Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present, Part 17

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996

USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 17

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Shortly after the above episode, the Califor- nians 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 countrymen as traitors.) A company of riflemen was ordered to clear the

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

hill. A single volley effected 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 cap- ture 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 ran- chos of their friends in the country. The fellows of the baser sort, who were in possession 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 other famous scolds and kickers. He rode by the side of the advancing column up Main street, firing volleys of invective and denun- ciation at the hated gringos. At certain points of his tirade he worked himself up 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 car- ried, but when it came to the order, "fire!" dis- cretion got the better of his valor; he lowered his gun and began again, firing invective at the grin- go 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 daughters, at the approach of the American army, had aban- doned their home and taken refuge with Don Luis Vignes of the Aliso. Vignes was a French- man 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 headquarters, passing by, found the door invitingly open, entered, and find- ing the house deserted, took possession. The re- creant guardian returned to find himself dispos-

sessed and the house in possession of the enemy. "And the band played on."

THE BUILDING OF FORT MOORE.

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. William H. Emory, topographical engineer of General Kearny's staff, and work begun on it by Commo- dore Stockton's sailors and marines. The second was planned by Lieutenant J. W. Davidson, 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 iden- tical. The first was designed to hold 100 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 de- cided to fortify.

"On January 11th," 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 command 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 3,000; that of the town itself about 1,500.

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 there- fore desirable to establish a fort which, in case of trouble, should enable a small garrison to hold out till aid might come from San Diego, San Francisco or Monterey, places which are destined to become centers 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 detach 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 they performed bravely, and gave me great hopes of success."

On the 14th of January Fremont, with his bat- talion of 450 me11, arrived from Cahuenga. There were then about eleven hundred troops in the city, and the old ciudad put on military airs. On the 18th, Kearny having quarreled with

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Stockton about who should be governor of the conquered territory, left for San Diego, taking with him Lieutenant Emory and the other men- bers of his staff, and the dragoons. Emory was sent east by way of Panama with dispatches. Stockton appointed Colonel Fremont governor, and Colonel Russell, of the battalion, secretary of state of the newly acquired territory; and then took his departure to San Diego, where his ship, the Congress, was lying. The sailors and ma- rines, on the 20th, took up their line of march for San Pedro to rejoin their ships, and work on the fort was abandoned.

Lieutenant Emory says: "Subsequent to my leaving the Ciudad de Los Angeles, the entire plan of the fort was changed, and I am not the projector of the work finally adopted for defense of that town." So far as I know, 110 plan of the first fort exists. One company of Fremont's bat- talion was left in charge of the city; the command of the battalion was turned over to Captain Owens, and the other companies marched to San Gabriel. Fremont, as governor, established his headquarters in the Bell Block, corner of Aliso and Los Angeles streets, that being the finest building in the city. The quarrel for superiority between Stockton, Kearny, Mason and Fremont continued and waxed hotter. Kearny had removed to Mon- terey. Colonel Cooke with his Mormon bat- talion, having crossed the plains by the southern route, had arrived and been stationed at San Luis Rey. He was an adherent of Kearny's. On the 17th of March, Cooke's Mormon battalion arrived in Los Angeles. Captain Owens, in com- mand of Fremont's battalion, had moved all the artillery-10 pieces-to the Mission San Gabriel.

Colonel Cooke was placed in command of the southern district, Fremont's battalion was mus- tered out of service and the artillery brought back to Los Angeles.

On the 20th of April rumors reached Los An- geles that the Mexican general, Bustamente, was advancing on California with a force of 1,500 men. "Positive information," writes Colonel Cooke, "has been received that the Mexican gov- ernment hasappropriated $600,000 towards fitting ont this force." It was also reported that can- non and military stores had been landed at Sanl Vicente, in Lower California, on the coast below San Diego. Rumors of an approaching army came thick and fast. War's wrinkled front once more affrighted the Angeleños, or rather, the gringo portion. The natives were supposed to be in league with Bustamente and to be prepar- ing for an insurrection. Precautions were taken against a surprise. A troop of cavalry was sent to Warner's rauch to patrol the Soñora 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. On May 3d Colonel Cooke writes: "A report was received through the most available sources of information that General Bustamente had crossed the Gulf near the head in boats of the pearl fishers, and at last informa- tion was at a rancho on the western road 70 leagues below San Diego." Colonel Stevenson's regiment of New York volunteers had arrived in California, and two companies of the volunteers had been sent to Los Angeles. The report that Colonel Cooke had received large reinforcements and that the place was being fortified, was sup- posed to have frightened Bustamente into aban- doning the recapture of Los Angeles. Busta- mente's invading army was largely the creation of somebody's fertile imagination. The scare, however, had the effect of hurrying up work on the fort.

