“He actually walked 5000 miles to get back to them in winter quarters where he found them half-starved.”
Did he, um, start in Central America on this walk?
No, he started in Council Bluffs, Iowa then to SanDiego where they were relieved from duty. He then walked with a small band to include his B-I-L to Sutters Fort, CA then over the Rockies and up t So. ID and down to SLC. Finding that his family was not there as he expected he then walked back to Iowa, turned around and with family in tow went back to SLC = 5000 miles.
From Wikipedia:
“The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in United States military history,[1] and it served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican-American War. The battalion was a volunteer unit of between 534[2][3] and 559[4] Latter-day Saints men led by Mormon company officers, commanded by regular US army officers. During its service, the battalion made a grueling march, at nearly 2,000 miles in length from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California. This remains as the longest single military march in U.S. history.”
Say what you wish, feel how you wish. I don’t care. I am proud that the blood of this man now flows through my veins. Few (if any) men today could match his determination to achieve such accomplishment.
He walked all by himself?
“No, he started in Council Bluffs, Iowa then to SanDiego where they were relieved from duty. He then walked with a small band to include his B-I-L to Sutters Fort, CA then over the Rockies and up t So. ID and down to SLC. Finding that his family was not there as he expected he then walked back to Iowa, turned around and with family in tow went back to SLC = 5000 miles....
“I am proud that the blood of this man now flows through my veins”
The good news is that if it’s congenital, GPS systems have
come way down in price!