Pacific Destiny and Bear Flag Rising
Page 76
22. Court-martial
1 The reference was directed at the aftermath of Kearny’s conqnest of New Mexico. In Taos in January, 1847, at the time of the Kearny-Frémont-Stockton dispute in California, Governor Charles Bent, whom Kearny had selected to serve as the first civilian governor of the territory, was killed with six others by Pueblo Indians believed under orders from Mexican conspirators. Kit Carson’s wife Josefa and her sister, Bent’s wife, were unharmed but had to remain over a day in the house with the governor’s scalped corpse. Colonel Sterling Price of Missouri led 353 men and four howitzers through deep snowdrifts to Taos, reaching the town on February 3. Fifty-one insurgents were killed; Price lost seven killed and forty-five wounded in ending the revolt. Much of Carson’s later enmity toward Kearny was traceable to the fact that if he had not been ordered to guide the general and his dragoons back to California, he might have foreseen the dangers of the unrest and been able to protect his family.
SOURCES
Hubert Howe Bancroft came to California in 1853, following his father, a forty-niner with a claim on the Sacramento River. He opened his book-selling and publishing company in San Francisco in 1856, amassed a sixteen-thousand-volume library (sixty thousand by 1905), and launched publication of his histories in 1874. In all, there are thirty-nine volumes in his series, The Native Races of the Pacific States and The History of the Pacific States. Of the twenty-eight volumes in the latter, the seven volumes devoted to California appeared between 1886 and 1890.
No one is certain of how much of Bancroft’s work was written by Bancroft himself. He certainly could not have written the histories alone, although he is listed as sole author, and the personal pronoun can be found frequently in the voluminous footnotes in the books.
It is known that he employed many capable “assistants,” as he called them, and the names of several of these researchers, editors, and writers are known.
Whatever the weight of his contribution as author, it is to H. H. Bancroft and his band of unsung heroes that I owe my greatest debt. By preserving most of the significant documents of the era, and in citing them, often fully quoting them, his California volumes have become quite priceless, providing a narrative of inestimable value to any writer interested in the conquest, or in any other episode in Pacific Coast history.
And, for so massive and scholarly an undertaking, they are a delight to read, as I hope the material I have quoted directly demonstrates.
* * *
Of the three principals in the story of the Bear Flaggers and the conquest of California, Frémont, as one might expect, has been the biographers’ favorite. The best among these books, in my belief, is Ferol Egan’s thorough, eminently fair, and spiritedly written Frémont: Explorer for a Restless Nation. The explorer’s own Memoirs is invaluable if used carefully.
Dwight Clarke’s Stephen Watts Kearny: Soldier of the West is a keen defense of the dragoon general, meticulously researched and an apt example of the author’s assertion that “It is essential to a good biography that its author show some partiality for his subject.” I agree, and this is the principal reason I like Egan’s Frémont.
There is no modern biography of Stockton, a curious omission for a figure of such magnitude in the era of Manifest Destiny. Bancroft provides a wonderfully irascible portrait of this irascible figure, and fortunately there are good, dispassionate essays on him in Spiller and similar military references, and in the histories of the U.S.–Mexican War.
Bernard DeVoto’s The Year of Decision, 1846 is indispensable as an endlessly entertaining, personal, polemical view of the era. As a source on the conquest of California, it is quotable but erratic, and the author’s anti-Frémont bias makes even Bancroft’s attacks on the explorer pale by comparison.
As always, I am indebted to my late friend, Dan L. Thrapp, for his Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, a monument to the history of the American West.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Guide Series. California: A Guide to the Golden State. New York: Hastings House, 1939.
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530–1888. San Francisco: The History Company, 1883–1888; three vols.
______. History of the Pacific States of North America: California. San Francisco: The History Company, 1886–1890; seven vols.
Bashford, Herbert and Harr Wagner. A Man Unafraid: The Story of John Charles Frémont. San Francisco: Wagner Publishing Co., 1927.
Bauer, K. Jack. The Mexican War, 1846–1848. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. (Originally published 1974.)
Bean, Walton and James J. Rawls. California: An Interpretive History. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
Beck, Warren A. and Ynez D. Haase. Historical Atlas of California. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974.
Bergeron, Paul H. The Presidency of James K. Polk. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987.
Bidwell, Gen. John. Echoes of the Past. New York: Citadel Press, 1962. (Originally published 1900.)
Blackwelder, Bernice. Great Westerner: The Story of Kit Carson. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1962.
Blevins, Winfred. Give Your Heart to the Hawks. Plainview, New York: Nash Publishing Co., 1973.
Burdett, Charles. Life of Kit Carson. New York: A. L. Burt, 1902.
Caughey, John W. California: A Remarkable State’s Life History. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970.
Clarke, Dwight L. Stephen Watts Kearny: Soldier of the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.
