Frémont, on Sloat's orders, has brought one hundred and sixty volunteers to Monterey, in addition to the California Battalion.

On July 15, Sloat transferrs his command of the Pacific Squadron to Commodore Robert F. Stockton, who is more militarily aggressive.

He musters the willing members of the California Battalion into military service with Frémont in command.

Stockton orders Frémont to San Diego to prepare to move northward to Los Angeles.

Commodore Robert Stockton replaces Sloat on July 23 and sails down the coast, landing troops led by Frémont at San Diego and putting ashore an additional force near Los Angeles.

it had taken almost three months for definitive word of Congress' declaration of war against Mexico on May 13, 1846, to get to California.

American consul Thomas O. Larkin, stationed in Monterey, works successfully during the events in that vicinity to avoid bloodshed between Americans and the Mexican military garrison commanded by General José Castro, the senior military officer in California.

...Stockton's three hundred and sixty men arrive in San Pedro.

As Frémont lands in San Diego, ...

General Castro and Governor Pío Pico write farewells and flee separately to the Mexican state of Sonora on August 10, 1846.

Stockton's army enters Los Angeles unopposed on August 13, whereupon he sends a report to the Secretary of State that "California is entirely free from Mexican dominion."

The heavy-handed Stockton had left a tyrannical officer in charge of Los Angeles with a small force.

The Californios under the leadership of José María Flores, acting on their own and without federal help from Mexico, in the Siege of Los Angeles, force the American garrison to retreat on September 29.

They also force small U.S. garrisons in San Diego and Santa Barbara to flee.

Captain William Mervine lands three hundred and fifty sailors and Marines at San Pedro on October 7.

They are ambushed and repulsed at the Battle of Dominguez Rancho by Flores' forces in less than an hour.

Four Americans die, with eight severely injured.

Stockton arrives with reinforcements at San Pedro, which increases the American forces here to eight hundred.