THE BORDER EAGLES

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE CALIFORNIANS

Author's note: I want to remind my readers that this is an AU story so while it adheres to the broad outline of history some incidents occur here that did not happen in our universe. All the major events, however, are the same.

Rancho Agua Dulce, 16, April 1849.

. After breakfast Rick went to his office and review a few things. Surprisingly, over the last few months things had gone pretty much as planned. Rick received the first shipment of the rifles he had ordered back in September, arrived in late January. they were M1841's

Each shipment consisted of 25 rifles with all accoutrements.

By the end of March, all four shipments were in and secured. The governor had ordered ten thousand rounds of .54 caliber ammunition as well as bullet molds and bars of lead. The government, as promised had reimbursed Rick for the cost of the rifles. As the rifles were issued, each man paid for it and the money sent to the government. When all the rifles were issued the muskets were turned in and put in storage in case the unit grew larger than the company size anticipated.

When Rick, got news of the 1848 Colt Dragoon model revolvers, he ordered a pair of them, as they were a little shorter and lighter than the Walkers while retaining the .44 caliber. They also corrected several deficiencies found in the Walkers. Besides ordering the Dragoons, he ordered a spare cylinder for each of them as well as two spare cylinders for the Patterson's. Reloading an empty cylinder was a slow process often taking as much as five minutes to load powder from a flask, seat the bullets, and cap the cylinders. It was quicker to keep a pre-charged cylinder ready, drive the wedge out, remove the barrel and spent cylinder, put the fresh cylinder in and replace the barrel and wedge. That could be done by a skilled man in a minute or less.

Knowing that it was still a somewhat dangerous area, Rick had ordered three pair of .44 caliber single-shot "pocket pistols". For the ladies. The small pistols got their nicknames because they were small enough to fit in a pocket without being noticeable. They were really only meant for point blank range.

Due to desertions to go to the gold fields, the governor only had about nine hundred men to garrison the entire length and breadth of California and with and the fear of large bandit bands, recruiting for the militia went well and the unit now was at full strength of one hundred men. About equally divided between Californios and Anglos with a handful of free African Americans and Native Americans.

The government had supplied fifty more pair of plain blue trousers. The decision had been made to adopt a plain dark blue shell jacket based on the dragoon and mounted rifles pattern but without the collar and cuff braid.

Each man would supply his own, some of which were made by wives and others kept the local seamstresses happy. As expected, there were some minor variations, but at least they all had similar enough jackets to look basically uniform.

Belts varied as did the holsters for the pistols. So, at this point the uniform was a dark blue jacket with plain brass buttons, light blue trousers and blue forage caps. Officers and nco's had a one- and one-half inch yellow stripe on the trouser legs. Boots varied in style and color. The militia met twice a month to drill on basic tactics. Mostly on riding in unison to the line, dismounting and going through the motions of loading and firing using blank charges. They had plenty of powder and caps but only about one hundred bullets per man, for now, so only ten rounds were used for marksmanship. Fortunately, most of the men were either vaqueros or frontiersmen who already knew how to shoot. The few townies would learn. The problem was getting them to shoot on command, rather when they felt like it.

Rick despite his happy mood, was just a tad worried. The governor and his staff were due in next Friday to review the militia. He knew that the governor wouldn't expect parade ground drill but at least the men had learned enough to stand in line at attention and present arms.

Rick talked things over with his officers and they agreed that the governor would probably be impressed with what they had accomplished in such a short time. He dismissed the militia affairs from his mind for the weekend.

As busy as he was with the militia, he still had a ranch to run and even though Raoul and Antonio where a great help there were decisions only the owner could make.

There was settlement that had grown up around the Mission San Fernando Rey and taking its' name from the mission. It functioned as trading center for the ranches and farms in the area, trading mostly in cattle, wine and olives. A French couple had first gone to San Francisco about fifteen years ago, but the husband had lost most of his money in the gambling halls of the Barbary Coast. They had left the city, headed for Los Angeles, but found out that there were gambling dens there too.

Furious, the wife demanded that they leave there too. She had heard of the settlement of San Fernando that serviced the local ranches and farms. She figured that the rancheros might enjoy a cuisine different from what they were used to, so the couple used the last of their money to rent a building and buy supplies to open a restaurant serving food in the provincial style.

