USA > California > Monterey County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume I > Part 20
USA > California > San Benito County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume I > Part 20
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"After the engagement General Kearny took position on a hill covered with large rocks. It was well suited for defense. Lieutenant Godey of Gillespie's volunteers, the night after the. battle, escaped through the enemy's line of sen- tries and came in with a letter from Captain Turner to the commodore. Whilst among the. rocks, Past Midshipman Beale and Kit Carson managed, under cover of night, to pass out. through the enemy's ranks, and after three days' and nights' hard marching through the moun- tains without water, succeeded in getting safely into San Diego, completely famished. Soon after arriving Lieutenant Beale fainted away, and for some days entirely lost his reason."
On the night of Beale's arrival, December 9, about 9 p. m., detachments of two hundred sail- ors and marines from the Congress and Ports- mouth, under the immediate command of Cap- tain Zeilin, assisted by Lieutenants Gray, Hunter, Renshaw, Parrish, Thompson and Tilghman and Midshipmen Duvall and Morgan, each man carrying a blanket, three pounds of jerked beef and the same of hard-tack, began their march to relieve General Kearny. They marched all night and camped on a chaparral. covered mountain during the day. At 4 p. m. of the second night's march they reached Kearny's camp, surprising him. Godey, who had been sent ahead to inform Kearny that as -. sistance was coming, had been captured by the
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enemy. General Kearny had burnt and de- stroyed all his baggage and camp equipage, sad- dles, bridles, clothing, etc., preparatory to forcing his way through the enemy's line. Burdened with his wounded, it is doubtful whether he could have escaped. Midshipman Duvall says: "It would not be a hazard of opinion to say he would have been overpowered and compelled to surrender." The enemy dis- appeared on the arrival of reinforcements. The relief expedition, with Kearny's men, reached San Diego after two days' march.
A brief explanation of the reason why Kearny was at San Pasqual may be necessary. In June, 1846, Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, commander of the Army of the West, as his command was designated, left Fort Leavenworth with a force of regulars and volunteers to take possession of New Mexico. The conquest of that territory was accomplished without a battle. Under or- ders from the war department, Kearny began his march to California with a part of his force to co-operate with the naval forces there. Octo- ber 6, near Socorro, N. M., he met Kit Carson with an escort of fifteen men en route from Los Angeles to Washington, bearing dispatches from Stockton, giving the report of the con- quest of California. Kearny required Carson to turn back and act as his guide. Carson was very unwilling to do so, as he was within a few days' journey of his home and family, from whom he had been separated for nearly two years. He had been guide for Fremont on his exploring expedition. He, however, obeyed Kearny's orders.
General Kearny sent back about three hun- dred of his men, taking with him one hundred and twenty. After a toilsome march by way of the Pima villages, Tucson, the Gila and across the Colorado desert, they reached the Indian village of San Pasqual (about forty miles from San Diego), where the battle was fought. It was the bloodiest battle of the conquest; Kearny's men, at daybreak, riding on broken down mules and half broken horses, in an ir- regular and disorderly line, charged the Califor- nians. While the American line was stretched out over the plain Capt. Andres Pico, who was in command, wheeled his column and charged
the Americans. A fierce hand to hand fight en- sued, the Californians using their lances and lar- iats, the Americans clubbed guns and sabers. Of Kearny's command eighteen men were killed and nineteen wounded; three of the wounded died. Only one, Capt. Abraham R. Johnston (a rela- tive of the author's), was killed by a gunshot; all the others were lanced. The mules to one of the howitzers became unmanageable and ran into the enemy's lines. The driver was killed and the gun captured. One Californian was captured and several slightly wounded; none were killed. Less than half of Kearny's one hundred and seventy men* took part in the battle. His loss in killed and wounded was fifty per cent of those engaged. Dr. John S. Grif- fin, for many years a leading physician of Los Angeles, was the surgeon of the command.
The foraging expeditions in Lower Califor- nia having been quite successful in bringing in cattle, horses and mules, Commodore Stockton hastened his preparation for marching against Los Angeles. The enemy obtained information of the projected movement and left for the pueblo.
