WHY A MORMON BATTALION HISTORIC SITE?

 After the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, in June of 1844 tensions with members of the Church and their neighbors continued to escalate. The leadership of the Church sent representatives to ask the United States government for help in protecting their rights as citizens, but upon receiving no relief the Saints soon concluded they must leave their beautiful city, and they began making plans to move west. With escalating tensions, they were compelled to begin their exodus from Nauvoo in February 1946.  Due to difficult weather, it took four arduous months of travel for the first company of Saints to cross Iowa and reach the Missouri River.  The shortage of supplies necessitated they establish temporary camps along the way which they named Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah. 

With very little trust in the United States government’s interest in their well-being, it came as a great surprise for a government official, Captain James Allen, to seek them out in their Iowa camps requesting 500 men enlist into military service for the United States. They were being enlisted to fight in the newly declared war with Mexico. The men were hesitant to sign up until their prophet leader, Brigham Young, said the opportunity was an answer to prayer.  Thus, these men and their families, acting in faith, sacrificed both being with their loved ones and as well  as giving up part of their soldier’s pay in order to help raise the funds  necessary to outfit and expedite the western exodus of their fellow saints.   

The Mormon Battalion Historic Site was built to tell the story of the Battalion and their marching from Council Bluff to California, a distance of approximately 2,000 miles.  I will tell more about their contributions to California in forth coming journal entries.  (Mormon Battalion Statue in Yuma, AZ.)