Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History
Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History
S4 Ep1 The Spaniards Are in the Brush Part 1 Prelude to the Battle of Santa Clara
Today’s episode is about the changing landscape of Yerba Buena from July 1846 - 1847, just after the US takeover and the early broken promises to Californios.
In the middle of all the changes, Yerba Buena's first American appointed Alcalde, Washington Allon Bartlett, goes missing, and it has everything to do with ... cows.
Were the Spaniards really hiding in the brush? Listen and find out.
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“Reminisces and Incidents of the “early days” of San Francisco by John H. Brown; actual experience of an eyewitness, from 1845 – 1850
Today, I would like to thank an anonymous listener who became a monthly contributor of the Monkey Block Project. They were introduced to Monkey Block through a mutual acquaintance. Thank you, anonymous one. I’m happy to know you appreciate what I do.
Also, I’d like to thank NorCal Jules for her one-time contribution of three Pisco Punches. Thank you, Jules! Your support is greatly appreciated.
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Foreword
With some episodes, I find myself doing a lot of research not just with books, but going to places. This is one of them. I visited the Mission Dolores and the cemetery for the firs time. Also, the San Mateo County Historical Museum, in Redwood City, and the Sanchez Adobe in Pacifica. Sometimes, you just have to be there to understand what you are reading and writing about. Now, onto the episode.
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While researching Edwin Bryant’s short time in Yerba Buena, I noted a peculiar topic he glossed over in his “What I Saw in California 1846 – 1847”. In Bryant’s memoire, he briefly mentioned that Washington Allon Bartlett, Yerba Buena’s first American alcalde, disappeared for a few weeks during his five and a half months as Alcalde.
I found a second mention regarding Bartlette’s disappearance from a known to be unreliable source which I have cautiously referenced in the past.
John Henry Brown’s memoire “Reminiscences and incidents of the early days of San Francisco; actual experience of an eyewitness, from 1845 – 1850” is a highly entertaining account easily believed based on the ‘eye witness’ part if you didn’t already know in great detail about the topics he captures, to be able to tell where he got it wrong.
Brown was an early California settler, who, like others, penned his memoir capturing his humorous and, in his case, very subjective view of Yerba Buena events. While his accounts are rife with inaccuracies, they provide an entertaining portrayal of the pueblo, best accompanied with a grain of salt, and a healthy dose of critical analysis.
An example: Brown writes that ‘Mr. Baroma’ was the only resident in what we now call North Beach. Uh, Mrs. Briones lived there on land she bought in her name, and her name only. There wasn’t a Mr. Baroma. Her husband’s name was Apolinario Miranda. So, Brown’s eyewitness account got the gender and the last name wrong. However, he correctly captured the area's name and the fact that only one family lived there. Baroma, Briones. Mr. Mrs.
Another example, Brown discusses Captain Voight, a sea captain who was also an artist, surveyor, and a billiards room and bar owner … who was not Captain Voight, but was Captain Jean Jacque Vioget.
Today’s episode is about the changing landscape of Yerba Buena just after the US takeover and the early broken promises to Californios. We’re discussing the earliest moments of Manifest Destiny playing out in California. And, this was before the United States formally established squatter's rights as part of the Homestead Act of 1862.
This episode also symbolizes my tiny farewell to Mexico’s Yerba Buena and introduces the United States who is now running California. Bienvenidos Estados Unidos.
¿Estás listo? Aquí vamos. Are you ready? Here we go.
June 1846 through 1847 were transformative months for Yerba Buena and all of California. In a matter of months, so much changed. After several years of Californios wishing for either independence from Mexico or to join the United States, that time finally arrived.
Quick Recap of That Timeframe
June 1846, the Bear Flag Revolt transpired in an unauthorized attempt to seize California and took Mariano Vallejo, his brother, and Jacob Primer Leese and a few others as prisoners in the process.
Prominent Californios, like Mariano Vallejo, Francisco Sanchez, and Francisco De Haro openly favored the US takeover of California. Despite being held prisoner, Vallejo still felt that way.
They assumed at worst, very little would change for them, or at best, they would do better under the United States. The assumption was that the United States, like California, understood what it was like to overcome colonial domination and would treat them favorably. Vallejo thought George Washington was the world’s greatest leader and looked forward to working with the United States.
