USA > California > San Bernardino County > Ingersoll's century annals of San Bernadino County, 1769-1904 : prefaced with a brief history of the state of California : supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and portraits of many of its representative people > Part 6
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Micheltorena took the oath of office at Los Angeles, December 31, 1842. Speeches were made, salutes were fired and the city was illuminated for three nights. With his Falstaffian army, the governor remained at Los Angeles until mid-summer. The Angeleños had, for years, contended with the people of Monterey for the capital and had gone to war for it in Alvarado's time. Now that they had the coveted prize, they would gladly have parted with it, if, by so doing, they could have rid themselves of Micheltorena's thieving soldiers. The men were not altogether to blame. Their pay was long in arrears and they received but scant supplies of clothing or rations. It was a case of steal or starve-and they stole.
In August, Micheltorena and his cholo contingent reached Monterey. The Californians did not welcome the Mexican governor very heartily.
Micheltorena, while indolent and vacillating, was a man of considerable ability. He began his rule with the intention of improving conditions in California. One of his first attempts was to establish a public school system. Education had been sadly neglected, both under Spanish and Mexican dom- ination. Five hundred dollars was apportioned from the public funds for the maintenance of schools in each of the larger towns and arrangements were made for the opening of several schools for girls in the territory. Heretofore the public schools had been open-when they were open at all --- only to boys. He restored what was left of the mission estates to the padres and made an earnest effort to reconcile the sectional animosity that had long existed between the arribeños (uppers) of the north and the abejeños (lowers) of the south; but with all of his efforts to be just and better the condition of California, there was still an undercurrent of hostility to him. Part of this was due to the thieving of his convict soldiers ; but a more potent cause was the ambition of certain hijos del pais to rule the territory. They blamed the governor for retaining his cholos in the country, claiming that they were kept for the purpose of subjugating or terrorizing the natives.
The appointment of Micheltorena to fill both the civil and military of- fices was a bitter disappointment to Alvarado and Vallejo. They were
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not long in discovering that much as they hated each other-they hated the Mexican more. They buried the hatchet and combined with Castro to do what the trio had done before-drive the Mexican governor out of the coun- try. The depredations of the cholos had so imbittered the people that they were ready to join the standard of anyone who would head a revolution. On November 15, 1844, a meeting of the leaders of the dissatisfied was held at Alvarado's Rancho del Aliso; and a pronunciamiento against Micheltorena was issued.
Alvarado and Castro headed a body of revolutionists, numbering about thirty, who moved northward to San Jose, where they were largely reinforced. Micheltorena set out in pursuit of them. The two forces maneuvered some time without coming to battle. A treaty was finally effected between the belligerents. Micheltorena pledged his word of honor to send back to Mex- ico, within three months, his vicious soldiers and officers; while Alvarado and Castro, on their part, agreed to go into winter quarters at San Jose, with their troops, who were to constitute the military force of the territory after the departure of the convict soldiers. Micheltorena returned to Monterey, but the censure of his officers for the surrender caused him to break his word and secretly plot for the capture of the insurgents. He secured the aid of Captain John A. Sutter, a Swiss gentleman, who had an establishment at New Helvetia-now Sacramento. Sutter had a company of Indians drilled in military maneuvers and the use of arms. Beside his Indians, Sutter se- cured for Micheltorena the services of a number of foreigners, mostly Amer- icans. Alvarado and Castro learned of the perfidy of Micheltorena through the capture of one of his messengers with a letter to Sutter.
Not being prepared to sustain an attack from the combined forces of Micheltorena and Sutter, they hurriedly broke camp at San Jose and with a portion of their force marched to Los Angeles, where they arrived January 21, 1845. They endeavored to fire the southern heart against the governor, but the old animosity between the abajeños and the arribeños was as strong as ever and the southerners regarded with suspicion the friendly advances of their old enemies. The Pico brothers were finally won over and Pio Pico, who was primer-vocal of the "junta departmental," or assembly, called that body together to meet at Los Angeles. It met on January 28th and de- clared Micheltorena to be a traitor to the country who must be deposed.
