Army of Israel : Mormon Battalion narratives
"History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry," said Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke of the 1846 march of his command, the Mormon Battalion, from Council Bluffs to the California coast. The command's distinctive place in the history of the West and of the United States military was secured by that epic Mexican War journey, which pioneered a new wagon road across the arid Southwest desert and helped bring about the Gadsden Purchase, as well as by this military unit's unique composition, consisting almost entirely of members of one religion, and by the battalion's subsequent important roles in early California history, from the United States army's occupation and the establishment of new civil government to the discovery of gold and the pioneering of major emigrant roads into the territory. Prolific journal and letter writers, battalion members produced one of the richest and farthest ranging documentary records of the mid-nineteenth century West. Several classic battalion journals have been published, including those by Cooke and Henry Bigler, but a large body of similarly valuable and informative accounts have not been readily available
Print Book, English, 2000
Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah, 2000