Mormon settlement in Arizona; a record of peaceful conquest of the desert

Front matter

Mormon Settlement

IN ARIZONA

A RECORD OF PEACEFUL CONQUEST OF THE DESERT

Chapter Seven

MISSIONARY PIONEERING— Hamblin, "Leatherstocking of the Southwest," 59; Aboriginal Diversions, 60; Encounter with Federal Explorers, 62; The Hopi and the Welsh Legend, 63; Indians Await Their Prophets, 65; Navajo Killing of Geo. A. Smith, Jr., 66; A Seeking of Baptism for Gain, 67; The First Tour Around the Grand Canyon, 67; A Visit to the Hava-Supai Indians, 69; Experiences with the Redskins, 70; Killing of Whitmore and Mclntire, 72.

Chapter Eight

HAMBLIN AMONG THE INDIANS— Visiting the Paiutes with Powell, 74; A Great Conference with the Navajo, 76; An Official Record of the Council, 78; Navajos to Keep South of the River, 79; Tuba's Visit to the White Men, 80; The Sacred Stone of the Hopi, 81; In the Land of the Navajo, 82; Hamblin's Greatest Experience, 84; The Old Scout's Later Years, 86.

Chapter Nine CROSSING THE MIGHTY COLORADO— Early Use of "El Vado de Los Padres," 89; Ferrying at the Paria Mouth, 90; John D. Lee on the Colorado, 91; Lee's Canyon Residence Was Brief, 93; Crossing the Colorado on the Ice, 94; Crossings Below the Grand Canyon, 96; Settlements North of the Canyon, 97; Arizona's First Telegraph Station, 98; Arizona's Northernmost Village, 99.

Chapter Ten ARIZONA'S PIONEER NORTHWEST— History of the Southern Nevada Point, 101; Map of Pah-ute County, 103; Missionaries of the Desert, 104; Diplomatic Dealings with the Redskins, 106; Near Approaches to Indian Warfare, 108; Utilization of the Colorado River, 110; Steamboats on the Shallow Stream, 111; Establishing a River Port, 113.

Chapter Eleven IN THE VIRGIN AND MUDDY VALLEYS— First Agriculture in

Northern Arizona, 117; Villages of Pioneer Days, 118; Brigham

Young Makes Inspection, 120; Nevada Assumes Jurisdiction, 121;

The Nevada Point Abandoned, 121; Political Organization Within v%

Arizona, 123; Pah-ute's Political Vicissitudes, 124; Later Settlement in "The Point," 126; Salt Mountains of the Virgin, 127; Peaceful Frontier Communities, 128.

Chapter Tioehe

THE UNITED ORDER— Development of a Communal System, 130; Not a General Church Movement, 132; Mormon Cooperative Stores, 133.

Chapter Thirteen

SPREADING INTO NORTHERN ARIZONA— Failure of the First Expeditions, 135; Missionary Scouts in Northeastern Arizona, 137; Foundation of Four Settlements, 138; Northeastern Arizona Map, 139; Genesis of St. Joseph, 140; Struggling with a Treacherous River, 141; Decline and Fall of Sunset, 142; Village Communal Organization, 144; Hospitality Was of Generous Sort, 145; Brigham City's Varied Industries, 145; Brief Lives of Obed and Taylor, 147.

Chapter Fourteen

TRAVEL, MISSIONS AND INDUSTRIES— Passing of the Boston Party, 149; At the Naming of Flagstaff, 150; Southern Saints Brought Smallpox, 151; Fort Moroni, at LeRoux Spring, 152; Stockaded Against the Indians, 153; Mormon Dairy and the Mount Trumbull Mill, 154; Where Salt Was Secured, 156; The Mission Post of Moen Copie, 157; Indians Who Knew Whose Ox Was Gored, 157; A Woolen Factory in the Wilds, 158; Lot Smith and His End, 159; Moen Copie Reverts to the Indians, 160; Woodruff and Its Water Troubles, 161; Holbrook Once Was Horsehead Crossing, 163.