Sutter with his force numbering about two hundred men, one hundred of whom were Indians and the rest foreigners-mostly Americans, joined Micheltorena at Salinas early in January. The combined forces-about four hundred-began a leisurely march to the south. The fear of a raid by Michel- torena's cholos and Sutter's Indians had stimulated recruiting in the south. Castro and Pico soon found themselves at the head of about four hundred men. A commission from Los Angeles met Micheltorena at Santa Barbara on February 7th with propositions for a settlement of the difficulty. The
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governor treated the commissioners with scant respect and offered but one condition-unconditional surrender of the rebels.
A week later the departmental assembly met at Los Angeles and passed resolutions deposing Micheltorena and appointing Pio Pico temporary gov- ernor. In the meantime, disgusted with Micheltorena's slow movements, about half of the foreigners in his army had deserted. February 7th, Michel- torena's army, moving down by way of Encinas, and Castro's forces ad- vancing from Los Angeles, met on the Cahuenga plains. Artillery firing began at long range and continued at long range all day. A horse, or, some say, a mule had its head shot off-this was the only blood shed. The for- eigners in the respective armies got together in a ravine during the fight and agreed to let the Mexicans and Californians settle their dispute in their own way.
Toward evening Micheltorena undertook to make a flank movement and marched his troops to the eastward, evidently intending to follow the river down to the city. Castro and Alvarado moved back through the Cahuenga Pass and again encountered the opposing force at the Verdugo rancho. A few cannon shots were fired when Micheltorena displayed a white flag in token of surrender. Terms of capitulation were drawn up by which Michel- torena and his convict army were to be sent back to Mexico. Pio Pico was recognized as temporary governor and Castro was made comandante gen- eral of the military force. As a sedative to his military pride, Micheltorena was granted permission to march his army to San Pedro with all the honor's of war, trumpets sounding, drums beating and colors flying, taking with them to San Pedro their three pieces of artillery, but the guns were to be given up at the embarcadero (port). The governor and his soldiers were sent in the Don Quixote to Monterey and there, joined by the garrison that had been stationed at the capital, all were sent to San Blas, Mexico. Captain Sutter was taken prisoner during the battle and was held under arrest for some time after the departure of Micheltorena. He was at length released and allowed to return, with his Indians, by way of Tejon Pass and the Tulares, to New Helvetia-a sadder and perhaps a wiser man for the ex- perience.
Pio Pico, by virtue of his position as senior vocal of the assembly became governor and Castro, in accordance with the treaty of Cahuenga, was com- andante general. Alvarado was made administrator of the custom house in Monterey. Thus the hijos del pais were once more a power and the factional fight between the "uppers" and the "lowers" was once more declared off.
Pico established his government at Los Angeles and that ciudad, ten years after the Mexican Congress had decreed it the capital, became the seat of government. Castro established his military headquarters at Mont- erey and Jose Antonio Carrillo, one of the leaders of the "lowers," was made comandante of the military in the south. Pico began his rule with a desire
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to benefit the territory. He might have succeeded had he been able to control the discordant factions.
As has been previously stated, Micheltorena restored, as far as possi- ble, the mission property to the padres. It was impossible for the mission- aries to establish the old order-even on a small scale. The few Indians re- maining at the missions were unmanageable. Through the neglect or in- competency of the administrators, debts had been incurred and creditors were importunate. The padres in charge were mostly old men, unable to cope with the difficulties that beset them on every side. Pico, with the con- currence of the junta, decided to make a change in the mission policy of his predecessor. In June, 1845, he issued a decree, warning the Indians at San Rafael, Soledad, San Miguel and Purisima to return to their respective mis- sions. Failing to do so, they were to be declared vagrants and punished as such. At Carmel, San Juan Bautista, San Juan Capistrano and Solano, where pueblos had been established, the church and the curate's home were to be reserved and the balance of the property sold at auction to pay the debts of the missions. The abandoned missions (the Indians not returning) of San Rafael, Solano, San Juan Bautista, San Miguel and Purisima and the mission pueblos before mentioned were sold in December, 1845, and ten of the missions were rented for a term of nine years. The proceeds of the sale were to be used for the benefit of the Indians and the support of the padres. In those rented, the Indians were at liberty to remain in the service of the lessees. A portion of the proceeds were to be used for the support of re- ligious services. The change brought no improvement in the condition of the neophytes. They sank still lower in degradation; while the missions, deprived of income and of power, ceased to exist.
