Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/100

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ECHEANDÍA AND HERRERA – THE SOLIS REVOLT.

complaint; whereupon the governor showed documents to prove that in 1829, one month with another, the soldiers had received two thirds of their full pay.[1] On the 24th the Brookline arrived at San Diego with Vallejo and Rocha, the Monterey prisoners, and the same day or the next there came the news that the capital had been retaken. Pacheco was already on his way north to assume the command at Monterey.[2] On the 26th, Echeandía reported all he had done to the supreme government, and did not fail to utilize the occasion by expatiating on California's great dangers and needs.[3]

The recapture of Monterey was effected January 20th, largely by the aid of the foreign residents. It was feared that Solis and his men, defeated at Santa Bárbara, would devote their efforts to plunder, and it was deemed prudent to act before their return. There was no more difficulty in bringing about this movement in favor of Echeandía than in effecting the original revolt against him; yet David Spence indulged in a little Mexicanism when he wrote of the affair that "with the firm resolution of death or victory, like bold British tars, we stood it out for twelve days and nights."[4] Malarin, Munrás, Alvarado, and José de Jesus Vallejo were most prominent among those who aided the foreigners; and the citizens of San José seem to have sent a party to assist in the reëstablishment of the regular government.[5] Fran-


  1. Dept. St. Pap., MS., ii. 120-1.
  2. Arrival of Vallejo and Rocha. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Cust.-H., MS., iii. 58. It is erroneously stated by some that these prisoners first carried the news of the revolt to the south. Jan. 26th, Echeandía to Francisco Pacheco, in reply to the latter's announcement that order has been restored at Monterey. Dept. Rec., MS., viii. 12.
  3. Jan. 26th, E. to min. of war. St. Pap., Sac., MS., x. 56-8.
  4. Feb. 4, 1830, Spence to Hartnell. Vallejo, Doc., MS., xxx. 19.
  5. Meliton Soto in his testimony stated that Cooper's house was the headquarters, whence he went with Alvarado, Santiago Moreno, Alcalde Soberanes, and several citizens and foreigners to take possession of the artillery barracks at 7 or 8 P. M. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxxii. 64. Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 8-13, tells us that the alcalde of S. José sent 45 men, who arrived at midnight and surprised the garrison. Pattie's account of events at Monterey, from the time that Solis marched for the south — absurdly inaccurate in many respects — is as follows in substance: Solis marched on