ADMINISTRATION OF POLK, 1845-1849.
James K. Polk--_The War with Mexico_--The First Conflict--Battle of
Resaca de la Palma--Vigorous Action of the United States
Government--General Scott's Plan of Campaign--Capture of Monterey--An
Armistice--Capture of Saltillo--Of Victoria--Of Tampico--General
Kearny's Capture of Santa Fe--Conquest of California--Wonderful March of
Colonel Doniphan--Battle of Buena Vista--General Scott's March Toward
the City of Mexico--Capture of Vera Cruz--American Victory at Cerro
Gordo--Five American Victories in One Day--Santa Anna--Conquest of
Mexico Completed--Terms of the Treaty of Peace--The New Territory
Gained--The Slavery Dispute--The Wilmot Proviso--"Fifty-Four Forty or
Fight"--Adjustment of the Oregon Boundary--Admission of Iowa and
Wisconsin--The Smithsonian Institute--Discovery of Gold in
California--The Mormons--The Presidential Election of 1848.
JAMES K. POLK.
[Illustration: JAMES K. POLK.
(1795-1849.) One term, 1845-1849.]
James K. Polk, eleventh President, was born in Mecklenburg County, North
Carolina, November 2, 1795, and died June 15, 1849. His father removed
to Tennessee when the son was quite young, and he therefore became
identified with that State. He studied law, was a leading politician,
and was elected to Congress in 1825, serving in that body for fourteen
years. He was elected governor of Tennessee in 1839, his next
advancement being to the presidency of the United States.
The President made George Bancroft, the distinguished historian, his
secretary of the navy. It was he who laid the foundation of the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, which was opened October 10, 1845. It
is under the immediate care and supervision of the navy department and
corresponds to the Military Academy at West Point.
Everybody knew that the admission of Texas meant war with Mexico, for
that country would never yield, until compelled to do so, the province
that had rebelled against her rule and whose independence she had
persistently refused to recognize. Texas was unable to withstand the
Mexican army, and her authorities urged the United States to send a
force for her protection. General Zachary Taylor, who was in camp in
western Louisiana, was ordered to advance into and occupy Texan
territory.
Mexico had always insisted that the Nueces River was her western
boundary, while Texas maintained that the Rio Grande was the dividing
line. The dispute, therefore, was really over the tract of land between
the two rivers. Our country proposed to settle the question by
arbitration, but Mexico would not consent, claiming that the section
(known as Coahuila) had never been in revolt against her authority,
while Texas declared that it was a part of itself, and its Legislature
so decided December 19, 1836.
General Taylor established a camp at Corpus Christi in the latter part
of 1845, at the mouth of the Nueces. With nearly 5,000 troops, he
marched, in January, to the Rio Grande to meet the Mexicans who were
preparing to invade the disputed territory. Taylor established a depot
of provisions at Point Isabel on the Gulf, and, upon reaching the Rio
Grande, hastily built Fort Brown, opposite the Mexican town of
Matamoras.
Some time later the Mexican forces reached Matamoras, and General Arista
on the 26th of April notified Taylor that hostilities had begun. To
emphasize his declaration, Captain Thornton with a company of dragoons
was attacked the same day, and, after the loss of sixteen men in killed
and wounded, was compelled to surrender to a much superior force. This
was the first engagement of the war and was fought on ground claimed by
both countries.
BATTLE OF PALO ALTO.
The Mexicans acted vigorously and soon placed Taylor's lines of
communication in such danger that he hurried to Point Isabel to prevent
its falling into the hands of the enemy. He left Major Brown with 300
men in charge of Fort Brown. The Mexicans were exultant, believing
Taylor had been frightened out of the country. But that valiant officer
paused at Point Isabel only long enough to make its position secure,
when he marched rapidly toward Fort Brown. Reaching Palo Alto, on the
road, he found the way disputed by fully 6,000 Mexicans, who were three
times as numerous as his own army. Attacking the enemy with great
spirit, he routed them with the loss of a hundred men, his own loss
being four killed and forty wounded.
