USA > California > Los Angeles County > Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities prefaced with a brief history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County, 1542-1908 > Part 10
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Stockton resumed his march on the morning of the 9th, moving in a north- westerly direction across the plains. The Californians had posted themselves in Cañada de los Alisos (Canyon of Sycamores) near the main road. As the Amer- ican column appeared they opened fire with their artillery at long range, and
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continued it for several hours. Finally the Californians, concentrating all their efforts into one grand charge, dashed down upon the American column. A volley from the rifles of Stockton's men checked their advance, and turning, they fled in every direction, leaving a number of their horses dead upon the field. The " Battle of the Plains ", as Stockton calls it, was over. The loss on the American side was five wounded; on the other side one man was killed and an unknown number wounded. Stockton's force numbered about 600 men, but not all of them took part in the engagement. The Californians had about 300. The small loss on the American side was due to the inefficient weapons with which the Californians were armed and to the poor quality of their home-made gun powder. manufactured at San Gabriel. The small loss of the Californians was due to the long range at which most of the fighting was done and to the execrable marksmanship of Stockton's sailors and marines. After the battle, Stockton continued his march and crossed the river below the city, where he encamped on the right bank.
On the morning of the 10th, as he was about to resume his march, a flag of truce, borne by De Celis and Alvarado, Californians, and Wm. Workman, an Englishman, came into camp. The commissioners offered the peaceful surrender of the city on condition that the Americans should respect the rights of property and protect citizens. The terms were agreed to and Stockton's army marched into the city. The Americans met with no hostile demonstrations, but it was very evident that they were not welcome visitors. The better class of the native inhabitants closed their houses and took refuge with friendly foreigners or retired to ranches in the country ; the fellows of the lower class exhausted their vocabu- laries against the "gringoes." Flores, after the " Battle of La Mesa ", retreated up the Arroyo Seco to the San Pasqual ranch, where he established his camp. Stockton, not aware of the location of the enemy and fearful of an attack, deter- mined to fortify the town. On the tith, Lieut. Emory of Kearney's staff sketched the plan of a fort : on the 12th, the site was selected on what is now Fort Hill. and work was begun and continued on the 15th and 16th.
We left Fremont's battalion on its march down the coast from Monterey. The rains set in early and were heavy ; the roads were almost impassable and the men suffered from the inclemency of the weather and from lack of supplies. The horses nearly all died and part of the artillery had to be abandoned. On January 11th the battalion reached San Fernando valley, where Fremont received a note from Gen. Kearney informing him of defeat of the Californians and the capture of the city. The battalion advanced and occupied the mission buildings. Jesus Pico had been arrested near San Luis Obispo, having broken his parole. He was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be shot ; but Fremont pardoned him and he became in consequence a most devoted friend. He now volunteered to find the Californian army and induce them to surrender to Fremont. He found a part of the force encamped at Verdugo and urged Flores, who in response
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to a message had come from the main camp at San Pasqual, to capitulate to Fremont, claiming that better terms could be secured from the latter than from Stockton. A council was held and the Californians decided to appeal to Fremont, but Flores resolved to quit the country and started that same night for Sonora. Before leaving he transferred the command of the army to Gen. Andres Pico.
Gen. Pico, on assuming command, appointed Francisco Rico and Francisco de la Guerra to go with Jesus Pico and confer with Col. Fremont. Fremont appointed as commissioners to negotiate a treaty, Major P. B. Reading, Major W. H. Russell and Captain Louis McLane. On the return of Rico and de la Guerra to the California camp, Gen. Pico appointed as commissioners José Anto- nio Carrillo and Augustin Olvera and then moved his army to a point near the river at Cahnenga. On the 13th, Fre- mont moved his camp from San Fer- nando to Cahuenga. The commission- ers met in ·a deserted ranch house at that place and the treaty, or capitulation, of Cahuenga was drawn up and signed. The principal stipulations of the treaty were that the Californians should sur- render their arms and agree to conform to the laws of the United States. They were to be given the same privileges as citizens of the United States and were not to be required to take an oath of al- legiance until a treaty of peace was signed between the United States and Mexico. General Pico surrendered two pieces of artillery and a few muskets GEN. ANDRES PICO. and disbanded his men.
