USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The beginnings of San Francisco : from the expedition of Anza, 1774, to the city charter of April 15, 1850 : with biographical and other notes, Vol. I > Part 23
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are instructed to assure the Californians that the govern- ment of the United States stands ready to render them all the kind offices in its power, and that "if the people should desire to unite their destiny with ours, they would be received as brethren." We see therefore, that in addition to instructions relative to the machinations of foreign powers, the United States agents, civil and military, were instructed to cultivate friendly relations with the Californians and prepare them for a peaceful change of flag, if, indeed, California could not be induced to apply for admission as "one of the free and independent states of this union. "*
On the 30th of May Frémont was again encamped at the Buttes where, as he says in his Memoirs, his camp became the rendezvous for the settlers and whence he sent out agents to stir up the restless and the roving among them and incite them to violence by stories of what the blood-thirsty Spaniards were going to do to them. William B. Ide, who arrived in California in October 1845, and was living on Belden's rancho, Barranca Colorado (Red Bluff), says that a letter, without signature, was delivered to him by an Indian in which was stated that two hundred and fifty Spaniards were coming up the valley, destroying crops, burning houses, and driving off cattle. "Captain Frémont invites every freeman in the valley to come into his camp at the Buttes immediately and he hopes to stay the enemy and put a stop to his operations." Ide received this letter June 8th and hastened to the camp. To him Frémont un- folded his plan, which was: to select a dozen men who had nothing to lose and everything to gain and encourage them to commit depredations upon the Californians,
* 29th Cong. 2d. Ses. House. Ex. Doc. 19. 3Ist Cong. Ist Ses. House Ex. Doc. 17.
Buchanan's Instructions MS. Bancroft Coll.
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run off their stock and take their horses; then make prisoners of some of their principal men and provoke Castro to strike the first blow and bring on hostilities, when the United States government would have to inter- fere. Meanwhile, the men who committed the outrages would be provided with fleet horses and make their escape into the territory of the United States. Ide says that he would not consent to commit depredations against Castro and then run away and was quite indignant against Frémont for making such a suggestion .* Frémont argued with him and showed how badly the foreigners had been treated by the Californians and said they should retaliate. At the moment this conference was taking place, a party sent out by Frémont was actually engaged in a raid upon the Californians. Lieutenant Arce with a party of eight men was conducting a band of one hundred and seventy horses from Sonoma to Santa Clara, for the use of the government; information of this had been brought to Frémont's camp, and a party of twelve or fourteen men under Ezekiel Merritt was sent to cut them off. Merritt, Frémont says in his Memoirs, was his field lieutenant among the settlers.t John Bidwell says the party was made up of roving hunters and trappers. Merritt and his men came upon Arce at Martin Murphy's rancho on the Cosumnes, and captured the Californians, no resistance being made. The prisoners were released and sent back to Castro with the message that if he
* Ide: Biographical Sketch, 107-119.
t John Bidwell says of Merritt: "He could neither read nor write. He was an old mountaineer and trapper; lived with an Indian squaw and went clad in buckskin. * * He chewed tobacco to a disgusting excess and stam- mered badly. He boasted of his prowess in killing Indians and the handle of the tomahawk he carried had nearly a hundred notches to record the number of his Indian scalps. He drank deeply whenever he could get liquor. Cent. Mag. xix. 523.
