USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California, including its geography, geology, topography, climatography and description; together with a record of the Mexican grants also, incidents of pioneer life; and biographical sketches of early and prominent settlers and representative men > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80
Four men were left here to guard their prisoners and horses, Ford, with fourteen others, starting in pursuit of the enemy. Leaving the lagoon of San Antonio, and having struck into the road leading into San Rafael, after a quick ride of four miles, they came in sight of the house where the Cali- fornians had passed the night with their two prisoners, Todd and his com- panion, and were then within its walls enjoying themselves. Ford's men were as ignorant of their proximity as were the Californians of theirs. However, when the advanced guard arrived in sight of the corral, and per- ceiving it to be full of horses, with a number of Indian vaqueros around it, they made a brilliant dash to prevent the animals from being turned loose. While exulting over their good fortune at this unlooked for addition to their cavalry arm, they were surprised to see the Californians rush out of the house and mount their already saddled quadrupeds. It should be said that the house was situated on the edge of a plain, some sixty yards from a grove of brushwood. In a moment Ford formed his men into two half companies and charged the enemy, who, perceiving the movement, retreated behind the grove of trees. From his position Ford counted them, and found that there were eighty-five. Notwithstanding he had but four- teen in his ranks, nothing daunted, he dismounted his men, and taking advantage of the protection offered by the brushwood, prepared for action. The Californians, observing this evolution, became emboldened, and prepared for a charge. On this, Ford calmly awaited the attack, giving stringent orders that his rear rank should hold their fire until the enemy were well up. On they came, with shouts, the brandishing of swords and the flash of pistols, until within thirty yards of the Americans, whose front rank then opened a withering fire, and emptied the saddles of eight of the Mexican soldiery. On receiving this volley the enemy wheeled to the right-about and made a break for the hills, while Ford's rear rank played upon them at long range, causing three more to bite the earth, and wounding two others. The remainder retreated, helter-skelter, to a hill in the direction of San Rafael, leaving the two prisoners in the house. Ford's little force, having
184
History of Contra Costa County.
now attained the object of their expedition, secured their prisoners of war, and going to the corral, where the enemy had a large drove of horses, changed their jaded nags for fresh ones, took the balance, some four hundred, and retraced their victorious steps to Sonoma, where they were heartily welcomed by their anxious countrymen, who had feared for their safety.
We last left Captain Fremont at Sonoma, where he had arrived at 2 A. M. of the 25th June. After giving his men and horses a short rest, and receiving a small addition to his force, he was once more in the saddle and started for San Rafael, where it was said Castro had joined De la Torre with two hundred and fifty men. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon they came in sight of the position thought to be occupied by the enemy. This they approached cautiously until quite close, then charged, the three first to enter being Fremont, Kit Carson, and J. W. Marshall (the future discoverer of . gold), but they found the lines occupied by only four men, Captain Torre having left some three hours previously. Fremont camped on the ground that night, and on the following morning, the 26th, dispatched scouting parties, while the main body remained at San Rafael for three days. Cap- tain Torre had departed, no one knew whither; he left not a trace; but General Castro was seen, from the commanding hills behind, approaching on the other side of the bay. One evening a scout brought in an Indian, on whom was found a letter from Torre to Castro, purporting to inform the latter that he would that night concentrate his forces and march upon Sonoma and attack it in the morning.
Captain Gillespie and Lieutenant Ford held that the letter was a ruse designed for the purpose of drawing the American forces back to Sonoma, and thus leave an avenue of escape open for the Californians. Opinions on the subject were divided ; however, by midnight every man of them was in Sonoma. It was afterwards known that they had passed the night within a mile of Captain de la Torre's camp, who, on ascertaining the departure of the revolutionists, effected his escape to Santa Clara, via Saucelito.
On or about the 26th of June, Lieutenant Joseph W. Revere, of the sloop-of-war " Portsmouth," in company with Dr. Andrew A. Henderson and a boat load of supplies, arrived at Sutter's Fort ; there arriving also on the same day a party of men from Oregon, who at once cast their lot with the " Bear Flag" band, while on the 28th another boat, with Lieutenants Washington and Bartlett, put in an appearance.
