USA > California > San Mateo County > History of San Mateo County, California, including its geography, topography, geology, climatography, and description, together with an historical sketch of California; a record of the Mexican grants; the early history and settlement, compiled from the most authentic sources; some of the names of Spanish and American pioneers; legislative history; a record of its cities and towns; biographical sketches of representative men; etc., etc > Part 9
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Three-fingered Jack was killed by Captain Harry Love's Rangers, July 27, 1853, at Pinola Pass, near the Merced river, with the bandit, Joaquin Murietta; while Ramon Carrillo met his death at the hands of the Vigi- lantes, between Los Angeles and San Diego, May 21, 1864. At the time of his death, the above murder, in which it was said he was implicated, became the subject of newspaper comment, indeed, so bitter were the remarks made, that on June 4, 1864, the Sonoma Democrat published a letter from Julio Carrillo, a respected citizen of Santa Rosa, an extract from which we reproduce :-
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" But I wish more particularly to call attention to an old charge, which I presume owes its revival to the same source, to wit: That my brother, Ramon Carrillo, was connected with the murder of two Americans, who had been taken prisoners by a company commanded by Juan Padilla in 1846.
"I presume this charge first originated from the fact that my brother had been active in raising the company which was commanded by Padilla, and from the further fact that the murder occurred near the Santa Rosa farm, then occupied by my mother's family.
" Notwithstanding these appearances, I have proof which is incontestible, that my brother was not connected with this affair, and was not even aware that these men had been taken prisoners until after they had been killed. The act was disapproved of by all the native Californians at the time, except- ing those implicated in the killing, and caused a difference which was never entirely healed.
" There are, as I believe, many Americans now living in this vicinity, who were here at the time, and who know the facts I have mentioned. I am ready to furnish proof of what I have said to any who may desire it."
The messenger despatched to the U. S. ship " Portsmouth " returned on the 17th in company with the First Lieutenant of that ship, John Storny Miss- room and John E. Montgomery, son and clerk of Captain Montgomery, who despatched by express, letters from that officer to Fremont and Sutter. These arrived the following day, the 18th, and the day after, the 19th, Fremont came to Sutter's with twenty-two men and José Noriega of San José and Vicente Peralta as prisoners.
At Sonoma on this day, June 18th, Captain William B. Ide, with the con- sent of the garrison, issued the following :--
" A proclamation to all persons and citizens of the District of Sonoma, requesting them to remain at peace and follow their rightful occupations with- out 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 rela- tion, one with another, by men under his command.
" He also solemnly declares his object to be :- first, to defend himself and companions 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 Repub- lican Government; when, having arrived in California, they were denied the privilege of buying or renting 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 proc- lamation by the chief officers of the aforesaid despotism 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,
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were to be driven through deserts inhabited by hostile Indians, to certain destruction.
. "To overthrow a government which has siezed 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 Government, 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 principles of self-preservation, by the love of truth and the hatred of tyranny, for my hopes of success.
"] 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. " WILLIAM B. IDE.
"Headquarters, Sonoma, June 18, 1846."
The Pioneer says Captain William B. Ide was born in Ohio, came over- land, reaching Sutter's Fort in October, 1845. June 7, 1847, Governor Mason appointed him land surveyor for the northern district of California, and same month was Justice of the Peace at Cache Creek. At an early day he got a grant of land which was called the rancho Barranca Colorado, just below Red Creek in Colusa county, as it was then organized. In 1851 he was elected county treasurer, with an assessment roll of three hundred and seventy-three thousand two hundred and six dollars. Moved with the county seat to Mon- roeville, at the mouth of Stoney Creek, September 3, 1851, he was elected County Judge of Colusa county, and practiced law, having a license. Judge Ide died of small-pox at Monroeville on Saturday, December 18, 1852, aged fifty years.
