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to the proceedings. In the procession were included the Mexican War Veterans, the
Loyal Legion, Confederate Vet-
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[Gen. Stephen W. Kearny]
erans, Sons of the Revolution, the Grand Army of the Republic, Spanish War Veterans,
a battalion of the U. S. Coast Artillery, Company B Seventh Infantry National Guard of
California, Masonic and other fraternal societies, and public officials.
Mayor John I. Sehon, chairman of the committee on arrangements, acted as
master of ceremonies. After the invocation, a large new flag, donated by the sons of
George Lyons, was raised on the flagpole already standing on the old plaza, by Major
Charles G. Woodward, U. S. A. Following this, a large granite boulder, designed to mark
the spot where the first flag was raised sixty years before, and bearing a suitable inscription,
was unveiled by Miss Frémont, daughter of John C. Frémont, assisted by
Mayor Sehon, U. S. Grant Jr., Major Edwin A. Sherman, president of the Mexican War
Veterans, Colonel E. T. Blackmer, Captain Joseph D. Dexter, and others. A salute was
fired, and the oration of the day was delivered by William
Page 227
E. Smythe. Another feature of the day was the planting a large date palm by Dr. T. C.
Stockton and a committee citizens, to commemorate the work of Commodore Stockton
at San Diego. Hon. W. W. Bowers made appropriate remarks at this ceremony.
Page 228
PART II. CHAPTER IX. PUBLIC AFFAIRS AFTER THE WAR
Soon after the formal ending of the war in California the famous Mormon Battalion
reached San Diego by way of Warner's. They camped for a few days at the old mission,
and the journal of their colonel supplies the following description of the historic
spot as it appeared on January 29 1847: "The building being dilapidated, and in use by
some dirty Indians, I camped the battalion on the flat below. There are around us extensive
gardens and vineyards, wells and cisterns, more or less fallen into decay and disorder;
but also olive and picturesque date trees, flourishing and ornamental. There is no
fuel for miles around, and the dependence for water is some rather distant pools in the
sandy San Diego, which runs (sometimes) down to the ocean."
The Mormons remained but a short time at first, but were reorganized at Los Angeles
and a company of 78 returned to Fort Stockton, where it served as a garrison for
a period of six months. They were under the command of Captain Jesse D. Hunter,
whose wife presented him with a son having the distinction of being the first child whose
parents were both Americans, to be born in Old San Diego. The boy was named Diego
Hunter and lived for several years in San Diego. He died, several years ago, at San Luis
Rey, where his father was Indian agent.