Free Republic

DOUGLAS — Faint wagon routes and stories of a battle with bulls at the San Pedro River may be the only traces left of the Mormon Battalion’s trek through Cochise County, but Kevin and Denny Henson are reliving that history as best as they can. In 1846 about 500 Mormon men from Iowa Territory joined what became known as the Mormon Battalion for the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. The battalion’s primary mission was to build a wagon road to San Diego. On Sunday at the Twin Buttes RV Park near Douglas, Kevin Henson gave a presentation about the...

In early 1846, Pres. James K. Polk dispatched an expeditionary force to the border hoping to provoke hostilities. It worked. In April, Mexico declared war. The American Army won two back-to-back victories. The U.S. formally declared war in May, and – after a series of very bloody battles – Mexico was defeated in 1848. America's victory resulted in the vast acquisition of new U.S. territories stretching to the Pacific: A bone of contention for some Mexicans (and other Hispanics) in the current immigration reform debate.