USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs : also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 22
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"Our men marched steadily on, until crossing the ravine leading into the public square (plaza), when a fight took place amongst the Califor- nians on the hill; one became disarmed and to avoid death rolled down the hill towards us, his adversary pursuing and lancing him in the most cold-blooded manner. The man tumbling down the hill was supposed to be one of our vaqueros, and the cry of 'rescue him' was raised. The crew of the Cyane, nearest the scene, at once and without any orders, halted and gave the man that was lancing him a volley; strange to say, he did not fall. The general gave the jack tars a cursing, not so much for the firing without orders, as for their bad marks- manship."
Shortly after the above episode, the Cali- fornians did open fire from the hill on the vaqueros in charge of the cattle. (These vaqueros were Californians in the employ of the Americans and were regarded by their country- men as traitors.) A company of riflemen was ordered to clear the hill. A single volley ef- fected this, killing two of the enemy. This was the last bloodshed in the war; and the second conquest of California was completed as the first had been by the capture of Los Angeles. Two hundred men, with two pieces of artillery, were stationed on the hill.
The Angeleños did not exactly welcome the invaders with "bloody hands to inhospitable graves," but they did their best to let them know they were not wanted. The better class of the native inhabitants closed their houses and took refuge with foreign residents or went to the ranchos of their friends in the country. The fellows of the baser sort, who were in pos- session of the city, exhausted their vocabularies of abuse on the invading gringos. There was one paisano who excelled all his countrymen in this species of warfare. It is a pity his name has not been preserved in history with that of
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other famous scolds and kickers. He rode by the side of the advancing column up Main street, firing volleys of invective and denunciation at the hated gringos. At certain points of his tirade he worked himself to such a pitch of indignation that language failed him; then he would solemnly go through the motions of "Make ready, take aim!" with an old shotgun he carried, but when it came to the order "Fire!" discretion got the better of his valor; he low- ered his gun and began again, firing invective at the gringo soldiers; his mouth would go off if his gun would not.
Commodore Stockton's headquarters were in the Abila house, the second house on Olvera street, north of the plaza. The building is still standing, but has undergone many changes in fifty years. A rather amusing account was re- cently given me by an old pioneer of the manner in which Commodore Stockton got possession of the house. The widow Abila and her daugh- ters, at the approach of the American army, had abandoned their house and taken refuge with Don Luis Vignes of the Aliso. Vignes was a Frenchman and friendly to both sides. The widow left a young Californian in charge of her house (which was finely furnished), with strict orders to keep it closed. Stockton had with him a fine brass band, something new in California. When the troops halted on the plaza, the band began to play. The boyish guardian of the Abila casa could not resist the temptation to open the door and look out. The enchanting music drew him to the plaza. Stockton and his staff, hunting for a place suitable for headquar- ters, passing by, found the door invitingly open, entered, and, finding the house deserted, took possession. The recreant guardian returned to · find himself dispossessed and the house in pos- session of the enemy. "And the band played on."
It is a fact not generally known that there were two forts planned and partially built on Fort Hill during the war for the conquest of California. The first was planned by Lieut. Wil- liam H. Emory, topographical engineer of Gen- eral Kearny's staff, and work was begun on it by Commodore Stockton's sailors and marines. The second was planned by Lieut. J. W. David- son, of the First United States Dragoons, and
built by the Mormon battalion. The first was not completed and not named. The second was named Fort Moore. Their location seems to have been identical. The first was designed to hold one hundred men. The second was much larger. Flores' army was supposed to be in the neighborhood of the city ready to make a dash into it, so Stockton decided to fortify.
"On January 1Ith," Lieutenant Emory writes, "I was ordered to select a site and place a fort capable of containing a hundred men. With this in view a rapid reconnoissance of the town was made and the plan of a fort sketched, so placed as to enable a small garrison to com- mand the town and the principal avenues to it, the plan was approved."
"January 12. I laid off the work and before night broke the first ground. The population of the town and its dependencies is about three thousand; that of the town itself about fifteen hundred. Here all the revolutions have had their origin, and it is the point upon which any Mexican force from Sonora would be directed. It was therefore desirable to estab- lish a fort which, in case of trouble, should en- able a small garrison to hold out till aid might come from San Diego, San Francisco or Mon- terey, places which are destined to become cen- ters of American settlements."
