At the Missouri River
On the 14th of June, President Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt and others arrived on the banks of the Missouri, not far from Council Bluffs, with their respective companies. The next day a council meeting was held and it was decided to move back on to the bluffs where spring water could be obtained, and they would be protected from Indians. The Pottawattamie Indians were very friendly, and their chiefs showed the Saints some favor. A ferry boat was built and on the 29th the companies commenced crossing the river. About this time Elder Wilford Woodruff, who had just returned from presiding over the British Mission, and Elder Orson Hyde, who had been laboring in Nauvoo, joined the camp.
President Young was still very anxious to send an exploring company to the Rocky Mountains in advance. The camps were called together, there being about five hundred wagons on the ground and others on the way, and President Young addressed them advising them of his desire to get a company off for the Rocky Mountains. He feared, he said, that something would happen to stop the movement, and was impressed that “everything that men and hell could invent would be hatched up to prevent the camp from making any progress.” He spoke plainly on the subject and said if the members of the Church should be blown to the four winds, and never gathered again, he wished them to remember that he had told them when and where to gather, and if they failed to do so to remember and bear him witness in the day of judgment, that they had received such information and advice.
A Call From the Government
June 26, 1846, Captain James Allen, of the United States army, arrived at Mount Pisgah and had an interview with the brethren there. He was the bearer of a message to the “Mormon” people making a requisition on the camps for four or five companies of men, to serve as volunteers in the war with Mexico, which had recently been declared. The brethren at Mount Pisgah did not feel authorized to take any action, and therefore advised Captain Allen to visit President Young and the apostles at Council Bluffs. Captain Allen arrived at Council Bluffs on the 30th day of June, and the following day met with the Church authorities and presented his credentials for raising five hundred men. Such a demand caused some surprise and a little dismay among the camps. However, President Brigham Young declared that the volunteers would be forthcoming. It was moved by Heber C. Kimball and seconded by Willard Richards, that a battalion of five hundred men be raised, which was carried unanimously at a meeting of the brethren of the camp who were called together to consider the requisition. Consequently President Young and Elder Kimball returned to Mount Pisgah to raise volunteers, while letters were sent to Garden Grove and to Nauvoo bearing on the subject. Monday, July 13, 1846, in obedience to the call of the authorities, the camps of the Saints met on Mosquito Creek, where they were addressed by President Young, Captain Allen and Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who had arrived in the camp to be of service to the people. Four companies of the battalion were raised on that and the following day, and the fifth company a few days later.
An Important Council Meeting
July 16, a council meeting was held at the bluffs and Ezra T. Benson was ordained an apostle in the stead of John E. Page, who had been excommunicated. Elders Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor were appointed to go to England to take charge of the affairs of the Church in that land and set them in order. Reuben Hedlock and Thomas Ward, who had been in charge, had been guilty of misconduct in the use of funds and had been disfellowshipped. The same day four companies of the battalion were mustered into service by their respective captains, and on the 20th left for Fort Leavenworth in the service of the United States. The fifth company left the following day, and the entire body arrived at their destination August 1, 1846, numbering at the time five hundred and forty-nine men.
President Young’s Instructions to the Battalion
In giving instructions to the members of the battalion before their departure, President Young requested that they prove themselves to be the best soldiers in the service of the United States. He instructed the captains to be fathers to their companies, and to manage the officers and men by the power of the Priesthood. They should keep neat and clean; teach chastity, gentility, and civility. No swearing should be indulged in; no man was to be insulted, and they should avoid contentions with Missourians, or any other class of people. They were to take their Bibles and Books of Mormon with them, but were not to impose their belief on others. They were advised to avoid card playing and if they had any cards with them to burn them. If they would follow the instructions given they would not be called on to shed the blood of their fellow men, and after their labors were over, they probably would be discharged within eight hundred miles of the proposed settlement of the Saints in the Great Basin, where the next temple would be built in a stronghold free from mobs.