Item Detail
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11112
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4
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2
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English
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The Mormon Battalion and the Gadsden Purchase
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BYU Studies
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1997-98
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37
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no.4
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48-64
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"The battalion's pioneering trek through uncharted territory left its mark on the U.S.-Mexican border and blazed a trail for the future Southern Pacific Railroad. When looking at a map of the southern boundaries of Arizona and New Mexico, one might wonder about the reasons for the curious jogs and angles. Actually, as is often the case, a knowledge of history can provide significant perspective. The boundary in question was a result of the 1853 Gadsden Purchase, by which the United States bought nearly thirty thousand square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million. American history textbooks commonly explain that this purchase was necessary to secure the route of a proposed southern transcontinental railroad. This is also the area through which the Mormon Battalion had marched only seven years earlier, mapping a potential wagon road as they went. As hostilities broke out with Mexico, five hundred Mormons were recruited by Captain James Allen during July of 1846. They were to join the "Army of the West," headed by Colonel Stephen W. Kearny (whose rank had been raised to brevet brigadier general when his march to the Pacific commenced)." [Publisher's abstract]