MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, June 16, 1847. Your communications of the 6th of the present month, respecting the recent acts of lawless violence committed in San Luis Obispo, have been received. I have to desire that you will, with as little delay as circumstances will admit, come to Monterey. You will bring with you Vincente Feliz, Francisco Abbisu, and Soluy, who are charged with taking part in the aforesaid acts of violence. You will bring with you Gaudalupe Cantua, Thomas Olivera, and Joaquin Valenzuela, as witnesses summoned by Faustino Garcia and José Rodriguez, alias Letra, who are now in confinement at this place. And I have also to desire that you will bring some three or four witnesses who are thoroughly cognizant of all the facts attending the outrages said to have been committed, whose evidence will be required in prosecuting the investigation which public justice demands against the persons implicated. For the execution of this order, you are at liberty to use the authority of my name, and employ any force that may be necessary. The promptitude with which you have acted in this affair merits commendation. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. J. MARIANO BONILLA, To all whom it may concern: Know ye, that I, Richard B. Mason, colonel of the 1st regiment United States dragoons and governor of California, do hereby grant unto Colonel José Castro, late commandant general of California, a free passport to return to Monterey, in Upper California, where he will be kindly and well received by the undersigned and all United States authorities. All United States naval officers on the western coast of Mexico and California are requested to aid in facilitating the return of the said Castro to Monterey. Given at Monterey, the capital of California, this 17th day of June, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-seven, and the 71st of the independence of the United States. R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, June 1, 1847. SIR: If there are any muskets or rifles at your post that have been collected from the people living in the southern part of Upper California, they may be returned to such few individuals as you may think can be safely trusted; but be very cautious into whose hands you place them. Should any such arms-those taken from the people to the southward— be borne upon the returns of the ordnance sergeant, he must have a written order to turn them over, so as to enable him to account for them. Inform me of the name and date with which you fill the blanks in the appointment for the collector at San Diego. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Colonel J. D. STEVENSON, 7th Regiment New York Volunteers, Com'g at Los Angeles, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, June 1, 1847. SIR: The Lexington transport will soon be at Santa Barbara to take yourself and two companies of your command to Lower California. I have no instructions for you in addition to those written by the General, who left here yesterday for the United States, except that you will take your surgeon with you and such supplies of medicine and hospital stores as may be deemed necessary, taking care to leave a sufficiency for the company that remains. You will give up the house that you rented for the use of the camp women, as there will be ample room for all in the quarters now occupied when the two companies embark. The funds derived from the custom-houses in Lower California are to be applied exclusively to civil purposes. The custom-house officers should not receive as salary more than from five to seven hundred dollars per year, (to be paid half yearly,) provided that they collect as much revenue at their respective ports. The quartermasters, should you occupy more than one place nearest the custom-houses, will audit the accounts of the collector, and receive from him all funds arising from the customs, port charges, &c., &c., and render to you a quarterly account of the same, a copy of which you will send to this office. The civil officers (collectors of customs, alcaldes, &c.) now in Lower California should be continued in office, if they are suitable and well disposed towards our cause; if not, remove them and appoint others. Take care, in appointing officers entitled to a salary, to keep your ap pointments within the receipts from the customs. Let me know if a suitable physician can be obtained in Santa Barbara for the company you will leave there, and at what price. [See regulations, pages 309 and 310.] If I sanction the employment of one, he will be paid before sending his accounts to the Surgeon General, as directed in paragraph 1222, Arny Regulations. The two companies that you take with you to Lower California should not be encumbered with much, if any, heavy private baggage; it should be securely boxed up, marked, and left in store at Santa Barbara. You might indulge your camp women a little, by not restricting them too closely. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Lieut. Col. H. S. BURTON, Santa Barbara, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: You will, in accordance with the enclosed order, No. 23, of this date, afford Mr. L. W. Boggs, the alcalde of Sonoma district, such assistance with the force under your orders as may be necessary to enable him to obtain the public records and papers appertaining to his office from thepossession of Mr. Nash, the late alcalde of said district, who refuses to give them up. Should you be obliged to arrest Mr. Nash with your guard, do it firmly, but at the same time with as much civility and courtesy as the circumstances of the case will admit of, and continue the arrest no longer than, after a conference with the alcalde, it may be deemed necessary. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Captain J. E. BRACKET, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Commanding. 