Show seiw appearing in the herald express of los angeles saturday march 18 was the following editorial telling that 11 los angeles honors sons of pioneer mormon battalion A significant ceremony was scheduled to be held on the steps of the los angeles city hall today as governor warren of california governor J bracken lee of utah and mayor fletcher bowron of this city welcome members of the sons of utah pioneers who sire are retracing the trail of the famed mormon battalion which served with distinction in the armed forces of the united states during the war with mexico this welcome to the mormon pioneers though is not limited to simply honoring those of the famed battalion which marched into los angeles and had the distinction of raising the first american flag over fort moore on july 4 1847 but it also it is significant because it gives this city and all southern california the opportunity to pay tribute to the magnificent part played in the development of the south southwest west by the mormon colonists and settlers the history of the mormon movement west is an open book in 1845 when our relations with mexico made war inevitable brigham young offered president polk the services service of a mormon battalion the ile offer was immediately accepted and in ipha a group of young men of this faith received orders to break a wagon trail through to california how they overcame difficulties almost past belief is is a story of rare courage and indefatigable industry they made a trek to sante fe from iowa and then started expanding the old sante fe trail which had never till then been traveled by wagons and after a 1500 mile journey arrived in san diego they explored southern california building bridges digging wells studying soil looking forward always to developing ve mormon colonies in this area from san diego they came to los angeles marching under the command of gen stephen kearney and in los angeles the mexican war ending they were discharged many returned to their homes in the great salt lake valley but many others remained in los angeles they founded and developed san bernardino they settled in many other communities muni ties everywhere the mormons cormons became the very backbone of the community in which they made their homes they built irrigation systems they cleared the land they built churches and they educated their children their thrift their industry and their honesty were characteristic of these hardy people today los angeles welcomes the opportunity to pay deserved honor to the memory of the courageous mormon pioneers it would be fitting here to mention that six of these mormon battalion men later became citizens of morgan county they were willard G smith musician in company D three of his daughters are still living lot smith private in company E george IV taggart officer and musician in comp any ciny B two sons and one daughter are still living roswell stevens private in company E two daughters and one son still living sanford porter private in company E and phileman C merrill men ill 3rd ard lieutenant in company B J C little who was one of the party to trek over the old trail with sons of the mormon battalion told us this week that also on the trip were mr and mrs fred taggart of cache county fred is a son of george washington taggart and it a former resident of richville ile he was dressed in uniform and marched in all the parades and also spoke over the loud speaker at san diego and san bernardino mr little has a half brother a son of colonel jesse C little living in los angeles four years younger than himself ile he is walter W little an attorney at law |