again, the buildings were sacked and burned, and several persons killed, wounded, or captured, the survivors taking refuge at San Gabriel or the other ranchos. The excitement was great in January and February; but the records afford but slight information about details or results.[1] The campaigns of Vallejo and Figueroa in the north, and their bloody battles with the fierce Satiyomes near Santa Rosa, which must have occurred in 1834 if at all, I have noticed elsewhere, expressing my opinion that, if not purely imaginary, these events as related by several writers were grossly exaggerated.[2] I may also allude to the hostilities said to have accompanied the founding of Sonoma with like incredulity.
In 1835 Vallejo seems to have marched northward from Sonoma to aid the chief, Solano, in reducing the rebellious Yolos.[3] He had in view also an expedition to the Tulares in July; but it was given up.[4] Robbers from the Tulares gave great trouble at San José and the adjoining region; and it appears that the citizens became somewhat too fond of making raids in that direction, and were apt to make no distinction between horse-thieves and inoffensive women and children. Figueroa was obliged to issue strict orders to prevent outrages.[5] The native inhabitants of San Nicolás Island in the Santa Bárbara Channel are said
- ↑ Dept. St. Pap., MS., iv. 1-3; St. Pap., Sac., MS., xii. 6-8, being reports to Figueroa with calls for aid. This and other similar events will be noticed somewhat more fully in local annals.
- ↑ See chap. ix. of this vol. The writers who narrate this affair are there named. I may be in error; but I do not believe that such an event, especially as it involved the death of a dozen soldiers, could have occurred without leaving some slight trace in the archives. The killing of even a single soldier in an Indian fight of those days was a very startling event.
- ↑ Vallejo, Report on County Names, 1850, p. 532, in Cal., Journal of Senate, 1850. Charles Brown claims to have accompanied an expedition apparently identical with this. He says the force consisted of 60 Californians, 22 foreigners, and 200 Indians, lasting nearly three weeks in the rainy season. 100 captives were taken, and some acts of fiendish barbarity were committed by Solano and his men. Narrator was wounded.
- ↑ Vallejo, Doc., MS., iii. 55, 59. Letter of Vallejo and Figueroa.
- ↑ Dept. St. Pap., S. José, MS., iv. 164-5. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 244-6, is disposed to blame Figueroa for his leniency toward Indians, which to some extent accounted for their depredations.
