George Washington Taggart: A Soldier's Unflinching Record of Battalion Suffering and Endurance (1846–1848)

George Washington Taggart was born November 6, 1816, in New Hampshire. In 1846, at the age of 29, he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion Company B, enlisting alongside his fellow soldiers in a commitment to serve his country and his faith.

Taggart's Battalion experience was marked by extraordinary hardship. His diary, preserved and studied by historians, documents in vivid detail the suffering that characterized the march. Unlike some accounts that minimize the difficulties, Taggart wrote honestly about what he endured: three days without water, hunger that gnawed constantly, sickness that struck down his companions, the crushing weight of a 2,060-mile march across some of the most unforgiving terrain in North America.

What makes Taggart's testimony particularly valuable is its honesty. He did not romanticize the suffering; he witnessed real pain and genuine hardship. Yet his very willingness to continue—to march forward despite the deprivation—stands as a silent miracle of human perseverance and faith.

Taggart's diary entries became typical of the accounts Battalion soldiers left behind. His "lively account" (as historians describe it) captures the daily reality that enlisted soldiers faced. Three days without water. Marching through deserts where men collapsed. Seeing comrades die from disease and exhaustion. Yet continuing forward because the call had come from their prophet, and they had answered.

The miracle of George Washington Taggart's life is not one dramatic moment of divine intervention. Rather, it is the miracle of faithfulness in the face of ordinary, grinding, relentless suffering. He endured. He bore witness. He recorded the truth. And by doing so, he ensured that future generations would understand what it cost to answer the call to serve.

Taggart's documented suffering is not a sign of divine abandonment; it is evidence of the real cost of discipleship. The Lord does not promise His faithful that the path will be easy—He promises that He will walk it with them. Taggart's journal stands as testimony to that truth.