History of California, Volume IV, Part 14

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 820

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12 Pioneers of 1838: Henry Austin, Joseph Bowles, Joel P. Dedmond, Olivier Deleissèques, John Finch, Win Goche, Eliab Grimes, Humphrey Hathaway, Wm Jones (?), John Lucas, James O'Brien, James Peace, Hardy Peirce (died), John Perry, John Saunders, Eli Southworth, Wm Williams, J. C. William- son (?), John R. Wolfskill, and S. Wolfskill.

13 Pioneers of 1839: Wm Barton, Wni Burns, John Chamberlain, Jolın Daniels (?), John C. Davis, Thos Duncan, Henry Eaton, Geo. Hewitt, W. D. M. Howard, Henry Kirby, Joseph Leroy, Francis Mellus, Paul Pryor (? born in Cal.), Rich. Real (? born in Cal.), Felipe Reid, José D. Reid (?), Wm J. Reynolds, Geo. Robinson, Pierre Sainsevain, John Sinclair, C. G. Sullivan (?), John A. Sutter, Wm Swinburn, John Tierney, and Francis J. Westgate.

120

FOREIGN RELATIONS AND PIONEERS.

the continent to Oregon a dozen or more people who subsequently came to California; and it is said that Graham and Naile attempted to organize a company to cross the mountains eastward, for exactly what purpose is not apparent; neither is it important, as they did not succeed.

New arrivals in 1840 numbered one hundred and forty, or at least such was the number of new names appearing for the first time in records of this year, a few having doubtless come a little earlier. Of all these, forty-six have a place in the appended list, 14 and all are named in my Pioneer Register elsewhere. New-comers of 1840 best known in later times were Allgeier, Dutton, Farnham, Keyser, Lassen, Ridley, and Sherreback. The great topic of the year, else- where treated, was of course the Graham affair, in- volving the exile of forty-seven undesirable foreign residents, and supplemented by the visits of the French man-of-war Danaïde, under Rosamel, and of the U. S. St Louis, under Forrest. Another matter of considerable interest was the arrival of the Luu- sanne at Bodega, with resulting complications. A controversy between the Californian authorities and the Russians was the most important phase of this affair, and will be noticed in its place. Its interest for the reader of this chapter arises from the fact that the vessel brought several immigrants. Some of the Lausanne's passengers were men who had crossed the continent with John A. Sutter in 1838; others had come overland to Oregon by the same route in 1839. There were perhaps ten or twelve in all, and all intended apparently to stop in California; but the

14 Pioneers of 1840: Walter W. Adams, Nie. Allgeier, Aug. A. Andrews, John Armstrong (?), Frank Bedwell, Dan. M. Burns, Anthony Campbell, Colin Campbell, Geo. H. Card, Geo. Chapel, Charles H. Cooper, Francis Day, Pierre Dubose, Dav. D. Dutton, Thos J. Farnham, Wm T. Faxon, Galnac (3 sons born in Cal. about these years), Wm Houptman, Francis Johnson, James Jolinson, Jr (? born in Cal.), Wm Johnson, Scbastian Keyser, Win Langlois, Peter Lassen, Nath. S. Leighton, Wm Lewis, Peter Lyons, Geo. Patterson, Paul Richardson (?), Robert Ridley, Robert Robertson, Josiah Settle (?), Jared Sheldon, L'eter Sherreback. Antonio Silva (?), Major Sterling (?), Ed Stokes (?), Paul Sweet (?), Thos A. Warbas (?), John Warner, 'Seotch Whally,' Thos White, W'm Wiggins, and Alvin Wilson.

