--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mormon Settlement in Arizona
by James H. McClintock

Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.

This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.

Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.


**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**

*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****


Title: Mormon Settlement in Arizona

Author: James H. McClintock

Release Date: January, 2006  [EBook #9661]
[This file was first posted on October 14, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, MORMON SETTLEMENT IN ARIZONA ***




E-text prepared by David Starner, Mary Meehan, and Project Gutenberg
Distributed Proofreaders







MORMON SETTLEMENT IN ARIZONA

A RECORD OF PEACEFUL CONQUEST OF THE DESERT

BY JAMES H. McCLINTOCK

ARIZONA HISTORIAN

1921







[Illustration: THOS. E. CAMPBELL Governor of Arizona]

[Illustration: COL. JAS. H. McCLINTOCK Arizona Historian]

[Illustration: "EL VADO," THE CROSSING OF THE FATHERS Gateway of the
Pioneers Into Arizona]




FOREWORD


This publication, covering a field of southwestern interest hitherto
unworked, has had material assistance from Governor Thos. E. Campbell,
himself a student of Arizona history, especially concerned in matters of
development. There has been hearty cooperation on the part of the
Historian of the Mormon Church, in Salt Lake City, and the immense
resources of his office have been offered freely and have been drawn upon
often for verification of data, especially covering the earlier periods.
There should be personal mention of the late A.H. Lund, Church Historian,
and of his assistant, Andrew Jenson, and of Church Librarian A. Wm. Lund,
who have responded cheerfully to all queries from the Author. There has
been appreciated interest in the work by Heber J. Grant, President of the
Church, and by many pioneers and their descendants.

The Mormon Church maintains a marvelous record of its Church history and
of its membership. The latter record is considered of the largest value,
carrying out the study of family genealogy that attaches so closely to
the theology of the denomination. During the fall of 1919, Andrew Jenson
of the Church Historian's office, started checking and correcting the
official data covering Arizona and New Mexico settlements. This involved
a trip that included almost every village and district of this State.
Mr. Jenson was accompanied by LeRoi C. Snow, Secretary to the Arizona
State Historian and a historical student whose heart and faithful effort
have been in the work. Many corrections were made and many additions were
secured at first hand, from pioneers of the various settlements. At least
2000 letters have had to be written by this office. The data was put into
shape and carefully compiled by Mr. Snow, whose service has been of the
largest value. As a result, in the office of the Arizona State Historian
now is an immense quantity of typewritten matter that covers most fully
the personal features of Mormon settlement and development in the
Southwest. This has had careful indexing.

Accumulation of data was begun the last few months of the lifetime of
Thomas E. Farish, who had been State Historian since Arizona's assumption
of statehood in 1912. Upon his regretted passing, in October of 1919, the
task of compilation and writing and of possible publication dropped upon
the shoulders of his successor. The latter has found the task one of most
interesting sort and hopes that the resultant book contains matter of
value to the student of history who may specialize on the Southwest. By
no means has the work been compiled with desire to make it especially
acceptable to the people of whom it particularly treats--save insomuch as
it shall cover truthfully their migrations and their work of development.
With intention, there has been omitted reference to their religious
beliefs and to the trials that, in the earlier days, attended the
attempted exercise of such beliefs.

Naturally, there has had to be condensation of the mass of data collected
by this office. Much of biographical interest has had to be omitted. To
as large an extent as possible, there has been verification from outside
sources.

Much of the material presented now is printed for the first time. This
notably is true in regard to the settlement of the Muddy, the southern
point of Nevada, which in early political times was a part of Arizona
Territory and hence comes within this work's purview. There has been
inclusion of the march of the Mormon Battalion and of the Californian,
New Mexican and Mexican settlements, as affecting the major features of
Arizona's agricultural settlement and as contributing to a more concrete
grasp of the idea that drove the Mormon pioneers far afield from the
relative comfort of their Church centers.

JAS. H. McCLINTOCK,
Arizona State Historian.

Phoenix, Arizona, May 31, 1921.




SUMMARY OF SUBJECTS


Chapter One

WILDERNESS BREAKERS--Mormon Colonization in the West; Pioneers in
Agriculture; First Farmers in Many States; The Wilderness Has Been Kept
Broken.


Chapter Two

THE MORMON BATTALION--Soldiers Who Sought No Strife; California Was the
Goal; Organization of the Battalion; Cooke Succeeds to the Command; The
March Through the Southwest; Capture of the Pueblo of Tucson;
Congratulation on Its Achievement; Mapping the Way Through Arizona;
Manufactures of the Arizona Indians; Cooke's Story of the March; Tyler's
Record of the Expedition; Henry Standage's Personal Journal; California
Towns and Soldier Experiences; Christopher Layton's Soldiering; Western
Dash of the Kearny Dragoons.


Chapter Three

THE BATTALION'S MUSTER-OUT--Heading Eastward Toward "Home"; With the
Pueblo Detachment; California Comments on the Battalion; Leaders of the
Battalion; Passing of the Battalion Membership; A Memorial of Noble
Conception; Battalion Men Who Became Arizonans.


Chapter Four

CALIFORNIA'S MORMON PILGRIMS--The Brooklyn Party at San Francisco;
Beginnings of a Great City; Brannan's Hope of Pacific Empire; Present at
the Discovery of Gold; Looking Toward Southern California; Forced From
the Southland; How Sirrine Saved the Gold.


Chapter Five

THE STATE OF DESERET--A Vast Intermountain Commonwealth; Boundary Lines
Established; Segregation of the Western Territories; Map of State of
Deseret.


Chapter Six

EARLY ROADS AND TRAVELERS--Old Spanish Trail Through Utah; Creation of
the Mormon Road; Mormon Settlement at Tubac; A Texan Settlement of the
Faith.


Chapter Seven

MISSIONARY PIONEERING--Hamblin, "Leatherstocking of the Southwest";
Aboriginal Diversions; Encounter with Federal Explorers; The Hopi and the
Welsh Legend; Indians Await Their Prophets; Navajo Killing of Geo. A.
Smith, Jr.; A Seeking of Baptism for Gain; The First Tour Around the
Grand Canyon; A Visit to the Hava-Supai Indians; Experiences with the
Redskins; Killing of Whitmore and McIntire.


Chapter Eight

HAMBLIN AMONG THE INDIANS--Visiting the Paiutes with Powell; A Great
Conference with the Navajo; An Official Record of the Council; Navajos to
Keep South of the River; Tuba's Visit to the White Men; The Sacred Stone
of the Hopi; In the Land of the Navajo; Hamblin's Greatest Experience;
The Old Scout's Later Years.