On the 13th of May Colonel Cooke resigned and Colonel J. B. Stevenson succeeded him in command of the southern military district. Work on the fort still continued. As the fort ap- proached completion, Colonel Stevenson was ex- ercised about a suitable flagstaff-there was no tall timber in the vicinity of Los Angeles. The colonel wanted a flagstaff that would be au honor to his field works and that would float the old flag where it could be seen of "all men," and women, too. Nothing less than a pole 150 feet high would do.

A native Californian, named Juan Ramirez, was found, who claimed to have seen some trees in the San Bernardino Mountains that were mucho alto-very tall-just what was needed for a flag- staff. A contract was made with him to bring in the timber. The mountain Indians were hostile, or rather, they were horse thieves. The ran- cheros killed them on sight, like so many rattle- snakes. An escort of ten soldiers from the Mor- mon battalion, under command of a lieutenant, was sent along with Juan to protect him and his workmen. Ramirez, with a small army of Indian laborers and a number of Mexican carts, set out for the headwaters of Mill Creek in the San Ber- nardino Mountains. Time passed; the colonel was becoming uneasy over the long absence of the flagstaff hunters. He had not yet become accustomed to the easy-going, poco tiempo ways of the native Californians. One afternoon a cloud of dust was seen out on the mission road. From out the cloud came the most unearthly

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

shriekings, groanings and wailings. At first it was surmised that it might be the fag end of Bustamente's army of invasion that had gotten away from its base of supplies, or possibly the return of a Mexican revolution that had been lost on the plains years ago. As the cloud crossed the river into the Aliso road, Juan Ramirez' cavalcade and its Mormon escort emerged from it. They had two tree trunks, one about 90 feet and the other 75 or 80 feet long, mounted on the axles of about a dozen old carretas, each trunk hauled by twenty yoke of oxen, and an Indian driver to each ox (Indians were plentiful in those days). Each wooden wheel of the carts was sending forth its agonizing shrieks for axle grease in a different key from its fellows. Each Indian driver was exhausting his vocabulary of invec- tive on his especial ox, and punctuating his pro- fanity by vicious punches with the goad in the poor ox's ribs. The Indian was a cruel driver. The Mormons of the escort were singing one of their interminable songs of Zion-a pean of de- liverance from the hands of the Philistines. They had had a fight with the Indians, killed three of the hostiles and had the ears of their victims strung upon a string.

Never before or since, in the history of the flag, did such a queer concourse combine to pro- cure a staff to float Old Glory.

The carpenters among the volunteers spliced the two pieces of timber together and soon fashioned a beautiful flag staff a hundred and fifty feet in length. The pole was raised near what is now the southeast corner of N. Broad- way and Fort Moore Place. By the first of July work had so far progressed on the fort that Col- onel Stevenson decided to dedicate and name it on the 4th. He issned an official order for the celebration of the anniversary of the birthday of American Independence at this port, as he called Los Angeles. The following is a synopsis of the order: "At sunrise a Federal salute will be fired from the field work on the hill, which com- mands this town and for the first time from this point the American standard will be displayed. At ro o'clock every soldier at this post will be under arms. The detachment of the 7th Regt. N. Y. Volunteers and Ist Reg. U. S. Dragoons (dismounted) will be marched to the field work on the hill, when, together with the Mormon bat- talion, the whole will be formed at 11 o'clock A. M. into a hollow square when the Declara- tion of Independence will be read. At the close of this ceremony 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 con- ducted entirely by Lieutenant Davidson of the First

