give up their arms, and as the barracks were untenable with so small a
force, the Lieutenant resolved to abandon the town and push for the
hills; and, strange to say, he marshalled his men and marched out of the
town without opposition--"those who lay on the road retreated to the
main force, which was on the lower side of the town."

Having reached the hills, he encamped, and remained there eight days,
when the Californians endeavored to rout him out, but were repulsed with
the loss of a horse. The insurgents then offered him his arms and
freedom if he would engage to remain neutral in the anticipated
hostilities, but "he sent word back that he preferred to fight." They
next built fires about him and burned him out; but in doing so they did
not capture or injure him, and he pushed through the mountains for
Monterey; and after a month's travel, in which he endured unheard-of
hardships and suffering, he reached that place in safety.

Intelligence of the insurrection having reached Commodore Stockton at
San Francisco and Lieutenant-Colonel Frémont at Sacramento, both took
immediate steps to check its progress and to punish the offenders. In
conformity with the Commodore's orders Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont
hastened to San Francisco, whence he embarked, with one hundred sixty
men, on the ship Sterling, for Santa Barbara, to which port the frigate
Savannah (Captain Mervine) had previously been ordered; while, on the
same day, the Commodore in person sailed for the same port in the
Congress.

The latter vessel reached San Pedro on October 6th, and at sunrise on
the 7th Captain Mervine landed with his seamen and marines; and after
being joined by Captain Gillespie and his brave-hearted little party, he
found himself at the head of three hundred ten men, "as brave and as