William Ezra Beckstead (1827-1909)


 * Migrant from Canada to United States
 * Veteran of the Mormon Battalion
 * Respected farmer/pioneer of Colton CA

Mormon Battalion
Participant in the march of The Mormon Battalion. This unit of the US Army served in the Mexican-American War and was the only religiously based infantry unit ever created by Presidential order. It consisted of nearly 500 men recruited exclusively from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the Mormons). They undertook the longest infantry march in U.S. military history (as of 1847) and in the process marked out and creating the first continuous wagon road to California which linked the future states of New Mexico, Arizona, and California to the United States. Most members served an initial 12 month term (Jul 1846- Jul 1847) with some members re-enlisting for an additional 12 months afterwards.

When the saints were forced out of Nauvoo, the Becksteads moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1846. After their arrival in Council Bluffs, the family sustained another setback when the Church was asked by the government to furnish 500 volunteers as members of the Mormon Battalion during the War with Mexico. Gordon Silas, along with cousin Orrin Mortimer Beckstead, and uncle William Ezra Beckstead, were among the first to offer their services. Gordon was in Company A, Jefferson Hunt (1803-1879), as Captain. It has been reported that this Mormon Battalion completed what has been acknowledged as the longest march of infantry forces in the history of the world, and possibly one of the most severe tests to any force of men.