On July 9th, the United States took possession of Yerba Buena by officially raising the American flag in La Plaza and renamed La Plaza to Portsmouth Square after the USS Portsmouth.
On that day, Californios were promised that all Mexican citizens would be treated the same as American citizens, and all their property including land and livestock would be protected. They were promised they would assume all the guaranteed securities as Americans, meaning any property confiscated for use by the military would be repaid immediately and at a fair market rate. Sloat literally said, “We come as your best friend” in the proclamation he read out loud.
Okay. July 9th, treated like American citizens, best friend, property protection. This sounds good.
But, clearly something went wrong. On July 16th, seven days after the Yerba Buena takeover, Sloat posts this:
“For the information of all whom it may concern, it is promulgated that any person, or persons, who shall be hereafter found guilty of plundering horses, cattle, or any manner maltreating the Rancheros or other peaceable inhabitants of California, will be made personally liable for the full amount of damages, have their property confiscated, and be otherwise punished according to the nature and extent of their offenses.”
By order of the Commander in Chief.
That didn’t take long.
Shortly after this, Sloat became very ill and Captain Stockton acted in his place. And, unfortunately, Stockton had a very different opinion about how the US should deal with the Californios. His approach was opposite to Sloat’s approach. Stockton’s approach was, less carrot and more stick when it came to Californios.
Another ‘oopise’ in the takeover, Captain Montgomery assumed Jose de Jesus Noe would continue to act as the Alclade through the US takeover. However, Noe refused to continue to act as Alcalde. So now, Yerba Buena had no alcalde, which Montgomery assumed would be fine, until it wasn’t.
August 12st, two weeks after the Mormons arrived in Yerba Buena, nearly tripling the population of our tiny pueblo, the Mormons requested a court inquiry into Sam Branan regarding his handling of their funds. Captain Montgomery realized Yerba Buena without an Alcalde (mayor/judge) wasn’t going to work, so he quickly, and reluctantly, appointed Washington Allon Bartlett as the temporary alcalde mostly because Bartlett was a fluent Spanish speaker and understood legal matters very well. Not because of his noteworthy leadership skills.
When the United States took over, immediately, rules were imposed everywhere. The District of San Francisco/Puelbo de Yerba Buena was suddenly under Marshall Law. Before July 9th, the locals did exactly as they please regardless of Mexican laws. Their society ran simply and there was a lot of money being made doing things as way they were.
But now, there is a 10 p.m. curfew, no firing guns inside of the pueblo (curiously, nothing was stated about the District of San Francisco, meaning the Presidio and the Mission), permits were needed for everyone, Californios, Americans, anyone, to get in or out of the District of San Francisco and the Pueblo de Yerba Buena. Did you want to visit your land outside of the area? You need a permit.
Things were quickly changing in Yerba Buena and the District of San Francisco.
Alcohol and Drunkenness
On August 14th, 1846 the United States attempts, the absurd. To clamp down on Yerba Buena’s public drunkenness and the selling or serving of spiritous liquors. This is captured as part of a military journal.
Henry Bulls Watson kept a multi-volume Marine journal of his day-to-day duties before, during, and after his time in Yerba Buena. I’ve painfully read most of it. It’s many entries about weather reporting, day by day.
But, his journal, regarding his time in Yerba Buena, is mostly routine entries about public fighting, horse stealing, and public drunkenness. It was his job to enforce Bartlette’s new ordinances to maintain peace and capture and report the public happenings just after the takeover.
If you needed a permit to enter or leave the area, you went to Watson. If you got into legal trouble, Watson reported it in his journal and fined you. What stood out was how little people cared about staying sober in Yerba Buena, even if there was now a fine and jail time associated with being drunk in public or helping people get drunk. And, the majority of the drunk fines were written to visiting sailors and stationed American soldiers. Statistically, that makes sense if non Californios now the majority of the residents. And, that’s also because we start to see Californios leaving the coast and moving farther inland away from American occupation or to Mexico as was offered in the July 1846 Captain Sloat proclamation.
So, that was a description of the quickly changing landscape.
Now, back to John Henry Brown, the inspiration for today’s episode.
Spaniards are in the Brush”
John Henry Brown ran what as at that time, the only bar/hotel in Yerba Buena and wrote an amusing story about one of his captain friends. This story, if true, paints a picture of the time just after the US takeover. I can’t support this story with a second source, so take it on face value.
