Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 16

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366

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On the 17th of August, Stockton issued a sec- ond proclamation, in which he signs himself commander-in-chief and governor of the terri- tory of California. It was milder in tone and more dignified than his first. He informed the people that their country now belonged to the United States. For the present it would be gov- erned by martial law. They were invited to elect their local officers if those now in office refused to serve.

Four days after the capture of Los Angeles the "Warren," Capt. Hull commander, anchored at San Pedro. She brought official notice of the declaration of war between the United States and Mexico. Then for the first time Stockton learned that there had been an official declara- tion of war between the two countries. United States officers had waged war and taken posses- sion of California upon the strength of a rumor that hostilities existed between the countries.

The conquest, if conquest it can be called, was accomplished without the loss of a life. if we ex- cept the two Americans, Fowler and Cowie, of the Bear Flag party, who were brutally mur- dered by a band of Californians under Padillo, and the equally brutal shooting of Beryessa and the two de Haro boys by the Americans at San Rafael. These three men were shot as spies, but there was no proof that they were such, and they were not tried. These murders occurred before Commodore Sloat raised the stars and stripes at Monterey.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

CHAPTER XVII.

SIEGE OF LOS ANGELES.

W ITH California in his possession and the official information that war had been declared by the United States against Mexico, Stockton set about organizing a govern- ment for the conquered territory. Fremont was to be appointed military governor. Detachments from his battalion were to be detailed to garri- son towns, while Stockton, with what recruits he could gather in California and his sailors and ma- rines, was to undertake a naval expedition against the west coast of Mexico, land his forces at Mazatlan or Acapulco and march overland to "shake hands with General Taylor at the gates of Mexico." Regarding the conquest of Cali- fornia as complete, Commodore Stockton ap- pointed Capt. Gillespie military commandant of the southern department, with headquarters at Los Angeles, and assigned him a garrison of fifty men. He left Los Angeles for the north, September 2. Fremont, with the remainder of his battalion, took up his line of march for Mon- terey a few days later. Gillespie's orders were to place the city under martial law, but to remove the more burdensome restrictions to quiet and well-disposed citizens at his discretion, and a conciliatory policy in accordance with instruc- tions of the secretary of the navy was to be adopted and the people were to be encouraged to "neutrality, self-government and friendship."

Nearly all historians who have written upon this subject lay the blame for the subsequent uprising of the Californians and their revolt against the rule of the military commandant, Gillespie, to his petty tyrannies. Col. J. J. War- ner, in his Historical Sketch of Los Angeles County, says : "Gillespie attempted by a coercive system to effect a moral and social change in the habits, diversions and pastimes of the people and to reduce them to his standard of propriety." Warner was not an impartial judge. He had a grievance against Gillespie which embittered him against the captain. Gillespie may have been lacking in tact, and his schooling in the navy under the tyrannical régime of the quarter- deck of fifty years ago was not the best train- ing to fit him for governing a people unused to strict government, but it is hardly probable that in two weeks' time he could enforce any "cocrc- ive system" looking toward an entire change in the moral and social habits of the people. Los

Angeles, as we have learned in a previous chap- ter, was a hothed of revolutions. It had a turbulent and restless element among its inhabit- ants that was never happier than when foment- ing strife and conspiring to overthrow those in power. Of this class Colton, writing in 1846, says : "They drift about like Arabs. If the tide of fortune turns against them they disband and scatter to the four winds. They never become martyrs to any cause. They are too numerous to be brought to punishment by any of their governors and thus escape justice." There was a conservative class in the territory made up prin- cipally of the large landed proprietors, both na- tive and foreign-born, but these exerted small in- fluence in controlling the turbulent. While Los Angeles had a monopoly of this turbulent and revolutionary element other settlements in the territory furnished their full quota of that class of political knights errant, whose chief pastime was revolution, and whose capital consisted of a gaily caparisoned steed, a riata, a lance, a dag- ger and possibly a pair of horse pistols. These were the fellows whose "habits, diversions and pastimes" Gillespie undertook to reduce "to his standard of propriety."

