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expected, through the forces under the commodore, to be found in actual possession of Upper California. This would bring with it the necessity of a civil administration. Such a government should be established under the commodore's protection.

Under all these instructions, directed at various times to the commander of the naval forces in the Pacific, Commodore Stockton now asserted his superior authority in California; `and, disregarding the protest and representations of General Kearny, persisted in confirming the appointment, as governor, of Colonel Fremont.

General Kearny withdrew to San Diego, where on the 29th of January he was joined by the Mormon battalion, four, hundred strong, under Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke, of the 2d U. S. dragoons. This corps arrived in excellent condition and fine health, having had no serious loss during their long march, and in their appearance, conduct, and discipline, reflecting the highest honour on their military chief.

On the 23d of January, Commodore W. B. Shubrick, in the razee Independence, arrived at Monterey, and assumed command of all the naval forces, and on the 1st of February issued his first general order. General Kearny, leaving the Mormons at San Diego, went on board the Cyane, and arrived at Monterey on the 8th of February. The interview and arrangements between these two officers proved perfectly harmonious. Commodore Shubrick, and subsequently Commodore Biddle, his senior, cordially supported the views of the general, and co-operated with him in carrying out his instructions. In consequence, the following general order was by them jointly promulgated:

"To all whom it may concern, be it known-That the President of the United States, desirous to give and secure to the people of California a share of the good government and happy civil organization enjoyed by the people of the United States, and to

protect them at the same time from the attacks of foreign foes, and from internal commotions, has invested the undersigned with separate and distinct powers, civil and military; a cordial cooperation in the exercise of which, it is hoped and believed, will have the happy results desired. To the commander-in-chief of the naval forces, the President has assigned the regulation of the import trade, with conditions on which vessels of all nations (our own as well as foreign) may be admitted into the ports of the territory, and the establishment of all port-regulations. To the commanding military officer, the President has assigned the direction of the operations on land, and has invested him with administrative functions of government over the people and territory occupied by the forces of the United States. Done at Monterey, capital of California, this 1st day of March, A. D. 1847. W. BRANDFORD SHUBRICK,

Commander-in-chief of the Naval Forces.

S. W. KEARNY,

Brig. Gen. U. S. A. and Governor of California."

On the same day the general issued his proclamation as governor, promising respect and protection to person, property, and religion, absolving the inhabitants from all ties of allegiance to Mexico, assuring the people of the early establishment of a free government, and earnestly urging peace and union, and combined efforts to promote the prosperity and happiness of the country.

Early in February Captain Tompkins and his company of the 3d United States artillery arrived in the transport Lexington, with 24-pounders, mortars, ordnance stores, and intrenching tools: the company was stationed in Monterey. On the 6th of March, Colonel Stevenson arrived at San Francisco, in the ship T. H. Perkins, with two hundred and fifty men of the New York California volunteers-and a few days after, other transports brought the remainder of that regiment, numbering, in full, eight

hundred men, and including many mechanics: they brought with them, in addition to six pieces of artillery and a supply of smallarms, machinery for saw and grist-mills, mechanics' tools, and other materiel of industry. With these forces little fears could be entertained that the peace of the territory would again be easily disturbed. Settlements were made and towns founded, confidence was restored, and industry, released from terror and doubt, was now active, under the impartial and wise protection of the American flag.

The work which had been assigned to General Kearny was completed the object of his government fully achieved—the honour of his country maintained and exalted—his name and the fame of his little army written imperishably on the brightest pages of that country's history. On the 31st of May, 1847, having transferred to Colonel R. B. Mason the authority and duties of governor and commander-in-chief, the general, with his staff and a small party of officers, set out on his return to the United States. Difficult and hazardous was his route of two thousand two hundred miles across the continent. On the 22d of August he arrived at Fort Leavenworth. A little more than one year had sped by since last its flag saluted him—the story of those intervening twelve months has yet in military annals to find a parallel.

CHAPTER XV.

Colonel Doniphan's Expedition against the Navajoes-Treaty with the IndiansThe Zumians-March upon Chihuahua-Battle of the Brazito-Town and Valley of El Paso-March continued-Enemy's position at the Sacramento-Battle of the Sacramento-Occupation of Chihuahua-March for Saltillo-Affairs in New Mexico-Plot discovered-Second Conspiracy-Governor Bent murdered -Pueblo de Taos-Insurrection quelled.

FULFILMENT of the promises of protection made to the people of New Mexico by their conquerors, was neither forgotten, nor delayed. From La Joya, on his route to the Pacific, General Kearny addressed to Colonel Doniphan at Santa Fé an express, instructing him to defer his contemplated movement on Chihuahua, and to proceed with his regiment into the hill country of the Navajoes, to effect the restitution of all prisoners and property taken by stealth or violence from the newly-subjugated people, and to exact from that half-civilized, fierce, and powerful tribe, ample security for their future good conduct. These warlike Indians have, for full two centuries, been the terror and the scourge of the New Mexican border. From the range of mountains bounding the valley of the Del Norte, their country stretches away down the tributaries of the Colorado, and towards the settlements of California on the west, the Cordilleras, and the highlands beyond, affording them strongholds and almost inaccessible retreats. Without towns or permanent abodes, they live chiefly on horseback, and in the open air, wealthy in countless herds of horses, cattle, and sheep; yet, ever at the dictate of wild caprice, or in the spirit of a long-cherished hate, descending on the villages and settlements of the valley, plundering and destroying

EXPEDITION AGAINST THE NAVAJOES.

267

wherever they come. In their latest incursion they had slain seven or eight men, taken off captive as many women and children, and driven away into their highlands ten thousand head of sheep, cattle, and mules.

Leaving the town of Santa Fé, on the 26th of October, Colonel Doniphan divided his command into separate detachments, and invaded the Navajo country by three routes. The season was far advanced, and winter had set in with more than usual severity. For artillery and wagons the country was wholly impracticable; mules with pack-saddles, therefore, alone accompanied the force, which, without tents, almost destitute of shoes and clothing, and stinted in provisions, pursued over snow-clad mountains, and through precipitous ravines, barricaded by stupendous cliffs, and paved with huge masses and sharp fragments of the living rock, its strangely perilous way. Their daily march was through snows gathered deeply in the gorges, up mountain walls pendent with icicles, along narrow ledges overhanging appalling chasms, where an error or a stumble would have hurled horse and man among jagged and pointed rocks, hundreds of feet below. As the days passed on, the cold became intense; yet frequently at night, the adventurous soldiers laid down their weary bodies, wrapped in blankets and skins, on the rugged earth or the frozen snow, and rose in the morning from beneath a newly-fallen coverlet of snow, with limbs benumbed, and icicles pendent in clusters from beard and hair. Even when they reached the diversified table-lands and the rich valleys, the snow continued equally deep, and the cold no less severe. Success crowned such fearless resolution. The Mexicans looked with undisguised amazement on what they considered the extreme of temerity; the braver Indians, with respect upon the strangers whose skill and courage they could appreciate, a respect soon deepened into reverence by the generous confidence, the fairness and fidelity in every instance displayed. Every portion of their