On October 6, 1845, the assembly hall of the Nauvoo Temple was filled with Latter-day Saints gathered for conference. Since the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, threats and rumors of further violence from mobs had been circulating the city for months. Some of the Saints had been victims of actual assaults. Fear of the future and uncertainty were everywhere. Furthermore, whispers of the leadership crisis occasioned by Smith's death still lingered in the city. The Twelve Apostles were well aware of the situation in Nauvoo and the potential consequences of lingering in the city. Parley P. Pratt spoke movingly on the future of the Saints and the freedom they were to find by moving west, an idea that was common knowledge for many of the Saints.1 As his talk concluded he added, “Here is one principle in which [God] wants this whole people to unite. When we were to leave Missouri the saints entered into a covenant not to cease their exertions until every saint who wished to go was removed, which was done.” Pratt had tapped into the spirit of Zion, a desire to create a society that was united under prophetic leadership in aiding one another and uplifting the poor with the rest. Immediately after these words were spoken, Brigham Young moved, “We take all the saints with us, to the extent of our ability that is, our influence and property.” The motion was carried unanimously by the Saints, creating in the leadership's minds a binding covenant. Young then prophesied, “The great God will shower down means upon this people, to accomplish it to the very letter.”2This covenant guided many of the leadership's actions over the coming months as they moved thousands of Saints towards a land of promise, somewhere beyond the Rocky Mountains.3 However, as is often the case, reality added unexpected twists to their efforts to live the ideal. One of the major twists in the story of the exodus was the recruitment and journey of the Mormon Battalion. While the battalion in many regards was an embodiment of the ideals of the covenant made at Nauvoo, their departure opened a new spectrum of problems as the Saints sought to bring all to the new Zion. The women who were connected to the Mormon Battalion acutely felt these challenges both as they went with the battalion and as they remained behind with the rest of the Saints in Iowa. Their experiences provide valuable insights for those seeking to better understand the complicated reality of the Latter-day Saint exodus. Their stories also help to illustrate the Latter-day Saint efforts at building a Zion community and women's perspectives of these Zion-building efforts as the Saints transitioned from Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains.This article moves beyond the traditional narratives of the exodus west or the story of the Mormon Battalion. Many excellent historians have contributed valuable insights to our current understanding of these topics. Normally, more attention has been paid to the men of the battalion and those in the Saints’ encampments in Iowa. While the efforts of the men should not be ignored nor demeaned, equal consideration should be given to the women's stories. Women's voices can be faint and are often hidden, yet, this faintness should not be mistaken for lack of importance. This article seeks to expand the voice of the women who traveled with the battalion and highlights the voices of those women who remained behind. In each group, the narrative of action and Zion building weave together to create a picture of the realities of life for the women who were connected to the battalion and the larger challenges facing the Saints as they sought to fulfill their covenant made in the assembly hall of the Nauvoo Temple.The Saints exodus west began in February 1846. As mobs threatened the city of Nauvoo, church leaders sought to placate their enemies by leaving earlier than anticipated. As they crossed Iowa that spring, the elements created mud-choked roads and generally miserable conditions for the Saints.4 The members had limited supplies and many of the fleeing Saints were destitute. However, even though the trek was miserable, the forward companies continued to leave instructions for those who followed behind, helping to make the journey for those coming later easier.5 By the time the Saints arrived at the banks of the Missouri River in June, many were completely exhausted. The church was in debt and leaders dispensed what little they had in resources.6 Despite their exhaustion, both the men and women of the “the Camp of Israel,” a name used by the Saints to describe their companies, went to work creating small stopover communities to live in. These included settlements such as Garden Grove, Council Bluffs, Mt. Pisgah, and eventually Winter Quarters.It was during this time of rest and rebuilding that Captain James Allen of the United States Army arrived in the refugee encampments in July 1846 to recruit a battalion of Mormons for the