Let us for a moment turn to the doings of Castro. On June 17th, he issued two proclamations, one to the new, the other to the old citizens and foreign- ers. Appended are translations :-
"The citizen José Castro, Lieutenant-Colonel of Cavalry in the Mexican Army, and acting General Commandant 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
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an invasion, possessing themselves of the town of Sonoma, taking by surprise all the place, the military commander of that border, Col. Don Mariano Guad- alupe 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 call upon us to sacrifice our- selves rather than lose those inestimable blessings. Banish from your hearts all petty resentments. 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 vacillate 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. JOSE CASTRO.
" Headquarters, Santa Clara, June 17, 1846."
"The citizen José Castro, Lieutenant-Colonel of Cavalry in the Mexican Army and Acting Commandant 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 fron 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 pro- tected.
" 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 characteristic. 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 independ- ent, or I will gladly die for those inestimable blessings.
"JOSE CASTRO.
"Headquarters, Santa Clara, June 17, 1846."
On June 20th, a body of about seventy Californians, under Captain José Joaquin de la Torre, crossed the bay of San Francisco, and being joined by Correo and Padea, marched to the vicinity of San Rafael, while General Castro had, by the utmost pressure, raised his forces to two hundred and fifty men, most of them being forced volunteers. Of this system of recruit- ing Lieutenant Revere says: "I heard that on a feast day, when the
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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 Sulcages Americanos." Castro, at the head of his army, on the evening of the 27th of June, marched out of Santa Clara, and proceeding around the head of the Bay of San Francisco, as far as the San Leandro creek, halted on the rancho of Estudillo, where we shall leave them for the present.
Captain J. C. Fremont having concluded that it had become his duty to take a personal part in the revolution which he had fostered, on June 21st transferred his impedimenta to the safe keeping of Captain Sutter at the fort, and recrossing the American river, encamped on the Sinclair rancho, where he was joined by Pearson B. Redding and all the trappers about Sutter's Fort, and there awaited orders. On the afternoon of the 23d. Harrison Pierce, who had settled in the Napa valley in 1843, came into their camp, having ridden the eighty miles with but one change of horses, which he procured from John R. Wolfskill, on Putah creek, now Solano county, and conveyed to Fremont the intelligence that the little garrison at Sonoma was greatly excited, consequent on news received that General Castro, with a considerable force, was advancing on the town and hurling threats of recap- ture and hanging of the rebels. On receiving the promise of Fremont to come to their rescue as soon as he could put ninety men into the saddle,. Pierce obtained a fresh mount, and returned without drawing rein to the anxious garrison, who received him and his message with every demonstration of joy. Fremont having found horses for his ninety mounted rifles left the Sinclair rancho on June 23d-a curious looking cavalcade, truly. One of the party writes of them :-
"There were Americans, French, English, Swiss, Poles, Russians, Prussians, Chileans, Germans. Greeks, Austrians, Pawnees, native Indians, etc., all riding side by side and talking a polyglot lingual hash never exceeded in diversibility since the confusion 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 buck- skin 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 an 1 In lian fighting, accustomed to handle firearms, and full of energy and daring. It was a band of hardy adventurers, such as in an earlier age wrested
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this land from the feebler aborigines. With this band Fremont arrived at Sonoma at two o'clock on the morning of June 25, 1846, having made forced marches.
The reader may not have forgotten the capture and horrible butchery of Cowie and Fowler by the Padilla party. A few days thereafter, while William L. Todd (the artist of the Bear flag) was trying to catch a horse at a little distance from the barracks at Sonoma, he was captured by the same gang, and afterwards falling in with another man, he too was taken prisoner. The party several times signified their intention of slaying Todd, but he for- tunately knowing something of the Spanish tongue was enabled to make them understand that his death would seal General Vallejo's doom, which saved him. He and his companion in misfortune, with whom he had no opportun- ity to converse, but who appeared like an Englishman-a half fool and com- mon loafer-were conveyed to the Indian rancherie called Olompali, some eight miles from Petaluma.
