In the meantime Thomas O. Larkin, a very substantial citizen of long standing in the country, had been appointed consul, and in addition received a sum of six dollars a day to act as secret agent.  It was hoped that his great influence would avail to inspire the Californians with a desire for peaceful annexation to the United States.  In case that policy failed, he was to use all means to separate them from Mexico, and so isolate them from their natural alliances.  He was furthermore to persuade them that England, France, and Russia had sinister designs on their liberty.  It was hoped that his good offices would slowly influence public opinion, and that, on the declaration of open war with Mexico, the United States flag could be hoisted in California not only without opposition but with the consent and approval of the inhabitants.  This type of peaceful conquest had a very good chance of success.  Larkin possessed the confidence of the better class of Californians and he did his duty faithfully.

Just at this moment a picturesque, gallant, ambitious, dashing, and rather unscrupulous character appeared inopportunely on the horizon.  His name was John C. Fremont.  He was the son of a French father and a Virginia mother.  He was thirty-two years old, and was married to the daughter of Thomas H. Benton, United States Senator from Missouri and a man of great influence in the country.  Possessed of an adventurous spirit, considerable initiative, and great persistence Fremont had already performed the feat of crossing the Sierra Nevadas by way of Carson River and Johnson Pass, and had also explored the Columbia River and various parts of the Northwest.  Fremont now entered California by way of Walker Lake and the Truckee, and reached Sutter’s Fort in 1845.  He then turned southward to meet a division of his party under Joseph Walker.

His expedition was friendly in character, with the object of surveying a route westward to the Pacific, and then northward to Oregon.  It supposedly possessed no military importance whatever.  But his turning south to meet Walker instead of north, where ostensibly his duty called him, immediately aroused the suspicions of the Californians.  Though ordered to leave the district, he refused compliance, and retired to a place called Gavilan Peak, where he erected fortifications and raised the United States flag.  Probably Fremont’s intentions were perfectly friendly and peaceful.  He made, however, a serious blunder in withdrawing within fortifications.  After various threats by the Californians but no performance in the way of attack, he withdrew and proceeded by slow marches to Sutter’s Fort and thence towards the north.  Near Klamath Lake he was overtaken by Lieutenant Gillespie, who delivered to him certain letters and papers.  Fremont thereupon calmly turned south with the pick of his men.