doc241 - Schoenherr Home Page in Sunny Chula Vista

Page 212
fell back. A ranger now dashed by; it was Juan (or Francisco) Lara, and Lieutenant
Beale fired several shots at him and brought him down with a broken leg. Six months
later Lara's leg was amputated by a French physician and he lived in Los Angeles many
years. By this time the main body of the troops came in sight and, seeing them, the Californians
drew off and retreated rapidly down the valley.
Captain Moore, seeing the Californians retreating, now ordered Lieutenant
Hammond and his men to follow, which they did, in a wild charge. The statement has
been made that a recall was sounded which the men did not hear, but there is no official
confirmation of this statement. Kearny ordered the troops to close up in support, and
they did so to the best of their ability. But the tired and balky mules could not be hurried
and only those having the best mounts, about fifty in all, came up in time to take part in
the second conflict; the balance of the men never saw the enemy until after the fight
was over. The charge was made without any attempt at order; the men rushed down the
road at full speed, pell-mell, hurly-burly, strung out in a line half a mile long.
At a distance of about half a mile from the village the road divided, the main road
leading out upon the plain toward the San Bernardo and Rincon ranchos and a branch
leading up a ravine on the side of the valley. Upon reaching this point, part of Pico's
men kept straight ahead on the main road and the remainder turned up this side road,
where they were concealed by a rocky spur, and waited for the Americans to come.
Those of the troops who were riding the best horses soon reached and passed this ambuscade,
among them General Kearny, Captain Moore, Lieutenant Hammond, Captain
Gillespie, and a number of the men; then Pico suddenly wheeled his lancers and
charged back on their front, and the detachment in ambush rode out and attacked them
on the side and rear. A brief but terrible butchery ensued.
The miserable condition of Kearny's men and mounts was evident enough to the
Californians, who are said to have exclaimed. as they saw them coming, "Aquí bamos
hacer matanza!" ["Here we are going to have a slaughter!"]. The Americans found their
arms useless, but defended themselves as best they could with sabres and clubbed
muskets. A scene of the greatest confusion followed, the chief feature of which was the
ruthless slaughter of the almost helpless troops by the rangers. This lasted about ten
minutes; and then, the struggling troops on their lagging mules beginning to come up
and the howitzers approaching, the Californians again put spurs to their horses and galloped
away, part going down the valley and others over the hills.
Page 213
The story of this terrible conflict was never known in detail, even by the participants,
but a few of the incidents and a record of results have come down to us. Captain
Moore was killed early in the fight, in a combat with Pico. The General was armed with a
lance and the captain with a sword, which broke at the hilt while parrying the lance.
Moore then reached for his pistol, seeing which, two rangers rushed in and killed him
with their lances. One of these men was José Antonio Serrano, the other Leandro Osuna,
both residents of San Diego. Moore's body was found near a pond of water, his
sword hilt still in his hand, and the blade broken in two pieces.
Captain Gillespie, a skillful swordsman, was attacked by Dolores Higuera, commonly
called "El Guero." Gillespie received first a slight wound in the chest, and was