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the remainder, and after a short encounter, defeated the enemy. The condition of San Diego was miserable in the extreme, and neither horses nor cattle could be obtained in the neighborhood. The enemy were in great force at San Bernardo, thirty miles distant, from whence detachments repeatedly visited San Diego, keeping up for many days their desultory attacks. A party of Americans were despatched down the coast in pursuit of cattle, a supply of which they fortunately met and drove into camp.

Immediately after landing at San Diego, Stockton commenced energetic preparations for a march on Los Angeles. His men were daily disciplined according to the tactics adopted, and whatever time could be spared was employed in building a fort, and making saddles, shoes, and other equipments. Information was received from Fremont that he could not procure horses at Santa Barbara, and that he had gone to Monterey for that purpose. Capt. Gibson had obtained a few horses, but they were poor and worn down with severe marches, requiring rest before they could be fit for service. Capt. Hensley, however, who had been sent on an expedition to the south, after much arduous service, returned with five hundred head of cattle and one hundred and forty horses. While preparations were progressing for the march on Los Angeles, a messenger arrived about the 3d of December, with a letter from General Kearny, apprising Com. Stockton of his approach, and expressing a desire to open a communication, but without disclosing his actual situation. On the same evening, Captain Gillespie was despatched with a force of thirty-five men to meet Kearny. On the 6th of December, another messenger arrived, bringing information of the defeat and perilous situation of General Kearny at San Pasqual. On his way from New Mexico, with a considerable force, while a few days from Santa Fé, Kearny met Carson, the courier sent by Com. Stockton, with despatches to the Government, giving information of the conquest of California, and the establishment there of a civil government. Considering, therefore, the work of subjugation of that territory completed, Kearny turned back the greater part of his troops, and proceeded on his way toward California, taking Carson as his guide. At, or near San Pasqual, he was intercepted by the Californians, and defeated, with the loss of eighteen

men killed and as many wounded, and one of his two howitzers. He took refuge on a rocky eminence, closely invested by the enemy. All his ammunition and nearly all his provisions were exhausted. Under cover of night he despatched couriers, who with much difficulty eluded the vigilance of the foe and reached San Diego. On learning these facts, Stockton was about to proceed in person with all his force to the relief of Kearny; but subsequent messengers brought intelligence that the strength of the enemy was much less than had been represented. He therefore despatched Lieut. Gray, with two hundred and fifty men, upon whose approach toward San Pasqual, the besiegers abandoned the field, and left the relief party to return unmolested with Kearny and his dragoons.

As the official relations of Com. Stockton and Gen. Kearny have been the subject of much discussion, it is proper we should say in what light we consider them. Gen. Kearny was directed by instructions from the Secretary of War to invade California with a prescribed force, and "should he conquer it," to establish a civil government there. On his way, learning that the objects of the expedition had been accomplished by Com. Stockton, as above related, he turned back his troops, proceeded with a small party, was attacked and defeated by the enemy, and relieved from imminent danger by the detachment sent by Stockton. Arrived at San Diego, he consented, according to the testimony of all then present, to act under Stockton, then on the eve of a movement against Los Angeles. The following lucid statement of the reception of Kearny by Stockton, and of their relative positions in that movement, we extract from the official letter of the commodore to the Secretary of the Navy, made subsequent to the court martial which tried Col. Fremont, and dated February 18th, 1848:

"On their arrival, General Kearny, his officers, and men, were received by all the garrison in the kindest and most respectful manner. So far as my observation extended, no civility or attention was omitted. Having sent with Captain Gillespie every horse that was fit for use to General Kearny, I was without one for my own accommodation. I was therefore compelled on foot to advance and receive the general, whom I conducted to my own quarters, until others more agreeable to him could be prepared. The arrival of General Kearny was to me a source of gratification: although it was my decided opinion, which as yet I have seen no reason to change, that under the circum

stances that existed I was entitled to retain the position in which I was placed, of commander-in-chief: yet in consideration of his high standing in the army, his long experience as a soldier, the importance of military science and skill in the movements that were to be made in the interior of the country, I immediately determined to yield all personal feelings of ambition, and tc place in his hands the supreme authority. In accordance with this determination I tendered to General Kearny the position of commander-in-chief, and offered to accompany him as his aid.

