The “Old Woman’s Gun" and the Battle of Rancho Dominguez

The Battle of Rancho Dominguez, also referred to as "The Battle of the Old Woman's Gun", occurred on October 8, 1846. It was a military engagement of the Mexican–American War and took place south of Los Angeles on the Dominguez Family's Rancho San Pedro.

Upon hearing of the Siege of Los Angeles, on October 4, 1846, Commodore Robert F. Stockton sent U.S. Navy Captain William Mervine and the American ship Savannah to the port of San Pedro to assist Captain Archibald H. Gillespie in military operations. Arriving two days later, Mervine set out on October 7th with sailors, marines and bear flaggers to recapture the town.

The Americans had occupied Los Angeles in August of that year, and residents had hidden some weapons, some by burying them. On August 14, 1846, Pablo Vejar (brother of Juan Nepomuceno Ricardo Vejar) communicated a plan to Maria Casilda Soto (of Rancho La Merced) and Maria Francisca 'Pancha' Perez (wife of ranchero Felipe Lugo), both sympathetic Californio patriots, to hide one of the small ceremonial Plaza cannons used for firing salutes on feast days and other celebrations. Vejar, with the help of Carlos Ballesteros and Jose Domingo Bermudez, transported the old cannon to the peach orchard of Maria Inocencia Reyes. Reyes then buried the cannon in the orchard for safekeeping. The Reyes home adjoined that of Antonio Maria Lugo, located at what today would be the corner of San Pedro Street & 2^nd Street. the orchard may have been separate from the property, it was likely adjacent to the Reyes home.

Another slightly different account, from the article “Battle of Dominguez Ranch" by J.M. Guinn, conveys that upon the approach of Stockton and Fremont’s forces in 1846 that Maria Inocencia Reyes’ mother, Maria Clara Cota (with the assistance of her her daughters), buried the cannon in a cane field near their residence on the east side of Alameda Street near First.

On September 27, 1846 when the time had come to put the gun to use, Maria Inocencia Reyes delivered the gun to Jose Dolores de Altagracia “Huero” Higuera, who with the help of a local British carpenter made a cannon carriage from a cart belonging to Louis Vignes.

Mervine's commenced with little knowledge of the terrain or enemy forces. His troops were inadequately armed and they possessed no horses, wagons or cannons. General Jose Flores' force, was similarly equipped with lances, knives and old firearms that had been hidden, but they did have the recently unearthed cannon. This brass four-pounder or pedrero (swivel gun) was described by Jose Francisco de Paula Palomares as bronze and of about six inches in diameter, that it was “mounted over some iron-rimmed carreta wheels, and bound with reatas” and that at length it received the name "Conico".

Mervine and his troops marched on October 7 and reached Dominguez Rancho, where they camped for the night, within view of an advance detachment of Flores' troops. There was some shooting during the night, but with no effect other than keeping Mervine's party on the alert. Then, setting off at daybreak, the American force advanced just to the north of Rancho San Pedro.

The little four-pounder was placed upon the narrow trail that the Americans needed to follow. Ropes were lashed to the limber to quickly pull the gun into the brush for reloading. Californio horsemen deployed at a safe distance from the trail on the enemy flanks. These simple tactics proved effective. When the Americans came within range (about 400 yards), the cannon was fired and quickly pulled back into the brush, followed by covering musket fire from the horsemen.

Mervine's forces were at a disadvantage on foot against an enemy they could neither see nor count. Upon realizing they could not reach Los Angeles, they had no choice but to retreat. The battle lasted less than an hour; and five hours later Mervine's forces were back aboard their ship in San Pedro Bay. Four seriously wounded Americans died and were buried on a little island in San Pedro Bay called Isla de los Muertos (Island of the Dead). Mervine's troops reboarded the Savannah, and after a few days, sailed north to Monterey.

The Family of Jose Martin Morales Cruz and Mauricia Verdugo

My Great-Great Grandfather, Jose Martin Cruz (1854-1920), was born November 9, 1854; he was baptized at the Los Angeles Plaza Church. His father was Jose Maria Morales (d. 1856) and his mother was Maria Uribes (1829-?). Jose Maria Morales and Maria Uribes were married on October 7, 1848 at the San Gabriel Mission in Los Angeles. Jose Maria Morales was from Sonora, Mexico and died on March 17, 1856. Maria Uribes re-married Jose Marcial Cruz on March 13, 1857 shortly before Martin turned three years old. Jose Marcial Cruz adopted Jose Martin Morales and gave him his last name of Cruz.

