Mormon Battalion
MORMON BATTALION
MORMON BATTALION. The Mormon Battalion was a company of U.S. soldiers serving in the war with Mexico (1846–1848). Enlisted from Mormon camps in the Iowa Territory and furnished by Brigham Young, they numbered 549 persons. Under the command of Col. Philip St. George Cooke, the Mormon volunteers marched to California via Santa Fe and the Gila River. Because of short rations, lack of water, and excessive toil in road-making and well digging, many fell sick and some died. They reached San Diego, California, in January 1847, where they disbanded. Most of the members joined Brigham Young's Mormon company that had arrived in Utah in July 1847.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Powell, Allan Kent, ed. Utah History Encyclopedia. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994.
L. E.Young/c. w.