Volume 90, Number 1 - California Historical Society

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In his illustrated recollection of his adventures in California, William Redmond Ryan offered this view
of Monterey in February 1848 and observed: “The portly Californian, under his ample-brimmed sombrero
and gay serapa, the dark-skinned and half-clad Indian, and the Yankee, in his close European
costume, intermingled or chatting apart in groups of threes and fours, imparted an irresistible charm
of novelty to the scene.” Alfred Sully was disappointed when he arrived the following year and found
Monterey’s prominent “Spanish” residents frosty at first encounter. “They are generally to strangers
somewhat cold in their manners,” he wrote. “But once acquainted all restraint is thrown off.”
Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Señora de la Guerra’s ambivalence toward the
occupiers was aptly summarized by an American
acquaintance, the merchant William Heath
Davis, who married into this society. Prior to the
Mexican War, Davis wrote, the women of California
“were wholly loyal to their own government
and hated the idea of any change; although they
respected the Americans, treated them with great
cordiality and politeness, and entertained them
hospitably at their homes, they would not countenance
the suggestion that the United States or
any foreign power should assume control of the
country.” Angustias de la Guerra—who followed
Spanish tradition by retaining her maiden name
but was referred to by Davis as Mrs. Jimeno—
California History • volume 90 number 1 2012
shared those sentiments and was initially hostile
to invading Americans. “In a patriotic outburst,”
Davis related, she “exclaimed one day that she
would delight to have the ears of the officers of
the United States squadron for a necklace, such
was her hatred of the new rulers of her country.”
But whenever an American officer was taken
sick, he added, “Mrs. Jimeno was the first to visit
the patient and bestow on him the known kindness
so characteristic of the native California
ladies.” 5
Angustias’s policy of dealing charitably with
Americans in the hope that they would respond
in kind continued after the war, affording Sully
and other officers a gracious hostess to look after