Of this visit of Lieutenant Revere to what afterwards became Sacra- mento city, he says :
" On arriving at the ' Embarcadero ' (landing) we were not surprised to find a mounted guard of 'patriots,' who had long been apprised by the Indians that a boat was ascending the river. These Indians were indeed important auxiliaries to the Revolutionists, during the short period of strife between the parties contending for the sovereignty of California. Having
COL. GIFT.
185
The Bear Flag War.
been most cruelly treated by the Spanish race, murdered even, on the slightest provocation, when their oppressors made marauding expeditions for servants, and when captured compelled to labor for their unsparing taskmasters, the Indians throughout the country hailed the day when the hardy strangers from beyond the Sierra Nevada rose up in arms against the . hijos del pais (sons of the country). Entertaining an exalted opinion of the skill and prowess of the Americans, and knowing from experience that they were of a milder and less sanguinary character than the rancheros, they anticipated a complete deliverance from their burdens, and assisted the revolutionists to the full extent of their humble abilities.
" Emerging from the woods lining the river, we stood upon a plain of immense extent, bounded on the west by the heavy timber which marks the course of the Sacramento, the dim outline of the Sierra Nevada appear- ing in the distance. We now came to some extensive fields of wheat in full bearing, waving gracefully in the gentle breeze like the billows of the sea, and saw the white-washed walls of the fort, situated on a small emi- nence commanding the approaches on all sides.
" We were met and welcomed by Captain Sutter and the officer in command of the garrison, but the appearance of things indicated that our reception would have been very different had we come on a hostile errand.
" The appearance of the fort, with its crenated walls, fortified gate-way and bastioned angles ; the heavily-bearded, fierce-looking hunters and trap- pers, armed with rifles, bowie-knives and pistols; their ornamented hunt- ing-shirts and gartered leggings ; their long hair, turbaned with colored handkerchiefs ; their wild and almost savage looks and dauntless and inde- pendent bearing; the wagons filled with golden grain ; the arid, yet fertile plains ; the caballadas driven across it by wild, shouting Indians, enveloped in clouds of dust, and the dashing horsemen scouring the fields in every direction ; all these accessories conspired to carry me back to the romantic East, and I could almost fancy again that I was once more the guest of some powerful Arab chieftain, in his desert stronghold. Everything bore the impress of vigilance and preparation for defense, and not without rea- son, for Castro, then at the Pueblo de San José, with a force of several hundred men, well provided with horses and artillery, had threatened to march upon the valley of the Sacramento.
" The fort consists of a parallelogram, enclosed by adobe walls fifteen feet high and two thick, with bastions or towers at the angles, the walls of which are four feet thick, and their embrasures so arranged as to flank the curtain on all sides. A good house occupies the center of the interior area, serving for officers' quarters, armories, guard and state rooms, and also for a kind of citadel. There is a second wall on the inner face, the space between it and the outer wall being roofed and divided into workshops, quarters, etc., and the usual offices are provided, and also a well of good water. Corrals
186
History of Contra Costa County.
for the cattle and horses of the garrison are conveniently placed where they can be under the eye of the guard. Cannon frown from the various embrasures, and the ensemble presents the very ideal of a border fortress. It must have ' astonished the natives' when this monument of the white- man's skill arose from the plain and showed its dreadful teeth in the midst of those peaceful solitudes.
" I found during this visit that General Vallejo and his companions were rigorously guarded by the ' patriots,' but I saw him and had some conver- sation with him, which it was easy to see excited a very ridiculous amount of suspicion on the part of his vigilant jailors, whose position, however, as revolutionists was a little ticklish and incited in them that distrust which in dangerous times is inseparable from low and ignorant minds. Indeed they carried their doubts so far as to threaten to shoot Sutter for being po- lite to his captives."
Fremont with his men' having partaken of the early meal, on the morn- ing of the 27th of June returned to San Rafael, being absent only twenty- four hours.
