When war was declared by the United States against Mexico in 1847, the followers of the Church of the Latter Day Saints offered the United States the services of a company to aid in the defeat of Mexico. In answer to this proposition, Congress authorized the recruiting of a Mormon company, in which 500 Mormons were enrolled, as "Iowa Volunteers", and among the officers of this body were Andrew Lytle. When they arrived in San Diego after a long, arduous march, they found the conquest of California nearly complete. They were sent to garrison duty at San Luis Rey and San Diego, and some of them helped build Ft. Moore in Los Angeles. The battalion was mustered out of service the same year.
Captain Andrew Lytle
In 1851 Captain Lytle returned to San Bernardino as one of the three pilots of the Mormons who migrated to the valley to buy property and establish a "Stake" in California. The three divisions of Mormons were piloted by Captain Seeley, Captain Hunt, and Captain Lytle. Lytle's group camped on the west side of Cajon Canyon, after coming through Cajon Pass, and it is due to this circumstance that Lytle Creek derived its name1.
Lytle Creek
1 Brown and Boyd, op. cit., pp. 38-9.
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