1ST SESS.] California Claims. [APRIL, 1848. edge of which he then was, and returned to | under long travelling and camping in the wilCalifornia. This is the letter of introduction; and I think it right to show it, and to read it, lest any one should suppose it to be of more importance than it is: "WASHINGTON, November 3, 1845. "MY DEAR SIR: The bearer hereof, Mr. Archibald H. Gillespie, is about to visit the north-west coast of America, on business, and has requested me to give him a letter of introduction to you. This I do with pleasure, because he is a gentleman of worth and respectability, and is worthy of your regard. I do not deem it probable that he will fall in with you, but, if he should, allow me to speak for him your friendly attention. He will be able to communicate to you information of the health of Mrs. Frémont and of Colonel Benton and his family. "From your friend, very respectfully, "JAMES BUCHANAN. "J. C. FREMONT, Esq., Oregon." This is the letter, and of itself it signified nothing; but it accredited the bearer, and gave the stamp of authority to what he communicated, and upon this Mr. Fremont acted; for it was not to be supposed that Lieutenant Gillespie had been sent so far, and through so many dangers, merely to deliver him that letter on the shores of the Tlamath Lake. Mr. Gillespie, in his testimony, has explained all the reasons of the mystery of this letter, and of the verbal communications, and shown that they were precautions to avoid detection in his perilous journey through Mexico in the fall of 1845. This is not the time or the occasion, Mr. President, to show amidst what dangers and hardships scientific discovery was pursued by Mr. Fremont in these remote and unexplored regions. The time may come for telling these things. But the events of a week on the shores of the great Tlamath Lake, sketched with the brevity which the occasion requires, may give a glimpse of these hardships and dangers, and of the courage and fidelity with which he was supported by his men. The night he met Mr. Gillespie presented one of those scenes to which he was so often exposed, and which nothing but the highest degree of vigilance and courage could prevent from being fatal. The camping-ground was on the western side of the lake, the horses picketed with long halters on its shore to feed on the grass, and the men (fourteen in number) sleeping by threes at different fires; for, though in May, the elevation of the place and the proximity of snow-clad mountains made the night intensely cold. His feelings joyfully excited by hearing from home, (the first word of intelligence he had received since leaving the United States, a year before,) Mr. Fremont sat up by a large fire, reading his letters and papers, and watching over the safety of his camp while the men slept. Towards midnight, he heard a movement among the horses, indicative of alarm and some danger. Horses, and especially mules, become extremely sensitive to danger VOL. XVI.-12 derness, and manifest their alarm at the approach of any thing strange. Taking a six-barrelled pistol in his hand, and without waking the camp, he went down among them. The moon shone brightly-he could see nothing. Encouraged by his presence, the horses became quiet-poor dumb creatures, that could not tell what they had seen-and he returned to the camp, supposing it was only some beast of the forest, some wolf or bear prowling for food, that had disturbed them. He returned to the camp-fire; Lieutenant Gillespie woke up, talked with him awhile, and then laid down again. Finally, nature had her course with Mr. Fremont himself. Excited spirits gave way to exhausted strength. The day's ride and the night's excitement demanded the reparation of repose. He laid down to sleep, and without waking up a man to watch, relying upon the loneliness of the place and the long ride of the day as a security against the proximity of danger. It was the second time in twenty thousand miles of wilderness explorations that his camp had slept without a guard; the first was in his second expedition, and on an island in the Great Salt Lake, and when the surrounding waters of the lake itself constituted a guard. The whole camp was then asleep. A cry from Carson roused it. In his sleep he heard a groan-it was the groan of a man receiving the tomahawk in his brains. All sprung to their feet. The savages were in the camp; the hatchet and the winged arrow were at work. Basil Lajeunesse, a brave and faithful young Frenchman, the follower of Fremont in all his expeditions, was dead; and Iowa was dead; a brave Delaware Indian, one of those who had accompanied Mr. Fremont from Missouri was dying-it was his groan which awoke Carson. Another of the Delawares was a target for arrows, from which no rifle could save him— could only avenge him. The savages had waited till the moon was in the trees, casting long shadows over the camp: then approaching from the dark side, with their objects between themselves and the light, they used only the hatchet and the formidable bow, whose arrow went to its mark without a flash or a sound to show whence it came. All advantages were on the side of the savages; but the camp was saved, the wounded protected from massacre, and the dead from mutilation. In the morning, Lieutenant Gillespie recognized, in the person of one of the slain assailants, the Tlamath chief who, the morning before, had given him a salmon in token of friendship, and who had followed him all day to kill and rob his party at nighta design in which they would certainly have been successful had it not been for the promptitude and decision of Mr. Fremont's movement. Mr. Fremont himself would have been killed when he went to the horses, had it not been that they counted upon the destruction of the whole camp, and feared to alarm it