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Battlefield of the r:3rCesa

There ARE four granite boulders with bronze tablets to mark
the field of the Battle of the Mesa. Although this engage-
ment was fought without a death it takes its place in history
as the last armed dash in the Mexican resistance to the occupation
of the American troops.
On January 8, 1847, Commodore Stockton and General Kear-
ney, marching from the South to re-take Los Angeles, had ad-
vanced against the Californian's stand on the bank of the Rio
Hondo, near where Montebello now stands. The Californians,
under Generals Flores, Pico and Carrillo, kept up a harrassing fire
as they fell back.
The following day the Californians made their final show of
fight in an attack on the Americans who had camped on the mesa.
The Americans drove them off and then next day marched direct
to Los Angeles to take possession, which thereafter was never re-
linquished.
A sketch of the battlefield made by Lieutenant-Colonel W. H.
Emory at the time of the engagement and preserved as a part of
government records was used to definitely locate the historic site.
The markers were placed by historical societies and the Los An-
geles Union Stock Yards Company.
The surrounding area is now built up with teeming plants of
the Central· Manufacturing District, a contrasting monument to
the growth and activities of the Los Angeles of today.
The most direct route to the historic site is on Santa Fe avenue
south to Twenty-sixth street and then eastward to Downey Road
which, followed southward, goes directly in front of the monument.