The Mormon Batallion

Jon and I also visited the Mormon Batalion.  This museum tells the story of the 2000 mile march by Mormon men and women who came to the aid of the United States during the Mexican - American war.

Did you know that Mormons were first settled in Iowa?  They were in the midst of fleeing west due to persecution when they were approached by the Army to recruit men to help in the war.  Brigham Young saw this as a sign to help in their trek to the West.  The U.S. government paid the soldiers and provided them with food and shelter during their trek.  

Here I am becoming a Mormon soldier.  Each soldier ended up walking with 40 extra pounds of supplies.  It looks like I am more of an Argentine U.S. Mormon soldier!

Brigham Young encouraged the Mormon soldiers to also carry their Book of Mormon and Bible.

The Mormons ended up in San Diego and never even fought in one war.  They did build a road from Santa Fe, Mexico to California, they built San Diego's first courthouse, they also taught some of their trades to the local Indians such as brick making, digging wells, making whitewash buildings, and even blacksmithing.  Many of the soldiers moved up to Utah to reunite with their families who eventually made the trek from Iowa to Utah, but a lot of them moved up North to San Francisco to try to hit it big in the gold rush.  I found quite a bit of "fool's" gold in my panning!