It was a struggle for the first two years but they made it. They made enough to buy the building and expand the restaurant. Their reputation spread and the well to do of Los Angeles made the trip for their Friday and Saturday evening specials. They were especially renowned for the quality of the wine and the Veal Provincial.

Rick put all thoughts of the militia out of his mind. He was going to take Kate to the restaurant for a celebratory dinner. Officially it was Le Parasol but the locals just called it "Frenchy's"

Rick and Kate didn't want to celebrate alone, so, they invited Vincente, Carlotta, Patrick and Consuelo to go with them.

Because of the work he had done to return ranchos to their owners, as young as was, he was accorded the title Don Ricardo.

Accordingly, he often dressed the part, that of the owner, The Ranchero, that was how he dressed tonight. Tight fitting black trousers that flared at the bottom to fit over boots, black boots, a waist length black jacket over a white linen shirt, a flowing scarlet tie, a scarlet sash and a flat top, flat brimmed black hat. Vincente and Patrick wore similar outfits in tan and brown respectively and sombreros. The three women wore their better summer dresses, Kate in lavender, Carlotta in yellow and Consuelo in brown.

Ready to go the men were a little impatient with their wives taking so long to get ready, Finally the came out and the complaints stopped as all three men caught their breath at the sight of their beautiful wives.

Even going out to dinner, Rick was taking no chances. He wore his Patterson in a tooled belt and holster made for him by one of his men, who worked leather as a sideline.

Vincente carried and Patrick carried two of the pocket pistols in their pockets. The little pistols ere short ranged, but the .44 caliber bullets made a nasty, most often fatal wound.

The three ladies carried their pistols in their reticules. While no one was expecting trouble, they were prepared for it.

The three ladies rode in a light carriage, driven by Vincente while Rick and Patrick roe alongside on horseback. They arrived at the restaurant without incident. One of Rick's vaqueros had ridden ahead with a message saying that Rick's party would arrive at eight o'clock and requested Monsieur Le Follier to hold a table for them. The place was crowded when they arrived and a group of four would be miners was arguing with Monsieur Follier.

"I am sorry, but this table is reserved for an important guest and his party."

"You ain't saving this table for nobody. We're hungry, we want it and we're going to get it."

Rick noticed that the speaker was still wearing a pair of dirty blue trousers that were probably army issue, although he wore a civilian shirt, a leather jacket and a wide brimmed hat. Rick expected that he was a deserter.

Rick's voice was cold.

"No, you are not going to get that table. It is for my party. Back off and leave before I remember that there is a bounty on deserters."

The man turned, drawing a knife, only to hear the unmistakable sound of a revolver being cocked."

"Drop the knife, or die. I don't care which."

The man's eyes widened with fear and he dropped the knife, it looked like a well- made bowie type.

"Now get out of here and take your pack of dogs with you. If I see you again, I won't he4state to shoot."

Rick picked up the knife and handed it to Patrick. "Keep it Pat, it's a good blade."

Monsieur Le Follier said;

"Thank you, Don Ricardo. You saved me from much trouble. Tonight, you are my guests, you pay for nothing."

"Thank you, Phillippe we accept with pleasure. They were seated and offered menus. Rick studied his, for a moment and said;

"I'll have the veal provincial with new potatoes and peas and a dish of olives as an appetizer, Kate said; I'll have the same. S8ince it was the specialty of the house, the rest followed suit.

When their wine came Vincente raised his glass.

"A toast my friends. To the child. A long, happy and prosperous life."

The rest of the party raised their glasses to answer the toast.

"Hear, hear."

The meal was delicious, the talk lively with a lot of laughter. When it was over, Rick went up to Phillippe.

"Thank you, Phillippe. This has been a night to0 remember and a super meal."

"You are most welcome, Don Ricardo. Please come back many times."

"I'm sure that we will. Good night."

"Good night, Don Ricardo."

They stepped outside. Rick assisted Kate into the carriage and as he stepped back and went to his horse, some sixth sense warned him and he turned toward the small sound he heard. That turn saved his life.

There was the flash and report of a musket firing, the ball whizzed past his ear and he heard a curse. The leader of the miners came at him with a clubbed musket. If he had been closer, it might have worked.

