DevanJensen

Left to right: Paul A. Hoffman (attorney), Devan Jensen (executive editor at BYU Religious Studies Center), Katherine Brimhall (Daughters of Utah Pioneers), Jackson Barlow (Eagle Scout in Alpine, Utah), and Elder Steven E. Snow (Church Historian and Recorder, November 11, 2015. Elder Steven E. Snow, Church Historian and Recorder, dedicated a new Daughters of Utah Pioneers plaque to Lt. Henry Wells Jackson, Utah's only known Civil War fatality. About a hundred people gathered for the ceremony at the Pioneer Memorial Museum in Salt Lake City on November 11, 2015. The plaque is attached to a Civil War Monument located across the street from the museum on the southwest corner of the Utah State Capitol grounds. This was an Eagle Scout project by Jackson Barlow of Alpine, Utah, to honor his namesake ancestor. Jackson, Dona, and David Barlow next to Henry Wells Jackson plaque at Civil War Monument on Utah State Capitol grounds. Following are links to articles about how the pla

On May 8, 1861, Henry Wells Jackson began a journey from Springville, Utah, to Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. He later volunteered for the Union as a lieutenant. How did a Utah Mormon get involved in the Civil War? This is a surprising story involving the Mormon Battalion, the gold rush, Indian attacks, the Utah War, Camp Floyd, the overland mail service, congressional budget battles, and a skinflint postmaster general. Twenty-year-old Henry Wells Jackson completed service in the Mormon Battalion and then the Mormon Volunteers and traveled north to Mormon Island. On July 16, 1847, Henry was mustered out of the Mormon Battalion in Los Angeles. He reenlisted in the Mormon Volunteers while many of his comrades headed northeast to the Great Salt Lake Valley and some headed north to Sacramento and began working for John Sutter. In 1848, two events ten days apart triggered an avalanche of immigration to California: the January 24 discovery of gold at Sutter’s sawmill an

Statue at San Diego Mormon Battalion Historic Site Henry Wells Jackson was a wandering Mormon hero who was motivated by duty to God, country, and family. His life was marked by many significant firsts. [1] He was among the first to march west to California in the Mormon Battalion, the first U.S. military unit based on religious affiliation. He was among the first to pan for gold only weeks after its discovery at Sutter’s sawmill. He served in Utah’s early territorial militia and mail service between Utah and California. Years later, he was commissioned a Union lieutenant in the Civil War and was shot by Confederates while leading an assault on a railroad bridge, becoming the first Latter-day Saint known to be killed in an American national war. He was the Civil War’s first and only battle fatality from Utah. [2] This essay will focus on his service in the Mormon Battalion and then reenlistment in the Mormon Volunteers. An expanded version will be delivered at the Mormon Hi