Jose Martin Cruz married my Great-Great Grandmother, Maria Mauricia Faviana Verdugo (1863-1941), on May 16, 1885 in Compton, Los Angeles. Jose Martin (Morales) Cruz and Mauricia Verdugo are found in the 1900 census living in Long Beach, California with Mauricia’s widowed mother, Basilia Verdugo, and 7 children ranging in age from 23 to 2 years old.

Later, in the 1910 census we find Maria Mauricia Faviana Verdugo (1863-1941) widowed and living alone in the San Antonio Township. The San Antonio Township was formerly part of the Rancho San Antonio owned by the Lugo family; Mauricia’s paternal and maternal aunts had both married into the Lugo family, so it is not unlikely that she had been provided a home to stay in from a close relative. As recounted below, 2 younger daughters of Mauricia at this time were inmates in an orphanage; the older children likely found their own way and the whereabouts of the two youngest Cruz children is undetermined as of 1910.

Rosa Maria Cruz was the second daughter of Jose Martin (Morales) Cruz (1854-1920) and Maria Mauricia Faviana Verdugo (1863-1941). She was born in Long Beach, California on June 6, 1896; one of nine children. The youngest child, daughter Aurelia “Ray” Cruz (1906-1923) reportedly died at the Weimar Sanatorium in California of tuberculosis, but I can find no record of her death in Weimar records under Cruz or under her married name of Stevenson. 

It is unclear what family difficulties occurred between 1896 and 1910; but Rose and her younger sister, Florence Ambrosia Verdugo Cruz 1901-1983), are found in the 1910 census as inmates at the Los Angeles Orphanage. Rose was 13 and Florence 9 years old. Per Rosa Maria Cruz she came to San Diego when she was 14 years old (presumably with Florence) to live with her brother, Marshall Verdugo Cruz (1888-1951), who either owned or worked for the moving company, Triangle Transfer & Truck Company. Marshall would have been a fairly recent transplant to San Diego himself, as he is found previously in the 1910 census, at 20 years old, living in Los Angeles as a boarder in the home of Carmen Marquez, with his 23-year-old brother, Benjamin F. Cruz (1887-?).

Rosa Maria Cruz is perhaps found (in the 1920 census) living in Pomona, California; the wife of Reginaldo Palomares Vejar and mother of a 3 ½ year old daughter Regina Teresa Marcelline Vejar (1916-2016).  A second daughter, Henrietta Josefina Vejar (1921-1988), was born in San Diego (per family history);  whether Henrietta was Reginaldo Vejar's daughter or the daughter of Henry Cesena remains unclear, but by 1923 Rosa was again in San Diego and had remarried Vernon Monroe Kemp (1903-1968), the father of her third daughter, Helen Marie Kemp (1924-2005).

In a column about Rosa Maria Cruz outlining her life when she was 79 years old, she claimed Mission Indian and Spanish descent, she claimed (it seems mistakenly) that the famed Maria Eulalia Perez (1766-1878) was her 5^th Great Grandmother. Rosa stated that the Verdugo family came from Majorca, Spain and were landowners in Pasadena and of the Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach. Rancho Los Cerritos was a part of Rancho Los Nietos and was held by Maria Manuela Antonia Perez y Nieto (1791-aft.1835) and her husband Juan Ignacio Guillermo de Cota (1768–1844). Juan Ignacio Guillermo de Cota’s marriage to Maria Manuela Antonia Perez y Nieto was his second. He had been previously married to Maria Manuela de Jesus Lisalde (1777-1803), the daughter of Maria Tomasa Lopez (1756–1778) and Captain Pedro Antonio Lisalde (1753-1818).

Rosa Maria Cruz bought a house in San Diego at 1942 Thomas Street in 1929 and lived there until 1974 when she moved to De Anza Trailer Park on Mission Bay. Rose recounts fishing in Mission Bay with her family using chicken wire during the Depression. She tells that she, 2 sisters and her mother, Maria Mauricia Faviana Verdugo, were involved in the founding of St. Briget’s Catholic Church in Pacific Beach. There was no Catholic Church and they sold Spanish dinners to raise funds to build the church. Her nephew, Richard Severn Rash (1921-1988), the son of her sister Florence, was the first altar boy at St. Briget’s and her mother Mauricia Verdugo would pass away before the church was completed.

