by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Of the myriad of overland travelogues that were published in the mid-19th century describing (or purporting to do so) the migration routes to California, among the most notable is Edwin Bryant’s What I Saw in California, which has a pretty typical of the time mouthful of a subtitle: Being the Journal of a Tour by the Emigrant Route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, Across the Continent of North America, the Great Desert Basin, and Through California, in the years 1846, 1847. The work was published in 1848 by the New York firm of D[aniel]. Appleton and Company and that of Appleton’s son, George, in Philadelphia.
A native of Massachusetts, Bryant (1805-1869) studied medicine before decamping for Louisville, Kentucky in 1830 and, apparently without any experience in journalist, secured a position for a new newspaper, the Journal (now the Courier-Journal). Four years later, he was hired to edit the Lexington Intelligencer and, over a decade, made a name for himself including as a friend of famed politician Henry Clay, who then encouraged Bryant to return to Louisville and start the Courier, which merged with the Journal in 1868.
Bryant’s tenure with the Courier was short, however, as his health was precarious, though the rigors of politics, including the 1844 presidential campaign in which Clay was defeated by James K. Polk, apparently played a part in his decision to leave the paper. Because there were many migrants heading west and passing through Kentucky, Bryant decided that, unlike fur trappers, settlers and others, he took on “a literary mission,” as the introduction to a recent reprint of the book observed. Before he left Louisville, the Courier alluded to the likelihood of his writing a work that would be “a faithful and accurate description of the ‘Land of Promise.'”
In mid-April 1846, Bryant and two others took a steamboat to St. Louis, with a third men joining them there for the trip west to Independence, the launching pad for most migration westward. The quartet joined a large caravan, which included the doomed Donner Party (of which he wrote in his book) though there were splits on the road in subsequent weeks and months, including one that included Bryant and about a dozen other men. There were some planning issues, mule-packing problems and the privations of hunger, illness and thirst, as well as dealing with numerous Indian tribes that were coping with invasions and trespass of their rapidly shrinking homelands. His descriptions of the trip are fascinating, vivid and full of detail of the environment, landscapes and people of all kinds and well worth a read for anyone interested in this era and in overland travel.
At the end of August, Bryant arrived at the eastern fringes of California (though what its boundaries were was essentially undefined) and, a little after a month after he embarked on his journey, war was declared by the United States against México and our nation’s first imperial war, based on shaky pretexts, was launched. Bryant made his way across central California, passing through Livermore Valley to San Jose and then moving up the peninsula to San Francisco in late September.
By then, American military operations in Mexican California included the bloodless seizure of Los Angeles in mid-August, followed by a revolt at the end of September in which the Californios retook the pueblo. After Navy Commodore Robert F. Stockton, who led the taking of the Angel City and then left a garrison behind, whose young commanding officer’s impetuousness raised the ire of residents culminating in the reassumption of local control, arrived in San Francisco, Bryant, commissioned a first lieutenant in Company H at 41 years of age with no military service in his background, volunteered to join Brevet Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont’s battalion on the march south to assist in the recapture of Los Angeles.
On the last day of November, the troops started their expedition and Bryant wrote, in his striking style, of the long march hundreds of miles through some heavy rain, challenges in topography, most notable ascending San Marcos Pass, and other issues as the Frémont battalion, traveling through the Santa Clara River valley east from Ventura and then heading south through modern Santa Clarita entered the San Fernando Valley on 11 January, the day after the combined forces of Stockton and Army General Stephen W. Kearny entered Los Angeles after a pair of battles at the San Gabriel River (today’s Rio Hondo) near Montebello and at La Mesa, modern Vernon, and were received by William Workman and two others bearing the white flag of truce.
Bryant was part of a detachment of scouts that reached the San Fernando Valley first as they were investigating potential Californio resistance, but, as he observed,
Emerging from the hills, the advance party, to which I was attached, met two Californians, bareheaded, riding in great haste. They said that they were from the mission of San Fernando; that the Californian forces had met the American forces under the command of General Kearny and Commodore Stockton, and had been defeated after two days’ fighting; and that the Americans had yesterday marched into Los Angeles. They requested to be conducted immediately to Colonel Fremont, which request was complied with. A little farther on we met a Frenchman, who stated that he was the bearer of a letter from General Kearny, at Los Angeles, to Colonel Fremont. He confirmed the statement we had just heard . . .