Chapter Fifteen

SETTLEMENT SPREADS SOUTHWARD— Snowflake and Its Naming, 164; Joseph Fish, Historian, 166; Taylor, Second of the Name, 166; Shumway's Historic Founder, 167; Showlow Won in a Game of "Seven-Up," 168; Mountain Communities, 169; Forest Dale on the Reservation, 170; Tonto Basin's Early Settlement, 173.

Chapter Sixteen LITTLE COLORADO SETTLEMENTS— Genesis of St. Johns, 177; Land Purchased by Mormons, 179; Wild Celebration of St. John's Day, 180; Disputes Over Land Titles, 181; Irrigation Difficulties and Disaster, 182; Meager Rations at Concho, 183; Springerville and Eagar, 184; A Land of Beaver and Bear, 185; Altitudinous Agriculture at Alpine, 186; In Western New Mexico, 187; New Mexican Locations, 188.

vii

Chapter Seventeen

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS— Nature and Man Both Were Difficult, 190; Railroad Work Brought Bread, 191; Burden of a Railroad Land Grant, 192; Little Trouble with Indians, 194; Church Administrative Features, 195.

Chapter Eighteen

EXTENSION TOWARD MEXICO— Dan W. Jones' Great Exploring Trip, 197; The Pratt-Stewart-Trejo Expedition, 199; Start of the Lehi Community, 201; Plat of Lehi, 202; Transformation Wrought at Camp Utah, 205; Departure of the Merrill Party, 207; Lehi's Later Development, 209.

Chapter Nineteen

THE PLANTING OF MESA— Transformation of a Desert Plain, 211; Use of a Prehistoric Canal, 213; Moving Upon the Mesa Townsite, 215; An Irrigation Clash That Did Not Come, 216; Mesa's Civic Administration, 216; Foundation of Alma, 218; Highways Into the Mountains, 218; Hayden's Ferry, Latterly Tempe, 219; Organization of the Maricopa Stake, 220; A Great Temple to Rise in Mesa, 222.

Chapter Twenty

FIRST FAMILIES OF ARIZONA— Pueblo Dwellers of Ancient Times, 225; Map of Prehistoric Canals, 226; Evidences of Well-Developed Culture, 227; Northward Trend of the Ancient People, 228; The Great Reavis Land Grant Fraud, 229.

Chapter Twenty-one NEAR THE MEXICAN BORDER— Location on the San Pedro River, 232; Malaria Overcomes a Community, 233; On the Route of the Mormon Battalion, 235; Chronicles of a Quiet Neighborhood, 235; Looking Toward Homes in Mexico, 236; Arizona's First Artesian Well, 238; Development of a Market at Tombstone, 238

Chapter Twenty-two ON THE UPPER GILA— Ancient Dwellers and Military Travelers, 241; Early Days Around Safford, 242; Map of Southeastern Arizona, 243; Mormon Location at Smithville, 244; A Second Party Locates at Graham, 246; Vicissitudes of Pioneering, 248; Gila Community of the Faith, 248; Considering the Lamanites, 250; The Hostile Chiricahuas, 251; Murders by Indian Raiders, 253;' Outlawry Along the Gila, 254; A Gray Highway of Danger, 255.

mil

Chapter Twenty-three

CIVIC AND CHURCH FEATURES— Troublesome River Conditions, 257; Basic Law in a Mormon Community, 258; Layton, Soldier and Pioneer, 260; A New Leader on the Gila, 262; Church Academies of Learning, 263.

Chapter Twenty-four

MOVEMENT INTO MEXICO— Looking Over the Land, 265; Colonization in Chihuahua, 266; Prosperity in an Alien Land, 268; Abandonment of the Mountain Colonies, 269; Sad Days for the Sonora Colonists, 271; Congressional Inquiry, 273; Repopulation of the Mexican Colonies, 274.