Notwithstanding Pico's efforts to conciliate the discordant elements, it soon became evident that the old spirit of turbulence was still dominant. The first insurrectionary movement originated with Jose Antonio Carrillo, Pico's own brother-in-law. This was suppressed and Carrillo and Vareles, one of his auxiliaries, were shipped to Mexico for trial, but were released and returned to California. Castro ignored Pico in military affairs and soon a bit- ter quarrel was on between the gefe politico and the comandante general. For a number of years there had been a steady influx of foreigners-mostly Americans. Many of them had married into prominent families and had be- come by naturalization Mexican citizens. In 1841, the first train of immi- grants arrived in California overland. The immigration over the plains con- tinued to increase after this. The leading Californians saw that it was the manifest destiny of California to become a territory of the United States. Texas had been wrested from Mexico by the same foreign element that was now invading California. Early in 1846, Castro called a junta of his officers at Monterey. This council issued a pronunciamiento declaring hostil- ity to the United States and the members pledged themselves to defend the
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honor of the Mexican nation against the perfidious attacks of its rivals-the North Americans. In this council, Pico had been ignored and the hostile feeling between the political and military chiefs grew more bitter. Pico had been appointed constitutional governor by President Herrera and, April 18, 1846, in the presence of the territorial assembly and a large concourse of people gathered at Los Angeles, he took the oath of office.
Castro and his associates were soon to be given an opportunity to test their courage in the defense of . Mexican honor against the attacks of the perfidious North Americans. Captain John C. Fremont, who had previously led two expeditions through the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California, in January, 1846, arrived in California. His company numbered sixty-two men, scientists, guides and servants. These he left encamped in the Tulare country, east of the Coast Range, while he repaired to Monterey to secure some needed supplies and to acquaint the comandante general with the ob- ject of his expedition. As the expedition was scientific in its object and Fremont expressed his intention of proceeding to Oregon as soon as his men were rested and recruited, Castro made no objection to his remaining in California during the winter. But when, a few weeks later, the whole force of men marched into the Salinas valley, Castro ordered Fremont to leave the country at once. Instead of leaving, Fremont marched his men to Gabilan Peak (Hawk's Peak) about thirty miles from Monterey, where he raised the Stars and Stripes and proceeded to fortify his camp. Castro marshaled his force on the plains below out of range of Fremont's men. After holding the fort on Gabilan Peak two days, Fremont, on the night of March 9th, abandoned it and leisurely proceeded northward by way of the San Joaquin Valley to Sutter's Fort, and from there, after a short stop, to Lassen's Rancho on Deer Creek, where he remained until April 14th. He then resumed his march toward the Oregon line.
On May 5th, he was encamped near Klamath Lake, when Samuel Neal and William Sigler, two settlers of the Sacramento valley, rode into his camp and informed him that a United States officer, bearing dispatches, was endeavoring to overtake him. The officer had but a small escort and the Indians being hostile, he was in great danger. Fremont next morning took nine of his men and the two messengers and hurried to the relief of the officer. The parties met that evening and encamped on the bank of a creek. About midnight the Indians attacked the camp, killing three of Fremont's men and losing their chief. The dispatch bearer proved to be Lieutenant Archibald H. Gillespie, of the United States Navy. He had left Washington in November, 1845, with instructions from the government. He had crossed Mexico, disguised as a merchant and from San Blas had taken passage to Honolulu and from there reached Monterey, April 17th. He had then fol- lowed Fremont's trail until they met near the Oregon line.
Fremont, with his entire force, after punishing the Klamath Indians for
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their treachery, returned to Sutter's Fort, where Lieutenant Gillespie, who had gone ahead, met them with supplies procured from San Francisco through Captain Montgomery of the Portsmouth. The substance of the dispatches sent to Fremont from Secretary of State Buchanan was to prevent the occu- pation of California by any European power and in the event of war with Mexico to take possession of the country for the United States. It was well known that England had designs on California and it was partly to circum- vent these and partly to warn Fremont that war with Mexico was pending that the dispatches had been sent. The report that a large immigration was on its way to California from the United States was no doubt the cause of the hositility of the authorities to Fremont and to the recently arrived immi- grants. There were rumors that Castro was organizing a force to drive the settlers out of the country. Many of the Americans were in California with- out authority under the Mexican laws and a feeling of uncertainty pervaded the country.
