Show THE MORMON BATTALION of the most interesting chapters of mr hubert howe Ban crofts history of california vol V is the one devoted to the review of the mormon battalion 1846 8 following is a i summary of the story as he relates it which occupies a chapter of thirty pages the latter day saints believing they had bad just cause of complaint that government had refused to protect them against the opples which forced them to quit their homes in missouri and illinois did not hesitate to apply at washington for aid in their enforced exo dus elder jose jese C little the representative of mormon interests in the east laid the matter before president polk saying from twelve to fifteen thousand mormons cormons have already left narvoo for california and many others are make making ready to go some have gone around cape horn and I 1 trust before this ti siule midsummer have landed at san flancisco bay we have about forty thousand in the brit ish isles all determined to gather to this land and thousands will sail this fall there are also many thousands scattered through the states besides the great number in and around nauvoo who will ga go to california as soon as possible but many of them are destitute of money to pay their passage neither either by sea or land we are truehearted americans true to our native country true to its laws true to its glorious institutions we would disdain to receive assistance from a foreign power although it should by bu proffered unless our government shall turn us off in this great crisis and compel us to be foreigners if you will assi assist us in this crisis I 1 hereby ale pledge dge my honor as the representative of this people that the whole body will stand ready at your call and act as one man in the land to which we are goin gand should our dour territory be invaded we will hold ourselves ready to enter the field ot of battle and then like our patriotic lathers fathers make the battlefield battle field our grave or gain our liberty while negotiations were in progress mews came that hostilities with mexico had begun elder li littles t L memorial quoted above was drawn out by kendalls announcement that the administration had resolved to occupy california and was disposed to accomplish that object through the Morna N Hor hormozis mois ons by aiding them to hasten across the continent whatever way iray have been the original proposition says mr bancroft the final decision was to raise a battalion of five hundred dred men to de be mustered into the united states service for twelve months and to march by santa fe to california where they were to be discharged at the expiration of their terms retaining their arms araas and accod tre ments by the high council of mount pisgah captain allen alien was sent westward with a letter to president young at council bluffs the main and frontier fronti tw encampment here a council was md the first of july at which it was decided that the battalion as called for must be raised and corresponding orders were issued at once thus is explained observes mr bancroft I 1 the origin of the mormon battalion Battat involving it would seem nothing mysterious or underhanded in any of its phases 11 the troops were promptly raised and started on their journey the of july the elders made parting addresses of encouragement and Br brignani Ighani young for formally maily predicted as he had done before that not one ot of those who might enlist would fall by the hands of the nations foe that their only fighting would be with wild beasts that their subsequent safety eav resulted from this prediction the mormons cormons Mor mons had no doubt and that they were under divine protection soon became evident to them when a tornado threw down the trees of the forest in which they were encamped without harming a man many hardships were endured by them ere they reached california amidst all of which only divine protection enabled the saints to survive and only the patriotic devotion that had prompted the original sacrifice of their enlistment ke kept t them from mutiny re the battalion arri arrived ved at san diego cal on the of january and andon on the following f day the commander issued a congratulatory order with well merited compliments to the troops so highly satisfactory had the battalion behaved not only up to this time but during their entire enlistment that colonel stevenson by governor masons instructions wrote a letter to president young alluding to the old prejudices against the Saints which in california had been so completely dispelled bv ax intercourse wilh the volunteers until there had bad come to exist a strong feeling of respect fortham for them anda and a general desire that they should remain in the service and become permanent residents of the country it would seem probable reasons the historian that president young would have favored the proposed scheme of raising another battalion had it still remained the intention to establish his people in california out but the determination to find their promised land in utah rendered the sacrifice too great we think every reader of the narrative will be duly impressed that the author has not aimed at sensational effect nor made any attempt at embellishment bellish ment but rather to offer a plain statement of facts and give due credit to all concerned he gives c copious quotations in foot notes from sergeant ULD D tylers eylers excellent work Hist history orv of the mormon Battal battalion ibn 11 from life of brigham young from colonel kanes lecture on the mormons cormons Mor mons colonel cookes journal Big lers diary etc the mormon view of the design believed to have been hidden behind the call for tha battalion and the hardships of the demand bior for five anve hundred able bodied men under the circumstances in which the saints were placed at the time la Is duly presented but offset with the claim of others that the object was to help rather than injure the persecuted pilgrims on their journey toward the west altogether the chapter is a fair and succinct et relation of the chief incidents in the memorable morable ine march over 1100 wiles ot difficult country and a demon of mormon patriotism and endurance which cannot fail to create a favorable impression upon the impartial reader the collection and grouping of facts in thib chapter is but a sample of the painstaking and wide reaching labors of the historian manifested in the whole volume and throughout the great work which will make him famous in all the world |