that the service of the Mormon Battalion was honorable and appreciated
by both the people of California and the U. S. government, exists in the
fact of the efforts that were made on the part of both the people and
the government to prolong their service, some of which efforts have
already been noted in these pages. As the time approached for the
company that had re-enlisted to be mustered out of service--known as the
"Company of Mormon Volunteers,"--the people of San Diego drafted a
petition, begging the governor to use his influence to keep the company
in the service. The petition was signed by every citizen in the town,
and Governor Mason tried hard to induce the company to remain in the
service another year; failing in that, then to stay six months longer;
all to no purpose, however; the "Volunteers" were determined to join
their friends and families in Salt Lake valley, and made the journey as
stated above.
=Efforts to Raise a Second Mormon Battalion.=--When the Battalion proper
was mustered out of service in July, 1847, efforts were set on foot at
that time to raise a second "Mormon Battalion," of which Captain
Jefferson Hunt was to be given the command, with the office of
Lieutenant-Colonel, the office held by its first commander Allen, and
later by Col. Cooke. It is learned from a report made by Governor Mason
that the war department, and hence the national administration, also
sought the enlistment of this second Battalion.
In his report to the Adjutant General of September 18th, 1847, Governor
Mason says:
"Of the service of this Battalion, of their patience, subordination, and
general good conduct, you have already heard; and I take great pleasure
in adding that as a body of men they have religiously respected the
rights and feelings of these conquered people, and not a syllable of
complaint has reached my ears of a single insult offered or outrage done
by a Mormon volunteer. So high an opinion did I entertain of the
battalion and of their special fitness for the duties now performed by
the garrisons in this country, that I made strenuous efforts to engage
their service for another year."[74:f]
The month following, after Governor Mason had met Captain Brown of the
Pueblo detachment, and received his report, and paid off that division
of the command; also after Captain Hunt, who had been for some time
acting as Indian agent at Luis del Rey, was well on his way to Salt Lake
valley to raise the proposed 2nd Battalion of Mormon Volunteers,
Governor Mason wrote to Washington:
"Captain Brown (after making his report and receiving the pay of the
Pueblo detachment) started immediately for Fort Hall. * * * He reported
that he had met Captain Hunt, late of the Mormon Battalion, who was on
his way to meet the emigrants and bring into the country this winter, if
possible, a battalion, according to the terms offered in my letter to
him of the 16th of August, a copy of which you will find among the
military correspondence of the department. In my letter I offered
Captain Hunt, the command of the battalion, with the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, with an adjutant; but I find, by the orders lately
received, that a battalion of four companies is only entitled to a major
and acting adjutant. I will notify Captain Hunt of this change at as
early a moment as I can communicate with him. I am pleased to find by
the despatches that in this matter I have anticipated the wish of the
department."[75:g]
When, however, the subject of raising a second Battalion was presented
to Brigham Young, both through Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson, of the New
York regiment of volunteers, prompted by Governor Mason, also through
Captain Hunt in person, the proposition was declined. Regarding the
first enlistment from the standpoint alone of the sacrifices it
involved, President Young saw no occasion to make like sacrifices a
second time, and no effort was made in Utah to raise a second Mormon
Battalion.
FOOTNOTES:
[58:a] Tyler's Battalion, pp. 286-7.
[59:b] Tyler's Battalion, pp. 281-2.
[62:c] Others place the price paid for this tract of land at $3,000.00
(Whitney's History of Utah, Vol. I, p. 375; Bancroft's Utah, p. 307,
note 4). I think the statement in John Smith's letter to Brigham Young
the more reliable, since the high council over which he presided advised
the purchase to be made, and would most likely know the price paid.
There is also some confusion as to the time of the purchase. June 6th,
1848, is the time fixed upon by Jenson's Chronology, 1899 edition, p.
35. Whitney following the Brown family tradition places the time of the
purchase late in December, 1847, or early in January, 1848; and the
return of Captain Brown from California in December, 1847. Whereas
Brigham Young's Journal History--quoting John Smith's letter--referred
to above--places the date of the Captain's return "about the middle of
November, 1847"; and that he brought with him "about $5,000.00, mostly
in gold." Others say $10,000.00 in Mexican doubloons. Brown was gone (i.
e. from Salt Lake Valley) three months and seven days, History of
Brigham Young, Ms. March 6th, 1848, p. 16.
