played the greatest skill and courage. The American loss was one hundred and twenty killed, and three hundred and sixty-eight wounded, while that of the enemy was at least a thousand. General Taylor placed Worth in command of Monterey, and encamped himself at Walnut Springs, three miles distant. Another change was now to take place in Mexican affairs, which seemed at first to promise the Americans a satisfactory solution of the war question, but which proved a delusion. The Mexican Government had thus far been in the hands of Paredes, an advocate of war. General Santa Anna, then in Cuba, professed a desire for peace, so that the administration at Washington came to an understanding with him, and enabled him to pass through the fleet then lying before Vera Cruz. No sooner, however, was that able man in his own country, than he threw himself into the hands of the war party, assumed the direction of affairs, and prepared to carry on the war with vigor. This compelled the United States to adopt another series of plans. The other operations of this campaign had meanwhile succeeded, though not as intended. When Texas was annexed, Commodore Sloat was off the coast of California. Believing that war actually existed, he took Monterey, August 7, 1846. San Francisco soon followed its fate; and the best port on the Pacific fell into the hands of the Americans to begin a new career. Colonel Fremont, who had explored the passes of the mountains, was also in California with a small force, and he raised the American flag at San Juan. The Mexican authorities did not yield without a blow. Meanwhile, General Kearney, in command of the Army of the West, had marched across the Western plains and through the mountain. passes, a distance of nine hundred miles, from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fé, following the well-known track of the traders. The Mexicans had anticipated no attack. Kearney met with no resistance: he took possession of the country, and, having made Charles Bent governor, continued his march toward California, which he was also instructed to reduce. On the way he was met by a courier from Commodore Stockton and Colonel Fremont, informing him that California was already in the hands of the United States. Sending back his main army, he marched on with a hundred men, and with Stockton and Fremont completed the subjugation of the province. Fremont had been proclaimed governor, but Kearney proceeded to Monterey, and there assumed the office of governor, and proclaimed that California was annexed to the United States Before proceeding to California, General Kearney had detached Colonel Doniphan against the Navajo Indians. He compelled that tribe to make peace, and then marched toward Chihuahua to join General Wool. On the 22d of December he encountered a Mexican force at Bracitos, whom he dispersed, and, pushing on through the hostile country, on the last day of February found the Sacramento Pass, eighteen miles from Chihuahua, held by four thousand Mexicans, under General Trias. After a short but decisive struggle, in which the Mexicans were completely routed, Doniphan pushed on, and on the 2d of March took possession of that large city, and the province of the same name. After giving his soldiers a short rest here after their march of many thousand miles, he advanced to Saltillo, where General Wool was encamped. The authority of the United States in these conquered parts was firmly established, and, though some outbreaks occurred, the Mexicans were never able to regain possession of any part. |