"January 13. It rained steadily all day and nothing was done on the work. At night I worked on the details of the fort."
"January 15. The details to work on the fort were by companies. I sent to Captain Tilghman, who commanded on the hill, to de- tach one of the companies under his command to commence the work. He furnished, on the 16th, a company of artillery (seamen from the Congress) for the day's work, which was per- formed bravely, and gave me great hopes of success."
On the 18th Lieutenant Emory took his de- parture with General Kearny for San Diego. From there he was sent with despatches, via Panama, to the war department. In his book he says: "Subsequent to my departure the en- tire plan of the fort was changed, and I am not the projector of the work finally adopted for defense of that town."
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As previously stated, Fremont's battalion began its march down the coast on the 29th of November, 1846. The winter rains set in with great severity. The volunteers were scantily provided with clothing and the horses were in poor condition. Many of the horses died of starvation and hard usage. The battalion en- countered no opposition from the enemy on its march and did no fighting. On the 11th of January, a few miles above San Fernando, Colo- nel Fremont received a message from General Kearny informing him of the defeat of the enemy and the capture of Los Angeles. That night the battalion encamped in the mission buildings at San Fernando. From the mission that evening Jesus Pico, a cousin of Gen. An- dres Pico, set out to find the Californian army and open negotiations with its leaders. Jesus Pico, better known as Tortoi, had been arrested at his home near San Luis Obispo, tried by court-martial and sentenced to be shot for breaking his parole. Fremont, moved by the pleadings of Pico's wife and children, pardoned him. He became a warm admirer and devoted friend of Fremont's.
He found the advance guard of the Califor- nians encamped at Verdugas. He was detained here, and the leading officers of the army were summoned to a council. Pico informed them of Fremont's arrival and the number of his men. With the combined forces of Fremont and Stockton against them, their cause was hopeless. He urged them to surrender to Fremont, as they could obtain better terms from him than from Stockton.
General Flores, who held a commission in the Mexican army, and wlio had been appointed by the territorial assembly governor and comand- ante-general by virtue of his rank, appointed Andres Pico general and gave him command of the army. The same night he took his de- parture for Mexico, by way of San Gorgonio Pass, accompanied by Colonel Garfias, Diego Sepulveda, Manuel Castro, Segura, and about thirty privates. General Pico, on assuming com- mand, appointed Francisco Rico and Francisco de La Guerra to go with Jesus Pico to confer with Colonel Fremont. Fremont appointed as commissioners to negotiate a treaty, Major P.
B. Reading, Major William H. Russell and Capt. Louis McLane. On the return of Guerra and Rico to the Californian camp, Gen. Andres Pico appointed as commissioners, José Antonio Carrillo, commander of the cavalry squadron, and Agustin Olvera, diputado of the assembly, and moved his army near the river at Cahuenga. On the 13th Fremont moved his camp to the Cahuenga. The commissioners met in the de- serted ranch-house, and the treaty was drawn up and signed.
The principal conditions of the treaty or ca- pitulation of "Cahuenga," as it was termed, were that the Californians, on delivering up their ar- tillery and public arms, and promising not again to take arms during the war, and conforming to the laws and regulations of the United States, shall be allowed peaceably to return to their homes. They were to be allowed the same rights and privileges as are allowed to citizens of the United States, and were not to be compelled to take an oath of allegiance until a treaty of peace was signed between the United States and Mexico, and were given the privilege of leaving the country if they wished to. An additional section was added to the treaty on the 16th at Los Angeles releasing the officers from their paroles. Two cannon were surrendered, the howitzer captured from General Kearny at San Pasqual and the woman's gun that won the bat- tle of Dominguez. On the 14th, Fremont's bat- talion marched through the Cahuenga Pass to Los Angeles in a pouring rainstorm, and en- tered it four days after its surrender to Stock- ton. The conquest of California was com- pleted. Stockton approved the treaty, although it was not altogether satisfactory to him. On the 16th he appointed Colonel Fremont gov- ernor of the territory, and William H. Russell, of the battalion, secretary of state.
