rother Tyler's "History of the
Mormon Battalion."

There were five hundred and forty-nine souls in the Battalion. Captain
James Allen was the commander. They started on their march July 20, 1846,
to Fort Leavenworth, where they received their guns and other things
necessary for an army. At this point Captain Allen died, which made the men
feel bad, as he was a good, kind officer.

The Battalion began to move from Fort Leavenworth on the 12th of August.
You may see their line of march by looking at the map on page 128. After
suffering much hardship, they reached Santa Fe, October 9th. Here Colonel
Cooke took the command. As many of the soldiers as were too sick to go on
were sent to Pueblo, where they remained all winter, and traveled to Salt
Lake valley the next summer. The main body of the Battalion left Santa Fe,
October 19th, for California. At Tucson they expected to have a battle with
some Mexican soldiers, and prepared for it, but they marched through the
city without being disturbed. From Tucson they continued over the deserts,
and arrived at San Diego, January 29, 1847, where they saw the broad, blue,
ocean, many of them for the first time.

The Battalion remained in and around San Diego for about two weeks. As
there was no fighting to be done, the men built houses, dug wells, made
brick, and helped build up the town. On March 19th most of them marched to
Los Angeles, and on the 16th of July they were mustered out, having served
their full time--one year.

Of this great march Colonel Cooke their commander wrote:

"History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry;
nine-tenths of it through a wilderness, where nothing but savages and wild
beasts are found, or deserts, where for want of water, there is no living
creature. There, with almost hopeless labor we have dug deep wells. Without
a guide we have crossed the wilderness, we have ventured into trackless
prairies, where water was not found for several marches. With crowbar and
pickax in hand we have worked our way over mountains, which seemed to defy
aught but the wild goat, and hewed a passage through a chasm of rock, more
narrow than our wagons."

After their release, most of the men took up their march for home. Perhaps
it would be more correct to say to find their families and friends, as they
did not have any home yet. They journeyed northward in California and then
crossed the mountains to Salt Lake valley where most of them arrived in