121

AFFAIR OF THE 'LAUSANNE.'

only persons who did so, and whose names are known, were William Wiggins, Peter Lassen, and David D. Dutton. Their arrival at Bodega, in July, becom- ing known to General Vallejo, he objected to their remaining in the country, especially in view of the recent troubles with foreigners. Accordingly, some of the number who had a little money or credit pre- vailed on Captain Spalding to carry them to Hono- lulu; but Wiggins, Lassen, and two or three of Sut- ter's old company, having less means or less fear of Mexican officials, determined to remain. The Rus- sians, between whom and Vallejo's men a quarrel had arisen about the touching of the vessel at Bodega and other matters connected therewith, seem to have afforded some protection to the fugitives, entertaining them for a week or more at Ross, and perhaps fur- nishing horses for their journey to the interior. At any rate, they arrived at Sutter's place on the Sacra- mento about the middle of August, and were not thereafter molested.15

15 I have many original communications of the time about the affair of the Lausanne, in Vallejo, Doc., MS., ix. 183, 191-8, 300-28; Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lv. 14. But about the foreigners they reveal nothing beyond the fact that they landed, that four of them came at one time to Sonoma, and that Rotchef, taking offense at Vallejo's action, afforded them some aid. See chap. vi., this vol., for details of the controversy. Most information extant about the arrival of this party comes from the statement of Wm Wiggins, still living in 1880. Wiggins' Reminiscences, MS., 1-2; Id., Pac. Coast in 1839, copied from the S. F. Examiner by the S. José Pioneer, April 6, 1878; and an ac- count-taken mainly from the newspaper article cited-in Solano County Hist., 57-9; and Sonoma Co, Hist., 61-2. There is, I think, no truth in the statement that the Russians told Alf. Piña and his men who came to prevent the foreigners from landing, 'to leave, be shot down, or go to prison ;' nor do I have much faith in the genuineness of the following letter published in the county histories cited: Port Bodega, July 25, 1840. To the American Consul of California. Dear Sir: We, the undersigned, citizens of the U. S., being desirous to land in the country, and having been refused a passport, and been opposed by the govt, we write to you, sir, for advice, and clain your protection. Being short of funds, we are not able to proceed farther on the ship. We have concluded to land under the protection of the Russians; we will remain there 15 days, or until we receive an answer from you, which we hope will be as soon as the circumstances of the case will permit. We have been refused a passport from Gen. Vallejo. Our object is to get to the settlements, or to obtain a pass to return to our own country. Should we re- ceive no relief, we will take up our arms and travel, consider ourselves in an enemy's country, and defend ourselves with our guns. We subscribe our- selves, most respectfully, David Dutton, John Stevens, Peter Lassen, Wm Wiggins, J. Wright.' Dutton and Wright only are named as passengers by the newspaper that records the arrival of the Lausanne at Honolulu. In re- lation to the arrival of these men in Oregon, sec Ilist. Or., i. 238, this series.

CHAPTER V.

SUTTER'S FORT-VISITS AND BOOKS.

1836-1840.

JOHN A. SUTTER'S EARLY LIFE-COMES TO CALIFORNIA VIA OREGON, HONO- LULU, AND SITKA-RECEPTION AT MONTEREY-PURCHASES ON CREDIT- TRIP UP THE SACRAMENTO-NUEVA HELVECIA FOUNDED-RELATIONS WITH SONOMA-ANNALS OF 1839-40-INDIAN POLICY-CATTLE, BEAVER- SKINS, AND BRANDY-SUTTER'S PLANS-PHELPS' VISIT-RECRUITS- SUTTER A MEXICAN CITIZEN-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FOREIGN VISITS-THE 'PEACOCK'-RUSCHENBERGER'S NARRATIVE-THE 'SULPHUR'-BEL- CHER'S NARRATIVE-SURVEY OF THE SACRAMENTO-SLACUM'S VISIT- THE 'VENUS'-PETIT-THOUARS' VOYAGE-FORBES ON CALIFORNIA-THE 'ARTÉMISE'-LAPLACE, CAMPAGNE-PHELPS' FORE AND AFT-FARN- HAM'S LIFE IN CALIFORNIA-J. F. B. M.

