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Mormon Battalion Trek:
The Mormon Battalion Trek is the first complete re-march
following the 1846-1847 Mormon Battalion’s route – from Iowa to
California. Living history re-enactors will dress and live like
original Battalion members telling their story as they move from
one campsite to the next. This “living history” reenacting
event will start July 4, 2008 and conclude in Los Angeles
mid-February 2009 after covering over 2,500 miles.
The hike will provide an opportunity to revitalize interest in
one of America’s most unique military units. Many people have
asked to hike part of the Battalion Trail during the Trek.
Descendants, historians, Scouts, youth groups and families have
expressed a desire to come along. The following options to
participate are available: The “Corps” group, “Cooke’s Cadre”,
“Regulars”, Day Hikes, Camp access, Virtual access.
In collaboration with other educational programs, history
museums and not-for-profit organizations, cooperative events are
being developed along the route. For example; at Fort Leavenworth
Kansas, the Trek and Frontier Army Museum are co-sponsoring a
seminar dealing with Army life as the Battalion passed through the
fort.
The recurring theme of cooperative events will be to examine
the history of the regions through which the Battalion passed –
what came before, what they experienced when they were there and
how the Battalion’s passage influenced later history.
Learn more about the
Mormon
Battalion Trek.
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2008 Heritage Day:
Mormon Battalion Association Essay Writing Contest
Open to all LDS Seminary Students
LDS seminary students are invited to do research and write an
essay on some aspect of the history of the Mormon Battalion.
The subject is to be a true story, event, or biography of a
person or persons involved in the Mormon Battalion. Each essay
should be the original work of the student author, be between
1,500 and 2,000 words (typed and double-spaced), and include
source citations and footnotes. Pictures may also be included.
The three winning essay writers will be recognized at the
Mormon Battalion Heritage Day on June 14, 2008 at This is the
Place Heritage Park at 9:00 a.m. Although essay winners are
invited to attend the Mormon Battalion Heritage Day program, it is
not necessary for them to attend to receive the award. The awards
are as follows:
First place award: $400
Second place award: $200
Third place award: $100
More Info
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Collectible Pin:
Due to high demand, the U.S. Mormon
Battalion, Inc. has commissioned 500 additional
collectable pins to be made based
on the Ed Fraughton Sculpture. The new highly detailed
pins are gold plated. The original pins sold out
quickly, so order now.
Click Here
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Other News:
See the Site News page
for Mormon Battalion News.
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Brief History of the U.S. Mormon Battalion
The need to assist the U. S. Army in
the Mexican war was urgent [1846]. President James K. Polk instructed the Secretary of
War, William L. March to authorize Col. (later General) Stephen W. Kearney, Commander of
the Army of the West, to enlist a battalion of 500 Mormons for this purpose. Captain
James
Allen was ordered to proceed to the Mormon Camps in Iowa to recruit five companies of 75
to 100 men each.
The Mormons had many reasons to be reluctant to enlist: They had
received no protection from persecution and mob action in Missouri and Illinois; their
families were destitute and spread over a wide area; they had hundreds of miles of hostile
Indian territory to cross; they worried how their families would suffer in the bitter
plains winter; and of course, the Mormons had particularly close family ties and were
concerned about protection for their families located on the western frontier.
However, President Brigham Young and the governing Council of the
L.D.S. Church urged the men to enlist, telling them it was their patriotic duty to join.
Five companies totaling over 500 men were mustered in at Council Bluffs, Iowa on July 16,
1846. There were 32 women, of which 20 were laundresses hired at private's pay, that left
with the Battalion. They made the longest march in military history consisting of 2,000
miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California.
President Brigham Young told them: "Brethren, you will be
blessed, if you will live for those blessings which you have been taught to live for.
The
Mormon Battalion will be held in honorable remembrance to the latest generation; and I
will prophesy that the children of those who have been in the army, in defense of their
country, will grow up and bless their fathers for what they did at that time. And men and
nations will rise up and bless the men who went in that Battalion. These are my feelings
in brief respecting the company of men known as the Mormon Battalion. When you consider
the blessings that are laid upon you, will you not live for them? As the Lord lives, if
you will but live up to your privileges, you will never be forgotten, without end, but you
will be had in honorable remembrance, for ever and ever."
In addition to the 500 men, some of the officers chose to take their
families and their possessions and their own wagons at no expense to the government, which
the Army permitted. There were 15 or 16 families, including 50 or 55 children and
dependents, who left Council Bluffs with the Battalion.
In 1954 the present organization called the U. S. Mormon Battalion,
Inc. was formed to help fulfill Brigham Young's prophecy to those Mormon Battalion men.
Also an Auxiliary to the USMB was formed for the women.
--Carl V. Larson and Shirley Maynes. Women of the Mormon Battalion. A B
C Printing 1997
This web site was started on July 10, 1997 as an eagle scout
project by Brian Cole of West Jordan, UT.
All questions regarding the Mormon Battalion and this Web Site
should be directed to the Contact Information Page
Click Here to
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The song you are listening to is "The Girl I Left
Behind Me". Quoting from "A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the
Mexican War" by Daniel Tyler "On the 29th (July 1846), we passed St. Joseph,
then a town of some importance, in good order, keeping time to the tune of 'The Girl I
Left Behind Me,' and camped one mile outside of the town."
See The Lyrics |
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