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wanted his horses he could come and take them, and that they proposed to take Sonoma and continue the war. The horses were driven to Frémont's camp which had been removed to Bear river, and which the marauders reached June IIth. Merritt's force was increased to twenty men and they left Frémont's camp on the afternoon of the same day and crossed the hills into Napa Valley that night. They remained in Napa valley two days during which time their number was increased to thirty-two or thirty-three men. At dawn of June 14th they presented themselves at the house of General Vallejo at Sonoma, calling upon him to surrender. Hastily dressing himself Vallejo opened the door and inquired the object of this unceremonious visit. He was informed he was a prisoner and must surrender the frontier post and government property in his hands. Vallejo courteously invited them to enter and draw up articles of capitulation. Merritt and Semple entered, with William Knight as interpreter, and when Vallejo inquired by whose authority this was done, he was informed that they were acting under Frémont's orders. Relieved to find a United States officer in command of the war Vallejo set refreshments before the men while the terms of surrender were being discussed. Lieutenant-colonel Prudon and Captain Salvador Vallejo came over to the general's house and were arrested, and Jacob P. Leese was brought in to act as interpreter. The men outside, weary of waiting, elected John Grigsby captain and sent him in to see what was doing. Grigsby took a hand in the negotiations-and the drink, and after waiting a long time the men sent in Ide to investigate the cause of delay. Under the influence of the general's hospitality very favorable articles were drawn up and signed, guaranteeing the lives, property, and religion of the prisoners and others of that jurisdiction, so long as they made no opposition. Ide took the document
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out and read it to the men who, it appears, had also succeeded in getting something to drink. Some of the men were inclined to be insubordinate and it was decided by them to send the Californians prisoners to Sutters' fort, instead of taking their parole and releasing them.
Among the gallant band who thus disturbed the seren- ity of the peaceful little town was Doctor Robert Semple, a native of Kentucky, printer and dentist by trade, who reached California with a belated party on December 25, 1845, and had therefore been in the territory not quite six months. Dr. Semple, an honest, kindly man, ambitious to do great things, a ready speaker, with perfect confidence in himself and without the slightest sense of humor, has left for us in winged words the lofty story of the Sonoma revolution; for he became the historian of the Bear Flag war. "The world has not hitherto manifested so high a degree of civilization," he says, "for the party did no wrong, its watchword being 'equal rights and equal laws.' One single man, who in the innocence of his heart made a natural interpretation of the watchword, cried out, 'Let us make a fair and equal division of the spoils,' but one universal, dark, and indignant frown made him sink from the presence of honest men, and from that time forward no man dared to hint anything like violating the sanctity of a private house, or touching private property." Supplies for the troops were "borrowed" on the faith and credit of the Bear Flag government, but there is no doubt that the efforts of Semple, Grigsby, and a few others, prevented indiscriminate plunder. "Their children, in generations yet to come will look back with pleasure upon the com- mencement of a revolution carried on by their fathers upon principles high and holy as the laws of eternal
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justice."* Returning to his home from two month's imprisonment, General Vallejo found the filibusters and their successors had taken from his rancho all his live stock, all his crops, and many other things of value. He had lost one thousand head of cattle and over six hundred tame horses. The "dark, indignant frown" was evidently out of working order.
Before the prisoners set out for Sacramento, a meeting was held by the revolutionists to decide upon a plan of operation. The question asked by Vallejo: by whose authority had he been arrested, had caused some inquiry among the men. It was understood that the movement was by Frémont's order, but the fact was no one could produce the order. Confusion reigned. Grigsby, who had been elected captain, vice Merritt, deposed, ex- claimed: "Gentlemen, I have been deceived; I cannot go with you; I resign and back out of the scrape." One said he would not stay to guard the prisoners; another swore that they would all have their throats cut; another called for fresh horses; all were on the move, each man for himself. The crisis had come, and with it the man. With that quick insight which is an attribute of genius, William B. Ide realized the peril of the moment. In
trumpet tones he called to the receding men: "We need no horses; saddle no horse for me; I can go to the Spaniards and make freemen of them. I will lay my bones here before I will take upon myself the ignominy of commencing an honorable work and then flee like cowards, like thieves, when no enemy is in sight. In vain will you say you had honorable motives. Who will believe it? Flee this day, and the longest life cannot wear out your disgrace! Choose ye this day what you
* Bryant: What I Saw in California, 290. Dr. Semple with Walter Cotton started the Californian, the first paper published in California. He was also president of the constitutional convention.
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will be," he cried with impassioned eloquence. "We are robbers, or we must be conquerors." The day was won. With renewed hope the men gathered about him and made him commander-in-chief .*
A guard of ten or twelve men took the prisoners to Sacramento, the order being given to the guard to "shoot the damned greasers if they attempt to escape," an order in shocking contrast to the lofty spirit and aim of these patriots of six months' residence. Arriving at the American river whither Frémont had removed his camp the captives were brought to him, but he declined to receive them saying that he was not responsible for what had been done. They were, therefore, taken to Sutter's fort and locked in a room containing no furniture except some rude benches, without blankets, and with neither food nor water until eleven o'clock the next day, when an Indian was sent in with a pot of soup and meat which they might eat as best they could without spoons or dishes. Frémont also ordered the arrest of Leese as a "bad man," which made Leese very angry, and he was locked up with the rest.
