Robert Stockton took the overland route home after securing California. He commanded some of the best trackers, translators, and riders to accompany him. 49 men set off in late June 1847. Stockton required their commitment that any disobedience of orders or signs of cowardice on the trail would result in the death penalty. He relayed the adventure to Samuel Bayard for his biography, A sketch of the life of Robert F. Stockton in the early 1850s. A summary is presented here.
Stockton in his 50s
The Commodore initially ordered there be “no shooting of Indians”. The more experienced trailmen tried to impress on him that the bands of native people had become dependent on plunder and the violence that came along with it. Stockton felt he could reason with them.
“Human nature is the same among all nations and races. If the Indians were treated well, they would appreciate kindness and abstain from hostilities. They are a poor, abused race, who had been driven to outrage and revenge by innumerable injuries; and that for my part I would not, except in self-defense, consent to take an Indian's life.”
It was not long before their troop was followed. Arrows rained into their camp one evening, and Stockton ordered the men to fire into the air. The next day, while seated at breakfast, an arrow pierced through Stockton’s thigh. He removed it. There was no poison and they were able to stem the bleeding. That evening, as the hostiles crossed a stream to attack their camp, Stockton and his marksmen fired from a well-defended position, scattering the attackers. They saw many other scouts and bands of Native Americans on the trail, but he kept to the open areas to avoid surprise attacks.
After they left the mountains, a group of seemingly friendly natives were guiding them across the plains, when they started toward a more wooded area. Stockton, anticipating an ambush, stopped and negotiated through his interpreters. He had something important to say to their leaders. About fifteen chiefs came out of the woods, confirming the impending ambush and Stockton had the chiefs sit in a circle with him.
He noted to them how they were a great war party just come from California where they won a terrible battle and killed many men, and they should keep their young warriors away as it “might excite my men’s love of blood.”
He urged the chiefs to keep the young warriors back, so they may not be killed. If they complied, he would select a horse for their men to feast on and provide them with tobacco. The chiefs agreed, but Stockton asked them to ride with him first. He had them mount horses, with a few of his men following with pistols drawn. As they got more into the open, he selected a horse for the young warriors, who took it away to slaughter. He rode even further into the open plain until the company was safe, and then let the chiefs dismount and run back to their bands.
Hunting on the Plains Currier and Ives 1871 Public Domain
Stockton took the role of the hunter for the troop and they were well fed. They reached the Buffalo Plain in Kansas. Stockton, impressed by the massive herds, shot two cows and a bull which he took for its hide. When they arrived in Saint Joseph Missouri after four months without losing a man, Stockton expressed a desire to go back west and do it again. He felt great fellowship with the entire crew, and they parted, Stockton left the saddle, taking trains and steamboats to St. Loius, then Cincinnati.
By early December he was in Washington to testify for Fre’mont’s court-martial, and he made it home to Morven for Christmas to Maria and his nine children.
A party for him in Philadelphia at the Music Hall on Dec 31 was attended by over six hundred guests. He modestly accepted the praise and the accolades, noting to laughter that the sailors proved quite effective on both land and sea, despite being out of reach with limited supplies and without proper equipment. He highlighted the great natural wealth of California but was happiest that he had ordered the funding of the first school in San Francisco and a newspaper press. He offered his views on promoting religious freedom in Mexico and his enthusiasm for winning the balance of the war.
Perhaps the most illuminating part of his speech focused on the future of the country:
“In my judgment, principles depend much upon relations and circumstances,and that which in the abstract may be well enough often wastes itself in fanaticism. All things must bide their time. I have no respect for the man or set of men who will recklessly disturb the social order of any community and produce civil war for the purpose of hastening such a result, no matter how beneficial in the abstract it may seem to be.”
He stated that if he were offered a political position as a result of his conquest he was sure to turn it down, and he was content to let historians (rather than newspapermen) judge him by his actions and results.
In early January a joint session of the State Legislature of New Jersey read into the record declarations lauding the Commodore. The Delaware and Raritan Canal was paying high dividends and Stockton closed on a gold mine in Virginia. The Commodore had triumphed. At 52 years old, he was at the pinnacle of his naval career and the toast of the nation.
His California conquest created a problem for the United States. Annexing California would upset the delicate balance between slave and free states, impacting the rest of Stockton’s public life, and the country he cherished.