the state of the country. It was determined to support the transformed Mexican government and to fortify the northern towns against a possible foreign invasion. Castro proceeded to raise troops at Santa Clara, much bitterness was engendered against Americans, and the belief became current that the general was instigating the Indians to burn their crops. It may not be possible to prove that anything beyond defensive measures were contemplated by the Californians, but in view of the feeling against his countrymen and the probability that war had already been declared between the United States and Mexico, Frémont was justified in devising means for protecting the American settlers against possible attack. These defensive measures on both sides passed almost insensibly into acts of hostility, perhaps by the fault of Americans whose operations Frémont might have controlled. Afterward the captain openly assumed the leadership of all the American forces and made himself master of the entire north, as we have seen.

But others besides Frémont took part in the conquest of California. Commodore Sloat was at Mazatlan in February, closely watched by Admiral Seymour. In March a report reached the Pacific that hostilities had begun on the Atlantic side. Sloat determined not to be premature in his movements and waited, but news from the north, telling of Frémont's difficulty with Castro, induced him to dispatch the Portsmouth to Monterey, where she arrived April 22d. On May 17th fairly definite news came telling of fighting on the Rio Grande; but Sloat waited at Mazatlan, uncertain whether events authorized him to occupy San Francisco and other Californian ports, as he had been ordered to do "promptly" on learning of the outbreak of hostilities. On May 31st he received reports of General Taylor's battles at Matamoros of May 8th and 9th. He decided to act; but "upon more mature reflection" changed his mind, deeming that he had no right to commit any hostile act upon Mexico, as neither party had as yet declared war. When the letter containing these sentiments came under

the eyes of the administration, the secretary of the navy, George Bancroft, wrote the commodore as follows: "The department willingly believes in the purity of your intentions; but your anxiety not to do wrong has led you into a most unfortunate and unwarranted inactivity." Sloat was at once relieved of his command. The treatment of an officer who was too slow in his movements contrasts significantly with that accorded Frémont, who might properly have been reprimanded for acting prematurely, but who received only commendation. The order relieving Sloat, written August 18th, did not reach him until after the war in California was over, but fortunately he had decided to risk action, and putting his ships under way on June 8th, arrived at Monterey July 2d. Even then he hesitated about taking possession of the Californian ports, until he learned, on July 5th, that Frémont and the Americans had already revolutionized the country to the northward. This mental condition of the commodore seems to have been due partly to the influence of Larkin, who strangely enough still believed that the Californians could be persuaded to ask for union with America.

But finally, on the 7th of July, Sloat hoisted the American flag, "preferring," as he wrote to Montgomery, to be "sacrificed for doing too much than too little." He did not order Montgomery to do the same at San Francisco, but permitted him to do so, and Montgomery was not unwilling to assume the responsibility. On July 9th the flag was raised, with a salute of twenty-one guns, amidst great rejoicing on the part of the Americans present. Montgomery sent flags to Sonoma and to New Helvetia to be hoisted at those posts, and thus the occupation of California was rendered effective before the arrival of Admiral Seymour on July 16th.

Sloat attempted the policy of conciliation in his dealings with Castro, but that officer was in no mood to be at once placated, and remained defiant. After the raising of the flag the commodore sent for Frémont, who marched to

Monterey with his battalion, expecting to be of further service in the war against Castro. When Sloat learned that all the captain had done had been without authority from Washington he was again in doubt as to what course to pursue. However, Commodore Stockton, who had arrived from the Atlantic with the ship Congress on the 15th of July, was quite ready to help him to solve his problems by assuming the responsibilities before which the senior officer stood irresolute. Stockton took command of the fleet, accepted the services of Frémont's battalion, commissioned the captain as major, and proceeded with the conquest. On the 29th of July, he issued a proclamation, written in the bombastic style of Mexican bandos, which was intended to produce a profound impression on the natives, but its tone reflects little credit upon the author.

Castro had gone south to form a junction with Governor Pico, his enemy of former days, and the two leaders determined to join forces against the Americans. Los Angeles became the centre of the new movement, and thither Frémont and Stockton repaired, the former coming up from San Diego whither he had sailed in the Cyane at the end of July, the latter from San Pedro where he arrived early in August. Castro having made some overtures of surrender to Stockton which were refused, he and Pico soon afterward set out for Mexico, while their army disintegrated. On the 13th of August, 1846, the combined forces of Stockton and Frémont entered Los Angeles, raised the American flag, and the conquest of California was complete.

CHAPTER XVI

THE YEARS OF TRANSITION

On the 3d of June, 1846, General S. W. Kearny, who was at Fort Leavenworth preparing for an advance upon Mexico's territory, received orders to proceed to New Mexico, and after its conquest to go to California. Reaching Santa Fé August 17th, he took formal possession of the entire territory for the United States, appointed officers, arranged for garrisons to keep the country in order, and then, on the 25th of August, with three hundred men of the First Dragoons, marched westward. On the 12th of October he met Kit Carson, who had been dispatched by Frémont to carry dispatches to Washington, and from him Kearny learned that the war in the Far West was over; that California had been proclaimed a part of the United States, and that the American flag was flying from every important place in that territory.

Upon receiving this news, Kearny sent back all but one hundred men, and then went forward to take charge of affairs in California, as he had been ordered to do. He reconnoitred the route for a highway, and on reaching the mouth of the Gila wrote that a wagon road from the Rio Grande to that place, if found at all, must lie on the south side of Gila River; because on the north the stream was bounded by steep mountains. For this reason the boundary line between the United States and Mexico should not run north of the thirty-second degree of latitude. Kearny crossed the Colorado a few miles below the junction with

the Gila, continued southward about thirty miles farther, and then turned off and marched sixty miles northwestward across the desert, finding in that space neither water nor grass. He finally reached Warner's Ranch, the frontier settlement of California, on the 2d of December. Three days later, while on the way toward San Diego, he learned through an express from Stockton that the Californians to the number of six or seven hundred men were in arms. In order to understand this situation, it will be necessary to go back to the time when Stockton and Frémont took formal possession of the country, at Los Angeles. Stockton, though regarding the conquest as completed, returned to San Francisco by sea, having heard rumors of trouble in that quarter, and ordered Frémont to meet him there at the end of October. Gillespie was left in charge of the South, with fifty men at Los Angeles. On September 23d, this garrison, weakened by the absence of a detachment at San Diego, was attacked by a small band of lawless Californians bent on plunder and other mischief. Gillespie assumed that the assault indicated a serious revolutionary outbreak, and soon the affair wore that aspect. The Californians flocked to the standard of Captain Flores, one of Castro's officers, who was chosen commandante general. News of this revolt was carried northward by an American named John Brown, who rode the five hundred miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco in six days; but before help could be sent southward Gillespie was forced to surrender Los Angeles, though he was allowed to march to San Pedro and take ship without molestation. The other garrisons, of San Diego and Santa Barbara, were also driven out, and the entire South was cleared of American troops. The Californians held an assembly, chose Flores governor as well as general, and made such preparations as they could to maintain their independence of the United States pending the negotiation of a treaty between that country and Mexico.

Stockton at that time expected to leave California for Mexico, to participate actively in the war, and he had