Possibly a reference to Theophilus Everett from Boston, who first sailed to California in 1835 and at this time was again in California as captain of the trading vessel Vandalia. The Vandalia arrived at Monterey on 21 February 1844 with a crew of twenty-two and plans to remain in California two years, trading along the coast. Snow may have heard initial reports of Everett’s arrival in California while in Massachusetts during the summer of 1844. (Thomas O. Larkin, Monterey, California, to John C. Calhoun, Washington DC, 1 Jan. 1845, in Hammond, Larkin Papers, 6–7; Everett, Descendants of Richard Everett of Dedham, Mass., 187–188; Snow, Journal, 1841–1847, 48–50.)

Hammond, George P., ed. The Larkin Papers: Personal, Business, and Official Correspondence of Thomas Oliver Larkin, Merchant and United States Consul in California. Vol. 3, 1845. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1952.

Everett, Edward Franklin. Descendants of Richard Everett of Dedham, Mass. Boston: By the author, 1902.

Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.

In the 1840s Mexico was rife with internal political dissension and conflict among many factions that left it unable to unite around domestic policies or against external threats. The country also faced persistent financial difficulties and an army in poor order. Mexico’s defenses were scattered from California to Texas as the army attempted to combat raids of Mexican settlements by indigenous groups. All of these challenges amounted to a weak government that could not defend its vast territory. In California the four Spanish presidios, or protective military communities, at San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara remained operative but were largely neglected and in decline by the 1840s. In the fall of 1842 U.S. commodore Thomas Catesby Jones, believing that Mexico and the United States were at war, occupied Mexico’s California capital at Monterey with no resistance from Mexican officials. Realizing his mistake and the potential for a real war based on his action, Jones restored Mexican authority three days later. Still, Jones’s action demonstrated the feebleness of Mexico’s government.

Isolated from the distant seat of government at Mexico City, Alta California became a largely autonomous province open to foreign commerce and settlement. Californians typically resented the attempts of the central Mexican government to impose policies and governors on California, leading to the ignominious removal of four Mexican governors by Californians between 1830 and 1845, including Manuel Micheltorena, who was ousted in February 1845. (Santoni, Mexicans at Arms, 15–27, 231–233; Wasserman, Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico, 77; DeLay, War of a Thousand Deserts, chaps. 1–8; “An Untoward Occurrence,” Daily National Intelligencer [Washington DC], 14 Jan. 1843, [3]; Nunis, “Alta California’s Trojan Horse: Foreign Immigration,” 320–321; Rolle, California, 62, 110, 116–129; Starr, California, chap. 3; “California,” Daily National Intelligencer, 26 Feb. 1845, [3]; “California,” Milwaukie [Wisconsin Territory] Daily Sentinel, 14 Mar. 1845, [2]; “Later from Mexico,” Daily Atlas [Boston], 28 Feb. 1845, [2].)

Santoni, Pedro. Mexicans at Arms: Puro Federalists and the Politics of War, 1845–1848. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1996.

Wasserman, Mark. Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women, and War. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000.

DeLay, Brian. War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.–Mexican War. Dallas: William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University; New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.

Nunis, Doyce B., Jr. “Alta California’s Trojan Horse: Foreign Immigration.” California History 76, nos. 2–3 (Summer–Fall 1997): 299–330.

Rolle, Andrew. California: A History. 4th ed. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1987.

Starr, Kevin. California: A History. New York: Modern Library, 2005.

Milwaukie Daily Sentinel. Milwaukee. 1844–1846.

Daily Atlas. Boston. 1832–1857.