Sweat out at times the precious ore.
Thursday, July 16. The Cyane warped out of her berth this morning, and we warped into it. Our ships are now moored in line, command the anchorage, and present a very warlike appearance.
This afternoon a large ship was discovered rounding Point Pinos. She entered the harbor under a cloud of canvas, and proved to be the Collingwood, bearing the broad pennant of Admiral Seymour. She came to anchor outside the Congress and Savannah. Our band greeted her with “God save the Queen,” which she returned with “Hail, Columbia.” She is an 80 gun ship, and looks majestic on the wave. The Admiral was greatly surprised to find Monterey in possession of the Americans.
SAN FRANCISCO IN 1846
Commodore Sloat, having received information at Mazatlan, through the public press, that our advanced posts on the Rio Grande had been attacked by a Mexican force, sailed immediately for this port. On his arrival the town was taken without any conflict, the flag run up and saluted with twenty-one guns from each ship of the squadron. A proclamation was then issued by the commodore, informing the inhabitants of the bases of his proceedings, and invoking quietude as the condition of security and repose; while our own men, who had been stationed on shore, were strictly enjoined not to molest the citizens in their lawful occupations.
Friday, July 17. The bay of Monterey circles up broad and deep into the coast. It is far from being land-locked, and yet the southern bend is sufficiently sheltered to afford a safe and quiet anchorage. The town is built within a circling range of forest-feathered hills, and on a plain that descends in easy slopes to the strand of the bay. A more inviting picturesque location for a city never entered a poet’s dream. The buildings are reared of adobes, covered with a white layer of lime; they are seldom over one story and a half, and are ornamented with porticoes running the entire front. The streets are broad but irregular, and the hills around connect themselves with the gleaming walls of cottages which as yet exist only in your imagination.
The U. S. sloop-of-war Portsmouth, J. B. Montgomery commander, is at San Francisco; the Warren, J. B. Hull, commander, is at Mazatlan. Our flag is now flying over Monterey, San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sutter’s Fort. No formidable attempt has been made by the Californians to recapture any of these positions. The great body of the inhabitants seem but little inclined to take up arms. They have no great affection for Mexico, or reverence for the military chieftains whom she has sent to govern them.
Our marine guard, commanded by Lieut. Zelin, and fifty sailors under the command of Lieut. Tilghman, left our ship to-day for duty on shore. It is amusing to see Jack with a carbine in his hand; he don’t know what to do with it, whether to carry it in one hand or both, at his side or on his shoulder. When posted as a sentinel, he always forgets the countersign of course, and if a man looks pretty honest, allows him to pass; but if he comes in some mysterious shape, he may expect to be shot. One on an outpost last night, hearing a rumpling sound among the dry leaves, and catching glimpses, by the pale moonlight, of a form gliding behind this bush and that, instead of hailing, “Who comes there?” cried out, “A bloody Indian!” and let off his carbine. The guard, hearing the report, rushed immediately to the spot, where they found a bullock, which had narrowly escaped our sentinel’s bullet. Jack, when shown his horned antagonist and rebuked for his precipitancy, gruffly replied, that it was impossible to make out, in the night and among the bushes, what sort of a craft was coming at him, and he thought it best to get the first fire.
Saturday, July 18. The whole of California is in a state of tumult, and was so before our squadron made a demonstration on Monterey. The jealousy of the government had been roused by the arrival of a fresh body of emigrants, who had located themselves on the Sacramento, and by the movements of Capt. Fremont, whose scientific projects a disturbed imagination had converted into revolutionary purposes. The emigrants were ordered out of the country, with Capt. Fremont and his exploring party; and measures adopted to enforce the mandate. But the indomitable captain and the emigrants were not thus to be ousted or overawed. They had the Anglo-Saxon blood in them, and decided that a man has a right to live where he pleases on this green earth of God’s.