History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 21

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206

USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions > Part 21

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three young men made the Bear Flag. Cowie had been a saddler. Duell had also served a short time at the same trade. To form the flag, Duell and Cowie sewed together alternate strips of red, white, and blue. Todd drew in the upper, corner a star, and painted on the lower a rude picture of a grizzly bear, which was not stand- ing, as has been sometimes represented, but was drawn with head down. The bear was afterwards adopted as the design of the Great Seal of the State of California. On the original flag it was so rudely executed that two of those who saw it raised have told us that it looked more like a hog than a bear. Be that as it may, its mean- ing was plain-that the revolutionary party would, if necessary, fight their way through at all hazards. In the language of our informant, it meant that there was no back out; they intended to fight it out. There were no halyards on the flagstaff which stood in front of the barracks. It was again reared, and the flag, which was soon to be replaced by that of the Republic, for the first time floated on the breeze."

In addition to these authorities which we have quoted, none less distinguished than John S. Hittell, historiographer for the Society of California Pioneers, and H. H. Bancroft, the Pacific Coast historian, have fixed the date of raising the Bear Flag as June 12th and 15th respectively. The correctness of these dates was questioned by William Winter, Secretary of the Association of Territorial Pioneers of California, and Mr. Lancey, and a correspondence was entered into with all the men known to be alive who were of that party, and others who were likely to be able to throw any light upon the subject. Among many answers received, we quote verbatim the fol- lowing portion of a letter from James G. Bleak :-.

" ST. GEORGE, Utah, April 16, 1878.

" TO WILLIAM WINTER, ESQ., SECRETARY OF ASSOCIATION TERRITORIAL PIO- NEERS OF CALIFORNIA-Dear Sir: Your communication of 3d instant is placed in my hands by the widow of a departed friend-James M. Ide, son of William B .- as I have at present in my charge some of his papers. In reply to your question asking for the 'correct date' of raising the Bear Flag at Sonoma, in 1846, I will quote from the writing of William B. Ide, deceased: 'The said Bear Flag made of plain cotton cloth, and ornamented with the red flannel of a shirt from the back of one of the men, and christened by the 'California Republic,' in red paint letters on both sides, was raised upon the standard where had floated on the breezes the Mexican Flag afore- time; it was the 14th of June, '46. Our whole number was twenty-four, all told. The mechanism of the flag was performed by William L. Todd, of Illinois. The grizzly bear was chosen as an emblem of strength and unyielding resistance."

As possibly the best testimony that can be produced, we now publish the follow- ing letter from the artist himself, which he communicated to the Los Angeles Express :-

" LOS ANGELES, January 1I, 1878.

" Your letter of the 9th inst. came duly to hand, and in answer I have to say in regard to the making of the original Bear Flag of California, at Sonoma, in 1846, that when the Americans, who had taken up arms against the Spanish régime had deter- mined what kind of a flag should be adopted, the following persons performed the work: Granville P. Swift, Peter Storm, Henry L. Ford, and myself; we procured, in

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the house where we made our headquarters, a piece of new, unbleached cotton domestic, not quite a yard wide, with strips of red flannel about four inches wide, fur- nished by Mrs. John Sears, on the lower side of the canvas. On the upper left hand corner was a star, and in the center was the image made to represent a bear fassant, so common in this country at the time. The bear and star were painted with paint made of linseed oil and Venetian red or Spanish brown. Underneath the bear were the words 'California Republic.' The other persons engaged with me got the materi- als together, while I acted as artist. The forms of the bear and star and the letters were first lined out with pen and ink by myself, and the two forms were filled in with the red paint, but the letters with ink. The flag mentioned by Mr. Hittell with the bear rampant, was made, as I always understood, at Santa Barbara, and was painted black. Allow me to say that at that time there was not a wheelwright shop in California. The flag I painted I saw in the rooms of the California Pioneers in San Francisco, in 1870, and the Secretary will show it to any person who will call on him at any time. If it is the one that I painted, it will be known by a mistake in tinting out the words ' California Republic.' The letters were first lined out with a pen, and I left out the letter 'I,' and lined out the letter 'C' in its place. But afterwards I lined out the letter 'I,' over the 'C', so that the last syllable of 'Republic' looks as if the two letters were blended. Yours respectfully, WM. L. TODD."

