In September 1844 Luddington returned briefly to New Orleans together with Theodore Turley per Young's request, though this excursion to Louisiana lasted only 29 days.
In January 1845 Luddington was sent on his third mission with William Hyde as his companion, to visit the Saints in Mississippi and encourage them to gather at Nauvoo.
Members of his family marched with the battalion (including his wife, Mary, (served as laundress); his mother; daughter (Angeline); and "one other" child.
He first reached the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 with the sick detachments of the Mormon Battalion, but quickly crossed the plains once again to return to Winter Quarters.
In 1853, Young called four Latter-day Saints, Luddington, Chauncey W. West, Franklin Denny and Levi Savage, to serve LDS Church missions in India and Indochina.
Luddington and Savage tried to reach Siam via Yangon, Burma, but the ship sprang a leak and they were forced to return to India.