llcampbell
Jesse did far more than deliver a message from Pres. Polk to Church leaders. Jesse met many times with cabinet officers and the President himself to petition for some government contract for service the Mormons could perform on their way West after being driven from their homes and property many times without government protection or compensation for their property. Pres. Polk was reluctant to give any support until Jesse sent him a letter declaring that "the Saints would receive assistance even if he had to cross the trackless ocean to seek it (from Britain or France who also wanted to claim the western lands), but the Mormons preferred to travel under the outstretched wings of the American Eagle." Only when Polk realized that Britain might become the financial supporters of the Mormons who would claim the west for Britain, did Polk agree to enlist 500 Mormons in the war with Mexico. Polk intended that the Mormons get to the west first before being enlisted so they would not be armed on their way west, but his order was interpreted to authorize immediate enlistment, which the Army began doing before Jesse arrived from Wash. DC with the news. Without Jesse's letter to Polk of determination to receive support from whomever would provide it, there would have been no government support, no Mormon Battalion, and no Mormon land occupation for the government that did nothing to protect their civil rights against bigoted and lawless mobs.