Chapter Twenty-five

MODERN DEVELOPMENT— Oases Have Grown in the Desert, 275; Prosperity Has Succeeded Privation, 276.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 279

PLACE NAMES OF THE SOUTHWEST 281

CHRONOLOGY ' 2 87

TRAGEDIES OF THE FRONTIER „L~ _„" _„".„." 291

Index

MAP OF ARIZONA MORMON SETTLEMENT 310

IX

THE ILLUSTRATIONS

"El Vado," Pioneer Gateway into Arizona Frontispiece

MormOn Battalion Officers.- 20

Battalion Members at Gold Discovery in California.- 20

The Mormon Battalion Monument 36

Old Spanish Pueblo of Tubac 37

Jacob Hamblin, "Apostle to the Lamanites" 60

The Church Presidents 61

Lieutenant Ives' Steamboat on the Colorado in 1858 68

Ammon M. Tenney, Pioneer Scout of the Southwest 69

Early Missionaries Among the Indians 84

Moen Copie, First Headquarters of Missionaries to the Moquis 85

Pipe Springs or Windsor Castle... 100

Moccasin Springs on Road to the Paria... _ 101

In the Kaibab Forest, near the Home of the Shivwits Indians 101

A Fredonia Street Scene 108

Walpi, One of the Hopi (Moqui) Villages 108

Warren M. Johnson's House at Paria Ferry 109

Crossing of the Colorado at the Paria Ferry.„ 109

Brigham Young and Party at Mouth of Virgin in 1870 116

Baptism of the Tribe of Shivwits Indians 117

Founders of the Colorado River Ferries 132

Crossing the Colorado River at Scanlon's Ferry 133

Crossing the Little Colorado River with Ox Teams 140

Old Fort at Brigham City 140

Woodruff Dam, After One of the Frequent Washouts 141

First Permanent Dam at St. Joseph 141

Colorado Ferry and Ranch at the Mouth of the Paria (G. W. James) 148

Lee Cabin at Moen Avi (Photo, by Dr. Geo. Wharton James)._ 149

Moen Copie Woolen Mill 149

Grand Falls on the Little Colorado 156

Old Fort Moroni with its Stockade 157

Fort Moroni in Later Years 157

Erastus Snow, Who Had Charge of Arizona Colonization 164

Anthony W. Ivins 165

Joseph W. McMurrin 165

Joseph Fish, an Arizona Historian 172

Joseph H. Richards of St. Joseph 172

St. Joseph Pioneers and Historian Andrew Jenson _ 173

Shumway and the Old Mill on Silver Creek 173

First Mormon School, Church and Bowery at St. Johns 180

David K. Udall and His First Residence at St. Johns 180

St. Johns in 1887 181

Stake Academy at St. Johns 181

Founders of Northern Arizona Settlements 188

Group of Pioneers 189

Presidents of Five Arizona Stakes 196

Old Academy at Snowflake : 197

New Academy at Snowflake 197

The Desolate Road to the Colorado Ferry 204

Leaders of Unsuccessful Expeditions 204

First Party to Southern Arizona and Mexico 205

Second Party to Southern Arizona and Mexico 205

Original Lehi Locators 212

Founders of Mesa 213

Maricopa Stake Presidents._ 220

Maricopa Delegation at Pinetop Conference 221

The Arizona Temple at Mesa 228

Jonathan Heaton and His Fifteen Sons 229

Northern Arizona Pioneers 229

Teeples House, First in Pima 244

First Schoolhouse at Safford 245

Gila Normal College at Thatcher... 245

Gila Valley Pioneers 260

Pioneer Women of the Gila Valley 261

Killed by Indians 292

Killed by Outlaws 293

SPECIAL MAPS

State of Deseret 51

Pah-ute County, Showing the Muddy Settlements 103

Northeastern Arizona, Showing Little Colorado Settlements 139

Lehi, Plan of Settlement 202

Ancient Canals of Salt River Valley._ 226

Southeastern Arizona 243

Arizona Mormon Settlement and Early Roads 309

XI

Chapter One tlterrass ^xmkexs

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 southernmost 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 cornerstones 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 thatf'is commendable; they deserve more than abuse^ they deserve admiration.

Chapter Two 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 the soldiers for the time severed all connection with their 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 hew 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 provision 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 Mclntyre 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 snapshooting 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