Resuming his march toward Fort Brown, Taylor had reached a point within
three miles of it, when he was brought face to face with a much larger
force at Resaca de la Palma. The battle was a severe one, and for a long
time was in doubt; but the tide was turned by a dashing charge of
Captain May with his dragoons. Despite a destructive fire of grapeshot,
the horsemen galloped over the Mexican batteries, cut down the gunners,
and captured the commanding officer. Taylor then pushed on to Fort Brown
and found it safe, though it had been under an almost continuous
bombardment, in which Major Brown, the commandant, was killed.
[Illustration: ROBERT E. LEE IN ONE OF THE BATTLES OF THE MEXICAN WAR.
"Always to be found where the fighting was the fiercest."]
WAR DECLARED BY CONGRESS.
News of these battles was carried north by carrier pigeons and
telegraph, and the war spirit of the country was roused. Congress on
the 11th of May declared that war existed by the act of the Mexican
government, and $10,000,000 was placed at the disposal of the President,
who was authorized to accept 50,000 volunteers. The call for them was
answered by 300,000, who were eager to serve in the war.
GENERAL SCOTT'S PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.
General Scott, as head of the army, formed a careful plan of campaign
for the conquest of Mexico. Of the three divisions, General Kearny, with
the army of the west, was to cross the Rocky Mountains and conquer the
northern Mexican provinces; General Scott himself, with the army of the
centre, was to advance from the coast into the interior of the country,
making the city of Mexico, the capital of the republic, his objective
point; while General Taylor, with the army of occupation, was to seize
and hold the Rio Grande country. The work of mustering in the troops was
intrusted to General Wool, who, some time later, established himself at
San Antonio, and sent many soldiers to the different commands.
CAPTURE OF MONTEREY.
Within less than two weeks after his victory at Resaca de la Palma,
Taylor crossed over from Fort Brown and captured Matamoras. Then he
turned up the right bank of the Rio Grande and marched into the
interior. The Mexicans retreated to the fortified town of Monterey,
where they were so powerful that Taylor waited for reinforcements before
attacking them. His forces amounted to 6,600 by the latter part of
August, and he then advanced against Monterey, which was defended by a
garrison of 10,000 men.
The city was invested on the 19th of September. Two days sufficed for
General Worth to capture the fortified works in the rear of the town,
and on the next day the remaining defenses on that side were carried by
storm. At daylight, on the 23d, the city in front was captured by
assault. The Mexicans maintained a vicious defense from their adobe
houses, but the Americans, charging through the streets, battered in the
doors, chased the defenders from room to room and over the housetops
until they flung down their arms and shouted for mercy. The commander
was allowed to evacuate the city, and fell back toward the national
capital.
OTHER VICTORIES.
Taylor was about to resume his advance when the enemy asked for an
armistice, saying the authorities wished to negotiate for peace. Taylor
agreed to an armistice of eight weeks, but the proposal was a trick of
the enemy, who spent every hour of the respite in making preparations to
resist the Americans' advance. Santa Anna, who was undergoing one of
his periodical banishments, was called back and given the presidency.
When the armistice granted by Taylor expired, the Mexicans had an army
of 20,000 in the field, and, under orders from Washington, the American
commander moved forward. The first town captured was Saltillo, seventy
miles southwest of Monterey. It was taken by General Worth, with the
advance, on the 15th of November, 1846. In the following month Victoria,
in the province of Tamaulipas, was captured by General Butler, who,
advancing from Monterey, united with Patterson at this place. Their
intention was to move upon Tampico, on the coast, but they learned that
it had surrendered to Captain Conner, commander of an American squadron.
Meanwhile, General Wool, marching from San Antonio, arrived within
supporting distance of Monterey. Such was the situation when General
Scott reached the army and took command.
GENERAL KEARNY'S OPERATIONS.
General Kearny, in command of the army of the west, left Fort
Leavenworth, in June, 1846, on the way to conquer New Mexico and
California. He had a long and laborious march before him, but he reached
Santa Fe on the 18th of August, and it was easily captured and
garrisoned. New Mexico was powerless, and the whole province
surrendered. Then Kearny, at the head of 400 dragoons, set out for the
Pacific coast, but he had not gotten far on the road when he met a
messenger who informed him that California had been conquered by Colonel
John C. Fremont, acting in conjunction with Commodores Sloat and
Stockton. Kearny sent most of his men back to Santa Fe and pushed for
the Pacific coast, with a hundred dragoons. He arrived in November, and
joined Fremont and Stockton.
CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.
Fremont acquired the name of the "Pathfinder" because of his exploring
expeditions in the far West. He explored a portion of the Rocky
Mountains in 1842, and, in the following two years, conducted an
expedition with much skill and success through the regions of Utah, the
basin of the Columbia, and the passes of the Sierra Nevada. He was in
charge of a third expedition in 1846, and was in California when the
Mexican war broke out. He received the dispatches as if they were news
to him, but there is good reason to believe that the government had sent
him thither, in order that he might be on the ground and do the very
work he did. He urged the pioneers to declare their independence. They
ardently did so, raised the "Black Bear Flag," and gathered around
Fremont, who continually defeated the superior forces of Mexicans.
The town of Monterey, eighty miles south of San Francisco, was captured
by Commodore Sloat with an American squadron, and San Diego was taken
soon afterward by Commodore Stockton, in command of the Pacific
squadron; learning which, Fremont raised the American flag in the place
of that of California, and, joining the naval commanders, advanced upon
Los Angeles, which submitted without resistance. In a short time the
immense province of California was conquered by what may be called a
handful of Americans.
THE WONDERFUL MARCH OF COLONEL DONIPHAN.
Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan had been left at Santa Fe with his small
force of dragoons. At the head of 700 men, he performed one of the most
remarkable exploits of the war. Riding directly through the enemy's
country for nearly a thousand miles, he reached the Rio Grande on
Christmas day and won a battle; he then crossed the river and captured
El Paso, and, heading for Chihuahua, was met by a Mexican force on the
banks of Sacramento Creek. They outnumbered Doniphan's force four to
one, and displayed the black flag, as notice that no quarter would be
given. The Americans lay flat on the ground, and the first volleys
passed harmlessly over their heads. The Mexicans made the mistake of
believing they had been decimated by the discharge, and charged upon
what they supposed were the few survivors. They were received with a
withering volley, and assailed with such fierceness by the Americans
that they were utterly routed. Chihuahua thus fell into the possession
of Colonel Doniphan, but, since the term of the enlistment of his men
had expired, he could advance no further. He then conducted them to New
Orleans, where they were mustered out of service. They had marched a
distance of 5,000 miles, won several victories, suffered not a single
defeat, and were back again in their homes all within a year.
General Scott had landed on the coast for the purpose of marching into
the interior to the national capital. In order to make his advance
resistless, he withdrew the larger part of Taylor's army and united it
with his own. Taylor felt he was used unjustly, for both he and Wool
were threatened by Santa Anna at the head of 20,000, men, but bluff "Old
Rough and Ready" made no protest and grimly prepared for the danger. The
greatest number of troops he could concentrate at Saltillo was about
6,000, and, after placing garrisons there and at Monterey, he had only
4,800 remaining, but, undismayed, he marched out to meet Santa Anna.
Four miles away, he reached the favorable battle ground of Buena Vista,
posted his men, and awaited attack.
The Mexican commander was so confident of overwhelming the Americans
that, in his message to Taylor, he assured him he would see that he was
personally well treated after his surrender. General Taylor sent word
that he declined to obey the summons, and the messenger who carried the
message to Santa Anna added the significant words: "General Taylor
_never_ surrenders."
[Illustration: BATTLE OF RESACA DE LA PALMA
Captain May leaped his steed over the parapets, followed by those of his
men whose horses could do a like feat, and was among the gunners the
next moment, sabering them right and left. General La Vega and a hundred
of his men were made prisoners and borne back to the American lines.]
The American army was placed at the upper end of a long and narrow pass
in the mountains. It was flanked on one side by high cliffs and on the
other by impassable ravines, which position compelled the enemy to
attack him in front.
BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA.
