U.S. MORMON BATTALION PICTURE GALLERY
1846-1848
![U.S. Mormon Battalion medal](mexican-war-medal.jpg)
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U.S. Army and Brigham Young Call Volunteers for the Mormon Battalion - by C.C.A. Christensen
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The Mormon Battalion Ball held July 16, 1846 -- painting by C.C.A. Christensen Referring to the departure of the volunteers for Fort Leavenworth, many of whom
were married and leaving wives and children, and the events connected therewith,
Sergeant Daniel Tyle wrote: "There was no sentimental leave taking. The afternoon
was appropriated to a farewell ball; and a more merry dancing rout I have never seen,
though the company went without refreshments, and their ball room was of the most primitive
. ..Light hearts, lithe figures and light feet, had it their own way from an early hours
till after the sun had dipped behind the sharp sky-line of the Omaha hills."
Captain James Brown gathers his men into Company C - July 20, 1846 - Council Bluffs, Iowa
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Iowa State Historical Society verified this photo is the true
Captain then Lt. Col. James Allen,
1st U.S. Dragoons
Researched by Retired Army Colonel Sherman Fleek who has written a book on the military aspects of the Mormon Battalion, entitled "History May Search In Vain . . "
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Sherman Fleek felt the image above was too clear, too modern for 1846 and that the fellow looked too young for Captain Allen as a 40 year old man in above daguerreotype of Captain James Allen (of Mormon Battalion fame). Iowa SHS determined the above image is of James Allen, a captain that served with an Ohio regiment of volunteers during the Civil War.
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NOTE: I was looking through Sherman Fleek's book and he has grouped Captain Brown, James S. Brown, and possibly James Polly Brown of the Mormon Battalion into just one Index entry on page 404. He also has a photo on page 168 identified as James S. Brown, age 30, that I have never seen. Based on that error I am holding reservations regarding the James Allen photo Fleek received from the Iowa State Historical Society.
Brigham Young signing up the Mormon volunteers
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![The Mormon Battalion at Gila River, Arizona by George M. Ottinger](mb-gila-river-az-georgem-ottinger.jpg)
The Mormon Battalion at Gila River, Arizona
by George M. Ottinger
Mormon Battalion Attire
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Photo published on the cover of The Pioneer Vol. 16 No. 5 Sept-Oct 1969
50 Year Reunion of Mormon Battalion Survivors in 1896
Daniel Tyler may be partial in top right.
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Mormon Battalion members of the Captain James Brown Family include: Captain James Brown, Mary McRee Black Brown, James Stephens Brown, Melissa Burton Coray Kimball, Christopher Layton, Nancy Brown Davis, Eleazer Davis, Jesse Sowell Brown, James Wright Shupe, Alexander Brown, Edward Bunker, John W. Hess, Nathaniel Vary Jones, Ebenezer Brown, Phebe Draper Palmer Brown, Charles Jefferson Hunt, George David Black, William Coray, Miles Weaver, Franklin Weaver, Zemira Palmer, Amos Cox Jr., Phillip Garner Sr., John Rufus Stoddard, Joshua Chandler Abbott, Ruth Markham Abbott, George Deliverance Wilson, others.
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![](four-survivors.jpg)
Four Survivors from the Mormon Battalion that were at Sutter's Mill when gold was discovered in 1848.
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Friend with J. Duncan Brown at Mormon Battalion Monument erected on the Utah State Capital grounds in Salt Lake City, Utah was unveiled in 1927, photo c. 1940.
![1997 Mormon Battalion passing review](passing-review1997.jpg)
The Battalion's Posterity passing review in 1997 Utah
![](randy-th-companyC.jpg)
150 year celebration: Cousin Randy Thompson, 1997 commander of Company C.
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Historic Sites and Monuments associated with the Mormon Battalion include:
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Uphill from the Presidio lies Fort Stockton. The Fort's remains honor the Mormon Battalion that reached San Diego from Iowa in 1847. The old site of Fort Stockton is on the hilltop of Presidio Park over looking Old Town. The Mormon Battalion was stationed in the fort. This statue of a Mormon soldier stands where the fort once was. A twin to this statue is located in the city below at the Mormon Battalion Museum on Juan Street. Mormon Battalion Memorial and Visitor Center, Presidio Park, Old Town, in San Diego, California.
Mormon Battalion Memorial Visitor's Center
Mailing address:
2510 Juan Street
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 298-3317
Hours: 9am - 9pm every day of the year
http://historyandculture.com/chcc/
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![](san-diego-presidio.JPG)
![](monument-presidiopark-sandiego11-22-1969.jpg)
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Monument at Fort Stockton, San Diego, CA. in honor of the Women of the Mormon Battalion.
