214 ELDORADO 



valley of the Sacramento. On the very night after re- 

 ceiving his dispatches, and while all were asleep, the 

 Indians broke into his camp and assassinated several 

 of his men, and might have slain the whole company 

 had it not been for the vigilance of Carson, who sound- 

 ed the alarm. The details of this unfortunate affair I 

 have already mentioned in my narrative. Fremont en- 

 camped on his return near the mouth of Feather river, 

 where the settlers soon flocked around him. General 

 Castro was reported to be on the march to attack him. 

 A company of twelve volunteers started for the Mexi- 

 can fort at Sonoma, and on the 15th of June, 1846, en- 

 tered and captured the post, where they found two 

 hundred and fifty stands of arms and nine cannons. 

 Here they captured General Vallejo and took him a 

 prisoner to Sutter's fort at Sacramento. 



William B. Ide, a New England man, was left to 

 garrison the fort at Sonoma, with a force of eighteen 

 men. General Castro issued a proclamation calling up- 

 on his countrymen to rise and drive the "marauders" 

 from the soil. On the i8th of June, Ide issued his 

 proclamation to the people of Sonoma to defend them- 

 selves and assist in establishing a republican govern- 

 ment. He announced himself as "commander and 

 chief" of the troops at the fortress of Sonoma, and 

 gave his inviolable pledge to all persons in California 

 not found under arms that "that they should not be 

 disturbed in their persons, their property or social re- 

 lations one with another by men under his command." 

 His army consisted of eighteen men. Further on in his 

 "proclamation" he says: "We have been pressed by 



