sistaiice either in the way of work or otherwise. The Mormons were true-hearted Americans, the memo- rial went on to say, and if the government would assist them in their present emergency, the petitioner stood ready to pledge himself as their representative to answer any call the government might make upon them for service on the field of battle.
Elder Little was taken at his word. At a cabinet meeting, held a day or two after his petition was pre- sented, the president advised that the elder be sent at once to the Mormon camps, and there raise a thousand men to take possession of California in the name of the United States, while a thousand more be sent by way of Cape Horn for the same purpose, on board a United States transport. It was finally arranged that the elder, in company with Kane, should proceed westward, the latter bearing despatches to Kearny, then at Fort Leavenworth, with a view to raising a corps of about five hundred men.
On the 19th of June, Kearny issued an order to Captain James Allen of the 1st dragoons to pro- ceed to the Mormon camp, and there raise four or five companies of volunteers, to be mustered into the service of the United States and receive the pay and rations of other infantry volunteers. They were then to be marched to Fort Leavenworth, where they would be armed; after which they would proceed to California by way of Santa Fe. They were to enlist for twelve months, after which time they were to be discharged, retaining as their own property the arms furnished them.
In pursuance of his orders, Captain Allen proceeded to Mount Pisgah, where on the 26th he made known his mission. After a conference with the church council at that point, Allen went to Council Bluffs, where on the 1st of July it was determined by President Young that the battalion should be raised. In two weeks the corps was enrolled, and mustered in on the 16th of July, the president of the church
