The Mormon Battalion

April 5, 1848

The enlistment of the Mormon Battalion in the service of the United States though looked upon by many with astonishment and some with fear, has proved a great blessing to this community. It was indeed the temporal salvation of our camp, and although it has been attended with perils and privation, still this has more or less ben the lot of us all, and it has proved a weapon of our defence, a blockade in the way of our worst enemies under which the widows, the poor and the destitute, and in fact all of this people, have been sheltered. The unseen hand of Jehovah is over this people for good, and in this thing we were enabled to outwit our enemies and the snare they laid for our feet became our anchor of safety for a season, for which we thank the Lord.

Brigham Young, from his Journal History

Why the Mormons Did Not Go to California

Mormon Battalion by John B. Fairbanks

If we were to go to San Francisco and dig up chunks of gold, or find it here in the valley it would ruin us. Many wanted to unite babylon and Zion; it’s the love of money that hurts them. If we find gold and silver we are in bondage directly. To talk of going away from this valley we are in for anything is like vinegar to my eyes. They that love the world have not their affections placed upon the Lord.

Brigham Young, from his speech to the Mormon Battalion on October 1, 1848

Both accounts quoted from The March of the Mormon Battalion, Golder, 1928, p246–247.