This battalion of mounted riflemen on its arrival at
Monterey, July 23, 1846, was mustered into the service of the United
States by Commodore Stockton, who had succeeded Commodore Sloat in
command of the squadron--Captain Fremont being appointed its commandant,
and Lieutenant A. H. Gillespie, of the Marines, its second officer--and
it was immediately despatched on the sloop-of-war Cyane to San Diego for
the purpose of cutting off the retreat of General Castro, of the Mexican
service, who had encamped and fortified his position near Ciudad de los
Angeles, while the Commodore with his sailors--who landed from the
Congress at San Pedro--moved against him in front. The expedition was
eminently successful, as the Mexicans on the approach of the Commodore
immediately evacuated their camp and fled in the greatest
confusion--although most of the principal officers were subsequently
captured--and, on August 13th, the Ciudad de los Angeles was occupied,
again without opposition, by the American troops and seamen, and the
conquest of California was apparently completed.
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