The herald., 1896-07-07

not leave us unmatched altogether. how
ever, but left small brig running be-
tween his port and ours.
Finally a courier brought the news
of the war, and on the day following his
arrival we set sail. We had a gale all
the way up the coast and arrived al
Monterey on July I'd. We were at once
Joined by the Cyane and Levant and
the Constitution, then commanded by
| Captain Dupont
Dupont and the rest of them urged
Sloat to hoist the flag on July 4th, but
for some reason he failed to do so.
think he was awaiting the arrival OF
| General Fremont and his men. The
| delay caused great deal of annoyance
among the sailors, who were really
| anxious to see the old flag floating over
| California
ION July 7th we landed 300 or 400 men.
| Under cover of the guns on our ships
we advanced some distance inland. We
met with no resistance. The Mexicans
had fled as we approached.
| we took possession of the old custom
house and prepared to run up the flag.
| The mischievous Mexicans had cut the
| halyards, however. and there was some
delay A young fellow named Higgins
climbed up the Flagstaff and rove the
halyards Then, while the sailors
cheered, and the guns on the ships
boOIneu, up we pIlleu the Olu nag TO tne
! top. 1t broke beautifully. A breeze
| from the ocean caught it and 1t streamed
| out toward the east as If proud of it's
| new territory.
That night we left a garrison ashore.
| The hills were full of Mexican cavalry
men. and we had many false alarms
before the day broke. AS soon as it was
daybreak we began the work of forti-
flying the hill which commanded the
town.
-Four eight-inch shell guns were
taken ashore and drawn up the slope.
1t was hard work, l can tell you. We
laid planks and placed the guns on
these. Before each gun went a man
with can of grease. We had no horses
and we put 800 men on the hawsers
At first the guns were on the crest
There we cut down the pines, built a
block house and mounted our weapons.
I'm the meantime the Congress joined
us, under Commander Stockton. One
day Commodore Sloat and several off,
GERS were standing on deck when out
of the fog there came the magnificent
three-decker. the British flagship Col
lingwood. With her was another ship.
Commodore Sloat was suspicious at
once.
Go to Commander Stockton he
said to me- Tell him Admiral Seymour
with the Collingwood has just come In,
and he must prepare for action. Warn
him to be cautious-we do not want to
provoke hostilities. Therefore let him
have his ship ready, but leave the tom
pions in the guns
When | wcnt on board the Congress
1 found Stockton at dinner. delivered
my message and he jumped to his feet,
his eyes flashing.
Tell the commodore we are always
prepared for action on the Congress-
he cried
Then we waited. Sloat had been
rowed in his barge out to the Colling-
wood. which had anchored. When he
returned he told us there would be no
trouble Admiral Seymour says he has
no instructions to Interfere he said
and we must offer him the civilities of
the port
The Englishmen stayed with us some
time and We're very pleasant compan-
ions. We had all read Cooper's Leather
stocking stories and were very much
interested in Fremont and his men. who
had camped out in the pines. The mid
dies from the ships, both English and
American, visited the camp frequently,
and the famous frontiersmen, such as
Kit Carson, were pointed out to us. The
trappers showed us how they could use
the rifle, and showed US also how to play
poker AT that time the first California
newspaper was published in Monterey.
A man named as DR.. Semple had found
some old type and some brown paper.
With these he managed to issue two
numbers of the California Star. Then
the English vessels sailed away. Mon
terey at that time was a little Mexican
village. Some of the officers who Joined
us there married some of the little sem
oritas afterward. We had quite pleas
ant time while we were there. The in
habitants were hospitable and there was
good deer and bear hunting.
while we were at Monterey party
of Fremonts men, under Major Giles
pie, went down to attack Los Angeles.
Reports reached us that they were sur
rounded by the enemy and in danger of
annihilaton, so we were ordered to go
to their relief.
I'VE sailed down to San Pedro. arriv-
ing there in October. To our surprise
we found Gillespie and his party in q
traders vessel in tlAe harbor. They had
evacuated Los Angeles and were wait
ing for US.
Admiral Sloat had left us at Mon
terey, and Capt. Mervina, who had sue
ceeded him. determined to advance at
once upon Los Angeles. We landed 300
men, and. carrying our provisions with
us, began our march. We had no artil-
lery at all.
1--WE marched all day, and at dusk
camped for the night. We haE
seen the enemy during the day. but had
not been attacked. There was rumor
in camp that the wells had been poisoned
and no one would drink the water. To-
ward midnight picket saw flash on
the hillside, and the next instant a
round shot tore through the camp, show
ing that the enemy had artillery, such
as it was. In the morning we marched
to a stream, where we got some water
Several miles beyond we met the enemy.
about 500 strong. They were all mounted
ard formed a crescent. We formed in
squares and charged. They met us with
a shower of grapeshot, which killed and
wounded twelve of our men. a desper-
ate effort was made to capture those
guns, but it was hard work for sailors to
run through the high mustard grass,
and they got away.
I'VE We're in a nice pickle, as the enc
my had heavy guns and horses and we
We're afoot, without artillery, and with
no accommodations for our wounded. "A
retreat was determined upon. The Mex
leans followed us, peppering us all the
way AS we approached the ships the
men left on board heard the noise of the
firing, and, fearing that we We're being
cut to pieces, gallantly armed themselves
with pixies and cutlasses and disem-
barked, so that we had a small force of
cooks and galley boys drawn up on the
shore to cover our embarkation.
I'VE had had a very trying march Of
two days. The rascals who weren't