On January 14th, Fremont's battalion marched through the Cahuenga pass and entered Los Angeles, four days after its surrender to Stockton. Commodore Stockton approved the treaty, although it was not altogether satisfactory to him. and on the 16th he appointed Col. Fremont governor of the territory. Gen. Kearney claimed that under his instructions from the War Department, he should be recognized as governor. For some time there had been ill feeling between Stockton and Kearney. This precipitated a quarrel. Gen. Kearney and his dragoons left Los Angeles on the 18th for San Diego and on the 20th Commo- dore Stockton and his sailors and marines left the city for San Pedro, where they embarked on a man-of-war to rejoin their ships at San Diego. Stockton was shortly after this superseded in the command of the Pacific squadron by
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Commodore Shubrick. Col. Fremont was left in command at Los Angeles. Col. P. St. George Cooke arrived on January 27th, with his Mormon battalion, at San Luis Rey. This force consisted of five companies of Mormons who, after a long march by way of New Mexico and Arizona had reached California too late to assist in its conquest. From San Diego, Gen. Kearney sailed to San Francisco and from there went to Monterey, where he established his governor- ship. California now had a governor in the north and one in the south. Col. Cooke was appointed military commander of the south and brought his Mormon troops to Los Angeles. Fremont's battalion was mustered out and he was or- dered to report to Gen. Kearney at Monterey. He did so and passed out of office after a nominal service of two months. Gen. Kearney turned over the command of the troops in California to Col. R. B. Mason, who became military governor of the territory.
The First New York Infantry had been recruited in Eastern New York in the summer of 1846 for the double purpose of conquest and colonization. It came to the coast well supplied with provisions and with implements of hus- bandry. On its arrival November 6th, 1847, the regiment was divided up and sent to different places on guard duty. Two companies, A. and B., under Lieut .- Col. Burton, were sent to Lower California, where they saw some hard service and took part in several engagements. Col. Cooke resigned his position as com- mandant of the south and Col. J. D. Stevenson of the New York Volunteers was assigned to the command. The Mormon battalion was mustered out in July and Companies E. and G. of the New York Volunteers and a company of United States dragoons did guard duty at Los Angeles. Another military or- ganization that reached California after the conquest was Company F of the Third United States Artillery. It landed at Monterey, January 27th, 1847, under com- mand of Captain C. Q. Thompkins. With it came Lieut. E. G. C. Ord, William T. Sherman and H. W. Halleck, all of whom were prominent afterward in Cali- fornia and attained national reputation during the civil war.
During 1847-48 until the treaty of peace between the United States and Mexico was proclaimed, garrisons were kept in all of the principal towns and the government of the territory was quasi-military. Attempts were made to estab- lish municipal governments in the towns, which were successful in the north ; but in Los Angeles there was some clashing between Col. Stevenson and the " hijos del pais." There were rumors of uprisings and of Mexican troops on the way to recapture the place. Col. Stevenson completed the fort on the hill, begun by Lieut. Emory, and named it Fort Moore. There were no hostile acts by the citizens and the asperities of war were soon forgotten, as the natives became reconciled to the situation.
The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was concluded on February 2nd, 1848. It was ratified at Washington March Ioth ; at Querataro May 30th, and was pro- claimed by the President of the United States July 4th. The news reached Cali-
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fornia August 6th and was proclaimed next day by Gov. Mason. The war was over and California had now become a territory of the United States. Gov. Pio Pico returned to California from Mexico in August, 1847. Col. Stevenson, fearing that he might incite rebellion, placed him under arrest, but he was soon convinced that Pico's intentions were harmless and gave him his liberty.
A large overland immigration from the United States arrived in California in 1846 and 1847. The Donner party, made up principally of immigrants from Illinois, were caught in the snows of the Sierra Nevada in October, 1848, and wintered at a lake since known as Donner's Lake. Of the original party, num- bering eighty-seven, thirty-nine perished of starvation and exposure ; the remain- der were brought to Sutter's Fort by rescuing parties sent out from California.
CHAPTER IX.
TRANSITION FROM A CONQUERED TERRITORY TO A FREE STATE.
