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The Mormon Battalion: A Historical Accident?
Utah Historical Quarterly
Vol. 42, 1974, No. 1
The Mormon Battalion: A Historical Accident?
BY W. RAY LUCE
THE MORMON BATTALION and its participation in the Mexican War have long been favorite subjects for writers on Mormonism and the American West. Although the group participated in no military battles, the human drama connected with the five hundred men leaving wives and children midway through a forced exodus to find a new home, the length and hardship of their trek across the Southwest, and the part they played in the discovery of gold in California have provided inspiration for the poet and playwright as well as the historian.
With very few exceptions those who have written about the battalion have accepted the traditional view that the final plans for the formation and march of the battalion were made in Washington and that President James Knox Polk created the unit either to test the church, provide desperately needed soldiers for the war with Mexico, or as a specific act of kindness toward the church.
A close reading of the records of the creation of the battalion, however, reveals a very different story. The president of the United States did need soldiers for an expedition to California, and he was made aware of the fact that the Mormons, who were then in Iowa enroute to the West, wanted financial help to continue their journey. He did propose to help them and retain their loyalty by allowing some of them to join the army, but he and William Marcy, the secretary of war, wanted the recruitment to take place after they arrived in California and not before. An ambiguous letter written by Secretary Marcy to Col. Stephen W. Kearney led Kearney, who needed troops, to send Capt. James Allen to Iowa immediately to recruit the Mormons. In the absence of detailed instruction on the time and place of enlistments, Kearney misinterpreted Polk's intent. Thus, a vaguely worded letter rather than a presidential plan led to the march of the Mormon Battalion.
The events leading to Allen's appearance in the Mormon camps began four months earlier in Nauvoo, Illinois. Just before leaving for the West, Brigham Young wrote a letter appointing Jesse C. Little, a Mormon convert living in New Hampshire, to preside over the church's Eastern States Mission. Little, a thirty-one-year-old merchant who had earlier directed church operations in New Hampshire, was a happy choice for the assignment. Dedicated to the church, he worked tirelessly to fulfill Brigham Young's written instructions. The letter of appointment asked Little to help members of the church living in the East make the journey to the still unselected place of refuge in the West. It suggested that Little might outfit a ship to follow an earlier group led by Sam Brannan around the Horn to California. The letter also instructed Little to accept any governmental aid: "If our government shall offer any facilities for emigrating to the western coast, embrace those facilities if possible. As a wise and faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can."
Jesse Little's time during the next few months was directed toward strengthening the congregations in the East, encouraging emigration, and seeking assistance from the government. After receiving the letter he made a quick tour of the mission to visit local leaders in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and during May 1846 he held church conferences in the major branches of the mission to "take into consideration the most expedient measures for the removal and emigration of the saints in the Eastern States to California."
Even though Little's main efforts were directed toward emigration, he did not forget the request to seek government aid. He discussed the project in all the cities he visited, and finally resolved to go to Washington and appeal to the president himself. He made careful preparations before going and obtained letters of introduction to various governmental officials. Gov. John H. Steele of New Hampshire wrote a letter for him to George Bancroft, secretary of the navy, indicating that he had known Jesse Little since childhood and could vouch for his honesty. Little was going to Washington, Steele said, seeking a governmental contract to carry supplies to the West Coast to lower the cost of taking a ship to California.
While visiting New York the Mormon leader obtained a letter of introduction from A. G. Benson, a local merchant, to Amos Kendall, former postmaster general of the United States, who had been a leading member of Andrew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet. The Benson letter is important not only because it introduced Little to the man who helped arrange a private meeting with the president but also because it showed the continuing interest of Benson and Kendall in Mormon colonization. A few months earlier, in January 1846, when Sam Brannan was preparing to take the shipload of Mormons to California, Benson had contacted him. There were those in the government, Brannan was told, who opposed the Mormons and would not allow them to leave the country. Benson said he and Kendall could secure safe passage for all departing Mormons but, in return for the service, asked for every other section of land when church members settled in California. Brannan signed the agreement and sent it to Brigham Young for church approval. Young refused to sign it, saying he would trust in the Lord for a safe departure.
Although there is no indication of it in the surviving documents, Benson still may have hoped to further some land speculating scheme by helping Jesse Little. Despite the refusal of Brigham Young to sign the contract, friendly relations were maintained between Benson and the church, and the church apparently continued to purchase some supplies through Benson's firm.
While in New York, Little also talked with an unidentified Washington informant who assured him that the president was friendly toward the church and wished he had $2,000,000 to give them. Little was skeptical but said that if such feelings really did exist, the government could give them some monetary help. He suggested a $50,000 loan.
No doubt hoping the information was correct, Little left New York to hurry to Philadelphia to conduct a church conference there. Following the firstconference meeting, Thomas L. Kane, a young Philadelphian, asked to meet him. Kane, the twenty-four-year-old son of Judge John K. Kane and brother of the arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane, proved to be a lasting friend of the Mormons. For several years he served as an unofficial representative for the church in the East, and he would ultimately help to negotiate a settlement to the Utah War in 1858. He was active in many other enterprises, serving as a Union major general during the Civil War and as chairman of the Pennsylvania Free Soil party.
