''Leaving a small garrison in Sanoma, Colonel Fremont went to the Sacramento to rouse the American settlers ; but, scarcely had he arrived when an express reached him that Castro's whole force was crossing the bay to attack that place. On the morning of" the 25th, he arrived with ninety riflemen from the American settlers in that valley. The enemy had not yet appeared—scouts w^ere sent out to reconnoitre, and a party of twenty fell in with a squadron of seventy dra- goons, attacked and defeated it. The country north of the Bay of San Francisco being cleared of the enemy^ 13* 150 REVIEW 0-F THE MEXICAN WAR.
Colonel Fremont returned to Sanoma on the evening of the 4th July, and on the morning of the 5th called the people together, explained to them the condition of things in the province, and recommended an immediate declaration of independence. The declaration was made, and he was selected to take the chief dii-ection of affairs." The new-born Republic of California existed but for the brief period of four days, being then strangled by its parent, on -receiving, as the Secretary tells us, "the gratifying intelligence " of the war with Mexico. Fremont and his