# The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 31

* ON THE MISSOURI.
* Enlistment of the Mormon Battalion
* False Ideas about the Matter
* Historical Facts
* Elder Little at Washington
* He is introduced to President Polk
* Important Official Documents
* Colonel Kane's Story
* The Mormon Ball
* Brigham receives the Volunteers' "Advance Pay"
* Mormon Testimony in favour of Government
* Brigham Young's Extraordinary Statements
* The Government vindicated.
When the pioneers left Nauvoo their destination was undetermined. Very little was then known of the geography of North America west of the Missouri River. Joseph had a whispering revelation about the location of the Church in the Rocky Mountains, and Brigham was said to have had a vision about the Salt Lake Valley, but with both revelation and vision there was no certainty as to the exact locality. To give expression to a slender hope, elder Taylor furnished the poor, homeless wanderers with a song:
which cheered many a fainting heart; and for that much good the error of the "Infallible Priesthood" should be overlooked, even though "Towers and Temples" have not arisen
as predicted.
The first company of the exiles arrived at the Missouri in the beginning of July, 1846, and a resting-place was there resolved upon, as the main body of the Saints could not reach that point till late in September. It is claimed that the pioneers would have continued westward that year but for a "demand" of the Government that the Mormons should furnish a battalion of five hundred men for the Mexican war.
"There was danger of some expression of feeling when the song was over, for it had begun to draw tears; but, breaking the quiet with his hard voice, an elder asked the blessing of Heaven on all who, with purity of heart and brotherhood of spirit, had mingled in that society, and then all dispersed, hastening to cover from the falling dews."
With the departure of the Battalion, an agent accompanied them to Leavenworth, where he is reported to have drawn $20,000 "advance pay," and with that timely aid, Brigham Young made such outfitting purchases in St. Louis as were greatly needed. It is also understood that an agent continued with the Battalion until another draft could be made for their pay, before entering upon their march across the desert. Small as such sums were, yet in the situation and poverty of the exiles it was certainly timely aid from the Government. There has been much personal dissatisfaction expressed about the use made of these funds, yet the most bitter of his opponents acknowledged that Brigham showed great sagacity in at once furnishing the Battalion.
With the presence of Col. Kane and elder Little among the apostles, the Washington proceedings were explained. On the 7th of August, the Saints assembled to choose twelve men from among the elders to act as a High Council in the new Stake of Zion, organized on the banks of the Missouri, and to transact other business pertaining to the settlement of "Winter Quarters." After this meeting, a consultation was held with Colonel Kane, and the apostles advised together. It was then resolved that an address to President Polk should be framed, expressive of the gratitude of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints towards him for his benevolent design "of arming and planting five hundred of our volunteers in California, to take possession of that country, and for our good and also praying the President of the United States not to appoint Governor Boggs of Missouri–the notorious enemy ​of the Saints—as Governor of California and Oregon." This is a quotation from the written language of one of the apostles, and bears the stamp of the genuine sentiments of the Mormon leaders at the time. The allusion to ex-Governor Boggs is thoroughly characteristic.
Some months after the Battalion was in the service of the country, another apostle addressed the following language to the British Saints:
"Although we have been inhumanly and barbarously dealt with by the surrounding country where we dwelt, yet the President of the United States is favourably disposed to us. He has sent out orders to have five hundred of our brethren employed in an expedition that was fitting out against California, with orders for them to be employed for one year, and then to be discharged in California, and to have their arms and implements of war given to them at the expiration of the term; and as there is no prospect of any opposition, it amounts to the same as paying them for going to the place where they were destined to go without. They also had the privilege of choosing their own leaders."
Another apostle, very recently, haranguing the people in the Tabernacle upon the persecutions of the Saints, is reported in the Chicago Tribune to have uttered the following:
"The Government sent an agent who demanded five hundred volunteers for the Mexican war, which was two hundred times the proportion raised by the country. This was done that our teams, and our women, and our children, might be left defenceless in the Indian country, and so be killed or perish. They said that if we would furnish them the men, we might go on in peace; if not, they would cut us off on our journey."
This fruitful subject—"the Government persecution"—has done incalculable mischief to the Saints. It has robbed them of the natural loyalty of good citizens, and led them to curse the Government which protects them, and to pray for the overthrow and destruction of the nation.
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* ↑ There are very hard stories told about the use of this money in the hands of Brigham. Affidavits have been made of his heartless indifference to the wants of the wives and families of the absent soldiers. In Mrs. Waite's "Early History of Brigham Young," pp. 6-7, the affidavit of Alexander McCord is given, relating to this affair, and bears evidence of truthfulness.
* ↑ The Mormons who remained in Nauvoo voted the Democratic ticket at the August election in 1846. Almond W. Babbitt, the agent of the Church there, as- serted that this change in their politics was an expression of their gratitude to President Polk. Governor Ford says they voted from the following considerations: "The President of the United States had permitted the Mormons to settle on the Indian lands on the Missouri river, and had taken five hundred of them into the service as soldiers in the war with Mexico; and in consequence of these favours the Mormons felt under obligations to vote for democrats, in support of the administration; and so determined were they that their support of the President should be efficient, that they all voted three or four times each for member of Congress."—"History of Illinois," p. 414.
* ↑ John Taylor, Millennial Star, November 15, 1846.