The following remarks and letter on the matter appeared in the San Francisco Evening Post of April 20, 1874: "General Sherman has just forwarded to the Society of California Pioneers, the guidon which the Bear Company bore at the time of the conquest of California. The relic is of white silk, with a two-inch wide red stripe at the bottom, and a bear in the center, over which is the inscription: ' Republic of Cal- ifornia.' It is accompanied by the following letter from the donor :-

" SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA PIONEERS, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA-

"Gentlemen: At the suggestion of General Sherman, I beg leave to send to your society here with a guidon, formerly belonging to the Sonoma troop of the California Battalion of 1846, for preservation. This guidon I found among the effects of that troop when I hauled down the Bear Flag and substituted the flag of the United States at Sonoma, on the 9th of July, 1846, and have preserved it ever since. Very respect- fully, etc., Jos. W. REVERE, Brigadier-General.

" Morristown, N. J., February 20, 1874."

Let us now see what was being done by the little garrison in Sonoma. Almost their first duty was the election of subaltern and non-commissioned officers, those chosen being, Henry L. Ford, First Lieutenant; Granville P. Swift, First Sergeant; Samuel Gibson, Second Sergeant. On the first regular parade of the little army they were addressed by Lieutenant Ford in the following pithy terms: "My countrymen! We have taken upon ourselves a very responsible duty. We have entered into a war with the Mexican nation. We are bound to defend each other or be shot! There's no half-way about it. To defend ourselves we must have discipline. Each of you has had a voice in choosing your officers. Now they are chosen, they must be obeyed." To all of which the company with one voice agreed. In order to throw some more

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light upon the internal machinery of the organization, we will continue Mr. Ide's letter, the first portion of which has already been quoted. He remarks further: "The men were divided into two companies of ten men each. The First Artillery were busily engaged in putting the cannon in order, which were charged doubly with grape and canister. The First Rifle Company were busied in cleaning, repairing, and loading the small arms. The Commander, after setting a guard and posting a sentinel on one of the highest buildings, to watch the approach of any persons who might feel a curi- osity to inspect our operations, directed his leisure to the establishment of some system of finance whereby all the defenders' families might be brought within the lines of our garrison, and supported. Ten thousand pounds of flour were purchased on the credit of the Government and deposited in the garrison; and an account was opened, on terms agreed upon, for a supply of beef; this and a few barrels of salt constituted our main supplies. Whisky was contrabanded altogether. After the first round of duties was performed, as many as could be spared off guard were called together, and our situation fully explained to the men by the commanders. It was fully represented that our success-nay, our very life,-depended on the magnanimity and justice of our course of conduct, coupled with our sleepless vigilance and care. (But ere this we had gathered as many of the surrounding citizens as was possible, and placed them out of harm's way, between four strong walls. They were more than twice our number.) The Commander chose from these strangers the most intelligent, and by the use of an interpreter went on to explain the cause of our coming together; our determination to offer equal protection and equal justice to all good and virtuous citizens; that we had not called them there to rob them of any portion of their property, nor to disturb them in their social relations one with another; nor yet to desecrate their religion."

It will thus be seen from the preceding remarks that those under the protection of the Bear Flag party were not a few and that their number was being continually augmented by fresh arrivals in Sonoma, it was therefore thought expedient to ascer- tain what protection, if any, they might expect from the authorities of the United States. To this end they lost no time in dispatching a messenger to Captain Mont- gomery, of the United States ship Portsmouth, then lying in the port of Yerba Buena, to report the action taken by them and expressing, farther, their determination never to lay down their arms until the independence of the country they had adopted had been fully established. This messenger returned on the 17th of June in company with John Stormy Missroom, First Lieutenant, and John E. Montgomery, son and clerk to Cap- tain Montgomery, who were dispatched, presumably to report on the state of affairs. The commanding officer of the ship-of-war also sent official communications to Fre- mont and Sutter on the 18th, and the day after, the 19th, Fremont arrived at Sutter's Fort with twenty-two men, and two prisoners, José Noriega, of San José, and Vicente Peralta, of what is now Alameda County.