Chapter Nine

CROSSING THE MIGHTY COLORADO--Early Use of "El Vado de Los Padres";
Ferrying at the Paria Mouth; John D. Lee on the Colorado; Lee's Canyon
Residence Was Brief; Crossing the Colorado on the Ice; Crossings Below
the Grand Canyon; Settlements North of the Canyon; Arizona's First
Telegraph Station; Arizona's Northernmost Village.


Chapter Ten

ARIZONA'S PIONEER NORTHWEST--History of the Southern Nevada Point; Map of
Pah-ute County; Missionaries of the Desert; Diplomatic Dealings with the
Redskins; Near Approaches to Indian Warfare; Utilization of the Colorado
River; Steamboats on the Shallow Stream; Establishing a River Port.


Chapter Eleven

IN THE VIRGIN AND MUDDY VALLEYS--First Agriculture in Northern Arizona;
Villages of Pioneer Days; Brigham Young Makes Inspection; Nevada Assumes
Jurisdiction; The Nevada Point Abandoned; Political Organization Within
Arizona; Pah-ute's Political Vicissitudes; Later Settlement in "The
Point,"; Salt Mountains of the Virgin; Peaceful Frontier Communities.


Chapter Twelve

THE UNITED ORDER--Development of a Communal System; Not a General Church
Movement; Mormon Cooperative Stores.


Chapter Thirteen

SPREADING INTO NORTHERN ARIZONA--Failure of the First Expeditions;
Missionary Scouts in Northeastern Arizona; Foundation of Four
Settlements; Northeastern Arizona Map; Genesis of St. Joseph; Struggling
with a Treacherous River; Decline and Fall of Sunset; Village Communal
Organization; Hospitality Was of Generous Sort; Brigham City's Varied
Industries; Brief Lives of Obed and Taylor.


Chapter Fourteen

TRAVEL, MISSIONS AND INDUSTRIES--Passing of the Boston Party; At the
Naming of Flagstaff; Southern Saints Brought Smallpox; Fort Moroni, at
LeRoux Spring; Stockaded Against the Indians; Mormon Dairy and the
Mount Trumbull Mill; Where Salt Was Secured; The Mission Post of Moen
Copie; Indians Who Knew Whose Ox Was Gored; A Woolen Factory in the
Wilds; Lot Smith and His End; Moen Copie Reverts to the Indians; Woodruff
and Its Water Troubles; Holbrook Once Was Horsehead Crossing.


Chapter Fifteen

SETTLEMENT SPREADS SOUTHWARD--Snowflake and Its Naming; Joseph Fish,
Historian; Taylor, Second of the Name; Shumway's Historic Founder;
Showlow Won in a Game of "Seven-Up"; Mountain Communities; Forest Dale on
the Reservation; Tonto Basin's Early Settlement.


Chapter Sixteen

LITTLE COLORADO SETTLEMENTS--Genesis of St. Johns; Land Purchased by
Mormons; Wild Celebration of St. John's Day; Disputes Over Land Titles;
Irrigation Difficulties and Disaster; Meager Rations at Concho;
Springerville and Eagar; A Land of Beaver and Bear; Altitudinous
Agriculture at Alpine; In Western New Mexico; New Mexican Locations.


Chapter Seventeen

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS--Nature and Man Both Were Difficult; Railroad Work
Brought Bread; Burden of a Railroad Land Grant; Little Trouble with
Indians; Church Administrative Features.


Chapter Eighteen

EXTENSION TOWARD MEXICO--Dan W. Jones' Great Exploring Trip; The
Pratt-Stewart-Trejo Expedition; Start of the Lehi Community; Plat of
Lehi; Transformation Wrought at Camp Utah; Departure of the Merrill
Party; Lehi's Later Development.


Chapter Nineteen

THE PLANTING OF MESA--Transformation of a Desert Plain; Use of a
Prehistoric Canal; Moving Upon the Mesa Townsite; An Irrigation Clash
That Did Not Come; Mesa's Civic Administration; Foundation of Alma;
Highways Into the Mountains; Hayden's Ferry, Latterly Tempe; Organization
of the Maricopa Stake; A Great Temple to Rise in Mesa.


Chapter Twenty

FIRST FAMILIES OF ARIZONA--Pueblo Dwellers of Ancient Times; Map of
Prehistoric Canals; Evidences of Well-Developed Culture; Northward Trend
of the Ancient People; The Great Reavis Land Grant Fraud.


Chapter Twenty-one

NEAR THE MEXICAN BORDER--Location on the San Pedro River; Malaria
Overcomes a Community; On the Route of the Mormon Battalion; Chronicles
of a Quiet Neighborhood; Looking Toward Homes in Mexico; Arizona's First
Artesian Well; Development of a Market at Tombstone.


Chapter Twenty-two

ON THE UPPER GILA--Ancient Dwellers and Military Travelers; Early Days
Around Safford; Map of Southeastern Arizona; Mormon Location at
Smithville; A Second Party Locates at Graham; Vicissitudes of Pioneering;
Gila Community of the Faith; Considering the Lamanites; The Hostile
Chiricahuas; Murders by Indian Raiders; Outlawry Along the Gila; A Gray
Highway of Danger.


Chapter Twenty-three

CIVIC AND CHURCH FEATURES--Troublesome River Conditions; Basic Law in a
Mormon Community; Layton, Soldier and Pioneer; A New Leader on the Gila;
Church Academies of Learning.


Chapter Twenty-four

MOVEMENT INTO MEXICO--Looking Over the Land; Colonization in Chihuahua;
Prosperity in an Alien Land; Abandonment of the Mountain Colonies; Sad
Days for the Sonora Colonists; Congressional Inquiry; Repopulation of the
Mexican Colonies.


Chapter Twenty-five

MODERN DEVELOPMENT--Oases Have Grown in the Desert; Prosperity Has
Succeeded Privation.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

PLACE NAMES OF THE SOUTHWEST

CHRONOLOGY

TRAGEDIES OF THE FRONTIER

INDEX

MAP OF ARIZONA MORMON SETTLEMENT




_THE ILLUSTRATIONS_


"El Vado," Pioneer Gateway into Arizona

Mormon Battalion Officers

Battalion Members at Gold Discovery in California

Battalion Members who Returned to Arizona

Battalion Members who Returned to Arizona

Battalion Members who Returned to Arizona

The Mormon Battalion Monument

Old Spanish Pueblo of Tubac

Jacob Hamblin, "Apostle to the Lamanites"

