The Mormon Battalion, Its History and Achievements
B. H. Roberts
Read by Wayne Cooke
A history of the Longest March of Military in History. The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. In 1847, as the Mormons were in Iowa heading West, after being driven out of their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, the U.S. Army requested 500 volunteers to assist in the Mexican-American War effort. From July 1847 to July 1848 the battalion made a grueling march of nearly 2,100 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California. The Battalion’s march and service supported the eventual cession of much of the American Southwest from Mexico to the United States, especially the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 of southern Arizona and New Mexico.
This is their story.
- Summary by Wayne Cooke
(2 hr 51 min)
Chapters
| The March of the Battalion Compared With Other Historical Marches. | 7:24 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| The Call of the Battalion. | 27:50 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| Advantages and Disadvantages in the Call of the Battalion. | 11:06 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| The March of the Battalion From Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe. | 11:19 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| The March of the Battalion From Santa Fe to the Mouth of the Gila. | 20:06 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| The March of the Battalion From the Colorado to the Pacific Ocean. | 17:29 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| The Battalion in California. | 6:41 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| Record of the Battalion in California. | 32:17 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| The Battalion in the Perspective of Seventy-Three Years. | 10:15 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| The Subsequent Distinction Achieved by the Battalion's Commanding Officers. | 3:16 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| Anecdotes. | 7:56 | Read by Wayne Cooke |
| ADDENDA. The Battalion's Monument. | 15:30 | Read by Wayne Cooke |