confidential", 1846.

[15:l] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5.

[15:m] Ibid, pp. 3, 4.

[16:n] History of the United States, Marcus Wilson, appendix p. 682; same Lossing, p. 482; Stephens, p. 488.

[16:o] Gregg's History of Hancock Co. Ill., p. 118.

[16:p] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5.

[17:q] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5.

[17:r] Taylor's Journal, entry of July 11th, 1846.

[18:s] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 30-34.

[19:t] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 44.

[19:u] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 48.

[19:v] Kane's Lecture "The Mormons", p. 80.

[20:w] Kane's Lecture "The Mormons", pp. 80, 81.

III.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES TO THE MORMONS ARISING FROM THE ENLISTMENT OF THE BATTALION.

The "call" for the Mormon Battalion was not an unfriendly act on the part of the United States' government towards the Mormon people. A representative of the Church, as we have seen, had appealed most earnestly to the executive of the nation for aid in the western emigrations of that people; and when it was decided by the administration to "accept" the services of such a force of volunteers, the Mormon leaders received the decision as an answer to their appeal for aid.

=A Sacrifice Nevertheless.=--But notwithstanding the government service was asked for by the representative of the Mormon people, and the granting of it was regarded by the Mormon leaders at the time as a great advantage to their people, it brought to the volunteers and to the people generally much of sacrifice. For one thing the opportunity to avail themselves of their tendered service to the government came at an unexpected and a most inconvenient time. As explained afterwards by Col. Kane, "The young and those who could best have been spared, were then away from the main body, either with pioneer companies in the van, or, their faith unannounced, seeking work and food about the northwest settlements, to support them till the return of the season for commencing emigration. The force was therefore to be recruited from among the fathers of families, and others whose presence it was most desirable to retain."[21:a] Practically five hundred wagons were left without teamsters, and as many families were left without their natural protectors and providers. The families of the Battalion, with the families of their friends, in whose care they must leave their loved ones, and upon whom they must depend for succor, were then scattered in a string of camps for some hundreds of miles between Nauvoo and Council Bluffs, with no certain abiding place designated, and no immediate prospect of being permanently settled. To volunteer for a "war-march" of two thousand miles, much of which was desert, under such circumstances, was doubly hard. Moreover the Mormon people, from their then point of view, had little to be grateful for to the government of the United States. Their appeals from what to them was the injustice of Missouri and Illinois had met with but cold reception at Washington. They did not and could not be expected to understand, much less sympathize with, the refinements employed by the national legislators in drawing nice distinctions about the division of sovereignty between the states and the general government. They were self-conscious of wrongs inflicted upon their community in the two states in which they had settled--Missouri and Illinois. They had appealed to the general government for a redress of those grievances without avail; and now they were asked by their leaders to go into the service of that government which might mean the sacrifice of life, and surely meant the abandonment of their families to the care of others under circumstances the most trying. To respond to the call made upon them--both as to the volunteers and the camped community whence they were mustered--was a manifestation of unselfishness not often paralleled in history.

=Advantages of the Enlistment.=--Notwithstanding all the sacrifices involved, Brigham Young and those associated with him were too astute as leaders not to appreciate the advantages of having a considerable number of their people to enter the service of the United States. The charge of disloyalty to the American government had often been made against the Mormons, which not all their protests and denials could overcome. But to enter the service of the government in a time of war, involving such inconveniences as must be theirs, would be an evidence of loyalty that would stand forever, both unimpeached and unimpeachable. That such was the understanding of Brigham Young is specifically expressed by him about a month after the departure of the Battalion. "Let every one distinctly understand," said he, "that the Mormon Battalion was organized from our camp to allay the prejudices of the people, prove our loyalty to the government of the United States, and for the present and temporal salvation of Israel; that this act left near five hundred teams destitute of drivers and provisions for the winter, and nearly as many families without protection and help."[23:b]

=The Right to Settle on Indian Lands Secured.=--Another advantage appealed to the leaders: It had become evident before the call was made for the Battalion, that while it might be possible for a specially organized pioneer company to go over the mountains that season--preparations for which were being rapidly made--the very great majority of the camps would be under the necessity of spending a year or more in southern Iowa, principally on Indian lands. The prospects of remaining upon such lands in peace would be much enhanced if it could be pleaded that five hundred of their men were in the service of the government of the United States; and subsequent events demonstrated the validity of such a plea; also it was the advantage sought to be secured by Brigham Young in his first conference with Captain Allen on the subject of the enlistment of the Battalion. Under these arrangements of occupancy, as the Indian titles in lands in Iowa expired, the Mormon occupants acquired valuable pre-emption rights up and down the Missouri river from Council Bluffs for a distance of between fifty and sixty miles, stretching back on the east side of said river some thirty or forty miles.[24:c]

=Money Value of the Enlistment.=--Another consideration of importance was the remuneration of these soldiers. A year's pay for their clothing in advance at the rate of $3.50 per man per month, would amount to $42.00 each; and to $21,000 for the Battalion. Deciding to make their march in the clothing they had when enlisting, part of their money for clothing was sent back from Fort Leavenworth to be used for the benefit of the families of the Battalion, and part of it to assist the Mormon leaders. Subsequently agents were secretly sent to Santa Fe to bring back to the camps the pay of the soldiers that had accrued by the time they had arrived there. This amounted to three months' pay at the following rates: captain, $50.00 per month--rations 20 cents per day; first lieutenant, $30.00 per month--rations 20 cents per day; second lieutenant, $25.00 per month--rations 20 cents per day; first sergeant, $16.00 per month; sergeants, $13.00 per month; corporals, $9.00 per month; musicians, $8.00 per month; and privates, $7.00 per month.

The payment at Santa Fe was made in government checks--"not very available at Santa Fe"--i. e. not easily negotiable--writes Col. Cooke.[25:d] It has often been claimed that the Battalion was paid a bounty--$42.00 per man--on entering the service. This was not the case. The payment for clothing, one year in advance, at the rate of $3.50 per month has been mistaken for bounty.[25:e] It was only by foregoing the purchase of clothing that the Battalion could send the payment for it to their families and to the Mormon leaders. This source of revenue to the camps was accounted a very great blessing at the time. In official letters to the Battalion from the Mormon leaders, under date of August 16th and 21st, respectively, it was said, in the first, that the Battalion had been placed in circumstances which enabled them to control more means than all the rest of the Mormon people in the wilderness; in the second Brigham Young said: "We consider the money you have received, as compensation for your clothing, a peculiar manifestation of the kind providence of our Heavenly Father at this particular time, which is just the time for the purchasing of provisions and goods for the winter supply of the Camp."[25:f]

=The Equipment of the Battalion to be Retained.=--In addition to this payment for clothing, and the monthly pay, there was the five hundred stand of arms and camp equipment which were to become the personal property of the men when discharged in California. These several considerations led John Taylor--who became the successor to Brigham Young in Mormon leadership--in an address to the Mormons in England--to say:

"The President of the United States is favorably disposed to us. He has sent out orders to have five hundred of our brethren employed for one year in an expedition that was fitting out against California, with orders for them to be employed for one year, and when to be discharged in California, and to have their arms and implements of war given to them at the expiration of the term, and as there is no prospect of any opposition, it amounts to the same as paying them for going to the place where they were destined to go without."[26:g]

=Appreciation of Mormon Leaders.=--In a letter to President Polk, under date of August 9th, 1846, after reminding the President of the disadvantages the Mormon camps experienced in raising the Battalion, Brigham Young said: