History of California, Volume XXII, Part 19

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816

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171

KILLING OF THE HAROS AND BERREYESA.

which was 75 strong after his departure, marched with about 130 men to San Rafael. Here Torre and Padilla were understood to be; and hither Castro might be expected to come with the rest of his army. No enemy, however, was found to oppose a peaceable occupation of the mission buildings, where the insur- gent force remained for about a week. The period was for the most part an uneventful one. Castro did not deem it best to cross the bay, and the exact whereabouts of Torre could not be ascertained.

On Sunday, the 28th, the only blood of Frémont's campaign was spilled, and that under such circum- stances as to leave a stain of dishonor upon the com- mander and some of his men. A boat was seen crossing from San Pablo. It contained four men, and was apparently steering for a landing at or near Point San Pedro, several miles from the mission. Kit Carson was sent with two or three companions to intercept them. After starting, Carson turned back-so testifies Jasper O'Farrell, an eye-witness- to ask Frémont, "Captain, shall I take those men prisoners?" The reply, given with a wave of the hand, was, "I have no room for prisoners." Then they advanced, alighted from their horses, and from a distance of about fifty yards deliberately shot three of the strangers, who had landed and were approach- ing the mission. The three victims were the twin brothers Francisco and Ramon de Haro, aged about twenty, sons of a prominent citizen and former al- calde of San Francisco, and José de los Reyes Ber- reyesa, an old man who owned a rancho near Santa Clara. Two divisions of Castro's army being at San Pablo with the intention of crossing the bay as the other division had done, one of the Haro boys volun- teered to carry a message to Joaquin de la Torre, the message relating doubtless to details of the plan for crossing. The other boy wished to accompany his brother and share his risks; and the old man Berrey- esa insisted on being permitted to cross with his

172

BEAR FLAG REVOLT-FREMONT'S CAMPAIGN.

nephews. His son was alcalde of Sonoma, reported to be a prisoner of the Osos; and the anxiety of a father and mother had impelled him to leave his home and seek an opportunity of visiting Sonoma. One of the Castros of San Pablo carried them over in his boat, left them at the landing, and returned; while the others started on foot for San Rafael, knowing nothing of its occupation by the insurgents. Their fate has been told.2

* Frémont, letter to Benton, Niles' Reg., lxxi. 191, says simply: 'Three of Castro's party, having landed on the Sonoma side in advance, were killed near the beach; and beyond this there was no loss on either side.' Benton, Id., 174, mentions the killing of Cowie and Fowler, 'in return for which three of De la Torre's men being taken were instantly shot.' Gillespie, Fre- mont's C'al. Claims, 28, says that on the afternoon of the 26th ' letters were in- tercepted which disclosed their plans, and required De la Torre to send horses to the point the next morning to mount 80 men who would be sent over at that time.' These letters. if there be no error, were probably those brought by Haro. Jasper O'Farrell, in the Los Angeles Star, Sept. 27, 1856, perhaps taken from another paper, besides narrating the facts of the murder as in my text, states that Carson claimed to have done the act unwillingly by Fre- mont's order. In the same paper is a letter from J. S. Berreyesa, in which, after narrating the circumstances of the killing, he states that the clothing of his dead father and cousins was stripped from their bodies by their murder- ers, and that Fremont refused to order the giving-np of his father's sarape. which one of the men was wearing, and which the son finally bought for $25. June 30th, Leidesdorff writes to Larkin of the shooting, which took place ' day before yesterday.' He names Sergt Mannel Castro as one of the killed. This report seems to have been current for a time. Larkin's Doc., MS., iv. 189. Rico, Mem., MS., 19-23, gives the most detailed account of the depart- ure of the messengers, Rico having been the officer immediately concerned in sending the messenger. The first news of what had happened was brought by Torre the next day. Ford is silent on this matter. Ide, in his letter to Wambough, Biog. Sketch, 190, says: 'The flying Spaniards drew lots among their number, and three men, prepared with letters (intended to deceive the Bears) in their boots, put themselves in the power of their pursuers, threw away their arms, and fell on their knees begging for quarter; but the orders were to take no prisoners from this band of murderers, and the men were shot, and never rose from the ground ... One of the men declared with his dying breath that he expected death, that he came on purpose to die for the benefit of his countrymen '! Bidwell, C'al. in 1841-8, MS., 170, and several others name G. P. Swift as one of Carson's companions. Hargrave, Cal. in '46, MS., 8, thinks Carson and a Frenchman were alone responsible for the deed. Swasey, Frémont's devout admirer, Cal. '45-6, MS., 10, thinks that ' the firing was perfectly justifiable under the circumstances'! Fowler, Bear Party, MS., 5, who was present at the time, says that Carson and the Cana- dian, who were alone responsible, were drunk. Martin, Narr., MS., 29, who claims to have been the sentinel who first saw the boat, and one of the five who captured and shot the men, as well as Chas Brown, Early Events, MS., 25-6, who married a sister of the Haros, and several Californians, state that the bodies of the victims were allowed to lie unburied where they fell for several days. Phelps, Fore and Aft, 286-90, seems to have originated the absurd story that on one of the men was found an order from Castro to Torre to kill every for- eigner he could find, man, woman, and child; and this story has been re-

173

A MURDER BY FREMONT.

The killing of Berreyesa and the Haros was a brutal murder, like the killing of Cowie and Fowler, for which it was intended as a retaliation. Its perpe- trators put themselves below the level of García and Padilla. The Californians, or probably one desperado of their number, had killed two members of a band of outlaws who had imprisoned their countrymen, had raised an unknown flag, had announced their purpose of overthrowing the government, and had caused great terror among the people-the two men at the time of their capture being actively engaged in their unlawful service. In revenge for this act, the Bears deliber- ately killed the first Californians that came within their reach, or at least the first after their own strength became irresistible. The three victims were not mem- bers of Padilla's party, nor were they suspected of being such, nor charged with any offence. As mes- sengers between Castro and Torre, their mission was a perfectly legitimate one; and so far as was known at the time of the shooting, they were not engaged in any public service whatever. They were in no sense spies, as has been sometimes implied. The statement that they brought orders to kill every man, woman, and child of the foreigners was an absurd fabrication; but had it been true that such papers were found on them, or even had it been proved that they had been the very murderers of Cowie and Fowler, these facts would afford no justification to those who killed them, because such facts could not have been known until after their death. They were given no chance for defence or explanation, but killed in cold blood at long rifle-range. Viewed in its most favorable light, the act was one of cowardly vengeance. Members of the

peated by Lancey, Cruise, 68, and copied from him in Marin Co. Hist., 83, and several other works. The newspapers have often mentioned this affair in connection with the famous Haro claim to lands in S. F. The Californians. as a rule, give an accurate account of this occurrence. See Castro, Rel., MS., 190-9; Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., v. 207-10; Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., v. 138-41; Berreyesa, Relacion, MS., 1-7; Bernal, Mem., MS., 1-3; Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 56; Sanchez, Notas, MS., 15; Juarez, Narrative, MS .; Ama- dor, Mem., MS., 167; Vallejo, Notas, MS., 115-16.

174

BEAR FLAG REVOLT-FREMONT'S CAMPAIGN.

Bear party, and apologists of their aets, have wisely had but little to say of the matter, always refusing to go beyond vague generalities. Of course John C. Frémont, as commander of the insurgents, is to be held responsible for the murder. That he personally gave the order which led to the result depends on the tes- timony of one person, a man whose reputation for veracity was good. In justice to Frémont, it is fair to say that the testimony was first publicly given during the political campaign of 1856, at a time when preju- dice was generally more potent than love of truth; but justice also requires me to call attention to the fact that Fremont has never, so far as I know, denied the accuracy of O'Farrell's assertion.

Meanwhile scouting parties from the camp at San Rafael were trying to learn of Torre's whereabouts. They were not very successful; but late in the after- noon of the same day the messengers were shot they captured an Indian on whose person was found a let- ter in which Torre announced his intention of attack- ing Sonoma early the next morning. This letter, together with the one that had previously been inter- cepted, having been taken perhaps from Haro's dead body, making known Castro's plan of crossing before the hour of the proposed attack, caused Fremont to fear that Ide's garrison was in danger ;3 and he at once set out with nearly all his force, perhaps against the judgment of Ford and Gillespie, for Sonoma, where he arrived before sunrise on the 29th. There, also, if we may credit Ide's account, a letter had been intercepted, addressed to some of the natives, and disclosing the plan of attack. The citizens were in great terror, and wished to leave the town. This was not permitted; but as night came on they were allowed the jail as a shelter for the men, and Vallejo's house for the women and children. The garrison meanwhile made every preparation for defence; can-

3July 30th, Leidesdorff to Larkin also wrote that Torre was to move against Sonoma 'yesterday.' Larkin's Doc., MS., iv. 189.

