| Juan "Flaco" Brown Grave site | |
| Location: | 1100 E Weber Street, Stockton, California |
| Coordinates: | 37.955°N -121.2769°W |
| Designation1 Date: | November 25, 1953 |
| Designation1: | California |
| Designation1 Number: | 513 |
Juan Brown (1799–1859), nickname Juan Flaco, known as the Paul Revere of California, rode from Los Angeles to San Francisco California in four days, 52 hours, in 1846, during the Mexican–American War. Juan "Flaco" Brown was sent by Captain Archibald H. Gillespie at Fort Hill to due the Siege of Los Angeles, started on September 22, 1846. United States Army Troops were trapped in Pueblo de Los Ángeles, Alta California by José María Flores men. Juan "Flaco" Brown took word to Commodore Robert F. Stockton in San Francisco of the serious trouble the Gillespie's troops in Los Angeles were in.[1]
Flaco departed Los Angeles at 8 PM with a note with Gillespie's seal, from Gillespie to Stockton hidden in his hair. He departed by pretending to be a deserter. Tom Lewis joined Flaco, they stopped in Mission Santa Barbara late at night and rented fresh horses and bought food from Lieutenant Talbolt. The next day at Mission San Luis Rey, Tom Lewis departed and Flaco rode on to Monterey where he was given a fresh horse. At San Jose, he got fresh horse and shortly talked with Thomas O. Larkin, the first and only American consul ever stationed on American soil. Flaco arrived at San Francisco in the evening at 8 PM after a six hundred miles ride with only 3 hours of rest in Monterey, through land filled with unfriendly natives and Mexican Californios. Commodore Stockton ordered Captain William Mervine to sail to Los Angeles with 350 men to help the Troops under siege there. Mervine arrived too late. After one week of siege, Gillespie Troops were out of food and gunpowder and surrendered. As part of the surrender Gillespie's Troops marched to the Port of San Pedro and departed Los Angeles on September 30, 1846, on the American merchant ship Vandalia.[1] [2] [3]
On January 8, 1847, Los Angeles was taken in the last battle of the Mexican–American War, Battle of La Mesa. General Stephen W. Kearny (1794–1848) and his troops came to Los Angeles marching in from Santa Fe, New Mexico by way of San Diego and the Battle of San Pasqual. Stockton and his men sailed in from San Francisco by way of San Diego. Kearny and Stockton's 607 Troops found Flores' 300 men near the San Gabriel River about 6 miles south of Pueblo de Los Ángeles. Flores lost the last battle of the Mexican–American War. There were few casualties and Flores retreated to Monterey and later to Mexico. On January 10 Kearny and Stockton's Troops Marched into the Los Angeles Plaza and Captain Gillespie raised the Flag of the United States.
The United States acquired Alta California and Los Angeles through the Mexican–American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.[4] The State of California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850.[5] [6]