, and the whole province
surrendered. Then Kearny, at the head of 400 dragoons, set out for the
Pacific coast, but he had not gotten far on the road when he met a
messenger who informed him that California had been conquered by Colonel
John C. Fremont, acting in conjunction with Commodores Sloat and
Stockton. Kearny sent most of his men back to Santa Fe and pushed for
the Pacific coast, with a hundred dragoons. He arrived in November, and
joined Fremont and Stockton.

CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.

Fremont acquired the name of the "Pathfinder" because of his exploring
expeditions in the far West. He explored a portion of the Rocky
Mountains in 1842, and, in the following two years, conducted an
expedition with much skill and success through the regions of Utah, the
basin of the Columbia, and the passes of the Sierra Nevada. He was in
charge of a third expedition in 1846, and was in California when the
Mexican war broke out. He received the dispatches as if they were news
to him, but there is good reason to believe that the government had sent
him thither, in order that he might be on the ground and do the very
work he did. He urged the pioneers to declare their independence. They
ardently did so, raised the "Black Bear Flag," and gathered around
Fremont, who continually defeated the superior forces of Mexicans.

The town of Monterey, eighty miles south of San Francisco, was captured
by Commodore Sloat with an American squadron, and San Diego was taken
soon afterward by Commodore Stockton, in command of the Pacific
squadron; learning which, Fremont raised the American flag in the place
of that of California, and, joining the naval commanders, advanced upon
Los Angeles, which submitted without resistance. In a short time the
immense province of California was conquered by what may be called a
handful of Americans.

THE WONDERFUL MARCH OF COLONEL DONIPHAN.

Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan had been left at Santa Fe with his small
force of dragoons. At the head of 700 men, he performed one of the most
remarkable exploits of the war. Riding directly through the enemy's
country for nearly a thousand miles, he reached the Rio Grande on
Christmas day and won a battle; he then crossed the river and captured
El Paso, and, heading for Chihuahua, was met by a Mexican force on the
banks of Sacramento Creek. They outnumbered Doniphan's force four to
one, and displayed the black flag, as notice that no quarter would be
given. The Ame