The History of Alta California by Antonio Maria Osio

Author:Antonio Maria Osio [Osio, Antonio María]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

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Those who aspired to possess the territory had their suspicions about what might happen, so they accelerated their plots to acquire it by force or by purchase. They prepared to try the first option, as long as they retained the chance to try the second before trouble began. Colonel Frémont was on an overland expedition and came to the Monterey area on the pretext that he needed to replenish his supplies. His true motive was to convince the inhabitants that they should view his armed intrusion into a foreign territory as a beneficial rather than a hostile act. Don José Castro was somewhat inclined to tolerate this outrage, but at that moment he received a message from his uncle, Don Ángel Castro, who stated that three of Colonel Frémont’s soldiers had arrived at his ranch (near San Juan Bautista).1 When they saw that he was alone and unarmed, they had dared try to rape his daughters.2 Don Ángel was one of many people who prided themselves in saying that they had been loyal subjects of His Catholic Majesty. As a veteran presidio soldier, he knew how to protect his honor under any circumstances. When Frémont’s soldiers threatened this honorable old man by placing a pistol at his neck so the others could commit the intended crime, the old soldier found energy and courage from the knowledge that his strong fists would not fail him. He told his aggressor that he preferred death to dishonor. Then he grabbed him by the neck, yanked the pistol from his hand, and threw it to the ground. This quick and vigorous action prevented the soldiers from committing their barbaric act. They retreated immediately to Frémont’s camp but promised to return again.

This change in the relationship between Frémont and Castro prompted Castro to leave Monterey to attack Frémont. When Frémont found out, he headed for one of the high hills in the Natividad Mountains, where he planned to barricade himself and resist Castro. In a letter written in pencil from there to Don Tomás O. Larkin, United States Consul in Monterey, Frémont vowed to fight until death as long as his nation’s flag was flying in Monterey. He knew that the government would be grateful for his sacrifice and would avenge his death by inflicting an appropriate punishment on those who so unjustly took his life.3 Castro approached the camp just as darkness was drawing near, so he decided to stop and seek comfort and security by spending the night on a hill before engaging in action the following morning. Frémont knew very well that he was in a dangerous position. When nightfall came, he escaped by descending the hill along one of the most rugged paths. The next day Castro could find only the prints left by the horses as they slid down the hill. Frémont traveled all night in the direction of Captain Sutter’s Sacramento River establishment, but Castro no longer wanted to pursue him.4

Thomas O. Larkin. Courtesy of the California State Library, Sacramento.

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