Thomas L. Kane

1822 – 1883

Friend to the Mormon Pioneers

Thomas Kane came in contact with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a Philadelphia conference in May 1846. Kane offered them his advice and help in their conflicts with the U.S. government and in their efforts to emigrate to western territories.

Jesse C. Little, presiding LDS elder in the East, was soliciting support for the Latter-day Saints’ westward migration. Politically well-connected through his father, Kane provided letters of recommendation and later joined Little in Washington, D.C. The two called on the secretary of state, secretary of war and President James K. Polk.

As a result of their negotiations, the U.S. agreed to enlist up to 500 LDS men, in five companies of 100 men each, as the Mormon Battalion, to serve in the Mexican-American War.

With the help of his father, Kane obtained U.S. government permission for the refugee Mormons to occupy Potawatomi and Omaha Indian lands along the Missouri. After carrying dispatches relating to the land agreements and battalion criteria to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Kane sought out Little in the Latter-day Saint encampments on the Missouri River.