“Captain made it a rule every morning to have me fill his flask with good whiskey. It was usually at a very late hour when he called for it, and I would already be in bed. His signal to me was two raps on the shutter. As soon as I would answer him, he would say: ‘‘The Spaniards are in the brush,’’ this was his password, so I knew it was him. I would then get up, fill his bottle, and he would leave and go on duty.
One day, a group of whalers came in port, and about five captains remained on shore to have a good time with some of the officers of the Portsmouth. My captain friend being one of them, and several prominent Californians (among whom were Guerrero and Sanchez), kept me up two nights in succession. When they finally departed, I decided to take a good night's rest, as there was no business doing after ten o'clock, so I took an extra allowance of whiskey to my room.
I was sleeping sounder than usual, when there were apparently a number of raps on my window shutter. But, I did not hear them. However, the captain, who had already been imbibing freely, found the raps did no good, so he fired off one of his pistols, and sang out at the top of his voice, ‘‘The Spaniards are in the brush!’’
The report of the pistol was heard at the Barracks, and they began to beat the long roll. I jumped out of bed, (more asleep than awake), realizing what was happening, and filled the Captain’s flask, and was told that no one would hurt me, and to go to bed again.
There were signals given from the USS Portsmouth to send the men ashore for duty. The Mormons had arrived a few days prior, and at the beat of the long roll they were all up, and on hand, with arms and ammunition, ready to furnish what service they could.
They remained under arms for about three hours, and were then discharged.
That night there were several shots fired by those on duty, thinking they were shooting at Californians; but, the next day, to their great surprise, instead of dead bodies, some scrub oaks had received the shots.
The wind, in bending the oaks, hither and thither, had made them suppose that ‘‘The Spaniards’’ were really in the ‘‘brush.’’
<whomp-whomp>
The Captain called on me the next morning in the billiard-room, and told me that if I ever told, or even mentioned, what happened the previous night, I would be a dead man, as it would greatly injure his reputation if it were made public.
That was a lot of Tom Foolery for a flask of whisky.
John Henry Brown’s ‘captain friend’, the cause of this Tom Foolery, was none other than our permit issuing and ordinance enforcing Lieutenant Henry Bulls Watson who people also called Captain Watson.
This couldn’t have been what the Californios imagined when they supported a US takeover.
Now let’s turn to our temporary American Alcalde, Washington Allon Bartlett.
Some words fellow Navy shipmates used to describe Bartlett were; capable, earnest, serious, enterprising. But some also described him as pompous, dishonest, and unreliable.
On August 14th, Bartlett was officially elected as the Alcalde via something they called pipe laying. Today, we call that ballot stuffing. Captain Montgomery was aware this had occurred and considered voiding the election but ultimately decided the public perception if he called attention to it would be worse than letting it go, so he swept it under the rug and hoped for the best.
Fast forward to November and there was tension in the air. The arriving Americans were acting in unsavory ways. Californios, and many foreigners turned naturalized Mexican citizens, were granted land and had ranchos with horses and cows and associated gear. But, the new Americans didn’t care about personal property, land, animals...
It seemed the mentality was, if you owned anything before July 1846, all bets were off. What used to be yours is now ours. But that wasn’t aligned with the Proclamation Captain Sloat read out loud in Monterey and Yerba Buena.
We see skirmishes in Southern California around the same issues being experienced in Northern California. Already owned and settled land and property (horses, cattle, and the associated gear) were being confiscated/stolen by Americans who felt it was their right to take what they needed to establish themselves as part of Manifest Destiny.
Hard feelings were developing against the newly arrived Americans and also between people who were once good friends.
By the middle of December 1846, we have another strange event. Bartlett, Yerba Buena’s alcalde, is missing <circus music> and it involves cows. Let’s get into that.
According to John Henry Brown, the Californios would sell him beef for the use of his bar/hotel but would not permit him to sell that beef to the US Government for their soldiers. So, he didn’t sell it, because he needed that beef for his customers. In this moment, assuming what Brown said was true, to the Americans, it looked like the Californios were not willing to support the US military.
On the other side of that, the US military in Yerba Buena expected the beef for free and were surprised when Californios were unwilling to supply them with free beef. But, Marine Captain Hull knew that John Henry Brown had access to the now ‘hard to acquire beef’ at the hotel. (There were a lot of captains now living in Yerba Buena.)