W HILE the treaty negotiations were pending between the United States and Mexico, an event occurred in California that ultimately changed the destinies of the territory. This was the discovery of gold, January 24th, 1848, at what is now known as Coloma, on the American river, in the foot- hills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about thirty-five miles above Sutter's Fort. Gold had previously been discovered on the San Francisquito Rancho, about forty- five miles northwesterly from Los Angeles, in the spring of 1841. Placers had been worked here, principally by Sonoran miners, up to the breaking out of the Mexican war. But the gold fields were of limited extent, water was scarce, the methods of mining crude and wasteful and this discovery created little ex- citement. Both discoveries were purely accidental. The first discoverer, Lopez, was hunting for stray horses. While resting under an oak tree and amusing himself by digging wild onions with his sheath knife, he turned up a nugget of gold. He made known his discovery and a number of persons came from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles to work in these placers. John W. Marshall, who made the second discovery, was engaged in building a sawmill for Captain Sutter, proprietor of Sutter's Fort and owner of an extensive grant at the junction of the American and Sacramento rivers. Marshall, to deepen the race, turned a head of water through it. The next morning while examining the effect of the water, he picked up in the race a round piece of yellow metal, which he thought might be gold. Searching further he found several of these nuggets. He went to the fort to notify Sutter of his discovery. Sutter tested the metal with aqua fortis, pronounced it gold, and returned with Marshall to the mill to
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make further investigations. The men working on the mill had discovered the nature of the metal and had also been collecting it. Sutter found several nuggets and before leaving the mill exacted a promise from the men to keep the discovery a secret for six weeks. Beside the sawmill he was building a large flouring mill near the fort and he feared all of his men would desert for the mines. But the secret could not be kept. Mrs. Wimmer, who did the cooking for the men at the mill, told a teamster and he told the men at the fort. The news spread slowly at first and there were many who would not believe the report. It was three months before the rush began. Kemble, the editor of the California Star, visited the mines two months after their discovery and upon his return to San Francisco pronounced them a sham and advised people to stay away. During April con- siderable quantities of gold were received in San Francisco and the excitement became intense. The city had been building up rapidly since the conquest ; but now the rush to the mines almost depopulated it. Houses were left tenantless, business was suspended, ships were left in the bay without sailors, soldiers de- serted from the forts and rancheros left their grain unharvested.
The news did not spread abroad in time to bring many gold-seekers into California during 1848. In the spring of 1849, the great rush from the outside world began-both by land and by sea. Gold had now been discovered over an area of more than two hundred miles and new fields were constantly being opened. San Francisco, which was the great entrepot for commerce and travel by sea, grew with astonishing rapidity. At the time of the discovery of gold the population of San Francisco was about 800 and the white population of California about 6000. At the close of 1849 the population of the territory numbered one hundred thousand, four-fifths of which had reached it in that one year. During 1848 Sutter's Fort was the great distributing point for the mines. Sacramento was laid out in 1849 and soon became the chief commercial city of the interior. At the end of the year its population had reached 5000.
California, in 1848, was still held as a conquered country. The Mexican laws were in force and the government was half civil and half military. The rapid influx of population brought complications. After the treaty was pro- claimed in California, August 7th, 1848, Cov. Mason promulgated a code of laws that were intended to tide over affairs until a territorial government could be established by Congress. It was not satisfactory to Americans. Gov. Mason was a faithful and conscientious military officer with but little knowledge of civil affairs. He did the best he could under the circumstances, but he was able to exercise very little authority, either civil or military. His soldiers deserted to the gold fields and the municipal governments were anomalous affairs, generally recognizing no authority above themselves. Having been in the military service for thirty years, he asked to be relieved. April 12th, 1849, Brigadier-General Bennett K. Riley arrived at Monterey and the next day entered upon the duties of his office as governor. Brig .- Gen. Persifer F. Smith was made military com-
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mander of the United States troops on the Pacific coast. Most of the troops he brought with him deserted at the first opportunity after their arrival
A year had passed since the treaty of peace was signed, but Congress had done nothing for California. The pro-slavery element in that body was deter- mined to fasten the curse of slavery on a portion of the territory acquired from Mexico and all legislation was at a standstill. The people were becoming restive under the mixed military and civil government. The question of calling a con- vention to form a state constitution had been agitated for some time. Conform- ing to the expressed wish of many leading men of the territory, Governor Riley called an election August Ist, 1849, to elect delegates to form a state constitution, or a territorial government, if that should seen best, and to elect judges, prefects and alcaldes for the principal municipal districts. The convention was to consist of thirty-seven delegates, but forty-eight were elected, and when it met at Monterey, September Ist. 1849, in Colton Hall, this number was seated. Colton Hall was a stone building erected by Al- calde Walter Colton for a town hall and school- house. The money to build it was derived partly from fines and COLTON HALL, MONTEREY. partly from subscriptions and the greater part of the construction work was done by prisoners. It was at that time the most commodious public building in the territory.