The battle opened early on the morning of February 23d, with the
Mexicans swarming through the gorges and over the hills from San Luis
Potosi. The first assault was against the American right, but it was
beaten back by the Illinois troops; the next was against the centre, but
it was repelled by Captain Washington's artillery; and then the left
flank was vehemently assailed. A mistaken order caused an Indiana
regiment to give way, and for a time the whole army was in danger; but
the Mississippians and Kentuckians gallantly flung themselves into the
breach, the Indiana and Illinois troops rallied, and the Mexicans were
driven tumultuously back. In this brilliant exploit Colonel Jefferson
Davis, with his Mississippi regiment, played a prominent part.
[Illustration: GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT.]
"A LITTLE MORE GRAPE, CAPTAIN BRAGG."
The next charge was upon Captain Bragg's battery, but that officer, in
obedience to General Taylor's famous request, "A little more grape,
Captain Bragg," scattered the Mexican lancers in every direction. The
success was followed up by a cavalry charge, which completed the
discomfiture of the enemy, who fled with the loss of 2,000 men.
Buena Vista was a superb victory for the Americans, but it cost them
dear. The killed, wounded, and missing numbered nearly 800. Among the
killed was Colonel Henry Clay, son of the Kentucky orator and statesman.
The battle completed the work of General Taylor, who soon afterward
returned to the United States. The glory he had won made him President
less than two two years later.
Returning once more to General Scott, he entered upon the last
campaign, March 9, 1847. Old army officers of to-day contrast the
admirable manner in which he did his preliminary work with the
mismanagement in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Impatience was
expressed at his tardiness in getting his troops ready on the transports
at New York. To all such complaints, the grim old soldier replied that
he would embark when everything was ready and not a single hour before.
As a consequence, his men landed at Vera Cruz in the best condition,
there was not the slightest accident, and every soldier when he stepped
ashore had three days' rations in his knapsack. Twelve thousand men were
landed, and in three days the investment of Vera Cruz was complete. Then
a Mexican train was captured and the troops had provisions in abundance.
CAPTURE OF VERA CRUZ.
The city having refused to surrender, the bombardment opened on the
morning of March 22d. The water-side of Vera Cruz was defended by the
castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, built a century and a half before by Spain
at enormous cost. Commodore Conner assisted throughout the four days
that the cannonade lasted. The success of the bombardment made the
Americans confident of capturing the castle by assault, and they were
preparing to do so when the authorities proposed satisfactory terms of
surrender, which took place March 29th.
The direct march upon the capital now began, with General Twiggs in
command of the advance. The road steadily rises from the coast and
abounds in passes and mountains, which offer the best kind of natural
fortifications. When Twiggs reached one of these passes, named Cerro
Gordo, he found that Santa Anna had taken possession of it with 15,000
troops. The whole American army numbered only 9,000, and it looked as if
they were halted in front of an impregnable position, but it must be
captured or the whole campaign would have to be abandoned.
BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO.
There was no hesitation on the part of our troops, who, under the lead
of the bravest and most skillful of officers, attacked with their usual
energy and daring. The Mexicans made the best defense possible, but
within a few hours they abandoned every position and were driven in
headlong confusion from the field. They lost 3,000 prisoners, among whom
were five generals, while the escape of Santa Anna was so narrow that he
left his cork leg behind.
The American army pressed on to Jalapa, which made no resistance, and
furnished a large amount of supplies, and Puebla, a city of 80,000
inhabitants, was occupied on the 15th of May. There the ground was high
and the air cool and salubrious. The men were exhausted from their
arduous campaign, and Scott decided to give them a good rest, so as to
be fully prepared for the final struggle. Besides it was necessary to
receive reinforcements before venturing further. Santa Anna, realizing
that the critical period of the struggle was at hand, put forth every
energy to collect an army to beat back the invaders.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO.
"Captain Lee led the way, and showed the men just what to do. They
lowered the cannons by ropes down the steep cliffs and hauled them up on
the opposite hillside."]
Early in August the American army had been increased to 11,000 men, and,
leaving a small garrison at Puebla, Scott set out for the beautiful city
of Mexico. No serious resistance offered until they reached Ayotla,
fifteen miles from the capital. There it was found that the regular
road bristled with forts, and, although there was no doubt that all
could be carried, the American commander wisely decided to move his army
around to the south, where he could advance over a comparatively
undefended route. Without any difficulty he reached San Augustine, which
was within ten miles of the capital.
