Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/509

Rh with as large a force as possible. Several writers, treating the subject superficially, have confounded these events with those of later date, and represented Don Cárlos as Alvarado's chief opponent from the first.

Alvarado had left the capital on or about Christmas. His army consisted of some sixty Californians, and twenty-five foreigners under Graham and Coppinger. Part of the force went down the coast on the Clementine, landed at El Cojo, and joined the rest at Purísima. Letters received before starting and on the way left little doubt of a kind reception at Santa Bárbara. Messengers sent forward from Purísima brought back confirmation of favorable prospects, and the forces of the Estado Libre arrived at the mission January 3d, being cordially received by the Barbareños of all classes.

Conservative Santa Bárbara, as we have seen, though favoring a general junta in central California and requiring pledges that Mexicans should not be persecuted, had virtually favored the Monterey plan from the first by refusing to accept the opposing plan of Los Angeles. Cárlos Carrillo and his friends had expressed their approval. Valentin Cota had been in communication with Alvarado and received from him a captain's commission. And, what was much more