The Church Presidents

Lieutenant Ives' Steamboat on the Colorado in 1858

Ammon M. Tenney, Pioneer Scout of the Southwest

Early Missionaries Among the Indians

Moen Copie, First Headquarters of Missionaries to the Moquis

Pipe Springs or Windsor Castle

Moccasin Springs on Road to the Paria

In the Kaibab Forest, near the Home of the Shivwits Indians

A Fredonia Street Scene

Walpi, One of the Hopi (Moqui) Villages

Warren M. Johnson's House at Paria Ferry

Crossing of the Colorado at the Paria Ferry

Brigham Young and Party at Mouth of Virgin in 1870

Baptism of the Tribe of Shivwits Indians

Founders of the Colorado River Ferries

Crossing the Colorado River at Scanlon's Ferry

Crossing the Little Colorado River with Ox Teams

Old Fort at Brigham City

Woodruff Dam, After One of the Frequent Washouts

First Permanent Dam at St. Joseph

Colorado Ferry and Ranch at the Mouth of the Paria (G.W. James)

Lee Cabin at Moen Avi (Photo by Dr. Geo. Wharton James)

Moen Copie Woolen Mill

Grand Falls on the Little Colorado

Old Fort Moroni with its Stockade

Fort Moroni in Later Years

Erastus Snow, Who Had Charge of Arizona Colonization

Anthony W. Ivins

Joseph W. McMurrin

Joseph Fish, an Arizona Historian

Joseph H. Richards of St. Joseph

St. Joseph Pioneers and Historian Andrew Jenson

Shumway and the Old Mill on Silver Creek

First Mormon School, Church and Bowery at St. Johns

David K. Udall and His First Residence at St. Johns

St. Johns in 1887

Stake Academy at St. Johns

Founders of Northern Arizona Settlements

Group of Pioneers

Presidents of Five Arizona Stakes

Old Academy at Snowflake

New Academy at Snowflake

The Desolate Road to the Colorado Ferry

Leaders of Unsuccessful Expeditions

First Party to Southern Arizona and Mexico

Second Party to Southern Arizona and Mexico

Original Lehi Locators

Founders of Mesa

Maricopa Stake Presidents

Maricopa Delegation at Pinetop Conference

The Arizona Temple at Mesa

Jonathan Heaton and His Fifteen Sons

Northern Arizona Pioneers

Teeples House, First in Pima

First Schoolhouse at Safford

Gila Normal College at Thatcher

Gila Valley Pioneers

Pioneer Women of the Gila Valley

Killed by Indians

Killed by Outlaws




SPECIAL MAPS


State of Deseret

Pah-ute County, Showing the Muddy Settlements

Northeastern Arizona, Showing Little Colorado Settlements

Lehi, Plan of Settlement

Ancient Canals of Salt River Valley

Southeastern Arizona

Arizona Mormon Settlement and Early Roads




Chapter One

Wilderness Breakers


Mormon Colonization In the West

The Author would ask earliest appreciation by the reader that this work
on "Mormon Settlement in Arizona" has been written by one entirely
outside that faith and that, in no way, has it to do with the doctrines
of a sect set aside as distinct and peculiar to itself, though it claims
fellowship with any denomination that follows the teachings of the
Nazarene. The very word "Mormon" in publications of that denomination
usually is put within quotation marks, accepted only as a nickname for
the preferred and lengthier title of "Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints." Outside the Church, the word, at least till within a
decade or so, has been one that has formed the foundation for much of
denunciation. There was somewhat of pathos in the remark to the Author by
a high Mormon official, "There never has been middle ground in literature
that affected the Mormons--it either has been written against us or for
us." From a religious standpoint, this work is on neutral ground. But,
from the standpoint of western colonization and consequent benefit to the
Nation, the Author trusts the reader will join with him in appreciation
of the wonderful work that has been done by these people. It is this
field especially that has been covered in this book.

Occasionally it will be found that the colonizers have been referred to
as "Saints." It is a shortening of the preferred title, showing a lofty
moral aspiration, at least. It would be hard to imagine wickedness
proceeding from such a designation, though the Church itself assuredly
would be the first to disclaim assumption of full saintliness within its
great membership. Still, there might be testimony from the writer that he
has lived near the Mormons, of Arizona for more than forty years and in
that time has found them law-abiding and industrious, generally of sturdy
English, Scotch, Scandinavian or Yankee stock wherein such qualities
naturally run with the blood. If there be with such people the further
influence of a religion that binds in a union of faith and in works of
the most practical sort, surely there must be accomplishment of material
and important things.


Pioneers in Agriculture

In general, the Mormon (and the word will be used without quotation
marks) always has been agricultural. The Church itself appears to have a
foundation idea that its membership shall live by, upon and through the
products of the soil. It will be found in this work that Church influence
served to turn men from even the gold fields of California to the
privations of pioneer Utah. It also will be found that the Church,
looking for extension and yet careful of the interests of its membership,
directed the expeditions that penetrated every part of the Southwest.

There was a pioneer Mormon period in Arizona, that might as well be
called the missionary period. Then came the prairie schooners that bore,
from Utah, men and women to people and redeem the arid southland valleys.
Most of this colonization was in Arizona, where the field was
comparatively open. In California there had been religious persecution
and in New Mexico the valleys very generally had been occupied for
centuries by agricultural Indians and by native peoples speaking an alien
tongue. There was extension over into northern Mexico, with consequent
travail when impotent governments crumbled. But in Arizona, in the
valleys of the Little Colorado, the Salt, the Gila and the San Pedro and
of their tributaries and at points where the white man theretofore had
failed, if he had reached them at all, the Mormons set their stakes and,
with united effort, soon cleared the land, dug ditches and placed dams
in unruly streams, all to the end that farms should smile where the
desert had reigned. It all needed imagination and vision, something that,
very properly, may be called faith. Sometimes there was failure.
Occasionally the brethren failed to live in unity. They were human. But,
at all times, back of them were the serenity and judgment and resources
of the Church and with them went the engendered confidence that all would
be well, whatever befell of finite sort. It has been said that faith
removes mountains. The faith that came with these pioneers was well
backed and carried with it brawn and industry.

"Mormon Settlement in Arizona" should not carry the idea that Arizona was
settled wholly by Mormons. Before them came the Spaniards, who went north
of the Gila only as explorers and missionaries and whose agriculture
south of that stream assuredly was not of enduring value. There were
trappers, prospectors, miners, cattlemen and farmers long before the
wagons from Utah first rolled southward, but the fact that Arizona's
agricultural development owes enormously to Mormon effort can be
appreciated in considering the establishment and development of the
fertile areas of Mesa, Lehi, the Safford-Thatcher-Franklin district,
St. David on the San Pedro, and the many settlements of northeastern
Arizona, with St. Johns and Snowflake as their headquarters.

It is a remarkable fact that Mormon immigrants made even a greater number
of agricultural settlements in Arizona than did the numerically
preponderating other peoples. However, the explanation is a simple one:
The average immigrant, coming without organization, for himself alone,
naturally gravitated to the mines--indeed, was brought to the Southwest
by the mines. There was little to attract him in the desert plains
through which ran intermittent stream flows, and he lacked the vision
that showed the desert developed into the oasis. The Mormon, however,
came usually from an agricultural environment. Rarely was he a miner.

