The shadows of evening rested down upon the camp, then the stars rose in the east and slowly ascended to the meridian of the heavens. Still the camp fires burned and men talked with bated breath wondering what the morrow would bring forth. A spirit of unrest brooded over the white city and many an eye had not closed in sleep when the golden flashes of light appeared in the east.
I am not writing these sketches from a theological standpoint, or to make converts to the Mormon faith. I was there. I heard, I saw, I suffered, and am trying to write as I felt and still feel.
At ten o'clock the people assembled in the bowery, and began services by singing Cowper's inspired hymn:
"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform,
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful Saints fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head."
After an earnest prayer, President Young introduced Captain James Allen, who said in substance that he had been sent by President Polk to ask for five hundred of our young men to enlist in the army and go to California to fight the Mexicans. And now let an abler pen than mine speak a few words:
"Imagination can alone picture the surprise, almost dismay, with which this startling news was received! The nation whose people had thrust them from its borders and driven them into the wilderness, now calling upon them for aid? And this in full face of the fact that their own oft reiterated appeals for help had been denied!"
Captain Allen affirmed that President Polk's heart had been touched by our sufferings and that this was done as an act of kindness! An act of kindness! Was it not rather a deep-laid plan to bring about our entire destruction? If we refused, then disarm us and the Indians would soon finish the job.
From that day to this it has been a debated question among the Mormon people as to what the motive was in asking for the battalion. If the men enlisted. Captain Allen pledged himself to be a friend to the Boys "as long as breath remained in his body;" and, be it said to his honor, faithfully and conscientiously did he keep that pledge.
After free discussion by several of the brethren President Young arose. Instantly breathless silence reigned. He was not a brilliant speaker like Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, or Amasa M. Lyman, whose masterful speeches so often charmed their assemblies; but he possessed a magnetism and forcefulness that always claimed attention. The Saints realized that he was a man of wonderful resources.
"I want to say to the brethren present that this is a surprise to me, but I believe Captain Allen to be a gentleman, and a man of honor, and I accept his pledges to be a friend to our boys. Now, I would like the brethren to enlist and make up a battalion, and go and serve your country, and if you will do this, and live your religion, I promise you in the name of Israel's God that not a man of you shall fall in battle."