In response to Lee Benson's assertion that although "the Mormon Battalion were courageous men, and certainly great walkers . . . their reputation has greatly exceeded reality."
Since my great-great-grandfather, Abraham Day, who was a member of the battalion, is no longer around to defend himself, I'll do my best.
I doubt that anyone could reasonably assert that the battalion had much of an impact on the Mexican War, as they were not involved in any direct battles with the Mexican Army. But their impact on the Mormon Church was tremendous, as well as their contribution to the building up of the West.
Their contribution to the improvement of the old Western trails was very significant.
Their building up and improvements on the relatively new settlements of San Diego and Los Angeles, which were then sleepy Mexican villages, were substantial. Members of the battalion were the first ones to discover gold in California while they were working for John Sutter at Sutter's Mill. Past California governors have made impressive statements about how the members of the battalion had great impact on the early history of the state and how they helped California join the Union.
To the cash-starved Saints, the pay the soldiers sent back to their families and Church greatly helped their desperate situation. Although Benson asserts that the soldiers received $12 a day in pay, a private's pay was only $7 a month (plus a uniform allowance of $3.50 a month), a large sum at that time (see "The Mormon Battalion" by Norma Ricketts, page 37).
At the end of the soldiers' march, the LDS Church was able to purchase Miles Goodyear's trading post and property in 1850 with battalion money for $1,950, which later became the city of Ogden (ibid, page 259).
When Abraham first heard of the U.S. government's request for enlistees, he expressed the majority sentiment that the United States failed to protect the Saints, so why should they defend the United States. "Here is one man who will not go, d---- them," he was reported to say. But Brigham Young was smarter than Abraham. He knew the Saints needed to prove their loyalty to their nation, even though they desperately needed the manpower. In fact, Sen. Thomas Benton of Missouri had made a secret oath with President James Polk that if the Saints didn't enlist to help the nation's cause, the U.S. army was to "fall upon the Mormons and use them up" ("History of Mormon Battalion," by George Q. Cannon, page 117).
Sterling Day lives in West Valley City.