The campaign for California is probably one of the lesser known wars fought on modern American soil. From a strategic standpoint, the seizure of Alta California was a mere sideshowto the main event in Mexico. From a socio-political standpoint, however, the acquiring of the California territory ranks as one of the most important events in United States history. Alta California, made up of modern Arizona, New Mexico and California, was sparsely settled and loosely governed. Its distance from the Mexican capital of Mexico City and the less than hospitable terrain in between made commerce of any sort difficult between the two. What little government there was did not extend far from the major cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. Thus small colonies of settlers from the States were able to occupy large parts of the territory unmolested. These colonies formed the basis of President Polk's request that Mexico cede Alta California to the United States peacefully. President Polk, who as a dark horse candidate won office by his support of the annexation of the Republic of Texas, was a staunch believer in Manifest Destiny. This, as much as anything else, started the war with Mexico. Mexico had won their independence from Spain in 1821 and were anxious to prove themselves after the loss of Texas in 1836. The Mexican-American War started because of territorial disputes over Texas and California. Mexico did not give in to American diplomatic pressures to cede Alta California or give up their claim on Texas. Polk wanted these territories; he believed their acquistion by the United States was inevitable. Mexico was not going to give them up. The only recourse was war. THE CAMPAIGN BEGINS On September 25th, 1846, Brevet Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny set out from Santa Fe, New Mexico, with 300 men of the 1st U.S. Dragoons, two mountain howitzers, a small group of topographical engineers with wagon train and the task of seizing Calfiornia from the Mexicans. With his men mounted on mules, Kearny made his slow progression through the trackless, arid deserts of the American southwest. He unexpectedly met up with Indian fighter Kit Carson on October 6th. Carson carried grand tales of the complete conquest of California that had already occurred. Thus, with thoughts of the difficulty of the trail ahead in his mind, Kearny sent 200 of his men back to Santa Fe. Kearny persuaded Carson to sign on as a guide and proceeded with the remaining two companies of his force, under Captain Moore, to California. The conquest of California spoken of in glowing terms by Kit Carson was accomplished mainly by Marine and Naval landing parties from the ships of the United States' Pacific Squadron. At the commencement of the War with Mexico, Commodore John D. Sloat was in command in the Pacific. His squadron included the frigate Savannah (44), the sister ships Cyane and Levant (22 gun corvettes), the ship-sloops Portsmouth (20) and Warren (18) and the storeship Erie. Sloat's orders were that, as soon as he was sure war had broken out between the United States and Mexico, he was to seize the key California ports. On June 7th the cautious Sloat received confirmation of the previously reported battles of Palo Alto and Resca de la Palma. Decidingthat wardid in fact exist, he set forth from his base at Mazatlan in his flagship, the Savannah. Later he received orders clarifying his previous directions and directing him to seize Mazatlan and Monterey, but otherwise leaving him at his own discretion. Sloat arrived off Monterey July 1st. The Cyane and Levant were already there. The Portsmouth was in San Francisco. With vague fears that war did not really exist, Sloat did nothing until July 5th. On that day word arrived from the Portsmouth that the American "Bear Flaggers", with the support of explorer-adventurer Brevet Captain John C. Fremont, were in open rebellion against the Mexican Government and had already fought several small engagements with the Mexicans in the vicinity of San Francisco. Sloat considered this final confirmation of a state of warand moved to take Monterey and San Francisco. Little did he know that Fremont was acting on his own initiative! Monterey was taken bloodlessly by a landing party from the Savananah on the 7th and likewise San Francisco by a landing party from the Portsmouth on the 9th. On July 15th the frigate Congress (44) (in 1862 the Congress had the dubious honor of being the first ship sunk by the ironclad C.S.S. Virginia) arrived in Monterrey bearing Commodore Robert F. Stockton. Stockton took command of land operations on the 23rd and overall command on the 29th. One of his first actions was to recognize the Bear Flaggres as the official California Battalion of U.S. volunteer forces. That he was in no way empowered to do this did not stop him. John Fremont was to be Major and Brevet Captain Archibald Gillespie, U.S.M.C., was to be second-in-command. Stockton's personality was completely different from Sloat's. Sloat, with his cautious yet purposeful behavior might have succeeded in taking and holding California peacefully. Stockton, with his tactless and imperious nature, served only to aggravate the Mexicans with everything he did. Gillespie, too, grated on the Californians. Resistance to the Americans began to coalesce around Governor Pio Pico and General Jose Castro in Los Angeles. Stockton sent Fremont and his men south to San Diego on board the Cyane. They were to block any movement south by Castro in Los Angeles. Stockton and his main force would land at San Pedro and proceed inland to attack Castro and end all resistance. Fremont arrived at San Diego July 29th and Stockton reached San Pedro August 6th. As Stockton advanced on Los Angeles with 360 men and four small cannon, Castro, Pico and their 100 men melted away and the leaders headed for Sonora. Stockton entered Los Angeles on August 13th with no resistance. Fremont arrived from the south later the same day California was effectively under American control. Stockton began plans for the seizure of Acapulco. REBELLION! Leaving Gillespie and forty eight California Volunteers in Los Angeles, Stockton and Fremont departed for Monterey. Gillespie was well hated by the Angelinos. Much like Stockton, he was tactless, imperious and disdainful. His meager garrison of scruffy, ill-disciplined volunteers was scorned by the local populace. On the 23rd of September the locals rose, and under Captain Jose Flores, marched on Gillespie. Gillespie surrendered but was allowed to leave under arms. On October 4th he left San Pedro on the American merchant vessel Vandalia. Stockton received word of the rebellion on the first of October. He sent Captain William Mervine in the Savannah south to assist Gillespie in retaking Los Angeles. Arriving on the 6th, Mervien found the Vandalia still anchored at San Pedro with Gillespie and his men aboard. Mervine formed a landing party made up of 285 sailors, marines and California Volunteers and attempted to attack the Californios on the 7th. Formed in square to protect against cavalry attack, Mervine's force was unable to close with the Mexicans, who were much more mobile and had a single cannon, while the Americans had no artillery. Thus he retired back to San Pedro and boarded his ship. On the 25th Stockton arrived on the Congress. A combined landing party from both frigates succeeded in taking Los Angeles without a shot fired the next day. Stockton then shifted his base to San Diego. Fremont and his men remained at Monterey. Stockton established his base at the site of the current Serra Mission. In Stockton's time the mission was crumbling down and home only to unwashed peasants and mangy dogs. Stockton, arriving in late October, built an earthen redoubt and equipped it with guns, probably from the Savannah. Here Stockton and his men trained and drilled and kept watch for Flores' guerrillas. On December 3rd Kearny reached Warner Springs. For the preceding month and a half he had labored through the treacherous deserts of Arizona and New Mexico with little food or water. The last week had been especially bad. Men and mules suffered from heat stroke and dehydration. Even those who did not fall were on the verge of exhaustion. Two weeks earlier Kearny had some news that certainly did not cheer him up. The supposedly conquered Californians were in revolt and that Stockton was in San Diego. Kearny sent word to Stockton of his imminent arrival. Stockton received the letter on the 3rd and that evening he sent out Gillespie with 39 Volunteers and one brass four pounder to link up with Kearny. Gillespie was also to recommend that Kearny attempt to attack the 100 or so Californios in the area. Kearny and Gillespie met on the afternoon of the 5th at Santa Ysabel. Here they learned that a force of Californios watched the road to the south, at the village of San Pasqual. Campaign for California Mexican-American War Introduction and Rebellion Battle of San Pasqual and Los Angeles Wargame Campaign, Uniform Notes, and Bibliography Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IX No. 3 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1989 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com