The two men developed a warm friendship and met several times during Little's stay in Philadelphia. Kane told Little that he understood the church was going to California and that he wanted permission to go with them. Little gave Kane the latest information he had received about the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo and told about his proposed trip to Washington. Kane, whose father was a friend of President Polk, gave the Mormon elder political information and advice and offered to help appeal to Washington. During one of their meetings Little mentioned that he hoped the government would help them because otherwise they might be forced to seek aid from another country. Kane immediately advised Little that such a threat would be the strongest possible approach in Washington. Because the Mormons were leaving the confines of the United States, they could pose a serious obstacle to the country's westward expansion if they set up an independent country or joined with either Mexico or Great Britain. The possibility of joining England was heightened by the fact that more than fifteen thousand English had joined the Mormon church by 1846, and of that number almost five thousand had journeyed to Mormon settlements in the United States.
Tensions between the United States and both Mexico and England were growing. The annexation of Texas had provoked ill feelings with Mexico; relations degenerated, and war was declared between the two countries while Little was visiting Philadelphia. The United States was also involved with England in a dispute over Oregon, and President Polk could not ignore the many ramifications of that diplomatic conflict. Understandably, the president was not eager to alienate a group with over twenty thousand members on the western borders of the country.
Before Little left for Washington, he received a letter of introduction from Thomas Kane to his fellow Pennsylvanian, Vice- President George M. Dallas. The letter asked support for the Mormon leader and hinted that the Mormons might be forced to seek aid elsewhere. But, Kane said, they would "not willingly sell themselves to the foreigner, or forget the old commonwealth they leave behind them."
When Jesse Little arrived in Washington on May 21, the town was filled with excitement. A manufacturer's fair had brought many to the city to see exhibits such as a telegraph connecting Washington with Baltimore. Residents and visitors alike were thrilled with the arrival of news of the first American victories in the war with Mexico.
Little wasted no time in seeking governmental aid. The day after arriving, he attended the president's public reception with a Mr. Dane and Daniel P. King, a congressman from Massachusetts. Little met the president and requested assistance. The meeting was certainly brief with little time to present a detailed plan. Polk made no mention of the meeting in his diary, commenting only that a large number of people attended the reception, many of them volunteering their services or seeking commands in the army.
Not satisfied with the interview, Little called on Amos Kendall the next day to seek his help. The meeting produced a change in the direction of Little's request. He had been seeking a naval contract to help lower the cost of chartering a ship to California, but Kendall told him that to assist the emigrants one thousand Mormon men might be enlisted in the war. This is the first recorded mention of a Mormon fighting group. The war excitement doubtlessly generated the idea, but it also appears that Kendall had inside information from the Polk administration. He promised to tell Little on Tuesday morning what could be arranged. The mention of Tuesday morning, May 26, 1846, is significant, because the first mention of a California expedition in Polk's diary is found in his description of a meeting he held Monday evening with Kendall and Gov. Archibald Yell of Arkansas. The president noted that both of them favored such a force.
Little was going to the post office Tuesday morning when he met Kendall who told him that Polk had decided to take possession of California and to use church members in that attempt. The president would present the plan to the cabinet later that day. The cabinet thoroughly discussed the plan before agreeing unanimously to send an expedition to California. Kendall told Little the next day that plans had not been completed, but it looked as though two Mormon forces might be used: one thousand men to march to California and another thousand to ship military supplies to the West Coast.
The Mormon leader waited impatiently for word from the president confirming the offer, but none came. After five days he decided to make a direct appeal to the president himself. In a long letter he outlined the persecution the church had received, and he asked for assistance:
The letter reached President Polk as final decisions were being made about the California expedition. During the week Little had been waiting the president had not forgotten the force. It had, in fact, been one of his most pressing items of business. His diary records his search for a solution. He wanted a United States force in California before peace negotiations to further the country's claim to New Mexico and California. He was not sure, however, that enough time remained for a group to make the journey overland before winter. He discussed the matter with a number of people, including Sen. Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri who assured him that a group leaving from Independence, Missouri, would have time to make the trip.
The president had already ordered some troops on the frontier to go to New Mexico to protect American traders there. These men under Col. Stephen Kearney could make the trip to California in time, Polk decided, and a new force of one thousand men recruited in Missouri could follow them to Santa Fe with the option of continuing to California.
These decisions were made two days before Little wrote his letter of appeal. The president faced a difficult situation. His plans called for a force to leave immediately from Missouri. The Mormons, who had just been driven from their homes and were now seeking aid, were in the area. Using the Mormons seemed to be the easiest solution; however, it would pose certain problems. Many Americans disliked them, and settlers at Sutter's Fort in California were already alarmed that a large number of them were coming to that area. Polk feared their reaction if the first American troops arriving there were Mormons.