About this time another message was sent out from the little garrison, but in an opposite direction. Ascertaining that there was an insufficient supply of gunpowder in the magazine to meet possible contingencies, Lieutenant Ford dispatched two men named Cowie and Fowler to the Sotoyome Rancho of Captain H. D. Fitch (where now the town of Healdsburg stands) to procure some ammunition. These messen- gers never returned! Their tragic fate has been thus graphically described in the

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" History of Sonoma County." Before starting they were cautioned against proceed- ing by traveled ways; good advice, which, however, they only followed for the first ten miles of their journey, after which they struck into the main thoroughfare to Santa Rosa. At about two miles from that place they were attacked and slaughtered by a party of native Californians. Two other couriers were detailed on special duty; they, too, were captured, but were better treated. Receiving no intelligence from either of the parties, foul play was suspected, therefore, on the morning of the 20th of June, Ser- geant Gibson was ordered, with four men, to proceed to the Sotoyome Rancho, learn, if possible, of the whereabouts of the missing men, and procure the powder. They went as directed, secured the ammunition, but got no news of the missing men. As they were passing Santa Rosa, on their return, they were attacked at daylight by a few Californians, and, turning upon their assailants, captured two of them, Blas Ange- lina and Bernardino Garcia alias Three-fingered Jack, and took them to Sonoma. They told of the taking and slaying of Cowie and Fowler, and that their captors were: Ramon Mesa Domingo, Mesa Juan Padilla, Ramon Carrillo, Bernardino Garcia, Blas Angelina, Francisco Sibrian, Ygnacio Balensuella, Juan Peralta, Juan Soleto, Inaguan Carrillo, Mariano Miranda, Francisco Gracia, Ygnacio Stigger. The story of their death is a sad one. After Cowie and Fowler had been seized by the Californians, they encamped for the night, and the following morning determined in council what should be the fate of their captives. A swarthy New Mexican, named Mesa Juan Padilla, and Three-fingered Jack, the Californian, were loudest in their denunciation of the prisoners as deserving of death, and, unhappily, their counsels prevailed. The unfortunate young men were then led out, stripped naked, bound to a tree with a lariat, while, for a time, the inhuman monsters practised knife-throwing at their unpro- tected bodies, the victims, the while, praying to be shot. They then commenced throwing stones at them, one of which broke the jaw of Fowler. The fiend, Three- fingered Jack, then advancing, thrust the end of his riata (a raw-hide rope) through the mouth, cut an incision in the throat, and then made a tie, by which the jaw was dragged out. They next proceeded to kill them slowly with their knives. Cowie, who had fainted, had the flesh stripped from his arms and shoulders, and pieces of flesh were cut from their bodies and crammed into their mouths, they being finally disemboweled. Their mutilated remains were afterwards found, and buried where they fell, upon the farm now or lately owned by George Moore, two miles north of Santa Rosa.

No stone marks the graves of these martyrs; no loving hand tends to them; there they remain, uncared for save by the weary ploughman; their occupants are "unwept, unhonored, and unsung." Time, the great annihilator will soon level the mounds; in a few short years, these names will have been forgotten; it is to perpetuate such matters in a tangible form that county histories are written.

We have been able to trace the end of two out of the thirteen murderers-truly a devil's dozen. Bernardino Garcia alias Three-fingered Jack was killed by Captain Harry Love's Rangers, July 27, 1853, at Pinolé Pass, near the Merced River, with the bandit Joaquin Murietta, while Ramon Carrillo met his death at the hands of the Vigilantes, between Los Angeles and San Diego, May 21, 1864. It is due to his brother, a respected citizen of Santa Rosa, to say that he denies the participation of Ramon Carrillo in the dastardly deed noted above.

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At Sonoma the Independents were gradually moving the rather clogged wheels of a governmental machine. On June 18th, Captain Ide, having received the appro- bation of his comrades, issued the following document :-

" A Proclamation to all persons and citizens of the District of Sonoma,* requesting them to remain at peace and follow their rightful occupations, without fear of molestation.

" The Commander-in-Chief of the troops assembled at the Fortress of Sonoma gives his inviolable pledge to all persons in California, not found under arms, that they shall not be disturbed in their persons, their property, or social relations, one with another, by men under his command.

