170 years ago today - Jun 5, 1846

Little met with President James K. Polk on 5 June 1846 and urged him to aid migrating Mormon pioneers by employing them to fortify and defend the West. The president offered to aid the pioneers by permitting them to raise a battalion of five hundred men, who were to join Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, Commander of the Army of the West, and fight for the United States in the Mexican War. Little accepted this offer.

[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: Mormon Battalion, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

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