The battalion then marched to the mission to set up camp and Bryant noted that “the buildings and gardens belonging to this mission are in better condition than those of any of these establishments I have seen,” including a pair of substantial gardens bordered by tall walls and which represented “a most delightful contrast from the usually uncultivated landscape we have been travelling through for so long a time.” Among the items in the gardens were aloe, figs, lemons, oranges, olives, prickly-pear cactus and roses, while the vineyards were also of note and Bryant was sure to mention his sampling of red wine “of a good quality.” Also remarked upon was the corn stored at a mission granary, along with cattle and sheep on the plain, which as “extensive and very fertile.”
The following day, the 12th, Bryant recorded that “two Californian offiers . . . came to the mission to treat for peace” with negotiations undertaken but not finalized. The next morning the battalion broke camp and marched south to stop “near a deserted rancho at the foot of Couhenga [Cahuenga] plain” and the work resumed that led to the articles of capitulation signed by Frémont and General Andrés Pico, who resided at Mission San Fernando as he owned tens of thousands of acres of land on former mission property, at what is now the Campo de Cahuenga historic site across from Universal City. Bryant noted that a brass howitzer field piece was handed over by the Californios.
For the 14th, the chronicler wrote:
It commenced raining heavily this morning. Crossing a ridge of hills [the Hollywood Hills of the Santa Monica Mountains through Cahuenga Pass on a main road] we entered the magnificent undulating plain surrounding the city of Angels, now verdant with a carpet of fresh vegetation [including mustard and pepper-grass]. We passed several warm springs which throw up large quantities of bitumen or mineral tar. Urging our jaded animals through the mud and water, which in places was very deep, we reached the town about 3 o’clock.
While the battalion was bedraggled and somewhat ragtag in appearance and supplies, with Bryant writing that such an unimpressive looking company “never entered a civilized city,” he added that they should be proud of their long march and he added, with a mite of exaggeration and lack of military experience, “men never, probably, in the entire history of military transactions, bore these privations with more fortitude or uttered fewer complaints.”
It would be interesting to know where the battalion camped, but the chronicler commented,
We had now arrived at the abode of the celestials [this word was often used to describe the Chinese, but there were yet none of these in the area, so Bryant meant “angels”], if the interpretation of the name of the place could be considered as indicative of the character of its population, an drenched with rain and plastered with mud, we entered the “city of the Angels,” and marched through its principal street to our temporary quarters. We found the town, as we expected, in the possession of the United States naval and military [Army] forces . . . The town was almost entirely deserted by its inhabitants, and most of the houses, except those belonging to foreigners [Americans and Europeans], or occupied as quarters for the troops, were closed.
For the benefit of his readers, Bryant helpfully provided copies of the articles of capitulation and reports by General Kearny about his Army of the West’s activities and Commodore Stockton to the Secretary of the Navy during the waning days of the war in California, as well as Navy assistant surgeon John S. Griffin, who settled in Los Angeles and became one of its most prominent citizens, reporting on casualties suffered in the battles at the San Gabriel River and La Mesa. One of Stockton’s reports included a translation of a missive from General José María Flores that is worth citing as the commander of Californio forces, wrote from Los Angeles on New Year’s Day 1847:
A number of days have elapsed since [I] was invited by several foreign gentlemen settled in the country [greater Los Angeles], to enter in a communication with you, they acting as mediators, to obtain an honorable adjustment for both forces, in consequence of the evils which all feel are caused by the unjust war you wage . . . it is with the confidence inspired by the hope . . . for the return of peace . . . [and] to avoid the useless effusion of human blood and its terrible consequences . . .
[I] flatter myself with this hope, and for that reason thought it opportune to direct to you this note, which will be placed in your hands by Messrs. Julian Workman and Charles Flug[g]e, who have voluntarily offered themselves to act as mediators. [If] you should not be disposed to grant a truce to the evils under which this unfortunate country suffers, of which you alone are the cause, may the terrible consequences of your want of consideration fall on your head. The citizens . . are decided firmly to bury themselves under the ruins of their country, combating to the last moment, before consenting to the tyranny and ominous discretionary power of the agents of the government of the United States of North America.