Believing themselves in danger and regarding Fremont as their pro- tector, a number of the settlers repaired to Fremont's camp. The first aggressive act of the settlers was the capture of 250 horses that were being moved by Lieutenant de Arce and fourteen men, from the north side of the bay to Castro's camp at Santa Clara. A party of twelve Americans, under Ezekiel Merritt, captured the horses and made prisoners of the escort. The prisoners were brought into Fremont's camp and there released. Hostilities having been begun, it became necessary for the settlers to widen the breach so as to provoke retaliation on the part of the Californians rather than be punished for the seizure of government property without author- ity. The next move was to seize the military post and the principal men of Sonoma.
On the morning of June IIth, twenty men under command of Merritt. armed with pistols and rifles and mounted on fresh horses, set out from Fre- mont's camp on Bear Creek for Sonoma. On the way their number was recruited to thirty-two men. On the morning of the 14th, about daybreak. they surrounded the town and took Gen. M. G. Vallejo, Captain Salvador Vallejo, his brother, and Lieut. Col. Victor Prudon prisoners. There seems to have been no private soldiers at Sonoma-all officers. The military force that had formerly been stationed there to guard the northern frontier against the Indians had been disbanded or had dwindled away. The castillo, or fort, contained about a dozen rusty old cannon and two hundred and fifty muskets.
Gen. Vallejo and his officers as prisoners of war gave their word of honor not to take up arms against the revolutionists on a guarantee from their captain to respect the lives and property of the prisoners, their fam- ilies and the residents of the jurisdiction. The guarantee, signed by Merritt, Semple. Fallon and Kelsey, was given in writing. The prisoners, although they had given their parole, were taken to Sutter's Fort by a guard which
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included Merritt, Semple, Grigsby, Hargrove, Knight and five or six others. Twenty-four men remained at the fort. The leaders of the party having gone with the prisoners, W. B. Ide, who had come to the front on account of a speech he made advocating a movement to make the country independent, was chosen commander. 1622186
Ide immediately set about formulating a Declaration of Independence and Wm. Todd, one of his men, having procured a piece of manta, or coarse cotton cloth, about two yards long, set to work to fashion a flag for the new republic. Todd, assisted by some others, painted a star in the upper corner and in the center a figure supposed to represent a bear, but which the natives called a "cochina" (pig). Below these figures he painted in large letters, "California Republic." Along the lower edge of the flag was stitched a strip of red woolen cloth said to have been a part of a red woolen petticoat that had been brought across the plains. When completed the famous "Bear Flag" of California was run up on the flag staff where the Mexican colors had formerly floated. The cannon and muskets were loaded, guards posted, military discipline established and the California Republic duly inaugurated. On June 18th, the same day that Ide issued his proclamation. Thomas Cowie and George Fowler, two of Ide's men, volun- teered to go to Fitch's ranch to procure a keg of powder from Mose Carson. On the way they were captured by a band of Californians under Juan Padilla and brutally murdered. The news of this outrage reached Sonoma and later a report that Todd, who had been sent to Bodega with a message, had been captured. Captain W. L. Ford, with a force of twenty-three men, hastily set out from Sonoma to capture Padilla. At Olampali Rancho Captain Ford unexpectedly came upon the combined forces of Captain de la Torre and Padilla, numbering eighty-three men. The Americans fell back into a willow thicket. The Californians, supposing that they were retreating, charged upon them but were met by a volley of rifle balls that some reports say killed eight of the Californians. Todd, while the fight was going on, made his escape and joined Ford's men, who fell back to Sonoma.
Fremont, who had been encamped at the Buttes, having learned of Ide's attempt to establish a California Republic and that Castro would not attack them to rescue the prisoners, but was gathering a force to recapture Sonoma. broke up his camp and moved down to New Helvetia, where he put his prisoners in the fort under guard.
