doc241 - Schoenherr Home Page in Sunny Chula Vista

Kearny, however, determined to attack. Without doubt, he was influenced to this
course largely by the advice of Kit Carson, who declared that the Californians were
cowards and would not fight. At first he planned to send Captain Moore with sixty
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men and make a night attack, but for some reason changed his mind and sent Lieutenant
Thomas C. Hammond, with ten men, including Sergeant Williams and Private
George Pierce, with Machado as guide, to reconnoiter. They succeeded in getting near
the Indian huts at San Pasqual occupied by Pico's men, and the guide and Sergeant
Williams advanced to the door and saw the men asleep on the floor and a lone Indian
keeping guard. They beckoned the Indian without the hut and began to converse with
him, when a sentinel hailed the main party, and they all retreated precipitately. In this
retreat they lost a blanket and jacket, which betrayed the presence of the force to Pico.
Hammond returned about 2 A. M. and reported that he had found the enemy and
had been seen, but not pursued, by them. Notwithstanding the misfortune to the reconnoitering
party, the General seems still to have expected, as Dr. John S. Griffin naively
says in his journal, to "surprise" the enemy. Camp was broken at once, and soon all
were upon the road, in the following order: First rode an advance guard of twelve men,
on the best horses, under Captain Abraham R. Johnston. After them came General
Kearny with Lieutenants Wm. H. Amory and Wm. H. Warner, of the engineers, and four
or five of their men. Then Captain Benjamin D. Moore and Lieutenant Hammond, with
about fifty mounted dragoons. Next Captains Gillespie and Gibson, with twenty volunteers.
Then Lieutenant John W. Davidson, in charge of the artillery, with a few dragoons.
The balance of the force, some fifty or sixty men brought up the rear under Major
Swords. The rain ceased with daylight, but it was very cold and the men, having had no
shelter during the night, were stiff and jaded. And, strangest of all, their arms were not
recharged!
As day dawned on the morning of December 6th, the advance came out on the
hillside above the village of San Pasqual, and, looking down into the valley through the
fog, saw the campfires of the Californians burning brightly and the lancers moving,
about three-quarters of a mile away. Without waiting for the main force to come up,
Kearny ordered a trot, then a charge, and Captain Johnston and his twelve men dashed
down the hill. After them rode the General and his little party. It was not, as a rule, the
policy of the Californians to stand still and receive a charge. They were superb horsemen
and skilled lancers, but not beef-eaters. But, seeing only twenty men coming, they
stood firm, discharged what muskets and pistols they had, and received the Americans
upon their lances. Captain Johnston fell at the first fire with a ball through his forehead,
and a dragoon was badly wounded. The men kept on, there was a confused struggle for
a few moments, and then the Americans
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[Commodore Robert F. Stockton]