Captain Hull, for other reasons, had on and off issues with Brown, and, on more than one occasion, had threatened to take Brown’s beef if he wouldn’t willingly hand it over for free. But, Brown had paid for his beef. Why would he hand it over?
Brown, whom I believe was born in England, was now a naturalized Californio, and trusted the proclamation Sloat had read on the American government’s behalf. That Californios property, land and possessions were protected and would not be unfairly taken from them by the United States. But, that is precisely what Captain Hull is asking of him.
For this next part, recall that Captain Montgomery primarily chose Bartlett to act as the temporary Alcalde because he was fluent in Spanish and understood legal matters. Not for his stellar military leadership. And, Barlett’s formal election on August 14th 1846, was directly due to ballot box stuffing to ensure Robert Ridley, the local favorite, didn’t win. Sidenote, Ridley was married to Juana Briones’ daughter and I believe in this moment, Ridley was the owner of the bar Brown managed.
Alcalde Bartlett was a well-educated gentleman but not a strategic advisor. He fancied himself a diplomat. What Bartlett saw, out of context, was the Californios blocking his soldier’s ability to obtain beef, even when he tried to purchase it at … what was considered an insultingly low price after it wasn’t being offered for free.
Putting this into context, what Bartlett and other Americans didn’t realize was that the Californios weren’t intentionally going on a beef strike. The Rancheros had already presold their current and future cows on pre-existing contracts with businesses, just like John Henry Brown and his bar/hotel. The Rancheros future inventory was already accounted for and there wasn’t room to donate cows or to sell unexpected heads of cattle. And, the fact the newly arriving Americans were stealing horses and cows didn’t make the Californios more inclined to help when they were already being stolen from them.
And, this is where the turning point begins. I balance out Brown’s eyewitness account with a more authoritative source, Dorothy Regnery’s 1971 two-part interview as well as her 1974 book on the same topic. Regnery’s information is backed by letters, actual research and evidence. Even though she wasn’t an eyewitness, her account is more accurate. I have links to both of these sources in my transcript.
Mood Changes
Moving forward in time.
November 1846, American tensions were rising based on a rumor that the Californios were forming an army to fight against the United States in retaliation for having their horses and cows stolen. In retrospect, while justified, it wasn’t true.
Charles Weber, a naturalized Mexican citizen, living in San Jose, and a Bear Flag Revolt supporter, started assembling an unauthorized militia on the United States behalf. I say ‘unauthorized’ because he was only asked to keep an eye on the Californios and report back to the US military, in Yerba Buena, about what he saw. But, he started forming a militia without instruction to do so, just like the Bear Flag Revolt.
And as part of creating that militia, he started taking horses from rancheros at gun point, then demanding the women fixed him a meal. I wish I were kidding. There’s an account of Weber tying a 14 year old to a tree, then threatening to shoot them if their father didn’t provide saddles for his newly ‘acquired’ horses.
There’s a San Francisco Chronicle article written about this event, “How horse stealing brought the Mexican-American War to the Bay Area”. I have a link to it in my transcript.
Weber ultimately took 6,000 horses and eighteen of those horses belonged to American Vice Consul William Alexander Leidesdorff, who was strongly in favor of a US takeover of California. I doubt Leidesdorff anticipated having his horses stolen as a part of supporting the Mexican American war.
In this moment, it didn’t matter who was or wasn’t a United States supporter. The Americans felt entitled to what they needed, which was not aligned with the official proclamation.
Terminology
1. Sanchez Family – for the purpose of this episode I scaled it down to only include the men associated with this story. From oldest to youngest; Jose de la Cruz Sanchez, Francisco Sanchez, Jose Ysidro (aka Chino) Sánchez, Ysidoro Sanchez and then Manuel Sanchez.
2. Rancho Buri Buri – was owned by Jose de la Cruz Sanchez and the house was located on Ludeman Lane near today’s Green Hills Country Club and another house was close to today’s Millbrae Pancake House. The rancho covered today’s Millbrae, South San Francisco, San Bruno, and the northern part of Burlingame.
3. Rancho San Pedro – owned by Francisco Sanchez and the house was located at today’s Sanchez Adobe. The land grant included current day Pacifica and part of Daly City and was right next to Rancho Buri Buri.
