CARATAT CONDERSET ROWE AND THE MORMON BATTALION SICK DETACHMENT (1846-1847)

Taken from Saga of the Sanpitch Vol. 21

FIRST PLACE HISTORICAL ESSAY Mary Louise Seamons 

  Much has been written about the Mormon Battalion's 2,000-mile forced march under adverse conditions; a number of diaries and journals provide further insights into their trials during those trying months of heat and cold, reduced rations, starving oxen, desert sand, and little or no water. Not nearly as much is known about the men, women, and children who left the Battalion, wintered at Pueblo, Colorado, and entered the Salt Lake Valley soon after Brigham Young's main party arrived.

 Caratat Conderset Rowe was born in Perry Township, Indiana. He was a member of the Mormon Battalion sick detachment.1 Brigham Young had endeavored to get assistance from the U.S. Government to help the Mormon Saints preserve their homes in U.S. territories. When that failed, he sought help to move them where they could live apart from those desiring their "extermination." He prayed to the Lord for help. 

When Captain James Allen arrived at Mount Pisgah on 16 June 1846 and spoke with Church leaders, Young was convinced this was their answer and espoused Captain Allen's recruitment of five companies of Mormon men to serve with the U.S. Army in their war against Mexico.2 Most of the able-bodied men were away earning money to help the main body of Saints on their westward journey. Those at Mt. Pisgah and nearby Council Bluffs were mainly men with families, not enthused about leaving them to travel alone. 

The Brethren made impassioned pleas to the men to join. Young at one point told the men that if they wouldn't go, he would: Let the Mormons be the first men to set their feet on the soil of California. If we want the privilege of going where we can worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience we must raise this "battalion.3 He felt if the Mormons failed to earn the respect of the nation, further criticism would be their downfall. The men were promised that if they went with the Battalion and obeyed the Lord's commandments and their leaders' counsel, they would not fight against other human beings and would return to their families. The Army promised $42.00 per man per year plus pay while in the ranks. A Captain received $50.00 a month; a Private, $7.00. They could keep their "arms and accouterments." A flag was hung in a tree in front of which 549 men took the oath to serve their country. Church leaders counseled the Mormon officers to treat their men with respect and dignity, as if they (the officers) were the men's fathers, and to wear and honor their temple garments at all times. On 20 July the new recruits marched four to miles downriver and camped. "On July 21st they started on the march to the tune, 'The Girl I Left Behind Me '."4

Caratat was a member of Company A; his cousin, William Howe, in Company D. Another cousin, Manning Rowe, is reputed as also being a member of the Battalion, but his name does not appear on Battalion rosters in any of the companies.5 The new recruits marched to Fort Leavenworth where they received their first supplies, then headed for Santa Fe — across the whole of Kansas, a tiny corner of Oklahoma, and into New Mexico. They endured many hardships, particularly after Captain Allen, whom they had come to trust, died at Port Leavenworth a few days after the company left for Santa Fe. Although some good officers remained over the Battalion, some were not so good. 

When the detachment reached the last crossing of the Arkansas River, the commanding officer insisted that most of the families, with some food and supplies, be sent under guard up Arkansas to Pueblo, Colorado. This was unquestionably "in the best interests both of the families and of the Battalion."6 Water was scarce and often impure causing many to become ill. Food rations were cut, and a number of the men were without blankets or warm clothing, having left as much as possible with their families, possibly misunderstanding exactly what they would receive from the Army. It is quite possible their commanding officers were harsher because they understood the need for as much speed as possible so all could reach Santa Fe before supplies ran out or the weather turned cold. When they did reach Santa Fe, they were greeted by a 100-gun salute ordered by Colonel Doniphan, their supreme commander. 

There was much criticism and complaint about Dr. George H. Sanderson who had been appointed surgeon to serve with the Battalion. Sanderson seemed to enjoy tormenting the men who became ill and caused the whole company to travel more slowly. He made them come before him each day to prove they were incapable of walking, then dosed them with medicine from a despised iron spoon. One man complained that he had been given a large dose of laudanum, but was warned by the orderly in charge to get rid of it quickly or it would be fatal.7 

Caratat's cousin William was apparently treated somewhat the same. When William became ill and unable to walk, Caratat was advised to leave him where he was and move on. Caratat sat cross-legged on the ground beside his sick cousin, his musket across his lap, and refused to leave. Finally, the officer in charge ordered that William be lifted into the wagon.8 The commanding officer felt he could not keep so many disabled men, so he ordered a sick detachment back to Pueblo. Some men were afraid they would be mustered out and lose their pay if they went back; their fears proved unfounded. 