Rick took two steps back, drew and fired. It was dark and Rick's shot went high, the .36 caliber bullet striking the collar bone and ricocheted up, smashing the cheek bone. The miner screamed and fell. The man's three friends ran for their horses. Rick fired two shots over their heads. They stopped.

"Hold it right where you are. We're going to check your horse's brands and you had better pray that they are legitimate. Rick checked the fallen man.

"You'll live, at least until the army decides to do with you. Desertion and stolen army property. I don't think they'll go easy on you."

Hearing the shots, Phillippe came out of the door, holding a shotgun.

"Everything is over, Phillippe. If you can get some clean rags e can bandage this man. We'll hold him at the rancho, overnight and turn him over to the army in the morning."

"It will be done, Don Ricardo." The man was taken inside, his wounds cleaned and bandaged.

Patrick came back from checking the horses.

"Two of them are unbranded, so there is no way to tell where they came from. The roan is wearing an attempt to alter our brand."

"We'll let the other two go, but the horse thief goes in with the deserter.

The horse thief's hands were bound and his feet lashed into the stirrups.

The other two were stripped of two single shot pistols, two knives and an old flintlock rifle. Rick said;

"I can't prove that you two are guilty of anything but greed and stupidity. I suggest that you two ride on out of the area, because if I see you again, I just might shoot you on sight."

"You can't run us out with no guns. We'd be sure game."

"Sure, game for who? The men you stole the horses from?"

"We didn't steal them, we won them in a game at Chico's Cantina."

"A fair game, I'm sure. No guns. Patrick, give them their knives back. Now, get going." The two rode away at a gallop. Rick cursed.

"Damn, now we are going to have to ride to Fort Moore in the morning."

"Well, at least you can collect the bounty on the deserter."

"I don't want the bounty."

"Take it anyway. That's another twenty-five dollars for supplies.
The wounded man was loaded onto a wagon, borrowed from Phillippe and one of his men drove it. At the rancho, the prisoner was given a drink of water, his hands bound and he was put into the bunkhouse where the vaqueros could take turns watching him.

Rancho Agua Dulce and Fort Moore, 17, April 1849.

The prisoner was given a double shot of whisky for the pain, a breakfast of water, a biscuit and a bowl of beef broth and loaded, along with his musket into the back of a buckboard. Rick, Patrick and Sean mounted their horses, one of the vaqueros drove the buckboard and they headed for Fort Moore, promising to buy beans, flour and sugar on the way back.

At the fort, and after paying the bounty, the colonel said;

"It's a good thing you are here Major, I won't have to send a courier. I want you to put the militia on alert. I have reports of a large group of either bandits or insurrectionists headed north from Mexico. Your mounted men will augment our dragoons. We only have one troop of them and that spreads them pretty thin. We will need several of the vaqueros as scouts."

"Very well, sir. I will alert the men on my way home."

After picking up the supplies, they returned to the rancho and sent several men out to alert the militia.

Rancho Agua Dulce, 18, April 1849

Kate walked out of the bedroom and into the main room where Rick was having a cup of coffee, waiting while Consuelo was preparing breakfast. She leaned down, put her arms around Rick's neck and kissed him.

"Good morning my Darling. I have some good news for you. I was waiting, until, I was sure. I am with child." Rick sat still for a few seconds, then stood up and took Kate into his arms and kissed her passionately, then released her and said;

"You are absolutely sure?"

"Yes, my Darling I am. Are you happy?"

"Couldn't you tell by that kiss? I am beyond happy, I am ecstatic."

"I have heard that there is a good doctor in town now, but I want Lanie here. She's a midwife and tended me when the twins were born. Please send for her."

"I'll get a courier off, right away, with the fare for a first-class ticket for Lanie and a round trip ticket for the courier I'll send Jorge. It will also be a chance for him to visit his uncle. You know that it will probably take two or three months for her to get here."

Rick called Jorge in and asked him if he was willing to go. Jorge agreed, enthusiastically. Jorge packed for the trip getting set to leave first thing in the morning. Rick paid him one hundred dollars to make the trip and another fifty for expenses as well as the price of the tickets. He also armed him with one of the Walkers and the coach gun. He warned him of the rumors of bandits and instructed him to avoid contact with any group of men.

