Mormon Settlement in Arizona | Page 6

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