MARCH OF THE MORMON BATTALION

NO MAN is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body, to risk his well-being, to risk his life, in a great cause."

These words, spoken by the late Theodore Roosevelt, are so applicable to the valiant members of the Mormon Battalion, who risked all for a sincere belief in their cause.

Often, when we think of some outstanding or military achievement, we become so lost in the dream of its activities that we give little thought to the individuals who were its participants and to their personal problems.

Several descendants of members of the Mormon Battalion live in Mesa and in other parts of the state, and have in their family records much interesting material that sheds personal sidelights on this remarkable march.

From the journal of one such member of the Battalion we realize the heartache he must have suffered in leaving his family while they were engaged in blazing a trail to a new home in the far west, and enlisting to serve his country in the war with Mexico.

"It was on July 19, 1846," he wrote. "Today I attended the meeting at Council Bluffs, preaching by Elder Pratt. When much was said of the necessity of our obedience to the call of the President of the United States, to enlist in the service of the army for one year, and on finding the fifth company yet need ing some men, I felt willing to leave my friends and enlist according to council, though at this time my wife was without house or tent, and with little provisions and only three dollars in money. Accordingly, after meeting, gave my name to Captain Hunt as a soldier.

"July 20: This morning arose early to prepare to join my company, which was ten miles distant on the Missouri river. Went to Brother Eldrige and besought him to permit my mother to make her home with him until I could be free to take care of her. When he agreed to be a son to my mother I left her with him, promising to recompense him, as soon as was able and opportunity would offer.

"About 9 o'clock I took my knapsack and left Camp of Israel, leaving my wife and mother in tears. I reached my company at noon and was given army blanket and rations."

The march of the Mormon Battalion to the Pacific Ocean in 1846-47 was one of the most stirring events in all the colorful annals of Southwestern history. The entire Battalion personnel was made up of men of peace, all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. None was familiar with the routine of soldiery or the business of war. Yet they made the longest continuous march, on foot, in the history of American warfare-from the Missouri to California.

These peace-loving people had suffered persecution ever since the founding of the church in 1820, and had been driven from one community to another. A little settlement had been founded at Nauvoo, Illinois, where they hoped to build homes and find peace, but this did not happen, so they decided to move to the far West, in the hopes that in its wilderness they would be unmolested.

The Mexican War broke out, and a call came for volunteers. President Polk had been advised that the Mormons desired to move farther west, so they were urged to enlist in the army that was being sent to California. The enlistment was for one year only, and they were paid seven dollars per month. The Battalion was to augment troops under General Kearny, who chose Captain Allen to command it. Brigham Young urged patriotism, and five companies of a hundred men each were formed.

On the 20th of July, 1846, the Battalion began its westward march. They passed through St. Joseph, Missouri, and from there to Fort Leavenworth, where Captain Allen was taken ill and died. Lieutenant Smith, who was most unpopular with the Mormons, was placed in command. Another unpopular man was Dr. Sanderson, and we learn from the diary of a member of the Battalion that they resented the medicines forced upon them and believed that God, in his own time, would heal the sick.

The first division of the Battalion reached Santa Fe October 9, and they were then placed under the command of Capt. St. George Cook. Captain Cook reported the Battalion to be in need of clothing; that many members were too old or too young to have undertaken the march; that there were too many women and that the journey was difficult and wearisome for them. So the women, children and sick were sent to Pueblo to winter quarters.

With rations for only sixty days, the Battalion left Santa Fe, to cross Arizona. At that time there were no wagon roads; in fact, the Battalion brought. the first wagons through this country. Often the men had to tramp down the brush so the teams and wagons could get through. Food was scarce. Once the men and mules were without water for fortyeight hours. When they reached the Continental Divide the wagons had to be lowered down a bluff by hand, the men handling the ropes and the teams being driven on ahead.

The Battalion was in Mexican territory, but the Mexicans were too busy fighting the armies of Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor to bother with the little Mormon army. The only fight they had, all the way across Arizona, was with wild cattle encountered

JUNE, 1937 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

near the present town of Hereford, and this is known as, "The Battle of the Bulls." These belligerent animals were descendants of those Father Kino had brought in to stock the Mission Ranch on the San Pedro, nearly 150 years earlier.

On December 2 the Mormons reached Tucson, which was garrisoned by 200 Mexicans with Captain Comadures in command. The captain refused to surrender, but when the Battalion entered the walled town they found that the Mexican soldiers, accompanied by most of the inhabitants, had left. Several thousand bushels of grain, stored by the Mexicans, was found, and there followed the first square meal in a long time eaten by either men or mules.

Captain Cook, with fifty men, visited the mission San Xavier del Bac the day after their arrival in Tucson, the white buildings having attracted his attention as the Battalion neared the town.

A march of four days brought them to the Pima and Maricopa villages, where the Mormons were greeted in friendly fashion by the Indians. Captain Cook and his men were favorably impressed by the country, and this visit probably led to the subsequent Mormon colonies in the Salt River valley.

As the Battalion moved on westward the men were hungry; their clothes were in tatters and their shoes worn out. Yet the men in this condition had to pull the wagons when the mules fell exhausted on the road. It is said that more than once, in desperate hunger, they scraped the hair from their saddle-skirts and boiled and ate the leather.

The Battalion reached the Colorado River January 9, and as when they had crossed the Gila cottonwood rafts were built and the weary travelers finally got across, suffering considerable losses due to their meager supplies.

Water was scarce on the California desert, but the tired men continued on their way. They had set out to reach the coast, and sheer will-power drove them on. At last, on the morning of January 30, they came to the Mission of San Diego.

Lieutenant Colonel Cook, recently promoted from the rank of captain, congratulated his men on their courage and endurance on concluding a march of 2,000 miles, saying: "History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry. Half of it has been over the wilderness, where nothing but savages and wild beasts were found, or deserts where, for want of water, there is no living creature."

This was the march of the Mormon Battalion. These pioneers blazed the first wagon road from the Middle Westto the coast of California. Just one year after they had enlisted, the members of the Battalion were mustered out in Los Angeles, on July 16, 1847.

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Thirty-three members of the Battalion later came back to Arizona to make their homes, where they were active in the development of the territory. The Baby State pays them tribute for their part in Arizona history.

The Public Must Be Educated

Accidents don't "just happen" there is a specific cause for each one. The so-called war on traffic accidents is really an appeal to reason and intelligence. Traffic safety will be only as good as we wish it to be. Public interest must awaken to the seriousness of the situation to the extent that it will demand that something be done about the wanton loss of life, limb and property. Mass education of motorists and pedestrians in safe driving and walking practises and cooperation among proper agencies in an impartial enforcement of traffic and pedestrian laws, will go far in controlling this mass slaughter. Driving a motor vehicle is not a right; it is a privilege. The very fact that it is necessary to secure a driver's license implies a privilege; it also implies that when we secure a license we are presumed to have a background which should make us dependable operators of motor vehicles. If, therefore, we abuse the privilege of sharing the public highways, thus endangering the lives of other rightful users, it should be sufficient reason for the discontinuance (temporarily at least) of that privilege.

Careless or reckless driving invites accidents even when highways and motor vehicles are in good condition. Discourteous driving habits are not only disagreeable, they are also dangerous.

When we realize that Arizona's 1936 highway death toll was two hundred and forty-four or one death for each 1,885 of State population-or one death for each 554 vehicle registration or 18.3 deaths for each 10,000 motor vehicles registered, isn't it time that we, as individuals, awakened to our driving and walking responsibilities?

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