Mexican War. He was met with an icy reception. Many of the Saints, both women and men, had little good to say of the government they perceived had allowed their persecution and expulsion. Church leaders had also made statements condemning the actions of the government, which further contributed to the people's animosity.7 Undeterred by the open hostility, Allen met with the leaders in Council Bluffs, who agreed to the request for a battalion.8 The women saw the church leadership begin to actively push for recruitment among the Saints, at times visiting people in person to ask them to enlist.9Many women were now persuaded and encouraged their husbands to go, though others continued to oppose it and influenced their husbands to not enlist. James Williams recalled one friend telling her husband she would leave him if he went with the battalion.10 Though the decision to send husbands, fathers, and sons was sobering, many saw the invitation from the Twelve as coming from divine origins.11 Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young saw scriptural application for the men's enlistment. Kimball stated the men would be as the “sons of Moroni” and Young compared their actions to the sacrifice of Abraham.12 This encouragement helped some women to support their husbands’ call to go with the battalion. Others feared that the government would punish the Saints for not enlisting.13Still, the decision was difficult. Drusilla Hendricks recalled in a later memoir: “My fury would come up and I would have no language to express my feelings. I was in a complete struggle.”14 Jane Buckley had to care for an infant and nearly invalid in-laws without her husband's aid. Other women were pregnant, while many still did not have adequate shelter for the winter built yet. However, these and other women demonstrated their support.15 During a farewell dance on July 18 for the battalion, Mormon sympathizer Thomas Kane noted that the Latter-day Saint women had been “bred to other lives” and that they were “decorous maidens” in his eyes. He also recalled at the end of the dance: “Silence was then called, and a well cultivated mezzo-soprano voice, belonging to a young lady with fair face and dark eyes, gave with quartette accompaniment a little song, the notes of which I have been unsuccessful in repeated efforts to obtain since,—a version of the text, touching to all earthly wanderers: ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept.’ ‘We wept when we remembered Zion.’”16In line with military practice, General Stephen Kearney authorized the men to bring four laundresses per company. However, Allen gave even more concessions and allowed several families to join the expedition.17 As a result, approximately thirty-six women and about forty-five children accompanied the battalion.18 Melissa Coray Kimball later reminisced: “One of the hardest parts of the journey was the starting. I had to leave my father and mother, but it was a choice between them and my husband and I thought my duty required me to keep with my husband. I never saw them again.”19 According to historian Sherman Fleek: “Allen's decision, though championed by many of the men, was nevertheless unwise from a strictly military perspective. . . . The authorized laundress is one aspect of army tolerance, but wives, children, and elderly teamsters were beyond acceptable prudence.”20 However, for the Saints, the battalion offered a way to demonstrate loyalty, earn money, and move families west at the expense of the government towards their final destination.21Margaret Phelps recalled when the battalion left Council Bluffs around July 20: “I was very ill at the time, my children all small, my babe also extremely sick; but the call was pressing; there was no time for any provision to be made for wife or children; no time for tears; regret was unavailing. He started in the morning. I watched him from my wagon-bed till his loved form was lost in the distance; it was my last sight of him.”22 The battalion marched 150 miles south and arrived at Fort Leavenworth on August 1, 1846. The soldiers received tents and supplies and the laundresses received government rations. The men, rather than the government, paid the women for their laundry services.23On August 13 the battalion began the trek toward Santa Fe. Women walked with their husbands or occasionally rode in wagons. From August 13 to August 19, Companies A, B, and E marched slowly, waiting for the remaining two companies to catch up from Fort Leavenworth. During that week, the officers—who were Saints themselves—and enlisted privates began to quarrel on their roles. Women were not usually involved, but there was at least one exception. Lieutenant Robert Clift tried to persuade Mary Brown, the wife of Captain James Brown, to work with him and others in convincing the captain to resign his position. When Brown learned of Clift's threats and uncomplimentary remarks, he swore he would shoot Clift. While that did not happen, tensions