By Emily Sanderson — May 2009
Kevin Henson is a geologist by trade, so his account at a fireside last month of his personal Mormon Battalion was naturally topographical. His march began in Mt. Pisgah, Iowa, on July 5, 2008, and ended in San Diego, California, on January 29 of this year.
“Trails are linear temples,” Henson says. “They teach you things you wouldn’t learn any other way.”
Henson collected GPS mapspots on the trail that he has entered into Google Earth, which provides a continuous three-dimensional satellite image of the length of the trail. Henson then displayed these images on a large screen in a cultural hall at a stake center in Murray, giving attendees a virtual tour of the trek.
Henson has developed a website of the information he has gathered (www.battaliontrek.com), which includes photos and information about significant findings or experiences along the trail. What began as a scouting project in Michigan, where Henson and his wife Denny presently live, has exploded into an expanded hobby. And they have gained an interest in trekking and mapping other pioneer trails, as well.
The actual path of the Mormon Battalion march, much of which followed the Santa Fe trail, has not been documented in some parts, but when no additional information was available, Henson was able to help decipher the trail. He said that original leaders of the Mormon Battalion used point-to-point navigation, often mountain-to-mountain, where they were able to locate the next water source. Viewing the terrain using this logic, Henson was able to determine the Battalion’s likely path.
Henson also discovered evidence of two additional members of the battalion, brothers Louis and John Cromwell Dent who carved their named in a rock along the trail. They were the first individuals added to the Battalion roster in 150 years.
Henson took the trek as part of the international Mormon Battalion Association’s re-enactment coordinated by Max Jamison.
The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based infantry unit in U.S. history and it endured one of the longest infantry marches (2,000 miles) in the history of the world. They marched in 1846 to prove Mormon’s loyalty to the United States despite the persecution they were experiencing. The march also provided much-needed income, which paid in great part the Mormon pioneers’ emigration to Utah.
Several of the original infantrymen held rifles with bayonets which stood 10 feet tall when carried, and packs weighing about 45 pounds.
“It was a very impressive scene when the troop of about 500 marched through town,” Henson said.
Henson said the day for the Mormon Battalion often began at the rise of the morning star, which he was able to determine through an online constellation website was at 4:15 a.m. on the day mentioned, probably in an effort to avoid the hot sun.
The trail was very taxing on the infantry. The soldiers suffered from excessive heat, lack of sufficient food, improper medical treatment, and forced long-distance marches, according to Blaine Nay, a Mormon Battalion enthusiast.
Many who trekked all the way to San Diego across the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona and California lost about 35 percent of their body weight during the six-month period. Modern doctors would say that such a weight loss would mean certain death, Henson said.
“Their participation in the early development of California by building Fort Moore in Los Angeles, building a courthouse in San Diego, and making bricks and building houses in southern California contributed to the growth of the West,” writes Nay.
Many in the Battalion also helped settle Salt Lake City and assisted emigrants on their journey West. For example, a number of former Battalion men helped rescue the Martin and Willy Handcart companies, who were assailed by severe winter storms in 1856.
Along the trail, Henson and the re-enactment group last year provided educational seminars to high school groups and others. The Harvest Festival at Rancho Golondrinas was the location of one such presentation, where they have been invited to return.
Conquering other Mormon historical trails is in the Hensons’ immediate plans, Henson said.
