St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-03-14
HELPED TO SAVE CALIFORNIA.
Last Living Member of Comm o d re
StOcktOn'S Crew of the Sturdy
Frfgate Congress.

! StOcktOn'S Crew of the Sturdy
Frignte Congress.
The death at Monterey, Cal, of
Thomas Bralee removes one of the two
survivors of the, group of men who
raised the first United States flag over
California in 1916. The only survivor
now is William Hill, of Honesdale, Pa,
who. at IS, is still as hale and hearty
as man of so, says a recent CORE
spondence of the Chicago Inter Ocean.
At the age of II Hill ran away from
his home in Honesdale, and shipped
on New Bedford whaler. After a
two years cruise the ship, homeward
bound, touched at Honolulu There
Hill and others left it.
Hill shipped on a merchant vessel
bound for India, and year later was
| back at Honolulu. There, while
ashore, he heard that war had been
! declared between the United States and
| Mexico.
An American man-of-war about that
time cast anchor off Diamond Head.
1t proved to be the Cayenne, command.
ed by Capt. Mervine. Hill and two 9th
ers left the merchant ship, went
! aboard the man-of-war, and enlisted
in the navy for three years, or during
the war.
''The Cayenne sailed for Monterey,
and arrived in the harbor on July 6,
1885," says the veteran Hill in narrat-
ing the incidents. ''The frigate
Savannah commanded by Commodore
Sloat, was there. The commodore was
waiting for larger force. 1t did not
come, and the next day we went ashore
and hoisted the American flag over
Monterey.
''The proclamation of possession
was read in English and Spanish. If
we had been 4s hours later the United
States would have had to fight Eng
land, or give up all claims to California,
for while the excitement over the oc-
cupying of Monterey by our forces
was at it's height, on July 9, a British
ine-of-battle-ship appeared in the off
ing.
"She was rmidable-looking yes
sci, and no mistake. She carried more
guns, and bigger ones, than our three
ships combined. Nevertheless, our
decks were cleared for action in short
order. Every man was at his post,
and every gun was ready to be fred
on the word. The great British ship
sailed straight for the harbor, looking
hostile enough, but as she entered it
she tackled, and her band struck up
Yankee Doodle
'There was no installing the mean
ing of that, and the band on our flag
ship responded with God Save the
Queen The British vessel was unde-
command of Commodore Seymour. He
entered boat and was rowed to the
Savannah, where he paid his respects
to Commodore Sloat.
"tI see the American flag is flying
on Shore said he. IF it were not, l
should have Immediately raised the
British flag there and taken posses
sion of California in the name of her
majesty the queen
English protection, rather than oars,
and if our little fleet hadn't got there
just as it did, they would have had it.
Two or three days later Commodore
Stockton joined our fleet with his frig- |
ate Congress. / was transferred to the |
Congress, and remained with her until
the war was over, helping protect the
California coast. All through the
war British battleships lowered about |
the coast. as wellas the Mexican coast,
for some reason or other, but they
never came as near taking hand IN
the game as Seymour did at Monterey.
cat the close of the war the Con-
gress was ordered to San Francisco.
where Commodore Stockton was de.
tached and sent with IS men overland
to the east. The Congress, under
command of Capt. Avealet, had orders
to sail to Norfolk, Va, around Caps
Horn. ,~
"While rounding the Horn we were
struck by a tremendous typhoon. The
Congress was thrown on her beam ends
and drifted to lee at the rate of 1G
knots an hour. At the height of that
terrible gale we sighted Il ship to
windward, her rigging filed with men
evidently calling for help, but we
could give them none. We never knew
what ship it was, but she went down
with all on board.
'sThe Congress weathered the storm,
and we arrived at Norfolk safe and
sound and the crew was discharged.
was the youngest member of the
crew by five years, and that | am the
last survivor of it have no doubt"