continued to boil among the men.24On August 26, the battalion learned that James Allen had died of an illness at Fort Leavenworth on August 23.25 Allen had suggested that First Lieutenant Andrew Jackson Smith, a non-Latter-day Saint US army officer, take charge of the Mormon Battalion. Smith arrived with Dr. George Sanderson, the battalion's medical officer, at the battalion's camp on August 29. The battalion's officers accepted Smith in spite of dismay by the enlistees. The battalion then continued on its way to Santa Fe under Smith's direction.26Thomas Richardson wrote his wife in September to comfort her about his absence. In his letter he noted that she was lucky to have remained home for all that the women who came had gained was, “a hard tramp.”27 However, though the trip was rough, the women were positive and aided the sick and wounded. Melissa Coray and Lydia Hunter often sang to pass the time.28 While the men recorded each other's grumblings, they did not mention the women complaining or making the journey more difficult.29 The women also appear to have avoided the conflicts between the men and Smith, though on occasion they would make their voices heard. One example of this occurred when Smith sent Captain Nelson Higgins with eleven men, nine women, and thirty-three children towards modern-day Colorado to have them stay with other Latter-day Saints who were at the fort. This was done to increase the battalion's speed.30 This detachment wintered at Fort Pueblo, Colorado.31 Four days later, Norman Sharp shot himself in the arm while taking his gun from a wagon. Higgins ordered Sharp and Thomas Woolsey to remain behind at the Indian village where they were camped. Sharp's wife, Martha Jane, adamantly refused to leave him. She, her sister Caroline Sargent, and Woolsey stayed and attempted to save Sharp's life. An Arapaho medicine man aided them, but Sharp still died. Martha Jane was left in unknown territory among Native Americans. She and the others eventually continued on to Fort Pueblo.32Meanwhile, the rest of the Mormon Battalion marched along the Cimarron Cutoff. In an attempt to arrive more quickly at Santa Fe, Smith divided the battalion into two groups. The main body arrived in Santa Fe on October 9. The rest arrived two days later. Then Captain P. St. George Cooke, a trusted subordinate of General Stephen W. Kearny—commander of the Army of the West—took charge. On October 15, Cooke ordered a detachment led by Captain James Brown to travel to Fort Pueblo with the sick, the women, and the children. Cooke recalled that the battalion was, “embarrassed by many women.”33 Although the women had already marched over eight hundred miles, Cooke knew the upcoming terrain was far worse. William Coray recorded many women were “moaning and crying about the camp, thinking that they would in a few days be separated from their husbands and left in the care of sick men among savage tribes of Indians.” Women could not negotiate with the officers, but their efforts persuaded many men to begin negotiations with the officers and Cooke. They were relieved when Lieutenant George Dykes ordered: “All you men who have wives here can go back with them. I have never seen men go about crying enough to melt the heart of a crocodile before, so I have arranged it.”34 The women celebrated that they no longer had to march in the desert and knew their husbands would not be in a war zone.The Brown detachment left Santa Fe on October 18 and arrived at Fort Pueblo nearly a month later on November 17.35 In Pueblo there continued to be strains and tensions between the enlistees and the officers, with the women often acting as a neutral force. That winter the younger enlistees challenged the officers’ harsh rule as opposed to Brigham Young's counsel to act “as fathers to their Soldiers.”36 During a dance, the officers ordered the camp to stop and eliminate dances. This destroyed morale.37 The women do not appear to have participated in the dispute, but they could have created problems by voicing their opinions.The women also continued to nurture and aid the men and children.38 Celia Hunt, the first wife of Jefferson Hunt, nourished a young soldier for four days before he passed away. Many other women aided the sick and dying, but Celia was unique since she was the only wife at Fort Pueblo separated from her husband as he had continued with the battalion. She remained a positive force despite the potential to be depressed or frustrated, especially after losing a child around the same time. Her choice to aid those around her was deliberate and indicates the strength of her faith.39The rest of the Mormon Battalion left Santa Fe on October 19, with five women in the company: Lydia Hunter, Susan Davis, Melissa Coray, Phebe Brown, and Mary Agnes Clark Steele Brown. These women completed the approximately twenty-one-hundred-mile trek from Council Bluffs to San Diego. They saw the departure of the Willis detachment, the final detachment sent back