Considering Vallejo's rank, his character, and his known friendly attitude towards the United States, his arrest and confinement in prison was a great outrage. He had, time and again, shown favor to American im- migrants notwithstanding the strict orders of the supreme government, and probably some of these very men who had captured him had received his help during the proceeding winter.t To be treated like a convict, kept in close confinement, allowed no communication with friends or family, and insulted by coarse, vulgar fellows,
* Ide: Biographical Sketch.
t The Grigsby-Ide party, members of which formed one half of the Bear Flag party, arrived in California on October 25, 1845, and most of them wintered in Sacramento and Sonoma.
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was very hard for the general and his health broke under it. Sutter endeavored to show the prisoners some kind- ness until warned that he would be himself arrested .*
Thus did the young officer set about the execution of his orders. It would seem to be a peculiar way to cultivate "the most friendly relations" with the people of California and to "make them feel that we come as deliverers," by stealing their horses, insulting their magistrates, and imprisoning their chief citizens. We have seen that, instead of obeying the instructions he received through Gillespie, from the moment he pitched his camp at the Buttes after his return from the Oregon border, he began to stir up the "settlers." He tells us so himself.t Rumors of an impending attack from Castro, of rising of Indians, and the proposed burning of the wheat fields of the settlers were spread through the valley.
Let us see what authority there was for these rumors. John Bidwell, a man of standing, then and since, who was at the time Captain Sutter's business man at the fort, says: "There were not at that time over twenty- one persons who had located ranchos and were living on them or had others occupying the same for them. There were, however, a good many without homes or any intentions of making homes, staying, some at the places occupied by others and some, and by far the greater part, camped about the Sacramento valley hunting. This floating population would probably number three times as many as those permanently settled.
"The Americans in the Sacramento valley had no fear whatever about Castro coming to attack them; on the contrary they were able, as they knew, to cope with any force he could bring against them.
* Leese says in his Bear Flag Revolt, p. 16, that Frémont threatened to hang Sutter.
t Memoirs, p. 509.
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"This floating population had all to gain and nothing to lose. They wanted a war. I doubt whether any permanent settlers went to Frémont's camp. Frémont sent men-not of his own expedition-to capture the horses (of Arce). Captain Sutter denounced the act as an outrage. * * The reason given for the (Bear Flag) movement was news to me, and I think to most others."*
He says, that there were no permanent settlers in the party; that the war was not begun in defense of American settlers, that Frémont began the war; that to him belongs all the credit; and upon him rests all the responsibility.t
While at the Buttes, on May 30th, Frémont sent Lieutenant Gillespie to Captain Montgomery, command- ing the Portsmouth, for supplies to enable him to proceed homeward, which he announced to be his immediate intention, by way of the Rio Colorado. Gillespie reached Yerba Buena June 7th and Montgomery immediately honored the requisition. Gillespie made no mention of Frémont's filibustering operations and a friend, whom he met in Yerba Buena, put in his hand a letter written to some person in the east to be taken "by the gallant Captain Frémont who is now encamped in the Sacramento and about to proceed directly to the United States." Frémont also wrote to Larkin June Ist enclosing a letter to Benton, and to both he announced his intention of starting at once for the States. The Portsmouth's launch was loaded with the supplies to enable the survey- ing party to return home and reached Sutter's fort June 12th. By the returning boat Frémont wrote Mont- gomery (in part) as follows:
"New Helvetia, June 16, 1846.
"This evening I was interrupted in a note to yourself
* California in 1841-8 MS. 159-168. Ban. Coll. There is plenty of other testimony to the same effect.
t John Bidwell to Rev. Dr. Willey: Digest in Royce's California, 99-102.
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by the arrival of General Vallejo and other officers who had been taken prisoners and insisted upon surrendering to me. The people and authorities of the country persist in connecting with me every movement of the foreigners and I am hourly in expectation of the approach of General Castro.
