Kevin Henson – Cooke’s Wagon Road and Mormon Battalion Routes in New Mexico

Description

Kevin Henson was professionally active in medical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for over three decades. A graduate of Brigham Young University and the University of Central Florida, he lives in Michigan with his wife, Denny.

Kevin became interested in Mormon Battalion stories through his volunteer work with the Boy Scouts.  Over a seven-month period in 2008-2009, Kevin and Denny walked the main Battalion route from central Iowa to San Diego California conducting trail research. He collaborates with other trail enthusiasts to clarify journal entries and dispel myths.

In the vicinity of Garfield, New Mexico, Lt Col P. St George Cooke, leading the Mormon Battalion, departed the Rio Grande valley for California. This 1846 trail marked the start of what became known as “Cooke’s Wagon Road”.  It completed the first southwestern transcontinental route, becoming a key emigrant trail during the California gold rush. Cooke’s route was used to help justify the Gadsden Purchase borders in 1853.

Routes followed by the Mormon Battalion through New Mexico included portions of existing historic trails such as Juan de Anza’s route, Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Janos Trail, ‘Old Spanish Trail’, ‘Trappers Trail’ and the Santa Fe Trail.  Rarely are all these Battalion routes depicted properly in publications and histories.

Henson will delineate routes used by the various Battalion detachments through New Mexico and identify key events at their proper locations. He will pinpoint the recently identified Lt. Emory’s conglomerate butte where the Battalion encamped the nights of November 4-5, 1846. . Some remaining questions for further research will be suggested.