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Rare reference to the 'Mormon Battalion' during the Mexican War... The slave trade... The Oregon Treaty with England...
Rare reference to the 'Mormon Battalion' during the Mexican War... The slave trade... The Oregon Treaty with England...
Item # 714455
August 15, 1846
NILES' NATIONAL REGISTER, Baltimore, Aug. 15, 1846
* Mormons Battalion - Mormonism
* Only U.S. military religious unit ever
* Mexican-American War
The top of the back page has a very notable report: "Mormon Volunteers" being a brief item noting: "Capt...Allen has reached Fort Leavenworth with 500 Mormon volunteer infantry. They proceed forthwith to join Gen. Kearney in his expedition against Santa Fe."
This is a very rare report on the 'Mormon Battalion', which was the only religious unit in U.S. military history in federal service recruited solely from one religious body & having a religious title as the unit designation. They served from July, 1846 to July, 1847 during the Mexican War.
Also on the back page: "The Slave Trade" notes in part from Liberia: "...the slave trade about here is breathing its last gasp...British cruisers shaver so closely invested these dens of blood and death that the slavers at the Galenas have given their slaves to the natives...".
Inside has much in: "The Oregon Treaty" with England, which includes: "A Proclamation" concerning it signed in type by the President: James K. Polk. Another page has the: "Message" signed: James K. Polk concerning the treaty with England.
Sixteen pages, 8 3/4 by 12 inches, foxing at front page folds, minor spine wear, generally good condition.
AI notes: In 1846, as the United States was embroiled in the Mexican–American War, a remarkable corps of men known as the Mormon Battalion was organized, comprising nearly five hundred volunteers from the Latter-day Saint community recently displaced from Nauvoo, Illinois. Mustered in Council Bluffs, Iowa, under the authority of the U.S. government and with the blessing of their leader Brigham Young, these men embarked on an unprecedented march of roughly 2,000 miles to California, enduring harsh terrain, extreme weather, and scarcity of provisions. Though their duties were largely non-combative—constructing roads, forts, and supply depots—their service was invaluable in facilitating American military operations in the Southwest. The wages and rations earned by the battalion were instrumental in sustaining the westward migration of their fellow Saints, and many members contributed to early settlements in New Mexico and California, leaving a lasting imprint on the expansion of the American frontier. The Mormon Battalion thus stands as a singular example of a religiously unified military unit serving the nation in a time of war.
As noted in Wikipedia, this title: "...(was) one of the most widely-circulated magazines in the United States...Devoted primarily to politics...considered an important source for the history of the period."
Category: Pre-Civil War
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