Had the positions been changed, a force ten times as great as the
Americans could not have captured the city of Mexico, and yet it fell
before a force only one-third as numerous as the defenders.
A DAY OF VICTORIES.
The fighting began before sunrise, August 20, 1847, and when night came
five distinct victories had been won. The fortified camp of Contreras
was captured in about fifteen minutes. Shortly after the fortified
village of San Antonio was taken by another division of the army. Almost
at the same time, a division stormed one of the fortified heights of
Churubusco, while still another captured the second height. Seeing the
danger of his garrisons, Santa Anna moved out of the city and attacked
the Americans. The reserves immediately assailed, drove him back, and
chased him to the walls of the capital, into which the whole Mexican
force crowded themselves at night.
It was in accordance with the nature of Santa Anna that he should set
2,000 convicts loose that night on the promise that they would fight
against the Americans. Then he stole out of the city, whose authorities
sent a delegation to Scott to treat for peace. This trick had been
resorted to so many times by the Mexicans, who never kept faith, that
the American commander refused to listen to them. An advance was made,
and in a short time the city was completely in our possession.
SANTA ANNA.
At Puebla there were 2,000 Americans in the hospital under charge of a
small guard. Santa Anna attacked them, thinking that at last he had
found a foe whom he could beat; but he was mistaken, for reinforcements
arrived in time to drive him away. This terminated for a time the career
of the treacherous Santa Anna, with whom the Mexican people were
thoroughly disgusted.
It is proper to state at this point that Santa Anna while in command of
the Mexican army made a direct offer to General Taylor to betray his
cause for a large sum of money, and he actually received an installment,
but circumstances prevented the completeness of the bargain. This
miscreant was president and dictator of Mexico in 1853-55, was banished
and returned several times, and was still plotting to recover his power
when he died, in his eighty-second year.
The capture of the capital of Mexico completed the victorious campaign.
The entrance into the city was made September 14, 1847, the American
flag raised over the palace, and General Scott, with a sweep of his
sword over his head, while his massive frame made a striking picture in
front of the palace, proclaimed the conquest of the country. All that
remained was to arrange the terms of peace.
TERMS OF PEACE.
In the following winter, American ambassadors met the Mexican congress
in session at Guadalupe Hidalgo, so named from the small town where it
was situated. There was a good deal of discussion over the terms; our
ambassadors insisting that Mexico should surrender the northern
provinces, which included the present States of California, Nevada,
Utah, and the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico and portions of
Colorado and Wyoming, as indemnity for the war. Mexico would not
consent, and matters drifted along until the 2d of February, 1848, when
the new Mexican government agreed to these terms. The treaty was
modified to a slight extent by the United States Senate, adopted on the
10th of March, ratified by the Mexican congress sitting at Queretaro,
May 30th, and proclaimed by President Polk on the 4th of July. Thus
ended our war with Mexico.
By the terms of the treaty, the United States was to pay Mexico
$15,000,000, and assume debts to the extent of $3,000,000 due to
American citizens from Mexico. These sums were in payment for the
immense territory ceded to us. This cession, the annexation of Texas,
and a purchase south of the Gila River in 1853, added almost a million
square miles to our possessions, nearly equaling the Louisiana purchase
and exceeding the whole area of the United States in 1783.
It may sound strange, but it is a fact, that the governing of the new
territory caused so much trouble that more than once it was seriously
proposed in Congress that Mexico should be asked to take it back again.
General Sherman was credited with the declaration that if the identity
of the man who caused the annexation of Texas could be established, he
ought to be court-martialed and shot. However, all this changed when the
vast capabilities and immeasurable worth of the new countries were
understood. The section speedily developed a wealth, enterprise, and
industry of which no one had before dreamed.
THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
The real peril involved in the acquisition of so much territory lay in
the certainty that it would revive the slavery quarrel that had been put
to sleep by the Missouri Compromise, nearly thirty years before. The
North demanded that slavery should be excluded from the new territory,
because it was so excluded by Mexican law, and to legalize it would keep
out emigrants from the free States. The South demanded the authorization
of slavery, since Southern emigrants would not go thither without their
slaves. Still others proposed to divide the new territory by the
Missouri Compromise line. This would have cut California in two near the
middle, and made one part of the province slave and the other free.
Altogether, it will be seen that trouble was at hand.
Before the outbreak of the Mexican War, Congressman David Wilmot, of
Pennsylvania, introduced the Proviso known by his name. It was a
proposal to purchase the territory from Mexico, provided slavery was
excluded. The introduction of the bill produced much discussion, and it
was defeated by the opposition of the South.
THE OREGON BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
Great Britain and the United States had jointly occupied Oregon for
twenty years, under the agreement that the occupancy could be ended by
either country under a year's notice to the other. Many angry debates
took place in Congress over the question whether such notice should be
given. The United States claimed a strip of territory reaching to
Alaska, latitude 54 deg. 40', while Great Britain claimed the territory
south of the line to the Columbia River. Congress as usual had plenty of
wordy patriots who raised the cry of "Fifty-four forty or fight," and it
was repeated throughout the country. Cooler and wiser counsels
prevailed, each party yielded a part of its claims, and made a middle
line the boundary. A minor dispute over the course of the boundary line
after it reached the Pacific islets was amicably adjusted by another
treaty in 1871.
STATES ADMITTED.
It has been stated that the bill for the admission of Iowa did not
become operative until 1846. It was the fourth State formed from the
Louisiana purchase, and was first settled by the French at Dubuque; but
the post died, and no further settlements were made until the close of
the Black Hawk War of 1832, after which the population increased with
great rapidity.
Wisconsin was the last State formed from the old Northwest Territory. A
few weak settlements were made by the French as early as 1668, but, as
in the case of Iowa, its real settlement began after the Black Hawk War.
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.
James Smithson of England, when he died in 1829, bequeathed his large
estate for the purpose of founding the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." In
1838, his estate, amounting to more than half a million dollars, was
secured by a government agent and deposited in the mint. John Quincy
Adams prepared a plan of organization, which was adopted.
The Smithsonian Institution, so named in honor of its founder, was
placed under the immediate control of a board of regents, composed of
the President, Vice-President, judges of the supreme court, and other
principal officers of the government. It was provided that the entire
sum, amounting with accrued interest to $625,000, should be loaned
forever to the United States government at six per cent.; that from the
proceeds, together with congressional appropriations and private gifts,
proper buildings should be erected for containing a museum of natural
history, a cabinet of minerals, a chemical laboratory, a gallery of art,
and a library. The plan of organization was carried out, and Professor
Joseph Henry of Princeton College, the real inventor of the
electro-magnetic telegraph, was chosen secretary.
[Illustration: THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.]
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.
For many years hardy hunters and trappers had penetrated the vast
wilderness of the West and Northwest in their hunt for game and
peltries. Some of these were in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company,
whose grounds extended as far toward the Arctic Circle as the rugged men
and toughened Indians could penetrate on their snowshoes.
At points hundreds of miles apart in the gloomy solitudes were erected
trading posts to which the red men brought furs to exchange for
trinkets, blankets, firearms, and firewater, and whither the white
trappers made their way, after an absence of months in the dismal
solitudes. Further south, among the rugged mountains and beside the
almost unknown streams, other men set their traps for the beaver, fox,
and various fur-bearing animals. Passing the Rocky Mountains and Cascade
Range they pursued their perilous avocation along the headwaters of the
rivers flowing through California. They toiled amid the snows and storms
of the Sierras, facing perils from the Indians, savage beasts, and the
weather, for pay that often did not amount to the wages received by an
ordinary day laborer.
Little did those men suspect they were walking, sleeping, and toiling
over a treasure bed; that instead of tramping through snow and over ice
and facing the arctic blasts and vengeful red men, if they had dug into
the ground, they would have found wealth beyond estimate.