A PROMINENT place must be given to Sutter's arri- val and settlement in California, as he was for years in several respects the leading foreigner in the country. He was likewise closely connected with many events of current history in 1841-8, and more honored with words of eulogy than any other Californian pioneer down to the day of his death in 1880. Moreover, his settlement on the Sacramento was not only the first in a broad and important territory, utilized by trappers only down to 1839; but was destined to be a leading factor in the political changes of 1846, and a direct medium of an event which transformed California and startled the world-the discovery of gold at Sutter's mill in 1848.

John Augustus Sutter-or Johann August Suter, as the name was originally written-was of German origin, having been born in February, 1803, perhaps

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123

SUTTER'S EARLY LIFE.

of Swiss parents, at Kandern, a little town of Baden. At the age of sixteen years he removed to Switzer- land, attended school for a time at Neufchâtel, and attained his citizenship at the little village of Rünen- berg, Basle. He subsequently went to Burgdorf, canton of Bern, where he embarked in business, and where in 1826 he married Annette Dübeld, by whom in the next six years he had three sons and one daugh- ter. Meanwhile he was a soldier in the Swiss army, like every young and able-bodied man in that republic, and was for a time an officer in the force of citizen- soldiery, held ever ready for active service. The story so widely circulated in books and newspapers that Sutter served in the French army, as captain of Swiss guards, "mingling with the élite of French society in the court of Charles X.," is pure fiction. Of his commercial ventures at Burgdorf we have no details, save his own statement that he was engaged, perhaps at an earlier date, in bookbinding and the sale of newspapers. The young merchant must have had some money or credit; but neither his capital nor his experience was at all commensurate with his en- thusiasm and ambition, and the result was bankruptcy. Discouragement, however, found no place in his na- ture, and he determined to retrieve his fortunes in the New World. Leaving his family in straitened cir- cumstances, and to his creditors the task of settling his affairs, Sutter sailed for America in the early summer of 1834.1

1 The best authority extant on Sutter's early life is Schlagintweit, Califor- nien Land und Leute, 219-21. The author, Robert von Schlagintweit, is a well known German traveller and writer, who on this subject not only read what has been written ahout Sutter in Cal., but also had access to other sources of information. He cites the statements of persons at Liestal who knew the family, especially Herr Martin Birmanu-Socin; also an article in the Basellandschaftlichen Zeitung, Aug. 28, 1868. He gives the date of Sut- ter's birth as Feb. 15, 1803. His children were John A., Jr., born in 1827; Anna Eliza, in 1828; Emil Victor, in 1830; and Wm Alphonse, in 1832. He states that the business affairs were so complicated that they were not fully settled until 1862. In his Personal Reminiscences, MS., carefully dietated to ine by Sutter at his residence in Penn. a few years before his death, he cor- rects the story of his service in the French army, but goes only slightly into details of his early life. He says, however, that he was a cadet at Bern. I

124

SUTTER'S FORT-VISITS AND BOOKS.

Landing at New York in July 1834, our young ad- venturer went immediately westward, with two Ger- mans and two Frenchmen, all agreeing to learn no English so long as they kept together; but they parted in Indiana, and Sutter went on to St Louis, where and at St Charles he spent the winter. Looking about him for a chance to advance his fortunes, he fell in with the Santa Fe traders, with whom he went in the spring of 1835 to New Mexico. He claims to have had at this time some means, but his capital doubtless con- sisted mainly in his pleasing address, his sanguine temperament, and his personal energy. Already mas- ter of the German and French languages, he shortly acquired in his new surroundings enough of English and Spanish for his business purposes.2 Respecting

his commercial ventures in Missouri and New Mexico during the years 1835-7, ventures consisting largely in trade with the Indians, there is but little information extant. That little is not favorable to Sutter's repu- tation; but there are reasons for not even repeating here the definite charges against him, and for believing that those charges were to a certain extent unfounded. Then, as before and later, Sutter was an enthusiast, and he had the faculty of imparting his enthusiasm to others. His schemes were always far beyond his means and abilities. He rarely hesitated to incur any obligation for the future, and he was rarely able, in financial matters, to keep his promises. He induced certain Germans and others to invest their money in his projects, which after their failure were denounced

