considered. It appears that this subject was mooted at the time the
companies of the Battalion were enlisted; and "Col. Allen repeatedly
stated to us," says Brigham Young, "that there would be no officer in
the Battalion, except himself, only from among our people; that if he
fell in battle, or was sick, or disabled by any means, the command would
devolve on the ranking officer, which would be the Captain of Company
'A' and 'B', and so on according to letter." The Battalion appears to
have had the same understanding, for at a council meeting of the
officers it was agreed by them that Captain Jefferson Hunt, of Company
"A", should assume command, which decision was afterwards sustained by
the unanimous vote of the men. Meantime, however, Major Horton, in
command at Fort Leavenworth, sent Lieutenant A. J. Smith, of the regular
army, to take command of the Battalion. This led to a threatened
complication; for an appeal to such written military authorities as were
available to the officers of the Battalion, left them hopelessly divided
in their conclusions. On the arrival of Lieutenant Smith a council of
officers was held in which the Battalion officers demanded to know what
reasons existed for their acceptance of him as commander rather than
Captain Hunt. To which it was answered that the government property in
possession of the Battalion was not yet receipted for, but that
Lieutenant Smith could receipt for it, and being a commissioned officer
of the regular army, he would be known at Washington, and his actions
and orders recognized; whereas the officers of the Battalion had not yet
received their commissions, and it would be doubtful if their selection
of a commander would be approved. After this discussion Captain Hunt
submitted the matter to the officers, and all but three voted in favor
of accepting Lieutenant Smith as the commander of the Battalion.
=Complaints of the Volunteers.=--With Lieutenant Smith had come Dr. George
B. Sanderson, whom Col. Allen, at Leavenworth, had appointed a surgeon
in the U. S. army, to serve with the Mormon Battalion. According to the
historian of the Battalion,[29:a] the volunteers suffered much because
of the "arrogance, inefficiency and petty oppressions" of these two
officers. This view of these officers, however, is to be accounted for
by the Volunteers being suddenly brought under the enforced discipline
of the U. S. army regulations. The heat of the season was excessive, the
men had been already much exhausted by the strenuous labor and exposure
during the journey through Iowa with their people earlier in the season,
and as a result many of them fell a prey to the malaria prevalent in the
country and at this season of the year. For this Dr. Sanderson
prescribed calomel and arsenic, and as the men were averse to taking
medicine, pleading even religious scruples against the drugs, the matter
gave rise to much unpleasantness between the Battalion physician and the
command, involving therein Lieutenant Smith, who, in the interest of
what he no doubt regarded as discipline, sided with the physician.
=The Line of March.=--The Battalion's line of march, from Fort
Leavenworth, after crossing the Kaw or Kansas river, followed that of
the first Missouri Dragoons, led over the route that same year by Col.
Doniphan, via Council Grove, thence some distance up the Arkansas River
to a little beyond Fort Mann, where they crossed that river in order to
take what was known as the "Cimmeron Route"--because it crossed Cimmeron
river and followed some distance up the south branch of the stream,
called Cimmeron Creek. The last crossing of the Arkansas they reached on
the 16th of September, and here the commanding officer insisted that
most of the families--about twelve or fifteen in number, which had so
far accompanied the Battalion--should be detached and sent under a guard
of ten men up the Arkansas to Pueblo, which nestles at the east base of
the Rocky mountain range. There were stout protests against this
"division of the Battalion;" as it was held to be a violation of the
promise that the Battalion would not be divided, also that these
families should be permitted to travel with the Battalion to California.
Unquestionably, however, the arrangement was in the best interests both
of the families and of the Battalion, and accordingly the detachment was
made up as proposed, and marched to Pueblo under command of Captain
Nelson Higgins.
=Arrival at Santa Fe; Condition of the Command.=--The main body of the
command continued its march south-westward to San Miguel, thence turning
the point of a mountain range marched north westward to Santa Fe, where
they arrived in two detachments on the 9th and 12th of October,
respectively. Upon the arrival of the first detachment the Battalion was
received by a salute of one hundred guns by order of Col.
Doniphan,[30:b] then in command both as civil and military head of the
department of New Mexico; but making ready for what was to be his great
and historic march upon Chihuahua.
On the arrival of the Battalion at Santa Fe it was learned that General
Kearny, previous to his departure for the west, had designated Col. P.