Not surprisingly, Stockton took offense to Flores’ tone, though the Californio general was following a typical pattern of communication from his military culture, and curtly dismissed Workman and Flugge when they met him at Mission San Juan Capistrano on 4 January. With his coverage of the end of the conflict in California complete, Bryant turned to a description of Los Angeles.
He observed that, with a population of between 1,500 and 2,000 persons (the significantly undercounted 1850 census, taken early the following year, recorded 1,610, while the 1852 state census, the only of its kind, counted nearly 8,000 in the county), the Angel City was the biggest settlement in California. Bryant remarked that “its streets are laid out without any regard to regularity,” which was largely addressed when Army Lieutenant Edward O.C. Ord was hired by the town council to conduct its first true survey in 1849, this paid by Jonathan Temple, who was reimbursed the $3,000 from subsequent sales of lots drawn up in the map.
The chronicler continued that,
The buildings are generally constructed of adobes one and two stories high, with flat roofs. The public buildings are a church, quartel [military barracks], and government house [city hall]. Some of the dwelling-houses are frames, and large. Few of them, interiorly or exteriorly, have any pretensions to architectural taste, finish, or convenience of plan or arrangement.
Misidentifying the Los Angeles River as the San Gabriel, Bryant added that it “is skirted with numerous vineyards and gardens, enclosed by willow hedges” with the latter including “a great variety of tropical fruits and plants,” while the former, comprising up to 20,000 vines in some cases, had a “very abundant” yield leading to “a large quantity of wines of a good quality and flavor,” as well as aguardiente, or brandy. It was remarked that “the produce of the vine in California will, undoubtedly, in a short time form an important item in its exports and commerce,” while the climate and soil were considered ideal for the industry.
Moreover, Bryant went on, “we found in Los Angeles, an abundance of maize [corn], wheat, and frijoles, showing that the surrounding country is highly productive of these important articles of subsistence,” but, without mills, corn was hand-ground, so “flour and bread are very scarce.” As for vegetables raised in gardens, these were limited to peppers (chile colorado, or red peppers), potatoes and onions, “which enters [sic] very largely into the cuisine of the country,” but he commented that “every description of garden vegetables can be produced here, in perfection and abundance.”
While in the Angel City, Bryant and a few other military officers stayed at the residence of “the late alcalde in town,” unnamed and described as “a thin, delicate, amiable, and very polite gentleman, treating us with much courtesy,” for which he was well-paid. The two most recent alcaldes (akin to a mayor), according to one source, were Juan Gallardo and Juan Sepúlveda, so it was presumably one of these with whom Bryant stayed. He, then, turned his attention to the fact that many Angelenos decamped from town, no doubt in fear and uncertainty, particularly “the better class of the female portion,” so that, he opined, those residents left “could not, without injustice, be considered as fair specimens of the angels.” One wonders if Bryant assumed that his readership would be mainly male, as he then remarked:
I did not happen to see one beautiful or even comely-looking woman in the place; but as the fair descendants of Eve at Los Angeles have an exalted reputation for personal charms, doubtless the reason of the invisibility of those examples of feminine attractions, so far-famed and so much looked for by the sojourner, is to be ascribed to their “unavoidable absence,” on account of the dangers and casualties of war. At this time, of course, every thing in regard to society, as it usually exists here, is in a state of confusion and disorganization, and no correct conclusions in reference to it, can be drawn from observation under such circumstances.
There was brief reference to the port at San Pedro and its suitable anchorage though not considered “a safe harbor at all times,” according to experienced mariners, as well as to Mission San Gabriel, “represented as an extensive establishment of this kind, the lands surrounding and belonging to it being highly fertile.” Under a year previously, Workman and Hugo Reid were granted the Mission’s lands by Governor Pío Pico, who fled to México when the American invasion commenced and returned in 1848. Bryant added that “in the vicinity of Los Angeles there are a number of warm springs which throw out and deposite [sic] large quantities of bitumen or mineral tar” and which was “a principal material in the roofing of houses.” He then remarked, “this mineral, so abundant in California, may one day become a valuable article of commerce,” a prescient statement given how the oil industry later developed.