[62:d] Bancroft's History of Utah, p. 307, note 3; he cites Stanford's
"Ogden City," Ms. p. 1, and F. D. Richards' Narrative, Ms. Both are
reliable sources of information.
[64:e] Their names given by Bancroft are as follows--I add the given
names: Henry W. Bigler, Alexander Stephens, James S. Brown, James
Barger, William Johnson, Azariah Smith, William Ira Willis, Sidney
Willis, (Brothers) William Koutze (History of California, Vol. VI., p.
31, note). The brothers Willis and Koutze returned in September to work
on Sutter's flour mill, so they were not in the Coloma valley at the
time of the gold discovery. Israel Evans is given in addition to the
above by James S. Brown in his "California Gold, an Authentic History,"
p. 6. (Hist. Cal., Vol. V., p. 31, note.)
[74:f] Cal. and New Mexico Mess. and Doc. 1850; also quoted by Bancroft
Hist. Cal. Vol. V., p. 492.
[75:g] Cal. and New Mex. Mess. and Doc. 1850, p. 355. Also quoted by
Bancroft, Hist. Cal., Vol. V., p. 494, note.
IX.
THE BATTALION IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF SEVENTY-THREE YEARS.
The story of the Mormon Battalion is now before the reader. The
perspective of seventy-three years corrects many of the misapprehensions
that once obtained respecting the purpose of its being called, and its
mission. And as this perspective corrects the misconceptions of the
past, so also does it enable us to recognize the real importance and
value of the incident and the greatness of the achievements of this
Battalion of the United States' troops, for such they were, and the
matter of their coming from the westward migrating camps of the Mormon
people should not be allowed to obscure that fact.
=The Battalion as Utah Pioneers.=--Also it should be always held in mind
that the members of the Battalion were among the pioneers and founders
of the state of Utah. For though the main body of the Battalion went to
California its members were never for a day separated in thought or
purpose from the main body of their people, whom they had assisted in
their westward-moving pilgrimage by the means sent to them from their
pay; both from Fort Leavenworth and from Santa Fe; the seeds and the
tents and arms equipment they brought with them when returning from
their historic march; and the newly mined gold for currency. All of
which was so helpful in founding the commonwealth to be, to say nothing
of the advantage their service in the army of the west had been to
their people in securing the effective element in the plea for their
right to occupy Indian lands along the Missouri river in Iowa and
Nebraska. Besides one hundred and fifty of their number with their
tents, arms, teams, wagons and other equipment, quartered at Pueblo
during the winter of 1846-7, followed so closely upon the heels of the
first company of pioneers led by Brigham Young, that they arrived in the
Salt Lake Valley only five days after the advent of the first pioneer
company.
=Achievements of the Battalion.=--Four great movements made possible the
development of the west--the great intermountain region and the Pacific
slope. These were:
1. The opening of the highways;
2. The conquest of northern Mexico;
3. The discovery of gold in California;
4. The adoption of irrigation farming by an Anglo-Saxon people.
In all of these movements the Battalion was an important factor.
The part the Battalion took in opening the highways to the Pacific has
already been detailed in the story of their march, and fully recognized
in the military order already quoted in these pages, and which is now on
file as a government document in Washington.