and

"This proposition was on more than one occasion renewed, and with all sincerity and singleness of purpose. The responsibility of moving from San Diego, and leaving the safety of the ships deprived of so large and efficient a portion of their crews, was of itself a momentous one. This, however, in the discharge of duty I felt no inclination to shrink from. But the fate of the territory itself might depend upon the issue of a battle to be fought on shore against an army organized to encounter us. The nature of the service, the importance of the stake, it seemed to me appertained rather to a general in the army than a captain in the navy. Whatever ambition I might feel for distinction, either on my own account, or on that of the gallant officers and men under my command, was voluntarily and deliberately offered as a sacrifice to a paramount sense of duty. The offers thus made were, however, on every occasion positively and distinctly declined by General Kearny, who on his side offered to accompany me in the capacity of my aid, and tendered to afford me the aid of his head and hand. A few days before I expected to take up the line of march, I addressed a note to the general, expressing a wish that he would accompany me. In his reply, he repeated the language which he had before employed-that he would so accompany me, and afford me the aid of his head and hand. Accordingly, on the morning of our departure he appeared upon the ground. After the troops had been paraded, and were nearly ready to commence the march, as I was about to mount my horse, General Kearny approached me, and inquired, who was to command the troops. I replied, Lieutenant Rowan was to have command. On his expressing a wish that he should himself command them, I replied that he should have the command. The different officers were at once convened, and informed that General Kearny had volunteered to command the troops, and that I had given him the appointment, reserving my own position as commander-in-chief. This arrangement having been made, we proceeded on the march."

Gen. Kearny himself, on examination before the court martial, testified on the fourteenth day of the trial, in relation to the expedition to Los Angeles,-" Under Commodore Stockton's directions every arrangement for the expedition was made. I had nothing whatever to do with it." Col. Fremont, in his defence, says,-" Both Gen. Kearny and the officers under him received and obeyed the orders of Com. Stockton, in some instances in opposition to those first given by Gen. Kearny, both on the

march and in the battles." Lieutenants Gray, Minor and Emory testified to the same effect. From this, and much other corroborating evidence, it is historically true that whatever of responsibility or credit belongs to the movement upon Los Angeles, at this time, must be attributed to Com. Stockton. He originated the expedition, provided the means for its prosecution, conducted it as commander-in-chief, and is fairly entitled to the praise due for its success.

On the 23d of December, general orders were issued, as follows:

"GENERAL ORDERS.-The forces composed of Capt. Tilghman's Company of Artillery, a detachment of the 1st Regiment of Dragoons, Companies A and B of California Battalion of Mounted Riflemen, and a detachment of sailors and marines from the frigates Congress and Savannah, and the ship Portsmouth, will take up the line of march for the Ciudad de los Angeles on Monday morning, the 28th inst., at 10 A. м.

"By order of the Commander-in-Chief,

"San Diego, 23d December, 1846."

"J. ZEILAN, "Brevet Captain and Adjutant.

On the 29th the march commenced. The distance to be travelled between San Diego and Los Angeles was one hundred and forty-five miles, the track lying through deep sands and over steep and rugged ascents. The entire force consisted of five hundred and forty sailors and marines, and sixty of Kearny's dragoons, and six pieces of artillery. The men, for the most part, were poorly clothed, their shoes generally being made by themselves of canvas. Stockton, in his despatch of February 5th, 1847, to the Secretary of the Navy, says,-"We came to San Diego with the Congress alone-her resources being almost exhausted in a previous campaign. The town was besieged by the insurgents, and there were no stores or provisions of any kind in it, and we were reduced to one fourth allowance of bread. We had to build a fort-to mount our artillery,-to make saddles, bridles, and harness: we had, in truth, to make an army, with all its necessary appendages, out of the mechanics and sailors of this ship, and to take our horses and beef cattle from the enemy." Captain Turner, of the dragoons, declined using the horses, in

their feeble condition, preferring to proceed without them, and those taken along for purposes of draught were so miserable that they daily became disabled, which devolved much hard work on the men, in dragging the guns and the carts heavily laden with provisions and ammunition. "Their route," says a writer already quoted, "lay through a rugged country, drenched with the winter rains, and bristling with the lances of the enemy. Through this the commodore led his seamen and marines, sharing himself, with the general at his side, all the hardships of the common sailors. The stern engagements with the enemy derive their heroic features from the contrast existing in the condition of the two. The Californians were well mounted, and whirled their flying artillery to the most convenient positions. Our troops were on foot, mired to the ankle, and with no resources except in their own indomitable resolution and courage. Their exploits may be cast in the shadow by the clouds which roll up from the plains of Mexico, but they are realities here, which impress themselves with a force which reaches the very foundations of social order."

The enemy were frequently seen during the march, and the utmost vigilance was constantly necessary, to prevent a surprise. The celebrated Kit Carson had been selected to command a small corps of scouts, and to act as spies and skirmishers, which duty was performed in a most efficient manner. On the 3d of January, at San Luís del Rey, Stockton despatched a messenger to apprise Fremont of his advance, and to caution him against the hazard of an action until a junction of their forces had taken place. This messenger, however, did not reach Fremont until the 9th January. Lieut. Selden, of the navy, was also sent with a small vessel to the maritime defile of Rincon, to protect that pass through which Fremont was expected to march. While advancing, propositions were received from Flores to negotiate, which were rejected in the most peremptory terms. The bearers were informed that no communication would be held with Flores, he having forfeited his honor as a soldier, by breaking his parole. They were likewise assured that Flores and every Mexican who had broken his parole, if caught, would immediately be shot.

On the evening of January 7th, the whole force of the enemy

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