When the Mormon Battalion ended a nearly 2,000-mile march from the Missouri River to Santa Fe to enter the small settlement at San Diego on January 28, 1847, they were not even close to near the end of their travels through the West. Their involvement with the Mexican America War, as a part of the Army of the West led by Stephen Watts Kearny, had established the Southwest as part of America, and now in Alta California, they would be involved in key events that would really put California on the map.
Some members of the Mormon Battalion, once released from their duty, started heading north and east. They intended to join their families, whom they had left at the Missouri River at Winter Quarters-Florence, Nebraska-the previous year. That spring of 1847, Brigham Young and a vanguard group of Mormons set off from their winter camping place, forging what would become the Mormon Pioneer Trail. They reached the Great Salt Lake Valley by late July and established a new home base. The Pioneer Company was followed by their families.
A year earlier, a wagon train had traveled west to Fort Bridger, and there decided to follow a guidebook written by Lansford Hastings. They were headed to California as well and would take a shortcut across the Wasatch, and then the Great Salt Lake desert before Nevada and the rugged mountain range of the Sierra Nevada. Led by George Donner and Jacob Reed, this group made some serious miscalculations in their travel (not to mention the fact that some of their wagons were ridiculously heavy and they spent much of their time arguing among themselves). The Donner Party reached the eastern foot of the mountains later than expected and became stranded by winter storms. Their error in travel was deadly for most of the party; some survived but only after enduring horrendous conditions- even to the point of eating each other in one of the best documented episodes of cannibalism in American history.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2022-Ausgabe von True West.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2022-Ausgabe von True West.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
FIREARMS COLT WALKER 47
THE LEGENDARY HANDGUN THAT REALLY WON THE WEST
HERITAGE TRAVE
THE AMERICAN WEST IN ALL ITS GLORY OUR ANNUAL FAVORITES LIST CELEBRATES DESTINATIONS ACROSS THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.
Wild Turkey, and Not the Drinkin' Kind
The actual bird was a favorite of pioneers.
THE PASSION PROJECTS OF THE MODERN WESTERN
A YEAR OF UNDERRATED EXCELLENCE
WESTERN BOOKS THEN AND NOW
THE STATE OF WESTERN HISTORY AND FICTION PUBLISHING IN 2024 IS ONE OF GRIT AND DETERMINATION.
SAMUEL WALKER VALIANT WARRIOR
While a prisoner at the castle of Perote, Walker was put to work raising a flagpole. At the bottom of the hole, Walker placed a Yankee dime, vowing to someday come back and retrieve it, at the same time exacting revenge on his Mexican captors. In the summer of 1847, when Walker's mounted riflemen returned and routed Santa Anna's guerillas, the young captain kept his promise and got his dime back.
THE BATTLE OF CENTRALIA
ON September 27, 1864, Bloody Bill Anderson and about 80 men took over the small railroad village of Centralia, looting stores and discovering a barrel of whiskey that they hauled out into the street. Wild enough when sober, they soon were roaring drunk.
THE MAN WHO SHOOTS THE WEST
Jay Dusard is a living American photographer who has made Arizona his home for over 60 years, seeing it first in 1960 on a visit, moving here for good in 1963.
A TRUE WESTERNER INDEED PHIL SPANGENBERGER 1940-2024
Spangenberger had Nevada trained to bow by the legendary horse trainer, Glenn Randall, who trained Roy Rogers' Trigger, Gene Autry's Champion, Rex Allen's Koko and the Ben Hur chariot horses, among other great equines.
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