Dragoons, he is requested to lioist upon it for the first time, on the morning of the 4th, the Ameri- can Standard. It is the custom of our country to confer on its fortifications the name of some distinguished individual, who has rendered im- portant services to his country either in the councils of the nation or on the battlefield. The commandant has therefore determined, unless the Department of War shall otherwise direct, to confer upon the field work erected at the port of Los Angeles the name of one who was regarded by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance as a perfect specimen of an American officer, and whose character for every virtue and accomplish- ment that adorns a gentleman was only equalled by the reputation he had acquired in the field for his gallantry as an officer and soldier, and his life was sacrificed in the conquest of this terri- tory at the battle of San Pasqual. The con- mander directs that from and after the 4th instant it shall bear the name of Moore." Benjamin D. Moore, after whom the fort was named, was captain of Co. A, Ist U. S. Dragoons. He was killed by a lance thrust in the disastrous charge at San Pasqual. Captain Stuart Taylor at this celebration read the Declaration of Independence in English, and Stephen C. Foster read it in Spanish. The native Californians seated on their horses in rear of the soldiers listened to Don Estevan as he rolled out in sonorous Span- ish the Declaration's arraignment of King George III. and smiled. They had probably never heard of King George or the Declaration of In- dependence either, but they knew a pronun- ciamiento when they heard it, and after a pro- nunciamiento in their governmental system came a revolution-therefore they smiled at the prospect of a gringo revolution. The old fort was located along the easterly line of what is now N. Broadway at its intersection with Fort Moore Place. It began near the northerly line of Dr. Wills' lot and extended southerly to the fourth lot south of Fort Moore Place, a length of over 400 feet. It was a breastwork with bastions and embrasures for cannon. The principal em- brasure covered the church and plaza. It was built more for the suppression of a revolt than to resist an invasion. It was a strong position; two hundred men, about its capacity, could have de- fended it against one thousand if the attack came from the front, but it could easily have been out- flanked.

In the rear of the fort a deep ravine ran diagonally from the cemetery to Spring street just south of Temple. The road to the cemetery led up this ravine and many an old Californian made his last journey in this world up cemetery ravine. It was known as the Cañada de Los

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Muertos (the canon of the dead). The 4th of July, 1847, was a crackerless Fourth. The Ameri- can boy with his fireworks was not in evidence, and the native muchach knew as little about fire crackers as he did about the 4th of July. The day's festivities ended with a fandango. The fandango was a universal leveler. Mormon and Mexican, native Californians and spruce shoul- der-strapped Regulars met and mingled in the dance. The day ended without a casualty and at its close even the most recalcitrant paisano was constrained to shout Viva Los Estados Unidos ! (Long live the U. S.)

One of the historical fictions that appears in most of the "write ups" of this old fort is the statement that it was built by Fremont. There is absolutely no foundation for such a statement. Emory's fort was begun before Fremont's bat- talion reached Los Angeles, and work ceased on it when Stockton's sailors and marines left the city. Davidson's fort was begun while the battalion was at San Gabriel, a short time before it was mustered out. Fremont left for Monterey shortly after the Mormon battalion began work on the redoubt; and when it was completed, or rather when work stopped on it, he had left California and was somewhere in the neighbor- hood of the Rocky Mountains. Neither is there any foundation for the story that the fortification was begun by Micheltorena when Commodore

Jones captured Monterey, October 19, 1842. It was not known in early times as Fremont's redoubt.

Another silly fiction that occasionally makes its appearance in newspapers and literary jour- nals is the story that an old adobe building on Main street near 16th street was Fremont's head- quarters when he was "military commander" of the territory. As I write there lies before me a copy of an illustrated eastern journal of extensive circulation, in which appears a cut of this ex- saloon and present Chinese wash house labeled "Fremont's Headquarters." Not long since a literary journal of our own city in an editorial urged upon the Historical Society and the Land- marks Club the necessity of preserving this valu- able historical relic of Fremont's occupancy of Los Angeles in the war. The idiocy of a com- manding officer establishing his headquarters 011 a naked plain two miles away from the fort where his troops were stationed and within what would then have been the enemy's lines seems never to have occurred to the authors and promulgators of these fictions. This old adobe house was built six or eight years after the conquest of California. In 1856 it was used for a saloon; Fremont was then a candidate for the presidency. The proprietor named it Fremont's Headquarters.