On June 23d, Fremont, leaving his prisoners at Sutter's Fort, hastened to Sonoma with a force of seventy-two mounted riflemen. He arrived June 25th. The force of Americans, including Fremont's men now numbered two hundred. The next day Fremont and Ford, with a force of 135 men, started out to hunt Captain de la Torre, who was in command of the Cali- fornians north of the bay. Torre, it is claimed, wrote letters stating that Castro was about to attack Sonoma with a large force. These were placed
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in the boots of three of his men who allowed themselves to be captured. The stratagem succeeded. Fremont and Ford hurried back to Sonoma, but the three Californians were shot without trial. Authorities differ as to the cap- ture of the letters on the three prisoners. If such letters were captured, they were not preserved, and it is more than probable that the prisoners, Berryessa and the two de Haro boys, were shot in retaliation for the murder of Cowie and Fowler. Whether from the captured letters, or from some other source, Fremont believed that Castro's force was north of the bay. Castro, however, had not left Santa Clara. Captain de la Torre, taking ad- vantage of the absence of his pursuers, crossed the bay at Saucelito and joined Castro. Fremont finding himself deceived, returned to the pursuit the next morning; but he was too late-the game had escaped and he marched back to Sonoma, where he arrived July 3d. The Fourth of July. was cele- brated with great eclat by the Bears. Wine, gunpowder, eloquence and a grand ball stirred up all the latent patriotism of the revolutionists. The California Republic reached the zenith of its power that day. The next day it collapsed. Ide was deposed by a vote of the Bears. Fremont was chosen to head the movement for Independence.
On the 7th of July, Commodore Sloat raised the Stars and Stripes at Monterey and took possession of the country in the name of the United States. He had arrived on the Savannah on the 2d from Mazatlan, where he had heard rumors of hostilities between the United States and Mexico, but not having learned of any formal declaration of war, he was undecided what course to pursue. Having heard of the Bear Flag movement and of Fre- mont's connection with it, he presumed that Fremont had later information from the United States and finally decided to take possession of the country.
Fremont, on July 6th, leaving Captain Grigsby with fifty men at Sonoma, started with the rest of his battalion, about 160 men, for Sacramento with the intention of inaking preparations to attack Castro. Captain Montgomery, of the Portsmouth, had raised the flag at San Francisco, Lieut. Revere arrived at Sonoma on the 9th ; the Bear flag was lowered and the Stars and Stripes unfurled. On the IIth the flag was raised over Sutter's Fort and the same day over Bodega. All Northern and Central California was now in pos- session of the Americans.
For months there had been ill feeling between Governor Pico and the comandante-general, Castro. Pico had made Los Angeles his capital, while Castro had established his headquarters at Monterey. Their quarrel was the old sectional jealousy of the "uppers" and the "lowers"-of the north and the south-and their respective sections supported them in their dispute. Castro was accused of plotting to overthrow the government. At the time Sloat raised the United States flag at Monterey, Pico, with an armed body, had reached Santa Barbara, intending to fight Castro, who was at Santa Clara when Sloat seized the country. With a part of his force, Castro re-
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treated southward and joined Pico. They patched up a truce and, uniting their forces, retreated to Los Angeles, where they began preparations to re- sist the "perfidious North Americans."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE AMERICAN ERA.
THE CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.
The American era of California history begins with the raising of the flag at Monterey on July 7, 1846. Within a week after that event all of the territory north of Monterey had been taken possession of without oppo- sition. Castro, with a part of his force had retreated to Los Angeles, and those remaining behind had disbanded and retired to their homes Fremont, as previously stated, had moved his battalion of about 160 men to a camp on the American river above Sutter's Fort. Here he was encamped when, on the IIth of July, a messenger bearing Sloat's proclamation and an American flag reached him. This flag was raised over the fort and saluted with twenty-one guns. Immediately after the receipt of the news that Sloat had taken possession of California, Fremont's battalion began its march to Monterey, where it arrived on the 19th. Fremont had an interview with Commodore Sloat which was not very satisfactory to either. Sloat was in- clined to blame Fremont for acting without sufficient authority in precipitat- ing hostilities and Fremont was disappointed because Sloat would not endorse his scheme of making a campaign against Castro.
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