Castro, who had been for three days watching the movements of Fre- mont from the other side of the Bay, sent three men, Don Jose Reyes Berryessa, (a retired Sergeant of the Presidio Company of San Francisco,) and Ramon and Francisco de Haro (twin sons of Don Francisco de Haro, Alcalde of San Francisco in 1838-39), to reconnoiter, who landed on what is now known as Point San Quentin. On landing they were seized, with their arms, and on them were found written orders from Castro to Captain de la Torre, (who it was not known had made his escape to Santa Clara,) to kill every foreign man, woman and child. These men were shot on the spot-first, as spies ; second, in retaliation for the Americans so cruelly butchered by the Californians. General Castro, fearing that he might, if caught, share the fate of his spies, left the rancho of the Estudillos, and after a hasty march arrived at the Santa Clara Mission on June 29, 1846.
Captain William D. Phelps, of Lexington, Mass., who was lying at Saucelito with his bark, the " Moscow," remarks, says Mr. Lancey :
" When Frement passed San Rafael in pursuit of Captain de la Torre's party, I had just left them, and he sent me word that he would drive them to Saucelito that night, when they could not escape unless they got my boats. I hastened back to the ship and made all safe. There was a large launch lying near the beach ; this was anchored further off, and I put pro- visions on board to be ready for Fremont should he need her. At night there was not a boat on the shore .. Torre's party must shortly arrive and show fight or surrender. Towards morning we heard them arrive, and to our surprise they were seen passing with a small boat from the shore to the launch ; (a small boat had arrived from Yerba Buena during the night, which had proved their salvation.) I dispatched a note to the commander
187
The Bear Flag War.
of the 'Portsmouth,' sloop-of-war, then lying at Yerba Buena, a cove (now San Francisco), informing him of their movements, and intimating that a couple of his boats could easily intercept and capture them. Captain Montgomery replied that not having received any official notice of war ex- isting he could not act in the matter.
" It was thus the poor scamps escaped. They pulled clear of the ship, and thus escaped supping on grape and canister, which we had prepared for them.
" Fremont arrived and camped opposite my vessel, the bark ' Moscow,' the following night. They were early astir the next morning, when I landed to visit Captain Fremont, and were all variously employed in taking care of their horses, mending saddles, cleaning their arms, etc. I had not up to this time seen Fremont, but from reports of his character and exploits my imagination had painted him as a large-sized, martial-looking man or personage, towering above his companions, whiskered, and ferocious-looking.
"I took a survey of the party, but could not discover any one who looked, as I thought, the captain to look. Seeing a tall, lank, Kentucky- looking chap (Doctor R. Semple), dressed in a greasy deer-skin hunting- shirt, with trowsers to match, and which terminated just below the knees, his head surmounted by a coon-skin cap, tail in front, who, I supposed, was an officer, as he was giving orders to the men. I approached and asked if the captain was in camp. He looked, and pointed out a slender-made, well- proportioned man sitting in front of the tent. His dress was a blue woolen shirt of somewhat novel style, open at the neck, trimmed with white, and with a star on each point of the collar (a man-of-war's-man's shirt), over this a deer-skin hunting-shirt, trimmed and fringed, which had evidently seen hard times or service, his head unincumbered by hat or cap, but had a light cotton handkerchief bound around it, and deer-skin moccasins completed the suit, which if not fashionable for Broadway, or for a presentation dress at court, struck me as being an excellent rig to scud under or fight in. A few minutes' conversation convinced me that I stood in the presence of the King of the Rocky Mountains."
Captain Fremont and his men remained at Saucelito until July 2d, when they left for Sonoma, and there prepared for a more perfect organization, their plan being to keep the Californians to the southern part of the State until the emigrants then on their way had time to cross the Sierra Nevada into California. On the 4th the National Holiday was celebrated with due pomp; while on the 5th the California Battalion of Mounted Riflemen, two hundred and fifty strong, was organized. Brevet-Captain John C. Fremont, Second Lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, was chosen Commandant ; First Lieutenant of Marines, Archibald H. Gillespie, Adjutant and Inspec- tor, with the rank of Captain. Says Fremont :-
" In concert and in co-operation with the American settlers, and in the
188
History of Contra Costa County.
brief space of thirty days, all was accomplished north of the Bay of San Francisco, and independence declared on the 5th of July. This was done at Sonoma where the American settlers had assembled. I was called by my position and by the general voice to the chief direction of affairs, and on the 6th of July, at the head of the mounted riflemen, set out to find Castro.