For the purpose of liberating the prisoners and keeping the enemy in check, until the arrival of Captain Fremont, Lieutenant Ford mustered a squad, variously stated at from twenty to twenty-three men, among whom were Granville P. Swift, Samuel Kelsey, William Baldridge, and Frank Bedwell, and on June 23d, taking with them the two prisoners, Blas Angelina and Three-fingered Jack from Sonoma, marched for where it was thought the Cal- ifornians had established their headquarters. Here they learned from some Indians, under considerable military pressure, that the Californian troops had left three hours before. They now partook of a hasty meal, and with one of the Indians as guide, proceeded towards the Laguna de San Antonio, and that night halted within half a mile of the enemy's camp. At dawn they charged the place, took the only men they found there prisoners; their number was four, the remainder having left for San Rafael.
Four men were left here to guard their prisoners and horses, Ford, with four- teen others starting in pursuit of the enemy. Leaving the lagoon of San Anto- nio, 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 Californians had passed the night with their two prisoners, Todd and his companion, and were then within its walls enjoying themselves. Ford's men were as ignorant of their proximity. as the Californians were of theirs. However, when the advanced guard arrived in sight of the corral, and perceiving it to be full of horses, with a number of Indian vacqueros around it, they made a brilliant clash 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,
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who, perceiving the movement, retreated behind the grove of trees. From his position Ford counted them and found that there were eighty-five. Not- withstanding he had but fourteen in his ranks, nothing daunted, he dismounted his men, and taking advantage of the protection offered by the brush wood. 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 plaved 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 hav- ing 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 receiv- ing a small addition to his force, he was once more in the saddle and started for San Rafael, where it was said that Castro had joined de la Torre with two hundred and fifty men. At four o'clock in the afternoon they came in sight of the position thought to be occupied by the enemy. This they approached eau - tiously 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. Captain 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
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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 dlay a number of men from Oregon, who at once cast their lot with the " Bear Flag" party, 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 Sacramento 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 been most cru- elly 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 task-masters, the Indians throughout the country hailed the day when the hardy strangers from beyond the Sierra Nevada rose up in arms against the hijos de 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 deliver- ance 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 appearing in the distance. We now came to some extensive fields of wheat in full bear- ing, 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 eminence com- manding the approaches on all sides.
" We were met and welcomed by Captain Sutter and the officer in com- mand of the garrison; but the appearance of things indicated that our recep- tion 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 hunting shirts and gartered leggings; their long hair turbaned with colored handker- chiefs; their wild and almost savage looks and dauntless and independent bearing; the wagons filled with golden grain; the arid, yet fertile plains; the cabullados driven across it by wild, shouting Indians, enveloped in clouds of dust, and the dashing horsemen scouring the fields in every direction; all
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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 vig- ilance and preparation of defense, and not without reason, for Castro, then at the Pueblo de San Jose, 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 parellelogram, enclosed by adobe walls fifteen feet high and two thiek, 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 roof. 1 and divided into workshops, quarters, etc., and the usual offices are provided, and also a well of good water. Corrals for the cattle and horses of the garrison are conveniently placed where they can he 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 solitu les.
" I found during this visit that General Vallejo and his companions were rigorously guarded by the 'patriots, but I saw him and had some conversa- tion 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 revo- lutionists was a little ticklish and excited in them that distrust which in dan- gerous times is inseparable from low and ignorant minds. Indeed, they ear- ried their doubts so far as to threaten to shoot Sutter for being polite to his captives."
Fremont having with his men partaken of the early meal, on the morning of the 27th June returned to San Rafael, after being absent only twenty- four hours.
Castro, who had been for three days watching the movements of Fremont from the other side of the bay, sent three men, Don José Reyes Berryesa, (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. Gen- eral Castro, f. aring that he might, if caught, share the fate of his spies, left
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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, Massachusetts, who was lying at Saucelito with his bark, the "Moscow," remarks, says Mr. Lancey :-
"When Fremont 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 provisions 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 of the 'Portsmouth,' sloop-of-war, then lying at Yerba Buena, a cove (now San Francisco), inform- ing 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 existing he could not act in the matter.
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