A short distance northwest of the site of the present city of El Paso the course of the march was towards the west. On the San Pedro River they encountered herds of wild cattle, and were viciously attacked by ferocious bulls. The troops had been ordered to travel with unloaded guns, but now they were hastily forced to load without waiting the command. These vicious animals, as if resenting the encroachment on their domain, made a charge upon the camp. This constituted the only fighting the troops were called upon to do on their long and toilsome march. When the battle was over the casualties revealed a number of gored mules and overturned wagons, and among the “enemy” perhaps some sixty of the charging animals were killed. Resuming their journey they camped on the 16th of December, near the Mexican pueblo of Tucson. On their way they met three Mexican soldiers bringing a message from the governor of Tucson to Colonel Cooke, informing him that he must pass around the town, or else he would have to fight. Colonel Cooke was not to be frightened by such an order. His route would take him through the village, and hither he resumed his march. The following day he passed through Tucson without meeting opposition, as the soldiers and a great many of the citizens had fled on his approach. Before arriving at that place he instructed his men that they came not to make war on Sonora, and less still to destroy an important outpost of defense against Indians. “But,” said he, “we will take the straight road before us and overcome all resistance, but shall I remind you that the American soldier ever shows justice and kindness to the unarmed and unresisting? The property of individuals you will hold sacred: the people of Sonora are not our enemies.”
The Journey From Tucson
Leaving Tucson, the battalion crossed an extensive desert, where, for seventy-five miles, they were without water for their mules. By hard marching they reached the Gila River and intersected General Kearny’s trail, which they had left 474 miles behind in the valley of the Rio Grande. They were now in the land of the Pima and Maricopa Indians who inhabited a fertile territory. These were a superior race of Indians with peaceful tendencies, who spent their time tilling the soil, and in weaving rather than bearing arms. While passing through these villages Colonel Cooke remarked to Captain Jefferson Hunt that this might be a good place for the settlement of the “Mormon” people. Hunt proposed such a thing to the natives who received it favorably, and this may have lent its weight to the colonizing of these valleys by the Latter-day Saints in later years.
At this point they were met by pilots sent back by General Kearny to conduct them to the Pacific coast. Most of the distance on the remaining journey was over deserts with alternating stretches of deep sand and miry clay. January 9, 1847, they crossed the Colorado, near the junction of the Gila, and continued their march under great difficulties over the coast range down the Pacific slope. January 27, 1847, they passed San Luis Rey, and two days later arrived at the San Diego Mission where they located one mile below the Catholic mission, and about five miles from the seaport town of San Diego, where General Kearny had his quarters.
“Orders No. 1”
On the day after their arrival at San Diego, Colonel Cooke issued the following orders, which were read to the men:
“Headquarters ‘Mormon’ Battalion,
“Mission of San Diego,
“January 30, 1847.”“(Orders No. 1.)
“The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding, congratulates the battalion on their safe arrival on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and the conclusion of their march of over two thousand miles.
“History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry. Half of it has been 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, which the future traveler will enjoy. Without a guide who had traversed them we have ventured into trackless table-lands where water was not found for several marches. With crowbar and pick and axe in hand, we have worked our way over mountains, which seemed to defy aught save the wild goat, and hewed a passage through a chasm of living rock more narrow than our wagons. To bring these first wagons to the Pacific, we have preserved the strength of our mules by herding them over large tracts, which you have laboriously guarded without loss. The garrison of four presidios of Sonora concentrated within the walls of Tucson, gave us no pause. We drove them out, with their artillery, but our intercourse with the citizens was unmarked by a single act of injustice. Thus, marching half naked and half fed, and living upon wild animals, we have discovered and made a road of great value to our country.
“Arrived at the first settlement of California, after a single day’s rest, you cheerfully turned off from the route to this point of promised repose, to enter upon a campaign, and meet, as we supposed, the approach of the enemy; and this, too, without even salt to season your sole subsistence of fresh meat.
“Lieutenants A. J. Smith and George Stoneman, of the First Dragoons, have shared and given invaluable aid in all these labors.
“Thus, volunteers, you have exhibited some high and essential qualities of veterans. But much remains undone. Soon you will turn your attention to the drill, to system and order, to forms also, which are all necessary to the soldier.
“By order,
“Lieut. Col. P. St. George Cooke,
“P. C. Merrill, Adjutant.”
Duties on the Coast
For some time the battalion performed garrison duty at San Diego, San Luis Rey and Los Angeles. While stationed at the latter place they were called upon to guard the Cajon Pass, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, against hostile Indians. At San Diego they were employed digging wells, making brick and building houses. Their frugality and industry won the admiration of the other troops, except the Missourians of General Fremont’s command, who endeavored to create prejudice against them.