* * * "The nature of my instructions and the peaceful nature of my operations do not contemplate any active hostility on my part, even in the event of war between the two countries; and therefore, although I am resolved to take such active and precautionary measures as I shall judge necessary, I am not authorized to ask from you any other than such assistance as, without incurring yourself unusual responsibility, you would feel at liberty to afford me."*
In a letter to Benton dated July 25, 1846, Frémont details the events following the meeting with Gillespie at Klamath lake and says that on June 6th he decided on the course he would pursue, "and immediately con- certed my operations with the foreigners inhabiting the Sacramento valley." He gives Benton an account of the capture of Arce's horses, the surprise and capture on June 15th, of the military fort of Sonoma, with nine brass pieces of artillery; two hundred and fifty stands of muskets; other arms and a quantity of ammunition; also General Vallejo and other prisoners, who were placed at New Helvetia, "a fortified post under my command." Having accomplished this he proceeded to the American settlements on the Sacramento and the Rio de los Ameri- canos to obtain reinforcements of men and rifles. He says that the information carried by Gillespie to Captain Montgomery of the Portsmouth concerning his position caused Montgomery to dispatch his launch to Frémont with aid. "I immediately wrote to him," says Frémont, "by return of the boat, describing to him fully my position and intentions, in order that he might not, by supposing me to be acting under orders from our government, unwittingly commit himself to affording me other than
* Century Magazine. xix. 780.
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such assistance as his instructions would authorize him naturally to offer an officer charged with an important public duty."*
We have seen this letter and have read how fully Fre- mont described to the naval officer his position and intentions.
Meanwhile Castro had written Captain Montgomery, under date of June 17th, demanding an explanation of Frémont's conduct. To this letter Montgomery replied on the eighteenth, in a tone of absolute sincerity, that Captain Frémont's mission was solely scientific in its aims and that it was in no manner whatever, either by the authority of the United States or otherwise, connected with the political movements of the residents of the country at Sonoma.
Captain Montgomery's awakening came later. In his diaryt he writes on June 28th of the second visit of Lieutenant Gillespie who gave him the news that Frémont had openly joined the Bears and was at that moment in pursuit of Joaquin de la Torre in the San Rafael region. It appears that after the re-organization of the Bears and the election of Ide as commander-in-chief, that officer had sent an emissary to the naval commander to inform him of the breaking out of the war, and inci- dentally, to obtain a supply of powder. Captain Mont- gomery informed the agent of the Bear Flag republic that his position as a naval officer in a foreign port pre- vented his taking any part in internal disorders, and he would therefore have to refuse the request for powder. "The course of Captain Frémont," says Montgomery in
* Niles National Register, Nov. 21, 1846, 191. This letter, emphasized by Benton in most vigorous language, was sent to the president and by him repeated in public documents thus becoming the authorized version of historic events preceeding the conquest.
t Century Magazine. xix. 780.
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his diary, "renders my position as a neutral particularly delicate and difficult. Having avowed not only my own but Captain Frémont's entire neutrality and non-inter- ference in the existing difficulties in the country, it can scarcely be supposed, under the circumstances, that I shall be regarded as having spoken in good faith and sincerity."
After comparing Frémont's letter to Montgomery with that to Benton, what respect is it possible to retain for the veracity of the young hero? Not only in his letter to Benton does he assume the entire direction of the Bear Flag rising, but in his Memoirs he again states that everything was done by his orders.