In a letter from Tecate, Mexico dated 12 August 1883 from Maria Mauricia Faviana Verdugo to Martin Cruz:

Senor Don Martin Cruz,

My beloved brother,

I will be glad if when you receive this letter in your hands you will find yourself and all of my other brothers and sisters in good health. My brother I wish and hope with anticipation to see all of you. The days seem so long. I received your wonderful letter, from which we received such great joy. I cannot tell you when we can go, I worry about the health of our father and mother. After this Novena and request to St. Francis I hope to be able to see all of you. Let me know when you will go to Sonora so I can commit myself to repaying this debt as promised to St. Francis. Let me know when you go, please do not stop writing to me. Next is only to find a job to make enough to pay my debt to St. Francis.

My greetings to Erlinda and Chachon, greetings from mother and father, from Margarita and from the rest of the family, and the heart of your sister who wishes she could see you.

Mauricia Verdugo

Maria Mauricia Faviana Verdugo refers to her husband as her brother and to her family members as her brothers and sisters. Why Mauricia Verdugo was in Tecate is unknown. Her greeting to Erlinda seems to refer to Erlinda Lopez (1876-1941), the daughter of Geronimo Lopez (1829-1921…3GGU) and Maria Catarina Lopez. Erlinda married Joseph W. Alexander (1870-1965). Margarita would likely be Mauricia’s sister, Maria Margarita Verdugo (1863-1924). Margarita Verdugo married Jose "Vicente" Nicolas Melendrez (1864-1905). Whether the “our father and mother” refers to Martin Cruz’ parents or Mauricia’s is unknown, but the presence of Margarita seems to point to a greater possibility that it was Jose Joaquin Juan Pedro Verdugo (1832-1889) and Maria Basilia Perez (1824-1908), who were, in this case, living in Tecate, Mexico.

The Quintero Family, the Pueblo of Los Angeles and Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas

The Pueblo of Los Angeles was founded September 4^th, 1781. In December of 1779 Lieutenant Governor Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada was sent south to Sinaloa and Sonora to recruit settlers and assemble an escort for the journey to Los Angeles. The two groups, totaling 44 persons (including 22 children), departed for Los Angeles from Los Alamos in April of 1781. One group under Alferez Ramon Laso de la Vega crossed the Gulf of California in launches and travelled overland to San Diego and then onward to the San Gabriel Mission. The second group, under Fernando Rivera y Moncada, took an overland route on the Anza trail 1,200 miles through the desert from Sinaloa, Mexico.

They passed through the new missions on the Colorado River, Mission Puerto de Purisima Concepcion and Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuner. The group arrived at the Colorado River in June of 1781. Rivera y Moncada sent most of his party ahead, but he stayed behind to rest the livestock before continuing their drive across the desert. His party would never reach San Gabriel. In July, Rivera was killed along with the local missionaries, settlers, and travelers with the revolt of the Quechan Indians (The Yuma Revolt) in 1781.

The Quechan and Mojave Indians rose up against the party for encroaching on their farmlands and for the many other abuses inflicted  upon them by the soldiers. From the 17th to the 19th of July in 1781 the Yuma (Quechan) Indians destroyed both the missions and pueblos, they killed 103 soldiers, colonists and the Mission Friars. They captured about 80 more, mostly women and children. Amid the casualties were Fernando Rivera y Moncada and Fray Francisco Garces. The Spanish were able to gather their dead and ransom nearly all the prisoners; but failed to re-open the Anza Trail. The Yuma Crossing and the Anza Trail were closed to Spanish traffic and would stay closed until about 1846. California was largely isolated from land based travel, with the only way into California from Mexico was now a 40 to 60 day sea voyage. According to historian David Weber, the Yuma Revolt turned California into an "island" and Arizona into a "cul de sac", severing Arizona-California and Mexican land connections before they could be firmly established.