4. Rancho de la Merced – owned by Francisco de Haro near today’s Lake Merced. It covered part of current San Francisco and Daly City.
The three ranchos touched each other so you could easily travel between the ranchos.
On November 6, 1847, Alcalde Bartlett writes a letter to his supervisor, Captain Montgomery, explaining the situation occurring between the Americans and the Rancheros and the negative impact the American actions were having on his attempt to acquire cattle.
For context, you need horses and saddles to quickly and efficiently drive cattle from one location to another. While this next statement seems unrelated, it’s very related. The indigenous people were leaving the coastside, or anywhere near a Mission, to go farther inland, away from the now secularized missions, to return to a modified traditional way of life. (It’s better than being an indentured servant at a rancho.)
The short version of this letter is Bartlett describing how he and his men left Yerba Buena for Mission Dolores to obtain/temporarily borrow/take…saddles and horses from the vaqueros coming into the Mission to deliver cattle which had already been purchased and weren’t available to Bartlett.
The idea was to acquire their saddles and horses, then to go out and find cattle on their own. But, to Bartlett’s surprise, the vaqueros arrived at the Mission on foot, because Weber’s company had taken their horses and saddles.
Bartlett’s plan was now stalled, so he rode to his friend Jose de la Cruz Sanchez’s Rancho Buri Buri and was able to negotiate the purchase of eight cattle. I believe Jose de la Cruz was offering to deliver them. But, Bartlett needed a total of 13 cows for Yerba Buena. In Barlett’s defense, in addition to the soldiers, it was also the Mormon families he was trying to acquire the beef for.
Bartlett, short five cows, rode to Francisco de Haro’s Rancho Laguna de la Merced to purchase five cattle. De Haro agreed to sell five cattle to his friend Bartlett, but he didn’t have anyone to deliver the cattle to the Mission. Since his indigenous staff left, he couldn’t afford his own staff, so he contracted out his vaquero work. However, his contractors were unable to work at the moment, because their saddles and horses had been stolen.
Barlett having secured 13 cattle, but still in need of saddles and horses, rode to Franciso Sanchez’s Rancho San Pedro. Francisco Sanchez, like de Haro, didn’t have staff anymore. In his case, his rancho was much smaller and his indigenous servants had left him so he was his own vaquero.
Francisco Sanchez told Bartlett he was aware of the American horse stealing, so he hid his best five horses away in the mountains, and kept his least desirable thirteen horses nearby his rancho so those could be stolen. Unfortunately, no one stole them and he was actually hoping to offload them.
Said another way, Francisco was only willing to loan Bartlett his least desirable horses to drive the cattle, because he knew any horses he provided to Bartlett, would likely be stolen from Bartlett at some point, and Francisco would never see them again.
Adding to Franciso’s reluctance to help, few days prior to Bartlett’s visit, Francisco was held at gunpoint, in his Rancho San Pedro home, by people he had temporarily hired to help him with this rancho. I believe these were Americans. They told Francisco they were confiscating supplies in the name of the United States and offered nothing to prove this was a warranted action when Francisco asked for proof.
Francisco told Bartlett, had this been an authorized agent with documentation to prove this was an emergency, with a promise to be repaid by the United States, he would have complied. But, that wasn’t the case. Thankfully, his best horses were already hidden, but unfortunately, they didn’t take the thirteen horses he was hoping to get rid of.
Initially, the saddle and horse stealing were meant to benefit the United States in the name of obtaining cattle. But now, it was hurting their efforts.
The next day, this stealing personally hit home for Bartlett. Just as Bartlett was about to send his young Californio helper with a letter to Captain Montgomery, ironically explaining the unexpected implications of horse stealing, Bartlett’s young Californio helper was stopped by Captain Grisby (of the Bear Flag Revolt), and confiscated the young boy’s saddle, bridle, spurs, and lasso, which the boy had purchased himself by working for Americans. The boy returned to Bartlett very upset, as he did not have the money to replace these items. Even the horse he rode was confiscated. And, that was a horse the boy had borrowed from Bartlett, which Bartlett had borrowed himself.
Bartlett was now firsthand victim of the situation the United States was creating and felt terrible for the boy who had lost his hard-earned possession. He asked Captain Montgomery if the government could help replace the Californio boy’s lost property, since he lost his property to the United States, while working for the United States.
