On July the 15th Elders Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor were appointed to a mission in Great Britain for the purpose of regulating the affairs of the Church there and of appointing a new presidency over that mission. On the 16th of July Elder Woodruff writes: "It was a great day in the Camp of Israel. Four companies of volunteers were organized and ready for marching. They were brought together and formed in a hollow square by their captains. They were then addressed by several of the Quorum of the Twelve after which the Battalion began its march in double file over the Redemption Hill, seven miles across the Missouri River bottom to the ferry. The brethren who formed these companies left their families, teams, wagons, and cattle by the wayside not expecting {253} to meet them again for one or two years. They left their wives and children to their brethren and to the tender mercies of God, before they went. With cheerful hearts they believed that they were doing the will of their Heavenly Father. As I viewed them I felt as though I was looking upon the first Battalion of the army of Israel, engaged in the service of the United States." Upon the departure of the Battalion, the Twelve proceeded at once to ordain Ezra T. Benson who had been called to their Quorum. That evening Elder Woodruff entertained the Apostles as his guests at supper. That body of men felt some pride in the success that had attended their efforts to enlist the Battalion. They were full of joy and were rejoicing together over the satisfaction which they felt in accomplishing that which they hoped would be of lasting benefit and honor to the Latter-day Saints. A few days later while the Battalion of five hundred were in camp at the ferry, they were addressed by President Young, who bestowed freely upon them his blessings and his promises of safety. After that a concert was given in honor of Colonel Allen, the commander of the men, who were now ready to begin their long and perilous march to the sea. With the departure of the Battalion, another great move in the exodus had been made. The way across the plains, however, had to be blazed and a route established for the travel of the tens of thousands who should follow the first company in quest of a home far removed from the confines of civilization, a home where the saints of God might enjoy the freedom and the rest that had been denied them ever since the organization of the Church in April, 1830. During that period of sixteen years the Saints had been constantly fleeing from mobs and from the tyranny of oppressors. They were in a state of constant uncertainty and could find comfort and consolation only in the divine assurance that they were a peculiar people, a chosen people, destined to open a new and marvelous dispensation among the children of men.