John Borrowman: Company B Soldier's Documented Journal of Faith and Faithfulness (1846–1847)

John Borrowman was born May 13, 1816, in Glasgow, Scotland, and immigrated to America to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At age 30, he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, Company B, and served as a participant in one of the most significant religio-military expeditions in American history.

Borrowman kept an original journal throughout his service with the Battalion—a document that has survived to the present day and stands as one of the most detailed first-hand accounts of the Battalion's journey from Council Bluffs to San Diego. His journal provides not only a record of the march's hardships (the waterless deserts, the sickness, the miles of difficult terrain), but also the spiritual resolve that sustained the soldiers.

Borrowman's journal records personal observations of events that happened around him, insights into the character of his fellow soldiers, and reflections on faith during trial. While on guard duty, he recorded that he felt faint from hunger—a small but telling detail of the constant physical deprivation the Battalion endured. Yet his continued service and detailed documentation show a man committed to recording truthfully what he witnessed.

After the Battalion's completion of its service, John Borrowman lived out his life as a faithful member of the Church, eventually settling in Canada as a missionary and contributor to the spread of the gospel.

His journal remains a sacred record—a testimony not just of the Battalion's march, but of one man's steady faith and faithfulness through extraordinary circumstances.