nced not specify here the numerous biographical sketches that have appeared in books and newspapers. One of those most widely circulated in various forms is that in Dunbar's Romance of the Age, 11-21. The most accurate of all in many respects is that given in Shuck's Representative Men, 11-21. This sketch presents Sutter as the son of a Lutheran clergyman, which is not im- probable; and I think there may be some doubt about his having been a Swiss. It has often been said that Sutter's plan on leaving Europe was to establish a Swiss colony in America; but this under the circumstances is un- likely. His plan was to make a fortune as best he could. He says, ' My object in coming to America was to be a farmer.'

? He never wrote French correctly, though much better than either Spanish or English. He had but slight occasion in his California correspondence for the German, which was his native language.

125

SUTTER IN NEW MEXICO.

as swindles by the victims. It is fair to suppose, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that their accusa- tions of swindling were exaggerated, and other more serious charges invented, by reason of their disappoint- ment. At any rate, Sutter saved a little money, and determined to seek his fortune still farther west.3

In New Mexico Sutter met several men who had been in California, from whom-and especially from a Canadian alcalde at Taos named Popian-he heard much in praise of that country's climate, lands, and cattle. Therefore he resolved to visit California, and formed a party of seven men, consisting of three Ger- mans, two Americans, a Belgian, and a Mexican ser- vant. By the advice of Sir William Drummond Stewart, as he says, and perhaps for other reasons as well,4 he decided not to go by the Santa Fé trail, but to take a northern route. They started from St Louis in April 1838, and travelled by the rendezvous in Wind River Valley, Fort Hall, Fort Boisé, Walla Walla, Dalles, and Willamette Valley mission, arriving at Fort Vancouver in October, six months after leaving St Louis. The journey need not be more fully de- scribed here; in fact, little is known about it. From missionaries and trappers in Oregon, and especially

3 Sutter, Personal Remin., MS., 2-3, says practically nothing of his expe- rience during these years, save that he bought a piece of land in Mo. and vis- ited Sta Fé; and the same silence is to be noted in the current sketches. Some writers state that he obtained papers of naturalization while in Mo., and Sutter himself, Petition to Congress, says he applied for such papers. Schlag- intweit simply states that he went to Sta Fé, and drove a flourishing trade with the Indians. In the MS., Graham and Sutter in N. Mexico, some facts by a Pioneer of 1841, MS., p. 3-7, are recorded a few details. Schmölder, in his Neuer Prak. Wegweiser, 74-6, written in 1848, states that Sutter induced the emigrant company from Giesen, Germany, settled in Warren Co., Mo., to form a trading caravan to New Mexico in 1835. About 50 joined the company; but on account of inexperience, lateness of the season, etc., the enterprise was a failure. After the dissolution and the retern of most members, Sutter es- tablished himself in business at Sta Fé; but his former partners' raids on his capital prevented success. He did not like New Mexican life, aud he resolved in 1838 to seek the west coast.

" In his Petition to Congress, Sutter says: 'The difficulties of crossing the mountains from New Mexico were represented as impracticable, and he deter mined. on his second return to Missouri, to reach the Pacific "by a northern route.""' This of course is absurd, since the southern route at the time pre- sented no great difficulties, and at Sta Fé was the one best known.

126

SUTTER'S FORT-VISITS AND BOOKS.

from Douglas and other officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, Sutter added much to his stock of informa- tion about California, and must have had his attention directed especially to the Sacramento Valley, the re- gion with which most of his informants were best ac- quainted.5 He also had an opportunity for the exer- cise of his peculiar talent for inspiring confidence, and succeeded in obtaining credit to a considerable amount from the company, the debt remaining unpaid for many years.

