I'm So Chuffed!

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I volunteer as an 1850s Californio trying to live through the Gold Rush and the onslaught of Yanquis ....

So I have been doubly blessed lately ... Chuck Burrows was able to cut down a belt from an unpaid order ... and Will Ghormley made me a Main & Winchester duplicate Slim Jim ... and long ago I got a great deal on a .44 Cal '51 Colt (I know, there was no such thing; but the publich will only see the grips, handle and cylinder back).  Here is the group with a Crazy Crowe Belduque:

[White Buffalo Chip]

Howdy WWE,
That's a verrrrry nice looking rig. I love
the color and the hang of the holster.
WBC

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I wish I could say that I had something to do with it, but my only involvement was picking people who did know what they were doing ... *S*

Now,when the Botas finally arrive, and I tuck the Belduque into them, I am going to be one dandy of a Californio .... *VBS*

[santee]

WWE, that is a fine rig. Once Josh finishes your custom Belduque, are you gonna sport them both? Man would you look armed then...

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Santee,

When both arrive, a friend has agreed to take some pics at the same bar (she also took the one on my profile).

The Belduque is a grand item, and I look forward to getting it.

But they were not worn on the belt, but tucked into the Botas like the rider in the painting foreground attached.

I am also waiting for a custom set of Botas.

So when I get that, the outfit is complete, the Belduque goes off my belt, and the profile pic will be changed ...

I can't wait ...

[WaddWatsonEllis]

It is interesting about Californios ... they stayed with the knife and saber until the Yanqui influx ... in a book I read that they considered gunfighting (i.e. killing someone from a distance) to show a certain amount of lack of ... character. That if a person was a 'real man', the same deed would be done up close and personal ... with a bladed instrument.

In fact, in the only real battle against the Norteamericanos, it was a Californio lancer calvary unit: and they showed themselves rather well.

[santee]

That is interesting.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

BTW ...

chuffed [tʃʌft]
adj
Brit slang pleased or delighted none too chuffed
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

[Hard Mouth]

Yup, Battle of San Jacinto, I believe. Been to the site between Escondido and the San Diego Animal Park. Kit Carson scouting, IIRK, Gen. Kearny leading. Lancers took the day. Took the Americans some time to get to safety.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hard Mouth,

Being Texican born, the only Battle of San Jacinto that I know was against General Santa Ana ...and Old Sam Houston whupped his a__ ...

Incidentally, there was an urban myth in Texas when I lived there that "The Yellow Rose of Texas' was actually written about an unknown hispanic Texican woman who kept Santa Ana 'dallying' until the battle was basically done ... don't know how true the story is, but it is a great story ...

[Dr. Bob]

The Mexican War battle was the Battle of San Pascual on Dec 6, 1846.  The battle last about 15 minutes with the Californio Lancers killed 18 Americans [pg 223, So Far From God, John S. D. Eisenhower, Doubleday, 1989]  The Dragoons were short on sleep, their mounts were exhausted and the Mexican commander, Andres Pico, was a good cavalry commander and carried the day.  I have reenacted the Mexican War as part of the Army of the West and am quite familiar with Gen. Kearney's march from Santa Fe to San Diego.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Dr Bob,

Duly noted re the conditon of General Kearney's troops and mounts ...

Of not also is that these lancers were going against flintlock or percussion single shot firearms... if the battle had taken place in 1850 or so (i.e. when revolvers were making their way into the military), it might have been a much sadder story for the lancers ....

I keep thinking about the Rock Hudson/John Wayne pic 'The Undefeated'. In it a band of twenty or so yanquis meet a couple of companies of Lancers and decimate them with Winchesters ... I mean sure, it was a John Wayne Hollywood flick, but it really showed how weak the lancers were against even a small force armed with repeating weapons ....

[Hangtown Frye]

There were several engagements of note between the Californio's and the invading Americans.  The one you're thinking of is the Battle of San Pasqual, which indeed is near the San Diego Wild Animal Park.  Californio's met two companies of US Dragoons under General Stephen Watts Kearney, who had just marched from Ft. Leavenworth, KS by way of Santa Fe, to take the reins of the new territorial government from Commodore Robert Field Stockton USN and Captain John Charles Fremont, USA. Their claims to have totally suppressed any unrest in California, carried east by Kit Carson, were somewhat overstated. The interesting part of this engagement was that most of the wounds received by the Dragoons were lance wounds to the buttocks, which more suggests that the Californio's were more interested in embarrassing and discomfiting the invading Americans than in killing them.  Only one American was shot, that was Captain Johnson who's thoroughbred horse outdistanced his Dragoon's worn troop horses in their initial charge.  He was shot in the forehead by the only Californio present with a pistol (who was considered somewhat eccentric by his fellows because he carried a pistol, and liked to shoot it too.)