Consuelo provided him with dry beans, bacon, beef jerky, coffee, chilis and tortillas.

Jorge picked one of the fastest horses on the place and too off after an early breakfast, headed for San Francisco. Rick watched him Go then returned to his breakfast.

Rancho Agua Dulce, 19, April 1849.

Rick received reports that the bandits had bypassed San Diego because with the two navy frigates in the harbor with their marine and armed sailor detachments as well as the army garrison at the presidio it was too dangerous. They had evaded patrols and were headed for Los Angeles, not knowing about the militia. They had switched to the coast road and headed into the San Fernando Valley through Topanga Canyon.

Unfortunately for the bandits, the narrow winding trail slowed them down and settlers in the canyon got riders away to meet the militia scouts at the mouth of the canyon. one scout had galloped to the rancho to alert Rick two others had split off to two of the larger ranchos in the mid and west valley

The bandits first tactical mistake was attacking El Scorpion rancho owned by Miguel Leonis; besides his vaqueros, he had several tough gun hands working for him. The attack was stupid, costing the bandits several casualties, but worse allowing time for the militia to assemble and move on them.

After losing the fight the bandits galloped their horses for about a mile, then seeing that they were not being pursued, stopped to rest their horses and apply makeshift bandages to the lightly wounded. The more seriously wounded were abandoned right there stripped of their weapons and horses. After their losses the bandits had some fifty-five men, indifferently armed with an assortment of weapons. Flintlock muskets and pistols of widely varying calibers, spears, machetes, knives and even a few swords.

Not being a military unit, they had no common ammunition supply, limited to what each man had on him or in his saddle bags.

Also, just bandits, they were not a disciplined unit only banded together by greed for loot.

As it was not a military campaign with a lot of prior notice Rick had only been able to rally sixty-five men. Not much superior in numbers to the bandits but fairly well disciplined in unit cohesion and fire discipline if not in drill and ceremonies. The scouts had kept Rick informed of the bandits' location and route once they restarted. Rick was able to find a copse of scrub oaks that lay along the bandits' route.

Having witnessed the carnage of open field warfare he had no desire to subject his men to it. He chose ambush. Besides, the enemy here were bandits, not soldiers. They had no honor, thus would receive no warning. Rick had his men dismount, tie their horses among the trees and take up stable firing positions. When the bandits closed to one hundred yards, Rick commanded;

"Volley fire, Fire! Sixty-five rifles fired as one, about twenty-five riders went down, as did a few horses and mules. "First platoon reload. Second platoon engage with pistols."

Suddenly hit by rifle and big-bore pistol fire, the bandits panicked, milled around and some tried to ride back the way they came., but were cut off by twenty more militiamen riding out of Los Angeles. They had no choice but to surrender.

When the smoke cleared, twenty-five bandits were dead, with another twenty wounded to some degree Only ten were initially slated for serious interrogation. It was revealed that some disgruntled vaqueros had deserted their employers and fled to Mexico had started these bandits.

Of the wounded men, another ten died. It was argued to hang the rest, but Rick's idea prevailed. The survivors were stripped of all weapons, even knives and their saddles were taken. They were sent to Mexico with the story of what had happened to them and if any bandits tried again, they would be shot on sight or hung.

After the surviving bandits left, under a well-armed ten-man escort all the bandits riding bareback, the remaining horses and mules were confiscated, bringing in around thirty head of stock. All the weapons were surveyed and all but ten destroyed. Those were four muskets three shotguns and three pistols in good repair. They were kept to be turned over to civilians who might need a weapon.

Fort Moore, Los Angeles, 27, April 1849.

The governor and his party arrived on time to inspect the assembled militia. The governor was impressed at what Rick and his officers had turned out. The men were all properly lined up for inspection and while not parade ground tight, at least they were lined up in four ranks of reasonably straight lines and reasonably matching uniforms.

The men from Rick's rancho were the best of the lot. Rick had hired four seamstresses and a tailor to come and work at the rancho where they had good patterns to work from making the jackets from the same bolts of cloth.