=Territory Added to the United States by the Conquest of Mexico.=--"In
all," says a reliable authority, "more than five hundred and ninety
thousand square miles were added to the territory of the United States
as a result of the [Mexican] war." This included the west half of what
is now the State of New Mexico, the west half of Colorado, all of Utah,
Nevada, Arizona and California. For this territory, which equaled in
extent two-thirds of the territory of the thirteen original states of
the Union, the government paid Mexico $15,000,000. "Including Texas,"
says the authority here followed, "the additions of territory were more
than nine hundred and sixty-five thousand square miles."[78:a] Or, as
another historian states it, "territory equal in area to Germany, France
and Spain added together."[78:b]
=The Gadsden Purchase and the Battalion Route.=--Commenting on the
Battalion's march and the map he made of it, Colonel Cooke says: "A new
administration, (this was the Pierce administration, 1853-1857) 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 Nevadas, 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." This purchase added to the
territory of the United States forty-five thousand five hundred and
thirty-five square miles; for which was paid $10,000,000. The purchase
was made by James Gadsden of South Carolina, minister to Mexico, hence
the name Gadsden Purchase.[78:c]
In addition to the wagon road opened westward through southern New
Mexico, Arizona, and California, we have seen that it was a detachment
of twenty-five discharged members of the Battalion which brought the
first wagon through from the coast via Cajon Pass to Salt Lake Valley,
following what is now the general course of the San Pedro, Los Angeles
and Salt Lake railroad, and which became known in the early Utah
California times as the southern California route to the coast. Also, as
we have seen, the Battalion members returning from the gold fields of
the American river region cut a new wagon road, much of the way, for
their seventeen wagons and two cannons from the western side of the
Sierra, across the summit of that lofty range, thence down to the
eastern sloping deserts of Nevada, and so to Salt Lake Valley.
The conquest of Northern Mexico, including, of course, California and
Utah, as well as New Mexico and [Transcriber's Note: text is missing in
the original] lence of their conduct, not only on the march to the
Pacific fleet of the American navy, and the "Army of the West," the main
division of which was under the command of General Stephen W. Kearny.
The Battalion's part in the conquest is detailed in the foregoing
narrative, and also is acknowledged in the military order by Col. Cooke,
referred to several times and given in full in a preceding page of this
book.
In addition to all this, the Battalion reflected great credit upon the
community of Utah pioneers--of whom it never ceased to be a part--by
reason of the excellence of their conduct not only on the march to the
Pacific coast, but also when doing garrison duty in southern California.
The efforts to secure the re-enlistment of the Battalion, and, failing
that, the effort to secure the enlistment of a second Mormon Battalion,
were the conscious confessions of both California and federal
officials--since both participated in such efforts--to the worth of
these United States soldiers. "They religiously respected their rights
and feelings of the conquered people of California; not a syllable of
complaint of a single insult offered, or any outrage done by a Mormon
volunteer," is the record of the Battalion, and the re-enlisted
volunteers, according to the report of them by Governor Mason. Such is
the reputation of the Battalion; of its officers, chosen from its ranks;
and of its men, the rank and file.
The part the Battalion played in the discovery of gold has already been
detailed.
=Connection with Irrigation.=--The connection of members of the Battalion
with the introduction of irrigation among an Anglo-Saxon people, and
most likely coming from their suggestion, is a deduction from
circumstances rather than a fact sustained by direct and positive proof.
When Brigham Young's company of pioneers were about to leave Green River
on July 4, 1847, they were overtaken by a detachment of thirteen men
from the Battalion, who were in pursuit of men who had stolen horses
from their camps some seven days' travel eastward. These men had been
with the several invalided detachments from the Battalion--about 150 in
all--that had wintered at Pueblo, in what is now the state of Colorado.
They were incorporated into the pioneer company and came on with it to
Salt Lake valley, and undoubtedly members of this group would be upon
the ground that 23rd day of July, when ploughing was first attempted on
the south fork of City Creek, on the present site of Great Salt Lake
City.
The annals of that day say that the ground was so dry and hard that in
the attempt to plow it several plows were broken. Whereupon, at
someone's suggestion--who it was that made it the annals do not
disclose, and it is not known--a company was set at work to put in a dam
in the creek and flood the land in order to plow it. This was the
beginning of Anglo-Saxon irrigation.
As already stated, who it was that made the fortunate suggestion that
the water be turned out upon the land in order to make it possible to
plow it, is not known, but we have seen that thirteen members of the
Battalion were among the pioneers, and some of them had seen irrigation
in operation among the Mexicans at Santa Fe and further south in the
valley of the Rio Grande. What more likely than that some of those men
who had seen irrigation in progress should suggest the flooding of the
land to prepare it for plowing, as they had seen it conducted over the
land to convey moisture to the growing vegetation? The probability of it
has moral certainty.
FOOTNOTES:
[78:a] History U. S. (Morris), 1877 ed., p. 326.
[78:b] History of the U. S. (Fiske), 1877 ed., p. 336.