175

A FALSE ALARM.

non, rifle, and musket were loaded and primed, and sentinels were posted. Just before dawn the ad- vanced sentries heard the distant tramp of horses. Clearly, the threatened attack was to be a reality. Without vouching for its accuracy, I quote Ide's melodramatic narrative of what followed. "Thus prepared, in less than one minute from the first alarm, all listened for the sound of the tramping horses-we heard them coming !- then, low down under the darkened canon we saw them coming! In a moment the truth flashed across my mind; the Spaniards were deceiving us! In a moment orders were given to the captains of the 18-pounders to re- serve fire until my rifle should give the word; and, to prevent mistake, I hastened to a position a hundred yards in front of the cannon, and a little to the right- oblique, so as to gain a nearer view. 'Come back; you will lose your life!' said a dozen voices. 'Silence!' roared Captain Grigsby; 'I have seen the old man in a bull-pen before to-day!' The blankets of the ad- vancing host flowed in the breeze. They had ad- vanced to within 200 yards of the place where I stood. The impatience of the men at the guns be- came intense, lest the enemy came too near, so as to lose the effect of the spreading of the shot. I made a motion to lay down my rifle. The matches were swinging. 'My God! They swing the matches!' cried the well known voice of Kit Carson. 'Hold on, hold on!' we shouted, ''tis Frémont, 'tis Frémont!' in a voice heard by every man of both parties, we cried, while Captain Frémont dashed away to his left to take cover behind an adobe house; and in a mo- ment after he made one of his most gallant charges on our fort; it was a noble exploit; he came in a full gallop, right in the face and teeth of our two long 18's!" 4

It did not take long for Frémont to convince him- self that he had been outwitted; and after a hasty + Ide's Biog. Sketch, 187-90.

176

BEAR FLAG REVOLT-FREMONT'S CAMPAIGN.

breakfast he set out again for San Rafael, where he arrived within twenty-four hours of the time he left it -to learn that Torre had made good use of his time to recross the bay and rejoin Castro with all his original force, and such residents of the northern frontier as chose to accompany him. The wily Californian had written letters expressly intended to fall into the hands of the Osos, and thus facilitate his own escape. After retreating before twenty rifles, he had no wish to face two hundred. He left San Rafael just be- fore Frémont's first arrival; and, as Castro's force did not arrive, he soon began to consider his position a critical one. Facilities for crossing the bay were so uncertain that it was not safe to be seen at any landing while the mission was occupied by the foe; therefore Don Joaquin feigned an advance into the interior toward Petaluma, and wrote the letters to be intercepted. The ruse was entirely successful; and, Frémont's force having been sent to Sonoma, the Cali- fornians, to the number of 75 or 80, appeared at Sauza- lito in the morning of June 29th. Captain Richard- son had an old launch, or lighter, lying at anchor there, which he declined to lend, but which he permitted Torre's men to 'take by force;' and all were soon afloat. Wind and tide were not favorable, and for a long time they lay near the shore, in great fear lest Fremont should return, and no less apprehensive of pursuit by the boats of the Portsmouth. Some were so frightened that they believe to this day that they were thus pur- sued. But long before the Bears had returned to San Rafael the Californians had landed at San Pablo, whence, with the other divisions of the 'grand army, they marched next day to Santa Clara.5

5 Luis German, Sucesos, MS., 18-24, gives the most connected and de- tailed account of Torre's escape. Fremont, in his letter to Benton, followed by the set of authorities that obtained their information from that letter, claims, in a general way, the credit of having driven Torre away, besides de- stroying his transports and spiking his cannon south of the bay, as will pres- ently be noticed. Gillespie, Fremont's Cal. Claims, 28, has the assurance to write: 'Capt. Fremont returned to Sonoma, leaving a force to protect San Raphael. This movement, executed with so much promptness, alarmed De

177

SPIKING THE GUNS AT SAN FRANCISCO.