The other engagements were:

The Battle of Los Angeles, which took place on the plains between LA and San Pedro, which the US Navy still held securely. After the 11 or so Marines had been ejected from Los Angeles by the Californio's who were upset at the new regulations forbidding them to hold fandango's, Captain Mervine of USS Levant sent a force of sailors and Marines to recapture it. Unfortunately Mervine forgot to send any artillery support with them, which the Californio's had dug up an old cannon that had been buried in an old lady's garden, thus "The Battle of the Old Woman's Gun".

The Battle of San Gabriel, where the combined forces of Stockton and Kearney marched north from San Diego (after Stockton's sailors and Marines had rescued Kearney from Mule Hill) to retake Los Angeles, this time from the east side. The Californio's had attempted to stop the American forces from crossing the San Gabriel river by emplacing two artillery pieces at strategic points near the crossing. Stockton, being a skilled gunnery officer and developer of such things (and being somewhat smarter than Mervine), had one of his pieces dragged forward, aimed the piece himself and shattered the Californio's gun carriage with the first shot.  That was pretty much the battle.  The Americans surged across the river (such as it was in January of 1847) and continued on.

The Battle of La Mesa, which took place the following day, saw the US Forces forming square to fight off the mounted Californio's, who charged them several times.  Between the much superior firepower of the Americans, and the inability of the Californio's to close due to the use of boarding pikes by the American sailors, the Californo's withdrew and the way to Los Angeles was open.

That's about the size of it for the War in California, but it was a whole lot more interesting than most folks realize.  There are a LOT of very cool aspects to the March on Los Angeles by Stockton and Kearney, especially insofar as the small-arms issued to the Marines, Sailors and Dragoons, but that's for another time. Suffice it to say that the force was armed and equipped with both the most modern, and the most ancient of weapons for that particular campaign.

Cheers,

Gordon



 

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hangtown Frye/Gordon.

Don't know why, but everytime I read your monniker I want breakfast ...

But thanks for the summary of the battles ... I volunteer as a NorCal Californio  and although I was aware of the battles, yo filled in color that I will use in my volunteer work

BTW, I am still serching for a persona to represent in Old Sacramento ... I am thinking that , once a Californio was legally 'separated' from his land, he still would have a spouse and children to support ... and what would he know, what were his strngths to sell/

I am guessing that more than one of the landed famileis of NorCal ended up as Mayordomos (Sp for foreman) on another's ranchero. If anyone should have knowledge of such a person, plese send me an email and we can discuss it ....


Thanks!

P.S. I am probably going to set up a thread on the Historical Forum should anyone want to read about NoCal Californios  ...

[Rube Burrows]

Very nice looking rig.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Thanks ; It is a copy of a Main and Winchester California 'Slim Jim' holster .... Main and Winchester were leathermakers in San Francisco that more or less defined the California 'Slim Jim'

Here is a sight with a little about Main & Winchester;

http://www.vintagegunleather.com/company-marks/mainwin_history.htmlhttp://www.vintagegunleather.com/company-marks/mainwin_history.html

[Wild Billy Potts]

Incidentally, there was an urban myth in Texas when I lived there that "The Yellow Rose of Texas' was actually written about an unknown hispanic Texican woman who kept Santa Ana 'dallying' until the battle was basically done ... don't know how true the story is, but it is a great story ...

I've always heard that the Rose of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" fame was actually a mulatto slave of some Anglo-Texan of the era. Would make sence being that the term "yellow and high yellow" was a period description often found is period writing to describe mulattos. Can't say if the story is actually factual or not.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Who knows who the 'Yellow Rose of Texas'  really was?

A bit of Historical fluff?

Mulatto?

Latino?

IMHO, history rarely records too many non-whites, unless they kill whites .... just part of the culture back then .... but it does remind me of two of my favorite quotes;

History is/are the lies historians agree upon ...Voltaire (I think)

And finally, in the last scenes of 'The man who Shot Liberty Valance', ... The editor replies, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend! ..."

This is kinda fun ... again, questionalby documented but fun and entirely possble:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Rose_of_Texas_(song)