Captain fremont's challenge
adapted from the california state parks

in the years prior to the california gold rush, there were occasional conflicts between the mexican governing officials in california and adventurous americans. these events foreshadowed mexico's loss of california to the united states in 1848.
one such event occurred in 1846 while california was still part of mexico. u. s. army captain john c. frémont of the topographic engineers led a small exploratory force into california. fremont arrived in the central coast region of the salinas valley in march. mexican commandante general josé castro was suspicious of frémont's motives. castro was born in monterey and his house, built in the town of san juan bautista in 1840, remains a national historic landmark today. castro ordered fremont to leave the settled areas of california immediately. because he believed that castro had previously granted him verbal permission to remain, fremont refused to leave. sensing an incident was coming, frémont's party headed up to a nearby peak, where they built a temporary fort and raised a u. s. military flag. fremont peak is now a california state park and offers picnicking, camping, and spectacular views of the coastal area surrounding the monterey bay. castro, meanwhile, assembled a group of 200 soldiers in nearby san juan bautista.
in monterey, u. s. consul thomas o. larkin attempted to intervene in order to avoid a conflict. frémont evidently realized his risky position and decided to leave the encampment after a few days. no armed conflict occurred, but it was a sign of things shortly to come. during the mexican-american war, frémont led the california battalion, and the united states emerged victorious in 1848, gaining what now comprises most of its western states.

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