St. George Cooke[31:c] to take command of the Battalion and to follow on
his trail with wagons to California.
Speaking of the condition of the Battalion, on its arrival in Santa Fe,
and remarking on its physical unfitness to undertake the march to
California, Col. Cooke, in his "Conquest of New Mexico," says:
"Everything conspired to discourage the extraordinary undertaking of
marching this Battalion eleven hundred miles, for the much greater part
through an unknown wilderness, without road or trail, and with a wagon
train.
"It was enlisted too much by families; some were too old and feeble, and
some too young; it was embarrassed by many women; it was undisciplined;
it was much worn by traveling on foot, and marching from Nauvoo,
Illinois; their clothing was very scant; there was no money to pay them,
or clothing to issue; their mules were utterly broken down; the
quartermaster department was without funds, and its credit bad; and
animals were scarce. Those procured were very inferior, and were
deteriorating every hour for lack of forage or grazing."[31:d] "So every
preparation must be pushed--hurried. A small party with families had
been sent from Arkansas crossing up the river, to winter at a small
settlement close to the mountains, called Pueblo. The Battalion was now
inspected, and eighty-six men found inefficient were ordered, under two
officers, with nearly all the women, to go to the same point; five wives
of officers were reluctantly allowed to accompany the march, but
furnished their own transportation. By special arrangement and consent,
the Battalion was paid in checks--not very available at Santa Fe (i. e.
negotiable).
"With every effort, the quartermaster could only undertake to furnish
rations for sixty days; and, in fact, full rations, of only flour,
sugar, coffee and salt; salt pork only for thirty days, and soap for
twenty. To venture without pack-saddles would be grossly imprudent, and
so that burden was added."[32:e]
=Invalided Detachment Sent to Pueblo.=--It was understood that the men
invalided and their escort, together with the women and children
belonging to the Battalion, would have the privilege in the spring of
intercepting the main body of their people moving to the west, and going
with them "at government expense."[32:f] The above arrangement was the
result of a council of the officers of the Battalion with Colonel
Doniphan of Missouri, then in charge of military and civil affairs at
Santa Fe, and with Col. Cooke who had been designated by Gen. Kearny to
take command of the Battalion in its march to the Pacific, on his own
departure from Santa Fe to California. Captain James Brown, of Company
C., and St. Elam Luddington, of Company B, were the two officers above
referred to as being placed in charge of the detachment. This company
arrived at Pueblo on the 17th of November, and went into winter quarters
near the encampment of Captain Higgins, who had preceded them to that
point; and the next spring, according to the above arrangement, joined
in the westward movement of their people, following so closely the
pioneer company led by Brigham Young, that they entered Salt Lake Valley
on the 29th of July, five days after the arrival of the first pioneer
company. To the wife of one of the members of the Battalion, Mrs.
Catherine Campbell Steele, wife of John Steele, Company D, was born the
first white child in "Utah," August 9th, 1847.
FOOTNOTES:
[29:a] This is Sergeant Daniel Tyler, author of "A Concise History of
the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War." The work was published in
1881. H. H. Bancroft speaks very highly of this work in his History of
California, Vol. V, p. 477, note.
[30:b] Col. Doniphan had come to Santa Fe with Kearny, commanding the
first Missouri regiment; and after the departure of the General for
California, he was left in command at Santa Fe until the arrival of Col.
Sterling Price, who when he arrived, was to take command at Santa Fe
(Doniphan's expedition, Connelley, 1907, pp. 250-1-3). The historian of
the Mormon Battalion notes that the command of Col. Price, numbering
about 1,200 men, received no such marked honor on their arrival in Santa
Fe as was accorded to the Battalion. (Tyler's Battalion, p. 164.)
[31:c] The Colonel was born in Virginia in 1809. Graduated from West
Point in 1827; was in the Black Hawk war in Illinois--1832, and at the
Battle of Bad Ax, fought in July of that year. In 1833 he was made a
Lieutenant; saw service on the plains, principally in what is now
Kansas, before the Mexican war; in this war he took a prominent part in
the affairs at Santa Fe and marched the Mormon Battalion to California.
"During the fifties, in the border troubles in Kansas he saw much
service; in the Civil War he was for the Union. He was retired in 1873,
having served in the army continuously for forty-six years. He died
March 20, 1895." "Doniphan's Expedition," p. 264.
