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Military wages allowed some needy Mormons to survive
Jerry Sloat/Daily Democrat Columnist
Mercenary armies are usually associated with European wars of several centuries ago, or perhaps most recently with the fighting in Third World nations. But it is not always so. One of the lesser-known facets of Iowa history is the assembly of a sizable battalion of mercenary troops within our own state.
The Mormon exodus from Nauvoo was in full swing in 1846 when a large band of westward-bound Mormons gathered at the assembly point on Sugar Creek seven miles west of Montrose. Once assembled, the column headed westward across Iowa, stopping at various campsites on the Mormon Trail such as Richardson's Point near Farmington, Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah, near the Nodaway River.
As the column moved across the last stretches of Iowa, near what is now Red Oak, heading for the Missouri River crossing, they were stopped by a small U.S. military detachment headed by Capt. James Allen.
The Mormons were immediately concerned that this was yet another harassment such as the many they already had experienced at the hands of civilians and the Illinois Militia around Nauvoo.
They could not have been more wrong. Capt. Allen actually was a messenger from the federal government requesting Mormon recruits for service in the war against Mexico.
Many of the Mormons, such as Hosea Stout, a captain in the Mormon Guard, first thought the request was just a ruse whereby the government was attempting to ruin the Mormon cause. It came as a real surprise to Hosea and his companions when...during the negotiations with Allen...they found that Brigham Young, their new leader, had himself initiated a deal to furnish young Mormon men as soldiers.
This was neither an act of benevolence or of patriotism on the part of Young. It was an act prompted by the needs of his church during one of its darkest hours.
Nor were these young men volunteers by any stretch of the imagination, as is sometimes believed. Brigham Young had sold their services to the United States Army just as much as any European parents had sold the services of their sons as mercenaries.
In fact, the men were not even allowed to collect their own wages. Rather, their pay would go directly into the Mormon treasury.
But there was little protest among the men selected to serve, even though they were so quickly separated from their families and friends. They were willing to go because the concept was in keeping with the Mormon belief in collective use of resources of the people and the church.
As it turned out, the military service the men underwent was more inconvenient than dangerous, for they saw little fighting. The battalion was assembled at Council Bluffs and marched across the southwest clear to California. Some of the men even managed to take their wives along.
Also among their ranks was a trusted church official whose responsibility was to collect their wages for them and bring the money back to Brigham Young for distribution among the needy church members.
Although their accomplishments were somewhat less than spectacular, there is little doubt the money these troops earned was extremely important to the Mormons. If helped buy food and supplies for many of their brethren who spent the harsh winter huddled in temporary quarters along the trail to Utah.
In the words of Iowa historian Leland Sage: “It was probably the margin between life and death.”
The army of the United States was concentrated in the eastern part of the country in the early days of the Mexican War, so it was sorely pressed to fight an organized enemy force in the far reaches of the Southwest. At the same time, the financial problems of the Mormon Church were at their greatest.
The Mormon battalion, as conceived by the ingenious Brigham Young, helped fill the needs of both his government and his beloved church.
Mercenary armies are usually associated with European wars of several centuries ago, or perhaps most recently with the fighting in Third World nations. But it is not always so. One of the lesser-known facets of Iowa history is the assembly of a sizable battalion of mercenary troops within our own state.
The Mormon exodus from Nauvoo was in full swing in 1846 when a large band of westward-bound Mormons gathered at the assembly point on Sugar Creek seven miles west of Montrose. Once assembled, the column headed westward across Iowa, stopping at various campsites on the Mormon Trail such as Richardson's Point near Farmington, Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah, near the Nodaway River.
As the column moved across the last stretches of Iowa, near what is now Red Oak, heading for the Missouri River crossing, they were stopped by a small U.S. military detachment headed by Capt. James Allen.
The Mormons were immediately concerned that this was yet another harassment such as the many they already had experienced at the hands of civilians and the Illinois Militia around Nauvoo.
They could not have been more wrong. Capt. Allen actually was a messenger from the federal government requesting Mormon recruits for service in the war against Mexico.
Many of the Mormons, such as Hosea Stout, a captain in the Mormon Guard, first thought the request was just a ruse whereby the government was attempting to ruin the Mormon cause. It came as a real surprise to Hosea and his companions when...during the negotiations with Allen...they found that Brigham Young, their new leader, had himself initiated a deal to furnish young Mormon men as soldiers.
This was neither an act of benevolence or of patriotism on the part of Young. It was an act prompted by the needs of his church during one of its darkest hours.
Nor were these young men volunteers by any stretch of the imagination, as is sometimes believed. Brigham Young had sold their services to the United States Army just as much as any European parents had sold the services of their sons as mercenaries.
In fact, the men were not even allowed to collect their own wages. Rather, their pay would go directly into the Mormon treasury.
But there was little protest among the men selected to serve, even though they were so quickly separated from their families and friends. They were willing to go because the concept was in keeping with the Mormon belief in collective use of resources of the people and the church.
As it turned out, the military service the men underwent was more inconvenient than dangerous, for they saw little fighting. The battalion was assembled at Council Bluffs and marched across the southwest clear to California. Some of the men even managed to take their wives along.
Also among their ranks was a trusted church official whose responsibility was to collect their wages for them and bring the money back to Brigham Young for distribution among the needy church members.
Although their accomplishments were somewhat less than spectacular, there is little doubt the money these troops earned was extremely important to the Mormons. If helped buy food and supplies for many of their brethren who spent the harsh winter huddled in temporary quarters along the trail to Utah.
In the words of Iowa historian Leland Sage: “It was probably the margin between life and death.”
The army of the United States was concentrated in the eastern part of the country in the early days of the Mexican War, so it was sorely pressed to fight an organized enemy force in the far reaches of the Southwest. At the same time, the financial problems of the Mormon Church were at their greatest.
The Mormon battalion, as conceived by the ingenious Brigham Young, helped fill the needs of both his government and his beloved church.
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