by killing one before the general massacre. APRIL, 1848.] California Claims. It was on the 9th of May-a day immortalized by American arms at Resaca de la Palma-that this fierce and bloody work took place. The morning of the 10th of May was one of gloom in the camp. The evening sun of the 9th had set upon it full of life and joy at a happy meeting: the same sun rose upon it in the morning stained with blood, ghastly with the dead and wounded, and imposing mournful | duties on the survivors. The wounded were to be carried, the dead to be buried, and so buried as to be hid and secured from discovery and violation. They were carried ten miles, and every precaution taken to secure them from the wolf and the savage; for men, in these remote and solitary dangers, become brothers, and defend each other living and dead. The return route lay along the shores of the lake, and during the day the distant canoes of the savages could be seen upon it, evidently watching the progress of the party, and meditating a night attack. All precautions, at the night encampment, were taken for securityhorses and men enclosed in a breast work of great trees, cut down for the purpose, and half the camp constantly on the watch. At leaving in the morning an ambuscade was planted --and two of the Tlamaths were killed by the men in ambush. At night the main camp, at the north end of the lake, was reached. It was strongly fortified, and could not be attacked; but its whole neighborhood was infested, and scouts and patrols were necessary to protect every moment. In one of these excursions the Californian horse, so noted for his spirit and docility, showed what he would do at the bid of his master. Carson's rifle had missed fire at ten feet distant. The Tlamath bow, arrow on the string, was bending to the pull. All the rifles in the party could not have saved him. A horse and his rider did it. Mr. Fremont touched his horse; he sprang upon the savage, and the hatchet of a Delaware completed the deliverance of Carson. It was in the midst of such dangers as these that science was pursued by Mr. Fremont, that the telescope was carried to read the heavens, the barometer to measure the elevations of the earth, the thermometer to measure the temperature of the air, the pencil to sketch the grandeur of mountains and to paint the beauty of flowers, the pen to write down whatever was new or strange or useful in the works of nature; it was in the midst of such dangers as these, and in the wildest regions of the Farthest West, that Mr. Fremont was pursuing science, and shunning war, when the arrival of Lieutenant Gillespie turned him back into California, and engaged him in the operations which gave rise to the bill which now claims the attention of the Senate. Mr. Fremont turned back to California, and arrived in the valley of the Sacramento at a most critical and exciting time. Three great [30TH CONG. operations, fatal to American interests, were then going on, and past remedy, if not arrested at once. These were the massacre of the Americans, and the destruction of their settlements in the valley of the Sacramento, the subjection of California to British protection, and the transfer of the public domain to British subjects, and all with a view to anticipate the events of a Mexican war, and to shelter California from the just reclamations of the United States. The American settlers came to the camp of Mr. Fremont, in the valley of the Sacramento, laid all these dangers before him, and implored him to place himself at their head, and save them from destruction. General Castro was then in march upon them; the Indians were excited to burn their wheat-fields and to attack their families. Juntas were in session to transfer the country to Great Britain; the public domain was passing away in large grants to British subjects; a British fleet was expected on the coast; the British vice-consul, Forbes, and the emissary priest, Macnamara, ruling and conducting every thing, and all their plans so far advanced as to render the least delay fatal. It was then the beginning of June. War existed between the United States and Mexico, but that was not known in California. Mr. Fremont had left the two countries at peace when he set out upon his expedition, and was determined to do nothing to disturb their relations; he had even left California to avoid giving offence; and to return and take up arms in so short a time, was apparently to discredit his own previous conduct as well as to impli cate his Government. He felt all the responsi bilities of his position; but the actual approach of Castro and the immediate danger of the settlers left him no alternative. He determined to put himself at the head of the people, and to save the country. To repulse Castro was not sufficient. To overturn the Mexican Government in California, and to establish its INDEPENDENCE was the bold resolve, and the only one adequate to the emergency. That resolve was taken, and executed with a celerity that gave it a romantic success. The American settlers rushed to his camp; brought their arms, horses, and ammunition; were formed into a battalion, and obeyed with zeal and alacrity the orders they received. In thirty days all the northern part of California was freed from Mexican authority; independence proclaimed; the flag of independence (the bear flag) adopted; Castro flying to the south; the American settlers saved from destruction; and the British party in California counteracted and broken up in all their schemes. The effects of this decisive and rapid movement can only be conceived from a careful perusal of the depositions. From them it will be seen that the deep-laid plans, conducted by the British vice-consul, Forbes, and the emissary priest, Macnamara, were going on, to shelter California under the British