Mormon Settlement in Arizona. James H. McClintock
ways, some grinding it and mixing it in bread with the flour, others making pudding, while some roast it or eat it raw." "January 27, at 1 o'clock, we came in sight of the ocean, the great Pacific, which was a great sight to some, having never seen any portion of the briny deep before."
California Towns and Soldier Experiences
At San Diego, which was reached by Standage and a small detachment January 30, provisions were found very scarce, while prices were exorbitant. Sugar cost 50 cents a pound, so the soldier regaled himself with one-quarter of a pound and gathered some mustard greens to eke out his diet. For 26 days he had eaten almost nothing but beef. He purchased a little wheat from the Indians and ground it in a hand mill, to make some cakes, which were a treat.
Late in April, at Los Angeles, there was a move to another camping ground, "as the Missouri volunteers (Error, New York volunteers—Author) had threatened to come down upon us. A few days later we were called up at night in order to load and fix bayonets, as Colonel Cooke had sent word that an attack might be expected from Colonel Fremont's men before day. They had been using all possible means to prejudice the Spaniards and Indians against us."
Los Angeles made poor impression upon the soldiers in the Battalion. The inhabitants were called "degraded" and it was declared that there were almost as many grog shops and gambling dens as private houses. Reference is made to the roofs of reeds, covered with pitch from tar springs nearby. Incidentally, these tar "springs" in a later century led to development of the oil industry, that now is paramount in much of California, and have been found to contain fossil remains of wonderful sort.
The Indians were said "to do all the labor, the Mexicans generally on horseback from morning till night. They are perhaps the greatest horsemen in the known world and very expert with lariat and lasso, but great gamblers."
Food assuredly was not dear, for cattle sold for $5 a head. Many cattle were killed merely for hides and tallow and for the making of soap.
About the most entertaining section of Standage's journal is that which chronicles his stay in Southern California, possibly because it gave him an opportunity to do something else beside tramping. There is much detail concerning re-enlistment, but there was general inclination to follow the advice of Father Pettegrew, who showed "the necessity of returning to the prophets of the Lord before going any further."
Just before the muster-out, the soldiers were given an opportunity to witness a real Spanish bull fight, called "a scene of cruelty, savoring strongly of barbarity and indolence, though General Pico, an old Mexican commander, went into the ring several times on horseback and fought the bulls with a short spear."
What with the hostility of the eastern volunteers, the downright enmity of Fremont's company and the alien habits of the Mexican population, the sober-minded members of the Battalion must have been compelled to keep their own society very largely while in the pueblo of Los Angeles, or, to give it its Spanish appellation, "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula." Still, some of them tried to join in the diversions of the people of the country. On one occasion, according to Historian Eldridge, there was something of a quarrel between Captain Hunt and Alcalde Carrillo, who had given offense by observing that the American officer "danced like a bear." The Alcalde apologized very courteously, saying that bears were widely known as dancers, but the breach was not healed.
Christopher Layton's Soldiering.
Another history of the Battalion especially interesting from an Arizona standpoint, is contained in the life of Christopher Layton, issued in 1911 and written by Layton's daughter, Mrs. Selina Layton Phillips, from data supplied by the Patriarch. The narrative is one of the best at hand in the way of literary preparation, though with frank statement that President Layton himself had all too little education for the accomplishment of such a task.
Layton was a private soldier in Company C, under Capt. James Brown. There is nothing of especial novelty in the narrative, nor does there seem anything of prophecy when the Battalion passed through the Valley of the San Pedro in December, 1846, through a district to which Layton was to return, in 1883, as leader of a Mormon colony.
Layton was one of the number that remained in California after the discharge of the Battalion, eventually rejoining the Saints, at Salt Lake, by way of his native land, England.
In B. H. Roberts' very interesting little work on the Mormon Battalion is told this story of the later patriarch of the Gila settlement:
"While Colonel Cooke was overseeing the ferrying of the Battalion across the Colorado River, Christopher Layton rode up to the river on a mule, to let it drink. Colonel Cooke said to him, 'Young man, I want you to ride across the river and carry a message for me to Captain Hunt.' It being natural for the men to obey the Colonel's order, he (Layton) tried to ride into the river, but he had gone but a few steps before his mule was going in all over. So Brother Layton stopped. The Colonel hallooed out, 'Go on, young man; go on, young man.' But Brother Layton, on a moment's reflection, was satisfied that, if he attempted it, both he and his mule would stand a good chance to be drowned. The Colonel himself was satisfied of the same. So Brother Layton turned his mule and rode off, saying, as he came out, 'Colonel, I'll see you in hell before I will drown myself and mule in that river.' The Colonel looked at him a moment, and said to the bystanders, 'What is that man's name?' 'Christopher Layton, sir.' 'Well, he is a saucy fellow.'"
That the Mormon Battalion did not always rigidly obey orders is shown in another story detailed by Roberts:
"While the Battalion was at Santa Fe, Colonel Cooke ordered Lot Smith to guard a Mexican corral, and, having a company of United States cavalry camped by, he told Lot if the men came to steal the poles to bayonet them. The men came and surrounded the corral, and while Lot was guarding one side, they would hitch to a pole on the other and ride off with it. When the Colonel saw the poles were gone, he asked Lot why he did not obey orders and bayonet the thieves. Lot replied, 'If you expect me to bayonet United States troops for taking a pole on the enemy's ground to make a fire of, you mistake your man.' Lot expected to be punished, and he was placed under guard; but nothing further was done about it."
Western Dash of the Kearny Dragoons
Of collateral interest is the record of the Kearny expedition. The Colonel, raised to General at Santa Fe, left that point September 25, 1846, with 300 dragoons, under Col. E.V. Sumner. The historians of the party were Lieut. W.H. Emory of the Corps of Topographical Engineers (later in charge of the Boundary Survey) and Capt. A. R. Johnston, the latter killed at San Pascual. Kearny was piloted by the noted Kit Carson, who was turned back as he was traveling eastward with dispatches from Fremont. The Gila route was taken, though there had to be a detour at the box canyon above the mouth of the San Pedro. Emory and Johnston wrote much of the friendly Pima. The former made prophecy, since sustained, concerning the development of the Salt and other river valleys, and the working of great copper deposits noted by him on the Gila, at Mineral Creek. The Colorado was crossed November 24. On December 6 the small command, weary with its march and illy provisioned, was attacked at San Pascual by Gen. Andres Pico. Two days of fighting found the Americans in sad plight, with eighteen killed and thirteen wounded. The enemy had been severely handled, but still barred the way to the nearby seacoast. Guide Kit Carson and Naval Lieutenant E.F. Beale managed to slip through to San Diego, there to summon help. It came to the beleaguered Americans December 10, a party of 180 well-armed sailors and marines, sent by Commodore Stockton, falling upon the rear of the Mexican host, which dispersed. The following day, Kearny entered San Diego, thence proceeding northward to help in the final overthrow of Mexican authority within Alta California.
Chapter Three
The Battalion's Muster-Out
Heading Eastward Toward "Home"
Muster-out of the Battalion was at Los Angeles, July 16, 1847, just a year after enlistment, eight days before Brigham Young reached Great Salt Lake. The joyous ceremonial was rather marred by the fact that the muster-out officer was none other than Lieutenant