After the election of Ide as commander-in-chief ("gov- ernor," he claimed) of the California republic, a flag was constructed of a piece of unbleached cotton cloth to the bottom of which was sewn a strip of red flannel. In the upper left hand corner of the white field was drawn a five pointed star, outlined in ink and filled in with red paint. To the right of the star and facing it was drawn in like manner what was intended for a grizzly bear, statant. Under the emblems was the legend, California Republic, in black ink. Next, it occurred to the comman- der-in-chief, a proclamation would be in order, that the world might know their true character and the circum- stances which had compelled them to assume such an unusual position. Ide therefore shut himself up and by morning had his proclamation ready to read to his com- panions. In it the commander-in-chief assures all persons in California, not found under arms, protection to life, property, and religion. He declares that his purpose is to defend himself and his brave companions who had been invited to the country by promise of lands, by prom- ise of a republican government, and who, having arrived in California, were denied even the privilege of buying
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or renting lands, and instead of being allowed to partici- pate in or being protected by a republican government, were oppressed by a military despotism and were even threatened by proclamation with extermination if they would not depart out of the country, leaving their prop- erty, their arms, and their beasts of burden; and thus deprived of the means of flight or defence, they were to be driven through deserts inhabited by hostile savages to certain death. He declares their purpose to overthrow the government which has despoiled the missions and shamefully oppressed the people of California-and much more. The proclamation with its false and absurd statements having been read to the assembled "troops," Ide sent a messenger to notify Montgomery of the change in the government and then set about reorganizing the army, arranging for the payment of the public debt, the establishment of a land office, a survey of the public domain, and regulations concerning the tariff. The charge so frequently made by the American immigrants that they were invited to California by a promise of lands on which to settle is ridiculous. Their very en- trance into California was in violation of law and so disturbed had the supreme government at Mexico become over the American immigration, that strict orders had been sent to the governor and comandante- general to prevent their coming into the department. But as the arrival of the overland immigrants was usually late in the fall neither Castro nor Vallejo could do such violence to their sentiments of hospitality and humanity as to force the immigrants, in their weakened condition with their wives and little children, to re-cross the sierra in winter to almost certain death. The officials con- tented themselves with taking bonds for good behavior and promises to depart in the spring, should citizenship and license to remain be denied. These bonds were
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signed by those who had come earlier and had become Mexican citizens and owners of ranchos. George Yount of Napa valley was very good to the immigrants and would sign bonds for them by the score. A number of the immigrants, chiefly hunters and trappers, did not come into the settlements, gave no bonds, and made no prom- ises. The charge that the government had despoiled the missions was not true, but even if it had been so, it was no affair of the immigrants.
In the reorganization of the army Henry L. Ford was made first lieutenant; Granville P. Swift and Samuel Gibson, sergeants; the first two were immigrants of 1844, while Gibson came in 1845.
On the 19th of June two men, named Cowie and Fowler, who had been sent by Lieutenant Ford to a rancho on the Russian river to obtain powder, were captured by a small, roving band of Californians under Juan Padilla, and put to death. The killing was done after the men had surrendered and by a well known desperado in the band named Garcia, called by Americans "Four-Fingered Jack." The testimony concerning the murder is con- flicting, but it is said that the men were tortured. Two other men were captured by this same band: W. L. Todd, and an Englishman. When the men sent by Ford did not return, he sent on the twentieth Sergeant Gibson with four men to the rancho. They obtained the powder but heard nothing of the two men. On the return Gibson was attacked by a small party of Californians which he beat off, wounding one and capturing one who was taken a prisoner to Sonoma. From the captive was learned the fact of the murder and of the two prisoners remaining in the hands of the Californians. On the twenty-third Ide sent Lieutenant Ford with seventeen or eighteen men to rescue the prisoners; and under guidance of Gibson's captive they came upon the Cali-
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fornians at the Olompali rancho, on San Antonio creek a little below Petaluma, on the morning of the twenty- fourth. Padilla's band had, without Ford's knowledge, been joined by a larger force under Joaquin de la Torre.
On learning of the outrage at Sonoma, Castro issued on June 17th, from his headquarters at Santa Clara, a proclamation calling upon the citizens to rise and protect the country from invasion, and had, with some difficulty, increased his army to about one hundred and sixty men. Dividing his force into three divisions he sent one under Joaquin de la Torre against the Bears at Sonoma. With fifty or sixty men De la Torre crossed from San Pablo to San Quintin on the evening of June 23d and proceeded to San Rafael. Leaving a few men at the mission he started northward and effecting a junction with Padilla encamped, early on the morning of the twenty-fourth, at Olompali. The Californians were at breakfast when the Americans came upon them. Seeing a larger force than he expected to meet Ford ordered his men to dis- mount and take cover behind the trees. The Californians charged and were received by a discharge of Bears' rifles and retired with the loss of one man killed and several wounded. The Bears released the prisoners, secured some horses from the corral, and returned to Sonoma. This was the first battle of the war.
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