Santa Barbara-Ventura-San Luis Obispo County CA Archives History - Books .....War With Mexico 1891 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 7, 2007, 6:57 pm Book Title: A Memorial And Biographical History Of The Counties Of Santa Barbara, Ventura, And San Luis Obispo THE WAR WITH MEXICO-CHANGE OF RULE. A very small part indeed, comparatively speaking, was that taken by Santa Barbara in the important occurrences of 1846-'47, which resulted in the conquest of California by the Americans. On May 13, 1846, was issued a call for a consejo general de los pueblos unidos (gengueral council of the united towns) to meet at Santa Barbara on June 15, to discuss the actual and the impending situation, and to deliberate on the future. This council was to consist of the governor and eighteen delegates from the respective towns, together with certain representatives from the ecclesiastical and the military element. It was freely rumored that the object of this convention would be to invoke English interference between Mexico and the United States; but on June 3 the Assembly suspended the action of the bando or call. Equally futile was the proclamation, summoning to a patriotic resistance the Mexican Californians, which Pio Pico issued from Santa Barbara on June 23, on learning of the taking of Sonoma. The Barbarenos would seem to have been practical, progressive and cautious. On August 4 or 5, Stockton, on his way down the coast, touched here and raised the American flag, leaving also a garrison of ten men under a midshipman, thus formally putting Santa Barbara under the rule of the United States. These men were taken away on the Congress on September 7, being replaced somewhat later from Fremont's battalion. When Gillespie's tactless and overbearing rule in Los Angeles brought about there an uprising, which resulted in his abandoning the field and marching ta [sic] San Pedro, the Californians, having disposed of the Los Angeles garrison, set about dispossessing those of San Diego and Santa Barbara. Accordingly, about the first of October, a small force under Manuel Garfias demanded the surrender or parole of Lieutenant Talbot and his nine men. These were youthful but experienced mountaineers, and to avoid parole, they took to the open; for a week they kept in sight of the town, which they hoped might be retaken by a man-of-war. Then, being hard pressed by the Californians, who fired the brush to drive them out, they crossed the mountains and reached Monterey. After the flight of this garrison, the Americans living at Santa Barbara were arrested, and some were sent to Los Angeles as prisoners, but most were paroled. In December, 1846, and January, 1847, John C. Fremont with his battalion rested here for a week, on the way to Los Angeles and Cahuenga. On April 8, 1847, companies A, B and F, of Stevenson's regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, arrived at Santa Barbara, where Company F remained during its term of service. The other two left on July 4 for La Paz. Captain Lippitt remained in charge of this post. Toward the close of 1847, there were apprehensions of attack upon the Americans at Santa Barbara under Captain Lippitt, and the Governor, Colonel Richard B. Mason, went thither, where he was satisfied that the strain of feeling, if any, was caused by the improper conduct of some of the Americans composing the garrison. In April, 1848, during the organization of forces to fight Indians, it transpired that a plot was on foot to direct these bodies toward wresting from the Americans the towns of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. At this time, while popular excitement and official fears were both wrought up, the affair of "the lost cannon" happened, materially increasing the feeling of insecurity. This was a brass gun-some say a six-pounder, some say of twice that caliber-which had belonged to the Elizabeth. It was left on the beach, while awaiting trans-shipment to Monterey, to be placed on the fortifications there. It disappeared on the night of April 5, and all efforts to find it were unsuccessful. Some said it had been carried on a cart toward Los Angeles; others averred it had been put aboard a vessel; the authorities inclined to connect its disappearance with flying rumors of revolt, and to believe that it had been sequestrated by the Barbarenos, with a view towards turning it against its former owners. Local officials and prominent citizens were very indignant at this distrust, but the gun was not forthcoming. Therefore Governor Mason imposed a military fine of $500 upon the town, to be paid pro rata by all its inhabitants; the whole sum to be repaid to the town on discovery of the guilty individuals, or proof that they were not residents of Santa Barbara. A list of property-holders was made out, and each was assessed his portion of the $500. This caused great excitement and indignation, and not least among the American residents; the alcaldes offered their resignations, which were, however, not accepted; a company of dragoons was sent for from Los Angeles to enforce the payment of the fine. Still, while some paid, others would not do so, and so much of their property as was necessary to satisfy their assessments was seized and sold at public auction. It afterward transpired that five men had dragged away the gun with the aid of a yoke of oxen, and buried it in the sand, at a spot that they could not relocate. Their idea may have been one of pecuniary profit, or they may have designed to use the piece in a possible uprising against American rule. Be that as it may, no less than three streets of Santa Barbara still bear the names of men in commemoration of this event:-Mason, Quinientos [Five Hundred], and Canon Perdido [Lost Canon] streets. Not only in the nomenclatures of streets did the Barbarenos indicate the impression left by this affair: the first seal of the city had emblazoned in its center the picture of a cannon encircled by the words "Vale quinientos pesos "- it is worth $500. This seal was used from 1851 to 1860, when a new one was devised, leaving out this emblem. The military governor of California in 1850 returned to the prefect of this district the $500, with instructions to employ it in the construction of a jail. The city authorities. endeavored to obtain the money from its depository, and place it in the city treasury; but the prefect stated that, as he held the money in trust for a specific purpose, and was ready to pay it over when, but not before, the city was ready to build the jail. The city attorney was instructed to begin a suit against the prefect to recover the money, and he accordingly did so. As the District Judge was a family connection of the defendant in the action, the case could not be tried here, and so was transferred to San Francisco. The papers relating to the matter were unaccountably lost, the trustee of the fund died, and as no new suit was instituted against his estate the fund was never recovered for the city. In the year 1858, a heavy rain caused the pent-up waters of the Estero to cut through the sand-bank separating it from the ocean, and the mystery of the lost cannon's whereabouts was solved as it was now discovered protruding from one of the banks of this new channel. Some of the native Californians completed its disinterment, and hauled it in triumph up State street to de la Guerra. It was uninjured, clean, and bright. It was sold for $80 to a Jew, who sent it to San Francisco and sold it at a large profit for old brass. Thus Santa Barbara displayed no little inconsistency, in failing to retain and preserve here a relic of such memorable importance in local history. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Illustrated Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Prospective Future; with Profuse illustrations of its Beautiful Scenery, Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of Prominent Citizens of to-day, BY MRS. YDA ADDIS STORKE. "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors -will never achieve anything worthy to he remembered with pride by remote descendants."—Macaulay. THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1891. Barlow-Sinclair Printing Co., Chicago. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/santabarbara/history/1891/amemoria/warwithm220gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 8.9 Kb