The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah. At the time of the planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory comprising present-day Utah was part of the Republic of Mexico, with which the U.S. soon went to war over a border dispute left unresolved after the annexation of Texas. The Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war.
An engraving published in Le monde in 1874, based on an 1868 drawing of Mormon pioneers by Adrien-Emmanuel Marie.
The Handcart Pioneer Monument, by Torleif S. Knaphus, located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah
This painting by Duncan McFarlane, shows the ship Brooklyn off Skerries Reef, which is off the north coast of Anglesey, North Wales.
The Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument in Salt Lake City
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a restorationist, nontrinitarian Christian denomination that is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The church is headquartered in the United States in Salt Lake City, Utah and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, it has over 17 million members and over 99 thousand volunteer missionaries. As of 2012, the church was the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the U.S. As of 2023, the church reported over 6.8 million U.S. members.
Joseph Smith, first president of the Church of Christ
Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith was killed in 1844
Brigham Young led the LDS Church from 1844 until his death in 1877.
The Washington D.C. Temple, completed in 1974, was the first built in the eastern half of the United States since 1846.