The command appears to have been given, at
his own request, to General Kearney; and as the wagon train was heavily
laden, the progress of the column was very slow--the expedition reaching
the Rio San Gabriel on January 8, 1847--although the enemy had offered
no opposition to its progress even in passes where a small force could
have effectively kept it back. At this place, however, he had made a
stand to dispute the passage of the river; and here the second action
was fought between the Americans and the Californians.
The Rio San Gabriel, at the spot where this action was fought, is about
one hundred yards wide, the current about knee-deep, flowing over a
quicksand bottom. The left bank, by which the Americans approached, is
level; that on the right is also level for a short distance back, but
beyond this narrow plain a bank fifty feet in height commands the ford
and the intervening flat, while both banks are fringed with a thick
undergrowth. On this bank, directly in front of the ford, four pieces of
artillery were posted, supported on either flank by strong bodies of
cavalry, while on the slope of the hill and the flat in front were
posted the sharpshooters.
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