[31:d] Later, Col. Cooke again complains of his teams, in the following
passage: "I have brought road tools and have determined to take through
my wagons; but the experiment is not a fair one, as the mules are broken
down at the outset. The only good ones, about twenty, which I bought
near Albuquerque, were taken for the express for Fremont's mail--the
General's order requiring the twenty-one best in Santa Fe." (Cooke's
Conquest, p. 93). To this Sergeant Tyler adds: "It is but justice to the
Colonel to state here that with few exceptions, the mule and ox teams
used from Santa Fe to California were the same worn out and broken down
animals that we had driven all the way from Council Bluffs and Fort
Leavenworth; indeed, some of them had been driven all the way from
Nauvoo, the same season." (Tyler's Battalion, p. 175).
[32:e] Conquest of New Mexico and California. An Historical and Personal
Narrative by P. St. George Cooke, G. P. Putnam and Sons, N. Y. 1878: pp.
91-2.
[32:f] See History of the Mormon Church, Americana, (Roberts), April No.
p. 3776--note.
V.
THE MARCH OF THE BATTALION FROM SANTA FE TO THE MOUTH OF THE GILA.
The Battalion began its march from Santa Fe on the 19th of October,
Colonel Cooke in command, Lieutenant A. J. Smith, who had led the
Battalion to Santa Fe, became the acting commissary of subsistence; and
Lieutenant George Stoneman, acting quartermaster, instead of Lieutenant
Samuel E. Gully, who had resigned. Both Smith and Stoneman were of the
regular army. Dr. Sanderson was continued as Physician-surgeon to the
command. The guides to the expedition--appointed by Gen. Kearny--were
Weaver, Charbonneau, and Leroux; and Stephen C. Foster, called "Doctor,"
in all the narratives, was employed as interpreter.
=More Invaliding.=--The course of the march for some time was southward
down the valley of the Rio Grande. On the 10th of November, fifty-five
more men were declared physically unable through sickness to continue
the march, and accordingly were detached, and under Lieutenant W. W.
Willis were ordered back to Pueblo to join the other detachments that
had been sent there. After much suffering from the hardships of the
journey--weak teams, scant supplies of food, illy clad, general sickness
among the men, the fall of December snows in the mountain ranges north
of Santa Fe, excessive cold, and several deaths occurring, this
detachment finally arrived at Pueblo between the 20th and 24th of
December, in a most pitiable condition; but they were warmly received
by members of the Battalion already quartered there,[35:a] numbering,
now, all told, about one hundred and fifty.
=Hardship of Excessive Toil.=--One cause of so many men breaking down in
health was the excessive toil at the wagons through the sand stretches
of the road, began early in the march from Santa Fe--while yet in the
valley of the Rio del Norte, in fact, and continuing along the whole
route to and through the California desert lying between the Colorado
and the coast range of mountains. "Our course now lay down the Rio del
Norte [The Rio Grande]," says Sergeant Tyler. "We found the roads
extremely sandy in many places, and the men while carrying blankets,
knapsacks, cartridge boxes (each containing thirty-six rounds of
ammunition), and muskets on their backs, and living on short rations,
had to pull at long ropes to aid the teams. The deep sand alone, without
any load was enough to wear out both man and beast." Later he remarks:
"We had to leave the river for a time, and have twenty men to each wagon
with long ropes to help the teams pull the wagons over the sand hills.
The commander perched himself on one of the hills, like a hawk on a
fence post, sending down his orders with the sharpness of--well, to the
Battalion, it is enough to say--Colonel Cooke."
One of the Battalion celebrates this incident of the march in doggerel
verse of which two stanzas follow:
"Our hardships reach their rough extremes,
When valiant men are roped with teams,
Hour after hour, and day by day,
To wear our strength and lives away.
* * * * *
"We see some twenty men or more
With empty stomachs and foot sore,
Bound to one wagon plodding on
Through sand, beneath a burning sun."[36:b]
In the trackless part of the Battalion's march through the sand
stretches, in addition to pulling at the wagons, companies marched in
double-single file, in each other's footsteps, to make tracks for the
wagon wheels.
