On June 26, 1846, a detachment of U.S. soldiers rode into the campsite of Mormon refugees at Mt. Pisgah, Iowa. Captain James Allen carried orders from Colonel Stephen W. Kearny to recruit up to five companies of volunteer infantry from among these displaced Americans for the war with Mexico. The commemoration of the service and subsequent 2,100-mile march of this “Mormon Battalion” has been a part of the collective memory of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ever since. During the battalion's 175th anniversary, a year marked by the global Covid-19 pandemic, members of the church commemorated their volunteer forebears with living history demonstrations, marches, site dedications, and a symposium.1
The Mormon Battalion remains by far the most celebrated American unit in the U.S.-Mexican War, a fact made more fascinating considering that the soldiers never once engaged in fighting with Mexicans. Given that gallantry under...