" We had to make the circuit of the head of the bay, crossing the Sac- ramento river (at Knight's Landing). On the 10th of July, when within ten miles of Sutter's Fort, we received (by the hands of William Scott) the joyful intelligence that Commodore John Drake Sloat was at Monterey and had taken it on the 7th of July, and that war existed between the United States and Mexico. Instantly we pulled down the flag of Independence (Bear Flag) and ran up that of the United States amid general rejoicing and a national salute of twenty-one guns on the morning of the 11th from Sutter's Fort, with a brass four-pounder called 'Sutter.'"
We find that at 2 o'clock on the morning of July 9th, Lieutenant Joseph Warren Revere, of the "Portsmouth," left that ship in one of her boats, and reaching the garrison at Sonoma, did at noon of that day haul down the Bear Flag and raise in its place the Stars and Stripes; and at the same time forwarded one to Sutter's Fort by the hands of William Scott, and another to Captain Stephen Smith at Bodega. Thus ended what was called the Bear Flag war.
The following is the Mexican account of the Bear Flag war :-
" About a year before the commencement of the war a band of advent- urers, proceeding from the United States, and scattering over the vast territory of California, awaited only the signal of their Government to take the first step in the contest for usurpation. Varions acts committed by these adventurers in violation of the laws of the country indicated their in- tentions. But unfortunately the authorities then existing, divided among themselves, neither desired nor knew how to arrest the tempest. In the month of July, 1846, Captain Fremont, an engineer of the U. S. A., entered the Mexican territory with a few mounted riflemen, under the pretext of a scientific commission, and solicited and obtained from the Commandant-Gen- eral, D. José Castro, permission to traverse the country. Three months after- wards, on the 19th of May (June 14th), that same force and their com- mander took possession by armed force, and surprised the important town of Sonoma, seizing all the artillery, ammunition, armaments, etc., which it contained.
" The adventurers scattered along the Sacramento river, amounting to about four hundred, one hundred and sixty men having joined their force.
NOTE .- We find that it is still a moot question as to who actually brought the first news of the war to Fremont. The honor is claimed by Harry Bee and John Daubenbiss, who are stated to have gone by Livermore and there met the gallant Colonel ; but the above quoted observations purport to be Colonel Fremont's own.
189
The Bear Flag War.
They proclaimed for themselves and on their own authority the independence of California, raising a rose-colored flag with a bear and a star. The result of this scandalous proceeding was the plundering of the property of some Mexicans and the assassination of others-three men shot as spies by Fre- mont, who, faithful to their duty to the country, wished to make resistance. The Commandant-General demanded explanations on the subject of the Commander of an American ship-of-war, the "Portsmouth," anchored in the Bay of San Francisco; and although it was positively known that muni- tions of war, arms and clothing were sent on shore to the adventurers, the Commander, J. B. Montgomery, replied that 'neither the Government of the United States nor the subalterns had any part in the insurrection, and that the Mexican authorities ought, therefore, to punish its authors in con- formity with the laws.'"
190
History of Contra Costa County.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY.
Organization-First Organization of Counties in the United States-Organization of Contra Costa County-Original Boundary -- Present Boundary-Senatorial and Judicial Dis- tricts-Court of Sessions-Original Townships and Boundaries-Present Township Boundaries-Board of Supervisors-Election Precincts-Road and School Districts. Political History-Mexican Government-U. S. Military Government- Constitutional Con- vention-San Jose the State Capital-Members of first Legislature-Governor Burnett Assumes Office-State Capital Removed-Records of Court of Sessions and Board of Supervisors-Gilman's snit against County-Table of Taxation-Table of County Officers-etc., etc.