[78:c] Conquest of Mexico and California--Cooke, p. 159. Also History of
the United States--Morris, p. 326.
X.
THE SUBSEQUENT DISTINCTION ACHIEVED BY THE BATTALION'S COMMANDING
OFFICERS.
[Illustration: Philip St. George Cooke]
It may be of interest, and certainly it belongs to the history of the
Battalion, to say that its commanding officer and the two lieutenants of
the regular army, his staff officers, rose later to honorable
distinction during the war between the States.
=Colonel Cooke.=--Col. Cooke, after returning to the east with Stephen W.
Kearny, continued in the military service of the United States and was
active in the Kansas-Nebraska troubles of the early fifties. In 1857-8
he commanded the cavalry in the Johnston expedition to Utah; and it is
of record that when that command passed through the streets of Salt Lake
City, en route from the mouth of Emigration Canyon to the place of its
encampment west of the Jordan, the Colonel rode with uncovered head,
through the city; "out of respect to the brave men of the Mormon
Battalion he had commanded in their march to the Pacific."
For a time after the departure of Albert Sidney Johnston for the east,
or rather to the south,--for that officer espoused the cause of the
Southern Confederacy, against the Union, Col. Cooke for a time was in
command of "Johnston Army" at Camp Floyd, in Cedar Valley, west of Utah
Lake.
During the Civil War Col. Cooke though a Virginian served on the side of
the Union army, and rose through the grade of brigadier general (1861),
to the rank of brevet Major General (1865).
=Lieut. A. J. Smith.=--Lieutenant A. J. Smith in the same war rose from
the grade of commander of California volunteers to that of brigadier
general of volunteers (1862); and to major general of volunteers (1864).
In the battle of Nashville he commanded the sixteenth corps of General
Thomas' right, and received the brevet of major general in the regular
army for his services in that battle.
=Lieut. George Stoneman.=--Lieutenant George Stoneman in 1861 was in
command at Fort Brown, Texas, with the rank of captain. Later he was in
command of the Union cavalry in the Peninsula campaign. After the death
of General Philip Kearny, at Chantilly, Stoneman took the command of the
fallen general's division, and commanded the Third Corps at
Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville he commanded the federal cavalry. In
a raid upon Andersonville, the object of which was to liberate the
federal soldiers imprisoned there, he was captured by the confederates.
After the war he was in command of one of the many military departments
created by the government; and from 1883 to 1887 was governor of
California.
XI.
ANECDOTES.
Col. Cooke in addition to natural austerity of temperament was a strict
disciplinarian, and generally held himself aloof from the men. A few
anecdotes that fortunately survived the march, and which were related by
Wilford Woodruff at the celebration of Pioneer's Day, in 1880, show the
Colonel in some of his better moods, and witness the fact that he could
be somewhat broadly tolerant of the independent attitude of some members
of his Mormon command. The Woodruff narratives follow:
=Character of Col. Cooke.=--"Those who marched with him (Colonel Cooke)
can understand him much better than I can describe him. I think he
possessed a better heart than his language would sometimes indicate. He
was a strict disciplinarian, and, like Lord Nelson, expected every man
to do his duty. But he had a peculiar streak in his composition at times
that induced him to see how far the Mormon Battalion would go in obeying
his commands and that were inconsistent with reason and good judgment.
As an illustration of this, for the edification or amusement of the
remnant of the Battalion who are present, I will refer to a few
incidents, and if I do not get everything as it transpired, I will get
it as nearly as I can, from the report of those who were present."
=Col. Cooke and Christopher Layton.=--"On one occasion, while the
Battalion was crossing a river with a ferry-boat, Col. Cooke was sitting
on his mule on the bank looking at them. The boat went down into such
deep water that the setting poles did not touch bottom. 'Try the upper
side,' said he. They did so, but could not touch bottom. The colonel
then took off his hat and said: 'Good bye, gentlemen. When you get down
to the Gulf of California, give my respects to the folks.' He then rode
off and left them, not waiting to see whether they would reach shore or
go down the river. He soon returned and found that they had got ashore.