Of the forty-eight delegates, twenty-two were from the northern states, fifteen from the slave states, four were of foreign birth and seven were native Californians. Several of the latter neither spoke nor understood English and Wm. E. P. Hartnell was appointed interpreter. Dr. Robert Semple of Bear Flag fame was elected president ; Wm. G. Marcy secretary, and J. Ross Browne re- porter. Early in the session the slavery question was disposed of by adopting a section declaring that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this state." The question of fixing the boundaries of the future state excited the most discussion. The pro-slavery faction was led by Wm. M. Gwin, who had recently come to the territory with the avowed intention of representing the new state in the United States senate. The scheme of Gwin and his southern associates was to make the Rocky mountains the eastern boundary. This would create a state with an
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area of about four hundred thousand square miles. They reasoned that when the admission of the state came before Congress the southern members would oppose the admission of so large a territory under a free state constitution and that ultimately a compromise would be affected. California would be split in two from east to west, the old dividing line, the parallel of 36° 30" would be established, and Southern California would come into the Union as a slave state. There were, at this time, fifteen free and fifteen slave states. If two states, one free and one slave, were made out of California territory, the equilibrium would be preserved. The Rocky mountain boundary was adopted at one time, but in the closing days of the session the free state men discovered Gwin's scheme and it was defeated. The present boundaries were established by a majority of two.
A committee had been appointed to receive propositions and designs for a state seal. But one design was received, presented by Caleb Lyon, but drawn by Robert S. Garnett. It contained a figure of Minerva; a grizzly bear feeding on a bunch of grapes ; a miner with his gold rocker and pan; a view of the Golden Gate with ships in the bay and peaks of the Sierra Nevada in the distance ; thirty- one stars and above all the word "Eureka." The convention adopted the design as presented. The constitution was completed on October 10th and an election was called by Gov. Riley for November 13th, to ratify the constitution, elect state officers, a legislature and members of Congress. At the election Peter H. Burnett was chosen governor ; John McDongall, lieutenant-governor : George W. Wright and Edward Gilbert, members of congress. During the session of the legislature, Wm. M. Gwin and John C. Fremont were elected to the United HON. WM. M. GWIN. States Senate.
San José had been designated as the state capital. On December 15th the state government was inaugurated there. The legislature consisted of sixteen senators and thirty-six assemblymen. On the 22nd the legislature elected the remaining state officers, viz .: Richard Roman, treasurer; John S. Houston, con- troller ; E. J. C. Kewen, attorney-general ; Charles J. Whiting, surveyor-general ; S. C. Hastings, chief justice ; Henry A. Lyons and Nathaniel Bennett, associate justices. The legislature continued in session until April 22nd, 1850. Although this law-making body was named the " Legislature of a thousand drinks ", it did a vast amount of work and did most of it well. It divided the state into twenty- seven counties and provided for county government. It also provided for the
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incorporation of cities and towns ; passed revenue and other necessary laws, both civil and criminal.
California was a self constituted state. It had organized a state government and put it into operation without the sanction of Congress. It had not been ad- mitted into the union and it actually enjoyed the privileges of statehood for nine months before it was admitted. When the question of admission came before congress it evoked a bitter controversy. The senate was equally divided-thirty members from slave states and thirty from the free states. There were among the southern senators some broad- minded men, but there were many extremists on the subject of slavery- men who would sacrifice their coun- try in order to extend and per- petuate that sum of all villainies- slavery. This faction resorted to every known parliamentary device to prevent the admission of Cali- fornia under a free state constitui- tion. On August 13th the bill for admission finally came to a vote; it passed the senate-thirty-four ayes to eighteen nays. Even then the opposition did not cease. Ten of the southern extremists joined in a protest against the action of the majority. In the house the bill passed by a vote of one hundred and HON. PETER H. BURNETT, First Constitutional Governor of California. fifty to fifty-six. It was approved and signed by President Fillmore September 9th, 1850. On the IIth of September the California senators and congressmen presented themselves to be sworn in. The southern faction of the senate, headed by Jefferson Davis, who had been one of the most bitter opponents to admission, objected. But their protest came too late.