CHAPTER XXI.

TREATY OF CAHUENGA-TRANSITION.

A S STATED in a former chapter, Fremont's battalion began its march down the coast on the 29th of November, 1846. The win- ter 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 encountered no opposition from the enemy on its march and did no fighting.

On the 11th of January, a few iniles above San Fernando, Col. Fremont received a message from Gen. Kearny informing him of the defeat of the enemy and the capture of Los Angeles. That night the battalion encamped in the mission build-

ings at San Fernando. From the mission that evening Jesus Pico, a cousin of Gen. Andrés 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-mar- tial 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 warmı admirer and devoted friend of Fremont's.

He found the advance guard of the Californians encamped at Verdugas. He was detained here, and the leading officers of the armny were sum-

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

moned to a council. Pico informed them of Fre- mont'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 ob- tain better terms from him than from Stockton.

Gen. Flores, who held a commission in the Mexican army, and who had been appointed by the territorial assembly governor and comandante- general by virtue of his rank, appointed Andrés Pico general and gave him command of the army. The same night he took his departure for Mexi- co, by way of San Gorgonio Pass, accompanied by Col. Garfias, Diego Sepulveda, Manuel Cas- tro, Segura, and about thirty privates. Gen. Pico, on assuming command, appointed Francisco Rico and Francisco de La Guerra to go with Jesus Pico to confer with Col. Fremont. Fremont ap- pointed as commissioners to negotiate a treaty : Major P. B. Reading, Major William H. Russell and Captain Lonis 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 Augustin 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 deserted ranch-house, and the treaty was drawn up and signed.

The principal conditions of the treaty or capitu- lation of "Cahnenga," 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 conform- ing 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 pa- roles. Two cannon were surrendered, the how- itzer captured from Gen. Kearny at San Pas- qual, and the woman's gun that won the battle of Dominguez. On the 14th Fremont's battalion marchied through the Cahuenga Pass to Los An- geles in a pouring rainstorm, and entered it four days after its surrender to Stockton. The con- quest of California was completed. Stockton approved the treaty, although it was not alto- gether satisfactory to him. On the 16th he ap-

pointed Colonel Fremont governor of the terri- tory, 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 un- der his command but the one company of dra- goons 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 his officers and dragoons. On the 20th Commodore Stockton, with his sailors and marines, marched to San Pedro, where they all embarked on a man-of-war for San Diego to rejoin their ships. Stockton was shortly afterwards superseded in the command of the Pacific squadron by Commo- dore Shubrick.

Fremont was left in command at Los Angeles. He established his headquarters in the upper (second) floor of the Bell Block, corner of Los Angeles and Aliso street, the best building in the city then. One company of the battalion was re- tained in the city; the others, under command of Captain Owens, were quartered at the Mission San Gabriel. From San Diego General Kearny sailed to San Francisco, and from there he went to Monterey. Under additional instructions from the general government brought to the coast by Colonel Mason he established his governorsbip at Monterey. With a governor in the north and one in the south antagonistic to each other, California had fallen back to its normal condition under Mexican rule. Colonel Cooke, commander of the Mormon battalion, writing about this time, says: "General Kearny is supreme somewhere up the coast; General Fremont is supreme at Pueblo de Los Angeles; Commodore Stockton is commander-in-chief at San Diego; Commodore Shubrick the same at Monterey; and I at San Luis Rey; and we are all supremely poor, the government having no money and no credit, and we hold the territory because Mexico is poorest of all!"

Col. R. B. Mason was appointed inspector of the troops, and made an official visit to Los An- geles. In some disagreement he used insulting language to Colonel Fremont. Fremont prompt- ly challenged him to fight a duel. The challenge was accepted, and double-barreled shotguns were chosen as the weapons and the Rosa del Castillo chosen as the place of meeting. Mason was summoned north, and the duel was postponed until his return. Kearny, hearing of it, put a stop to it.

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Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present, Part 17

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 996

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996