Page 15 - robinson_storyofvalencia_1967

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American soldier~ ... L under John C. Freno~
p as s th r o u gJ1 Ran ch o S an _Fran c is co , on th e i r
~ay to Los An~e·s -- in the closing Calif-
ornf~_phase of the war with He::dco.

F;_/mont's buckskin batall~on ~f mounted and bearded
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riflemen, with Indian allies, had set out from Monterey, had

ridden south early in January, 18~7, had paid Mission San Buena-

ventura a visit, and then followed the Santa Clara River valley

inland.

On January 9 and 10, at least, the batallion was in
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Rancho San Francisco. Edwin Bryant, a volunteer with the Frem6nt

party, writes in his What I Saw in California, that we encamped

this afternoon (January 9) at a rancho, situated on tqe edge of a

fertile and finely-watered plain ~f considerable extent, wl1ere we

found corn, w~eat, and fr~joles-in great abundance. The rancho
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was owned by an aged Californian of coramanding and respectable
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appearance. Does young Bryant refer to 45-year-old Don Jose -

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Salazar, husband_of Dona Jacoba? On January 10, crossing the
-- r
p 1 a in "w e en c am p·e d , ab o ~ t t w o o ' c 1 o ck , p . m . , in th e - mo n th o f a

·ca~ada, through which we ascend over a difficult pass in a range

of elev~ted hills beiween us and the plain of San Fe~n2ndo. A

large number of cattle were collected in the plain 2nd corralled,

t o b e d r i v e n a 1 o· n g t o l7l o r r ow f o r s u b s i s t e n c e • " 0 n J an u E. r y 11 th e
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party was at the.Mission of San Fernando. On Janu2ry 13 Fremont

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