The priests lived in the adobe haciendas that the Spanish had erected
centuries before, and, as they counted their beads and dozed in calm
happiness, they became rich in flocks and the tributes received from the
simple-minded red men. Sometimes they wondered in a mild way at the
golden trinkets and ornaments brought in by the Indians and were puzzled
to know where they came from, but it seemed never to have occurred to
the good men that they could obtain the same precious metal by using the
pick and shovel. The years came and passed, and red men and white men
continued to walk over California without dreaming of the immeasurable
riches that had been nestling for ages under their feet.
[Illustration: GOLD WASHING--THE SLUICE.]
One day in February, 1848, James W. Marshall, who had come to California
from New Jersey some years before, and had been doing only moderately
well with such odd jobs as he could pick up, was working with a
companion at building a sawmill for Colonel John A. Sutter, who had
immigrated to this country from Baden in 1834. Going westward, he
founded a settlement on the present site of Sacramento in 1841. He built
Fort Sutter on the Sacramento, where he was visited by Fremont on his
exploring expedition in 1846.
Marshall and his companion were engaged in deepening the mill-race, the
former being just in front of the other. Happening to look around, he
asked:
"What is that shining near your boot?"
His friend reached his hand down into the clear water and picked up a
bright, yellow fragment and held it between his fingers.
"It is brass," he said; "but how bright it is!"
"It can't be brass," replied Marshall, "for there isn't a piece of brass
within fifty miles of us."
The other turned it over again and again in his hand, put it in his
mouth and bit it, and then held it up once more to the light. Suddenly
he exclaimed:
"I believe it's gold!"
"I wonder if that's possible," said Marshall, beginning to think his
companion was right; "how can we find out?"
"My wife can tell; she has made some lye from wood-ashes and will test
it."
[Illustration: GOLD WASHING--THE CRADLE.]
The man took the fragment to his wife, who was busy washing, and, at his
request, she boiled it for several hours with the lye. Had it been
brass--the only other metal it possibly could have been--it would have
turned a greenish-black. When examined again, however, its beautiful
bright lustre was undiminished. There was scarcely a doubt that it was
pure gold.
The two men returned to the mill-race with pans, and washed out probably
fifty dollars' worth of gold. Despite the certainty of his friend,
Marshall was troubled by a fear that the fragment was neither brass nor
gold, but some worthless metal of which he knew nothing. He carefully
tied up all that had been gathered, mounted a fleet horse, and rode to
Sutter's store, thirty miles down the American River.
Here he took Colonel Sutter into a private room and showed him what he
had found, saying that he believed it to be gold. Sutter read up the
account of gold in an encyclopedia, tested the substance with aqua
fortis, weighed it, and decided that Marshall was right, and that the
material he had found was undoubtedly gold.
It was a momentous discovery, repeated nearly a half-century later, when
the same metal was found in enormous quantities in the Klondike region.
Colonel Sutter and his companions tried to keep the matter a secret, but
it was impossible. Marshall, being first on the ground, enriched
himself, but by bad management lost all he had gained and died a poor
man. Colonel Sutter tried to keep intruders off his property, but they
came like the swarms of locusts that plagued Egypt. They literally
overran him, and when he died, in 1880, he was without any means
whatever; but California has since erected a handsome statue to his
memory.
For the following ten or twenty years, it may be said, the eyes of the
civilized world were upon California, and men rushed thither from every
quarter of the globe. There was an endless procession of emigrant trains
across the plains; the ships that fought the storms on their way around
Cape Horn were crowded almost to gunwales, while thousands halved the
voyage by trudging, across the Isthmus of Panama to the waiting ships on
the other side. California became a mining camp and millions upon
millions of gold were taken from her soil.
THE MORMONS.
By this time the Mormons engaged much public attention. Joseph Smith, of
Sharon, Vermont, and Palmyra, New York, was the founder of the sect. He
claimed to have found in a cave a number of engraved plates, containing
the Mormon Bible, which was his guide in the formation of a new form of
religious belief. Although polygamy was not commended, it was afterward
added to their peculiar faith, which is that sins are remitted through
baptism, and that the will of God was revealed to his prophet, Smith, as
it was to be revealed to his successors.
