President Polk: Mexicans and California

On the day of the battle of Buena Vista, Captain Webster, and a small party of Americans, drove General Minon and eight hundred Mexicans from Saltillo. Three days afterward, Colonels Morgan and Irvin defeated some of the enemy in a skirmish at Aqua Frio, and on the 7th of March Major Giddings was victorious in a conflict at Ceralvo. Meanwhile General Taylor had marched for Walnut Springs, near Monterey, where he remained almost inactive, several months, and in September (1847) he returned home, where he was received with the liveliest demonstrations of respect and honor because of his achievements. Three years afterward he was elected President of the United States by the votes of the Whig party.

While these operations were in progress near the Gulf, other events of importance were occurring in the northern part of Mexico. Stephen W. Kearney, of New Jersey, who had been brevetted major-general late in 1846, was placed in command of the "Army of the West" at Fort Leavenworth, in the spring of 1847, with instructions to conquer New Mexico and California. Before this time, Captain John C. Fremont, who had been sent by our government, with about sixty men, to explore portions of New Mexico and California, had become involved in hostilities with the Mexicans on the Pacific coast. When he approached Monterey, on that coast, he was opposed by General Castro and a strong party of Mexicans. Fremont retired to a mountain position, where he called around him the American settlers in that region, and captured a Mexican post at Sonoma Pass (June 15, 1846), with nine cannons and two hundred and fifty muskets. After some more skirmishing, Castro was routed, the Mexicans were driven from that region, and on the 5th of July the Americans there declared themselves independent, and placed Fremont at the head of public affairs. Two days afterward, Commodore Sloat, who was in command of an American squadron on the Pacific coast, bombarded and captured Monterey; and on the 9th, Commodore Stockton arrived on that station and succeeded Sloat in command; and on the 17th of August he and Fremont took possession of the city of Los Angelos (city of the angels), near the Pacific coast, now the capital of Los Angelos county, California.

General Kearney left Fort Leavenworth with sixteen hundred men, in June, and on the 18th of August, after a march of almost nine hundred miles, he arrived at Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico. He had traversed great plains and rugged mountain passes, without opposition; and as he approached Santa Fe, the governor and four thousand Mexican troops fled, leaving the six thousand inhabitants of the city to quietly surrender it. Kearney took formal possession of the State, appointed Charles Bent governor, and then pushed on toward California. He soon met a messenger from Stockton and Fremont, informing him that the conquest of California was already achieved, when Kearney sent the main body of his troops back to Santa Fe, and with one hundred men he pushed on toward Los Angelos. There, on the 27th of December (1846), Kearney met Stockton and Fremont, and these three officers shared in the honors of events which, soon afterward, accomplished the complete conquest and pacification of California. Fremont, the real liberator of California from the Mexican yoke, claimed the right to be governor of the territory, and was supported by Stockton and the people; but General Kearney, his superior officer, would not acquiesce in the arrangements. At Monterey, Kearney, assuming the office of governor, proclaimed (February 8, 1847) the annexation of California to the United States. Fremont refused to obey him, and was ordered home to be tried on a charge of disobedience. His commission of lieutenant-colonel, which he had received, was taken from him, but the President offered to restore it. Fremont refused it, and went again to the wilderness to engage in explorations. Kearney remained in command on the Pacific coast until May (1847), when he returned home, leaving Colonel Mason as military governor of California.

While Kearney was on his march for the Pacific coast, Colonel Doniphan, of his command, at the head of a thousand Missourians, was performing signal services. He compelled the Navajo Indians to make a treaty of peace, late in November (1846), and then he marched toward Chihuahua to join General Wool. At Braceti, in the valley of the Rio del Norte, he encountered a Mexican force under General Ponce de Leon, who sent a black flag to Doniphan and a message, saying: -"We will neither ask nor give quarter." This was immediately followed by the advance of the Mexicans, who fired three volleys. The Americans had all fallen on their faces. Supposing them to be dead, the Mexicans rushed forward to plunder them, when the Americans sprang to their feet, and poured such a deadly fire upon their assailants that two hundred Mexicans were killed. The remainder, astonished, fled in great disorder. Doniphan pressed on, and when within eighteen miles of the capital of Chihuahua, he was confronted by about four thousand Mexicans (February 28, 1847), whom he attacked and dispersed, and then entered the city in triumph. There, in the midst of a population of forty thousand souls, he unfurled the American flag over the citadel. He lost eighteen men in the engagement; and the Mexicans lost about six hundred.