A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 43

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

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"This was before Glanton went to San Diego (according to the chief's statement) for the pur- pose of purchasing whiskey and provisions. The chief said he immediately on receiving this insult went back and held a council of his people. The result was a determination to kill all the Americans at the ferry and another chief was sent up to see the position of the Americans, who found that Glanton was gone to San Diego. They then determined to wait until he returned. as the main object, the chief said, was to kill Glanton. The chief who had been sent up, as just stated, went up afterwards from day to day to the American camp, and finally one day

came back with the report that Glanton had re- turned. Then the chief who had been before insulted went up and found Glanton and his men drinking : they gave him something to drink, and also his dinner. After dinner five of the Amer- icans laid down and went to sleep in. a hut. leaving him sitting there; others were ferry- ing and were on the opposite side; three had gone up on this side for some purpose. The chief said he watched till he thought the five were asleep, when he went out to his people on this side, who were all hid in the bushes just below the house ; a portion of them he sent up after the three Americans who were up cutting poles, instructing his men to get possession of their arms; he had previously posted 500 In- dians on the other side, with instructions to mix among the Americans and Mexicans and get into the boat without suspicion. He himself then went up on the little mound, perhaps as high as his head, but commanding a view of all his Indians and the whole scene; from this mound he was to give the signal. There he was to beckon to those hid in the bushes to come near the American tents, which they were im- mediately to enter and give a yell as they killed the Americans, whereupon he was to give the sign with a pole having a scarf on it to the In- dians on the other side as well as those who were watching the three above. He gave the signal when those in the boat and at the houses were all killed. The Indians who had been sent after the three Americans ran, and these three succeeded in getting into a little skiff and es- caped by going down the river."

The three Americans who escaped were Will- iam Carr, Marcus L. Webster and Joseph A. An- derson. They were engaged in cutting poles about three hundred yards from the river at the time of the massacre. A party of Indians num- bering fifteen or twenty was sent to kill them. The Indians attempted to get their axes from them on the pretense of assisting them in cut- ting poles. The Americans, discovering signs of treachery, drew their pistols and the Indians fled. The Americans then escaped to a small boat and pushed out into the river. After two days and nights in the bushes they finally reached a Mexican camp. where they were fed and pro-

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tected from the Indians. They eventually made their way to San Diego. Carr in his deposition describes the manner in which Dr. Lincoln, Glan- ton and the others at the ferry were killed. These particulars he learned from the Mexicans, who were encamped near the river at the time of the massacre,

"As usual, that day the Indians had been playing about the establishment, some on one side of the river, some on the other, though on that day they seemed to have collected in a very large number; though neither, by their arms or other circumstances, excited any suspicion. Glanton and Dr. A. L. Lincoln were asleep at the time of the attack. A Mexican woman who was at the time sewing in Lincoln's tent told deponent that the chief of the Yumas came in and hit the doctor on the head with a stone, whereupon he sprang to his feet, but was im- mediately killed with a club. Another woman relates the death of Glanton as occurring in the same manner. The three others were killed, the manner not known, and none had an opportunity of killing any of the Indians. Three of the tribe were killed in the fight with deponent's party. Deponent is well convinced that the men who crossed the river were all killed, and the Mex- icans say that the bodies of five of them were brought over to this side and burned, as also were the bodies of Dr. Lincoln, Glanton and others killed ou shore. Dr. Lincoln's dog and two other dogs were tied to his body and that of Glanton and burnt alive with them. A large quantity of meat was thrown into the fire at the same time. The houses were also burnt down. ·The bodies of John A. Johnson, William Prewett and John Dorsey were burnt up with the cook's house, which had been set fire to. One of the men in the boat was a negro; his name John Jackson; he made some resistance and in the scuffle was thrown overboard and drowned. It seems that the attack was made just as those who had crossed with the boat struck the shore, the Indians being in the habit of jumping in to help them. The Indians immediately dressed themselves in the clothes of the men, a circum- stance that deceived deponent when he first reached the river, as above stated, for he then supposed he saw the men on the other side and

called to them to make haste over with the boat. The names of the five thus killed in the boat were Thomas Harlin, of Texas; Henderson Smith, of Missouri; John Gunn, of Missouri; Thomas Watson, of Philadelphia ; James A. Mill- er, of New Jersey. Dr. Lincoln was from Il- linois ; John J. Glanton, of San Antonio, Texas ; John Jackson, of New York; Prewitt, of Texas, and Dorsey, of Missouri. Deponent knows that there were in the hands of Dr. Lincoln $50,000 in silver, but knows not the amount of gold; supposes it to be between $20,000 and $30,000; all this is of the proceeds of the ferry during the time the said company occupied it, to-wit, from about the first of March last. The company also owns $6,000 now deposited with Judge Hays, of San Diego, California, and also twenty-two mules and two horses and provi- sions, all at San Diego."

