The plaque reads:
[State Seal of Colorado]
This memorial is the
Property of the State of Colorado
A detachment of United States Soldiers of
THE MORMON BATTALION
in the Mexican War spent the
winter of 1846-47 near this site.
With their families and Mormon
immigrants from Mississippi they
formed a settlement of 275 persons.
They erected a church and rows of
dwellings of cottonwood logs.
Here were born the first
white children in Colorado.
Erected by
the State Historical Society of Colorado
from the Mrs. J. N. Hall Foundation
and the Colorado members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
and by citizens of Pueblo
1946
"The Mormon Battalion, the only religiously based unit in United States military history, served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. The battalion was a volunteer unit of between 534 and 559 Latter-day Saints men led by Mormon company officers, commanded by regular US army officers. During its service, the battalion made a grueling march of nearly 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego.
The battalion’s march and service supported the eventual cession of much of the American Southwest from Mexico to the United States, especially the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 of southern Arizona. The march also opened a southern wagon route to California. Veterans of the battalion played significant roles in America's westward expansion in California, Utah, Arizona and other parts of the West." (from (
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