PBA Galleries

Printed document, completed by hand. Approximately 3¾x8¾".

Comptroller's Warrant promising payment of $100 for a horse, to William L. Freeman for "Military services, in defending the Eastern Frontier against the attacks of the Indians". Payment to be made from the "War Loan Fund". Endorsed by Freeman on the reverse. Freeman was a Private in Company 'A' of the Mariposa Battalion. The Battalion was mustered February 12, 1851 based on an appeal by Mariposa County sheriff James Burney. James D. Savage was appointed Major of the 197 man, 3 company battalion. In late March the base of operations for Companies B and C was at the confluence of the South fork and the main branch of the Merced River near Savages Trading Post. Around noon on March 27, Savage and 57 men led by an Indian guide, left the base camp pursuing a band of Indians believing they were heading for their ‘stronghold’. That evening Savage and his men became the first white men to Camp in Yosemite Valley. The Battalion disbanded on July 1, 1851. Provenance: John Carpenter.