The Mormon Battalion, Its History and Achievements

by B. H. Roberts

"The 19th of January is the date usually given; but I am satisfied it is incorrect. There are but two authorities to choose between, Marshall, the discoverer, and one Henry W. Bigler, a Mormon engaged upon the work at the time. Besides confusion of mind in other respects, Marshall admits that he does not know the date. On or about the 19th of January," he says (Hutchings' Magazine, II, 200); "I am not quite certain to a day, but it was between the 18th and 20th." Whereupon the 19th has been generally accepted. Bigler, on the other hand, was a cool, clear-headed, methodical man; moreover he kept a journal, in which he entered occurrences on the spot, and it is from this journal I get my date. If further evidence be wanting, we have it. Marshall states that four days after the discovery he proceeded to New Helvetta [identical as to the location with Sutter's Fort] with specimens. Now, by reference to another journal, New Helvetta Diary, we find that Marshall arrived at the Fort on the evening of the 28th. If we reckon the day of discovery as one of the four days, allow Marshall one night on the way, which Parsons gives him, and count the 28th one day, we have the 24th as the date of discovery trebly proved.

Facsimile of Henry W. Bigler's Journal, from a photograph

The Tide of Western Civilization Started.—The discovery of gold is the historical event that turned the eyes of the civilized world to California. Within a year it started that mighty wave of western emigration from all parts of the United States, many parts of Europe, and even from Asia. It was to be a subject of the President's message to Congress before the close of the year; within two years it would make California one of the sovereign states of the American Union, with a population of nearly one hundred thousand; in seven years it would result in adding nearly five hundred million dollars to the world's store of gold; and then as the gold from soil and sand was exhausted, and costly operations upon gold-bearing quartz ledges, and delving into the earth were required to secure the precious metal, many men who had come to the mines turned their attention to agriculture and to horticulture and found in the grain fields, vineyards and orchards of the Pacific slope, even a greater source of wealth than in the gold mines.

For a time an effort was made to keep the discovery of gold quiet, but gradually it became known, and the secret of the Sierras was revealed to the world, with the result already noted. San Francisco, however, was indifferent for some time, the final conversion of that town to the discovery of gold did not take place until Samuel Brannan, the leader of the Brooklyn Colony of Mormons to California, came down from Sutter's Fort—where he had a store—to San Francisco, in company with a number of others who had with them specimens of collected gold in both dust and nuggets. Brannan, holding in one hand a bottle of yellow dust, and with the other swinging his hat, rushed down the street shouting, "Gold! Gold! Gold! from the American River." This in May; and soon afterwards San Francisco was deserted for the gold-fields.

The Mormon Battalion "Diggings" on the American River.—The spare time of the Mormons at Sutter's saw-mill was devoted to washing out gold in the millrace and from the deposits of the sand bars along the river. Henry Bigler on the 21st of February wrote to members of the Battalion at Sutter's Fort, telling them of the discovery of gold, but cautioned them to impart the information only to those who could be relied upon to keep the secret. They entrusted it to three other members of the Battalion. Six days later three of the number, Sidney Willis, Levi Fifield, and Wilford Hudson, came up to the saw-mill, and frankly told Mr. Sutter they had come to search for gold, and he gave them permission to mine in the tail of the millrace. The next day they began work and were fairly successful. Hudson picked out one piece of gold worth six dollars. After a few days, however, these men felt under obligations to return to the Fort as they had given it out that they were merely going to the saw-mill on a visit and a few days' shooting. Returning, Willis and Hudson followed down the stream for the purpose of prospecting. Fifield, accompanied by Bigler, followed the wagon road. About half way between the saw-mill and the Fort, Hudson and Willis, on a bar opposite a little island in the river, found a small quantity of gold, not more than half a dollar in value; and while the smallness of the find filled the two prospectors with disgust, the other Battalion members at the fort insisted upon being taken to the point where the gold had been found, that "together they might examine the place." "It was with difficulty that they prevailed upon them to do so," remarks Bancroft; but finally Willis and Hudson consented, "and the so lately slighted spot," continues the historian of California, "presently became famous as the rich 'Mormon Diggins:' the island, 'Mormon Island,' taking its name from these Battalion boys who had first found gold there."