While sitting there, Christopher Layton rode up to the river on a mule
to let it drink. Col. Cooke said to him, 'Young man, I want you to ride
across the river and carry a message for me to Capt. Hunt.' It being
natural for the men to obey the Colonel's order, he [Layton] tried to
ride into the river, but he had gone but a few steps before his mule was
going in all over. So Brother Layton stopped. The colonel halloed out,
'Go on, young man; go on, young man.' But Brother Layton, on a moment's
reflection, was satisfied that if he attempted it both he and his mule
would stand a good chance to be drowned. The colonel himself was
satisfied of the same. So Brother Layton turned his mule and rode off,
saying, as he came out, 'Colonel, I'll see you in hell before I will
drown myself and mule in that river.' The colonel looked at him a
moment, and said to the by-standers, 'What is that man's name?'
'Christopher Layton, sir.' 'Well, he is a saucy fellow.'"
=Col. Cooke and Lot Smith.=--On another occasion, (while the Battalion was
at Santa Fe) Col. Cooke ordered Lot Smith to guard a Mexican corral, and
having a company of United States cavalry camped by, he told Lot if the
men came to steal the poles to bayonet them. The men came and surrounded
the corral, and while Lot was guarding one side, they would hitch to a
pole on the other, and ride off with it. When the Colonel saw the poles
were gone, he asked Lot why he did not obey orders and bayonet the
thieves? Lot replied, "If you expect me to bayonet United States troops
for taking a pole on the enemy's ground to make a fire of, you mistake
your man." Lot expected to be punished, and he was placed under guard,
but nothing further was done about it.
=The Colonel, the Mule and Bigler.=--"Col. Cooke called upon W. H. Bigler
as a provost guard one day to guard his tent. The colonel had a favorite
mule, which was fed some grain on a blanket. One of the freight mules
came up and helped to eat the grain. The Colonel drove him off several
times, but he would follow him again, until the colonel got vexed, and
said to Bigler, 'Is your musket loaded?' 'No sir.' 'Then load it and
give it to me.' Brother Bigler is the last man on earth that any one
acquainted with him would have supposed would have played any tricks on
the colonel. But he took out a cartridge and bit off the ball end, which
he dropped on the ground. He then rammed the powder and paper down the
gun, capped it and handed it to the colonel. Several of the officers of
the Battalion stood looking on. As the mule came back to get the grain
and had arrived within a rod of him, the colonel fired the charge into
its face; but the only effect that it had upon the mule was to cause it
to give a snort, wheel around and kick at him, and then run off a few
rods, after which it turned to come back again. This created a good deal
of amusement with the lookers on. The only remark the colonel made, as
he handed back the musket to Brother Bigler, was, 'Young man, that gun
was not properly loaded.'"
=Wire, Wire, Damn You Sir.=--"Col. Cooke had rather more sternness than
familiarity in him. When he gave an order, if he was not fully
understood by the soldiers, they did not like to question him. On one
occasion he wanted some wire to fix up his tent. He ordered one of the
soldiers to go to a certain man and get some wire, but he did not speak
plainly and the soldier did not understand what he said. Nevertheless
the soldier started to go on the errand, but began to think that he
could not tell what to ask for. So he went back to the colonel and asked
him what he had told him to get. The colonel said, 'Wire, wire, wire,
damn you sir.' The soldier went to the man and asked for some wire for
Col. Cooke. But the man had not got any wire. 'What did you ask for?'
inquired the colonel, when the man returned. 'I asked for wire, wire,
wire, damn you sir.' 'That will do, that will do, young man. You may go
to your tent.'"
=Col. Cooke's Respect for the Battalion.=--"These instances show a little
of the kind of temperament Col. Cooke possessed, but he had a good,
generous heart. He entertained great respect for the Mormon Battalion
and he always spoke kindly of them before the government and all men.
When he went through Salt Lake City with Col. A. S. Johnston, in 1858,
he uncovered his head in honor of the Mormon Battalion, that five
hundred brave men that he had led two thousand miles over sandy deserts
and through rocky canyons, in the midst of thirst, hunger, and fatigue,
in the service of their country. May God bless Col. Cooke; and may he
bless the Battalion and their posterity after them."[88:a]
FOOTNOTES:
[88:a] Wilford Woodruff in "Utah Pioneers"--1880--pp. 20-22.
ADDENDA.
THE BATTALION'S MONUMENT.