Of later years there has been much community commingling of the Mormon
and the non-Mormon. There even has been a second immigration from Utah,
usually of people of means. The day has passed for the ox-bowed wagon and
for settlements out in the wilderness. There has been left no wilderness
in which to work magic through labor. But the Mormon influence still is
strong in agricultural Arizona and the high degree of development of
many of her localities is based upon the pioneer settlement and work that
are dealt with in the succeeding pages.


First Farmers in Many States

It is a fact little appreciated that the Mormons have been first in
agricultural colonization of nearly all the intermountain States of
today. This may have been providential, though the western movement of
the Church happened in a time of the greatest shifting of population ever
known on the continent. It preceded by about a year the discovery of gold
in California, and gold, of course, was the lodestone that drew the
greatest of west-bound migrations. The Mormons, however, were first. Not
drawn by visions of wealth, unless they looked forward to celestial
mansions, they sought, particularly, valleys wherein peace and plenty
could be secured by labor. Nearly all were farmers and it was from the
earth they designed drawing their subsistence and enough wherewith to
establish homes.

Of course, the greatest of foundations was that at Salt Lake, July 24,
1847, when Brigham Young led his Pioneers down from the canyons and
declared the land good. But there were earlier settlements.

First of the faith on the western slopes of the continent was the
settlement at San Francisco by Mormons from the ship Brooklyn. They
landed July 31, 1846, to found the first English speaking community of
the Golden State, theretofore Mexican. These Mormons established the
farming community of New Helvetia, in the San Joaquin Valley, the same
fall, while men from the Mormon Battalion, January 24, 1848, participated
in the discovery of gold at Sutter's Fort. Mormons also were pioneers in
Southern California, where, in 1851, several hundred families of the
faith settled at San Bernardino.

The first Anglo-Saxon settlement within the boundaries of the present
State of Colorado was at Pueblo, November 15, 1846, by Capt. James Brown
and about 150 Mormon men and women who had been sent back from New
Mexico, into which they had gone, a part of the Mormon Battalion that
marched on to the Pacific Coast.

The first American settlement in Nevada was one of Mormons in the Carson
Valley, at Genoa, in 1851.

In Wyoming, as early as 1854, was a Mormon settlement at Green River,
near Fort Bridger, known as Fort Supply.

In Idaho, too, preeminence is claimed by virtue of a Mormon settlement at
Fort Lemhi, on the Salmon River, in 1855, and at Franklin, in Cache
Valley, in 1860.

The earliest Spanish settlement of Arizona, within its present political
boundaries, was in the Santa Cruz Valley not far from the southern
border. There was a large ranch at Calabasas at a very early date, and at
that point Custodian Frank Pinkley of the Tumacacori mission ruins
lately discovered the remains of a sizable church. A priest had station
at San Xavier in 1701. Tubac as a presidio dates from 1752, Tumacacori
from 1754 and Tucson from 1776. These, however, were Spanish settlements,
missions or presidios. In the north, Prescott was founded in May, 1864,
and the Verde Valley was peopled in February, 1865. Earlier still were
Fort Mohave, reestablished by soldiers of the California Column in 1863,
and Fort Defiance, on the eastern border line, established in 1849. A
temporary Mormon settlement at Tubac in 1851, is elsewhere described. But
in honorable place in point of seniority are to be noted the Mormon
settlements on the Muddy and the Virgin, particularly, in the very
northwestern corner of the present Arizona and farther westward in the
southern-most point of Nevada, once a part of Arizona. In this
northwestern Arizona undoubtedly was the first permanent Anglo-Saxon
agricultural settlement in Arizona, that at Beaver Dams, now known as
Littlefield, on the Virgin, founded at least as early as the fall of
1864.


The Wilderness Has Been Kept Broken

Of the permanence and quality of the Mormon pioneering, strong testimony
is offered by F. S. Dellenbaugh in his "Breaking the Wilderness:"

"It must be acknowledged that the Mormons were wilderness breakers of
high quality. They not only broke it, but they kept it broken; and
instead of the gin mill and the gambling hell, as corner-stones of their
progress and as examples to the natives of the white men's superiority,
they planted orchards, gardens, farms, schoolhouses and peaceful homes.
There is today no part of the United States where human life is safer
than in the land of the Mormons; no place where there is less
lawlessness. A people who have accomplished so much that is good, who
have endured danger, privation and suffering, who have withstood the
obloquy of more powerful sects, have in them much that is commendable;
they deserve more than abuse; they deserve admiration."




Chapter Two

The Mormon Battalion


Soldiers Who Sought No Strife

The march of the Mormon Battalion to the Pacific sea in 1846-7 created
one of the most picturesque features of American history and one without
parallel in American military annals. There was incidental creation,
through Arizona, of the first southwestern wagon road. Fully as
remarkable as its travel was the constitution of the Battalion itself. It
was assembled hastily for an emergency that had to do with the seizure of
California from Mexico. Save for a few officers detailed from the regular
army, not a man had been a soldier, unless in the rude train-bands that
held annual muster in that stage of the Nation's progress, however
skilled certain members might have been in the handling of hunting arms.

Organization was a matter of only a few days before the column had been
put into motion toward the west. There was no drill worthy of the name.
There was establishment of companies simply as administrative units.
Discipline seems to have been very lax indeed, even if there were periods
in which severity of undue sort appears to have been made manifest by the
superior officers.

Still more remarkable, the rank and file glorified in being men of peace,
to whom strife was abhorrent. They were recruited from a people who had
been driven from a home of prosperity and who at the time were encamped
in most temporary fashion, awaiting the word of their leaders to pass on
to the promised western Land of Canaan. For a part of the way there went
with the Battalion parts of families, surely a very unmilitary
proceeding, but most of people, whom they were to join later on the shore
of the Great Salt Lake of which they knew so little. They were illy clad
and shod, were armed mainly with muskets of type even then obsolete, were
given wagon transportation from the odds and ends of a military post
equipment and thus were set forth upon their great adventure.

Formation of the Mormon Battalion came logically as a part of the
determination of the Mormon people to seek a new home in the West, for in
1846 there had come conclusion that no permanent peace could be known in
Illinois or in any of the nearby States, owing to religious prejudice.
The High Council had made announcement of the intention of the people to
move to some good valleys of the Rocky Mountains. President Jesse C.
Little of the newly created Eastern States Mission of the Church, was
instructed to visit Washington and to secure, if possible, governmental
assistance in the western migration. One suggestion was that the Mormons
be sent to construct a number of stockade posts along the overland route.
But, finally, after President Little had had several conferences with
President Polk, there came decision to accept enlistment of a Mormon
military command, for dispatch to the Pacific Coast. The final orders cut
down the enlistment from a proffered 2000 to 500 individuals.