In parallel, the swirling rumor about Californios forming an army weren’t true, but what was true, was the United States had formed a militia and was stealing horses and related gear to support it.
Remember Weber? It seems at some point, he was collecting horses to help Bartlett and the United States. I initially thought Bartlett was informing Montgomery about the horse stealing becase he was sympathizing with his Californio friends. While part of that might have been true, it seemed Bartlett was involved in this horse stealing.
Proving my point, Captain Montgomery received Bartlett’s letter, and immediately wrote to Weber to reiterate the authority he was given.
“When you shall have completed the special duty in which you are now engaged by the direction of Lieutenant Colonel J.C. Fremont, viz “the collection of horses for the military service, you will again regain your command of the post of San Jose…”
Dear listeners, the United States military was coordinating this horse stealing with Weber and his militia.
History repeated itself, when Fremont would later deny having anything to do with this militia and the horse stealing, when he was asked to explain himself. Same as he did regarding the Bear Flag Revolt.
Bartlett now realized this military authorized horse stealing was directly affecting him, and obstructing his ability to obtain cattle. And, the Californios were less inclined to sell or provide cattle to support the United States.
Between the horse stealing, beef scarcity, and the rumors about a Californio uprising, Bartlett decided this situation required an investigation and he would investigate it himself, as a spy, which the Californios would never suspect him of being, considering his personal friendships with rancheros in Northern California.
But, Bartlett’s self-assigned mission would require six more men. And, Bartlett only had a horse for himself and, surprise, surprise, needed six horses and saddles for his six volunteers. On December 14th, Bartlett on horse and his volunteer soldiers on foot, left Yerba Buena for Mission Dolores, to take what they needed from the incoming vaqueros bringing in cattle, which assumed the vaqueros still had their horses and saddles.
But, when Bartlett and his six volunteers arrived at the mission, there was a fiesta happening. Despite the fiesta, the secret spy quest would continue.
History gets a little murky, here. During the course of the evening’s celebrations, Jose de la Cruz Sanchez either surprisingly offered Bartlett an additional 20 – 30 heads of cattle either for free or for a very low price, but it required Bartlett and his men to retrieve the cattle from his Rancho Buri Buri. Jose de la Cruz said he couldn’t deliver them himself, so Bartlette would need to come down to get them.
<silence>
Just like that? What about the stolen horses, cattle, mistreatment of the Californios? Maybe the brandy got to Jose de la Cruz?
Barlett thought, “Sounds legitimate to me.”
As part of Barlette’s reconnaissance mission, he and his six volunteer soldiers danced all night, literally, until the sun came up. The rumor is they had a very good time, because they looked worn out in the morning. To beat the enemy Bartlett and his men became the enemy, identified with enemy positions, movements, and strengths. Well done, men. Well done.
The sun came up and the spies hadn’t slept at all. Jose de la Cruz offered to escort Bartlett and his six volunteer soldiers, who now had horses and saddles, to his rancho to gather the offered cattle, and rode out to Rancho Buri Buri that morning.
Jose de la Cruz noticed the Americans seemed worn out from the night before, by the time they arrived at Rancho Buri Buri, so rather than take the cattle back to Yerba Buena that same day, Jose de la Cruz offered the men a place to sleep at his rancho and they could transport the cows the next day. Californios were famous for their hospitality.
Back in Yerba Buena on December 14th, the same day Bartlett went to the Mission, Jose de la Cruz’s youngest brother, Manuel Sanchez arrived in Yerba Buena to purchase supplies and his friend Ramon Aguila arrived to see a sick child. Afterwards, they met up, had a few drinks and were arrested in Yerba Buena for being drunk.
Sidenote, William Heath Davis Junior said in general, Californios were sober people who didn’t drink much. But, the Sanchez family was the exception. Jose de la Cruz, the oldest, according to Davis, was the exception and was the most sober of the brothers.
Captain Mervine (another Captain in Yerba Buena), incorrectly believed their appearance in town was suspicious and that Manuel and his friend must be spies. But, they weren’t spies. They were just drunk young men out at night.
Back at Rancho Buri Buri, on December 16th, the day Bartlett and his men are set to leave with their cows, Jose de la Cruz said something to Barlett and his six soldiers that indicated they needed a vaquero lesson to get these cattle back to Yerba Buena and told them to meet at the rancho corral while his helpers rounded up the cows for him.