" He also solemnly declares his object to be: First, to defend himself and com- panions in arms who were invited to this country by a promise of lands on which to settle themselves and families; who were also promised a Republican Government; when, having arrived in California, they were denied the privilege of buying or rent- ing lands of their friends, who, instead of being allowed to participate in or being protected by a Republican Government, were oppressed by a military despotism; who were even threatened by proclamation by the chief officers of the aforesaid des- potism with extermination if they should not depart out of the country, leaving all their property, arms, and beasts of burden; and thus deprived of their means of flight or defense, were to be driven through deserts inhabited by hostile Indians to certain destruction.

" To overthrow a Government which has seized upon the property of the missions for its individual aggrandizement; which has ruined and shamefully oppressed the laboring people of California by enormous exactions on goods imported into the country, is the determined purpose of the brave men who are associated under my command.

" I also solemnly declare my object, in the second place, to be to invite all peaceable and good citizens of California, who are friendly to the maintenance of good order and equal rights, and I do hereby invite them to repair to my camp at Sonoma, without delay, to assist us in establishing and perpetuating a Republican Gov- ernment, which shall secure to all, civil and religious liberty; which shall encourage virtue and literature; which shall leave, unshackled by fetters, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures.

" I further declare that I rely upon the rectitude of our intentions, the favor of heaven, and the bravery of those who are bound and associated with me by the prin- ciples of self-preservation, by the love of truth and the hatred of tyranny, for my hopes of success.

" I furthermore declare that I believe that a Government to be prosperous and happy, must originate with the people who are friendly to its existence; that the citizens are its guardians, the officers its servants, its glory its reward.

" Headquarters, Sonoma, June 18, 1846. WILLIAM B. IDE."

The intelligence of the establishment of the California Republic, and the deter- mination of the Bear Flag Party to maintain it, spread among the rancheros like

*The District of Sonoma then embraced all territory lying northward from the Bay of San Francisco to the Oregon line, and west of the Sacramento River.

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wild-fire; both parties labored incessantly and arduously for the conflict, and while the Independents guided their affairs from the citadel at Sonoma, General Castro ruled from his headquarters at Santa Clara, whence, on learning of the success at Sonoma, he issued the following two proclamations :-----

" The citizen José Castro, Lieutenant-Colonel of Cavalry in the Mexican Army, and acting General Commandante of the Department of California.

"FELLOW-CITIZENS: The contemptible policy of the agents of the United States of North America in this Department has induced a number of adventurers, who, regardless of the rights of men, have designedly commenced an invasion, pos- sessing themselves of the town of Sonoma, taking by surprise all the place, the military commander of that border, Col. Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Lieutenant- Colonel Don Victor Prudon, Captain Don Salvador Vallejo, and Mr. Jacob P. Leese.

" FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: The defense of our liberty, the true religion which our fathers possessed, and our independence, calls upon us to sacrifice ourselves rather than those inestimable blessings. Banish from your hearts all petty resent- ments; turn you, and behold yourselves, these families, these innocent little ones, which have unfortunately fallen into the hands of our enemies, dragged from the bosoms of their fathers, who are prisoners among foreigners, and are calling upon us to succor them. There is still time for us to rise en masse, as irresistible as retribution. You need not doubt but that Divine Providence will direct us in the way to glory. You should not vascillate because of the smallness of the garrison of the general head- quarters, for he who will first sacrifice himself will be your friend and fellow-citizen,

" Headquarters, Santa Clara, June 17, 18.46. JOSÉ CASTRO."

" The citizen José Castro, Lieutenant-Colonel of Cavalry in the Mexican Army and acting Commandante of the Department of California.

" All foreigners residing among us, occupied with their business, may rest assured of the protection of all the authorities of the Department while they refrain entirely from all revolutionary movements.

"The General Comandancia under my charge will never proceed with vigor against any persons, neither will its authority result in mere words wanting proof to support it; declarations shall be taken, proofs executed, and the liberty and rights of the laborious, which is ever commendable, shall be protected.

" Let the fortunes of war take its chance with those ungrateful men, who, with arms in their hands, have attacked the country, without recollecting that they were treated by the undersigned with all the indulgence of which he is so character- istic. The imperative inhabitants of the Department are witness to the truth of this. I have nothing to fear; my duty leads me to death or victory. I am a Mexican soldier, and I will be free and independent, or I will gladly die for those inestimable blessings. JOSÉ CASTRO.