California Was the Goal

There should be understanding at the outset that the Mormon Battalion was
a part of the volunteer soldiery of the Mexican War. At the time there
was a regular army of very small proportions, and that was being held for
the descent upon the City of Mexico, via Vera Cruz, under General Scott.
General Taylor had volunteers for the greater part of his northern army
in Mexico. Doniphan in his expedition into Chihuahua mainly had Missouri
volunteers.

In California was looming a very serious situation. Only sailors were
available to help American settlers in seizing and holding the coast
against a very active and exceptionally well-provided and intelligent
Mexican, or Spanish-speaking, opposition. Fremont and his "surveying
party" hardly had improved the situation in bringing dissension into the
American armed forces. General Kearny had been dispatched with all speed
from Fort Leavenworth westward, with a small force of dragoons, later
narrowly escaping disaster as he approached San Diego. There was
necessity for a supporting party for Kearny and for poor vision of troops
to enforce an American peace in California. To fill this breach, resort
was had to the harassed and homeless Saints.

The route was taken along the Santa Fe trail, which then, in 1846, was in
use mainly by buffalo hunters and western trading and trapping parties.
It was long before the western migration of farm seekers, and the lure of
gold yet was distant. There were unsatisfactory conditions of
administration and travel, as narrated by historians of the command,
mainly enlisted men, naturally with the viewpoint of the private soldier.
But it happens that the details agree, in general, and indicate that the
trip throughout was one of hardship and of denial. There came the loss of
a respected commander and the temporary accession of an impolitic leader.
Especially there was complaint over the mistaken zeal of an army surgeon,
who insisted upon the administration of calomel and who denied the men
resort to their own simple remedies, reinforced by expression of what
must have been a very sustaining sort of faith.

A more popular, though strict, commander was found in Santa Fe, whence
the Battalion was pushed forward again within five days, following Kearny
to the Coast. The Rockies were passed through a trackless wilderness, yet
on better lines than had been found by Kearny's horsemen. Arizona, as now
known, was entered not far from the present city of Douglas. There were
fights with wild bulls in the San Pedro valley, there was a bloodless
victory in the taking of the ancient pueblo of Tucson, there was travail
in the passage of the desert to the Gila and a brief respite in the
plenty of the Pima villages before the weary way was taken down the Gila
to the Colorado and thence across the sands of the Colorado desert, in
California, to the shores of the western ocean.

All this was done on foot. The start from Leavenworth was in the heat of
summer, August 12, 1846. Two months later Santa Fe was entered, Tucson
was passed in December and on January 27, 1847, "was caught the first and
a magnificent view of the great ocean; and by rare chance it was so calm
that it shone like a great mirror."

In detail, the following description of the march, as far as Los Angeles,
mainly is from the McClintock History of Arizona.


Organization of the Battalion

Col. Stephen W. Kearny, commanding the First Dragoon regiment, then
stationed at Fort Leavenworth, selected Capt. James Allen of the same
regiment to be commander of the new organization, with volunteer rank as
lieutenant-colonel. The orders read: "You will have the Mormons
distinctly understand that I wish to have them as volunteers for twelve
months; that they will be marched to California, receive pay and
allowances during the above time, and at its expiration they will be
discharged, and allowed to retain as their private property the guns and
accouterments furnished them at this post."

Captain Allen proceeded at once to Mount Pisgah, a Mormon camp 130 miles
east of Council Bluffs, where, on June 26, 1846, he issued a recruiting
circular in which was stated: "This gives an opportunity of sending a
portion of your young and intelligent men to the ultimate destination
of your whole people at the expense of the United States, and this
advance party can thus pave the way and look out the land for their
brethren to come after them."

July 16, 1846, five companies were mustered into the service of the
United States at Council Bluffs, Iowa Territory. The company officers had
been elected by the recruits, including Captains Jefferson Hunt, Jesse B.
Hunter, James Brown and Nelson Higgins. George P. Dykes was appointed
adjutant and William McIntyre assistant surgeon.

The march westward was started July 20, the route through St. Joseph and
Leavenworth, where were found a number of companies of Missouri
volunteers. Colonel Allen, who had secured the confidence and affection
of his soldiers, had to be left, sick, at Leavenworth, where he died
August 23.

At Leavenworth full equipment was secured, including flintlock muskets,
with a few caplock guns for sharpshooting and hunting. Pay also was
drawn, the paymaster expressing surprise over the fact that every man
could write his own name, "something that only one in three of the
Missouri volunteers could accomplish." August 12 and 14 two divisions of
the Battalion left Leavenworth.


Cooke Succeeds to the Command

The place of Colonel Allen was taken, provisionally, by First Lieut. A.
J. Smith of the First Dragoons, who proved unpopular, animus probably
starting through his military severity and the desire of the Battalion
that Captain Hunt should succeed to the command. The first division
arrived at Santa Fe October 9, and was received by Colonel Doniphan,
commander of the post, with a salute of 100 guns. Colonel Doniphan was
an old friend. He had been a lawyer and militia commander in Clay County,
Missouri, when Joseph Smith was tried by court martial at Far West in
1838 and had succeeded in changing a judgment of death passed by the mob.
On the contrary, Col. Sterling Price, the brigade commander, was
considered an active enemy of the Mormons.

At Santa Fe, Capt. P. St. George Cooke, an officer of dragoons, succeeded
to the command, as lieutenant-colonel, under appointment of General
Kearny, who already had started westward. Capt. James Brown was ordered
to take command of a party of about eighty men, together with about
two-score women and children, and with them winter at Pueblo, on the
headwaters of the Arkansas River. Fifty-five more men were sent to Pueblo
from the Rio Grande when found unable to travel.

Colonel Cooke made a rather discouraging report on the character of the
command. He said:

"It was enlisted too much by families; some were too old, some feeble,
and some too young; it was embarrassed by too many women; it was
undisciplined; it was much worn by travel on foot and marching from
Nauvoo, Illinois; clothing was very scant; there was no money to pay them
or clothing to issue; their mules were utterly broken down; the
quartermaster department was without funds and its credit bad; animals
scarce and inferior and deteriorating every hour for lack of forage. So
every preparation must be pushed--hurried."


The March Through the Southwest

After the men had sent their pay checks back to their families, the
expedition started from Santa Fe, 448 strong. It had rations for only
sixty days. The commander wrote on November 19 that he was determined to
take along his wagons, though the mules were nearly broken down at the
outset, and added a delicate criticism of Fremont's self-centered
character, "The only good mules were taken for the express for Fremont's
mail, the General's order requiring the 21 best in, Santa Fe."