When the report of the massacre of the fer- ryman reached the state capital Governor Bur- nett ordered the sheriff of Los Angeles county to enroll forty men and the sheriff of San Diego twenty. These were to be placed under the command of Major General Bean of the state militia, a resident of San Diego. Bean ordered the quartermaster general, Joseph C. Morehead, to provide supplies for the expedition. More- head in his report says: "The duty of raising the men, arming, equipping and provisioning them, devolved upon me, and I was directed to furnish the commands as many as I could mus- ter, all the necessaries for a three months' cam- paign, and I was ordered to pay in drafts on the treasury of this state for all purchases I might make for the expedition." As the state treasury was empty those selling supplies charged extravagant prices.

Morehead found considerable difficulty both in Los Angeles and San Diego to secure recruits. Finally, on the 25th of August, he reported a force of forty men and provisions and supplies for one hundred. He took up his line of march for the Colorado; on reaching it his force num- bered seventy-five men. These were recruited from parties of immigrants that he met on the road, all being anxious to revenge some insult or wrong they had received in passing through the territory of the Indians. After arriving at

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his destination he continued to recruit until he had one hundred and twenty-five men enrolled. Whether the expedition killed any Indians is not known. General Bean, Morehead's superior of- ficer, made no report. General Morehead in his report to the governor refers to a report that he made to General Bean, giving "details of my operations on the Gila." Morehead in his re- port says: "The Yuma Indians, a warlike tribe, were taught to know that they could not trifle with the American government with impunity and that it would be prompt to punish any ag- gression upon its rights."

Governor Burnett, after ordering the enroll- ment of the troops, seems to have lost sight of the expedition. From a letter of Morehead's to the state treasurer he discovered he had an army in the field and a very expensive one. He is- sued an order to General Bean to disband his troops. Bean ordered Morehead to return, but that valiant soldier claimed he was affording protection to the immigrants by the Gila route. The governor sent a peremptory order for the troops to return. This was obeyed and this end- ed the Gila Expedition, or, as it was sometimes called, the Glanton war. For the time it lasted (about two months) and the force engaged, it was one of the most costly wars known to his- tory. It cost the infant state $120,000. It was true of this expedition, as has been said of other expeditions against the Indians, that it cost the government his weight in gold to kill an Indian. The actual cost to the state averaged $1,000 for every enlisted man. Notwithstanding the les- son the Gila Expedition gave the Indians, they continued their depredations on the immigrants. On November 27, 1850, Colonel Heintzleman ar- rived from San Diego to establish a garrison and protect the immigrants. His post at first was called Camp Independence, but in March, 1851, it was transferred to the site of the old Spanish missions (destroyed by the Yumas in 1781) and named Fort Yuma.

THE SECOND INDIAN WAR.

Scarcely had the soldiers of the Glanton war been discharged before there was another out- break of the Indians in San Diego county and

another call for volunteers. The origin of this war is unparalleled in the annals of Indian war- fare. It originated from the same cause as did our Revolutionary war-"taxation without rep- resentation." The Indian probably cared very little for representation at the white man's coun- cil fires, but taxation aroused his indignation.

After the fall of the missions some of the more intelligent of the neophytes acquired small bands of cattle. These bands grew into consid- erable herds. These were herded in the moun- tain valleys beyond the Spanish grants, which lay almost entirely along the coast. During the Mexican rule in California these Indian cattle kings were not taxed. After the inauguration of the American system of government the ex- cessive fees and salaries allowed county officials necessitated the resort to various expedients to increase the tax roll. Some one with a genius for evil devised the scheme of taxing the per- sonal property of the Indians. Agostin Har- aszthy, the first sheriff of San Diego county and ex officio tax collector, also city marshal, was famous for his capacity to draw down salaries, and his dexterity to rake in fees. It was, no doubt, a pleasure to him to find a new field for the exercise of his genius for grabbing. When the Indians refused to pay the tax imposed upon them he seized their cattle and sold them. This roused the red man's wrath. He regarded the sheriff and his posse as robbers.

