GENERAL WOOL INSPECTS AND MUSTERS THE WESTERN TROOPS.—ARMY OF THE CENTRE.—NEW MEXICO—KEARNEY—MACNAMARA—CALIFORNIA.— FRÉMONT—SONOMA—CALIFORNIAN INDEPENDENCE—POSSESSION TAKEN.—SLOAT—STOCKTON.—A REVOLT—PICO—TREATY OF COUENGA.—KEARNEY AT SAN PASCUAL—IS RELIEVED—DISPUTES—SAN GABRIELLE—MESA—LOS ANGELES.—FRÉMONT'S CHARACTER, SERVICES, TRIAL.
General Wool, who had been for a long period inspector general of the United States army, was entrusted with the difficult task of examining the recruits in the west, and set forth on his journey after receiving his orders on the 29th of May, 1846. He traversed the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, and, in somewhat less than two months, had journeyed three thousand miles and mustered twelve thousand men into service. This expedition of a hardy soldier exhibits, at once, the powers of a competent American officer, and the facility with which an efficient corps d'armée, may at any urgent moment, be raised in our country.
Nearly nine thousand of these recruits were sent to Taylor on the Rio Grande, while those who were destined for the "Army of the Centre," rendezvoused at Bejar, in Texas. At this place their commander Wool joined them, and commenced the rigid system of discipline, under accomplished officers, which made his division a model in the army. He marched from Bejar with five hundred regulars and two thousand four hundred and fifty volunteers, on the 20th of September, and passed onwards through Presidio, Nava, and across the Sierra of San José and Santa Rosa, and the rivers Alamos, Sabine, and del Norte, until he reached Monclova. He had been directed to advance to Chihuahua, but as this place was in a great measure controlled by the states of New Leon and Coahuila which were already in our possession, he desisted from pursuing his march thither, and, after communicating with General Taylor and learning the fall of Monterey, he pushed on to the fertile region of Parras and thence to the headquarters of General Taylor, in the month of December, as soon as he was apprised of the danger which menaced him at that period.
We have already said that it was part of our government's original plan to reduce New Mexico and California,—a task which was imposed upon Colonel Kearney, a hardy frontier fighter, long used to Indian character and Indian warfare—who, upon being honored with the command was raised to the rank of Brigadier General. This officer moved from Fort Leavenworth on the 30th of June, towards Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, with an army of sixteen hundred men, and after an unresisted march of eight hundred and seventy-three miles, he reached his destination on the 18th of August. Possession of the place was given without a blow, and it is probable that the discreet Armijo yielded to the advice of American counsellors in his capital, in surrendering without bloodshed to our forces. Kearney had been authorized to organize and muster into service a battalion of emigrants to Oregon and California, who eagerly availed themselves of this favorable military opportunity to reach their distant abodes on the shores of the Pacific. After organizing the new government of Santa Fé, forming a new code of organic laws, and satisfying himself of the stability of affairs in that quarter, Kearney departed on his mission to California. But he had not gone far when he was met by an express with information of the fall of that portion of Mexico, and immediately sent back the main body of his men, continuing his route through the wilderness with the escort of one hundred dragoons alone. In September of this year, a regiment of New York volunteer infantry had been despatched thither also, by sea, under the command of Colonel Stevenson.
There is evidence in existence that shortly before the commencement of this war, it had been contemplated to place a large portion of the most valuable districts of California, indirectly, under British protection, by grants to an Irish Catholic clergyman named Macnamara, who projected a colony of his countrymen in those regions. He excited the Mexicans to accede to his proposal by appeals to their religious prejudices against the Protestants of the north, who, he alleged, would seize the jewel unless California was settled by his countrymen whose creed would naturally unite them with the people and institutions of Mexico. "Within a year, he declared, California would become a part of the American nation; and, inundated by cruel invaders, their Catholic institutions would be the prey of Methodist wolves." The government of Mexico granted three thousand square leagues in the rich valley of San Joaquin, embracing San Francisco, Monterey, and Santa Barbara, to this behest of the foreign priest; but his patent could not be perfected until the governor of California sanctioned his permanent tenure of the land.
In November, 1845, Lieutenant Gillespie was despatched from Washington with verbal instructions to Captain Frémont who had been pursuing his scientific examinations of California, and had been inhospitably ordered by the authorities to quit the country. Early in March of 1846, the bold explorer was within the boundaries of Oregon, where he was found, in the following May, by Gillespie, who delivered him his verbal orders and a letter of credence from the Secretary of State.
In consequence of this message, Frémont abandoned his camp in the forest, surrounded by hostile Indians, and moved south to the valley of the Sacramento, where he was at once hailed by the American settlers, who, together with the foreigners generally, had received orders from the Mexican General Castro, to leave California. Frémont's small band immediately formed the nucleus of a revolutionary troop, which gathered in numbers as it advanced south, and abstaining guardedly from acts which might disgust the people, they injured no individuals and violated no private property. On the 14th of June, Sonoma was taken possession of, and was garrisoned by a small force, under Mr. Ide, who issued a proclamation, inviting all to come to his camp and aid in forming a republican government. Coure and Fowler, two young Americans, were murdered about this period in the neighborhood, and others were taken prisoners under Padilla. But the belligerants were pursued to San Raphael by Captain Ford, where they were conquered by the Americans; and, on the 25th of June, Frémont, who heard that Castro was approaching with two hundred men, joined the camp at Sonoma. Thus far, every thing had been conducted with justice and liberality by our men. They studiously avoided disorderly conduct or captures, and invariably promised payment for the supplies that were taken for the support of the troopers. The Californians were in reality gratified by the prospect of American success in their territory, for they believed that it would secure a stable and progressive government, under which, that beautiful region would be gradually developed.
On the 5th of July, the Californian Americans declared their independence, and organizing a battalion, of which Frémont was the chief, they raised the standard of the Bear and Star.