The news of the admission of California as a state reached San Francisco on the morning of October 18th, by the mail steamer Oregon. Business was at once suspended, courts adjourned and the people went wild with delight. Mes- sengers mounted on fleet horses spread the news through the state. Everywhere there was rejoicing. For ten months the state government had been in full oper- ation ; its acts were now legalized and it continued in power without change or
6
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interruption under the officers elected in 1849 for two years. The first state election after admission was held in October. 1851. John Bigler was elected governor.
CELEBRATION OF ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA INTO THE UNION. CORNER OF CLAY AND KEARNEY STREETS, SAN FRANCISCO-1850.
CHAPTER X.
VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. GROWTH AND PROSPERITY.
T HE tales of the fabulous richness of the California gold fields were spread throughout the civilized world and drew to the state all classes and and conditions of meu -- the bad as well as the good. They came from Europe, from South America and from Mexico; from far Australia and T'as- mania came the ex-convict and the " ticket-of-leave " man ; and from Asia came the "Chinee." In 1851 the criminal element became so dominant as to seri- ously threaten the existence of the chief city of the state-San Francisco. Ter- rible conflagrations swept over the city that year and destroyed the greater part of the business portion. The fires were known to be of incendiary origin. The bold and defiant attitude of the lawless classes led to the organization of the better element into a tribunal known as the " Vigilance Committee," which disregarded the legally constituted authorities, who were either too weak or too corrupt to control the law-defying element and took the power in its own hands. It tried and executed, by hanging, four notorious criminals-Jenkins, Stuart, Whitaker and Mckenzie. Such vigorous measures adopted by the Committee
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soon purified the city from the worst class that preyed upon it. Several of the smaller towns and some of the mining camps also formed " vigilance commit- tees " and a number of the rascals who had fled from San Francisco met a deserved fate in these places.
During the early fifties the better elements in the population of San Fran- cisco were too much engrossed in the rushing business affairs of that period of excitement, to give time or thought to political affairs and consequently the government of the city gradually drifted into the hands of vicious and corrupt men. Many of the city authorities had obtained their offices by fraud and bal- lot stuffing and instead of protecting the community against scoundrels, they protected the scoundrels against the community. James King, an ex-banker and a man of great courage and persistence, started a small paper called the Daily Evening Bulletin. He vigorously assailed the criminal elements and the county and city officials. His denunciations at last aroused public sentiment. The murder of United States Marshal Richardson by a gambler named Cora further inflamed the public mind. It was feared that, by the connivance of the county officials, Cora would escape punishment. The trial resulted in a hung jury and there were strong suspicions that some of the jury had been bribed. King continued through the Bulletin to hurl his most bitter invectives against the corrupt officials. He published the fact that James Casey, a supervisor from the twelfth ward, was an ex-convict from Sing Sing prison. Casey waylaid King, May 14th, 1856, at the corner of Montgomery and Washington streets, and in a cowardly manner shot him down. Casey immediately surrendered himself to a deputy sheriff, Lafayette McByrne, who was near. King was not killed outright, but the physicians, after an examination, pronounced the case hopeless; Casey was confined in the city jail and as a mob began to gather there, he was taken to the county jail for greater safety. A crowd pursued him, cry- ing, "Hang him, kill him." At the jail the mob was stopped by an array of deputy sheriffs, police officers and a number of Casey's personal friends-all armed. The excitement spread throughout the city. The old Vigilance Com- mittee of 1851, or rather a new organization out of the remnants of the old one, was formed. Five thousand men were enrolled within a few days, arms were procured and headquarters secured on Sacramento street between Davis and Front. William T. Coleman, chairman of the old vigilantes, was made the pres- ident and Isaac Bluxon, Jr., was the secretary ; Chas. Doane was elected chief marshal of the military division.
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