Visitors will step into history upon entering the newly completed Mormon Battalion Historic Site in San Diego, which opened to the public on 30 January. Formerly known as the Mormon Battalion Visitors’ Center, this new exhibit, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has received not only a major facelift but a new name and many technological additions to give visitors, young and old, a chance to experience hands-on a little of Battalion life.
The new Mormon
Battalion facility is not just about great technology, says
Elder Richard G. Hinckley of the First Quorum of the
Seventy. “Technology helps us tell the story. We need to
make the Mormon Battalion story felt by the people that come
through here. This Mormon Battalion was mustered into
service as the only unit ever in the history of the United
States based solely on religious affiliation.”
Several
characteristics mark what these Mormon Battalion members
were made of, explains Mark Lusvardi of the Church’s
Missionary Department. “They are faith, service, citizenship
and sacrifice. These were ordinary people who did
extraordinary things because of their faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.”
About 500 men
enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, and about 80 women and
children traveled with them. They began their journey in the
sweltering heat of Council Bluffs, Iowa, on 20 July 1846,
leaving their loved ones behind. The battalion completed one
of the longest infantry marches in American history—about
2,000 miles (3,220 km) through what are now seven states and
into Mexico.
As visitors enter
the front door at 2510 Juan Street in San Diego, they will
“find themselves in period architecture, Spanish and
Californio,” says Kathy Marler, a local Church
representative. “The entry is marked with a statue of a
Mormon Battalion soldier. The lobby is designed to feel like
an outside plaza.”
Visitors will
learn many interesting things about the Mormon Battalion,
says Lusvardi. “They will find out about the major
contributions by the pioneer Latter-day Saints in the
settling of the West. They were instrumental in building
part of the transportation corridor from San Diego to Salt
Lake City where Interstate 15 now runs. In 1847 San Diego’s
first courthouse was built by members of the Mormon
Battalion from bricks they had fired.”
Visitors are
greeted by enthusiastic volunteers tour guides dressed in
period clothing. A guide leads visitors to a series of
framed pictures on the wall where the guide engages in
conversation with the people in the pictures, who are
brought to life, as it were, by digital technology. The
characters converse with the guide and with people in
another framed picture in relating the story of the Mormon
Battalion. One of the digital characters walks out of the
picture on the wall into the next area, where the guide
escorts the visitors into the Encampment Room. Tents are set
up and visitors sit among them on logs listening to more of
the story from the characters on three big screens. Two
additional rooms depict Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, one of the
stops on the battalion’s march west, and the Old Courthouse
in San Diego.
Visitors can
enjoy panning for gold, making bricks, wearing replica
period clothing and seeing authentic artifacts. Among the
historical treasures are muskets, a gold pouch, baskets,
actual bricks from the foundation of the Old Town
courthouse, and a cannon that the battalion rolled across
the United States.
Visitors can have
their pictures taken digitally and either take the finished
print with them as they leave or have them emailed. The
Research Room provides access to battalion members’ family
history to see if visitors might be related to them.
The Mormon
Battalion Historic Site is open seven days a week from 9 am
to 9 pm. For information, call 619-298-3317.
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