by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Yesterday, I staffed an exhibit for the Homestead at the Soto-Sánchez Adobe, a City of Montebello historic site near the Whittier Narrows Dam and near where the Temple family, for some 65 years, resided on the Rancho La Merced in the community of Misión Vieja (Old Mission.) The event was held by the Montebello Historical Society and commemorated the anniversary of the Battle of San Gabriel, fought on 8 January 1847 between a combined American Army and Navy force and badly outnumbered and outgunned Californios defending their homeland from an invasion that commenced the prior summer.
In fact, while U.S. forces were able to seize Los Angeles in late summer 1846 without any violence, the imperious behavior of a young junior officer, Archibald Gillespie, left behind by Navy Commodore Robert F. Stockton to command a garrison led exasperated locals to rise up and reclaim their pueblo. Some clever sleight of hand and smart tactics by Californio forces drove Stockton to retreat to San Diego where, by the end of the year, he was joined by Army General Stephen Watts Kearny, whose long march from Kansas was followed by the disastrous Battle of San Pasqual, near San Diego, where Californio General Andrés Pico used a surprisingly superior geographical position and the renowned horsemanship of his soldiers to inflict a decisive victory on the hapless American force.
The conjoined U.S. contingent of around 600 men then marched north as 1846 came to a close and, at San Juan Capistrano on 4 January 1847 met William Workman and others, who delivered a letter from another general, José María Flores, regarding future conflicts between the two sides and which offered a truce while adding that the Californios would defend their land. While Stockton was angered by the tone of the missive, he did agree to Workman’s suggestion the following day that a general amnesty be granted to any locals who would surrender and peaceably return to their houses or ranches.
As the Americans kept their northwestward march on the road to Los Angeles (roughly paralleling today’s Interstate 5), they approached the San Gabriel River, meaning its older channel, now known as the Río Hondo, and prepared for battle. They did veer north from the road and prepared to cross the river, finding that the Californios were in position on higher ground above a steep bluff on the west side of the watercourse.
A prior post here, sharing an original map of the battle site, has covered some of the particulars of the conflict, this being one of artifacts shared in yesterday’s display at the Soto-Sánchez Adobe, but this post features another object that was part of the exhibit, an engraving titled “Battle of San Gabriel, California” and published in an early issue from July 1851 of Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion. Another post provided some information about the magazine from a October 1852 issue, it being one of many popular publications for an increasingly literate and well-to-do American reading public.
The image is accompanied by a short description, which stated that “for this sketch and drawing we are indebted to our friend, John Southwick, of the United States Navy.” Southwick, who entered the service in the mid-1820s in Massachusetts, was a carpenter in the two decades before the outbreak of the Mexican-American War and then was assigned to the U.S.S. Congress. The vessel had some 360 crew members and nearly four dozen guns and Southwick was credited with the idea of commandeering guns from commercial ships and wheels from the carts of merchants to create gun carriages that was used in the campaign.
Southwick, acting as an artillery officer with a captain’s rank and a chief engineer, as well as a strategist, was in charge of the sappers (engineers) and miners on the Congress, while also carrying out orders from Stockton to build, using his considerable carpentry skills and experience, forts, barracks, block houses and other structures. He also utilized his artistic abilities and then provided the brief explanation of what the image, exaggerated for dramatic effect in terms of the closeness of the opposing forces as well as the dramatic array of soldiers and horses laid out in the foreground, attempted to convey to the reading public.
Strangely, the account gave the year of the battle as 1849 and some archives with this image in their collections have dutifully recorded it, as such. In any case, Southwick provided the names of the four craft which provided the majority of the invading forces, these being the Savannah, Cyane and Portsmouth, in addition to the Congress, as well as Kearney’s “dismounted dragoons” and “a company of volunteers, as riflemen, mostly hunters and trappers, from the Western States, and commanded by the celebrated Kit Carson . . . with six pieces of artillery, the whole under the command of Commodore R.F. Stockton.”
Carson, a legendary figure in the 19th century American West, was a teenager when he was apprenticed in the mid-1820s in Franklin, Missouri to saddle and harness owner David Workman, William’s brother. In 1826, the year after William migrated to Taos, New Mexico, Carson fled (with David merely advertising the minimum one-cent reward required by law, but obviously not expecting to see his wayward worker return) and settled in that northern fur-trapping outpost. William Workman then went to Los Angeles in fall 1841 and one wonders how surprised he was to encounter Carson at San Juan Capistrano just a little over five years later.
In any case, Southwick added that the not quite 600 Americans were arrayed “against some 700 mounted Mexicans, Californians, and Indians” and this after a ten-day, 150-mile march and doing so “in constant apprehension of attack by the enemy, who are the best horsemen in the world.” He added that the locals were positioned on the “northern bank” of the river, though it was the west. He then concluded with the simple summary:
The Americans forded the river, dragging their guns with them, against the fire of the enemy. Unsuccessful attempts were made to charge and break the American lines, but finally the stronghold of the Mexicans was charged and taken.
Notably, the print appeared in the first two issues of Gleason’s, with the one in our collection being from 19 July, while the inaugural edition from the prior week, offered some further, and notable information. Namely, it continued, “the immediate scene represented above is that where the Americans have thrown themselves into a hollow square,” this formation dating back to ancient Rome and employed in combat against cavalry units, ” with their baggage, cattle and horses inclosed.” Therefore, it went on, “the Mexican cavalry or infantry can make no impression upon them,” so that, “after dashing up so near as to receive the fatal fire of the Americans, they willingly retreated at full speed.”