Principal among the Indian cattle owners was Antonio Garra, chief of the San Luis Rey tribe. Garra had great influence among the various Indian tribes. He was intelligent and energetic and brave. In early life he lived at the Mission San Luis Rey, was baptized there and had re- ceived a rudimentary education. He could read and write. Indignant at his treatment by the sheriff, he conceived the idea of forming a con- federation of all the southern Indian tribes to drive the Americans out of the country. He hoped to draw into the plot the native Cali- fornians. He wrote letters to several of these, urging them to join the conspiracy against the Americans, but received no encouragement from them. He sent messengers to the chiefs of the Coahuillas, the Yumas and the Cocopahs. These tribes all had their grievances against the Amer-

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icans and were willing to join any plot that promised revenge and plunder.

One of Antonio Garra's schemes as divulged later by some of his adherents was to surprise and capture Fort Yuma, and with the small arms and artillerv taken there to attack Los An- geles and San Diego. As a preliminary to the carrying out of his ambitious designs and to procure supplies for his campaign of extermin- ation of the Americans an attack was made on Warner's rancho, located about sixty miles east- erly of San Diego.

Jonathan Trumbull Warner, better known as Juan José Warner or Juan Largo (Long John), was a native of Connecticut. He came to Cali- fornia with Ewing Young's party in 1831. For a time after his arrival in the territory he fol- lowed trapping. Then he settled in Los An- geles and became a naturalized citizen of Mex- ico. He obtained a land grant from the Mex- ican government of 26,000 acres of valley and mesa land in the San Diego Mountains. This he stocked with cattle and horses. He was liv- ing there at the time of the American conquest. The Agua Caliente or Hot Springs on this rancho were a favorite resort of the Indians. After the discovery of gold, Warner opened a store at his rancho and carried a stock of goods amounting to about $5,000. His customers were Indians, vaqueros and gold seekers coming to California by the Gila route. Warner's display of goods no doubt tempted the Indians to raid his store and ranch. A friendly Indian had warned Mrs. Warner of the contemplated attack and Warner sent his family to San Diego.

There are different and widely differing ac- counts of the attack on Warner's rancho pub- lished in state and county histories. The fol-, lowing is Warner's testimony given at the trial of Antonio Garra and is undoubtedly correct :

"On Saturday morning. November 23, 1851, about sunrise. I was awakened by a war-whoop, and, having had cause to suspect, I ran to the door and met my Indian boy, who said the Coahuilas are on us, and then I saw two horses that I had made fast and which they had suc- ceeded in getting loose ; and on presenting my- self at the door, gun in hand, they immediately secreted themselves. I succeeded in killing one

and shortly afterwards shot another while I was running from my house to an outhouse. Near me were at least twenty Indians. There was no person in my house but a sick Mulatto boy and an indian boy. I returned to the house and pro- cured another gun and succeeded in getting a horse saddled and made my Indian boy, an in- terpreter, inquire of them what they wanted. He ran away and joined them. I then returned to my house and found it stripped of everything. The Indians had fled. The great body of them, I think, was about two miles off. While riding away I overtook an Indian who had some of my property. When I ordered him to return it to my house he dropped his load and attempted to draw an arrow, when I shot him.

"I was subsequently one of a number who were at Agua Caliente and there I saw the bodies of Ridgley, Slack and Fidler and, although much disfigured, yet I recognized them. My work horses were not stolen, neither were my breed- ing mares that day. There must have been some 100 or 150 Indians.'

"Can you gives the names of any Indian or Indians who made an attack upon your house ?" "No."

"Do you know Juan Bautista ?

"I do."

"Were you fired upon first?"

"I was."

"Were any mounted?"

"None that I saw."

"Who is looked upon as chief of the party that made the attack upon your house?"

"Antonio Garra.

"I know nothing further of the Agua Cal- iente's murder except that I saw the dead bodies. I believe those who attacked me are of the San Luis Rey Indians, of whom the prisoner is chief."