" Headquarters, Santa Clara, June 17, 1846."

Under Captain Joaquin de la Torre, on June 20th, a body of about seventy Cali- fornians crossed the Bay of San Francisco, and being joined by a party under Carrillo

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and Padilla marched to the vicinity of the mission of San Rafael, while Castro remained at Santa Clara, recruiting his forces, by the utmost pressure, but only suc- ceeding in bringing into the field a squad of two hundred forced volunteers. Of the General's system of recruiting Lieutenant Revere writes: " I heard that on a feast day. when the rancheros came to the mission in their 'go-to-meeting' clothes, with their wives and children, Castro seized their horses and forced the men to volunteer in defense of their homes, against los salvages Americanos." On the evening of June . 27th, Castro left Santa Clara with his army, and proceeding around the head of the Bay of San Francisco as far as the San Leandro Creek, in what is now Alameda County, halted at the Estudillo Rancho, where let us leave him for the present.

Fremont, at this juncture, found that the time had now come to give his countenance and aid to the revolution which he had fostered, therefore, on June 21st, he transferred his impedimenta to the care of Captain Sutter at the fort, recrossed the American River to Sinclair's Rancho, was there joined by Pearson B. Redding and the trappers about Sutter's Fort, and quietly awaited, like Micawber, "for something to turn up." He had not to remain inactive long. On the afternoon of the 23d, Harrison Pierce (who had settled in Napa Valley in 1843) came into camp hurried and excited. He told of how he had ridden the eighty intervening miles with but one change of horses; he said that the handful of patriots were greatly concerned, for news had arrived that General Castro and an overwhelming force was advancing on the town, hurling threats of recapture and hanging. Fremont desired him to return and say that he would move to their assistance as soon as he could put ninety men in the saddle. With this news and a fresh mount, Pierce returned to his comrades, while, on the 23d, Captain Fremont and his ninety Mounted Rifles marched from Sinclair's-a curious looking cavalcade. One of the party has left the following description of them: "There were Americans, French, English, Swiss, Poles, Russians, Prussians, Chilians, Germans, Greeks, Austrians, Pawnees, native Indians, etc., all riding side by side, and talking a polyglot lingual hash never exceeded in diversibility since the con- fusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. Some wore the relics of their home-spun garments; some relied upon the antelope and the bear for their wardrobe; some lightly habited in buckskin leggings and a coat of war paint, and their weapons were equally various. There was the grim old hunter with his long, heavy rifle; the farmer with his double-barreled shot-gun; the Indian with his bow and arrows, and others with horse-pistols, revolvers, sabres, ships' cutlasses, bowie-knives, and 'pepper-boxes' (Allen's revolvers)." Though the Bear Flag army was incongruous in personnel, as a body it was composed of the best fighting material. Each of them was inured to hardship and privation, self-reliant, fertile in resources, versed in woodcraft and Indian fighting, accustomed to handle fire-arms, and full of energy and daring. It was a band of hardy adventurers, such as in an earlier age wrested this land from the feebler aboriginals. With this corps Fremont arrived at Sonoma at two o'clock on the morning of June 25, 1846, having made forced marches.

Let us make a slight divergence from the chronological order of things so as to make Captain Fremont's next move sequent on his last.

We have already spoken of the horrible and atrocious butchery of Cowie and Fowler, by the party under Mesa Juan Padilla. This gang a few days thereafter

Richard Threlfall

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captured William L. Todd, whose name has already appeared in this chapter as the artist of the Bear Flag, while he was trying to catch a stray horse that had escaped to a short distance from the barracks at Sonoma. They bore him off, and falling in with another man, he too was seized and led into captivity. This party of Padilla's, being occasionally in a playful mood, regaled Todd with throat-cutting tales, of which he was usually the hero, while in their more serious moments they actually threatened to carry their banterings into tragic execution. Fortunately he spoke the Spanish language, and though slightly, yet with sufficient force to make them under- stand that his death would peal the knell of General Vallejo's doom. He and his companion in misfortune, with whom he had no opportunity to converse, but who appeared like an Englishman-a half-fool and common loafer-were conveyed to the Indian Rancheria called Olompali, about eight miles from the present town of Peta- luma.

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 21

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood Number of Pages: 1206

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206