to Pueblo, on November 10 and helped forge a wagon road across the desert. They rode in wagons and on horses and walked. They endured severe thirst and hunger and proved creative in coping with hardship.40 Lydia Hunter was pregnant and her friend Melissa Coray assisted her. This determined group arrived in the small town of San Diego on January 29, 1847. And while the men rarely mentioned the women in their journals, they recorded their sadness when Hunter died, illustrating a respect for her and what she accomplished.41 Coray was honored in being selected as matron of the army hospital in San Diego. She successfully occupied this post during her stay in San Diego, providing needed medical assistance to the men and was the only woman with the battalion to be paid by the military paymaster.42Of the five women who made the march, Mary Agnes Clark Steele Brown, the wife of Sergeant Edmund Brown of Company E, has been forgotten in histories of the battalion.43 Cooke stated, “Five wives of officers were reluctantly allowed to accompany the march.” And in another instance, “At the earnest request of two Captains and three sergeants, their wives were permitted to accompany the expedition.”44 Coray added, “There were five of us women who made the march.”45 Besides her husband, Mary Agnes was accompanied by her sons George and Isaiah Steele, her stepsons William and Edmund, her brother Joseph Clark, and two nephews.46 Once in California, her husband and three of their sons enlisted with the Mormon Volunteers.47 Her obituary states that she was one of four women who made it to California.48 A pension record describes how Brown's son Isaiah sustained the loss of an eye while with the Mormon Volunteers and was taken to his mother's home in San Diego following the injury.49 At her funeral she was remembered by the battalion men for, “the kindness and motherly care manifested . . . towards the ‘boys’ of the Battalion, in all the most trying scenes they were called to pass through. She remained firm and confident, using an influence and example of quiet, patient endurance that was felt and acknowledged by all.”50Like Brown, the women who accompanied the Mormon Battalion played an important role in supporting the enlistees. Their confidence and courage impacted the battalion in ways the men seldom acknowledged. Nicholas Shrum recognized the women's role: “It is clear that their faith, their decision to go . . . and their assistance created a remarkable and unique experience for a military unit and religious body in Antebellum American history.”51Sarah Allen, in a later autobiography, succinctly captured what many felt as they watched their husbands march away, “I was overcome by the desolate situation that confronted me alone in a wilderness and unprotected, I wept bitterly.”52 These women who remained with the body of the Saints, focused on their efforts to survive the winter, the distribution of the Mormon Battalion's earnings, and the challenges of the movement westward. They also were anxious to continue communication with their men.53 Eliza Hunsaker wrote, “I and the children all feel to comfort you in your affliction and say to you be of good cheer.”54 Others sent letters full of love and affection. Fereba Barger included a love poem, along with news of the family.55 Even some illiterate women forwarded messages through friends and leaders.56 They also expressed frustration in their letters, corresponding with their husbands to find comfort.57 Some women shared feelings of loneliness and longing for their spouses, while others discussed sicknesses they were facing. Hunsaker confessed, “Lonesome seems the time that we are to be separated.”58 For whatever reason, some women did not take the opportunity to write their family members in the battalion, as evidenced by questions in their husbands’ letters. Philemon Merrill was particularly distraught when no mail arrived for him.59 In general though, the women lifted their husbands, fathers, and brothers with their words.In their letters, the women occasionally discussed their living circumstances among family and friends. Most of the Mormon Battalion families settled on the east side of the Missouri River in Iowa.60 Brigham Young had promised to look after them, which was often accomplished by sending these women to familial networks for support. Elizabeth Glines typifies the experience of many other women when she chose to stay with her in-laws throughout the winter till her husband returned.61 On July 24, the Twelve specifically assigned eighty-eight bishops, “to take charge of the families left by the Mormon Battalion.”62 Fereba Barger, who chose to live alone, recorded in August 1846: “Bro. Rich had just helped me to some flour before I received the money. . . . Br Rich pays all the attendance to me that he can. . . . Brother Rich has a great deal resting upon his hands as there is a great deal of sickness in this place.”63 The parents of Clinton D. Bronson discussed in a