Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/154

128 total overthrow of the Mexican authority, and the establishment of an independent government in California. On the 6th of June, 1846, Captain (now Lieutenant Colonel) Frémont determined to accomplish these objects. Boldly turning on his pursuers, by a series of rapid movements, conceived and executed with equal daring and skill, he soon drove the Mexican general from that portion of the territory north of the Bay of San Francisco. On the 11th of June, a party of de Castro's men, consisting of one officer and fourteen privates, with two hundred horses, were surprised and captured by twelve of Lieutenant Colonel Frémont's command. At daybreak on the 15th instant, the military post at Sonoma was taken, with nine brass cannon, two hundred and fifty stand of arms, a quantity of ammunition, and a number of prisoners, among whom were Colonel Vallejo and several other officers. Leaving a garrison of twelve men to defend the post, Lieutenant Colonel Frémont proceeded to the Rio de los Americanos, a branch of the Sacramento, to procure assistance from the American settlers. Soon after he reached there, an express arrived with the information that de Castro was preparing to cross the bay and attack the post. This intelligence was received in the afternoon of the 23rd of June, and he immediately returned with ninety mounted riflemen, whom he had collected in the valley. By riding night and day, they traversed the intervening distance of eighty miles before two o'clock on the morning of the 25th. The enemy had not yet made their appearance. A party of twenty men were sent out to reconnoitre, and fell in with the vanguard of de Castro's force, consisting