Mormon March Traditional Cache
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A quick, small, roadside grab at a monument commemorating the march of the Mormon Battalion through here during the Mexican-American War. Container is a plastic concrete sampling jar that looks like an oversize 35mm film container.
The march of the Mormon Battalion was one of the most ambitious, successful, and unique chapters in American military history. In 1846, Five hundred men with about fifty dependents marched over 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs in Iowa to San Diego California across what was then one of the most hostile environments on Earth.
In 1846 America went to war with Mexico. At that time, the Mormon’s were on a slow migration to their promised land in Utah. They occupied several camps in Iowa and had endured some hard times, including violent persecution, to get that far. Brigham Young sent an envoy to President Polk to solicit aid for his people. Given the state of war, a deal of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” was struck. Thus was formed The Mormon Battalion, the only religious unit in US military history.
The contingent marched southward across Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona Territory, and into what is still Sonora, Northern Mexico. They then came up the nearby San Pedro River valley and marched on Tucson. The Mexican garrison there fled rather than fight. The battalion then went on to occupy the area of present day San Diego and Los Angeles.
The success of this operation was very influential in acquiring land from Mexico for the United States’ manifest destiny westward. Maps, trail blazing, and field craft learned by the contingent helped open the way for later pioneers into the deep Southwest. Veterans of the campaign settled throughout the Southwest and were great contributors to the development of American civilization throughout the region.
There are many of these monuments commemorating the route of the Mormon Battalion. In this area, I know of two others. One is at the Charleston road crossing of the San Pedro River between Sierra Vista and Tombstone. That one commemorates the ‘Battle of The Bulls’ when the unit was stampeded by a herd of wild cattle numbering in the thousands. There is another in Benson. The one at this location near Douglas is to memorialize the gravesite of a participant two miles to the south, which would put it within a few feet of the border.
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gehax bs zrfdhvgr
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