crown, and to vest its domain in British subjects; that every thing 1ST SESS.] California Claims. [APRIL, 1848. was verging to a crisis, and a British fleet ex- | had no powder to return it, but probably bepected upon the coast, when this rapid and cause the British admiral was expected. On successful movement broke up all these designs. the 5th of July, the operations of Fremont were And when Admiral Seymour arrived on the heard of, and on the 7th, Commodore Sloat 16th of July, instead of an invitation from the took the town. The testimony of the naval California junta to take the country under officers (Messrs. Minor and Wilson) and the British protection, and an invitation from the Commodore's own correspondence (pages 70 grantees of principalities to take British inter- and 73), show circumstantially that his action ests under his protection, he found the Ameri- was induced by hearing of these operations; can flag flying over Monterey, Fremont and his and the testimony of Messrs. Fremont and riflemen encamped over the town, the British Gillespie pointedly prove it. Mr. Fremont party extinct, and the Americans triumphant. says: The effect which the appearance of this daring body of Western riflemen produced upon the minds both of the British and American naval officers, is well stated by Lieutenant Minor in his deposition, and, in justice to those men as well as to the truth of history, deserves to be read here. He says: "I came down to Monterey with my command, upon the request of Commodore Sloat, to co-operate with him; and immediately on my arrival waited upon him, in company with Lieutenant Gillespie, on board the frigate Savannah. Commodore Sloat appeared uneasy at the great responsibility he had assumed. He informed me that he had applied to "The undersigned was on duty on shore when of the Government, for his authority, but that he Lieutenat Gillespie, whom he knew to be an agent Captain Frémont arrived with his force at Monterey had declined to give it. He then inquired to know from the north. The undersigned believes that the under what instructions I had acted in taking up appearance of this body of men, and the well-known character of its commander, not only made a strong him that I had acted solely on my own responsibility, arms against the Mexican authorities. I informed impression upon the British admiral and officers, and without any authority from the Government to but an equally impressive and more happy one upon justify hostilities. Commodore Sloat appeared those of the American navy then in Monterey. For himself, the undersigned can say, that, after he greatly disturbed with this information, and gave me distinctly to understand, that in raising the flag had seen Captain Frémont's command, all his doubts at Monterey he had acted upon the faith of our regarding the conquest of California were re-operations in the north. Commodore Sloat soon moved." This is the testimony of a disinterested witness; one who himself, in the subsequent operations in California, rendered good service on land, there being no chance for him on the water. It shows that the timely and successful movement of the California battalion, and its sudden appearance at Monterey, simultaneously with the arrival of the American and British fleets, was the turning point in the fate of California. It showed the country was in arms to resist instead of asking British protection; and it encouraged the navy to believe that the whole country could be conquered: for, without a land force, the naval forces could only have operated along the coast. And here a great fact presents itself-one which these depositions have consecrated to history, and which belongs to the chapter of events which determine the fate of countries. It is the fact that Fremont's operations determined the action of Commodore Sloat, and induced him to take possession of Monterey, contrary to his intention when he anchored before that town; and thereby anticipated Admiral Seymour, frustrated his designs, whatever they were, and induced him to leave Monterey as suddenly and as mysteriously as he had arrived. The depositions establish this fact, and some reference to their contents will prove what I say; and, first, of the effect of these operations in deciding the action of Commodore Sloat. It is in proof that he entered the Bay of Monterey as a friend, on the 2d of July, offering to salute the town, which the authorities declined, on the ground that they relinquished the command to Commodore Stockton, who determined to prosecute hostilities to the complete conquest of California." Captain Gillespie says: committee, I beg leave to state, that an interview "In reply to the above question of the honorable between Commodore Sloat, Captain Frémont, and myself, held on board of the United States frigate, Savannah, lying in the harbor of Monterey, in July, 1846, Commodore Sloat manifested a feeling of dissatisfaction that Captain Frémont and myself had not reported ourselves and the force under our command to him, and said, addressing both, as near as I can recollect: I do not know by what authority you are acting. I can do nothing. Mr. Gillespie has told me nothing; he came to Mazatlan, and I sent him to Monterey; but I know nothing. I want to know by what authority you are acting.' Captain Fremont replied, he had acted upon his own authority, and not from orders of the Government.' Commodore Sloat then expressed much surprise and distress, and, and said, I have acted upon the faith of your operations in the north.'" Coincident with these statements is the letter of Commodore Sloat, of the 6th of July, to Commander Montgomery, of the Portsmouth, then in the Bay of St. Francisco, who had sent down a launch with the news of Fremont's successes. The letter is dated from the flagship Savannah, Bay