Arriving at the battlefield, the Indian braves attacked the Mexicans from all sides, thus saving the day for General Kearny who had but a few of his men left.
As to the kind of report he made to the War Department, and whether he took all the credit for having won this bloody battle whereas, by rights, the Indians alone were responsible for the victory, is not known to us. But we have every reason to believe that the report was in his favor in order to shield the command from embarrassment were it to become known that Indian aid and tactics had been the deciding factor. At any rate, up to the present time, Indian records don't show any letter of acknowledgment ever having been received from the United States Government for the service rendered General Kearny.
Instead of receiving at least a "Thank you," they were from that time on looked upon as "easy," believing anything that was told them--and this was proved to their own satisfaction in 1851-52. No doubt some of our fellow citizens do not know what this means. Therefore, to elucidate a little, let me say that this was the time when a benevolent government sent a very able regiment of politicians out here in command of a few army engineers.
These engineers executed their commission in a first-rate manner and negotiated and signed 18 treaties with the signatures also of 400 Indian chiefs. And the Indians turned over more than one hundred million acres of fertile lands to the government, leaving a reserve of ten million acres to the Indians. The larger acreage was to be paid for, as per duly signed agreement, at the rate of $1.25 per acre, and to this day the Indian is still waiting for it. The politicians, however, lost no time but took over as much as they could of these rich Indian lands and eventually the entire open country was known as the Ranch of Senator "This," or Senator, Congressman, or Colonel "That."
That the longest road has a turning was proved by the battle of San Pasqual: it opened the Indians' eyes to many things--such as, that had they but stayed out of it or used our forces otherwise, a different story would be told. The Indians were expelled from the Borrego Valley. We need no explanation here that they were good strategists and fighters and their holdings there were needed for the purpose mentioned. The valley has been donated by these patriotic and liberal politicians to the State of California and, by law, has become its property, and a state park.