Cleland, Robert Glass. Californian Pageant: The Story of Four Centuries. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946.
Connor, Seymour V. and Odie B. Faulk. North America Divided: The Mexican War, 1846–1848. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Dana, Richard Henry, Jr. Two Years Before the Mast. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader’s Digest Association, 1995. (Originally published in 1840, this edition contains Dana’s full narrative plus his “Twenty-Four Years Later” memoir and the essay, “Richard Henry Dana, Jr.’s Endless Voyage” by Thomas Fleming.)
DeVoto, Bernard. The Year of Decision, 1846. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. (Originally published 1941.)
Dillon, Richard. Humbugs and Heroes: A Gallery of California Pioneers. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970.
Egan, Ferol. Frémont: Explorer for a Restless Nation. New York: Doubleday, 1977.
Eisenhower, John S. D. So Far From God: The U.S. War With Mexico, 1846–1848. New York: Random House, 1989.
Frémont, John C. “Conquest of California,” The Century Magazine, April, 1891.
______. Memoirs of My Life. New York: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1887; two vols.
Gilbert, Bil. The Trailblazers. New York: Time-Life Books, 1973.
Grant, Blanche C., ed. Kit Carson’s Own Story of His Life. Taos, N. M.: Kit Carson Memorial Foundation, Inc., 1955.
Hafen, LeRoy R. and Carl Coke Rister. Western America. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1950.
______and W. J. Ghent. Broken Hand: Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick, Chief of the Mountain Men. Denver: Old West Publishing, 1931.
Hansen, Harvey J. and Jeanne Thurlow Miller. Wild Oats in Eden: Sonoma County in the 19th Century. Santa Rosa, Calif., n.p., 1962.
Hawgood, John A. America’s Western Frontiers: The Exploration and Settlement of the Trans-Mississippi West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967.
Henry, Robert S. The Story of the Mexican War. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1950.
Herr, Pamela and Mary Lee Spence, eds. The Letters of Jessie Benton Frémont. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993.
Jackson, Donald and Mary L. Spence, eds. The Expeditions of John Charles Frémont. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970; two vols.
Johannsen, Robert W. To the Halls of the Montezumas: The Mexican War in the American Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Lavender, David. Bent’s Fort. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1954.
Lynch, Robert M. The Sonoma Valley Story. Sono
ma, Calif.: The Sonoma Index-Tribune, 1997.
Marks, Paula Mitchell. Precious Dust: The American Gold Rush Era, 1848–1900. New York: William Morrow, 1994.
Marti, Werner H. Messenger of Destiny: The California Adventures of Archibald Gillespie, 1846–1847. San Francisco: John Howell, 1961.
McCaffrey, James M. Army of Manifest Destiny: The American Soldier in the Mexican War, 1846–1848. New York: New York University Press, 1992.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages, 1492–1616. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
______The Oxford History of the American People. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Nevin, David. The Mexican War. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1978.
Nevins, Allan. Frémont: Pathmarker of the West. New York: Longmans, Green, 1939.
Osio, Antonio María. The History of Alta California: A Memoir of Mexican California. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.
Papp, Richard Paul. Bear Flag Country. San Francisco:, n.p., 1996.
Parkman, Francis. The Oregon Trail, ed. by E. N. Feltskog. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. (Annotated new edition of the 1849 original.)
Paul, Rodman. California Gold. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1969.
Pittman, Ruth. The Roadside History of California. Missoula, Mont.: Mountain Press, 1995.
Proceedings of the Court-Martial of Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont. Washington: 30th Congress, Executive Document 33, n.d. [1848].
Richman, Irving B. California Under Spain and Mexico. Boston: n.p., 1911.
Rogers, Fred B. William Brown Ide: Bear Flagger. San Francisco: John Howell, 1962.
Rolle, Andrew. John Charles Frémont: Character as Destiny. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
Rosenus, Alan. General M. G. Vallejo and the Advent of the Americans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.
Royce, Josiah, “Montgomery and Frémont,” The Century Magazine, March, 1891.
Sabin, Edwin L. Kit Carson Days, 1809–1868. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995 (originally published 1935); three vols.
Singletary, Otis A. The Mexican War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Smith, Justin H. The War With Mexico. New York: Macmillan, 1919; two vols.
Spiller, Roger J., ed. Dictionary of American Military Biography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984; three vols.
Stone, Irving. They Also Ran. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1943.
Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography. Glendale, Calif.: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1988, 1994; four vols.
Vestal, Stanley [Walter Stanley Campbell]. Kit Carson: The Happy Warrior of the Old West. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1928.
Weems, John Edward. To Conquer a Peace: The War Between the United States and Mexico. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974.
Woodward, Arthur. Lances at San Pascual. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1948.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abert, James W.
