Trivia – Brigham Young sent Elder Tom Little to preside over the church in the east and to go to Washington to petition for help. Elder Little was assisted by his friend, 24-year-old John Kane, son of a well-known federal judge and associate of President Polk. They originally proposed the Mormons be granted contracts to build blockhouses and forts along the Oregon trail.

When they arrived at DC, they heard rumors of the war with Mexico. At Kane’s urging, Elder Little wrote a letter to Pres. Polk suggesting that, though the Saints were loyal Americans, the government’s refusal to assist them could “compel us to be foreigners.” Polk knew many of the Saints were in fact British, and was concerned that they would align themselves with British interests in Oregon. Initially President Polk proposed that the five hundred Mormon men march all the way to California before being formally recruited into the Army, but the urgency of the situation changed over the weeks that followed to the point that President Polk was willing to irritate anti-Mormons in Missouri and Illinois by enlisting the Mormons immediately.