B. H. Roberts (1857–1933)

In the 1840s, the Mormons -- who had recently ceased to be mere heretics and had decided to by polygamous heretics, which was worse -- were possibly the most-despised White subgroup in America. Having been persecuted just about everywhere, and having seen their founder Joseph Smith murdered by a mob, their new leader Brigham Young decided to try to head for the most remote place he could think of to get away from the persecutors.

Unfortunately, the new President James K. Polk had decided he wanted to control California (he didn't really know what California was, but he wanted it), and to get there, he needed the lands in between as well. Was it the native territory of a number of First Nations tribes? Was it owned by Mexico? Who cares; that's what wars are for. Polk quickly forced the Mexican War.

As a sort of an aside, his territorial grab meant that the Mormons would no longer be able to escape the United States, so Brigham Young's idea of getting away was no longer quite as useful. But Polk offered a deal to Young (or vice versa; both sides seem to think it was their idea): Recruit a battalion of soldiers for our war with Mexico and we won't oppress you (much) as you head for some leftover place that we don't want -- i.e. the Great Salt Lake.

Young agreed to the deal, and pushed and cajoled roughly 500 Mormons to sign up for a year, under the command of a few Regular Army officers.

As it turned out, the Battalion never fought anything more determined than a herd of wild cattle (apart from a lot of arguments with their officers, who wanted to turn them into actual soldiers), and never entered the regions that are now called Mexico, though they did travel a lot of what had been Mexican territory. They did, however, march all the way from Iowa to San Diego, California, often through country that had not been explored by Europeans until then -- the longest continuous march of any unit in the war. They garrisoned California for a few months, then their service expired and they either went home or headed for San Francisco, having earned some useful cash for Young and the Mormons back home.

This was, I believe, the second substantial history of the battalion, the first being Sergeant Daniel Tyler's 1881 A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War, the only history written by a veteran of the battalion. The title is false; for events that took place over barely more than a year, it's quite hefty -- mostly because Tyler was a horrible, verbose writer who wouldn't know a declarative sentence if you taped it to his eyes. This is a better read, and a lot shorter, but it has very little to add -- whole chapters consist of little more than rehashes of Tyler and the writings of Philip St. George Cooke, the battalion's commander for most of his service. (In a non-trivial irony, when the United States in effect declared war on the Mormons a dozen years later, Cooke, was one of the officers ordered to take part in the expedition.)

The other defect with this book is that it is very strongly Mormon -- Roberts was a major, if controversial and slightly schismatic, figure in Mormonism. It just isn't a balanced account. A Mormon would probably like it very much; a non-Mormon will probably feel as if the world is just a little cockeyed. As history, it is definitely one-sided, refusing (e.g.) to admit that the Mormons show little evidence that they would have been good soldiers -- they just wouldn't take discipline, at least from a gentile. There are newer books about the Mormon Battalion; if you really want to know its history, those are surely better, although this one (which is short as well as old) will probably be a lot cheaper.… (more)

After the initial portion, the first half of the volume is a record of revelations with brief notations between them. Into the latter part of the book, there is more material that is not included in the standard works of the church.

"That it comes to repeat the great caution of Paul: beware lest any man spoil you (the disciples of Christ), through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world;" (page 274)

"As this paper is devoted to the great concerns of eternal things and the gathering of the Saints, it will leave politics, the gainsaying of the world, and many other matters, for their proper channels, endeavoring by all means to set an example before the world, which, when followed, will lead our fellow men to the gates of glory, where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary will find rest." (Page 275)

"This is from the first issue of The Evening and Morning Star, June 1832) Governor Boggs ... we have sufficient evidence that he sustained all the moves of the mob and even directed them." (Page 435) "Lieutenant Governor boggs has been represented as merely a curious and disinterested observer of these events; yet he was evidently the head and front of the mob;" (Page 437)

The early part of this volume has the first 100 or so revelations that are in the [b:The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints|2139442|The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints|Joseph Smith Jr.|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348565984s/2139442.jpg|2978666]. The latter part is a heart rending account of persecution mostly in Jackson County, Missouri. I was impressed that despite intense persecution, [a:Joseph Smith Jr.|3009967|Joseph Smith Jr.|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1252199500p2/3009967.jpg] stayed focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was not distracted by the persecution, but rather, continued to recieve doctrinal revelations from God.… (more)

I read with interest the chapters on the early church, and early Christian history. Since it is a text book, there are notes and review questions at the end of each chapter, which allowed me to check how well I paid attention during the chapter. Someday it would be nice to go over this information again, and to look at other sources to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the Middle East about the time of Christ. Just going over this book again would be a good start.

I read the 1979 printing which is dated November 1924. I have quoted, loaned out, and am still thinking about this book 2 years later - thus it gets moved to five stars. It is one that I want to reread.… (more)