In addition to the wagon road opened westward through southern New Mexico, Arizona, and California, we have seen that it was a detachment of twenty-five discharged members of the Battalion which brought the first wagon through from the coast via Cajon Pass to Salt Lake Valley, following what is now the general course of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroad, and which became known in the early Utah California times as the southern California route to the coast. Also, as we have seen, the Battalion members returning from the gold fields of the American river region cut a new wagon road, much of the way, for their seventeen wagons and two cannons from the western side of the Sierra, across the summit of that lofty range, thence down to the eastern sloping deserts of Nevada, and so to Salt Lake Valley. The conquest of Northern Mexico, including, of course, California and Utah, as well as New Mexico and [Transcriber's Note: text is missing in the original] lence of their conduct, not only on the march to the Pacific fleet of the American navy, and the "Army of the West," the main division of which was under the command of General Stephen W. Kearny. The Battalion's part in the conquest is detailed in the foregoing narrative, and also is acknowledged in the military order by Col. Cooke, referred to several times and given in full in a preceding page of this book. In addition to all this, the Battalion reflected great credit upon the community of Utah pioneers--of whom it never ceased to be a part--by reason of the excellence of their conduct not only on the march to the Pacific coast, but also when doing garrison duty in southern California. The efforts to secure the re-enlistment of the Battalion, and, failing that, the effort to secure the enlistment of a second Mormon Battalion, were the conscious confessions of both California and federal officials--since both participated in such efforts--to the worth of these United States soldiers. "They religiously respected their rights and feelings of the conquered people of California; not a syllable of complaint of a single insult offered, or any outrage done by a Mormon volunteer," is the record of the Battalion, and the re-enlisted volunteers, according to the report of them by Governor Mason. Such is the reputation of the Battalion; of its officers, chosen from its ranks; and of its men, the rank and file. The part the Battalion played in the discovery of gold has already been detailed.