The president was weighing these alternatives when Jesse Little's letter arrived, prompting Polk to ask Amos Kendall to have Jesse Little come see him. The president spent three hours with the Mormon leader the next day, June 3. Polk assured Little that he was friendly toward church members and would treat them the same as other citizens. He asked Little if the church would be willing to enlist five hundred men after they arrived in California and was advised that they would. The president did not tell him about the proposed California expedition and did not make a definite offer. He did say something would be done to help and that he would meet with the secretary of the navy before a definite proposal was made. Little was asked to call back the next day.
The second meeting was delayed one day, until June 5, when the final offer was made to Little. The president had checked with the secretary of war, and they had decided to allow a battalion of Mormon volunteers to join Kearney after he arrived in California, if the war lasted that long. Jesse Little wanted to go immediately to the Mormon camps and recruit the men, but the president said no.
The offer was not all Little was seeking and he pondered it until that evening before writing a letter of acceptance. That evening he also wrote to Thomas L. Kane in Philadelphia, asking him to come to Washington. Kane, who had been confined to bed for some time, arrived two days later. During the next two days he and Little visited a number of high governmental officials. Together they called on Secretary of State James Buchanan and Vice-President Dallas. Kane saw Secretary of War Marcy and President Polk alone, while Little talked with George Bancroft, the secretary of the navy, and President Polk. The exact nature of their discussions is not clear, but it appears they were trying for an earlier enlistment while at the same time continuing to work for a contract to freight government supplies to California. This is borne out by a letter of introduction Kane wrote for Little to George Bancroft after arriving in Washington. Kane told Bancroft that Little had a letter from Governor Steele explaining the nature of his business — and Steele's letter mentioned freighting supplies.
After two full days in Washington, Kane and Little left together for the West on June 9, 1846. Apparently, they were not successful in either of their objectives. At least Jesse Little made no mention of any change of plans in his detailed report to Brigham Young, and the president of the United States recorded no changes in his diary.
Any success they might have had was, in fact, beside the point. The letter from Marcy to Kearney which led to the formation of the Mormon Battalion had been mailed on June 3, the same day Little had his first private interview with Polk and almost a week before Kane and Little left Washington.
On its face the letter seems to authorize an immediate enlistment of the Mormons:
A careful reading of the letter, however, shows that neither time nor place was mentioned for the Mormon enlistments. A succeeding portion of the letter mentions enlistments in California, but again Marcy is ambiguous on such key points as who and when:
It must be remembered that two days after this letter was written, the president turned down Jesse Little's request to go West to help with an immediate enlistment. Polk also recorded in his diary that he had not told Little about Kearney's expedition or that "when Col. K. reached the country [California] he was authorized to receive 500 of the mormons into the service."
It is possible, but unlikely, that Kane and Little did get new dispatches to authorize an earlier enlistment. At Saint Louis Kane and Little separated, and while the Mormon leader went to Nauvoo, Illinois, Kane went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Kane arrived there after Captain Allen had already been ordered to proceed to the Mormon camps, and so any new message he may have taken arrived too late to bear on the action. All evidence, however, points to the fact that Kane's messages were for delivery in California. In a letter to Kane's father written shortly after Kane left Washington Polk said, your son has "no doubt informed you of the object of his journey, and that he will be the bearer of dispatches to our squadron on the Pacific." Only one copy of a letter from the president to Thomas L. Kane remains in Polk's papers. It says nothing about enlistments but, after mentioning the Pacific Coast, says Kane has the confidence of the president who hoped all government officers would show him every consideration. Although no letters remain, Little said Polk had also promised him letters from the president and the secretary of the navy to the squadron on the Pacific. Little mentions no change of plans during his last interview with the president.
Additional support for a proposed California enlistment is found in Jesse Little's actions after parting with Kane in Saint Louis. Little journeyed to Nauvoo where he remained seven days — an inexplicably long stay if he were bringing word that the government would immediately be asking for 500 men.
The traditional view of the origins of the Mormon Battalion must be revised. Elements of the familiar story are correct. The formation of the battalion did involve strongly conflicting groups. The claims of the Mormons were balanced not only by westerners who feared their arrival but by the electorates of states like Illinois and Missouri who had voted for Polk but might go Whig in the next election if the president gave too much aid to the church. The Mormons, on the other hand, were in a position to render a greatly needed service or to cause severe problems. Jesse Little used all his persuasive ability, including an outright threat of disloyalty, to obtain some help from the federal government. The president could not ignore the Mormons, neither could he give them too much aid. Enlistment of a Mormon fighting group in California seemed like a delicately balanced solution which would retain Mormon loyalty while not alienating too many of their enemies. The president's solution was not based primarily upon his personal feelings about the church but upon a variety of political considerations. While these various factors were important in bringing Polk to a position where he was willing to give some aid to the Mormons, they were not vital in the actual creation of the unit. A carelessly worded letter changed a solution which aimed at political neutrality into a plan which not only materially aided the Mormons in their trek west but also led to the epic march of the battalion.
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