"The Cyane having arrived," says Duvall, "our force was increased to about six hundred men, most of whom, understanding the drill, performed the evolutions like regular soldiers. Everything being ready for our departure, the commodore left Captain Montgomery and. offi- cers in command of the town, and on the 29th of December took up his line of march for Los An- geles. General Kearny was second in command and having the immediate arrangement of the forces, reserving for himself the prerogative which his rank necessarily imposed upon him. Owing to the weak state of our oxen we had not crossed the dry bed of the river San Diego before they began breaking down, and the carts, which were thirty or forty in number, had to be dragged by the men. The general urged on the commodore that it was useless to commence such a march as was before us with our present means of transportation, but the commodore insisted on performing at least one day's march
*General Kearny's original force of one hundred and twenty had been increased by Gillespie's command, numbering fifty men.
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even if we should have to return the next day. We succeeded in reaching the valley of the Soledad that night by dragging our carts. Next day the commodore proposed to go six miles farther, which we accomplished, and then con- tinued six miles farther. Having obtained some fresh oxen, by assisting the carts up hill we made ten or twelve miles a day. At San Luis Rey we secured men, carts and oxen, and after that our days' marches ranged from fifteen to twenty-two miles a day.
"The third day out from San Luis Rey a white flag was seen ahead, the bearer of which had a communication from Flores, signing himself ‘Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Califor- nia,' asking for a conference for the purpose of coming to terms, which would be alike 'honor- able to both countries.' The commodore refused to answer him in writing, saying to the bearer of the truce that his answer was, 'he knew no such person as Governor Flores; that he him- self was the only governor in California; that he knew a rebel by that name, a man who had given his parole of honor not to take up arms against the government of the United States, who, if the people of California now in arms against the forces of the United States would deliver up, he (Stockton) would treat with them on condition that they surrender their arms and retire peaceably to their homes and he would grant them, as citizens of the United States, protection from further molestation.' This the embassy refused to entertain, saying 'they would prefer to die with Flores than to surrender on such terms.'" %
"On the 8th of January, 1847, they met us on the banks of the river San Gabriel with between five and six hundred men mounted on good horses and armed with lances and carbines, having also four pieces of artillery planted on the heights about three hundred and fifty yards distant from the river. Owing to circumstances which have occurred since the surrender of the enemy, I prefer not mentioning the particulars of this day's battle and also that of the day fol- lowing, or of referring to individuals concerned in the successful management of our forces." (The circumstance to which Lieutenant Duvall
refers was undoubtedly the quarrel between Stockton and Kearny after the capture of Los Angeles.) "It is sufficient to say that on the 8th of January we succeeded in crossing the river and driving the enemy from the heights. Hav- ing resisted all their charges, dismounted one of their pieces and put them to flight in every direction, we encamped on the ground they had occupied during the fight.
"The next day the Californians met us on the plains of the mesa. For a time the fighting was carried on by both sides with artillery, but that proving too hot for them they concentrated their whole force in a line ahead of us and at a given signal divided from the center and came down on us like a tornado, charging us on all sides at the same time; but they were effectually defeated and fled in every direction in the ut- most confusion. Many of their horses were left dead on the field. Their loss in the two battles, as given by Andres Pico, second in command, was eighty-three killed and wounded; our loss, three killed (one accidentally), and fifteen or twenty wounded, none dangerously. The enemy abandoned two pieces of artillery in an Indian village near by."
I have given at considerable length Midship- man Duvall's account of Stockton's march from San Diego and of the two battles fought, not because it is the fullest account of those events, but because it is original historical matter, never having appeared in print before, and also be- cause it is the observations of a participant written at the time the events occurred. In it the losses of the enemy are greatly exaggerated, but that was a fault of his superior officers as well. Commodore Stockton, in his official re- ports of the two battles, gives the enemy's loss in killed and wounded "between seventy and eighty." And General Kearny, in his report of the battle of San Pasqual, claimed it as a vic- tory, and states that the enemy left six dead on the field. The actual loss of the Californians in the two battles (San Gabriel river and La Mesa) was three killed and ten or twelve wounded .*
*The killed were Ignacio Sepulveda, Francisco Rubio, and El Guaymeno, a Yaqui Indian.