Four Americans encamped at the Agua Cal- iente were treacherously murdered by the In- dians. Five Americans and two Mexicans driv- ing a band of sheep into California, shortly aft- er they crossed the Colorado river into Cali- fornia, were attacked by a large force of Yumas and Coahuillas. Five of the party were killed and the band of sheep stolen.

These atrocities alarmed the people of south- ern California. San Diego was placed under

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martial law, and a call isstied for volunteers. A company was raised in San Diego and placed under command of Major Fitzgerald. A com- pany of 60 men was raised at Los Angeles for field service and another of which B. D. Wilson was captain, for home guards to protect the city should Antonio Garra undertake to carry out his ambitions schemes of conquest. All the mil- itia were under command of Major General Joshua H. Bean. The volunteers were armed with refuse muskets from the United States ord- nance stores. These guns were useless and were more dangerous to the man behind the gun than to the man before. The volunteers did con- siderable scouting, but killed no Indians.

After the attack on Warner's rancho and the murder of the Americans, Garro, knowing that retaliation would be visited upon them, ordered the Indians to flee to the mountains. Major Heintzleman with a body of regulars pursued them into their mountain refuge and in a fight at Los Coyotes on Christmas day of 1851 killed a number of them. The Coahuillas and San Luis Indians surrendered and sued for peace.

After the battle Major Heintzleman, the com- manding officer of the department of the south, ordered a council of war for the trial of four minor chiefs known to have been implicated in the murder of the Americans at Agua Caliente. These were: Francisco Mocate, chief of the San Ysidor Indians ; Louis, alcalde of Agua Cal- iente: Jacobo or Oni-sil and Juan Bautista, of Coton. They were condemned to be shot. They were marched out to the place of execution. Kneeling at the head of their graves in the presence of their fellow prisoners they were ex- ecuted.

On December 13, 1851, Bill Marshall, an American, and Juan Verde, a Mexican, were hung at Old Town for complicity in the murder of the Americans and the sacking of Warner's rancho. Marshall came to San Diego in a whale ship in 1844. He deserted and made his way to the Indian settlements and married a daughter of one of the chiefs of the San Dieguenos. His reputation was not the best, but there was no proof that he was concerned in the outbreak. He confessed that he knew that Slack and the three other Americans at Agua Caliente were to

be killed. He made no effort to warn them for fear of the Indians. Garra at his trial stated that Marshall and Verde had nothing to do with the killing of the Americans. They were tried and found guilty. Verde confessed to a career of crime and no doubt deserved his fate. Mar- shall died protesting his innocence, a victim to keeping bad company.

Antonio Garra took refuge with Juan Antonio, chief of the White Water Indians. He was cap- tured through the connivance of Juan Antonio and surrendered to the military authorities. A court martial was convened at Old Town to try him. Gen. J. H. Bean of the militia, who had his headquarters in San Diego during the war. was made president, and Major Mckinstry, of the regular army, was appointed counsel for Garra. Three charges were preferred against the Indian chief-first, treason : second, murder : third, theft. Major Mckinstry quickly disposed of the charge of treason. He proved that Garra was not a citizen of the United States, and, owing no allegiance to the government, he could not com- mit treason. He was a prisoner of war. Garra was found guilty of murder and theft and was sentenced to be shot January 10, 1852.

Garra on his trial claimed that it was the Coahuila Indians who sacked Warner's rancho; that he was sick and stopped at San Tsicho, but was forced to go on by the Coahuillas. Lienten- ant Hamilton in his evidence stated that Garra sent Bill Marshall and Juan Verde to murder the Americans at Agua Caliente, but not having confidence in these two persons he sent an In- dian named Jacobo to follow them and see that his orders were executed. Garra had issued or- ders to attack Warner's ranch and threatened to kill any one who did not obey. The attack was made by Panito's and Razon's people. Antonio's heart failed him before the attack, but Panito said they said they would do it whether Garra directed it or not. After the sacking and the murders Garra gave orders to the Indians to flee to the mountains.

Antonio in his address before the court mar- tial said: "I tried to obtain revenge for the forced payment of taxes which the Americans demanded. We did not rise for the mere wish

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of revolting, but to resist the collection of taxes which the Indians think is very unjust."