This precipitated a quarrel between Stockton and Kearny, which had been brewing for some time. General Kearny claimed that under his instructions from the government he should be recognized as governor. As he had directly under his command but the one company of dragoons that he brought across the plain with him, he was unable to enforce his authority. He left on the 18th for San Diego, taking with him the
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officers of his staff. On the 20th Commo- dore Stockton, with his sailors and marines, marched to San Pedro, where they all em- barked on a man-of-war for San Diego to re-
join their ships. Shortly afterwards Commo- dore Stockton was superseded in the command of the Pacific squadron by Commodore Shu- brick.
CHAPTER XXI.
TRANSITION AND TRANSFORMATION.
T HE capitulation of Gen. Andres Pico at Cahuenga put an end to the war in Cali- fornia. The instructions from the secre- tary of war were to pursue a policy of concilia- tion towards the Californians with the ultimate design of transforming them into American citi- zens. Colonel Fremont was left in command at Los Angeles. He established his headquarters on the second floor of the Bell block (corner of Los Angeles and Aliso streets), then the best building in the city. One company of his bat- talion was retained in the city; the others, under command of Captain Owens, were quartered at the Mission San Gabriel.
The Mormons had been driven out of Illinois and Missouri. A sentiment of antagonism had been engendered against them and they had begun their migration to the far west, pre- sumably to California. They were encamped on the Missouri river at Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, preparatory to crossing the plains, when hostilities broke out between the United States and Mexico, in April, 1846. A proposition was made by President Polk to their leaders to raise a battalion of five hundred men to serve as United States volunteers for twelve months. These volunteers, under command of regular army officers, were to march to Santa Fe, or, if necessary, to California, where, at the expira- tion of their term of enlistment, they were to be discharged and allowed to retain their arms. Through the influence of Brigham Young and other leaders, the battalion was recruited and General Kearny, commanding the Army of the West, detailed Capt. James Allen, of the First United States Dragoons, to muster them into the service and take command of the battalion. On the 16th of July, at Council Bluffs, the bat-
talion was mustered into service and on the 14th of August it began its long and weary march. About eighty women and children, wives and families of the officers and some of the enlisted men, accompanied the battalion on its march. Shortly after the beginning of the march, Allen, who had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel, fell sick and died. The battalion was placed temporarily under the command of Lieut. A. J. Smith, of the regular army. At Santa Fe Lieut .- Col. Philip St. George Cooke took com- mand under orders from General Kearny. The battalion was detailed to open a wagon road by the Gila route to California. About sixty of the soldiers who had become unfit for duty and all the women except five were sent back and the remainder of the force, after a toilsome jour- ney, reached San Luis Rey, Cal., January 29, 1847, where it remained until ordered to Los Angeles, which place it reached March 17.
Captain Owens, in command of Fremont's battalion, had moved all the artillery, ten pieces, from Los Angeles to San Gabriel, probably with the design of preventing it falling into the hands of Colonel Cooke, who was an adherent of General Kearny. General Kearny, under addi- tional instructions from the general government, brought by Colonel Mason from the war depart- ment, had established himself as governor at Monterey. With a governor in the north and one in the south, antagonistic to each other, California had fallen back to its normal condi- tion under Mexican rule. Colonel Cooke, shortly after his arrival in the territory, thus de- scribes the condition prevailing: "General Kearny is supreme somewhere up the coast. Colonel Fremont is supreme at Pueblo de Los Angeles; Colonel Stockton is commander-in-
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chief at San Diego; Commodore Shubrick the same at Monterey; and I at San Luis Rey; and we are all supremely poor, the government hav- ing no money and no credit, and we hold the territory because Mexico is the poorest of all."
Col. R. B. Mason was appointed inspector of the troops in California and made an official visit to Los Angeles. In a misunderstanding about some official matters he used insulting language to Colonel Fremont. Fremont promptly challenged him to fight a duel. The challenge was accepted; double-barreled shot- guns were chosen as the weapons and the Rancho Rosa del Castillo as the place of meet- ing. Mason was summoned north and the duel was postponed until his return. General Kearny, hearing of the proposed affair of honor, put a stop to further proceedings by the duelists.