The most grotesque farce in the name of religion is sure to find
believers, and they soon gathered about Smith. The first Mormon
conference was held at Fayette, N.Y., in 1830. As their number
increased, they saw that the West offered the best opportunity for
growth and expansion, and, when there were nearly 2,000 of them, they
removed to Jackson, Missouri, where they made a settlement. Their
practices angered the people, and, as soon as they could find a good
pretext, the militia were called out and they were ordered to "move on."
Crossing the Mississippi into Illinois, they laid out a city which they
named Nauvoo. Some of them were wealthy, and, as they held their means
in common, they were able to erect a beautiful temple and numerous
residences. Converts now flocked to them until they numbered fully
10,000. Their neighbors were displeased with their presence, and the
feeling grew into indignation when the Mormons not only refused to obey
the State laws, but defied them and passed laws of their own in open
opposition. In the excitement that followed, Joseph Smith and his
brother Hyram were arrested and lodged in jail at Carthage. Lynch-law
was as popular in the West as it is to-day in the South, and a mob broke
into the jail and killed the Smith brothers. This took place in June,
1844, and the Illinois Legislature annulled the charter of Nauvoo.
[Illustration: GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.]
The experience of the Mormons convinced them that they would never be
allowed to maintain their organization in any of the States. They,
therefore, gathered up their worldly goods, and, in 1846, set out on the
long journey to the far West. Reaching the Basin of Utah, they founded
Great Salt Lake City, which is one of the handsomest, best governed, and
cleanest (in a physical sense) cities in the world.
While referring to these peculiar people, we may as well complete their
history by anticipating events that followed.
In 1857, our government attempted to extend its judicial system over
Utah Territory. Brigham Young, the successor of Joseph Smith, until then
had not been disturbed, and he did not mean to be interfered with by any
government. He insulted the Federal judges sent thither and drove them
out of the Territory, his pretext being that the objectionable character
of the judges justified the step. Our government, which is always
patient in such matters, could not accept this explanation, and Alfred
Cumming, superintendent of Indian affairs on the Upper Missouri, was
made governor of Utah and Judge Delano Eckels, of Indiana, was appointed
chief justice of the Territory. Knowing that he would be resisted,
Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston was sent thither to compel obedience to
the laws.
The United States troops, numbering 2,500, entered the Territory in
October and were attacked by the Mormons, who destroyed their supply
train and compelled the men to seek winter quarters near Fort Bridges.
Affairs were in this critical state when a messenger from the President,
in the spring of 1858, carried a conciliatory letter to Brigham Young,
which did much to soothe his ruffled feelings. Then, by-and-by, Governor
Powell of Kentucky and Major McCulloch of Texas appeared with a
proclamation of pardon to all who would submit to Federal authority. The
Mormons were satisfied, accepted the terms, and in May, 1860, the United
States troops were withdrawn from the Territory.
Since that time our government has had many difficulties in dealing with
the Mormons. Although polygamy is forbidden by the laws of the States
and Territories, the sect continued to practice it. In March, 1882,
Congress passed what is known as the Edmunds Act, which excluded Mormons
from local offices which they had hitherto wholly controlled. Many
persons were indicted and punished for the practice of polygamy, while
others abandoned it. Brigham Young, who had become governor of Deseret
in 1849, and two years later was appointed governor of Utah, died in
1877, at which time he was president of the Mormon church. The practice
of polygamy was never fully eradicated, and Utah, at this writing, is
represented in the United States Senate by men who make no attempt at
concealing the fact that they are polygamists.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1848.
The former Democrats and Whigs who were friendly to the Wilmot Proviso
formed the Free Soil party in 1848, to which also the Abolitionists
naturally attached themselves. The regular Whigs and Democrats refused
to support the Wilmot Proviso, through fear of alienating the South. The
Free Soilers named as their nominees Martin Van Buren, for President,
and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President; the
Democrats selected Louis Cass, of Michigan, for President, and William
O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-President; the Whig candidates were
General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for President, and Millard
Fillmore, of New York, for Vice-President. At the electoral vote Zachary
Taylor was elected President and Millard Fillmore Vice-President.