T H E C O M M A N D A N D STAFF OF T H E MORMON BATTALION IN T H E MEXICAN W A R BY HAMILTON GARDNER*
UCH has already been written about the Mormon Battalion M> and its famous march from Council Bluffs, Iowa, via Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, to San Diego, California, in the W a r with Mexico in 1846-47. Accordingly the people of Utah are fairly familiar with the personnel of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and enlisted men who constituted the five companies of the Battalion. Some of them reached Salt Lake Valley July 29, 1847, only five days behind the original company of Pioneers, after having spent the previous winter at Pueblo, Colorado. The remainder, almost without exception, returned to Utah to rejoin their families and co-religionists when they were discharged from the service of the United States at "Ciudad de Los Angeles," California, July 16, 1847. All of them contributed substantially to the settlement and early growth of Utah and the adjoining states, especially Arizona. But too little is known of the regular army officers who recruited and commanded the Battalion. W h o were these officers and what were their subsequent professional and personal accomplishments? I Shortly after the outbreak of the Mexican W a r , President James K. Polk met with his cabinet on June 2, 1846, to outline the over-all strategy of the conflict. It was decided that three armies should be organized. One of these was the Army of the West, 1 to be commanded by Colonel Stephen W a t t s Kearny, 2 *Colonel Gardner was for many years a prominent member of die Utah bar. He has served his state and nation as a soldier and legislator, and is the author of numerous studies on social and military history. 'The other two were die Army of Occupation, commanded by Major General Zachary Taylor, and die Army of the Centre, commanded by Major General John E. Wool. The expedition to Vera Cruz and Mexico City, under Major General Winfield Scott, was started later. *For short biographies of Kearny see W. H. Ghent, "Stephen Watts Kearny," Dictionary of American Biography, X, 273; "A Group of Kearny Letters," New Mexico Historical Review, V (January, 1930), 17; and Mendell