Colonel Cooke soon proved an officer who would enforce discipline. He had
secured an able quartermaster in Lieut. George Stoneman, First Dragoons.
Lieutenant Smith took office as acting commissary. Three mounted dragoons
were taken along, one a trumpeter. An additional mounted company of New
Mexican volunteers, planned at Santa Fe, could not be raised.

Before the command got out of the Rio Grande Valley, the condition of the
commissary best is to be illustrated by the following extract from verses
written by Levi Hancock:

"We sometimes now lack for bread,
Are less than quarter rations fed,
And soon expect, for all of meat,
Nought less than broke-down mules to eat."

The trip over the Continental Divide was one of hardship, at places
tracks for the wagons being made by marching files of men ahead, to tramp
down ruts wherein the wheels might run. The command for 48 hours at one
time was without water. From the top of the Divide the wagons had to be
taken down by hand, with men behind with ropes, the horses driven below.

Finally a more level country was reached, December 2, at the old, ruined
ranch of San Bernardino, near the south-eastern corner of the present
Arizona. The principal interest of the trip, till the Mexican forces at
Tucson were encountered, then lay in an attack upon the marching column
by a number of wild bulls in the San Pedro Valley. It had been assumed
that Cooke would follow down the San Pedro to the Gila, but, on learning
that the better and shorter route was by way of Tucson, he determined
upon a more southerly course.


Capture of the Pueblo of Tucson

Tucson was garrisoned by about 200 Mexican soldiers, with two small brass
fieldpieces, a concentration of the garrisons of Tubac, Santa Cruz and
Fronteras. After some brief parley, the Mexican commander, Captain
Comaduron, refusing to surrender, left the village, compelling most of
its inhabitants to accompany him. No resistance whatever was made. When
the Battalion marched in, the Colonel took pains to assure the populace
that all would be treated with kindness. He sent the Mexican commander a
courteous letter for the Governor of Sonora, Don Manuel Gandara, who was
reported "disgusted and disaffected to the imbecile central government."
Little food was found for the men, but several thousand bushels of grain
had been left and were drawn upon. On December 17, the day after the
arrival of the command, the Colonel and after fifty men "passed up a
creek about five miles above Tucson toward a village (San Xavier), where
they had seen a large church from the hills they had passed over." The
Mexican commander reported that the Americans had taken advantage of him,
in that they had entered the town on Sunday, while he and his command and
most of the inhabitants were absent at San Xavier, attending mass.

The Pima villages were reached four days later. By Cooke the Indians were
called "friendly, guileless and singularly innocent and cheerful people."

In view of the prosperity of the Pima and Maricopa, Colonel Cooke
suggested that this would be a good place for the exiled Saints to
locate, and a proposal to this effect was favorably received by the
Indians. It is possible that his suggestion had something to do with the
colonizing by the Mormons of the upper part of the nearby Salt River
Valley in later years.

About January I, 1847, to lighten the load of the half-starved mules, a
barge was made by placing two wagon bodies on dry cottonwood logs and on
this 2500 pounds of provisions and corn were launched on the Gila River.
The improvised boat found too many sandbars, and most of its cargo had to
be jettisoned, lost in a time when rations had been reduced to a few
ounces a day per man. January 9 the Colorado River was reached, and the
command and its impedimenta were ferried over on the same raft
contrivance that had proven ineffective on the Gila.

Colonel Cooke, in his narrative concerning the practicability of the
route he had taken, said: "Undoubtedly the fine bottomland of the
Colorado, if not of the Gila, will soon be settled; then all difficulty
will be removed."

The Battalion had still more woe in its passage across the desert of
Southern California, where wells often had to be dug for water and where
rations were at a minimum, until Warner's ranch was reached, where each
man was given five pounds of beef a day, constituting almost the sole
article of subsistence. Tyler, the Battalion historian, insists that five
pounds is really a small allowance for a healthy laboring man, because
"when taken alone it is not nearly equal to mush and milk," and he
referred to an issuance to each of Fremont's men of ten pounds per day
of fat beef.


Congratulation on Its Achievement

At the Mission of San Diego, January 30, 1847, the proud Battalion
Commander issued the following memorable order:

"The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding congratulates the Battalion on their
safe arrival on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and the conclusion of
their march of over 2000 miles.

"History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry.
Half of it has been through a wilderness, where nothing but savages
and wild beasts are found, or deserts where, for want of water, there is
no living creature. There, with almost hopeless labor we have dug
wells, which the future traveler will enjoy. Without a guide who had
traversed them, we have ventured into trackless tablelands where
water was not found for several marches. With crowbar and pick, and
ax in hand, we worked our way over mountains, which seemed to defy
aught save the wild goat, and hewed a pass through a chasm of living
rock more narrow than our wagons. To bring these first wagons to
the Pacific, we have preserved the strength of our mules by herding
them over large tracts, which you have laboriously guarded without
loss. The garrisons of four presidios of Sonora concentrated within
the walls of Tucson, gave us no pause. We drove them out with our
artillery, but our intercourse with the citizens was unmarked by a
single act of injustice. Thus, marching, half-naked and half-fed,
and living upon wild animals, we have discovered and made a road of
great value to our country.

"Arrived at the first settlements of California, after a single day's
rest, you cheerfully turned off from the route to this point of promised
repose, to enter upon a campaign and meet, as we supposed, the approach
of an enemy; and this, too, without even salt to season your
sole subsistence of fresh meat.

"Lieutenants A. J. Smith and George Stoneman of the First Dragoons have
shared and given invaluable aid in all these labors.

"Thus, volunteers, you have exhibited some high and essential
qualities of veterans. But much remains undone. Soon you will
turn your attention to the drill, to system and order, to forms also,
which are all necessary to the soldier."


Mapping the Way Through Arizona

The only map of the route of the Mormon Battalion is one made by Colonel
Cooke. Outlined on a map of Arizona, it is printed elsewhere in this
work, insofar as it affects this State. The Colonel's map is hardly
satisfactory, for only at a few points does he designate locations known
today and his topography covers only the district within his vision as
he marched.

Judging from present information of the lay of the land, it is evident
that LeRoux did not guide the Mormon Battalion on the easiest route.
Possibly this was due to the fact that it was necessary to find water for
each daily camp. The Rio Grande was left at a point 258 miles south of
Santa Fe, not far from Mesilla. Thence the journey was generally toward
the southwest, over a very rough country nearly all the way to the
historic old rancho of San Bernardino, now on the international line
about 25 miles east of the present city of Douglas. The rancho had been
abandoned long before, because of the depredating Apaches. It was stated
by Cooke that before it had been deserted, on it were 80,000 cattle,
ranging as far as the Gila to the northward. The hacienda was enclosed by
a wall, with two regular bastions, and there was a spring fifteen feet
in diameter.