Col. Philip St. George Cooke, of the Mormon battalion, was made commander of the military district of the south with headquarters at Los Angeles. Fremont's battalion was mustered out of service. The Mormon soldiers and the two companies of United States Dragoons who came with General Kearny were stationed at Los Angeles to do guard duty and prevent any uprising of the natives.
Colonel Fremont's appointment as governor of California had never been recognized by General Kearny. So when the general had made himself supreme at Monterey he ordered Fremont to report to him at the capital and turn over the papers of his governorship. Fre- mont did so and passed out of office. He was nominally governor of the territory about two months. His appointment was made by Com- modore Stockton, but was never confirmed by the president or secretary of war. His jurisdic- tion did not extend beyond Los Angeles. He left Los Angeles May 12 for Monterey. From that place, in company with General Kearny, on May 31, he took his departure for the states. The relations between the two were strained. While ostensibly traveling as one company, each officer, with his staff and escort, made sep- arate camps. At Fort Leavenworth General Kearny placed Fremont under arrest and pre- ferred charges against him for disobedience of orders. He was tried by court-martial at Washı-
ington and was ably defended by his father-in- law, Colonel Benton, and his brother-in-law, William Carey Jones. The court found him guilty and fixed the penalty, dismissal from the service. President Polk remitted the penalty and ordered Colonel Fremont to resume his sword and report for duty. He did so, but shortly afterward resigned his commission and left the army.
While Colonel Cooke was in command of the southern district rumors reached Los An- geles that the Mexican general, Bustamente, with a force of fifteen hundred men, was pre- paring to reconquer California. "Positive infor- mation," writes Colonel Cooke, under date of April 20, 1847, "has been received that the Mexican government has appropriated $600,000 towards fitting out this force." It was also re- ported that cannon and military stores had been landed at San Vicente, in Lower California. Rumors of an approaching army came thick and fast. The natives were supposed to be in league with Bustamente and to be secretly preparing for an uprising. Precautions were taken against a surprise. A troop of cavalry was sent to Warner's ranch to patrol the Sonora road as far as the desert. The construction of a fort on the hill fully commanding the town, which had previously been determined upon, was begun and a company of infantry posted on the hill.
On the 23d of April, three months after work had ceased on Emory's fort, the construction of the second fort was begun and pushed vigor- ously. Rumors continued to come of the ap- proach of the enemy. May 3, Colonel Cooke writes: "A report was received through the most available sources of information that Gen- eral Bustamente had crossed the Gulf of Cali- fornia near its head, in boats of the pearl fishers, and at last information was at a rancho on the western road, seventy leagues below San Diego." Colonel Stevenson's regiment of New York volunteers had recently arrived in Cali- fornia. Two companies of that regiment had been sent to Los Angeles and two to San Diego. The report that Colonel Cooke had re- ceived reinforcement and that Los Angeles was being fortified was supposed to have frightened
10
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Bustamente into abandoning his invasion of California. Bustamente's invading army was largely the creation of somebody's fertile imag- ination. The scare, however, had the effect of hurrying up work on the fort. May 13, Colo- nel Cooke resigned and Col. J. B. Stevenson succeeded him in the command of the southern military district.