7th Regiment New York Volunteers, Commanding at Sonoma, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, June 4, 1847. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your two letters of the 30th May, as also the one of the 26th. In a few days I will give you instructions in relation to the San Rafael property, &c. The course pursued by yourself relative to the public meeting recently held in San Francisco, meets my approval. I cannot at this time relieve you from duty with the regiment of volunteers of which you are the major-the interests of the service will not admit of it; and were you to retire now, I think it would seriously affect your standing as a military man. I well know the perplexities and difficulties you have to encounter at San Francisco, but a firm and determined perseverance will overcome them after a while. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Major J. A. HARDIE, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Commanding. 7th Regiment New York Volunteers, San Francisco. P. S.-Send me, as early as practicable, an inventory of all ordnance and ordnance stores at San Francisco. R. B. MASON, Colonel, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, June 5, 1847. COLONEL: I enclose you a copy of a letter I have this day written to Captain Hunt, of the Mormon battalion, and beg of you to use your best efforts to accomplish the object I have therein proposed, and to carry out my views. You will order up the company from San Diego in season to join the battalion at the Angeles some several days before the expiration of their service, both with a view of being paid and mustered out of service at the same time, as well as to give those who may choose to do so an opportunity of re-entering, reorganizing, and being mustered in for another term of twelve months, unless sooner discharged. The reorganization and mustering in, upon the new term, must take place on the same day that they are mustered out of service on their pres ent term. Should you be able to get three companies to re-enter the service, you will send one of them back to San Diego or San Luis Rey, as you may think proper; or, you may keep the whole of them at the Angeles for a short time to assist in completing the fort, but say nothing of working on the fort until after they are mustered into service. I have been informed that one of the objections some of the Mormons express against continuing in service another year is, that it brings them to the middle of summer before they are discharged, when it is too late to begin farming; and that if they could be discharged say at the end of March, many would re-enter who otherwise would not. The law of the 13th May last requires that the volunteers should enter for twelve months; and, therefore, I could not muster them in for a less time, but I will pledge that they shall be discharged at the end of March next if they desire it. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Colonel J. D. STEVENSON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Commanding. Commanding Southern Military District, Pueblo de los Angeles. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, June 7, 1847. SIR: I have sent to Colonel Stevenson an order for you to muster out of service the Mormon battalion when their time shall have expired, as also to muster into service any companies that may wish to re-enter. As there will have to be an entire reorganization of the companies that re-enter, it had better be commenced several days beforehand, so that the officers can be elected, and all the rolls made out, and they be mustered in on the very same day that their time expires-muster out and muster into service all on the same day. Captain Jefferson Hunt will be mustered in as the major or lieutenant colonel, according to the number of companies, if he wishes the com mand; but if an election for the field officer is insisted upon, he must be elected by the officers of the new battalion. I wish you would converse freely with Captain Hunt upon the subject, and urge upon him to accept the command with the increased rank and HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: Your letter of the 7th May, from Wallock, Sacramento, has been received. Colonel Mason, governor of California, says that you should at once collect all the evidence you can from competent persons as to the number, description, and value of the horses for which you claim remuneration, by whom they were taken, and that they were received into actual service of the United States; all which should be laid before whatever person the United States may hereafter appoint to settle up and pay off such claims. It is expected that Congress will, at an early date, make provision for the payment of all good claims in California against the government. I am, with great respect, your most obedient servant, W. T. SHERMAN, First Lieutenant 3d Artillery, A. A. A. G. Mr. THOMAS M. HARDY. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, June 12, 1847. SIR: Your letter of May 25th reached this place after General Kearny had started for the United States. Colonel Mason, who succeeded him to the office of governor of California, has examined it and the statement of your account against the government of the United States. He says that if you will send him copies of the receipts of Major Swords and Lieutenant Davidson, he will examine them and see if they can be paid. But he has no authority to pay any claim at present, such as you hold the receipt of Mr. Snyder for; but you should keep that receipt and procure other written evidence of the delivery to Lieutenant Gillespie of the five mules, so as to be prepared to lay your claim before such person as may hereafter be appointed to examine and pay off the claims against the United States. I am, with great respect, your most obedient servant, Mr. J. J. WARNER, |