At San Diego, which was reached by Standage and a small detachment
January 30, provisions were found very scarce, while prices were
exorbitant. Sugar cost 50 cents a pound, so the soldier regaled himself
with one-quarter of a pound and gathered some mustard greens to eke out
his diet. For 26 days he had eaten almost nothing but beef. He purchased
a little wheat from the Indians and ground it in a hand mill, to make
some cakes, which were a treat.
Late in April, at Los Angeles, there was a move to another camping
ground, "as the Missouri volunteers (Error, New York volunteers--Author)
had threatened to come down upon us. A few days later we were called up
at night in order to load and fix bayonets, as Colonel Cooke had sent
word that an attack might be expected from Colonel Fremont's men before
day. They had been using all possible means to prejudice the Spaniards
and Indians against us."
Los Angeles made poor impression upon the soldiers in the Battalion. The
inhabitants were called "degraded" and it was declared that there were
almost as many grog shops and gambling dens as private houses. Reference
is made to the roofs of reeds, covered with pitch from tar springs
nearby. Incidentally, these tar "springs" in a later century led to
development of the oil industry, that now is paramount in much of
California, and have been found to contain fossil remains of wonderful
sort.
The Indians were said "to do all the labor, the Mexicans generally on
horseback from morning till night. They are perhaps the greatest horsemen
in the known world and very expert with lariat and lasso, but great
gamblers."
Food assuredly was not dear, for cattle sold for $5 a head. Many cattle
were killed merely for hides and tallow and for the making of soap.
About the most entertaining section of Standage's journal is that which
chronicles his stay in Southern California, possibly because it gave him
an opportunity to do something else beside tramping. There is much detail
concerning re-enlistment, but there was general inclination to follow the
advice of Father Pettegrew, who showed "the necessity of returning to the
prophets of the Lord before going any further."
Just before the muster-out, the soldiers were given an opportunity to
witness a real Spanish bull fight, called "a scene of cruelty, savoring
strongly of barbarity and indolence, though General Pico, an old Mexican
commander, went into the ring several times on horseback and fought the
bulls with a short spear."
What with the hostility of the eastern volunteers, the downright enmity
of Fremont's company and the alien habits of the Mexican population, the
sober-minded members of the Battalion must have been compelled to keep
their own society very largely while in the pueblo of Los Angeles, or, to
give it its Spanish appellation, "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de
los Angeles de Porciuncula." Still, some of them tried to join in the
diversions of the people of the country. On one occasion, according to
Historian Eldridge, there was something of a quarrel between Captain Hunt
and Alcalde Carrillo, who had given offense by observing that the
American officer "danced like a bear." The Alcalde apologized very
courteously, saying that bears were widely known as dancers, but the
breach was not healed.
Christopher Layton's Soldiering.
Another history of the Battalion especially interesting from an Arizona
standpoint, is contained in the life of Christopher Layton, issued in
1911 and written by Layton's daughter, Mrs. Selina Layton Phillips, from
data supplied by the Patriarch. The narrative is one of the best at hand
in the way of literary preparation, though with frank statement that
President Layton himself had all too little education for the
accomplishment of such a task.
Layton was a private soldier in Company C, under Capt. James Brown. There
is nothing of especial novelty in the narrative, nor does there seem
anything of prophecy when the Battalion passed through the Valley of the
San Pedro in December, 1846, through a district to which Layton was to
return, in 1883, as leader of a Mormon colony.
Layton was one of the number that remained in California after the
discharge of the Battalion, eventually rejoining the Saints, at Salt
Lake, by way of his native land, England.
In B. H. Roberts' very interesting little work on the Mormon Battalion is
told this story of the later patriarch of the Gila settlement:
"While Colonel Cooke was overseeing the ferrying of the Battalion across
the Colorado River, Christopher Layton rode up to the river on a mule, to
let it drink. Colonel Cooke said to him, 'Young man, I want you to ride
across the river and carry a message for me to Captain 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 hallooed 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 bystanders, 'What is that man's name?' 'Christopher
Layton, sir.' 'Well, he is a saucy fellow.'"
That the Mormon Battalion did not always rigidly obey orders is shown in
another story detailed by Roberts:
"While the Battalion was at Santa Fe, Colonel 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."