Bartlett and his men, clearly letting their guard down, stacked their guns against the wall of the stone coral and attended their vaquero lesson.
This was quite the corral, by the way. It had hosted several famous rodeos in its time.
The cowboy lesson was being conducted by four of Jose de la Cruz’s vaqueros … and in the middle of it, the Americans suddenly realized something seemed off.
<sound of a crow>
Jose de la Cruz, knowing Bartlett would never suspect him, based on their friendship, had secretly alerted his brother Francisco Sanchez about his idea to get Bartlett to his rancho with the promise of cattle … and the rest as they, is history that’s been suppressed and rewritten with a slant toward American heroism.
Imagine this scene; the American men unarmed, and trapped inside of a closed corral. They look up and in the distance, see four men on horses, approaching at a fast gallop, their heads covered with a handkerchief wearing ponchos and serapes. Bartlett was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them. Even a layman knew this was “attack” Californio style.
<desperado theme>
Surrounding the Americans, who were trapped inside of the corral, the galloping horsemen throw off their ponchos and serapes and reveal their riffles and guns to the unarmed Americans. They were surrounded by Francisco Sanchez, Ysidoro Sanchez, Chino Sanchez, and their brother-in-law Domingo Feliz.
In this moment, the Americans should have realized Jose de la Cruz’ act of generosity was a setup that started two nights before at the Mission Dolores fiesta.
Bartlett and his soldiers were captured without a peep.
John Henry Brown who said he was personal friends with Francisco Sanchez, repeated what Francisco said, after exposing his riffle said to Bartlett “If you or your men make the slightest move, I’ll blow your brains out”.
Francisco came with rope to tie their hands and made one more remark to Bartlett. “Consider yourself a prisoner. And, the next time you plan to steal cattle, take your firearms with you. You might need them”. <Boom!>
The next day, according to John Henry Brown, Francisco Sanchez gave Bartlett a private lecture, once nerves had settled and reality sank in. ‘‘You have raised in this country, the American Flag. In your proclamation you say: ‘all Mexicans citizens, and their property, shall be protected by the American Government.’ You, as one of the lawmakers, come and try to steal our cattle. What do you suppose our opinion must be of such people as you; what respect can we have for your government?’’ He had a point.
While this specific encounter at Rancho Buri Buri was a setup, I believe Francisco was referring to the other times Bartlett condoned property stealing. Afterall, Weber’s 6,000 stolen horses were for Bartlett and the United States military.
<curious music>
The Sanchez brothers have just taken Yerba Buena’s spy-acting Alcalde Washington Allon Bartlett and his six soldiers, as prisoners. Clearly, Bartlett underestimated the Californios, his friendship with Jose de la Cruz, and his ability to get set up.
Georgy Hyde will act as Yerba Buena’s Alcalde in Bartlett’s absence for the next few weeks.
Recap
The Sanchez brothers alerted nearby Californios about kidnapping Lieutenant Alcalde Bartlett, and his six soldiers, and advised them to be ready to defend their land and property.
What just happened was a Californio protest regarding mistreatment and broken promises made by Captain Sloat on behalf of the American government, for not upholding the commitments outlined in the proclamation.
On the American side, the militia that was previously being formed, now needed additional volunteers to release Bartlett and his men.
This situation at Rancho Buri Buri, and the kidnapping of Washington Allon Bartlett, became the start of the Battle of Santa Clara. The only time the Mexican American War was fought in Northern California.
In this battle, shots will be fired, and it’s all related to the United States horse and cattle theft. Yerba Buena’s alcalde has been taken as prisoner, and it involves cows
As a funny sidenote, that illustrates how history was rewritten, Bartlett later in time would say that at the time he was captured, 16 additional Californios were hiding in the brush and the ravine. So, Barlett and his men had no choice but to surrender peacefully.
Wait, so were the Spaniards really hiding in the brush this time?
Regnery, in her 1974 book points out that the Rancho Buri Buri stone corral was surrounded by flat, treeless land, meaning 16 Californios weren’t hiding anywhere as there was nowhere for them to hide. No one, except Bartlett ever made that statement, including his six volunteer soldiers.
Bartlett likely made that statement to cover up how easily he was fooled by the situation to the point he even told his men to remove their guns and stack them against the corral. In reality, Bartlett was caught flat footed.
