24. Samuel H. Rogers, 1819-1886

Journal account of the enlistment of the Mormon Battalion.

Samuel H. Rogers was one of the five hundred men and some 34 women (plus a few children) who voluntarily enlisted as a member of the Mormon Battalion. Part of his diary documents his experiences in a march that moved in a large arc from Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas through the American southwest to San Diego, California. He also documents their experiences in California, including working at a grist mill owned by John Sutter in central California, and the return trip to rejoin their families. Rogers was a Private in Company B of the Battalion. The Captain of Company B was Jess D. Hunter.

The Mormon Battalion constituted about one-third of some 1600 men who made one of the longest infantry marches in United States history. They enlisted near Council Bluffs, Iowa, where they left on 20 July 1846, marched to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas where they were outfitted, and then marched southwest, the majority of which arrived in San Diego on 29 January 1847. Their enlistment pay provided important cash for the Mormon encampments.

The Battalion members were one of three prongs of the Mormon westward movement. In addition to the main groups under Brigham Young's leadership which were crossing the Plains, a ship load of east coast Latter-day Saints lead by Samuel Brannan sailed out of New York harbor on the same day the first wagons pulled out of Nauvoo, 4 February 1846. Brannan's group would disembark in the San Francisco area, and Brannan himself would travel east to meet Brigham Young near Ft. Bridger. Being unable to convince President Young to bring the main body of the pioneers on to California, Brannan returned to California and eventually left the Church. The Battalion members, some of whom reenlisted for another short term, eventually returned to their families, many of whom had remained in the Iowa settlements. Many released members of the Battalion had found jobs in California, including working for John Sutter's foreman, John Marshall. It is the diary of Mormon Battalion member Henry Bigler who recorded on 24 January 1848 Marshall's discovery of gold on the north fork of the American River, near Sacramento. [The original Bigler Journal is in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California]