The substance of the intelligence received by
the courier was, that a large force of Californians (varying, according
to different reports, from five to fifteen hundred strong) had met the
marines and sailors, four hundred strong, under the command of Captain
Mervine, of the U.S. frigate Savannah, who had landed at San Pedro for
the purpose of marching to Los Angeles, and had driven Captain Mervine
and his force back to the ship, with the loss, in killed, of six men.
That the towns of Angeles and Santa Barbara had been taken by the
insurgents, and the American garrisons there had either been captured
or had made their escape by retreating. What had become of them was
unknown.[2] Colonel Fremont, who I before mentioned had sailed with a
party of one hundred and eighty volunteers from San Francisco to San
Pedro, or San Diego, for the purpose of co-operating with Commodore
Stockton, after having been some time at sea, had put into Monterey and
landed his men, and his purpose now was to increase his force and mount
them, and to proceed by land for Los Angeles.
[2] The garrison under Captain Gillespie, at Los Angeles, capitulated.
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