That Commodore Stockton should have left Gillespie so small a garrison to hold the city and surrounding country in subjection shows that either he was ignorant of the character of the people, or that he placed too great reliance in the completeness of their subjection. With Castro's men in the city or dispersed among the neighboring ranchos, many of them still retain- ing their arms and all of them ready to rally at a moment's notice to the call of their leaders; with no reinforcements nearer than five hundred miles to come to the aid of Gillespie in case of an up- rising, it was foolhardiness in Stockton to en- trust the holding of the most important place in California to a mere handful of men, half dis- ciplined and poorly equipped, without fortifica- tions for defense or supplies to hold ont in case of a siege.

Scarcely had Stockton and Fremont, with their men, left the city before trouble began. The turbulent element of the city fomented strife and seized every occasion to annoy and harass the military commandant and his men. While his "petty tyrannies" so called, which were prob-

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ably nothing more than the enforcement of mar- tial law, may have been somewhat provocative, the real cause was more deep-seated. The Cali- fornians, without provocation on their part and without really knowing the cause why, found their country invaded, their property taken from them and their government in the hands of an alien race, foreign to them in customs and re- ligion. They would have been a tame and spirit- less people, indeed, had they neglected the op- portunity that Stockton's blundering gave them to regain their liberties. They did not waste much time. Within two weeks from the time Stockton sailed from San Pedro hostilities had begun and the city was in a state of siege.

Gillespie, writing in the Sacramento States- man in 1858, thus describes the first attack: "On the 22d of September, at three o'clock in the morning, a party of sixty-five Californians and Sonoreños made an attack upon my small com- mand quartered in the government house. We were not wholly surprised, and with twenty-one rifles we beat them back without loss to our- selves, killing and wounding three of their num- ber. When daylight came Lieut. Hensley, with a few men, took several prisoners and drove the Californians from the town. This party was merely the nucleus of a revolution commenced and known to Colonel Fremont before he left Los Angeles. In twenty-four hours 600 well- mounted horsemen, and armed with escopetas (shotguns), lances and one fine brass piece of light artillery, surrounded Los Angeles and summoned me to surrender. There were three old honeycombed iron guns (spiked) in the corral of my quarters, which we at once cleared and mounted upon the axles of carts."

Serbulo Varela, a young man of some ability, but of a turbulent and reckless character, had been the leader at first, but as the uprising as- sumed the character of a revolution, Castro's old officers came to the front. Capt. José Maria Flores was chosen as comandante-general ; José Antonio Carrillo, major-general; and Andres Pico, comandante de escuadron. The main camp of the insurgents was located on the mesa, east of the river, at a place called Paredon Blanco (White Bluff), near the present residence of Mrs. Hollenbeck.

On the 24th of September, from the camp at White Bluff, was issued the famous Pronuncia- miento de Barelas y otros Californios contra Los Americanos (The Proclamation of Barelas and other Californians against the Americans). It was signed by Serbulo Varela (spelled Barelas), Leonardo Cota and over three hundred others. Although this proclamation is generally credited to Florés, there is no evidence to show that lie had anything to do with framing it. He promul-

gated it over his signature October 1. It is prob- able that it was written by Varela and Cota. It has been the custom of American writers to sneer at this production as florid and bombastic. In fiery invective and fierce denunciation it is the equal of Patrick Henry's famous "Give me lib- erty or give me death !" Its recital of wrongs is brief, but to the point : "And shall we be capable of permitting ourselves to be subjugated and to accept in silence the heavy chains of slavery ? Shall we lose the soil inherited from our fathers, which cost them so much blood? Shall we leave our families victims of the most barbarous servi- tude ? Shall we wait to see our wives outraged, our innocent children beaten by American whips, our property sacked, our temples profaned-to drag out a life full of shame and disgrace? No! a thousand times no! Compatriots, death rather than that! Who of you does not feel his heart beat and his blood boil on contemplating our sit- uation? Who will be the Mexican that will not be indignant and rise in arms to destroy our oppressors? We believe there will be not one so vile and cowardly !"

Gillespie had left the government house (lo- cated on what is now the site of the St. Charles Hotel) and taken a position on Fort Hill, where he had erected a temporary barricade of sacks filled with earth and had mounted his cannon there. The Americans had been summoned to surrender, but had refused. They were besieged by the Californians. There was but little firing between the combatants-an occasional sortie and a volley of rifle balls by the Americans when the Californians approached too near. The Cali- fornians were well mounted, but poorly armed, their weapons being principally muskets, shot- guns, pistols, lances and riatas ; while the Amer- icans were armed with long range rifles, of which the Californians had a wholesome dread. The fear of these arms and his cannon doubtless saved Gillespie and his men from capture.