The departure from San Bernardino was on December 4, 1846, the day's
march to a camp in a pass eight miles to the westward, near a rocky basin
of water and beneath a peak which Nature apparently had painted green,
yellow and brown. This camp was noted as less than twenty miles from
Fronteras, Mexico, and near a Coyotero trail into Mexico.

On the 5th was a march of fourteen miles, to a large spring. This must
have been almost south of Douglas or Agua Prieta (Blackwater).

On the 6th the Battalion cut its way twelve miles through mesquite to a
water hole in a fine grove of oak and walnut. It is suggested by Geo. H.
Kelly that this was in Anavacachi Pass, twelve miles southwest of
Douglas.

On December 8 seventeen miles were made northwest, to a dry camp, with a
view of the valley of the San Pedro. On the 9th, either ten or sixteen
miles, for the narrative is indefinite, the San Pedro was crossed and
there was camp six miles lower down on the western side. There is
notation that the river was followed for 65 miles, one of the camps being
at what was called the Canyon San Pedro, undoubtedly at The Narrows, just
above Charleston.

December 14 there was a turn westward and at a distance of nine miles was
found a direct trail to Tucson. The day's march was twenty miles,
probably terminating at about Pantano, in the Cienega Wash, though this
is only indicated by the map or description.

On the 15th was a twelve-mile march to a dry camp and on the 16th, after
a sixteen-mile march, camp was made a half mile west of the pueblo of
Tucson.

From Tucson to the Pima villages on the Gila River, a distance of about
73 miles, the way was across the desert, practically on the present line
of the Southern Pacific railroad. Sixty-two miles were covered in 51
hours. At the Gila there was junction with General Kearny's route.

From the Pima villages westward there is mention of a dry "jornada"
(journey) of about forty miles, caused by a great bend of the Gila River.
Thus is indicated that the route was by way of Estrella Pass, south of
the Sierra Estrella, on the present railroad line, and not by the
alternative route, just south of and along the river and north of the
mountains. Thereafter the marches averaged only ten miles a day, through
much sand, as far as the Colorado, which was reached January 8, 1847.

The Battalion's route across Arizona at only one point cut a spot of
future Mormon settlement. This was in the San Pedro Valley, where the
march of a couple of days was through a fertile section that was occupied
in 1878 by a community of the faith from Lehi. This community, now known
as St. David, is referred to elsewhere, at length.


Manufactures of the Arizona Indians

Colonel Cooke told that the Maricopas, near the junction of the Gila and
the Salt, had piled on their house arbors "cotton in the pod for drying."
As he passed in the latter days of the year, it is probable he saw merely
the bolls that had been left unopened after frost had come, and that this
was not the ordinary method for handling cotton. That considerable cotton
was grown is evidenced by the fact that a part of Cooke's company
purchased cotton blankets. Historian Tyler states that when he reached
Salt Lake the most material feature of his clothing equipment was a Pima
blanket, from this proceeding an inference that the Indians made cotton
goods of lasting and wearing quality. In the northern part of Arizona,
the Hopi also raised cotton and made cloth and blankets, down to the time
of the coming of the white man, with his gaudy calicoes that undoubtedly
were given prompt preference in the color-loving aboriginal eye.


Cooke's Story of the March

"The Conquest of New Mexico and California" is the title of an excellent
and entertaining volume written in 1878 by Lieut.-Col. P. St. George
Cooke, commander of the Battalion. It embraces much concerning the
political features found or developed in both Territories and deals
somewhat with the Kearny expedition and with the Doniphan campaign into
Mexico that moved from Socorro two months after the Battalion started
westward from the Rio Grande. Despite his eloquent acknowledgment of good
service in the San Diego order, he had little to say in his narrative
concerning the personnel of his command. In addition to the estimate of
the command printed on a preceding page, he wrote, "The Battalion have
never been drilled and though obedient, have little discipline; they
exhibit great heedlessness and ignorance and some obstinacy." The
ignorance undoubtedly was of military matters, for the men had rather
better than the usual schooling of the rough period. At several points
his diary gave such details as, "The men arrived completely worn down;
they staggered as they marched, as they did yesterday. A great many of
the men are wholly without shoes and use every expedient, such as rawhide
moccasins and sandals and even wrapping the feet in pieces of woolen and
cotton cloth."

It is evident that to the Colonel's West Point ideas of discipline the
conduct of his command was a source of irritation that eventually was
overcome when he found he could depend upon the individuals as well as
upon the companies. Several stories are told of his encounters in
repartee with his soldiers, in which he did not always have the upper
hand, despite his rank. Brusque in manner, he yet had a saving sense of
humor that had to be drawn upon to carry off situations that would have
been intolerable in his own command of dragoons.


Tyler's Record of the Expedition

The best of the narratives concerning the march of the Battalion is in a
book printed in 1881 by Daniel Tyler, an amplification of a remarkable
diary kept by him while a member of the organization. This book has an
exceptionally important introduction, written by John Taylor, President
of the Mormon Church, detailing at length the circumstances that led to
the western migration of his people. He is especially graphic in his
description of the riots of the summer of 1844, culminating in the
assassination of Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum at Carthage,
Illinois, on June 27th. Taylor was with the Prophet at the time and was
badly wounded. There also is an interesting introductory chapter, written
by Col. Thos. L. Kane, not a Mormon, dramatically dwelling upon the
circumstances of the exodus from Nauvoo and the later dedication there
of the beautiful temple, abandoned immediately thereafter. He wrote also
of the Mormon camps that were then working westward, describing the high
spirit and even cheerfulness in which the people were accepting exile
from a grade of civilization that had made them prefer the wilds. Colonel
Kane helped in the organization of the Battalion, in bringing influence
to bear upon the President and in carrying to Fort Leavenworth the orders
under which the then Colonel Kearny proceeded.


Henry Standage's Personal Journal

One of the treasures of the Arizona Historian's office is a copy of a
journal of about 12,000 words kept by Henry Standage, covering his
service as a member of the Mormon Battalion from July 19, 1846, to July
19, 1847. The writer in his later years was a resident of Mesa, his home
in Alma Ward. His manuscript descended to his grandsons, Orrin and
Clarence Standage.

Standage writes from the standpoint of the private soldier, with the
soldier's usual little growl over conditions that affect his comfort;
yet, throughout the narrative, there is evidence of strong integrity of
purpose, of religious feeling and of sturdiness befitting a good soldier.

There is pathos in the very start, how he departed from the Camp of
Israel, near Council Bluffs, leaving his wife and mother in tears. He had
been convinced by T. B. Platt of the necessity of obedience to the call
of the President of the United States to enlist in the federal service.
The narrative contradicts in no way the more extensive chronicle by
Tyler. There is description of troubles that early beset the
inexperienced soldiers, who appear to have been illy prepared to
withstand the inclemency of the weather. There was sage dissertation
concerning the efforts of an army surgeon to use calomel, though the men
preferred the exercise of faith. Buffalo was declared the best meat he
had ever eaten.

