In May of the same year, at a church conference held in Philadelphia, Mr. Little made the acquaintance of the Kanes. They were an old and honorable Pennsylvania family. The father, Judge John K. Kane, had been attorney general of the state of Pennsylvania; and at the time of Mr. Little's visit at his home he was United States judge for the district of Pennsylvania, also President of the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the famous arctic explorer and scientist, was his son; as was also Thomas L. Kane, who afterward served with distinction as Colonel and Brigadier General in the Union Army in the war between the states. From the latter Mr. Little received a letter of introduction to Hon. Geo. M. Dallas, Vice-President of the United States. "He visits Washington," said Kane's letter to Mr. Dallas, "with no other object than the laudable one of desiring aid of the government for his people." =Little's Consultation with the President.=--The arrival of Mr. Little at Washington on the 21st of May was most opportune for the business he had in hand. He called upon President Polk that same evening in company with a Mr. Dame of Massachusetts, and Mr. King, a representative of the same state. Sam Houston of Texas and other distinguished gentlemen were present. News of the capture of an American reconnoitering troop of dragoons under command of Captain Thornton, on the east side of the Rio Grande, sixteen of whom were killed, had reached Washington early in May, and enabled the President in his message to Congress, on the 11th of that month, to say that "Mexico had invaded our territory, and shed the blood of our citizens on our own soil;" which led Congress two days later to declare war and vote the funds necessary to its vigorous prosecution. By the time Mr. Little called upon the President the news had reached Washington of the victory of the American forces under General Taylor at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, fought on the 8th and 9th of May respectively. News of these victories aroused the war spirit throughout the land,[8:e] and hastened all the government schemes for prosecuting the war, including the plan of gathering the "Army of the West" at Fort Leavenworth, under Col. Stephen W. Kearny, to invade New Mexico, and ultimately co-operate with the Pacific fleet which it was designed should sweep round Cape Horn and attack on the Pacific coast of Mexico.[8:f] It was with this "Army of the West" that the Mormon Battalion was destined to be connected.