So, once again, the Spaniards were not really in the brush.
Bartlett would also say he did not believe his friend Juan de la Cruz was acting in bad faith by setting him up with 20 – 30 cattle just based on their friendship. And that Francisco had misread the situation and acted out.
But, according to Dorothy Regnery, while Francisco Sanchez was the most politically and militarily prominent of the Sanchez brothers, this ambush/plan was the brainchild of Jose de la Cruz, who knew his friend well enough to know Bartlett, and his arrogance, would not suspect him as the mastermind behind setting him up. It worked.
In her words, Jose de la Cruz, despite being the most sober and levelheaded of all the Sanchez brothers, would be dwarfed by his more famous brother, Francisco, when it came to this event.
She believed Bartlett either, through arrogance, wouldn’t believe he was so easily dupped, or he was intentionally trying to cover up for being so easily dupped by his friend, Jose de la Cruz.
The stories in today’s episode happened in the first five months of the US takeover. It was a rocky start for sure.
There you have it. Yerba Buena’s first American Alcalde, Washington Allon Bartlett is being held prisoner which is directly related to US horse and cattle stealing. And, from this, the Battle of Santa Clara will occur.
This seems like the right time to read the proclamation referenced a few times. I’ll read 85% of what was read out loud and posted in Spanish, and in English, five months prior, at La Plaza in the Pueblo de Yerba Buena and also in Monterey:
I declare to the inhabitants of California, that although I come in arms with a powerful force, I do not come among them as an enemy to California; on the contrary, I come as their best friend - as henceforward California will be a portion of the United States, and its peaceable inhabitants will enjoy the same rights and privileges they now enjoy; together with the privileges of choosing their own magistrates and other officers for the administration of justice among themselves, and the same protection will be extended to them as to any other State in the Union. They will also enjoy a permanent government under which life, property and the constitutional right and lawful security to worship the Creator in the way most congenial to each one's sense of duty will be secured.
(I like the best friend part.)
Under the flag of the United States, California will be free from all such troubles and expense. Consequently, the country will rapidly advance and improve both in agriculture and commerce; as of course the revenue laws will be the same in California as in all other parts of the United States.
(Interesting)
With full confidence in the honor and integrity of the inhabitants of the country, I invite the judges, alcaldes, and other civil officers, to retain their offices and to execute their functions as heretofore, that the public tranquility may not be disturbed; at least, until the government of the territory can be more definitely arranged.
(Recall Noe declined to remain Alcalde, and that’s how we got Bartlett. The next part is the kicker.)
All persons holding titles to real estate, or in quiet possession of lands under a color of right, shall have those titles and rights guaranteed to them.
All provisions and supplies of every kind, furnished by the inhabitants for the use of United States ships and soldiers, will be paid for at fair rates, and no private property will be taken for public use without just compensation at the moment.
JOHN D. SLOAT,
Commander-in-chief of the United States
naval forces in the Pacific Ocean.
John Henry Brown has more to say about the ensuing Battle of Santa Clara using his colorful and creative memory. Stay tuned for Part 2.
Now that summer is here, it’s time to restart the Pueblo de Yerba Buena walking tours. You can check out my buymeacoffee.com/monkeyblocksf page and go to the ‘shop’ tab, or go to the Monkey Block Facebook page for dates at facebook.com/MonkeyBlockSF, and look in the most recent posts for dates, which will take you to the buymeacoffe page.
If you enjoyed this episode and would like to show your support in keeping the Monkey Block project alive, you can make a one-time donation, like NorCal Jules, or become a regular monthly contributor like the anonymous donor this month, at www.buymeacoffee.com/monkeyblocksf.
Thank you for listening. This is Monkey Block. Retelling forgotten stories from San Francisco’s golden past.
John Henry Brown
Reminisces and Incidents of the early days of San Francisco
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services//service/gdc/calbk/157.pdf
Edwin A. Sherman “An Unpublished Account of the Battle of Santa Clara”
http://user.xmission.com/~octa/newsv8n1.htm#150%20Years
San Francisco Chronicle
Dorothy Regnery Interview by Pat Schmidt
https://archive.org/details/csmathi_000024/csmathi_000024_a_access.m4a
Dorothy Regnery, "The Battle of Santa Clara".