UNIFORMS

Had the Mormon Battalion soldiers been issued uniforms, they would have received military clothing similar to that specified by the U.S. Congress and issued to regular soldiers and select volunteer regiments. A fatigue jacket made of sky-blue wool, along with matching sky-blue trousers, served as the Mexican War soldier’s campaign uniform.⁷³ Infantry uniforms were trimmed in white wool lace and fastened down the front with nine pewter buttons. A dark blue M-1839 fatigue or wheel hat was standard issue. Each solider was also provided with military shirts, drawers, brogans, and woolen socks. Over a five year period, an infantryman was routinely issued 1 greatcoat, 3 dress coats, 2 cotton fatigue jackets, 4 wool fatigue jackets, 10 pairs of wool trousers, 10 cotton shirts, 10 flannel shirts, 20 pairs of boots, 20 pairs of stockings, 8 pairs of drawers, 2 dress hats or shakos, 1 forage cap, 2 leather neck stocks, and 3 blankets.⁷⁴ Officers encouraged their soldiers to care for their uniforms, instructing them that at the end of their enlistment, they could receive in cash the value of any item not drawn from army stores. Conversely, the military fined soldiers, who needlessly lost or destroyed items though their own neglect and had to be issued extra clothing, by withholding the amount of money from their regular pay.⁷⁵

Had adequate uniforms been available, and had the newly enlisted volunteers not opted to collect their authorized clothing allowance, the members of the Mormon Battalion would have appeared dressed as the regular infantry soldiers depicted in the drawing by Darby Erd entitled, “U.S. Infantry Uniforms 1846-1848.” (See Figure 19.) The Corporal of the 3^rd U.S. Infantry Regiment wears a sky blue kersey wool jacket and trousers as did most U.S. infantry soldiers during the Mexican War. On his head is a dark blue M-1839 forage hat and he is wearing a hardpack knapsack topped by a red U.S. Army issued blanket. This soldier is armed with a Model 1835 .69 caliber smoothbore musket and his bayonet scabbard is worn on his waist belt. Pictorial evidence suggests that by 1846 infantry non-commissioned officers were wearing downward-pointing chevrons in emulation of the privilege enjoyed by the U.S. Dragoons since 1833. The upward-pointing chevrons on the lower sleeves stand for a successfully completed hitch in the regular army, and the red border indicates wartime service.

The drawing of the 2^nd Lieutenant of the 4^th U.S. Infantry Regiment is based on an 1845 photograph in the U.S. Military Academy Archives of Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant. With the Regulations of 1832, infantry officers received single-breasted frock coats for wear on most non-dress occasions. Lieutenant U.S. Grant insisted on closing his cuffs with four small silver buttons instead of the regulation two.

U.S. INFANTRY UNIFORMS 1846-1848
By Darby Erd

Figure 18

The Lt. Colonel of the 11^th U.S. Infantry Regiment is based on a photograph in the Michael R. Bremer Collection. The Regulation of 1847 authorized double-breasted frock coats for field officers. Savage’s rank is denoted by silver leaves on the ends of his shoulder straps. (The insignia for an infantry colonel was a silver eagle; for a major, a gold leaf; for a captain, two silver bars; and for a first lieutenant, one silver bar. A second lieutenant’s should straps were plain with silver borders.)

Finally, the 1st Sergeant of the 8^th U.S. Infantry Regiment is dressed in a standard campaign uniform and is loading a Model 1816 smoothbore musket similar to that issued to the Mormon Battalion. This soldier is wearing an unpainted wooden canteen. The Regulations of 1847 introduced upward-pointing rank chevrons. A number of regular soldiers with General Winfield Scott elected to whiten their russet leather musket slings and black knapsack straps. The sergeant is wearing a Model 1840 non-commissioned officer’s sword, suspended from a white buff leather shoulder baldric, and a red wool sash - a symbol of his rank.⁷⁶

As it was, the Mormon Battalion men made their epic march from Fort Leavenworth to the Pacific Ocean wearing their civilian clothing. Their year long struggle over the harsh desert terrain of New Mexico, Arizona, and California took its toll on their appearance. According to Private John Steele, “Our men now looked like mountaineers, sunburned and weather beaten, mostly dressed in buckskins with fringes and porcupine quills, moccasins, Spanish saddles and spurs, Spanish bridles with jingles on them, and long beards.”⁷⁷

The figures illustrated in the accompanying color plate by Eric Manders entitled, “Mormon Battalion, New Mexico, 1846" show the volunteers as they likely appeared in December 1846, soon after the taking of Tucson. (See Figure 20.) Written accounts mention that many in the Battalion had not cut their hair or beards since leaving home. Witnesses say the men were shabby looking or appeared as ragamuffins. The soldier to the left is dressed in trousers and a shirt he fashioned himself from an old wagon cover. His boots gave out somewhere along the trail and he has wrapped his feet in leather and cloth strips.⁷⁸ He is armed with a US musket, Model 1816, and a personal knife. The center figure still makes do with the clothing he started with five months earlier. His boots are novel in that they were made from the gambrels or hocks of an ox. Cut off above and below the joint, the skin was then pulled off in one piece and sewn up only at the lower end. This volunteer too was issued a US Model 1816 musket, whereas his compatriot to the right carries a US rifle, Model 1841, a percussion cap “Yaeger” or “Mississippi Rifle,” no doubt preferred to the older model flintlocks. This, plus his wearing what at one time was finer quality clothing, may indicate that this individual was an officer. There is no indication that Mormon Battalion officers wore any badges of rank. In the background rides one of the dragoon officers who accompanied the Battalion.⁷⁹

Finally, in the painting “Reunion - The Journey Home,” accomplished military artist Rick Reeves depicts a small group of Mormon Battalion soldiers detailed to accompany General Stephen W. Kearny on his return trip to Fort Leavenworth. (See Figure 21.) Fifteen Mormon soldiers were part of General Kearny’s party returning overland with John C. Fremont, who was to be courtmartialed for not obeying military directives in California. These soldiers describe in their journals and letters meeting family and friends along the trail. The scene depicts the Kearny detachment meeting a Mormon immigrant train in the vicinity of Independence Rock just east of Devil’s Gate on July 22, 1847.⁸⁰ The Mormon soldiers wore civilian clothes, which were very well worn from their year’s service. As shown, a detail of mounted dragoons were with Kearny, including the Battalion’s former commander, Lt. Colonel Philip St. George Cooke.

MORMON BATTALION
NEW MEXICO 1846
By Eric Manders

Figure 19

REUNION - THE JOURNEY HOME
By Rick Reeves

Figure 20