Colonel Stevenson continued work on the fort and on the Ist of July work had progressed so far that he decided to dedicate and name it on the 4th. He issued an official order for the celebration of the anniversary of the birthday of American independence at this port, as he called Los Angeles. "At sunrise a Federal salute will be fired from the field work on the hill which commands this town and for the first time from this point the American standard will be dis- played. At 11 o'clock all the troops of the district, consisting of the Mormon battalion, the two companies of dragoons and two companies of the New York volunteers, were formed in a hollow square at the fort. The Declaration of Independence was read in English by Captain Stuart Taylor and in Spanish by Stephen C. Foster. The native Californians, seated on their horses in rear of the soldiers, listened to Don Esteban as he rolled out in sonorous Spanish the Declaration's arraignment of King George III., and smiled. They had probably never heard of King George or the Declaration of Independ- ence, either, but they knew a pronunciamiento when they heard it, and after a pronunciamiento in their governmental system came a revolution, therefore they smiled at the prospect of a gringo revolution. "At the close of this ceremony (reading of the Declaration) the field work will be dedicated and appropriately named; and at 12 o'clock a national salute will be fired. The field work at this post having been planned and the work conducted entirely by Lieutenant Da- vidson of the First Dragoons, he is requested to hoist upon it for the first time on the morn- ing of the 4th the American standard." * * The commander directs that from and after the 4th instant the fort shall bear the name of Moore. Benjamin D. Moore, after whom the fort was named, was captain of Company A, First United States Dragoons. He was killed by a
lance thrust in the disastrous charge at the bat- tle of San Pasqual. This fort was located on what is now called Fort Hill, near the geograph- ical center of Los Angeles. It was a breastwork about four hundred feet long with bastions and embrasures for cannon. The principal em- brasure commanded the church and the plaza, two places most likely to be the rallying points in a rebellion. It was built more for the sup- pression of a revolt than to resist an invasion. It was in a commanding position; two hundred men, about its capacity, could have defended it against a thousand if the attack came from the front; but as it was never completed, in an at- tack from the rear it could easily have been cap- tured with an equal force.
Col. Richard B. Mason succeeded General Kearny as commander-in-chief of the troops and military governor of California. Col. Philip St. George Cooke resigned command of the military district of the south May 13, joined General Kearny at Monterey and went east with him. As previously stated, Col. J. D. Ste- venson, of the New York volunteers, succeeded him. His regiment, the First New York, but really the Seventh, had been recruited in the eastern part of the state of New York in the summer of 1846, for the double purpose of con- quest and colonization. The United States gov- ernment had no intention of giving up California once it was conquered, and therefore this regi- ment came to the coast well provided with pro- visions and implements of husbandry. It came to California via Cape Horn in three transports. The first ship, the Perkins, arrived at San Francisco, March 6, 1847; the second, the Drew, March 19; and the third, the Loo Choo, March 26. Hostilities had ceased in California before their arrival. Two companies, A and B, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, were sent to Lower California, where they saw hard service and took part in several engagements. The other companies of the regiment were sent to different towns in Alta California to do gar- rison duty.
Another military organization that reached California after the conquest was Company F of the Third United States Artillery. It landed at Monterey January 28, 1847. It was com-
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manded by Capt. C. Q. Thompkins. With it came Lieuts. E. O. C. Ord, William T. Sher- man and H. W. Halleck, all of whom became prominent in California affairs and attained na- tional reputation during the Civil war. The Mormon battalion was mustered out in July, 1847. One company under command of Cap- tain Hunt re-enlisted. The others made their way to Utah, where they joined their brethren who the year before had crossed the plains and founded the City of Salt Lake. The New York volunteers were discharged in August, 1848. After the treaty of peace, in 1848, four compa- nies of United States Dragoons, under com- mand of Major L. P. Graham, marched from Chihuahua, by way of Tucson, to California. Major Graham was the last military commander of the south.
Commodore W. Branford Shubrick succeeded Commodore Stockton in command of the naval forces of the north Pacific coast. Jointly with General Kearny he issued a circular or proc- lamation to the people of California, printed in English and Spanish, setting forth "That the president of the United States, desirous to give and secure to the people of California a share of the good government and happy civil organ- ization enjoyed by the people of the United States, and to protect them at the same time from the attacks of foreign foes and from inter- nal commotions, has invested the undersigned with separate and distinct powers, civil and mil- itary; a cordial co-operation in the exercise of which, it is hoped and believed, will have the happy results desired.
"To the commander-in-chief of the naval forces the president has assigned the regula- tion of the import trade, the conditions on which vessels of all nations, our own as well as foreign, may be admitted into the ports of the territory, and the establishment of all port regulations. To the commanding military officer the presi- dent has assigned the direction of the operations on land and has invested him with administra- tive functions of government over the people and territory occupied by the forces of the United States.
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