A visit was made to the extensive orchard and vineyard of William Wolfskill, a resident of about 15 years and who lived south of town. Bryant stated that there were some 40 acres on the place and up to 5,000 grapevines, yielding 180 casks (of 16 gallons) each of wine and brandy, with it noted that “Mr. W.’s vineyard is doubtless a model of its kind.” Strangely, nothing was said of the orange grove, the first commercial one in California when developed in 1841, but the writer extolled the quality of the libations, including an excellent peach brandy and informed readers,
It was a delightful recreation to stroll through [the vineyard], and among the tropical fruit-trees bordering its walks. His house, too, exhibited an air of cleanliness and comfort, and a convenience of arrangement not often met with in this country.
Bryant lamented the lack of the availability of cloth for pants or of shoes, saying he paid more than ten times for a cotton/velvet material than would have been paid in the east and it cost $16 for four yards and for the tailoring by a soldier who came with Kearny, while a fur trapper recently arrived made clothes out of deer and elk skins for “nearly naked soldiers.” A fellow Kentuckian, Nathaniel (called Miguel by locals) Pryor, was briefly mentioned for his hospitality—he was on a trapping expedition including Workman that reached the Colorado River in 1827, but, whereas Workman and others returned to the home base at Santa Fé, New Mexico, Pryor and others ended up in Los Angeles, after a brief arrest at San Diego.
Bryant recorded, “I remained at Los Angeles from the 14th to the 29th of January,” during which time, the weather was mild, except for a day of rain and two windy ones, and noted that “we left Los Angeles later in the afternoon of the 29th of January” heading back to San Francisco. The route included the return to the Campo de Cahuenga, after which “we followed the usually traveled trail next to the hills, on the western [southern] side of the plain,” meaning what is now Ventura Boulevard with the Santa Monica range on the left. It was reported that,
As we were passing near a rancho, a well-dressed Californians rode out to us; and after examining the horses of our miserable caballada, politely claimed one of them as his property. He was told that the horse . . . could not be given up [as acquired from a public place in Los Angeles]. This seems to satisfy him. After some further conversation, he informed us that he was Don Andres Pico, the late leader and general of the Californians. The expression of his countenance is intelligent and prepossessing [attractive impressive]; and his address and manners courteous and pleasing, Shaking hands and bidding us a very earnest adios, he put spurs to his horse and galloped away.
The journey went though Conejo Pass, or Grade, and through Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo on the return to San Francisco, where Bryant served as alcalde for five months, while realizing a handsome profit on 14 lots purchased for $4,000, but sold in the Gold Rush year of 1849 for $100,000 when he returned to the city and where a street is named for him. That windfall and royalties from What I Saw In California provided Bryant with a comfortable life and he lived in Pewee Valley, northeast of Louisville.
In 1852, Bryant was back in California and was enumerated in August at San Francisco with his occupation merely given as “Gent.” Thirteen years later, Bryant returned to Los Angeles and the Wilmington Journal of 8 April 1865, the day before the Confederate surrender at Appomattox ending the Civil War, remarked,
Edwin Bryant, a writer of some note, and First Alcalde of San Francisco, or at least of the place where that city now stands, has been on a brief visit to this county . . . The Judge [apparently referring to his service as alcalde] was in this county in 1846. He says that in all his travels he has not found a place where, if he was a young man, he would more readily settle than in Los Angeles County; and that it possesses so many advantages that those who now take up the land cannot fail to do well.
He took a final excursion to California via the newly completed transcontinental railroad in 1869, though he did not visit this region. He was in failing health, such that he moved into a third-floor room of a Louisville hotel for treatment of an unstated illness. On 16 December 1869, he leapt from a window, hitting the pavement some 50 to 60 feet below and died within a half-hour—his suicide was attributed to “temporary insanity.”
What I Saw in California is an important and valuable work, mainly recognized for its remarkable description of the 1846 overland trip, but also interesting for the author’s remarks on California, including his service with the Frémont battalion during the American invasion in the Mexican-American War, while his comments on Los Angeles are also of note regarding what he observed 180 years ago.