On 17 October, Caratat, William, and the others were placed "on detached service by orders of Captain Doniphan" and remained so until they were mustered out of the Army,9 Now the sick detachment traveled under difficult circumstances: little water, short rations, cold and rain, with poor equipment and oxen. Some of the latter died along the way. One day several Battalion members came to camp with thirty fresh oxen. . . followed shortly by some men who claimed to have lost their teams. The Battalion commander told them they could take any of the animals they found. The men left with only four head, leaving the Mormons with thirteen additional teams. Right or wrong, the Mormons felt it was Divine intervention that had provided these animals in their time of need.10 

The detachment arrived in Pueblo nearly a month later and set about building houses and a church, of split cottonwood logs, and a small fort apart from the original site of Pueblo. They passed the winter "drilling, hunting, and having a good time generally: dancing in the church, attending church meetings, and preparing for their springtime journey west. They were first to know the final destination of the Mormons."11

 While at Pueblo, a settlement of trappers and hunters in a natural crossroads setting, they left their mark: theirs was the first white baby born in what is now Colorado. They were able to supplement their meager supplies with "buffalo, deer, and elk meat, thereby saving the necessity of killing any of their stock of cattle of which few remained.12

 Early in the spring—about 15 April 1847—they began their journey west to join the Saints traveling to Utah, heading due north for Port Laramie, west to Fort Bridger, and thence to Salt Lake, Although they found tracks of the main body of pioneers and knew they were not far ahead, the detachment entered the Salt Lake Valley five days behind—20 July 1847. Their enlistment had expired on 16 July 1847» They were officially mustered out of the Army and once again came under the command of Brigham Young, the man they had followed for their beliefs. The empty cabins at Pueblo were never occupied by others, 

On 16 August 1847, 71 men, with 33 wagons and 92 yoke of oxen, some horses, and mules, left the Valley and returned to the Missouri River area to rejoin the families they had left behind, Caratat among them. - There he married Mary Napier, a demure red—haired Scottish lass; two children were born before they returned to Utah. Three more children were born in what is now Payson, and their last child was born in Mt. Pleasant, where they went in early 1860, less than a year after its settlement. There Caratat died on 12 February 1904» not quite two years after Mary's death.14 

His cousin William died 25 July 1905 and was buried in Thayne, Wyoming. Although Caratat and William did not make the long march with the Mormon Battalion, they left a heritage of commitment and loyalty, of responding to the call of their leaders. As B. H. Roberts wrote: Since the Battalion march has not been equaled by any march of infantry. . . it is not likely ... that the Mormon Battalion march across more than half the North American continent will ever be equaled.15 Caratat and William were a part of that march. Note: Caratat Conderset Rowe was the author's great-grandfather. 

END-NOTES 1 . Caratat Conderset Rowe, son of William Niblo and Candace Blanchard Rowe, B. Perry Township, Delaware County, Indiana, 11 May 1823* Mary Loretta Rowe Burnside, "Biography of Caratat Conderset Roue" (unpublished typed manuscript prepared for Mount Pleasant Camp, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, n.d.). Mary was the granddaughter of Caratat. 2 . Kate B. Carter, compiler, The Mormon Battalion (Utah: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1956). 3 . Kate B. Carter, compiler, Heart Throbs of the West (Utah: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1946). 4 . Carter, 1956, P. 9. 5 . Burnside* 6 . B. H. Roberts, The Mormon Battalion: Its History and Achievements (Salt Lake City. Utah; Deseret News, 1919). P. 30.. 7 James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer: Being the Autobiography of James S. Brown (Salt Lake City, Utah; George Q. Cannon and Sons Company, 1900). p. 51. 8. Burnside. 9 . "Mormon Battalion (1846-1847). Service Records, n.d. Film. 10. John P. Vurtinis, "Colorado, Mormons, and the Mexican War," Essays and Monographs in Colorado History (Denver: Colorado Historical Society, 1983)» p. 51. 11. Vurtinis, p. 136. 12. Ralph C. Taylor, "Pueblo Mormon Village: First Anglo-Saxon Settlement in Colorado," Colorado South of the Border (Denver: Sage Books, 1963)f p. 386.13. Garter, 1946, p. 186. 14. Family records in possession of the author. 15. Carter, 1946, p. 187-

   Caratat Conderset Rowe                                   Mary Napier Rowe