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Add members of the Mormon Battalion to this project. You can visit HistoryLink to find out which projects include your ancestors.
The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in United States military history serving from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican-American War. The battalion was a volunteer unit of approximately 560 Latter-day Saints men led by Mormon company officers, commanded by regular US army officers. During its service, the battalion made a grueling march, at nearly 2,000 miles in length from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California.
The battalion's service was instrumental in helping the US secure much of the American Southwest, including new lands in several Western states, especially the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 of much of southern Arizona. The march also opened a southern wagon route to California. Veterans of the battalion played significant roles in America's westward expansion in California, Utah, Arizona and other parts of the West.
July 24, 1847 --Three Blacks--Hark Lay, Green Flake, and Oscar Crosby--were in the advance company of Mormon pioneers accompanying Brigham Young upon his journey to the Great Salt Lake Valley.
This project will identify members of the battalion as well as others who accompanied the battalion on its march.
Lists of battalion members can be found at:
United States, Mormon Battalion Pension Applications, 1846-1923
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iapottaw/mrmnbatt.htm
http://wiki.hanksplace.net/images/6/63/Mormon_battalion_roster.pdf
http://www.battalionwomen.com/roster.htm
http://www.three-peaks.net/battalion.htm
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=47106
http://www.fold3.com/title_773/mexican_war_service_records_mormon/
Finding Aid:
Search Geni.com using Google for "Mormon Battalion"
Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah
Other resources and references
- This Week In Black History, Jet, July 22, 1976, p. 10.