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/68july
/images.htm#54
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Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial, CA the largest bas-relief military monument in the United States, on Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles, California, dedicated in 1958.presidio2.html#03houses |
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Mormon Battalion Mountain, a low-laying mountain within San Bernardino County's Glen Helen Regional Park at the mouth of Cajon Canyon where in April of 1847 a detachment of the Mormon Battalion arrived from Los Angeles with the assignment to set up camp and guard the pass from any Indian raids. A historic marker within the park commemorates this event.
http://www.usarmyofthewest.org |
![Location of Mormon Battalion Mountain, San Bernardino County, CA.](glen-helen-park-mt-mb.gif) |
Mormon Rocks, northwest of San Bernardino, California in the Cajon Pass, just west of Interstate 15 on California 138. The first wagon trail blazed through the Cajon Pass was established by 25 recently-discharged Battalion soldiers, with the wagon of Captain Daniel C. Davis, wife Susan and son Danny, in their journey to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. |
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Mormon Battalion Monument in Memory Grove [on the State Capital Grounds, recently refurbished and re-dedicated by Pres. Hinckley] , Salt Lake City, Utah. Samuel C. Parke describes it as follows: "A bronze figure of a Battalion man is mounted upon the front corner. Flanking him on two sides of the triangle are cut in high relief, on the left, the scene of the enlistment of the Battalion under the flag of the United States of America; on the right a scene of the march where the men are assisting in pulling the wagons of their train up and over a precipitous ascent while still others are ahead widening a cut to permit the passage of the wagons between the out-jutting rocks. The background is a representaton of mountains of the character through which the Battalion, and its train passed on the journey to the Pacific....
Hovering over and above him the beautiful female figure, symbolizing the "Spirit of the West", her face stands out in full relief; the hair and diaphanous drapery waft back mingling with the clouds while the figure fades into dim outline in the massive peaks
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![Mormon Battalion Monument on the Utah State Capital Grounds](mormon-battalion-st-capital.jpg)
and mountains, seeming to pervade the air and the soil with her very soul.....This Spirit permeates the air, the soil and the hearts of men. It tempers the character of all who come within the influence of the boundless plains and majestic peaks. It has led men to make a garden of a desert and a treasure house of the mountains."
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This Mormon Battalion Monument was unveiled November 22, 1969 as a gift at San Diego, CA 200th Anniversary Exposition and to mark the finish of the 2000 mile trek of the Mormon Battatlion 1847. Sculpture by Ed Fraughton.
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First Brick Courthouse - San Diego
The Mormon Battalion in 1847 assisted the community by building this, the first fired-brick structure in San Diego. Originally designated as a townhall and schoolroom, once the state legislature incorporated San Diego as the first city in California, it became the office for Mayor, City Clerk, Board of Supervisors, etc.
http://www.oldtownartfestival.com/history.html |
![First Brick Courthouse built by Mormon Battalion in San Diego](first-courthouse-built-by-mb1848.gif) |
Army of the West - Yuma, Arizona
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http://www.usarmyofthewest.org/home.html |
![](army-of-west-monument-01.jpg) ![](rcmerrill-army-of-west.jpg)
Richard Charles "R.C." Merrill sculpted bronze 10' statue of his great, great uncle Philemon Merrill, of the Mormon Battalion Company B, for this monument.
http://www.usarmyofthewest.org/Album/index.htm
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Monuments relating to the battalion are also located in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, and trail markers have been placed on segments of the battalion route between Mt. Pisgah (Iowa) and San Diego, California
.![](sanpedro-monument.jpg) ![](mb-near-algodones-mx.jpg)
![](monument-hunt-idaho.jpg) Mound monument dedicated to Captain Jefferson Hunt
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Union Pioneer Cemetery
In Memory of the Brave Men of the Mormon Battalion Who died along the Trail From Iowa to California in 1846-1848, and lie in Unknown Graves: THOSE WHO SERVED | PVT MERVIN BLANCHARD | PVT SAMUEL BOLEY | PVT RICHARD CARTER | PVT ABNER CHASE | PVT GEORGE COLEMAN | PVT ELI DODSON | PVT NEAL DONALD | PVT ALBERT DUNHAM | PVT ELIJAH N. FREEMAN | PVT JOHN W. GREEN | PVT JAMES HAMPTON | PVT HENRY PIKE HOYT | PVT BAILEY JACOBS | PVT MELCHER OYLER | PVT JOHN PERKINS | PVT ALVA PHELPS | MUSICIAN JOSEPH W. RICHARDS | CPL JAMES A. SCOTT | PVT NORMAN SHARP | PVT MILTON SMITH | CPL ARNOLD STEPHENS
![](union-park-memorium-headstone.JPG) ![](union-park-memorium-headstone-back.JPG)
U.S. Mormon Battalion during Mexican War
This cemetery is located south of SLC, Utah, 3/4 mile east of Union Park Ave. (1485 E.) on Creek Road (7830 South). Just west of LDS Church on north side of street.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~utsaltla/Cemeteries/Union/HeadstonePhotoSurvey.html
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Sources:
The Pioneer, published by SUP, Vol. 17, No. 1, Front page of January-February 1970 and Summer 1996
http://www.kued.org/battalion/press.htm - find relevance.
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/79summer/mormonimages.htm
http://www.mormonbattalion.com/gallery/bios/james_allen.html
Copyright 1998 by www.OrsonPrattBrown.org
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