On the 24th Gillespie dispatched a messenger to find Stockton at Monterey, or at San Fran- cisco if he had left Monterey, and apprise him of the perilous situation of the Americans at Los Angeles. Gillespie's dispatch bearer, John Brown, better known by his Californian nick- name, Juan Flaco or Lean John, made one of the most wonderful rides in history. Gillespie furnished Juan Flaco with a package of cigar- ettes, the paper of each bearing the inscription, "Believe the bearer ;" these were stamped with Gillespie's seal. Brown started from Los An- geles at 8 P. M., September 24, and claimed to have reached Yerba Buena at 8 P. M. of the 28th, a ride of 630 miles in four days. This is incorrect. Colton, who was alcalde of Monterey at that time, notes Brown's arrival at that place

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

on the evening of the 29th. Colton, in his "Three Years in California," says that Brown rode the whole distance (Los Angeles to Mon- terey) of 460 miles in fifty-two hours, during which time he had not slept. His intelligence was for Commodore Stockton, and, in the nature of the case, was not committed to paper, except a few words rolled in a cigar fastened in his hair. But the Commodore had sailed for San Fran- cisco, and it was necessary he should go 140 miles further. He was quite exhausted and was allowed to sleep three hours. Before day he was up and away on his journey. Gillespie, in a letter published in the Los Angeles Star, May 28, 1858, describing Juan Flaco's ride, says : "Before sun- rise of the 29th he was lying in the bushes at San Francisco, in front of the Congress frigate, waiting for the early market boat to come on shore, and he delivered my dispatches to Com- modore Stockton before 7 o'clock."

In trying to steal through the picket line of the Mexicans at Los Angeles he was discovered and pursued by a squad of them. A hot race ensued. Finding the enemy gaining on him he forced his horse to leap a wide ravine. A shot from one of his pursuers mortally wounded his horse, which after running a short distance fell dead. Flaco, carrying his spurs and riata, made his way on foot in the darkness to Los Virgines, a distance of twenty-seven miles. Here he secured another mount and again set off on his perilous journey. The trail over which Flaco held his way was not like "the road from Winchester town, a good, broad highway leading down," but instead a camino de heradura-a bridle path-now wind- ing up through rocky cañons, skirting along the edge of precipitous cliffs, then zigzagging down chaparral-covered mountains; now over the sands of the sea beach and again across long stretches of brown mesa, winding through nar- row valleys and out onto the rolling hills-a trail as nature made it unchanged by the hand of man. Such was the highway over which Flaco's steeds "stretched away with utmost speed." Har- assed and pursued by the enemy, facing death night and day, with scarcely a stop or a stay to eat or sleep, Juan Flaco rode 600 miles,

"Of all the rides since the birth of time, Told in story or sung in rhyme, The fleetest ride that ever was sped,"

was Juan Flaco's ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Longfellow has immortalized the "Ride of Paul Revere," Robert Browning tells in stirring verse of the riders who brought the good news from Ghent to Aix, and Buchanan Read thrills us with the licroic measures of Sher- idan's Ride. No poet has sung of Juan Flaco's wonderful ride, fleeter, longer and more perilous

than any of these. Flaco rode 600 miles through the enemy's country, to bring aid to a besieged garrison, while Revere and Jorris and Sheridan were in the country of friends or protected by an army from enemies.

Gillespie's situation was growing more and more desperate each day. B. D. Wilson, who with a company of riflemen had been on an ex- pedition against the Indians, had been ordered by Gillespie to join him. They reached the Chino ranch, where a fight took place between them and the Californians. Wilson's men being out of ammunition were compelled to surrender. In the charge upon the adobe, where Wilson and his men had taken refuge, Carlos Ballestaros had been killed and several Californians wounded. This and Gillespie's stubborn resistance had em- bittered the Californians against him and his men. The Chino prisoners had been saved from massacre after their surrender by the firmness and bravery of Varela. If Gillespie continued to hold the town his obstinacy might bring down the vengeance of the Californians not only upon him and his men, but upon many of the Amer- ican residents of the south, who had favored their countrymen.