EXECUTION OF ANTONIO GARRA.

"The prisoner took luis place at the head of his executioners and marched to his grave, evi- dently determined to show his captors that an Indian could die like a brave man. Arriving at the grave the prisoner placed himself at its head and only after repeated solicitations and commands of his father confessor was he in- duced to ask pardon of the large crowd assem- bled, which he did after his own manner. Lift- ing his eyes and gazing at the assemblage, he said, with a smile of contempt: 'Gentlemen, I ask your pardon for all my offenses and expect yours in return.'

"Then, suffering his eyes to be bandaged, he kneeled at the head of his grave. The provost- marshal gave the command: 'Ready! Aim! Fire!' At that moment the sun's last rays were tinting the hills of Point Loma and the bells of the neighboring church chimed vespers. The soul of a truly brave man winged its flight to the realms of eternity. The occasion cast a gloom over the assembled hundreds, who, whilst ac- knowledging the justness of Antonio's fate, failed not to drop a tear over the grave of a brave man

and once powerful chieftain."-San Diego Her- ald, January 17, 1852.

Thus died a patriot wlio had struck in de- fense of a principle as just as that which actuated Hampden, the knights at Runnymede, or our own Revolutionary fathers at Lexington. In his retaliation for a wrong inflicted upon himself and his people his untutored sense of justice had failed to discriminate between the private in- dividual and the collective embraced in what is called the government. Instead of dying as a soldier and a patriot he went to his death stig- matized a murderer and a thief.

The second Indian war, like the first, was fearfully expensive. General Joshua H. Bean had been the commanding officer of the militia in both wars, but had not taken the field. Bean's Second Expedition, as the Garra war was called, cost the infant state $116,000. In neither war did the militia kill an Indian. Even those con- demned to be shot were executed by the reg- ulars. The Yumas continued hostilities after the surrender of the Coahuillas. Major Heintzle- man in the spring of 1852 pursued them up the Colorado river seventy miles, burning their vil- lages, destroying their melon fields and fighting them whenever they made a stand. They be- haved themselves after this punishment.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY-Continued.

THE PUEBLO OF SAN DIEGO.

N 1850 and for a number of years after there was no settlement in San Diego county out- side of the city that could be called a town. At each of the large ranchos there was a small set- tlement made up of servants and vaqueros and their families. Some of these were designated as precincts when a general election was called, and at a few some one acted as a justice of the peace.

The history of the county and of the city are identical for nearly two decades. The back country so often spoken of was undeveloped and

the very few events that happened at points back from the bay are unimportant. The early history of Old San Diego, or Old Town, as it is usually called, has been given in the chapter on the Founding of the Presidios.

The pueblo of San Diego was organized Jan- uary 1, 1835. It is not, as some writers have claimed, the oldest municipality in California. The pueblos of San Jose and Los Angeles ante- date it many years. Los Angeles having passed beyond the pueblo stage was made a ciudad (city) the same year (1835) that the pueblo of San Diego was organized. The first ayunta- miento or town council, elected December, 1834,

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was composed of an alcalde, two regidores and the sands as if there had been premeditation to a sindico procurador.

The first survey of the pueblo lands was made by Henry D. Fitch in 1845. The Mexican gov- ernment granted the pueblo eleven leagues or 48,884 acres. This grant to the pueblo was con- firmed by the United States Land Commission in 1853. San Diego was more fortunate than Los Angeles, whose claim of sixteen square leagues was cut down to four, or Santa Barbara, which claimed eight, but had to be content with four. San Diego in area, fifty years ago, was the largest town in the United States. I Its boundary lines inclosed about 75 square miles ; its population, however, was less than ten to the square mile.

THE FOUNDING OF NEW TOWN.

March 18, 1850, the ayuntamiento of San Di- ego sold to William Heath Davis, José A. Aguirre, Andrew B. Grey, Thomas D. Johns and Miguel de Pedrorena 160 acres of land a few miles south of Old Town, near the army bar- racks, for the purpose of creating a "new port." William Heath Davis, one of the oldest living pioneers of California and author of "Sixty Years in California," in an interview published in the San Diego Sun twenty years ago, gives the following account of the origin of New Town :

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A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 43

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184