University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM Graduate College Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 2015 The orM mon Battalion's Manifest Destiny: Expansion and Identity during the Mexican- American War Natalie Brooke Coffman University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis Part of the History Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Coffman, Natalie Brooke, "The orM mon Battalion's Manifest Destiny: Expansion and Identity during the Mexican-American War" (2015). Graduate College Dissertations and Theses. 509. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/509 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate College Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MORMON BATTALION’S MANIFEST DESTINY: EXPANSION AND IDENTITY DURING THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR A Thesis Presented By Natalie Coffman To The Faculty of the Graduate College Of The University of Vermont In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Specializing in History May, 2015 Defense Date: March 23, 2015 Thesis Examination Committee: Nicole M. Phelps, Ph.D., Advisor Elizabeth A. Fenton, Ph.D., Chairperson Dona L. Brown, Ph.D. Cynthia J. Forehand, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College COPYRIGHT © Copyright by Natalie Brooke Coffman May 2015 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the experience of the Mormon Battalion, a group of five hundred Mormon soldiers commissioned by President James K. Polk to enlist in the U.S. military and aid in the newly declared war against Mexico in 1846. The war was a result of a belligerent and aggressive form of territorial expansion justified by the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Polk and many other Americans believed it was their Manifest Destiny to dominate a continental nation, and the Mormon Battalion was assigned to march to California to conquer Mexican territory for the United States. An examination of the Mormon soldiers’ journals and letters, as well as official Mormon Church records and correspondence, reveals that, despite participating in a war that promoted aggressive expansion, the Mormons’ understanding of Manifest Destiny contained unique perspectives regarding racial hierarchies and displays of masculinity, key elements of that popular ideology. The peculiar approach that the Mormons’ had to Manifest Destiny was directly influenced by their history as a persecuted body of believers. Ultimately, the Mormon soldiers agreed to volunteer for the war not because they wanted to express patriotism, but because they had a firm dedication to their church and resolved obedience to their leader, Brigham Young. Additionally, an examination of popular contemporary media outlets and their responses to the enlistment of the Mormon Battalion, as well as the relevant historiography, is included to demonstrate the evolution of the Mormon Battalion in historical memory, both inside and outside the Mormon Church. The treatment of the battalion by popular media outlets reflected changing attitudes regarding the implications of promoting a martial and aggressive society, while the role of the battalion in Mormon history evolved in tandem with Mormons’ fluctuating identities as U.S. citizens. CITATION Material from this thesis was accepted for publication in the University of Vermont History Review on November 21, 2014, in the following form: Coffman, N.C. (2015) “Saints more than Soldiers: The Enlistment of the Mormon Battalion.” University of Vermont History Review Vol. 25, May 2015. ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Bruce and Sharonlee Gunn, whose educational pursuits inspired my own. I can only hope to one day be half as good a parent and person as they are. iii ACKNOWELDGEMENTS It goes without saying that I would not have been able to complete this thesis without the help of my advisor, Nicole Phelps. Her seemingly infinite insight into the deepest and darkest corners of history never ceases to amaze me. Her dedication to this thesis and my personal education goes unmatched in my entire academic career. I am also eternally grateful for her ability to soften the blow of draft edits by quoting The Princess Bride. I also would like to thank Andrew Buchanan, who originally inspired me to turn a final class paper on the Mormon Battalion into the thesis it is now. Sean Field is also greatly deserving of my thanks, as he garnered my interest in religious history and was willing to advise me on one of my comprehensive exams. Lastly, I want to thank the additional members of my thesis committee, Dona Brown and Elizabeth Fenton, who were enthusiastic about reading an entire thesis on the Mormon Battalion. Thank you all for making this process a little bit easier and much more enjoyable than I could have expected. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Citation ................................................................................................................................ ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Historiography and Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: This Land is My Land ..................................................................................... 18 “The Great Nation of Futurity” ..................................................................................... 18 Texas and the Descent to War ....................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2: The Mormon Battalion .................................................................................... 29 “But we are American Citizens” ................................................................................... 31 An Underhanded Threat ................................................................................................ 40 “We Must Raise the Battalion” ..................................................................................... 49 The Path of the Battalion ............................................................................................... 59 Chapter 3: Mormonism’s Manifest Destiny ..................................................................... 67 Land Claims .................................................................................................................. 69 Racial Hierarchies ......................................................................................................... 74 “To be as Fathers” ......................................................................................................... 87 Chapter 4: Legacy of the Mormon Battalion .................................................................. 101 The Popular American Press ....................................................................................... 102 “Consistency Though Art a Jewel” ............................................................................. 117 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 132 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 135 v HISTORIOGRAPHY AND INTRODUCTION The historiography of the Mormon Battalion is as important as its history. Understanding why certain people contributed to the history of the Mormon Battalion sheds light on how that entity has evolved in historical memory, both inside the Mormon Church and out. The complex nature of the battalion as a religious organization, military unit, and an American frontier experience attracts various types of authors, many whom assume either an academic or religious approach. This has led to multiple disagreements among scholars regarding some of the more intricate details of the battalion, but overall, the discussion concerning how the Mormon soldiers interpreted their involvement in an American military unit has been exhausted both within academia and without. This thesis will take the experience of the Mormon Battalion a step further into the analytical sphere by contextualizing the soldiers’ recorded experiences within a frontier narrative of U.S. territorial expansion. I will explore the potential justifications behind the Mormons’ actions during the Mexican-American War, attempt to discern the extent their actions and participation conformed to contemporary American social norms, and determine what the Mormon Battalion meant not just for Mormons, but for other U.S citizens. Works that focus on the Mormon Battalion have generally presented the experience of the Mormon Battalion as an isolated entity and have neglected to identify the extent to which the actions and attitudes of the Mormon soldiers deviated from the perceived norm, if they did at all. I will contextualize the Mormon Battalion in the greater narrative of American territorial expansionism fueled by a belief in Manifest Destiny as it was understood in antebellum America. 1 For nearly a century after the formation of the Mormon Battalion, a single comprehensive and autobiographical account written by battalion veteran Sergeant Daniel Tyler remained the single most