California Pioneer Decade of 1849 Author:James Woods Subtitle: The Presbyterian Church With Some Mention of Other Churches, and Incidental Reference to Current Events and Civil Affairs of Early and Later Date General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1922 Original Publisher: Press of the Hansen co. Subjects: Presbyterian Church California Presbyterian Church in Cali... more »fornia Religion / Christianity / History Religion / Christianity / Presbyterian Religion / Christian Church / History Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: I had never seen any account of the capture or occupation of Fort Sutter until I found a story, apparently authentic, in a biographical sketch of William Baldridge of Napa Valley, a pioneer of 1843. In July, 1846, two companies of volunteers under John Ford and Granville P. Swift, along with Fremont's force, started for Fort Sutter on the 6th, Fremont's force going by way of Soscol and the volunteers through Berryessa Valley. Crossing the river and encamping near the embarcadero, Mr. Baldridge, with rifle in hand, went to the fort for supplies. The door, to his great surprise, he found shut and barricaded. He knocked loudly but the Indian keeper told him that he could not come in. General Sutter then came, looked through the wicket, recognized Lieutenant Baldridge and said, "I surrender to you; I held out as long as I could; you are too strong for me." One rifleman against a fort with two large field pieces facing the door, other guns at the embrasures and a lot of small arms! Truly a serio-comic situation. But Sutter knew the whole status of affairs and was at heart eager to surrender to the Americans after a show of resistance. Yet it is a flit of humor across the face of grim-visaged war. (History of Napa and Lake ...« less