=Irrigation in New Mexico.=--It was while at Santa Fe, and while passing
down the Rio del Norte, that the Battalion saw, for the first time,
irrigation in operation. Tyler thus describes it: "Canals for irrigation
purposes were found all along the banks of the river. Some of them
several miles in length. They conveyed water to the farms, or as they
were called in that country, ranchos. There being little or no rain
during the growing season, the water was made to flow over the ground
until it was sufficiently saturated, and then shut off until needed
again for the same purpose."
=March Down the Rio Grande.=--As the command in its southward movement
down the Rio Grande reached the point where General Kearny left the
valley for a direct march westward--228 miles south of Santa Fe--and
where, too, Kearny had abandoned his wagons; the guides declared it
impossible to follow the Gila route proper with the wagons; and hence a
circuit to the south through Sonora via Janos and Fronteras was proposed
and determined upon at a council of officers.
In the first stages of this changed course, however, the road bore to
the southeast, and this was not to the liking of Col. Cooke, because it
would carry his command within hailing distance of General Wool, who
might incorporate it in the "Army of the Centre,"--as the General's
division of the invading forces against Mexico was called--to operate
against Chihuahua. In that event, as the Colonel himself expressed it,
he would lose his trip to California. To bear to the southeast was not
to the liking of the Battalion, as that was not in the direction of
California, but one which might lead them within the sphere of the "Army
of the Centre," and they would find themselves discharged in Old Mexico
instead of California, at the end of their term of enlistment. The
entire command was thrown into gloom by this change in the line of
march: "All of our hopes, conversations and songs," says the historian
of the Battalion--Tyler--"were centered on California. Somewhere on that
broad domain we expected to join our families and friends."
="Blow the Right!" The Westward Turn.=--"On the morning of the 21st," says
Tyler, "the command resumed its journey, marching in a southern
direction for about two miles, when it was found that the road began to
bear southeast instead of southwest, as stated by the guides. The
Colonel looked in the direction of the road, then to the southwest, then
to the west, saying, 'I don't want to get under General Wool, and lose
my trip to California.' He arose in his saddle and ordered a halt. He
then said with firmness: 'This is not my course. I was ordered to
California,' 'and,' he added with an oath, 'I will go there or die in
the attempt.' Then turning to the bugler, he said, 'Blow the right!'
"Turning westward at this point, 32° 41´ north latitude, and but a short
distance--some thirty miles--north of the present city of El Paso--the
course of march was westward to San Bernardino rancho, thence to Yanos
and so to the San Pedro river where the command arrived on the 9th of
December.
"=The Fight with Wild Bulls.=--Here occurred the only fighting the
Battalion engaged in on its expedition, a battle with wild bulls. This
section of the country seemed to abound with herds of wild cattle, and
the males among them were much more bold and ferocious than among the
buffalos. Attracted by curiosity these herds gathered along the line of
march, alternately scampering away and approaching; and some of the
bolder ones, as if in resentment of the Battalion's invasion, attacked
the column. Several mules were gored to death by them, both in the teams
and among the pack animals; and Colonel Cooke records how some of the
wagons were thrown about by the mad charge of these furious beasts. The
troops had been ordered to march with guns unloaded, but in the presence
of such a danger the men loaded their muskets without waiting for an
order to that effect, and when attacked would fire upon the charging
beasts, so that the rattle of musketry was for once heard all along the
line. The bulls were very tenacious of life, however, and more desperate
and dangerous when wounded than before."
Tyler speaks of one fight between Dr. William Spencer and a bull which
was shot five times, twice through the lungs, twice through the heart,
and once through the head, and yet would alternately rise and fall and
rush upon the doctor until a sixth ball between the eyes, and near the
curl of the pate, proved fatal.[38:c] Colonel Cooke confirms Tyler's
narrative about the bull continuing to rush on after being twice shot
through the heart, and adds: "I have seen the heart." Cooke also relates
the feat of Corporal Frost in bringing down one of these ferocious
animals: "I was very near Corporal Frost, when an immense coal-black
bull came charging upon us, a hundred yards distant. Frost aimed his
musket, a flintlock, very deliberately and only fired when the beast was
within six paces; it fell headlong, almost at our feet."[39:d] Tyler
adds: "The Corporal was on foot while, of course, the Colonel and staff
were mounted. On the first appearance of the bull, the Colonel, with his
usual firm manner of speech, ordered the corporal to load his gun,
supposing, of course, that he had observed the previous order of
prohibition. To this command he (the corporal) paid no attention.
