"
The transport ships Thomas H. Perkins, Loo Choo, Susan Drew, and
Brutus, with Colonel Stevenson's regiment, arrived at San Francisco
during the months of March and April. These vessels were freighted with
a vast quantity of munitions, stores, tools, saw-mills, grist-mills,
etc., etc., to be employed in the fortification of the principal
harbours on the coast--San Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego. The
regiment of Col. Stevenson was separated into different commands,
portions of it being stationed at San Francisco, Sonoma, Monterey,
Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles; and some companies employed against the
horse-thief Indians of the Sierra Nevada and the Tulares.
As good an account of these horse-thief Indians, and their
depredations, as I have seen, I find in the "California Star," of March
28th, 1847, written by a gentleman who has been a resident of
California for a number of years, and who has been a sufferer. It is
subjoined:--
"During the Spanish regime, such a thing as a horse-thief was unknown
in the country; but as soon as the Mexicans took possession, their
characteristic anarchy began to prevail, and the Indians to desert from
the missions.
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