Befitting the dignity of the Mormon Battalion's sacrifice 151 years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley on Nov. 1 rededicated a 70-year-old monument to the battalion's honor on the grounds of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City.

The 29-foot monument, featuring a sculpture of Columbia looming over a bronze statue of a battalion soldier, has undergone a $300,000 restoration project, with $50,000 coming from the Church, $25,000 from private sources and the remainder appropriated by the Utah State Legislature.Utah Gov. Michael O. Leavitt was among speakers at the rededication ceremony, sponsored by the U.S. Mormon Battalion, a heritage organization dedicated to holding the men and women of the battalion "in honorable remembrance," in accordance with a promise by President Brigham Young.

Led by the Utah Fife and Drum Corps, a colorful procession of costumed re-enactors marched on the Capitol grounds in a prelude to the program. Some of the men were dressed as 1846 infantry officers and some men, women and children wore typical 1840s clothing. (Almost none of the original battalion soldiers wore uniforms; instead, they gave their uniform allowance to the Church to help pay for the Saints' westward trek.)

Among the marchers were about 50 missionaries from three zones of the Utah Salt Lake City Mission, comprising the "M Company." That perpetuated a tradition begun last year at Council Bluffs, Iowa, when full-time missionaries marched during a sesquicentennial re-enactment of the Mormon Battalion mustering in at Kanesville.

"I'm grateful that the monument, which was first dedicated in 1927, has been restored," President Hinckley said in his remarks. "It's a magnificently beautiful thing, the great figure of Columbia overshadowing the battalion man.

"I think our people generally don't know much about the Mormon Battalion. They know a few broad brush strokes, that's all. In my judgment, with the exception of the sufferings of the handcart pioneers of 1856, the Mormon Battalion suffered more than any other body of our pioneers. That's saying a very great deal, and I believe it with all my heart."

He recounted that 151 years ago to the day, Nov. 1, 1846, the battalion was marching down the Rio Grande River Valley, crossing its frequent tributaries, and that sand in their boots was chafing their feet as they were forbidden to take their boots off to cross the streams.

"They turned west from Santa Fe to move toward California. They suffered unspeakable difficulties. Their rations were reduced to one-third of a normal, government-allotted ration. They nearly froze to death at night and cooked during the day on the desert. They went without food much of the time."

President Hinckley expressed gratitude that the state has allotted the ground for the monument and for its presence. He spoke of monuments to the battalion he has visited or rededicated in other states: Santa Fe, N.M.; Tucson, Ariz.; and San Diego and Los Angeles, Calif.

"Some of [the battalion] went up, as you know, to Sutter's Mill and there participated in the discovery of gold on the 24th of January 1848. It was my privilege to be at Coloma [Calif.], the site of that discovery, on the 24th of January 1948, and there to dedicate a restoration of a cabin which the battalion men built, in which they lived during the time they worked for John Sutter prior to coming to this valley," President Hinckley said.

"Tremendous was their contribution!" he exclaimed. "Great was their suffering. Their loyalty can never be questioned. Their dedication, I think, was equal to any in all of the history of our people."

He noted that the first white child born in what is now Colorado was born to one of the women who came with the sick detachment from the battalion to Fort Pueblo, where they awaited the coming of Brigham Young and Pioneers and joined them in entering the Salt Lake Valley.

"They pioneered Colorado," he said. "They pioneered in the long march through Kansas and Texas and what is now Arizona and California and then back here to Utah. God bless their memory to our great good. May it stand as a memorial not only to them but as a reminder to us of the obligation which we have as citizens of the nation of which they were a part and which they served so very well."

Gov. Leavitt said the monument symbolizes the things that are important to the state. "We do not rededicate monuments," he said. "We rededicate ourselves and our feelings . . . to a sense of patriotism and the acknowledgment of the good things that come from hardship."

Col. D. Clayton Fairbourn, commander of U.S. Mormon Battalion, recounted that the battalion was recruited from the Saints who had been forced to abandon their city of Nauvoo, Ill., and were strung across Iowa on a trek to the Rocky Mountains in 1846.

"Brigham Young [had earlier] sent an emissary to [U.S.] President James K. Polk with the suggestion that a battalion of men [from among the Mormons] might be called to assist the people along the Oregon Trail . . . to man fortresses, way stations, improve the trail, construct bridges and just make a desirable trail to the West," he explained.

Instead, an army of about 500 was called to enlist in the U.S. Army to aid in the war with Mexico pursuant to the expansion of the nation to the West Coast, Brother Fairbourn said. "This was a test of loyalty of our people to the United States."

Col. R. Paul Madsen, past commander of U.S. Mormon Battalion, said the monument was conceived in 1905 by an organization called the Daughters of the Mormon Battalion. It was dedicated May 10, 1927, by President Charles W. Nibley, second counselor in the First Presidency. The state legislature at the time appropriated $100,000 to construct the monument, with a matching amount to come from other sources, including some from school children in the state.

Brother Madsen said the restoration was initiated about 10 years ago, with fund-raising coordinated by U.S. Mormon Battalion and state officials. The project was inaugurated May 30, 1992, in a ceremony featuring a speech from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve.

According to W. Dee Halverson, who helped coordinate the project, it involved thorough cleaning, recaulking and an effort to halt further deterioration through epoxy injection and other modern methods.

Shirley Maynes, president of the U.S. Mormon Battalion Ladies Auxiliary, spoke of the 33 women who went with the battalion, 20 of them joining the army as laundresses. "To each company of 100, there were four women who were assigned to a group of men - or a mess, as it was termed - to wash clothing and sometimes cook for a group. When the need arose they nursed and cared for sick men."

She also spoke of the women who were left behind on the Iowa prairie, while their husbands marched away with the battalion. "Their ingenuity, faith and prayers were instrumental in keeping them and their families from perishing."