The dead were buried as soon as night closed in; the wounded were
properly attended to by the single surgeon who was with the party; and
ambulances were prepared for their conveyance to San Diego, thirty-nine
miles distant; and on the morning of the 7th the order to march was
given--the column taking the right-hand road over the hills, and leaving
the River San Bernardo to the left--the enemy retiring as it advanced. A
proper regard for the comfort of the wounded compelled the column to
move slowly, and it was afternoon before it reached the San Bernardo
_rancheria_ (Mr. Snook's). After a short halt at that place the column
moved down into the valley; and immediately afterward the hills on the
rear of the column (around the _rancheria_) were covered with
Californian horsemen, a portion of whom dashed at full speed past the
Americans to occupy a hill which commanded the route of the latter,
while the remainder of the party threatened the rear of the column.
Thirty or forty of the enemy quickly occupied the hill referred to; and
as the column came up six or eight Americans filed off to the left, and,
under Lieutenant Emory, charged up the hill, when the Californians
delivered their fire and fled, five of their number having been killed
or wounded by the rifles of the assailants.

The wounded having been removed with great difficulty, the cattle having
been lost, and the danger of losing the sick and the packs being great,
the General determined to halt at that place and await the arrival of
reinforcements, for which messengers had been sent to San Diego on the
morning of the 6th. Accordingly the Americans occupied the high ground
on which the action had been fought, bored holes for water, killed their
fattest mules for meat, and awaited the arrival of their friends, until
the morning of the 11th, when they were joined by one hundred seamen and
eighty marines, under Lieutenant Gray, who had been sent out to meet
them by Commodore Stockton; and, on the afternoon of the 12th, the