LITMIR.BIZ

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view the invitation without distrust; they had twice been persuaded by Government authorities in Illinois and Missouri, to give up their arms on some special appeals to their patriotic confidence and had then been left to the malice of their enemies. And now they were asked, in the midst of the Indian country, to surrender over five hundred of their best men for a war march of thousands of miles to California, without the hope of return till after the conquest of that country. Could they view such a proposition with favor?

      "But the feeling of country triumphed; the Union had never wronged them. 'You shall have your battalion at once, if it has to be a class of elders,' said one, himself a ruling elder. A central mass-meeting for council, some harangues at the more remotely scattered camps, an American flag brought out from the storehouse of things rescued and hoisted to the top of a tree-mast, and, in three days, the force was reported, mustered, organized and ready to march."

      The foregoing is a graphic summary, but the reader will ask for something more of detail of this one of the chief episodes of the Pioneer history.

      On the first of July Captain Allen was in council at the Bluffs with Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, John Taylor, John Smith and Levi Richards. At head-quarters they had not nearly sufficient force to raise the battalion. Yet they lost not a moment.

      In the character of recruiting sergeants Brigham, Heber and Willard at once set out for Mount Pisgah, a distance of 130 miles, on the back track. Here they met Elder Jesse C. Little, home from Washington, having had interviews with President Polk and other members of the Government. A condensation of Elder Little's report will, at least, give to the public the original plan of the Government in the call of the battalion: "To President Brigham Young and the Council of the Twelve Apostles: "Brethren: In your letter of appointment to me dated Temple of God, Nauvoo, January 26th, 1846, you suggested, 'If our Government should offer facilities for emigrating to the western coast, Embrace those facilities if possible.

      As a wise and faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can.

      Be thou a savior and deliverer of the people, and let virtue, integrity and truth be your motto—salvation and glory the prize for which you contend.' In accordance with my instructions, I felt an anxious desire for the deliverance of the Saints, and resolved upon visiting James K. Polk, President of the United States, to lay the situation of my persecuted brethren before him, and ask him, as the representative of our country, to stretch forth the Federal arm in their behalf. Accordingly, I called upon Governor Steele, of New Hampshire, with whom I had been acquainted from my youth, and other philanthropic gentlemen to obtain letters of recommendation to the heads of the departments."

      Governor Steele gave to Elder Little a letter of introduction to Mr. Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, in which the Governor said: "Mr. Little visits Washington, if I understand it correctly, for the purpose of procuring, or endeavoring to procure, the freight of any provisions or naval stores which the Government may be desirous of sending to Oregon, or to any portion of the Pacific. He is thus desirous of obtaining freight for the purpose of lessening the expense of chartering vessels to convey him and his followers to California, where they intend going and making a permanent settlement the present summer.

      Ycurs truly, John Steele."

      From Colonel Thomas L. Kane, Elder Little received a letter of introduction to the Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice-President of the United States, in which the writer said: "This gentleman visits Washington, with no other object than the laudable one of desiring aid of Government for his people, who, forced by persecution to found a new commonwealth in the Sacramento Valley, still retain American hearts, and would not willingly sell themselves to the foreigner, or forget the old commonwealth they leave behind."

      Armed with these and other letters, Mr. Little started to Washington from Philadelphia, where he had enlisted, for his afflicted people, the zealous friendship of the patriotic brother of the great Arctic explorer; and, soon after his arrival at the capital, he obtained an introduction to President Polk, through Ex-Postmaster-General Amos Kendall. The Elder was favorably received by Mr. Polk, which emboldened him to address a formal petition to the President, which he closed as follows: "From twelve to fifteen thousand Mormons have already left Nauvoo for California, and many others are making ready to go; some have gone around Cape Horn, and I trust, before this time, have landed at the Bay of San Francisco. We have about forty thousand in the British Isles, all determined to gather to this land, and thousands will sail this fall. There are also many thousands scattered through the States, besides the great number in and around Nauvoo, who will go to California as soon as possible, but many of them are destitute of money to pay their passage either by sea or land.

      "We are true-hearted Americans, true to our native country, true to its laws, true to its glorious institutions; and we have a desire to go under the outstretched wings of the American Eagle; we would disdain to receive assistance from a foreign power, although it should be proffered, unless our Government should turn us off in this great crisis, and compel us to be foreigners.

      "If you will assist us in this crisis, I hereby pledge my honor, as the representative of this people, that the whole body will stand ready at your call, and act as one man in the land to which we are going; and should our Territory be invaded, we will hold ourselves ready to enter the field of battle, and then, like our patriotic fathers, make the battle-field our grave, or gain our liberty."

      There were present at the first interview between the Mormon Elder and the President of the United States, Gen. Sam. Houston, just from Texas, upon Mexican affairs, and other distinguished men. A singular circumstance in American history is here connected; for at that important juncture in the history of our nation, as well as the Mormons, Washington was thrown into great excitement by the news that General Taylor had fought two battles with the Mexicans. This important event was directly bearing on the affairs of the Mormons, as much as upon those of the nation at large. The news of the actual commencement of the war between the two rival republics came in the very nick of time. Had Elder Little arrived in Washington six months before, or six months later, there would have been a marked variation from that which came to pass. We know not what the exact difference would have been, but it is most certain that President Polk would not then have designed to possess California by the help of these State-founding Saints, nor would their shovels have turned up the gold at Sutter's Mill, nor would General Stephen F. Kearney have had at his back the Mormon Battalion as his chief force, when he made himself master of the land of precious metals, and put his rival, Fremont, under arrest.

      The day alter his first interview with President Polk, Elder Little called again upon ex-Postmaster-General Kendall, who informed him that the President had determined to take possession of California; that he designed to use the Mormons for this purpose, and that they would receive orders to push through to fortify the country. This induced the Elder to address the petition already quoted.

      The President now laid the matter before the Cabinet. The plan offered to his colleagues was for the Elder to go direct to the Mormon camp, to raise from among them "one thousand picked men, to make a dash into California and take possession of it in the name of the United States." The Battalion was to be officered by their own men, excepting the commanding officer, who was to be appointed by President Polk, and to take cannon and everything necessary for the defense of the country. One thousand more of the Mormons from the Eastern States were proposed to be sent by way of Cape Horn, in a U. S. transport, for the same service. This was the original plan which President Polk laid before his Cabinet.

      After this Elder Little had his second interview with President Polk, who told the Elder that he "had no prejudices against the Saints, but that he believed them to be good citizens;" that he "was willing to do them all the good in his power consistently ;" that " they should be protected ;'" and that he had "read the petition with interest." He further emphatically observed that he had "confidence in the Mormons as true American citizens, or he would not make such propositions as those he designed." This interview lasted three hours, so filled was the President with his plan of possessing California by the aid of the Mormons. But this generous design was afterwards changed through the influence of Senator Benton.

      Before his departure west, Elder Little had another special interview with

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