I remained at the fort from the 27th to the 30th of October. On the
28th, Mr. Reed, whom I have before mentioned as belonging to the rear
emigrating party, arrived here. He left his party on Mary's River, and
in company with one man crossed the desert and the mountains. He was
several days without provisions, and, when he arrived at Johnson's, was
so much emaciated and exhausted by fatigue and famine, that he could
scarcely walk. His object was to procure provisions immediately, and to
transport them with pack-mules over the mountains for the relief of the
suffering emigrants behind. He had lost all of his cattle, and had been
compelled to _cache_ two of his wagons and most of his property.
Captain Sutter generously furnished the requisite quantity of mules and
horses, with Indian vaqueros, and jerked meat and flour. This is the
second expedition for the relief of the emigrants he has fitted out
since our arrival in the country. Ex-governor Boggs and family reached
Sutter's Fort to-day.

On the evening of the 28th, a courier arrived with letters from Colonel
Fremont, now at Monterey. The substance of the intelligence received by
the courier was, that a large force of Californians (varying, according
to different reports, from five to fifteen hundred strong) had met the
marines and sailors, four hundred strong, under the command of Captain
Mervine, of the U.S. frigate Savannah, who had landed at San Pedro for
the purpose of marching to Los Angeles, and had driven Captain Mervine
and his force back to the ship, with the loss, in killed, of six men.
That the towns of Angeles and Santa Barbara had been taken by the
insurgents, and the American garrisons there had either been captured
or had made their escape by retreating. What had become of them was
unknown.[2] Colonel Fremont, who I before mentioned had sailed with a
party of one hundred and eighty volunteers from San Francisco to San