HISTORY OF CALIFOKNIA. 33 



first regiment of United States dragoons, and Captain 

 Gillespie with sixty mounts riflemen. The troops 

 marched one hundred and ten miles in ten days, and, 

 on the 8th of January, they found the Californians in 

 a strong position on the high bank of the San Gabriel 

 river, with six hundred mounted men and four pieces 

 of artillery, prepared to dispute tlie passage of the 

 river. The Americans waded through the vrater, 

 dragging their guns with them, exposed to a galling 

 fire from the enemy, without returning a shot. Yf hen 

 they reached the opposite shore, the Californians 

 charged upon them, but were driven back. They 

 then charged up the bank and succeeded in driving 

 the Californians from their post. Stockton, with his 

 force, continued his march, and the next day, in cross- 

 ing the plains of Mesa, the enemy made another 

 attempt to save their capital. They were concealed 

 with their artillery in a ravine, until the Americans 

 came within gun-shot, when they opened a brisk fire 

 upon their right flank, and at the same time charged 

 both their front and rear. But the guns of the Cali- 

 fornians were soon silenced, and the charge repelled. 

 The Californians then fled, and the next morning the 

 Americans entered Los Angeles without opposition. 

 The loss of the Americans in killed and wounded did 

 not exceed twenty, while that of their opponents 

 reached between seventy and eighty. 



These two battles decided the contest in California. 

 General Flores, governor and commandant-general of 

 the Californians, as he styled himself, immediately 

 after the Americans entered Los Angeles, made his 

 escape and his troops dispersed. The territory be- 

 came again tranquil, and the civil government was 

 soon in operation again in the places where it had 



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