There being no vessel soon to sail for California, the journey overland requiring a delay over winter before starting, and Sutter being not averse to a voy- age by sea, he took passage on the Columbia, which left the mouth of the Columbia River November 11th, and arrived at Honolulu December 9th.6 It was five months before the sailing of any vessel that would take him to his destination; but the delay gave him an opportunity to become acquainted with sev- eral men who could aid him by their influence in Cal- ifornia. So good an impression did he make on the merchants, that William French agreed to send him as supercargo of a vessel to the American coast, an arrangement that would not only secure him a pas- sage, but would leave him a margin of profit. More-

5 Sutter's Personal Remin., MS., 3-9, with some details of experience on the way and in Oregon. Sutter's Diary, published in the S. F. Argonaut, Jan. 26, 1878, gives the facts more briefly. This document, though interesting, is evidently not a diary kept at the time, but a series of memoranda made at a later period-at least, such is the case in respect of the earlier portions. In Gray's Hist. Oregon, 177, it is stated that Sutter came with the author and a party of missionaries to Walla Walla, but Sutter says nothing of it, though he probably met Gray, as he later wrote a letter about him while at Honolulu. From the Dalles to the Willamette, Sutter travelled part of the way with Lee, the missionary, and his party. The journey is described in Lee and Frost's Ten Years in Or., 155-60, but without mention of Sutter. Schlagint- weit says he left Ft Independence with Capt. Ermatinger, 5 missionaries, and 3 womeu, in June, arriving at Ft Vancouver in September. Schmölder, Neuer Wegweiser, 74-6, repeats this, and gives July 29th as the date of his arrival at Ft Hall. From St Louis to the Rocky Mt. rendezvons, he travelled with Capt. Tripp of the Amer. Fur Co. Sutter's Petition.

6 Arrival noted in Honolulu S. I. Gazette, Dec. 15, 1838. In the same paper of April 6, 1839, is a letter from Sutter denying the truth of a report that a Frenchman had commanded a party of Indians that had attacked the missionary Gray on his way overland.

127

FROM THE ISLANDS TO SITKA.

over, Sutter was enabled through the influence of his new friends to engage two or three men in addition to the one German he had brought with him, the others having been left in Oregon, and eight or ten kanakas for his Californian rancho. He finally sailed on the English brig Clementine, Captain Blinn, on April 20, 1839, for Sitka.7 The voyage was without notable incident, and at Sitka, where most of the cargo was landed, Sutter remained several weeks, making new friends among the officers of the Russian American Company, and having the honor to dance with the governor's wife, a born princess. The voy- age of the Clementine down the coast was rather rough; but on the 1st of July she entered San Francisco Bay; and our adventurer, by a somewhat circuitous route from Switzerland, was at last in Cali- fornia. He was, however, allowed to remain only forty-eight hours for repairs, in accordance with the revenue regulations; and was obliged to forego even the festivities of July 4th to present himself and his vessel at the capital.8

Arriving at Monterey on July 3d, Sutter lost no time in making known his project, declining an invi-

1 Honolulu S. I. Gazette, April 27, 1839, in which Capt. Sutter, A. Thomp- son, two German cabinet-makers, and 9 kanakas are mentioned as passen- gers. In his Personal Remin., MS., 11, 19-20, 27, Sutter says he brought 4 white men, and 8 kanakas, two of them with their wives, whom the king gave him for 3 years at $10 per month. He had also taken from Oregon au Indian boy whom he bought of Kit Carson for $100. He claims to have been the owner of the vessel, which I think cannot have been the fact. Both ver- sions have been given in the current sketches. In his petition he says he ' shipped as supercargo without pay on an English vessel chartered by some American citizens of these isles.'

8 Sutter's Pers. Rem., MS., 12-14; Sutter's Diary. The date of arrival at S. F. is generally given as July 2d; but there is proof that the vessel arrived at Monterey on the 3d. Vallejo, Doc., MS., vii. 290; Pinto, Doc., MS., i. 233. She paid duties on about $3,400. Bartlett, Narrative, ii. 68-70, rep- resents the voyage to have been via S. Blas or Mazatlan. Several writers state that Sutter went to the Hawaiian Islands to engage in raising oranges; others have it that, starting from Honolulu for Sitka, he was driven luckily by the gales to S. F .; nobody suggests that he went to Alaska to investigate the prospects for manufacturing ice! ' Il fit quelques opérations commerciales à la Nouvelle Archangel,' says Mofras, Explor., i. 457-8. In a letter of Nov. 20, 1877, to the S. José Pioneer, Dec. 14, 1877, Sutter objects to a statement by some orator that 'prior to 1841 a few restless and adventurous spirits had come to California, scarcely knowing how or why; ' and claims that at least himself and Marsh had come with the deliberate intention to settle.

