CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 42? 
and it did not reach San Diego until the 12th of De¬ 
cember. 
When Captain Stockton heard of the outbreak of the 
inhabitants, he sent the frigate Savannah to the relief 
of Captain Gillespie at the City of the Angels, but she 
came too late. Three hundred and twentv men of the 
* 
crew landed and marched towards the city, but the Cali¬ 
fornians met them, well appointed with fine horses and 
artillery, and the gallant sailors were compelled to retire, 
after sustaining a battle with their small arms on foot 
against greatly superior numbers. They lost eleven in 
killed and wounded. Commodore Stockton himself sailed 
to San Pedro in the Congress, and made another march 
upon the City of the Angels with a sailor army, which 
now took some of the ship’s cannons with them, dragged 
by hand with ropes. A battle was fought at the Rancho 
Sepulrida, where the commodore decoyed the enemy in¬ 
to a proper position, and then opened upon them with the 
guns which had been hidden from their view. One hun¬ 
dred killed, more than that number wounded, a hundred 
taken prisoners, and the whole force of the enemy routed 
and put to flight, were the immediate results of the fight. 
Among its other advantages was that of furnishing the 
sailors, who had heretofore fought only on foot, with the 
means of rapid transportation from place to place. As 
soon as they were mounted on the captured horses, a se¬ 
ries of skirmishes was commenced, in which they dis¬ 
played the utmost courage and activity. General Kear¬ 
ney’s arrival increased the prospect of a speedy termina¬ 
tion of the war, and he and the commodore at once laid 
a plan for its further prosecution. On the 29th of De¬ 
cember the army, composed of sixty dismounted dragoons, 
fifty California Volunteers, and four hundred marines and 
sailors started on the march from San Diego to the City 
of the Angels. At the Rio San Gabriel they found the 
enemy in strong position, prepared to dispute its passage. 
