Part 4 (1/2)

Both adjutants of the Mormon Battalion later became permanent residents of Arizona. Geo. P. d.y.k.es for years was a resident of Mesa, where he died in 1888, at the age of 83. Philemon C. Merrill, in 1881, was one of the custodians of the Utah stone, sent from Salt Lake, for insertion in the Was.h.i.+ngton Monument, in Was.h.i.+ngton. He and his family const.i.tuted the larger part of the D.W. Jones party that founded Lehi in March, 1877, and it was he, who, soon thereafter, led in the settlement of St. David in the San Pedro Valley, on the route of the Mormon Battalion march. He died at San Jose, in the Gila Valley, September 15, 1904.

Pauline Weaver, the princ.i.p.al guide, was a Frenchman, who had been in the Southwest at least since 1832, when he visited the Pima villages and Casa Grande. In 1862, while trapping, he was one of the discoverers of the La Paz gold diggings. The following year he was with the Peeples party that found gold on Rich Hill, in central Arizona. Thereafter he was an army scout. He died at Camp Verde in 1866.

Antoine LeRoux, the other guide named, was with the Whipple expedition across northern Arizona in 1853. His name is borne by LeRoux Springs, northwest of Flagstaff, and by LeRoux Wash, near Holbrook.

Pa.s.sing of the Battalion Members.h.i.+p

No member of the Mormon Battalion now is living. The last to pa.s.s was Harley Mowrey, private Co. C, who died in his home in Vernal, Utah, October 21, 1920, at the age of 98. He was one of the men sent from New Mexico to Pueblo and who arrived at Salt Lake a few days after the Pioneers. On the way to Salt Lake he married the widow of another Battalion member, Martha Jane Sharp, who survives, as well as seven children, 41 grandchildren, 94 great-grandchildren and thirty of the latest generation. Mowrey and wife were members of the San Bernardino colony.

A Memorial of n.o.ble Conception

On the Capitol grounds at Salt Lake soon is to arise a n.o.ble memorial of the service of the Mormon Battalion. The legislature of Utah has voted toward the purpose $100,000, contingent upon the contribution of a similar sum at large. A State Monument Commission has been created, headed by B.H. Roberts, and this organization has been extended to all parts of Utah, Idaho and Arizona.

In the 1921 session of the Arizona Legislature was voted a contribution to the Battalion Monument Fund of $2500 this with expression of State pride in the achievement that meant so much to the Southwest and Pacific Coast.

From nineteen designs submitted have been selected the plans of G. P.

Riswold. A condensed description of the monument is contained in a report of the Commission:

”The base is in triangular form, with concave sides and rounded corners.

A bronze figure of a Battalion man is mounted upon the front corner.

Flanking him on two sides of the triangle are: cut in high relief, on the left, the scene of the enlistment of the Battalion under the flag of the United States of America; on the right a scene of the march, where the men are a.s.sisting in pulling the wagons of their train up and over a precipitous ascent, while still others are ahead, widening a cut to permit the pa.s.sage of the wagons between the out-jutting rocks. The background is a representation of mountains of the character through which the Battalion and its train pa.s.sed on its journey to the Pacific.

”Just below the peak, in the center and in front of it, is chiseled a beautiful head and upper part of a woman, symbolizing the 'Spirit of the West.' She personifies the impulsive power and motive force that sustained these Battalion men, and led them, as a vanguard of civilization, across the trackless plains and through the difficult defiles and pa.s.ses of the mountains. The idea of the sculptor in the 'Spirit of the West' is a magnificent conception and should dominate the whole monument.

”The bronze figure of the Battalion man is dignified, strong and reverential. He excellently typifies that band of pioneer soldiers which broke a way through the rugged mountains and over trackless wastes.

”Hovering over and above him, the beautiful female figure, with an air of solicitous care, guards him in his reverie. Her face stands out in full relief, the hair and diaphanous drapery waft back, mingling with the clouds, while the figure fades into dim outline in the ma.s.sive peaks and mountains, seeming to pervade the air and the soil with her very soul.”

Battalion Men Who Became Arizonans

Of the Battalion members, 33 are known to have become later residents of Arizona, with addition of one of the women who had accompanied the Battalion to Santa Fe and who had wintered at Pueblo. There is gratification over the fact that it has been found possible to secure photographs of nearly all the 33. Reproduction of these photographs accompanies this chapter. When this work was begun, only about ten Battalion members could be located as having been resident in this State.

Some of those who came back to Arizona were notable in their day, for all of them now have made the last march of humanity.

Jas. S. Brown, who helped find gold in California, was an early Indian missionary on the Muddy and in northeastern Arizona. Edward Bunker founded Bunkerville, a Virgin River settlement, and later died on the San Pedro, at St. David. Geo. P. d.y.k.es, who was the first adjutant of the Battalion, did service for his Church in 1849 and 1850 in Great Britain and Denmark. Philemon C. Merrill, who succeeded d.y.k.es as adjutant, was one of the most prominent of the pioneers of the San Pedro and Gila valleys. There is special mention, elsewhere, of Christopher Layton. In the same district, at Thatcher, lived and died Lieut. James Pace. Henry Standage was one of the first settlers of Alma Ward, near Mesa. Lot Smith, one of the vanguard in missionary work in northeastern Arizona and a leader in the settlement of the Little Colorado Valley, was slain by one of the Indians to whose service he had dedicated himself. Henry W.

Brizzee was a leading pioneer of Mesa. Henry G. Boyle became the first president of the Southern States mission of his church, and was so impressed with the view he had of Arizona, in Battalion days, that, early in 1877, he sent into eastern Arizona a party of Arkansas immigrants.

Adair, in southern Navajo County, was named after a Battalion member.

A complete list of Arizona Battalion members follows:

Wesley Adair, Co. C.--Showlow.

Rufus C. Allen, Co. A.--Las Vegas.

Reuben W. Allred, Co. A.--Pima.

Mrs. Elzada Ford Allred--Accompanied husband.

Henry G. Boyle, Co. C.--Pima.

Henry W. Brizzee, Co. D.--Mesa.

James S. Brown, Co. D.--Moen Copie.

Edward Bunker, Co. E.--St. David.

George P. d.y.k.es, Co. D.--Mesa.

Wm. A. Follett, Co. E.--Near Showlow.

Schuyler Hulett, Co. A.--Phoenix.