Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-08-14
FREMONT IN CALIFORNIA.

rights OF our citizens here. (Applause. J
FREMONT IN CALIFORNIA.
We invite attention to the following com
nun cation:
To the Editors of tile Dayton Journal
1t is with very great reluctance that |
appear before the public; but sense of
that duty which I owe 10 the profession of
which | have been member for nearly
thirty-two years, compels me to claim for
the navy and marine corps, and for the ma
w and marine corps alone, the entire cred
it, if any is due, for the conquest of Cali
fornia, saving and excepting the personal
services of the la.e Gen. Kearney and his
handful of officers and men, numbering in
all, not more than dozen persons-all
that was left of that gallant band that met
with a fate so disastrous at San Pasqual
The particulars Of that affair are fresh in
the memory of many of our citizens, from
the fact, that in this bloodiest action Of the
war, there fell one of the most gallant and
accomplished officers OF the army, Capt.
A. r. Johnston, of Dragons, a native OF
Piqua, Ohio, and the son Of our venerable
and distinguished fellow ci'izen, Col. John
Johnston. repeat that with this excep-
ton. all credit f,r the conquest Of Califor-
fornia is due to the navy and marine corpse.
II is well known that the late war with
Mexico afforded little opportuni of dis
tinction to the navy-and ii is hard if the
little distinction it did gain is to be wrested
from them to make capital for an aspirant
to the Presidency. l allude TO the fact
that the friends of Fremont are claiming
for him the lions share of the little glory
achieved by that conquest.
am prepared to prove that, so far from
his being entitled to any credit for his par
ticipation in the conquest of California, that
his having failed to cooperate heartily and
efficiently with Commodore Stockton so far
from assisting in the conquest, embarrass-
ed him (Stockton) in his operations, and
rendered the victory less complete than it
would have been, had we received from
Fremont that assistance we had a right to
expect, mounted, armed and equipped as
he was. | am fulther prepared TO prove
that in every engagement and every rout
of the enemy which took place in Calltor-
mia, Fremont was invariably too late to take
part; and, to sum "p ali, | assert that du
ring the whole of his service in California
he never was within hearing distance of the
enemy's guns. The cause Of inefficiency
| will not here discuss.
His other claims TO the distinguished
honor which it is intended TO confer upon
him, l know nothing of and care nothing
about. | am no politician. | am neither
for Buchanan nor Fillmore, for Stockton
or Gerrit Smith, and certainly not for Ere
mont, knowing him as l do. Since have
stepped so far out of my proper sphere as
to appear before the public in the character
of a newspaper paragraph writer, hope to
be excused for telling who am, and how
came in possession of this Information, and
a great deal more on the same subject Yet
untold.
/ went to California, in 1916, with Com
modorc Stockton, and was, at that time, a
lieutenant of more than eleven years stand
ing, and during his operations there, was
for some time his aid -decamp and quarter
master of the forces. ] was present, and
assisted, with my own hands, in hoisting
our FLAG at Santa Barbary, at San Pedro.
and at Puebla los Angeles, and | was at
this latter place the next officer in rank to
Commodore Stockton, when first lieuten
ant and brevet Capt Fremont arrived lherc
with hs hundred, just thiriy-slx hours
too late to take part in the route of Gen.
Caste, whom we-thc sailors and marines
on toot-had driven before us for two davs,
and until his forces scattered, apd he, to-
gether with the civil Governor, Pic Pico,
and his principal officers, fled to Mexico,
and was never heard of afterward during
the war
am compelled, in this manner, to ut
terly annhilate the beautiful story which
appears in the Journal of yesterday, emit
tied Fremont, or the ride of the 'one hun
dred, - copied from the New York Post,
which story l pronounce to be utterly and
entirely false, unless the interview with
Gen. Vallejo, as described, took place, and
that / never heard before; but all of the
adventure and tho gallantry attributed to