United States, and that Sloat had taken Monterey. The next morning the American flag was raised over Sutter's Fort, and with this incident the revolt ended.

During the spring of 1846 Sloat with his squadron at Mazatlan awaited such a turn of events as would enable him to carry out his orders. Finally, when he learned of the blockade of Vera Cruz, he sailed for Monterey, where he arrived July 1.* On July 6 he sent orders to the commander of the Portsmouth in San Francisco Bay to take Yerba Buena (San Francisco) if he had force enough, and to request aid from Frémont. On July 7 he landed at Monterey, raised the American flag, and summoned Frémont to join him with at least 100 men.† The orders to seize Yerba Buena reached the Portsmouth on the 8th. Early the next day the flag was raised, another was sent to Sonoma, whence a courier was dispatched with a third, which, on July 11, was raised by Frémont over Sutter's Fort. At the same time a proclamation was issued declaring California to be a part of the United States, informing the people that they were entitled to all the rights of American citizens, and promising that a permanent government would soon be established.‡

On receiving Sloat's call, Frémont

Schouler, United States, vol. iv., p. 535. Bruce, The Romance of American Expansion, pp. 154-155.

Ex. Doc. 60, 30th Congress, 1st session, vol. vii., p. 261. See also John Bigelow, Memoir of the Life and Public Services of John C. Frémont

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When

started southward with his battalion, visited the commodore, and was asked under what authority he had taken up arms against the Mexicans. Frémont replied that it was on his own responsibility, Sloat was greatly distressed, for he had acted under the belief that Frémont had taken up arms against the Mexicans under orders from Washington. Bearing in mind the fate of Jones four years previously, Sloat turned over the command of the squadron to Stockton and, on July 29, left for home.† Stockton then sent Frémont's battalion to San Diego and sailed in the Congress for San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles, where de Castro and On Pico had joined their forces. learning that the Americans had landed, de Castro disbanded his force and, with Pico, left Los Angeles a few days before Stockton and FréStockton then promont arrived.‡ claimed himself governor of California, wrote a report of his actions.

(1856); Upham, Life, Explorations and Public Services of J. C. Frémont (1856); Charles Morris, Discoverers and Explorers of America, pp. 319328. For other phases of the occupation of the country see I. B. Richman, California under Spain and Mexico (1911); Robert W. Neeser, The Navy's Part in the Acquisition of California, 1846–1848 (1908); R. S. Hunt, The Legal Status of California, 1848-49, in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1898).

*Von Holst, Constitutional and Political History, vol. iii., p. 264.

Cooper, Naval History, vol. iii., pp. 59-60; Bruce, pp. 156–157.

Bruce, The Romance of American Expansion, pp. 157-158.

|| Ex. Doc. 60, 30th Congress, 1st session, vol. vii., p. 268.

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and sent it to Washington by Kit Carson, who, on his journey to the East, fell in with Kearny a few miles below Socorro. Believing the conquest to be complete, Stockton, on September 5, sailed away from San Pedro in the Congress, after having appointed Frémont military commandant, stationed Gillespie and 50 men at Los Angeles, left Lieutenant Talbot with a few men at Santa Barbara, and sent Frémont with a large part of his army into the Sacramento Valley.* Stockton was mistaken, however, in supposing the country conquered, for late in September a part of the people revolted, set up a government with José Maria Flores as governor and commander-in-chief, and drove out the American forces.t Learning of the revolt, Stockton returned and, by December 1, had reoccupied San Pedro and San Diego. He was about to send Gillespie to attack the Californians who lay about 30 miles away, when Kearny's letter, previously mentioned, arrived. Gillespie was then sent to join Kearny, and the combined forces started toward the camp of Flores, but, before their arrival, came upon Captain Andrés Pico at San Pascual. There a short, desperate and bloody fight ensued, and, though the two bodies of troops were nearly equal in strength, the Americans drove the Mexicans

Cooper, Naval History, vol. iii., p. 62. Bruce, The Romance of American Expansion, pp. 159-160.

from their position.* The next day Kearny marched to the rancho of San Bernardo where another fight occurred, but at last he succeeded in establishing his camp on the summit of a hill. Carson and two others were sent to San Diego in search of aid, and the next day 200 marines and sailors sent by Stockton arrived. Thereupon the enemy retreated and, on December 12, the little band entered San Diego in safety.†

The united forces of Stockton and Kearny remained at San Diego until December 29, when they set out to recapture Los Angeles. On January 8, 1847, near the San Gabriel River, the enemy was met and defeated, and on the following day, on the plains of Mesa, which lay a little to the north of the river, the Californians were again defeated. The American loss was 2 killed and 15 wounded. Stockton then reoccupied. Los Angeles. Soon afterward the California leaders surrendered to Frémont at Cahuenga, and this completed the military conquest of California.

Meanwhile, according to his instructions, A. W. Doniphan left Santa Fé

*Ladd, The Mexican War, p. 116. Bruce (The Romance of American Expansion, p. 163) says it would be charitable to Kearny to call this a drawn battle, since he lost 17 killed and 18 wounded and was extricated from a most dangerous situation only by the timely arrival of another body of troops from Stockton.