Having thus 'driven' Torre and his men away, Frémont and the Bears had no further opposition to fear north of the bay, and no reason to remain longer at San Rafael; yet before their departure for Sonoma two minor enterprises were undertaken, which, if they served no other purpose, figured somewhat attractively in reports of this grand campaign. On July Ist Fre- mont and Gillespie visited Phelps on board the Mos- cow, and having removed that gentleman's scruples by the assurance that war had really been declared, and that they were "acting in obedience to orders of the United States government," obtained his cooperation for a movement on San Francisco. Phelps furnished his vessel's launch with a crew, going himself as pilot. to carry Frémont and about twenty of his men across to the old castillo. Wading ashore through the surf, and boldly entering the fort, this band of warriors proceeded to spike the ten guns found there, and to wade back to the boat. In the absence of a garrison, with no powder, it is not surprising that, so far as can be known, not one of the ten cannon offered the slightest resistance. But the energies of the insur- gents were not exclusively directed against abandoned guns; for next day ten of their number, under Sem- ple, appeared in the streets of Yerba Buena, at noon,

la Torre to such a degree that he fled with his command in the most cowardly manner to Sausalito, where he stole Mr Richardson's launch, and escaped across the bay'! Phelps, Fore and Aft, 286-92, was at Sauzalito at the time, in command of the Moscow, and he gives an inaccurate version of what occurred, which has, however, been considerably used by later writers. He says that Frémont sent him, Phelps, word that he would drive Torre to Sau- zalito that night, whence he could not escape without the Moscow's boats. Phelps proceeded to make all safe, and took the precaution to anchor farther out a launch lying near the beach, putting some provisions on board for Fre- mont's use! But when Torre arrived in the morning, a boat was mysteri- ously procured from Yerba Buena, and the launch was reached. Phelps in- formed the commander of the Portsmouth, but he declined to intercept the fugitives. Montgomery, writing to Larkin July 2d, Larkin's Doc., MS., iv. 192, speaks of Torre as having been chased by Fremont, barely escaping by his good luck in finding a large freight boat. Ford, Bear Flag Revolution, MS., 22-5, claims that he and Gillespie opposed the march to Sonoma. The Hist. Bear Flag agrees for the most part with Ide-naturally, as Ide was its chief author. It speaks of Castro having sent 200 men across the bay. Lar- kin, Off. Corresp., MS., i. 125, in a letter of July 4th to the U. S. consul at Honolulu, speaks of Torre's defeat, and of the trick by which he escaped. HIST. CAL., VOL. V. 12

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BEAR FLAG REVOLT-FREMONT'S CAMPAIGN.

and captured Robert Ridley, captain of the port, who was taken from his house and sent to New Helvetia. This was doubtless done at the instigation of Vice- consul Leidesdorff, who, as we have seen, had repeat- edly denounced Ridley and Hinckley as "more Mex- ican than the Mexicans themselves," in their opposi- tion to the Bear movement. Hinckley would doubt- less have shared Ridley's fate had he not died two days before. Obtaining such supplies as were to be found on the Moscow, together with cattle from the ranchos of the region about San Rafael, Fremont re- turned with the whole insurgent force to Sonoma. Through Benton he ingeniously contrived, without quite committing himself to a falsehood, to create the impression among the people of the United States, not only that he had been in active command of the revolutionists from the first, but that finally, after de- feating Torre, he had driven him across the bay, spik- ing his cannon, destroying his transports, and break- ing up all communication between the north and south -thus making the whole campaign a brilliant suc- cess !6

The 4th of July was celebrated at Sonoma by the burning of much gunpowder, reading of the declaration of independence, and a fandango in the evening. Frémont and his men returned from San Rafael that day, or more probably the evening be- fore; at any rate, in time to take part in the festivi- ties.7 Next day, though some say that also was on the

6 Frémont to Benton, and B. to pres., in Niles' Reg., Ixxi. 173, 191. Montgomery, in two postscripts to a letter of July 2d to Larkin, mentions the spiking of the guns and capture of Ridley. Larkin's Doc., MS., iv. 192. Phelps, Fore and Aft, 285-92, gives the fullest account of the first affair-in fact, all we know of it, so far as details are concerned. See also Bryant's What I Saw in Cal., 294-6; Tuthill's Hist. Cal., 173-4; Lancey's Cruise, 70, 72; Upham's Life Fremont, 233-4; Yolo Co. Ilist., 16.

7 Frémont in his letter to Benton, and Gillespie in his testimony, say that they returned on the evening of the 4th; but the latter speaks of the salutes fired during the day. According to the Hist. Bear Flag, the return was on the 3d. Baldridge says that the declaration, a copy which the writer had brought over the mountains, was read by Lieut Woodworth of the navy.

