In 1846 about 500 Mormon men from Iowa Territory joined what became known as the Mormon Battalion for the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. The battalion’s primary mission was to build a wagon road to San Diego.
On Sunday at the Twin Buttes RV Park near Douglas, Kevin Henson gave a presentation about the history of the battalion and its travels.
 Kevin Henson points to a map of Agua Prieta showing the route of the wagon trail cut by the Mormon Battalion in 1846. (Vera Davis•Herald/Review) |
A few years ago, some of the boys in the Boy Scout troop led by Henson studied their ancestors who were in the battalion.
“One thing led to another...” and now he and his wife, Denny, decided to leave their home in Michigan to retrace the steps of the battalion to do the first commemorative hike of their trail, he said.
The battalion members didn’t have uniforms, which were in short supply, so acting the parts of Ebenezer and Phoebe Brown, an actual couple from the original march, the Hensons have dressed the part in plain clothes of the period.
The Hensons also brought along other period-specific artifacts — a musket and the leather packs the battalion members wore. Kevin Henson said he believes they each carried about 40 pounds with them.
The Hensons — like the battalion, laundresses, wives and children who came along with them — departed from Iowa in June and followed the battalion’s trail through Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico before reaching Arizona on Nov. 24. At the time of the Mexican-American War, the battalion traveled through parts of what is today New Mexico and Arizona but in those days was Mexican territory.
Although Kevin Henson could show how they have mapped out the route, there is no actual map of the route, which went through parts of U.S. and Mexican territory. Instead they have relied on the journals and writings of men who were in the battalion. Their descriptions of mountain passes, water sources, rock formations and ruins have helped the descendants find the trail locations.
When the terrain became more and more difficult in the desert, some of original group were sent to Colorado, but most of the men, about five women and their oxen, sheep and mules continued.
The flour rations they had for food got smaller as they journeyed forth, and finding water was sometimes difficult.
Henson showed how the shirt he has worn for part of the hike has become bleached by the sun, and his pants have been scratched by cactus.
As one journal writer noted, “ ‘Everything has prickles on it,’ ” he said.
Their route through Cochise County and northern Mexico has been difficult to track, as Kevin Henson wrote recently in his blog on the trek:
“The Battalion’s passage with approximately 30 wagons, 400 persons and perhaps 500-700 animals did not have a profound effect on this land. Traces of their route are few and difficult — nearly impossible — to find.”
The Hensons recently visited what is believed to be the gravesite of Elisha Smith, a man in the battalion who died in the area west of Douglas, though Kevin Henson said he isn’t sure if the grave site matches records of the grave’s placement.
Soon afterward, the battalion seemed to have gotten lucky when it came across the San Pedro River, where they found fish, deer and other wildlife. They weren’t prepared for the wild bulls they came across near Old Fairbank, however, he said. There the bulls went on the attack, goring one man in the thigh and killing some mules.
The “battle of the bulls” was the only battle the Mormon Battalion fought, Henson said.
From there, the battalion headed toward Tucson, Yuma and on to San Diego, where the Hensons also will go.
By the end of their 2,000-mile trek, the battalion’s sacrifice was evident from the scraps of clothes they had left and food that had run out, Henson said. One man in the battalion was 128 pounds by the end of the journey after leaving Iowa at 198 pounds.
At the end of their journey, some of the Mormon Battalion stayed in California, others went to Colorado and most settled in Utah.
When you drive to California or north on I-25, think of the Mormon Battalion who blazed the trail first, he said. The battalion’s route also was helpful in establishing the boundaries of the Gadsden Purchase.
On Saturday, Kevin Henson will give a final presentation about the Mormon Battalion route through Cochise County at the St. David School Lansing Auditorium at 7 p.m.
For more information visit battaliontrek.com.
Herald/Review reporter Laura Ory can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at svhnews@transedge.com.