Senate Doc. 1, 30th Congress, 1st session, vol. i., pp. 514-516; Cooper, Naval History, vol. iii., p. 62 et seq.

Cooper, Naval History, vol. iii., pp. 65–67.
Ladd, The Mexican War, p. 120.

on December 14, with about 800 men arranged in three divisions, for the purpose of reinforcing General Wool, who, it was supposed, was advancing upon Chihuahua. Doniphan went south by way of Albuquerque and Valverde, and, in spite of intense suffering, succeeded in crossing the Jornada del Muerto, a dry and arid desert, to Dona Ana; there, on December 25, he was attacked by a large body of Mexicans under General Ponce de Leon, but defeated them without difficulty in what is known as the battle of Brazito.* On December 27 Doniphan entered El Paso del Norte where he was compelled to wait a month in inactivity, anxiously looking for news from General Wool and waiting for artillery reinforcements which had been ordered to march from Santa Fé. On February 8, 1847, as Major Clark with 117 men and 6 field pieces had arrived, Doniphan set off again for Chihuahua and on the 28th, having arrived at a place called El Sauz, received warning that the enemy was in force at a pass near the Sacramento.† They were under command of General José A. Heredia, numbered 4,220 men, and were strongly fortified. Nevertheless Doniphan decided to attack, and

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the impetuous bravery of his troops. led to a speedy victory. The Mexicans were driven from their intrenchments, scattered in every direction, and left on the field 320 dead, 560 wounded, all their guns and stores, and 72 prisoners. Doniphan lost but 1 killed and 11 wounded.* On March 1 Doniphan entered Chihuahua and there for six weeks rested his toilworn band. A false report that Wool had been surrounded at Saltillo prevented him from making an attempt to report to that general until late in March. When General Taylor received a copy of Doniphan's report, he ordered him to go to Saltillo. Late in April the march was resumed by way of Parras to Saltillo and thence to the Rio Grande. From there the men were carried by sea to New Orleans and discharged.†

*Ladd, The Mexican War, chap. xv.

† Frank S. Edwards, Campaign in New Mexico with Colonel Doniphan (Philadelphia, 1847); Journal of William H. Richardson, A private soldier under command of Col. Doniphan (New York, 1848); Journal of the Santa Fé Expedition under Col. Doniphan, which left St. Louis in June, 1846, kept by Jacob S. Robinson (Portsmouth, 1848); John T. Hughes, Doniphan's Expedition containing an Account of the Conquest of New Mexico, General Kearny's overland Expedition to California; Doniphan's Campaign against the Navajos [and] Chihuahua: and the Operations of Gen. Price at Santa Fé (Cincinnati, 1848); W. E. Connelley, Doniphan's Expedition and the Conquest of New Mexico and California (1907).

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Thirtieth Congress - The debate on expansion

The second session of the TwentyNinth Congress assembled on December 7, 1846, and on the 8th the President sent in his second annual message. He first gave a resumé of the grievances against Mexico, the broken promises to redress, the unkept treaties, the refusal to receive Slidell, and the wanton attack on Thornton. right to send troops to the Rio Grande was defended by a long argument regarding the cession of Texas. said:

The

Polk

"The Texas which was ceded to Spain by the Florida treaty of 1819 embraced all the country now claimed by the State of Texas between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. The Republic of Texas always claimed this river as her western boundary, and in her treaty made with Santa Anna in May, 1836, he recognized it as such. By the constitution which Texas adopted in March, 1836, senatorial and representative districts were organized extending west of the Nueces. The Congress of Texas on the 19th of December, 1836, proposed an act to define the boundaries of the Republic of Texas, in which they declared the Rio Grande from its mouth to its source to be their boundary, and by the said act they extended their 'civil and political jurisdiction' over the country up to that boundary. During the period of more than nine years which intervened between the adoption of her constitution, and her annexation as one of the States of our Union, Texas asserted and exercised many acts of sovereignty and jurisdiction over the territory and inhabitants west of the Nueces. She organized and defined the limits

of counties extending to the Rio Grande; she established courts of justice and extended her ju dicial system over the territory; she established a custom-house and collected duties, and also postoffices and post-roads in it; she established a land office and issued numerous grants for land within its limits; a senator and a representative residing in it were elected to the Congress of the Republic and served as such before the annexation took place. In both the Congress and convention of Texas which gave their assent to the terms of annexation to the United States proposed by our Congress were representatives residing west of the Nueces, who took part in the act of annexation itself. This was the Texas, which, by the act of our Congress of the 29th of December, 1845, was admitted as one of the States of our Union. That the Congress of the United States understood the State of Texas which they admitted into the Union to extend beyond the Nueces is apparent from the fact that on the 31st of December, 1845, only two days after the act of admission, they passed a law to establish a collection district in the State of Texas' by which they created a port of delivery at Corpus Christi, situated west of the Nueces, and being the same point at which the Texas custom-house under the laws of that Republic had been located."*

All these things had been done before Taylor crossed the Nueces, and his march to the Rio Grande was merely to protect the territory which belonged to one of the States of the Union. The United States had never attempted to acquire Texas by con

* Richardson, Messages and Papers, vol. iv., pp. 483-484.