of Monterey, July 6, 1847: "Since I wrote you last evening I have determined to hoist the flag of the United States at this place to-morrow, as I would prefer being sacrificed for doing too much than too little. consider that you have sufficient force, or if Fremont If you APRIL, 1848.] California Claims. [30TH CONG, direction of San Blas. The undersigned believes that this manœuvre of Commodore Sloat was intended for the deception of the English admiral. On the 8th of June, 1846, the Savannah again made sail, and, after a passage of twenty-three days, during which a press of canvas was carried, she arrived at the port of Monterey, in Upper California. The Collingwood, of eighty guns, the flag-ship of Admiral Sey mour, entered the harbor on the 15th July, and the undersigned believes that the Admiral was disappointed when he saw the American flag flying on shore." will join you, you will hoist the flag of the United | other English ship got under way, and stood in the States at Yarba Buena, or any other proper place, and take possession, in the name of the United States, of the fort, and that portion of the country." This settles the great fact that Mr. Fremont's operations determined the action of Commodore Sloat-induced him to change his mind after he had been four days at Monterey-encouraged him to take the town, and to send out orders to hoist the United States flag at other places. On the 16th, Admiral Seymour, in the Collingwood, of 80 guns, arrived; the frigate Juno was previously on the coast: the largest squadron that the British Government had ever had in the Pacific Ocean was then there; and all the evidence combines to show that the object of this squadron was to watch Commodore Sloat, to follow him wherever he went, to anticipate him in getting to Monterey, and to be in readiness to take California under the British flag, and to do what the protection of British interests might require him to do. This is well and fully shown by the testimony. Lieutenant Minor says: "The undersigned, being in command of the southern district of California, during the latter part of 1846, was informed by Pedro C. Carrillo, (and he believes the information thus obtained is founded on facts,) that he, the said Carrillo, was a member of a junta that assembled at Santa Barbara, in June, 1846, for the purpose of declaring the independence of California, and of asking the protection of the United States or Great Britain; that the junta was represented by all of the inhabited portions of California; that a majority of the same were for claiming the protection of England; that their resolves would probably have been executed, had it not been for the war and their fears of an armed force, then on the north side of the bay of San Francisco, under the command of Captain Frémont. The undersigned has understood from other sources entitled to confidence, that a majority of the people of California desired the protection of England; the opinion he thus formed was strengthened by the fact that an English frigate (the Juno) had, about the time the junta met, landed an English subject named Macnamara, at Santa Barbara, of whom it was said that he had obtained a grant from the Mexican Government of a large and fertile portion of California, embracing the whole valley of the San Joaquin, from its source to its mouth-a valley, as the undersigned believes, comprising one-third of the richest portion of California. The undersigned believes that the British squadron in the Pacific, commanded by Rear Admiral Sir George T. Seymour, composed then of a larger force than they ever had upon that ocean, were employed in closely watching the movements of the American commodore. Being aware of this fact, Commodore Sloat, when he heard of the first battle on the Rio Grande, got under way in the frigate Savannah, then anchored off Mazatlan, for the ostensible purpose of proceeding to California; an English vessel of war weighed soon after the Savannah, and stood in the direction of San Blas, where it was known the admiral was. After cruising in the Gulf two days, the Commodore returned to his anchorage off Mazatlan, when an Midshipman Wilson says: "On the sixteenth of the same month (July) Admiral Seymour, who had been following us for several months previous, arrived and anchored in his flag-ship, the Collingwood, (80.) "Upon his vessel appearing in sight, Commodore Sloat sent orders, I understood, to the commanders of the different vessels comprising our squadron, to be in readiness, in case the Admiral should be entering with hostile intentions, or an order to that effect, leaving the impression on the minds of his officers, that Admiral Seymour must have intended to have prevented our squadron from taking possession of California. Although such had been our impression previously, and, but for the timely movements of Colonel Frémont and his party in the north, thereby influencing the Commodore in his movements, such I fear would have been the result." of the British admiral, is fully corroborated by This testimony, as to the presumed designs all that was going on in California itself, while Admiral Seymour was watching and following Commodore Sloat on the coast of California. During all that time juntas were held, under the management of the British vice-consul, Forbes, to place the country under British protection; the public domain was passing away to British subjects; the arrival of a British fleet in the course of the summer to take possession of California was confidently foretold; and, as a preliminary to this measure, the expulsion and destruction of the Americans was resolved upon, the banda or proclamation for their expulsion actually issued, and troops raised and Indians excited for their destruction. The expected arrival of the British fleet