letter to him how neighbors and a bishop supported them by providing supplies and helping them move westward to Council Bluffs.64 Mary Compton told her husband, “I am in the care of Brother Bird.”65 Keziah Hunter and others went to stay with Brigham Young's camp.66Others, like Sarah Allen, struggled at times: “Before leaving, my husband made arrangements for me to draw provisions from the store of a trader at a small settlement on the Mississippi River, but for some reason the provisions never reached me. Through some misunderstanding, it passed into other hands.” She later received aid from friends to make it through the winter.67 While Fanny Taggart was still in Nauvoo, she received a letter from her husband stating he had joined the Mormon Battalion, promising her the church would provide for her. Taggart was aided by family friends as she journeyed to Winter Quarters. She later wrote that upon her arrival: “I did not know what to do, I had no money nor no one to look to, to do anything for me. I went to President Brigham Young for council and he told me to look up some of my acquaintances and get in with them until I could get me a house . . . the answer I received from President Young made me feel like bursting into tears and to hide them I turned quickly away and walked a few steps.”68 She continued: “I walked a few steps and looked up to see a woman standing in the door of a tent. I wiped my eyes and asked if she could direct me to Brother Asa Davis.” Davis was a prominent member and local leader assigned to care for the battalion families. He was also a family friend of Taggart's. Taggart continued, “She showed me his house, and I was given accommodations [such] as they had.” She later cared for another battalion wife at the suggestion of a bishop and was given a home with supplies. Although her circumstances were not ideal, Taggart was taken care of by local church networks, which leaders relied upon to keep their promise to the battalion members.69While the local familial and church structures greatly benefited the families of the battalion men, an even greater boon to the women were the government payments allotted, such as the clothing allowance sent back by their husbands.70 When Parley P. Pratt and others were on their way for an eastern mission, they stopped at Fort Leavenworth to see the battalion men. Pratt collected the clothing allowance funds and returned with them to Council Bluffs on August 11 before continuing on his mission. The battalion men also sent a letter from each company detailing to whom the funds were to be disbursed. Most went to family members, but some men directed funds to the Twelve or to the poor.71 The battalion members received approximately $21,000 in clothing allowances, and they sent $5,860 back to the Saints, or roughly 25 percent. In addition, some men, like Samuel Gully, sent their funds through personal correspondence. Gully had intended to send his funds with the rest. But, when he went to give his money to the bookkeeper, the man had already closed the books. So he promptly sent his funds through a letter to his wife.72 At least eight men sent about $384.54 to their wives.73 The sum of more than $6,200 seems small compared to the total amount the men received for their clothing allowance. Dykes recorded, “I have just completed the Returns for the Mormon battalion of vol[unteers], and we shall Draw tomorrow morning $42 p[e]r man due for clothing for the year 1846 but the most of this will be due [to] [Peter] Sarpy [the owner of a Council Point trading post] for goods received.”74 Arnold Stevens also wrote to his wife Lois, “i [sic] took up ten Dallars in Surpys [sic] I had but 32 coming to me 25 of which I have sent to you.” Jesse D. Hunter informed his wife Keziah, “I have been obliged to spend the greater part of it for clothing and provisions.”75 The men needed supplies for their trek and also made personal purchases. This information appears to have not been communicated back to church leadership, who wondered what had become of all the funds that were to be used to help their families.By late August there were roughly eleven thousand people in camps along the Missouri River, all needing supplies and shelter for the winter.76 These issues weighed on church leaders who wanted to build a Zion community that took care of the poor and needy. The leaders greatly appreciated the additional battalion funds.77 On August 20, Young wrote, “We consider the money you have recieved [sic] as compensation for your clothing, a peculiar manifestation of the kind providence of our Heavenly Father at this particular time, which is just the time for the purchase of provisions and goods for the winter supply of the camp.”78 The leadership soon set to work to see how to best help the women utilize the funds they had received.Young and the remaining members of the Twelve counseled and presented a plan on August 14 that addressed their concerns with the women purchasing goods at the inflated