Acapulco, Mexico
Adams, John Quincy
Agua Caliente
Albatross (ship)
Albuquerque
Allen, James
Alvarado, Governor Juan Bautista
Alviso, José María
American River
Americans
land grants to
perceived threat from, to Californio way of life
required to take oath of Mexican citizenship
residents in Mexican California
trade with California
Apache Indians
Arce, Francisco
Archambeau, Auguste
Arista, General Mariano
Armijo, Governor Manuel
Baja California
Bancroft, George
Bancroft, Hubert H.
historical value of work
Baranov, Aleksandr
Bartlett, Washington A.
“Battle of La Natividad”
“Battle of the Mesa”
“Battle of the Old Woman’s Gun”
battles, other. See locale of battle
Beale, Edward F.
Bear Flag
fashioning and flying of
final fate of
Bear Flag Revolt
Becknell, William
Bennett, James Gordon
Bent, Charles
Bent, William
Benton, Senator Thomas Hart
at Frémont’s trial
expansionist policy
support for Frémont
Bent’s Fort
Berreyesa, José de los Reyes, murder of
Berreyesa, José S.
Bidwell, John
Bird Island (Alcatraz)
Bodega Bay
Bodega Point
“Bostons” (American immigrants to early California)
Bouchard, Hippolyte de
Bridger, Jim
British
California said to be threatened to be seized by
expansion of Empire, in 19th century
and Oregon Territory claim
patrolling California waters
trade with California
whaling industry
Brooke, G. M.
Brown, John (“Juan Flaco,” Skinny John)
Buchanan, James
Burgess, Thomas
Butte Creek
Buttes, the
Cabrillo, Juan Rodríguez
Cacafuego (ship)
Cahuenga Pass
battle of (1845)
treaty of (1847)
California
American designs on
American immigrants to
annexation, attempted in 1842
annexation of
armies, in the Mexican era
Californios’ resistance to annexation
commerce and external trade, in the Mexican period
early Anglo-American visitors to
foreign population of, in the Mexican period
Mexican governors of
Mexican period of rule
origin of the name
politics, in the Mexican era
revolts against Mexico
Californios
dress and fashion
manners and lifestyles
Callao, Peru
Camilo Rancho
Camino Real, El
Cape Horn
Cape Mendocino
Cape Verdes
Carrillo, José Antonio
Carrillo, Ramón
Carson, Josefa, née Jaramillo
Carson, Kit (Christopher Houston)
(1830) first exploring visit to California
(1842–43) with Frémont on first and second Western expeditions
(1845) with Frémont on third Western expedition to California
(1845) with Frémont in California
(1846) assists at the murders of Berreyesa and two Haro brothers
(1846) ordered by Stockton to report to Washington, D.C.
(1846) ordered by Kearny to escort him back to California
(1846) at the battle of San Pascual
(1846) arrives in San Diego
(1847) leaves California
(1847) reports to Polk in Washington, and returns to Taos
biography
character and appearance
as Indian fighter
later career of
marriage and residence in Taos
memoirs of
on the trail
Carson, Moses
Cascade Range
Cass, Lewis
Castillo de San Joaquín
Castro, Angel
Castro, General Jo
sé
(1840) rebels against Micheltorena
(1845) requires American residents to take oath of Mexican citizenship
(1846) meets Frémont
(1846) confronts Frémont about actions of his men
(1846) denounces the Americans after the taking of Sonoma
(1846) military actions against Americans
(1846) declines Frémont’s offer to parley
(1846) withdraws to Los Angeles
(1846) military maneuvers around Los Angeles
(1846) response to Stockton’s declaration
(1846) abandons Los Angeles
attempted actions against American immigrants
later career
power of
suspected of fomenting Indians against the Americans
Castro, Manuel
Cathay, search for passage to
cattle
Chapúltepec Castle
Che-muc-tah (an Indian)
Childress, Sarah
Chumash Indians
Clark, Mary Radford
Clark, Meriwether Lewis
Clark, William
Clarke, Dwight L.
Clay, Henry
Clyman, James
Collingwood (ship)
commerce, in early California
Congress (ship)
Cook, James
Cooke, Philip St. George
Corwin, Thomas
Costanoan Indians
Cosumnes River
Cowie, Thomas
Crane (a Delaware Indian)
Crockett, David
Cyane (ship)
Dana, Richard Henry
description of early California
sea voyage to California
Davidson, John W.
Deer Creek
De Haro, Francisco and Ramón, murder of
De la Guerra, Pablo
De la Torre, Captain Joaquín
Delaware Indians (Frémont’s)
Democrats
Denny (halfbreed)
De Voto, Bernard
Dewell, Ben
Diegueño Indians
disputación (legislature)
Doak, Thomas W.
Dodson, Jacob
Domínguez rancho