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SUTTER'S FORT-VISITS AND BOOKS.

tation to join in the festivities of the 4th, and regret- ting that the celebration would postpone his interview with the governor, the guest of American residents on that occasion, until the 5th. He had made good use of the friendships he had formed on his travels, and came provided with the most flattering letters of introduction to governor, general, and prominent citi- zens, from Douglas and other officers of the Hudson's Bay Company at Vancouver, from Russian officials of the Russian American Company at Sitka, and from leading merchants of Honolulu.º He had doubtless represented himself, and still did so, as having been an officer of the French army; and was known from the first as 'Captain' Sutter-a harmless enough de- ception from certain points of view.10 Introduced by David Spence to Alvarado, he was cordially received. His pleasing manners, his apparent energy, his unex- ceptionable recommendations, and the reasonable and beneficial nature of his project made the way perfectly clear. He wished at first to obtain a tract of land as an empresario de colonizacion; but Alvarado showed him the impracticability of this method for so small a colony. He advised Sutter to announce his inten- tion of becoming a Mexican citizen, to go into the interior and select any tract of unoccupied land that might suit him, and to return to Monterey in a year, when he would be given his papers of naturalization and a grant of his land. Gladly adopting this plan, Sutter obtained additional letters of recommendation to Vallejo, and hastened back to Yerba Buena, where he arrived July 7th on the Clementine, which craft was despatched for Honolulu about a week later.11

9 One of these letters, dated April 18, 1839, from John C. Jones, U. S. eonsul in Oahu, to Gen. Vallejo, is preserved in Vallejo, Doc., MS., vi. 446. Sutter is introduced as a 'Swiss gentleman of the first class among men of honor, talent, and estimation,' worthy of all confidence and support.

10 In the Honolulu S. 1. Gazette, April 6, 1839, Sutter distinctly claims to have been an officer in the French service; he is called captain in Consul Jones' letter; and Larkin in 1846, Larkin's Off. Corresp., MS., ii. 108-9, states that he had been a captain in the Swiss gnard of Charles X.

11 Alvarado, Ilist. Cal., MS., iv. 206, etc .; Sutter, Pers. Rem., MS., 15-16; Id., Diary; Id., Petition. July 3d, Spence to Vallejo, introducing Sutter and

129

PREPARATIONS.

From San Francisco late in July, he made a visit to Vallejo at Sonoma, and thence by land, by McIntosh's rancho and Bodega, to Rotchef at Ross. He was kindly received by both gentlemen, who politely wished him success in his enterprise. He says that Vallejo and others wished him to settle in Sonoma, Napa, or Suisun valleys, rather than go so far from civilization; but he declined, ostensibly because he wished to settle on a navigable river, but really be- cause he wished to be at a convenient distance from Spanish officials and Spanish neighbors.12 He had already decided in favor of the Sacramento Valley in consequence of information received in Oregon and at Sitka; and doubtless one of his strongest motives for this preference was a desire to be independent of the Californians. He was willing to become a Mexican citizen and to obey Mexican laws only so far as his own interests might require it. He wished to be be- yond the reach of all interference with his Indian policy, his methods of obtaining laborers, his trading ventures, his trapping operations, and his relations with foreigners. He believed there was money to be made out of the Indians; he hoped to make his estab- lishment a trading-post and rendezvous for trappers; he shrewdly foresaw that even the roving vagabonds and horse-thieves of the valleys might be useful allies in possible emergencies.

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History of California, Volume IV, Part 14

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 820

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 820