But notwithstanding this new discovery by these members of the Battalion, and notwithstanding their development of the discovery of Mr. Marshall, and the huge excitement which followed, and the fact that whenever they could get released a day from their duty to their employer they could usually obtain in gold several times over their day's wages, history has to record that they were true to their engagement to Mr. Sutter. "They had promised Sutter," says Bancroft, "to stand by him and finish the saw mill, this they did, starting it running on the 11th of March. Henry Bigler was still there. On the 7th of April Bigler, Stephens and Brown presented themselves at the fort to settle accounts with Sutter."

The Call of Duty.—The call of duty was also pressing upon these Battalion men from another direction. The instructions from the Mormon leaders, to the members of the Battalion, as we have seen, was that they should remain in California during the winter, but make their way to the Salt Lake Valley in the spring, bringing their earnings with them. Hence when settling with Sutter on the 7th of April, the preliminaries were arranged for this prospective journey to the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains. The first of June was fixed upon as the time of their departure. Notice was given to Sutter accordingly, so that by that time he could replace the Mormon workmen in his employ by others. Horses, cattle and the seeds they intended taking with them were to be bought of him; also two brass cannons to be a defense against possible Indian attacks enroute, and for defensive use against a like foe in Salt Lake valley. At first a company of eight went into the mountains to explore a route, but found the snow too deep for passage at that time. The constantly growing gold excitement, also, in consequence of its general unsettling of things, delayed their departure a month beyond the time fixed upon for starting. Meantime many of the Battalion members availed themselves of the opportunity to search for gold. Bigler and two others of the Battalion followed up the American river from the Fort about fifteen miles, finding gold as they went. Arriving at Mormon Island they came upon the seven members of the Battalion mining there who that day had taken out two hundred and fifty dollars. Bigler and his associates mined for two months about one mile below the saw-mill, dividing with Sutter and Marshall, who furnished tools and provisions. The land owners demanded one-half the product for a time; this was finally reduced to one-third.

In the midst of this prosperous mining activity, and the daily growing gold fever, the mad rush from San Francisco and other parts of California, the members of the Battalion sought out a rendezvous for their gathering preparatory to the journey across the mountains. The place of rendezvous was called by them "Pleasant Valley," near the present site of Placerville, a short distance up the south fork of the American river, and not far from the place where gold was first discovered on that stream. Parties came in one after another until the 3rd of July, when about forty-five men and one woman, the wife of one of the party, had assembled, bringing with them wagons, horses, cattle, and other effects. On the 3rd a start was made. "As the wagons rolled up along the divide between the American river and the Cosumnes, on the national 4th," writes H. H. Bancroft, "their cannon thundered independence before the high Sierras." "Thus," as further remarked by the author here followed, "amidst the scenes now every day becoming more and more absorbing, bringing to the front the strongest passions in man's nature, * * * at the call of what they deemed duty, these devotees of their religion unhesitatingly laid down their wealth-winning implements, turned their back on what all the world was just then making ready with hot haste and mustered strength to grasp at, and struggle for, and marched through new toils and dangers to meet their exiled brethren in the desert."

The fame of having discovered gold may not be claimed for members of the Mormon Battalion, that belongs to Mr. Marshall, unquestionably, though the Mormons in camp when it was found, of white men, were in the majority; and the shovels in their industrious hands it was which threw up the gold-laden soil; and they were the first to extend the discovery; and theirs the honors to first chronicle the date and fact of the event that was to mean so much to the Pacific coast of America, and to the world. But while the honor of making the mere discovery of gold may not be claimed for them, that which is infinitely better may be claimed for them, the honor of writing into the annals of California and of the world's history this fine example of fidelity to duty, detailed above; and which is not over-matched in any of the records written by men.