Two of Stevenson's companies, with the headquarters and the
colonel, were to go also. They embarked, and early in May we
sailed for San Pedro. Before embarking, the United States
line-of-battle-ship Columbus had reached the coast from China with
Commodore Biddle, whose rank gave him the supreme command of the
navy on the coast. He was busy in calling in--"lassooing "--from
the land-service the various naval officers who under Stockton had
been doing all sorts of military and civil service on shore.
Knowing that I was to go down the coast with General Kearney, he
sent for me and handed me two unsealed parcels addressed to
Lieutenant Wilson, United States Navy, and Major Gillespie, United
States Marines, at Los Angeles. These were written orders pretty
much in these words: "On receipt of this order you will repair at
once on board the United States ship Lexington at San Pedro, and on
reaching Monterey you will report to the undersigned.-JAMES
BIDDLE." Of course, I executed my part to the letter, and these
officers were duly "lassooed." We sailed down the coast with a
fair wind, and anchored inside the kelp, abreast of Johnson's
house. Messages were forthwith dispatched up to Los Angeles,
twenty miles off, and preparations for horses made for us to ride
up.
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