THE FIRST ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES .- The first organization of counties in the United States of America originated in Virginia, her earliest settlers becoming proprietors of vast amounts of land, living apart in patrician splendor, imperious in demeanor, aristocratic in feeling, and being in a measure dictators to the laboring portion of the population. It will thus be seen that the materials for the creation of towns were not at hand, voters being but sparsely distributed over a very great area. The county organization was, moreover, in perfect accord with the traditions and memories of the judicial and social dignities of Great Britain, in descent from which country they felt so much glory. In 1634 eight counties were established in Virginia, a lead which was followed by the Southern and several of the Northern States, save in those of South Caro- lina and Louisiana, districts being outlined in the former, and parishes, after the custom of France, in the latter.
Towns were formed in New England before counties, while they in turn were organized before states, the powers of government of which were originally exercised by the towns or townships. The powers afterwards assumed by states were from surrender or delegation on the part of towns. Counties were created to define the jurisdiction of courts of justice. The formation of states was a union of towns, out of which arose the represent- ative system, each town being represented in the State Legislature, or General Court, by delegates chosen by the freemen of the towns at their stated meetings.
The first town meeting of which we can find any direct evidence was held by the delegation of the Plymouth Colony on March 23, 1621, for the
191
Legislative History of Contra Costa County.
purpose of perfecting military organization. At that meeting a Governor was elected for the ensuing year ; and it is noticed as a coincidence, whether from that source or otherwise, that the annual town meetings in New England, and nearly all of the other States, have ever since been held in the Spring of the year. It was not, however, until 1635 that the township system was adopted as a quasi corporation in Massachusetts.
It may be interesting to note what were the provisions contained in the first legal enactment concerning this system. These were: " Whereas, particular towns have many things which concern only themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of business in their own towns ; therefore the freemen of every town, or the major part of them, shall only have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, with all the appurte- nances of said towns; to grant lots and to make such orders as may concern the well ordering of their own towns, not repugnant to the laws and orders established by the General Court. They might also impose fines of not more than thirty shillings, and choose their own particular officers, as con- stables, surveyors for highways, and the like." Evidently this enactment relieved the General Court of a mass of municipal details, without any danger to the powers of that body in controlling general measures of public policy. Probably, also, a demand of the freemen of the towns was felt for the control of their own home concerns.
The New England colonies were first governed by a " General Court," or Legislature, composed of a Governor and small Council, which Court con- sisted of the most influential inhabitants, and possessed and exercised both legislative and judicial powers, which were limited only by the wisdom of the holders. They made laws, ordered their execution, elected their own officers tried and decided civil and criminal causes, enacted all manner of municipal regulations, and, in fact, transacted all the business of the colony.
This system, which was found to be eminently successful, became general, as territory was added to the Republic, and states formed. Smaller divisions were in turn inaugurated and placed under the jurisdiction of special officers, whose numbers were increased as time developed a demand, until the system of township organization in the United States is a matter of just pride to her people.
Let us now consider the topic in regard to the especial subject at present before us.
ORGANIZATION OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY. - On the acquisition of Cali- fornia by the Government of the United States, under a treaty of peace, friendship, limits and settlement with the Mexican Republic, dated Guada- lupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, the boundaries of the State were defined. This treaty was duly ratified by the President of the United States, March 16th, of the same year ; exchanged at Queretaro, May 30th, and finally
192
History of Contra Costa County.
promulgated July 4th by President Polk, and attested by Secretary of State James Buchanan. In 1849 a Constitutional Convention assembled in Mon- terey, and at the close of the session, October 12th, a proclamation calling upon the people to form a government was issued, "to designate such offi- cers as they desire to make and execute the laws ; that their choice may be wisely made, and that the government so organized may secure the perma- nent welfare and happiness of the people of the new State, is the sincere and earnest wish of the present executive, who, if the Constitution be rati- fied, will, with pleasure, surrender his powers to whomsoever the people may designate as his successor." This document bore the signatures : " B. Riley, Bvt. Brig. General, U. S. A., and Governor of California," and " official H. W. Halleck, Bvt. Capt. and Secretary of State."
In accordance with Section fourteen of Article twelve of the Constitu- tion, it was provided that the State be divided into counties, while the first session of the Legislature, which began at San José on December 15, 1849, passed, February 18, 1850, "An Act subdividing the State into counties and establishing seats of justice therein." This Act was finally confirmed April 25, 1851, and directed the boundaries of Contra Costa county to be as under :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.