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
While the events recorded in this chapter were transpiring at San Diego and its vicinity, what was the state of affairs in the capital, Los Angeles? After the exultation and rejoicing over the expulsion of Gillespie's garrison, Mer- vine's defeat and the victory over Kearny at San Pasqual there came a reaction. Dissension continued between the leaders. There was lack of arms and laxity of discipline. The army was but little better than a mob. Obedience to or- ders of a superior was foreign to the nature of a Californian. His wild, free life in the saddle made him impatient of all restraint. Then the impossibility of successful resistance against the Americans became more and more apparent as the final conflict approached. Fremont's army was moving down on the doomed city from the north, and Stockton's was coming up from the south. Either one of these, in num- bers, exceeded the force that Flores could bring into action; combined they would crush him out of existence. The California troops were greatly discouraged and it was with great diffi- culty that the officers kept their men together. There was another and more potent element of disintegration. Many of the wealthier natives and all the foreigners, regarding the contest as liopeless, secretly favored the American cause, and it was only through fear of loss of property that they furnished Flores and his officers any supplies for the army.
During the latter part of December and the first days of January Flores' army was stationed at the San Fernando Mission, on the lookout for Fremont's battalion; but the more rapid advance of Stockton's army compelled a change of base. On the 6th and 7th of January Flores moved his army back secretly through the
Cahuenga Pass, and, passing to the southward of the city, took position where La Jaboneria (the soap factory) road crosses the San Gabriel river. Here his men were stationed in the thick willows to give Stockton a surprise. Stockton received information of the trap set for him and after leaving the Los Coyotes swung off to the right until he struck the Upper Santa Ana road. The Californians had barely time to effect a change of base and get their cannon planted when the Americans arrived at the crossing.
Stockton called the engagement there the bat- tle of San Gabriel river; the Californians call it the battle of Paso de Bartolo, which is the bet- ter name. The place where the battle was fought is on bluff just south of the Upper Santa Ana road, near where the Southern California railroad crosses the old San Gabriel river. (The ford or crossing was formerly known as Pico's Crossing.) There was, at the time of the bat- tle, but one San Gabriel river. The new river channel was made in the great flood of 1868. What Stockton, Emory, Duvall and other American officers call the battle of the Plains of the Mesa the Californians call the battle of La Mesa, which is most decidedly a better name: than the "Plains of the Plain." It was fought at a ravine, the Canada de Los Alisos, near the southeastern corner of the Los Angeles city boundary. In these battles the Californians had four pieces of artillery, two iron nine-pounders, the old woman's gun and the howitzer captured from Kearny. Their powder was very poor. It was made at San Gabriel. It was owing to this that they did so little execution in the fight. That the Californians escaped with so little punishment was probably due to the wretched marksmanship of Stockton's sailors and marines.
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
CHAPTER XX.
CAPTURE AND OCCUPATION OF THE CAPITAL.
A FTER the battle of La Mesa, the Amer- icans, keeping to the south, crossed the Los Angeles river at about the point where the south boundary line of the city crosses it and camped on the right bank. Here, under a willow tree, those killed in battle were buried. Lieutenant Emory, in his "Notes of a Military Reconnoissance," says: "The town, known to contain great quantities of wine and aguardiente, was four miles distant (four miles from the battlefield). From previous experience of the difficulty of controlling men when enter- ing towns, it was determined to cross the river San Fernando (Los Angeles), halt there for the night and enter the town in the morning, with the whole day before us.
"After we had pitched our camp, the enemy came down from the hills, and four hundred horsemen with four pieces of artillery drew off towards the town, in order and regularity, whilst about sixty made a movement down the river on our rear and left flank. This led us to suppose they were not yet whipped, as we thought, and that we should have a night attack.
"January 10 (1847) -. Just as we had raised our camp, a flag of truce, borne by Mr. Celis, a Castilian; Mr. Workman, an Englishman, and Alvarado, the owner of the rancho at the Alisos, was brought into camp. They proposed, on behalf of the Californians, to surrender their dear City of the Angels provided we would re- spect property and persons. This was agreed to, but not altogether trusting to the honesty of General Flores, who had once broken his parole, we moved into the town in the same order we should have done if expecting an at- tack. It was a wise precaution, for the streets were full of desperate and drunken fellows, who brandished their arms and saluted us with every term of reproach. The crest, overlooking the town, in rifle range, was covered with horsemen engaged in the same hospitable manner.
"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 liis 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 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 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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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
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 IIth 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 who 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.
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