The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-05-26

1t is hfty-five years this month since
the Mexican war was shown by the
battles of Palo Alto and Resaea de la
Palma to be on in earnest, and June 26,
next, viii be the hfty-ffth anniversary
of the call for the formation of the
Mormon be ttaIion at Mt. Pisgah. near
where Omaha now stands. Numbers Of
the men who Joined this organization
and marched TO Pueblo or to the Pa
cific coast are stll living, but Mrs. Me-
Hssa Burton COray KimbaIl is the only
woman survivor of the arduous march
across the deserts of New Mexico
Arizona, and southern California to the
Pacific coast, and the perilous journey
from the coast to Salt Lake.
The lapse of five years more than
q haf-ceutury has not dimmed Mrs
Kimballs memory She remembers
wei the incidents of the dreary, terri
/ bic march of over 1000 miles. the hun
ger, the thirst, the other privatiOns,
( the exposure, the dangers frOm attack
the difficult roads, and the perilous
mountain passes. She took the trip be-
I cause OF the loyalty to her husband
orderly Sergeant William ~Coray of
company II, because she wished to
snare any hardships that might fall
TO his lot rather than to be separated
from him -Four other women made the
Jouruey-MrS. Jesse D. Hunter wife
of Captain Hunter of company 3, Mrs
Daniel @. Davis wife of CAPTAIN Davis
of company +, Mrs. EIeazar Davis and
Mrs. Ebenezer Brown, the two last
named being wives of enlisted men,
Mrs Hunter died in California, before
the battalion had been. mustered out
while the other women. except Mrs
Kimball have since expired.
/ Comfortably seated ia her home, 156
South Second West, Mrs. KimbaH
rocked back and forth in her chair and
ra.a~ sraf T1.fT
70 the coast and the even harder march
back across the Nevada desert ITO salt
Lake valley,
One of the hardest parts of the jour
ney, said Mrs. Kimball was the
starring 1 mad to leave my father and
mother, but il was "a choice between
them and my husband. and I thought
my duty required me to keep with my
usband- 1 never saw my parents
again.
The battalion was IN command Of
Colonel Philip st. George Cooke who
believe, afterwards distinguished
himself IN the civil war. We started
outs for santa F'e but before we
reached there many of the battalion
were disabled. We were divided into
two bodies. The sick and disabled
with nearly all the S5Omen, We're sent
to Pueblo, while the rest OF US went
on to santa F'e and from there on to
the coast. There were five of US vo-
men who made the march, We were
furnished with wagons. but we did not
ride in them all the way Part of the
time we rode horseback. and part of
the time we walked.
Mrs Kimbali was inclined to belittle
the walking she had done, although
members of the battalion say she tray
eied on foot a large part of the 1000
miles and of the return journey.
II didn't mind it, she declared. IT
walked. because I wanted to. My hus-
band had % walk, and went along
by his side"
From the time Santa Fe was lefe be-
hind. there were hardships, and in fact,
the hardships began with the march
we had little food ana less water
said Mrs. KimbaiL but my husband
and 7. got along pretty We'll You see.
many of the men in the battalion ate
when they were hungry until they
were satisfied. The result Wss that
they ate up their food at the start. and
did not have any afterWarC when they
needed it badly. i looked ahead su1
figured how many days our food would
have 70 last, and only used so much
each day. tried 10 cook it ito the
best advantage, 50 that none would be
wasted The consequence was that.
although we often did not hive all we
wanted to eat, We were never ia danger
Of starving.
k'sWere we thirsty Welt Of course we
often had to 80 many miles without
water, and many of the men thought
they would die with thirst but chat is
something that only gets worse when
you think about It, z simply did not
think abOut it when I was thirsty. and
so managed 10 90 long distance with
out feeling IL much We had hard
time in the Arizona and California
deserts. bur. as T. said, the less we
thought about what hard time we
were having the easier it was.
We had q big scare one night in. Ari-
iona that I shall always remember /
We knew that the Mexicans We're in
the vicinity, and we Thought we were
going TO be attacked The men stayed
up and were ready all night Tor an att
tack, but the MeSicans never came.
That WAS the nearest we ever came to
being in a battle Win tAe ATeXicans. \
I'VE Went on and reached san Diego
IN January Of iS4f. we stayed there
Some time gaTTsoning the place There
the battalion broke up My husband
bought a wagon. and. in eonnanv with