prices in the Council Bluffs area by sending for provisions from St. Louis: But should it [the money] be distributed among the Individuals named in the acompaning [sic] bills, & they, individually & severally appropriate the same to their private advantage; paying 16 2/3 cts per lb. for sugar & coffee when the same May be had in St. Louis for 6 cts or there abouts And also paying 18 3/4 2.0 & 25 cts per yd for calicocs [sic] & Domestics, when the same May be had from 5 to 10 cts Per yd. also paying $3. Pr Cwt [100 weight] for Flour, when wheat can be purchased for 25 cts Per Bushell [60 lbs] or there abouts.79The leaders called for a general meeting and asked the local leadership to discuss the Twelve's idea. If the women accepted their plan, they were advised to dispatch Newel K. Whitney, Jonathan H. Hale, and Daniel Spencer to St. Louis, “for such Dry goods and groceries, hardware and provisions: as they must need and can be most advantageously procurred at whole sale.” There was also a plan to build a horse-powered flour mill and have the battalion women buy wheat. Construction for a church-owned water-powered mill was already underway; however, the use of a horse-powered mill would allow the funds of the women to remain in the camp, rather than being used to pay local millers. The Twelve suggested, that “Mill Irons and boalt [bolts]” be purchased so as “to be put into immediate oppiration [sic] by Horse power, for the purpose of manufactoring [sic] Flour for the camp this winter.” They continued, “Adding alittle [sic] of our labour during the cold season, we may have plenty of good Flour and save thousands of dollars to the camp in that article alone, before we settle beyond the Mountains.”80In a later letter to the men of the battalion, Young wrote that grinding grain to flour will “give labor to the Teams of the camp this winter in manufacturing the Flour . . . and in other words that the money thus expended would be worth from 2 to 4 times as much to the church as it would expend in retail purchases. & no one individual would be injured. but would do them good. others in camp have made out their bills & added their funds . . . to the money from the army & are sending to St. Louis by Bishop Whitney.”81 Even before the planned water-powered mill could be completed, the women would be able to save hundreds of dollars using the horse-powered mill.82In response to this letter, a meeting was held on August 18 with the families. According to Isaac Morley: The letter being read to [the] congregation a vote was taken to see whether they all did agree to the suggestion, when it was found that fifty seven [thereafter naming the fifty seven women, nine of which the records show no money coming to] and others requested a part of [if] not all the monies sent on for their benefit Having made arrangements with the expectation of receiving funds. It seems quite unpracticable to them to get along without some part, others are willing to sustain almost any privitation [sic] to enhance the means for the benefit of the general cause.83Some of the fifty-seven women had immediate needs. Bulah Clark requested only part of her money directly, indicting her need for a “good milk cow,” and told the Twelve to use the rest of her money how they saw fit.84 Mariah Stevens wrote, “I take this Oportunity [sic] to inform you that I Desire to obey Counsil I intend to do so i [sic] should Be glad to have ten Dollars sent to me as I do not no [sic] how to get along with out it un till you could get up the goods.”85Several of the women and their husbands expressed optimism in the Twelve's plan throughout the month of August. Anna Richardson informed her husband that she had followed the council's decision. In response he replied, “I am weel [sic] pleased with the course which you took in obeying council concerning the money which I sent to you For I have all confidence in the Bishops and if you let them layout the money they can get double that you could for it if you let them use the money and it don't reach your wants you can have some place to call on them again.”86 Mary Compton reported to her husband, “The money . . . is in the hands of the twelve and they are going to send it Down the River. . . . I have talked with Brigham . . . [he] says that Articles can be bought there cheaper than I can have them brought [here by] my self the church are generally sending in this way and Each one sent a bill of . . . such Articles as they want.”87 When Sally St. John wrote to her husband Stephen, he encouraged her to, “ submit youre self to council as for the money I sent.”88 Young approvingly noted in a letter, “We have a council with the sisters and friends who have received money from the Battalion by El. Pratt, and they have unanimously agreed to send Bishop Whitney to St. Louis with their meens [sic] to purchase goods and to purchase wheat—in Mo and flour it there or here as we think of setting up a mill.”89Some perhaps felt pushed towards the