179

REORGANIZATION OF THE REBELS.

4th, the people were called together to deliberate on matters of public importance. Respecting details of what was accomplished, our evidence is meagre and contradictory to a certain extent; but it is certain that a new military organization was effected, and that Frémont was put in command of the insurgent forces, Ide's authority terminating on that day. Frémont himself says: "In the morning I called the people together and spoke to them in relation to the position of the country, advising a course of opera- tions which was unanimously adopted. California was declared independent, the country put under martial law, the force organized, and officers elected. A pledge, binding themselves to support these meas- ures and to obey the officers, was signed by those present. The whole was placed under my direction. Several officers from the Portsmouth were present at this meeting."$ William Baldridge claims to have been chairman of the meeting, and names John Bid- well as secretary.9 Bidwell tells us that Fremont- after a speech in which he expressed his willingness to cooperate, criticised some irregularities of the past, and insisted on implicit obedience-named Ide, Read- ing, and the writer as a committee to report a plan of organization. Unable to agree, each made a re- port of his own, with the understanding that Gillespie should select one of the three. He chose Bidwell's, perhaps on account of its brevity. As presented by the author from memory, it was a simple agreement to render military service in support of independ- ence.10

8F. to B. Niles' Reg., Ixxi. 191. Benton made some improvements on this as on other parts of the same letter as follows: 'The north side of the bay was now cleared of the enemy, and on July 4th Capt. Fremont called the Americans together at Sonoma, addressed them upon the dangers of their position, and recommended a declaration of independence, and war upon Castro and his troops as the only means of safety. The independence was immediately declared, and war proclaimed.' These statements were repeated in substance by the secretary of war, and by many other writers, some of whom go so far as to say that Fremont was elected governor !

9 Baldridge's Days of '46, MS., 6.

10 'To be signed by all willing to prosecute the war already begun, to

180

BEAR FLAG REVOLT-FREMONT'S CAMPAIGN.

The document signed at Sonoma on July 5th, so far as I know, is no longer extant; nor have we any written contemporary record of that day's transactions. Yet it appears clearly to me that no radical changes were effeeted in the plan of revolt; that nothing like a new declaration of independence was made; that there was no official act ignoring what had been al- ready accomplished. It was simply the formal and public assumption by Fremont of a command which by most of the insurgents he had been expected to assume, or even deemed tacitly to hold from the first. He had virtually thrown off his mask of caution by his San Rafael campaign, and it was hardly possible, even had he desired it, to draw back now. Naturally he required pledges of obedience and discipline; and military reorganization was of course necessary for active operations against Castro.

To one, however, William B. Ide, this day's doings ., ere of no small import, since they put an end to all his greatness. He characterized them as "events and circumstances which changed the character of our enterprise, and presented California to the United States as a trophy of that species of conquest that wallows in the blood of murder, or of that ignoble traffic that makes the price of liberty the price of blood, instead of presenting the same fair land on terms of honorable compact and agreement, such as all the world can participate in without loss or dishonor, by the free, frauk expression of voluntary consent and good-will of the parties." Ide regarded himself as the leader of the revolutionists, and as the founder of a republic. He moreover regarded the revolution as a complete success. In his eyes the triumph had al- ready been won; California had been wrested from

wit: the undersigned agree to organize and to remain in service as long as necessary for the purpose of gaining and maintaining the independence of California.' This was signed by all at Sonoma, including Fremont's men, and was signed by others later at the Mokelumne River on the march south ; since which time it has not appeared. Bidwell's Cal. in 1841-8, MS., 171-4. This author puts Fremont's speech on the 4th, and the fandango on the even- ing of Sunday the 5th, after the organization.

181

IDE'S DISAPPOINTMENT.

Mexico. There remained only the trifling formality of taking possession of that part of the country south of San Francisco Bay, and this would already have been wellnigh accomplished had Frémont not pre- vented the sending of reinforcements to Weber at San José.11 It was Ide's plan, as he claims, and as there is no good reason to doubt, when once he had fully established a free and independent government, to apply for admission to the American Union on terms to be settled by negotiations, in which of course he personally would play a prominent rôle. This method of annexation in his view would not only give him the fame and profit to which he was entitled, but was more honorable to the United States and just to the Californians than the plan of conquest finally adopted.

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History of California, Volume XXII, Part 19

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885-1890 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 816

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816