The next Brown Bag Lecture with the Railroad Museum will take place at noon on Tuesday, August 10. George Hackler will present "The Mormon Battalion March Through Southern New Mexico". This month's lecture will take place at the Railroad Museum, 351 N. Mesilla St.
George Hackler is a native of Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley. His interest in Southwest history was planted very early as a curious youngster on the family farm below Rincon while collecting arrow points and potshards. He graduated from NMSU with a double major in physics and mathematics and worked for eighteen years in the Physical Science Laboratory at NMSU in rocket flight determination. George's other experience includes three years at the Martin Denver Company working on the Titan One Intercontinental ballistic missile, seventeen years at the Burn Construction Company, and finishing his career designing and building rocket test facilities at the WSMR/NASA. He also served for twelve years on the Las Cruces Public School Board and did volunteer work for the Bureau of Land Management on Wilderness Study Areas for seventeen years after his retirement.
In 1846, 500 members of the Mormon community volunteered for military service in what would become the "Mormon Battalion March". In exchange for aiding the country in the War with Mexico, the soldiers would receive government assistance to relocate their families to new lands in the West. The journey took them from Iowa to California and George will detail the route the soldiers took through Southern New Mexico which is largely overlooked in the history books.
For more information, please contact Bryan Lee, Education Curator, at BLee@las-cruces.org or 575-541-2217.
The museum is located at 351 N. Mesilla Street and is accessible from RoadRUNNER Transit Route 5 Stop 17. For additional information, visit the website at: https://www.las-cruces.org/Museums or follow us on Facebook and Instagram @LCMuseums.