Finally Flores issued his ultimatum to the Americans-surrender within twenty-four hours or take the consequence of an onslaught by the Californians, which might result in the massacre of the entire garrison. In the meantime he kept his cavalry deployed on the hills, completely in- vesting the Americans. Despairing of assistance from Stockton, on the advice of Wilson, who had been permitted by Flores to intercede with Gil- lespie, articles of capitulation were drawn up and signed by Gillespie and the leaders of the Cali- fornians. On the 30th of September the Ameri- cans marched out of the city with all the honors of war-drums beating, colors flying and two pieces of artillery mounted on carts drawn by oxen. They arrived at San Pedro without mo- lestation, and four or five days later embarked on the merchant ship Vandalia, which remained at anchor in the bay. Gillespie in his march was ac- companied by a few of the American residents and probably a dozen of the Chino prisoners. who had been exchanged for the same number of Californians, whom he had held under arrest most likely as hostages.

Gillespie took two cannon with him when he evacuated the city and left two spiked and broken on Fort Hill. There seems to have been a proviso in the articles of capitulation requiring him to deliver the guns to Florés on reaching the embarcadero. If there was such a stipulation Gillespie violated it. He spiked the guns, broke off the trunnions and rolled one of them into the bay.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BATTLE OF DOMINGUEZ RANCH-FLORES GOVERNOR.

0 F THE notable events occurring during the conquest of California there are few others of which there are so contradictory accounts as of that known as the battle of Do- minguez ranch. Capt. William Mervine, who commanded the American forces in the fight, made no official report, or if he did it was not published. Historians, in their accounts of the battle, have collected their data from hearsay and not from written reports of officers engaged in it. In regard to the number engaged and the num- ber killed and wounded, even Bancroft, usually the most reliable of California historians, has no accurate report. The number engaged on the American side varies with different authors from 250 to 400; and the number killed from four to fifteen. It has been my good fortune, through the kindness of Dr. J. E. Cowles of this city, to obtain a log book of the U. S. frigate Savan- nah, kept by his uncle, Robert C. Duvall, who was an officer on that vessel. Midshipman and Acting Lieut. Duvall had command of a company of Colt's Riflemen in the battle. After his return to the ship he wrote a full, clear and accurate report of the march, battle and retreat. I tran- scribe the greater portion of his account. It is undoubtedly the best report of that affair in ex- istence. It will be recollected, as stated in a pre- vious chapter, that Lieut. Gillespie had been left by Commodore Stockton with a force of fifty men to garrison Los Angeles. An insurrection, headed by Flores and Valera, broke out. After a siege of five or six days Gillespie and his men evacuated the city and retreated to San Pedro. Lieut. Gillespie, during the siege, sent a messen- ger to Stockton at San Francisco asking for rein- forcements. Juan Flaco, the courier, reached San Francisco after a ride of 600 miles in five days. Commodore Stockton received the dis- patches, or rather the message, of Gillespie's courier on the 30th of September. Early on the morning of October I the "Savannah," Capt. William Mervine, was ordered to get under way for San Pedro with a force to relieve Capt. Gil- lespie.

"At 9:30 A. M.," says Lieut. Duvall, "we com- menced working out of the harbor of San Fran- cisco on the ebb tide. The ship anchored at Saucelito, where, on account of a dense fog, it remained until the 4th, when it put to sea. On

the 7th the ship entered the harbor of San Pe- dro. At 6:30 P. M., as we were standing in for anchorage, we made out the American merchant ship Vandalia, having on her decks a body of men. On passing she saluted with two guns, which was repeated with three cheers, which we returned. *

* * Brevet Capt. Archibald Gillespie came on board and reported that he had evacuated the Pueblo de Los Angeles on ac- count of the overpowering force of the enemy and had retired with his men on board the "Van- dalia" after having spiked his guns, one of which he threw into the water. He also reported that the whole of California below the pueblo had risen in arms against our authorities, headed by Flores, a Mexican captain on furlough in this country, who had but a few days ago given his parole of honor not to take up arms against the United States. We made preparations to land a force to march to the pueblo at daylight.