What is not known is why the print and description appeared in the publication, some four-and-a-half years after the battle, as there was no explanation and no obvious reason, such as an anniversary, that comes to mind. In any case, we can see the Americans in their formation and with at least one artillery piece fending off mounted Californios from two sides. In the background are the Montebello Hills and the river right of center and to the left of a large ball of white dust (the Soto-Sánchez adobe, one wing of which was then the residence of La Merced grantee Casilda Soto de Lobo, a rare woman ranch owner, would be near the hills and river meet.) Further in the distance are a portion of the San Gabriel Mountains.
The following day, the Californios made another stand at the Battle of Los Angeles or La Mesa, in what is now Vernon, but had no hopes of winning a victory and the force then retreated north towards Paredon Blanco (White Bluff,) which more than a quarter-century later became Boyle Heights, founded by Workman’s nephew, William H. The American force crossed the Los Angeles River and marched north into the pueblo, where William Workman awaited with others and carried the white flag of truce, thus ending the war in California. On the 13th, Lt. John C. Frémont, who was supposed to come to the aid of Stockton and Kearny with a volunteer force from the north, took the initiative (as he often did, without authority) to conclude a treaty at Cahuenga in what is now Studio City with General Pico.
While California was taken, Stockton and his ships headed south along the west coast of México to continue its work in the eventual defeat of that nation. Southwick took part in the campaigns at Guaymas and Mazatlán in October and November 1847 and looks to have drawn more scenes of battle during the conflict that culminated in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed and ratified in the early months of 1848. While he requested a promotion, thinking his service during the war warranted it, he was a warrant office at Boston, appraising, inspecting and maintaining Navy craft. When the Civil War burst forth, he built and outfitted ships, including torpedo boats and he remained in service for a remarkable 46 years until retiring about 1873.
The main feature of yesterday’s event, which also included discussions of the Mormon Battalion, which came to Los Angeles just after hostilities attended; a woman’s lament for her soldier son; and a discussion of fur trapping, which Sánchez and Workman did in New Mexico, was a pair of reenactments, with representatives of American and Californio forces lined up on a wide grass area north of the adobe, and their weapons and a cannon firing at intervals.
Periodically, the Battle of San Gabriel, also knows the Battle of Río San Gabriel, was mentioned in the local press. The 8 January 1874 edition of the Los Angeles Express, for example, commented, with no small amount of irony,
To-day is the anniversary of the battle of San Gabriel, fought in this country during our war with Mexico. It is the anniversary of another battle, in which one Andrew Jackson overcame [the British in 1815 to end the War of 1812] . . . This last battle, it will be remembered, was fought below New Orleans, and although not as celebrated as the San Gabriel fight, still we find traces of it in ancient American history.
Actually, some reports from those at the conflict along the river suggested that American troops present cried out in remembrance of the Battle of New Orleans as the local engagement was underway. For Independence Day 1897 and the 50th anniversary of the battle, local historian and educator James M. Guinn provided a summary of the Battle of San Gabriel at the Friday Morning Club Hall in Los Angeles. The 6 February 1910 edition of the Los Angeles Times featured a lengthy description of the conflict by Johnstone Jones, an attorney later hired by Walter P. Temple to write the latter’s family history though declining health ended that project.
Perhaps the earliest reenactment of the Battle of San Gabriel came at the beginning of June 1916 when the Monrovia Feature Film Company, working on what looks to have been its only production, The Daughter of the Don, for which Walter Temple provided some artifacts, recreated the conflict at the purported site of the engagement. The Monrovia News of the 1st commented that
The scenes [filmed] today represent those enacted following the battle on the San Gabriel river, where the Mexicans were finally defeated through the united efforts of Stockton, Kearney and Gillespie.
Tomorrow and Saturday the total number of men to be engaged by the company in that San Gabriel river action will total in the neighborhood of 500.
The following day’s edition of the paper, under the heading of “Gruesome,” noted that a 3:45 a.m. call would bring extras brought in from El Monte, Los Angeles, Monrovia and other nearby areas and it was asserted that “in more ways than one is the handling of movie mob scenes like real army life” because of the detailed planning necessary.
A little more than two hours later, with makeup completed and uniforms on, “the truck loads of warriors commenced to head south” with it added that “the location of today’s ‘battle’ . . . is the same as that on which the sure-enough fight between Mexicans and Americans was staged, away back in ’46 [sic], when the Mexican rule in California was terminated.” Lastly, it was recorded that “regulation camps have been set up along the river and military discipline will govern the day’s activities.
A bit tucked away on Bluff Road, paralleling the river a short distance north of Washington Boulevard in Montebello, is California Historic Landmark plaque #385, denoting the approximate site of the battle, with the Pomona Progress Bulletin of 29 April 1944 reporting that “the first state registration of one of Los Angeles county’s historical landmarks, in a program sponsored by County Supervisor William A. Smith, will occur this week when application will be made to register the site of the Battle of the Rio San Gabriel.” It was added that the City of Montebello was adding a cannon “used in the battle by American forces against Californians.”
Due to World War II restrictions and rationing, a redwood plaque with a typical Mission bell motif was to be installed and “will be replaced after the war by a metal plaque,” this being done in December 1945. The article concluded that, “plans are being developed to have all landmarks within the county appropriately marked to preserve their historical significance and as an interest to tourists” as expressed by Smith.
Accuracy aside, the engraving from Gleason’s by Southwick is a remarkable and rare depiction of the Battle of [the Río] San Gabriel, an event of historical significance in greater Los Angeles nearly 180 years ago—even if not on the level of the Battle of New Orleans! An event that was scheduled for today and commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga by Frémont and Pico was postponed because of the terrible wildfires that have ravaged our region in the last several days, but it will be rescheduled.