Thinking him either stupified or, dumbfounded, with much warmth and a
foul epithet he next ordered him to run, but this mandate was as little
heeded as the other. Doubtless Cooke thought one man's 'ignorance with
some stubborness' was about to receive a terrible retribution, but when
he saw the monster lifeless at his feet, through the well-directed aim
of the brave and fearless corporal, how changed must have been his
feelings!"[39:e] The number of the wild bovine enemy killed in the
engagement is variously reported as from twenty to sixty, and by one
writer as high as eighty-one.
=Mexican Opposition at Tucson.=--Leaving the San Pedro the command marched
northeasterly to Tucson, a Mexican town of between four and five hundred
inhabitants. It was garrisoned at the time by a Mexican force two
hundred strong, according to Cooke, commanded by Captain Comaduran, who
was under order from the Governor of Sonora, Don Manuel Gandara, not to
allow an armed force to pass through the town without resistance. The
guides furnished the Battalion by General Kearny, however, declared it
was for the command either to march through Tucson, or make a detour
which would mean a hundred miles out of the way over a trackless
wilderness and mountains. Cooke determined to march through Tucson.
Foster, the interpreter, went into the town in advance and was put under
guard; a corporal, son of the Mexican commander, with three Mexican
soldiers was met by the command and questioned about Foster, and on
admitting that he was under guard, the corporal and his escort were
immediately placed under arrest by Cooke, to be held as hostages for the
safety of the interpreter. One Mexican, however, was released, who, with
two of the Battalion guides, carried a note demanding Foster's release.
This was complied with, and about midnight Foster was brought to camp,
attended by two officers authorized "to make a special armistice." Cooke
proposed that the Mexican command deliver up a few arms as a guarantee
of surrender, and a token that the inhabitants of Tucson would not fight
against the United States unless they were exchanged as prisoners of
war; the Mexican prisoners were also released.[40:f] These events
occurred while the Battalion was about sixteen miles from Tucson.
The next day, when on the march, Cooke received a message from Captain
Comaduran declining the proposition to surrender. The Battalion were
ordered to load their guns with ball. Before reaching the town, however,
another message was received saying that the garrison had retreated
taking two brass cannons and forcing most of the inhabitants to
accompany them. About a dozen armed Mexicans met the American force to
escort them into the town. Before passing through the gates, the
commander of the Battalion addressed the soldiers saying, in effect,
that the garrison and citizens had fled leaving their property behind;
but they had not come to make war upon Sonora, and there must be no
interference with the private property of the citizens.[41:g] The
Battalion marched through Tucson and went into camp about half a mile
beyond on a small stream.
Before leaving the vicinity Cooke with a party of fifty reconnoitered
the country above the town towards a village and church, where, it was
supposed, the garrison and main body of the people had taken refuge. As
the nature of the country, however, afforded excellent opportunities for
ambush, if the Mexicans should choose to make resistance, the company of
fifty returned. However the movement was not without its value since,
according to Col. Cooke, and as was afterwards ascertained, it caused
the Mexicans who had fled to the aforesaid village to still further
retreat, and the reinforcements which had come from the presidios of
Fronteras, Santa Cruz and Tubac, to return to their posts.[42:h]
=Junction With Kearny's Trail.=--Renewing its journey the command in the
course of three days, by hard marching, reached the Gila river and
intersected the route followed by General Kearny, four hundred and
seventy-four miles from the point at which they left it in the valley of
the Rio Grande.
The Southern Pacific Railroad traverses practically the route of the
Battalion between these two points. Colonel Cooke made a map of this
part of the Battalion's journey--published in his book, (see map fold)
and referring to it, in connection with the Southern Pacific Railroad,
he says: "A new administration, in which Southern interests prevailed,
with the great problem of the practicability and best location of a
Pacific Railroad under investigation, had the map of this wagon route
before them with its continuance to the west, and perceived that it gave
exactly the solution of its unknown element, that a southern route would
avoid both the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, with their snows, and
would meet no obstacle in this great interval. The new 'Gadsden Treaty'
was the result; it was signed, December 30, 1853."[42:i]
=The March Down the Gila.=--Following more or less the windings of the
Gila, the way made difficult from alternating stretches of deep sand and
miry clay, the command arrived at the junction of the Gila with the
Colorado on the 8th of January.