94 HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



on the battle ground. If a passenger on the Santa Fe railroad going from 

 Los Angeles toward Orange and San Diego, will look out of the car window 

 on the north side as the train approaches and crosses the San Gabriel river, 

 he will be gazing on the ground where this battle of January 8 was fought. 



BATTLE OF THE MESA, OR " LAGUNA RANCH." 

 The next morning, January 9, Stockton learned where the Mexican 

 army had taken position, and then he moved by the left flank away from 

 the main road and out across the open plain toward the city, on what is 

 now known as the Laguna ranch, owned by Mrs. Col. R. S. Baker, a 

 daughter of Don Juan Bandini. But at the time of the battle it was owned 

 by Don Felipe Lugo. Here Gen.- Flores again opposed his advance ; 

 and another battle was fought, resulting in defeat for the Mexicans 

 and their retreat to Rancho San Pasqual [Pasadena]. Wm Heath Davis in 

 his " Sixty Years in California," says: " Twenty-five or thirty of the Cali- 

 fornians were killed and a great many wounded ; while Stockton's loss did 

 not exceed ten killed, with a few wounded." In this I understand Davis 

 to include the battles of both days. Again he says : 



"Forcing their horses forward, in approaching Stockton's line, every 

 horseman in their ranks threw himself over to one side, bending far down, 

 so that no part of his body, except one leg, appeared above the saddle. 

 When the columns met and the horseman was required to use the lance or 

 do other effective service, he remained but a few seconds in the saddle, and 

 in the retreat he threw himself over along the side of the horse, and rode 

 rapidly in that position, guiding the steed skillfully at the same time. By 

 these tactics the cavalry of the enemy avoided presenting themselves as con- 

 spicuous marks for the American riflemen." 



Lieutenant Joseph W. Revere* of the troop-ship Congress, was in this 

 battle ; and in 1873 a book of his entitled " Keel and Saddle " was publshed 

 by James R. Osgood & Co., of Boston. In his chapter 18 he describes the 

 battle, and I quote from page 145 to 147 his graphic account of the oppos- 

 ing forces and the action : 



"Commodore Stockton, having completed his preparations, set forth 

 towards the Pueblo at the head of four hundred seamen, .sixty dismounted 

 dragoons of Kearny's escort, fifty California volunteers, and a light battery. 

 He first encountered the enemy — about five hundred cavalry, with artillery 

 —at the ford of the river San Gabriel, not far from the Angelic capital, on 

 the Sth of January, and celebrated the day by a spirited little fight. Having 

 forced the passage of the San Gabriel, our little column debouched upon 

 the " Mesa," a table-land some four leagues in extent, through which runs 

 the road from San Diego to the Pueblo de Los Angeles. As we came in 

 sight of its white walls in the afternoon [January 9,] we saw a long proces- 

 sion of horsemen issuing from the town, and directing their march towards 

 us. It .<5oon became evident they meant to oppose our progress ; and our 

 jolly tars were in high spirits as they formed in square, the artillery at the 



*Crandsoii of Paul Revere, the famous Boston hero who helped to throw the British tea into Boston 

 harbor, and who:u Longfellow has immortalized in his poem of '• Paul Revere's Ride." 