On November 1 satisfaction was expressed concerning substitution to the
place of Philemon C. Merrill. When the sick were sent to Pueblo, November
10, Standage fervently wrote, "This does in reality make solemn times for
us, so many divisions taking place. May the God of Heaven protect us
all."

[Illustration 1: MORMON BATTALION OFFICERS
1--P. St. George Cooke, Lieut. Col. Commanding
2--Lieut. George P. Dykes, Adjutant, succeeded by
3--Lieut. Philemon C. Merrill, Adjutant]

[Illustration 2: BATTALION MEMBERS AT GOLD DISCOVERY
Above--Henry W. Bigler, Azariah Smith
Below--Wm. J. Johnston, James S. Brown]

[Illustration: BATTALION MEMBERS WHO RETURNED TO ARIZONA
1--Sergt. Nathaniel V. Jones
2--Wm. C. McClellan
3--Sanford Porter
4--Lot Smith
5--John Hunt
6--Wilson D. Pace
7--Samuel Lewis
8--Wesley Adair
9--Lieut. James Pace
10--Christopher Layton]

San Bernardino, in Sonora, was reached December 2, being found in ruins,
"though all around us a pleasant valley with good water and grass."
Appreciation was expressed over the flavor of "a kind of root, baked,
which the Spaniards called mas kurl" (mescal). Many of the cattle had
Spanish brands on their hips, it being explained, "Indians had been so
troublesome in times past that the Spaniards had to abandon the towns and
vineyards, and cross the Cordillera Mountains, leaving their large flocks
of cattle in the valley, thus making plenty of food for the Apalchas."

In San Pedro valley were found "good horse feed and fish in abundance
(salmon trout), large herds of wild cattle and plenty of antelope and
some bear." The San Pedro River was especially noted as having "mill
privileges in abundance." Here it was that Lieutenant Stoneman,
accidentally shot himself in the hand. Two old deserted towns were
passed.

Standage tells that the Spanish soldiers had gone from Tucson when the
Battalion arrived, but that, "we were kindly treated by the people, who
brought flour, meal, tobacco and quinces to the camp for sale, and many
of them gave such things to the soldiers. We camped about a half mile
from the town. The Colonel suffered no private property to be touched,
neither was it in the heart of any man to my knowledge to do so."

Considering the strength of the Spanish garrison, Standage was led to
exclaim that, "the Lord God of Israel would save his people, inasmuch as
he knoweth the causes of our being here in the United States." Possibly
it was unfair to say that no one but the Lord knew why the soldiers were
there, and Tucson then was not in the United States.

The journey to the Gila River was a hard one, but the chronicler was
compensated by seeing "the long looked-for country of California," which
it was not. The Pimas were found very friendly, bringing food, which they
readily exchanged for such things as old shirts. Standage especially was
impressed by the eating of a watermelon, for the day was Christmas.
January 10, 1847, at the crossing of the Colorado, he was detailed to the
gathering of mesquite beans, "a kind of sweet seed that grows on a tree
resembling the honey locust, the mules and men being very fond of this.
The brethren use this in various ways, some grinding it and mixing it in
bread with the flour, others making pudding, while some roast it or eat
it raw." "January 27, at 1 o'clock, we came in sight of the ocean, the
great Pacific, which was a great sight to some, having never seen any
portion of the briny deep before."


California Towns and Soldier Experiences

At San Diego, which was reached by Standage and a small detachment
January 30, provisions were found very scarce, while prices were
exorbitant. Sugar cost 50 cents a pound, so the soldier regaled himself
with one-quarter of a pound and gathered some mustard greens to eke out
his diet. For 26 days he had eaten almost nothing but beef. He purchased
a little wheat from the Indians and ground it in a hand mill, to make
some cakes, which were a treat.

Late in April, at Los Angeles, there was a move to another camping
ground, "as the Missouri volunteers (Error, New York volunteers--Author)
had threatened to come down upon us. A few days later we were called up
at night in order to load and fix bayonets, as Colonel Cooke had sent
word that an attack might be expected from Colonel Fremont's men before
day. They had been using all possible means to prejudice the Spaniards
and Indians against us."

Los Angeles made poor impression upon the soldiers in the Battalion. The
inhabitants were called "degraded" and it was declared that there were
almost as many grog shops and gambling dens as private houses. Reference
is made to the roofs of reeds, covered with pitch from tar springs
nearby. Incidentally, these tar "springs" in a later century led to
development of the oil industry, that now is paramount in much of
California, and have been found to contain fossil remains of wonderful
sort.

The Indians were said "to do all the labor, the Mexicans generally on
horseback from morning till night. They are perhaps the greatest horsemen
in the known world and very expert with lariat and lasso, but great
gamblers."

Food assuredly was not dear, for cattle sold for $5 a head. Many cattle
were killed merely for hides and tallow and for the making of soap.

About the most entertaining section of Standage's journal is that which
chronicles his stay in Southern California, possibly because it gave him
an opportunity to do something else beside tramping. There is much detail
concerning re-enlistment, but there was general inclination to follow the
advice of Father Pettegrew, who showed "the necessity of returning to the
prophets of the Lord before going any further."

Just before the muster-out, the soldiers were given an opportunity to
witness a real Spanish bull fight, called "a scene of cruelty, savoring
strongly of barbarity and indolence, though General Pico, an old Mexican
commander, went into the ring several times on horseback and fought the
bulls with a short spear."

What with the hostility of the eastern volunteers, the downright enmity
of Fremont's company and the alien habits of the Mexican population, the
sober-minded members of the Battalion must have been compelled to keep
their own society very largely while in the pueblo of Los Angeles, or, to
give it its Spanish appellation, "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de
los Angeles de Porciuncula." Still, some of them tried to join in the
diversions of the people of the country. On one occasion, according to
Historian Eldridge, there was something of a quarrel between Captain Hunt
and Alcalde Carrillo, who had given offense by observing that the
American officer "danced like a bear." The Alcalde apologized very
courteously, saying that bears were widely known as dancers, but the
breach was not healed.


Christopher Layton's Soldiering.

Another history of the Battalion especially interesting from an Arizona
standpoint, is contained in the life of Christopher Layton, issued in
1911 and written by Layton's daughter, Mrs. Selina Layton Phillips, from
data supplied by the Patriarch. The narrative is one of the best at hand
in the way of literary preparation, though with frank statement that
President Layton himself had all too little education for the

send to a friend del.icio.us Digg reddit StumbleUpon