CHAPTER IX. 1846–1847.

on the 18th of August. Possession of the place was given without a blow, and it is probable that the discreet Armijo yielded to the advice of American counsellors in his capital, in surrendering without bloodshed to our forces. Kearney had been authorized to organize and muster into service a battalion of emigrants to Oregon and California, who eagerly availed themselves of this favorable military opportunity to reach their distant abodes on the shores of the Pacific. After organizing the new government of Santa Fé, forming a new code of organic laws, and satisfying himself of the stability of affairs in that quarter, Kearney departed on his mission to California. But he had not gone far when he was met by an express with information of the fall of that portion of Mexico, and immediately sent back the main body of his men, continuing his route through the wilderness with the escort of one hundred dragoons alone. In September of this year, a regiment of New York volunteer infantry had been despatched thither also, by sea, under the command of Colonel Stevenson.