"October 8 (1846), at 6 A. M., all the boats left the ship for the purpose of landing the forces, numbering in all 299 men, including the volun- teers, under command of Capt. Gillespie. At 6:30 all were landed without opposition, the ene- my in small detachments retreating toward the pueblo. From their movements we apprehended that their whole force was near. Capt. Mervine sent on board ship for a reinforcement of eighty men, under command of Lieut. R. B. Hitchcock. At 8 A. M. the several companies, all under com- mand of Capt. William Mervine, took up the line of march for the purpose of retaking the pueblo. The enemy retreated as our forces advanced. (On landing, William A. Smith, first cabin boy, was killed by the accidental discharge of a Colt's pistol.) The reinforcements under the command of Lieut. R. B. Hitchcock returned on board ship. For the first four miles our march was through hills and ravines, which the enemy might have taken advantage of, but preferred to occupy as spectators only, until our approach. A few shots from our flankers (who were the volunteer riflemen) would start them off; they returning the compliment before going. The remainder of our march was performed over a continuous plain overgrown with wild mustard, rising in places to six or eight feet in heiglit. The ground was excessively dry, the clouds of dust were suffocating and there was not a breath

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of wind in motion. There was no water on our line of march for ten or twelve miles and we suffered greatly from thirst.

"At 2:30 P. M. we reached our camping ground. The enemy appeared in considerable numbers. Their numbers continued to increase until towards sundown, when they formed on a hill near us, gradually inclining towards our camp. They were admirably formed for a cav- alry charge. We drew up our forces to meet them, but finding they were disposed to remain stationary, the marines, under command of Capt. Marston, the Colt's riflemen, under com- mand of Lieut. I. B. Carter and myself, and the volunteers, under command of Capt. A. Gillespie, were ordered to charge on them, which we did. They stood their ground until our shots com- menced 'telling' on them, when they took to flight in every direction. They continued to annoy us by firing into our camp through the night. About 2 A. M. they brought a piece of artillery and fired into our camp, the shot striking the ground near us) The marines, riflemen and volunteers were sent in pursuit of the gun, but could see or hear nothing of it.

"We left our camp the next morning at 6 o'clock. Our plan of march was in column by platoon. We had not proceeded far before the enemy appeared before us drawn up on each side of the road, mounted on fine horses, each man armed with a lance and carbine. They also had a field piece (a four-pounder), to which were hitched eight or ten horses, placed on the road ahead of us.

"Capt. Mervine, thinking it was the enemy's intention to throw us into confusion by using their gun on us loaded with round shot and cop- per grape shot and then charge us with their cavalry, ordered us to form a square-which was the order of march throughout the battle. When within about four hundred yards of them the enemy opened on us with their artillery. We made frequent charges, driving them before us, and at one time causing them to leave some of their cannon balls and cartridges; but owing to the rapidity with which they could carry off the gun, using their lassos on every part, enabled them to choose their own distance, entirely out of all range of our muskets. Their horsemen kept out of danger, apparently content to let the gun do the fighting. They kept up a constant fire with their carbines, but these did no harm. The enemy numbered between 175 and 200 strong.

"Finding it impossible to capture the gun, the retreat was sounded. The captain consulted with his officers on the best steps to be taken. It was decided unanimously to return on board ship. To continue the march would sacrifice a

number of lives to no purpose, for, admitting we could have reached the pueblo, all communica- tions would be cut off with the ship, and we would further be constantly annoyed by their ar- tillery without the least chance of capturing it. It was reported that the enemy were between five and six hundred strong at the city and it was thought he had more artillery. On retreat- ing they got the gun planted on a hill ahead of tis.

"The captain made us an address, saying to the troops that it was his intention to march straight ahead in the same orderly manner in which we had advanced, and that sooner than he would surrender to such an enemy, he would sac- rifice himself and every other man in his com- mand. The enemy fired into us four times on the retreat, the fourth shot falling short, the report of the gun indicating a small quantity of powder, after which they remained stationary and manifested no further disposition to molest us. We proceeded quietly on our march to the landing, where we found a body of men under command of Lieut. Hitchcock with two nine- pounder cannon got from the Vandalia to render us assistance in case we should need it.

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Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 16

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 1366

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366