Help Commemorate the Battle of Dominguez Hills

The Battle of Dominguez Hills (October 8-9, 1846) was a military engagement of the Mexican–American War. The skirmish took place within Manuel Dominguez’s 75,000-acre (300 km2) Rancho San Pedro. Wikipedia


After receiving word of the Siege of Los Angeles, Commodore Robert F. Stockton sent US Navy Captain William Mervine and the Savannah on October 4 to San Pedro to assist Capt. Archibald H. Gillespie.^[2] Arriving on October 7, Mervine set out on October 8 with sailors, marines and bear flaggers to recapture the town.

The Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum will commemorate the 175th Anniversary of the Battle of Dominguez Hill with a battle re-enactment. The Battle of Dominguez Hill, originally took place on October 8th and October 9th, 1846, was a military engagement of the U.S.-Mexican War that took place within Manuel Dominguez’s 75,000 acre Rancho San Pedro. Captain José Antonio Carrillo, leading fifty California troops, successfully held off an invasion of Pueblo de Los Angeles by some 300 United States Marines, under the command of US Navy Captain William Mervine, who was attempting to recapture the town after the Siege of Los Angeles.

By strategically running horses across the dusty Dominguez hills, while transporting their single small cannon to various sites, Carrillo and his troops convinced the Americans they had encountered a large enemy force. Faced with heavy casualties and the superior fighting skills displayed by the Californios, the remaining Marines were forced to retreat to their ships docked in San Pedro Bay.