| 191 On June 30, 1847, Elder Brannan met the "Pioneers" at the crossing on Green River in what is now Wyoming, and accompanied them to Salt Lake Valley.
When Brigham Young and his associates resolved to stop in the valley, Elder Brannan was dissatisfied, and soon after started back to California. On the way, on September 6, 1847, he met a detachment of what was known as the "Mormon Battalion." 1 Daniel Tyler, one of the battalion, reports the meeting and Elder Brannan's views as follows:-
"We learned from him that the Pioneers had reached Salt Lake Valley in safety, but his description of the valley and its facilities was anything but encouraging. Among other things, Brother Brannan said the saints could not possibly subsist in the Great Salt Lake Valley,
1 The Mormon Battalion was a battalion furnished by the Mormons for the Mexican War. On June 30, 1846, Captain James Allen, of the United States army, arrived at the camp near Council Bluffs, Iowa, for the purpose of enlisting five hundred men for the war. It has been claimed by the Mormons that the President of the United States through Captain Allen made a demand for this battalion. It is claimed by others that Brigham Young secretly negotiated with the administration and offered to furnish these men for the purpose of procuring bounty money and salaries which he drew and appropriated, leaving some of the families of the soldiers to suffer. Jesse C. Little, who was instrumental in raising the battalion, wrote to Joseph Smith, of Lamoni, Iowa, from Littleton, Morgan County, Utah, under date of September 10 1892 as follows:-
"They were marched to Fort Leavenworth, where they were fully mustered into the service of the United States to operate with the army of the United States, against Mexico, and were paid, my journal says, between twenty-one and twenty-two thousand dollars, much of which was taken back to Brigham Young and the Twelve, by Apostle P. P. Pratt."
As an incident it might be well to mention that Jesse C. Little was in Washington City, District of Columbia, June 1, 1846, as a copy of letter by him to President Polk, now in our possession shows.
The Annals of Iowa for January, 1900, has the following:-
"While the Mormons were crossing the Territory, Capt. James Allen, of the First Dragoons, was sent by the government to enlist a battalion from them. He appeared at Mt. Pisgah, a Mormon station, in June, 1846. From there he went to the site of the present city of Council Bluffs. Having conferred with the Mormon leaders, he not only secured their consent to the enlistment, but obtained even a warning from Brigham Young to the saints, that if they desired to worship God as they pleased, they must furnish a battalion for the war.
"Five hundred men were speedily enrolled, and July 20, they left the Missouri River for Fort Leavenworth. This Mormon battalion did good work in the war."-Page 314.
Be this as it may, the required number of men was soon enlisted and mustered into service.
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