As commander-in-chief of the victorious revolutionary army, José Castro was comandante general of California from November 5th, the date of Gutierrez's surrender, to the 29th, when his successor assumed the office, and as president of the diputacion, he was governor for a still longer period, until December 7th. It has been customary to date Alvarado's rule from the fall of Gutierrez, and to ignore Castro altogether in the list of rulers for this period; but in reality, Alvarado at this time had no authority, whatever his influence may have been. Don José was a grandson of Sergeant Macario Castro,[1] and a son of Corporal José Tiburcio Castro, who had been alcalde of San José. His mother was an Álvarez. He was born
- ↑ See biographical sketches.
can be known, gave no cause for complaint. His name, however, became again disagreeably prominent in connection with the troubles growing out of the scandalous liaison between his wife, Doña Ildefonsa Gonzalez, daughter of Capt. Miguel Gonzalez, and José María Castañares, as fully narrated in chap. xv. Herrera is described as of medium height and inclined to corpulency, with fair complexion, black hair, and thick beard. He was affable in manner, of much business ability, skilful in argument, and well educated. Some leading Californians have given him a very bad character, under circumstances known to the reader. I do not undertake to decide just to what extent the charges rest on prejudice. A man of the same name was contador of the custom-house at Guaymas in 1839. Pinart, Col. Doc. Son., MS., iii. 116.
Capt. Juan Antonio Muñoz was appointed in 1830 to proceed to Cal. and succeed Alf. Fernandez del Campo in command of the artillery, He arrived late in 1832 and was offered by Zamorano the comandancia accidental, but declined, remaining inactive until Figueroa came, Dept. St. Pap., MS., iii. 79-82, and then took his proper command. There is nothing to be noticed in his Californian career of four years, except that he was very much disliked by the people; and I find no record respecting him before his arrival or after his departure in exile in 1836.
Lieut Bernardo Navarrete came with Figueroa in 1833. In Aug. 1834 he was commissioned captain of the Monterey company; but there is no record that he received the commission before his banishment in 1836. Dept. St. Pap., Ben, Mil., MS., lxxix. 83. Chico proposed to send him on a commission to Mexico, but Francisco Castillo Negrete seems to have gone in his place. He commanded the cavalry during the final siege of Monterey. Like Muñoz, he was disliked by the Californians, for reasons which, except his being a Mexican, are unknown.
Alférez Patricio Estrada was also sufficiently under the ban of Californian displeasure to be sent away in 1836. He had come with Echeandía in 1825; commanding a detachment of the Piquete de Hidalgo.
Nicanor Estrada left the country in 1836, not in the Clementine, and perhaps voluntarily. He worked as a blacksmith. In Mexico he had been a captain of cavalry, and came with the colony as a kind of political exile. In Nov. 1835, notice was sent that his rank had been restored. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxxxi. 1.