connected itself with all these operations; and all these would have been successful had it not been for the success of Mr. Fremont and the people, and so says all the testimony. There is too much of it to read; and, besides, a part of this labor has been anticipated, and well performed, in the luminous and statesmanlike observations of the Senator from New York, (Mr. DIx,) in what he presented to the Senate expositions of British designs upon this contia few days ago in favor of this bill, and in his nent. He read some passages from the deposi tions which show these designs in California. I will now read more for the same purpose, and especially to show that a British interest was to be created, to claim his protection as soon as the admiral arrived, and the Americans 1ST SESS.] California Claims. [APRIL, 1848. to be expelled or destroyed to prevent their | of the country, and the designs of the leading men opposition: among the Californians, giving it as my opinion that the American residents would have to leave the country or fight for their homes; at the same time saying I was sure we would not leave the country. for their safety, and to overthrow the Mexican forces Captain Frémont resolved to join the Americans in that province. Captain Gillespie's deposition.-Extract. "Having joined Lieutenant-Colonel Frémont upon the 9th of May, 1846, upon the northern end of the Tlamath lake, I returned with him to the valley of the Sacramento, and arrived at the settle"The 4th of July was duly celebrated, and on the ment upon the 24th of the same month. We could 5th we organized the 'California battalion,' adopting obtain no news from below; so soon, however, as it the 'grizzly bear' as our emblem, requesting Capbecame known to the settlers that Captain Frémont tain Frémont to take command of the battalion, and had returned, they came to the camp, bringing us of all the forces and resources of the country, which the information that the Indians of the valley were command he accepted. As soon as it was known leaving their ranchos or wigwams and flying to the that Captain Frémont had accepted the command, mountains. In some places, they had shown a very the Californian population seemed to become well hostile feeling, and certainly had been aroused by pleased with the change in affairs, and brought in some foreign emissary. Remaining at Lawson's their property and means of warfare, which they two days, we proceeded down the valley, and on ar- placed at Frémont's disposal. He restored to them riving at Neal and Dutton's, upon Deer creek, the and to the American settlers all the horses which reports we had received were confirmed, the Indians had been previously captured or pressed into the in that section having taken to the mountains, and service by the Americans, retaining only a number had killed an Indian boy in the employ of Mr. Dut-sufficient for the actual wants of the service. He ton because he had refused to follow them. On the then set out with the battalion in pursuit of Castro, day the camp remained at this place, the settlers, by way of the Sacramento, sending me with a small old and young, men and women, came to Captain party to communicate with Dr. Marsh. When I Frémont, begging him to take part against the In-arrived at Marsh's, I learned that war had been dedians, and to give them protection. "About June 30th, I learned that the junta which was to have assembled at Santa Barbara upon the 15th of June, and which had been planned and arranged by and through the agency of Mr. Forbes, the British vice-consul, and an Irish Catholic priest by the name of Macnamara, had been prevented from assembling in consequence of the rising of the settlers. This junta was proposed for the purpose of asking the protection of England, and of giving an immense tract of land in the valley of the San Joaquin for the settlement of ten thousand Irishmen, to be brought to California under the direction of Macnamara. All this intrigue of British agents was broken up by the timely and prompt operations of the settlers, under the direction of Captain Fré mont." Captain Hensley's deposition.-Extract. "I am a resident in California, where I have resided since the autumn of 1843. In the month of May, 1846, I went to San Francisco, where I met with General Vallejo, one of the most prominent and influential men in Upper California. I understood from him that he had recently attended a convention, composed of General Castro, himself, and five others, delegates from the different districts in California, at which the proposition had been made and debated to separate from Mexico, and establish a government in California, under the protection of some foreign power, believed by us to be England; but, as the General positively stated, the majority was not in favor of placing the country under the protection of the United States, though he himself was. General Vallejo was of course guarded in conversing on so dangerous a subject as this was at that time; but the above is the substance of his remarks, as understood by myself and others who heard them. "About this time I heard that Captain Frémont had returned from the northward, and was then in the upper part of the Sacramento valley. I immediately repaired to his camp, where I informed him of all that I had learned respecting the condition that Commodore Sloat had arrived at Monterey and clared between the United States and Mexico, and raised the American flag. Returning with this intelligence, I found that Captain Frémont had already learned it, and was on his way to Monterey. I followed and joined him at the mission of San Juan, near Monterey." Captain Chile's statement.-Extract. purpose of attending a general council at Monterey, put an entire stop to such grants and sales." Captain Owen's deposition.-Extract. |