A new expedition was prepared, for which the troops of San Francisco under Sanchez were joined to those of Monterey under Alférez Mariano G. Vallejo, who was also, by virtue of his superior rank, commander in chief of the army, now numbering one hundred and seven armed men. Vallejo had not yet had much experience as an Indian-fighter, but he had just returned from a campaign in the Tulares, in which with thirty-five men he had slain forty-eight Indians and suffered no casualties.[1] Having crossed the San Joaquin River by means of rafts on May 29th, the army arrived next day at the scene of the former battle, where it was met as before by a cloud of arrows. The wood was found to be absolutely impenetrable, and Vallejo at once caused it to be set on fire, stationing his troops and his three-pounder on the opposite bank of the river. The fire brought the Indians to the edge of the thicket, where some of them were killed. At 5 p.m. Sanchez was sent with twenty-five men to attack the foe, and fought over two hours in the burning wood, retiring at dusk with three men wounded.
Next morning at 9 o'clock Vallejo with thirty-seven men again entered the wood. He found a series of pits and ditches arranged with considerable skill, and protected by barricades of trees and brush. Evidently the Indians could never have been dislodged from such a stronghold except by the agency that had been employed. Traces of blood were found everywhere, and there were also discovered the bodies of the two soldiers killed in the previous battle. The enemy, how-
- ↑ Dept. Rec., MS., vii. 20. According to a document in Vallejo, Doc., MS., xx. 280, Vallejo had been in two acciones de guerra as commander, one in the Sierra Nevada from S. Miguel, and the other in the Tulares, where he had one man killed and 15 wounded. May 16, 1820, Martinez orders Vallejo to march with Sanchez to chastise the rebels of Sta Clara and S. José assembled at Los Rios. Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 174.
MS., vii. 20. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 129-30, gives some particulars about the loss of the two men, and says that Soto died of his wounds a little later at S. José. Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 57-60, gives an absurdly exaggerated account of the battle and of the enemy's fortifications. Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 22-4, has a quite accurate narrative from memory, recalling even the name of the Rio Laquisimes, which may have been that now called the Stanislaus, though it is not certain.
