who led the american forces that helped seize california from mexico
Mexican–American War In the Winter of 1845–46, the federally commissioned explorer John C. Frémont and a group of armed men appeared in Alta California. After telling the Mexican governor and the American Consul Larkin he was merely buying supplies on the way to Oregon, he instead went to the populated area of California and visited Santa Cruz and the Salinas Valley, explaining he had been looking for a seaside home for his mother.[22] Mexican authorities became alarmed and ordered him to leave. Frémont responded by building a fort on Gavilan Peak and raising the American flag. Larkin sent word that Frémont's actions were counterproductive. Frémont left California in March but returned to California and took control of the California Battalion following the outbreak of the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma.[23]
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War,[a] also known as the Mexican War in the United States and in Mexico as the American intervention in Mexico,[b] was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Mexico) from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 American annexation of the independent Republic of Texas. Mexico had considerable instability under the caudillo leadership of President/General Antonio López de Santa Anna, with many constitutional changes leading up to the conflict. Mexico still considered Texas to be its northeastern province and a part of its territory, and did not recognize the Republic of Texas, which had seceded from Mexico in the 1836 Texas Revolution a decade earlier. In 1845, newly elected U.S. President James K. Polk sent troops to the disputed area, and a diplomatic mission to Mexico. After Mexican forces attacked American forces, Polk cited this in his request that Congress declare war.