Rick had ordered enough brass U.S. eagle buttons for his men, The rest had plain brass buttons from the same lot. Also, two blacksmiths had hammered out twenty square brass bet plates with the letters CMV engraved on them. Rick's men also had the same, plain black belts. Boots and shoes still varied, but local cobblers were making copies of Jefferson Bootees and. selling them as fast as they made them.

One more item that the governor provided on this trip were one hundred of the M1839 cartridge boxes with white linen slings, some were new stock while others were left behind by deserters. The cartridge boxes distributed; the inspection commenced. Following the inspection, the men were taken to the range where displayed their marksmanship skills.

The governor was so impressed that he vowed that he would do his best to obtain Dragoon or Mounted Rifle jackets, belts and belt plates. If he could get them, he would split the cost with the unit, each man paying for his own jacket while the belts and belt plates would be supplied by the government. That, of course would take time.

The militia spent the next couple of months spending much of their time working in small detachments as local law enforcement as no county sheriff or deputies had been elected or appointed yet. It was obvious that California would become a state in a year or two so the local authorities were working on a county government but as in everything else, it took time.

Rancho Agua Dulce, 23, July 1849.

It was early Monday morning when Jorge rode into the rancho. He dismounted and called for Rick. To Rick's surprise, Jorge had ridden in on Midnight.

"Don Ricardo, I have great news, not only is Lanie coming. But Don Luis and Elenora too. They will arrive in three days."

Rick called Kate.

"Don Luis and Elenora are coming with Lanie. They will be here in two days. We need to prepare rooms for them."

"Don't worry about that, my Darling, that is women's work. All you have to do is move the beds around."

The house had been built for a large family and staff. It was two story brick, one of the first to be built of fired brick rather than adobe. It had six bedrooms on the upper floor. With a sitting room and a sewing room.

The ground floor had the kitchen, dining room, salon, a large study/office and two bedrooms the staff. The privy was also built of brick.

Behind the main house was a smaller house for the Segundo (foreman) and his family and large two bunkhouses for the vaqueros.

There was a barn, stable, smithy and a workshop.

Rancho Agua Dulce, 26, July 1849.

Don Luis, Elenora, Margarita, Lanie and four vaqueros arrived in San Pedro the afternoon before and stayed aboard the ship overnight. They had traveled on the same ship that had brought Rick's party. They had also chartered a livestock carrier to transport ten horses,(one of them midnight) two prize bulls and ten head of prime cows. Their carriage and a wagon had been shipped in the cargo hold of their ship as had all their clothes and household goods. There was a strong box that stayed in their cabin at all times. All of the vaqueros were armed with a brace of pistols each. Rick, Vincente, Jorge, and four of Rick's vaqueros rode down to San Pedro meet them and escort them to the rancho.

As they embraced, Rick said to Don Luis;

"I am so happy to see you, Luis. But what is all this? I just expected to see You, Elenora and Lanie." Luis said;

"I could see a lot of unrest starting and I didn't want to wait for it to get worse. Don Jacobo has wanted my rancho for years. He offered me an exceedingly good price, so I sold out and here we are. Now we can offer hard cash for what we want to buy. Have you found anything?"

"Yes, I have one good possibility. It is about two miles from Agua Dulce.

I have talked to the owner. He wants to talk to you. He has had trouble with a greedy American and he won't sell to anyone but a Mexican or Californio."

"Good, I would like to see him as soon as possible."

"Let us get you settled at Agua Dulce and rest for a few days and then we'll go see him."

The small caravan arrived at Agua Dulce late in the afternoon. The carriage and wagon put into the barn. Only clothes were brought into the house. The wagon would be unloaded the next day.

Kate and Carlotta were both crying happy tears at the reunion and were ecstatic to learn that it was permanent. The twins bubbling over with excitement to see their grandparents.

Lanie rushed to see Kate and exclaimed;

"I am so happy to see you Catalina, especially that I am going to get to help you bring another little one into the world."

"And I wouldn't want to do it without you, Lanie."

They all had an early supper and only talked a little while after supper as everyone was tired from their long trip and went to bed early.

TBC

Please review.

Swordwriter

Fort Moore, Los Angeles 27, April 1849

The Governor arrived on time to inspect the fully assembled militia which

Made a pretty sharp impression,