Of the original 44 pobladores of El Pueblo de La Reina de Los Angeles; one included my 6th great grandfather, Luis Manuel Quintero (1726-1810); he was an Afro-Mexican tailor from Guadalajara, Jalisco (perhaps the son of an African slave). Quintero was the very last recruit to sign up with Rivera y Moncada. His wife, my 6th great grandmother, Maria Petranila Timotea Rubio (1743-1802), was born in about 1741 from Los Alamos, Sonora; she is described as a mulata, or a person of mixed Spanish and African descent. They were married in about 1760 at Los Alamos, Sonora, Mexico and their eight (or nine) children included, my 5th great grandmother, Maria Faviana Sebastiana Quintero (1766-1822). Luis Manuel Quintero’s decision to join the expedition was likely colored by the January 1781 marriages of 3 of his daughters to 3 of the expeditionary soldiers under Rivera y Moncada; Maria Faviana Sebastiana Quintero to my 5th great grandfather Ysidro German Eugenio Valdez (1755-1838), Maria Catarina Quintero (1766-1798) to Joaquin Rodriquez, and Maria Juana Josefa Quintero (1763-1793) to Jose Rosalino Fernandez.

At age 55, in about 1781, Luis Manuel Quintero, either requested to leave Los Angeles, or was evicted from the pueblo for not performing his appointed duties. One likely scenario was that Quintero, a tailor by trade, wished to continue in his profession rather than becoming a farmer at the Pueblo. Another factor may have been the 110-mile distance between the Pueblo and Santa Barbara Presidio where his three daughters lived with their soldiers husbands. In any event, Quintero did leave Los Angeles for Santa Barbara where he lived for many years. In 1784, he was reunited with an old compadre from Los Alamos when Felipe de Goycoechea was appointed as commander at Santa Barbara. Goycoechea was godfather to Quintero’s son, Jose Clemente Quintero (abt 1778-1803). Jose Clemente married Maria Josefa Andrea Rodriguez (1786-1851), the daughter of Jose Ygnacio Rodriguez (1759-1814) and Juana Paula de la Cruz Parra (1765-1827); her parents also members of the Riviera Expedition.

Jose Ygnacio Rodriguez was a co-recipient of Rancho El Conejo; a 48,572-acre Spanish land grant given in 1803 to Jose Polanco and Jose Ygnacio Rodriguez, it encompassed the area now known as the Conejo Valley in southeastern Ventura and northwestern Los Angeles Counties. El Conejo means "The Rabbit" in Spanish, and refers to the many rabbits common to the region. The rancho is the site of the communities of Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake Village.

Polanco, lost his portion of the rancho due to neglect. In 1822, Santa Barbara army officer Jose de la Guerra y Noriega was granted Polanco's claim by Spanish Governor Pablo Vicente de Sola. The grant was fully patented to Jose de la Guerra y Noriega and Jose Ygnacio Rodriguez’ daughter Maria del Carmen de Rodriguez (1798-1881) in 1873.

The rancho stayed in the de la Guerra and Rodriguez  families until the 1860s, when after drought and disease decimated local cattle, the families began selling off their land. In 1872, H. W. Mills purchased one-half of the Conejo grant from the heirs of Captain Jose de la Guerra, which he called the Triunfo Ranch. Mills went bankrupt and Andrew D. Russell purchased his Triunfo Ranch in 1881. In 1882, 2,200 acres of the Newbury tract were sold. In 1910, Harold and Edwin Janss of the Janss Investment Company purchased about 10,000 acres of land of what is now Thousand Oaks from the heir of John Edwards, who had purchased the land from the de la Guerra heirs.

Luis Manuel Quintero died in 1810 in Santa Barbara, after serving as tailor for the soldiers at the presidio. Some of the Quintero family eventually returned to Los Angeles.

My 5th great grandparents, Maria Faviana Sebastiana Quintero and Ysidro German Eugenio Valdez married on January 21, 1781 at Los Alamos. He was son of my 6th great grand parents Ygnacio Roque Valdez and Maria Manuela Fernandez of El Fuerte, Sinaloa. Ysidro German Eugenio Valdez served as an escort soldier in the 1781 expedition to Los Angeles. Maria Faviana Sebastiana Quintero and her, then retired, soldier husband would later move to Los Angeles. Their daughter,  Maria Rita Quiteria Valdez received the 4,500 acre Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas (Meeting of the Gathering Waters) in the area  now known as Beverly Hills. This was the rancho where two of my 3rd great grandfathers, Ygnacio Maria Palomares (1811-1864) and Juan Nepomuceno Ricardo Vejar (1805-1870) kept their herds of horses and cattle prior to receiving their own Rancho San Jose grant. Ygnacio Maria Palomares married Maria Rita Quiteria Valdez’ neice, my 3rd great grandmother, Maria "China" de la Concepcion Lopez; the daughter of my 4th great grandparents, Maria Jacinta del Sacramenta Valdez and Esteban Ignacio Maria De Los Angeles Lopez.