The Battle Of The Rio San Gabriel Traditional Cache
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The Battle Of The Rio San Gabriel
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4/18/12 Cache has been replaced. It is now a nano and in a new hiding spot (same coordinates) with a new additional hint.
Historical Landmark #385
Battle of Rio San Gabriel
Part of the Mexican-American War
Memorial overlooking the battleground in Montebello, CA
Date January 8, 1847
Location near Los Angeles, California
Result: U.S. victory
Combatants:
United States of America/ Californios, Mexico
Commanders
Robert F. Stockton, Stephen Watts Kearny/ José Mariá Flores
Strength:
U.S. naval and army forces: 600 sailors, marines and dragoons/ Californios: 160 Militia soldiers
Casualties:
143/ 80
U.S. scouts discovered the Mexican position at a key ford along the San Gabriel River on January 7, 1847. Stockton and Kearny planned a crossing for the next day. The U.S. forces were formed into a hollow square with the artillery and baggage in the center. Kearny ordered the artillery unlimbered to cover the crossing, but Stockton countered the order and began to move across the river. The crossing proved to be especially difficult because Flores was in a good position to contest the crossing from the heights across the river, and the ford had patches of quicksand at the bottom of the knee deep water.
The U.S. 560 man force came under fire as it crossed, but because of a lack of sufficient guns and ammunition, and inadequate gunpowder, the Californio's artillery proved to be ineffective. The U.S. officers and men manhandled their cannon across while the forward quarter of the square took cover on the riverbank. Stockton personally helped unlimber and direct the artillery, which silenced both Californio cannons. The left flank of the square took a Californio hilltop position and held it against a counterattack from Militia Lancers shouting "Viva Los Californios". Then the whole square charged forward shouting "New Orleans, New Orleans", in honor of Andrew Jackson's great victory against Great Britain there that day thirty-one years before. The charge took the heights, and Flores withdrew his smaller force. The battle had lasted an hour and a half, and while over 60 Americans were killed or wounded in the battle, as opposed to only 7 Californios, the battle was decisive in the campaign for control of Los Angeles, and Alta California.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
gjragl svir
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