Post #11 Strategy
Before considering the actions and motivations of the two sides at this early stage, it is critical to understand the peculiar geography of the Argonaut Rebellion. The Californie goldfields occupied a broad crescent shape to the northeast of San Francisco, the new bustling capital. It was over a hundred miles from the coast to Hangtown, which rested nearly in the center of the moon-shaped diggings. Pilot Hill rested to the northwest of the French base, nestled in high scrubby hills, with a supply road further west.
Hangtown’s main route to the coast ran southwest, which meant both towns had separate and hard to interdict routes. Adding to the complexity while Pilot Hill and Hangtown were not very distant, only twenty miles as the crow flies, that direct route was very rough terrain unsuited to troop movements, as Testard found to his dismay. Instead, the best route was a sweeping curve north and then west, coming to Pilot Hill from the north, passing through countless little boom towns and mining sites. To the south of Hangtown were more goldfields, not as rich or plentiful but still teeming with miners.
Forgive the modern map, but this was the best I could do. Blue shows Testard's failed march from Hangtown (OTL Placerville) towards Pilot Hill. The red arrows show the main routes back towards the coast. Faidherbe's line of advance will follow northwards and westward on modern 193. Auburn is just visible in the upper left-hand corner.
With that geography understood, then we can put ourselves in the mind of French Major of Engineers Faidherbe, as he pondered his task of putting down the Argonauts. In the short run, of course, things looked entirely black. Any hope of quickly crushing the revolt had clearly passed, as the Argonauts not only gained numbers but also growing meaning and purpose. A flag, a slogan, all of them bespoke a real challenge to French power in the region as a whole with deeper roots then one might guess. Crushing it would not be a matter of a few skirmishes and arrests. The Battle of Blue Tent Creek proved it would now take a small-scale war to defeat the Argonauts.
In the medium term however, Faidherbe saw silver linings.The Argonauts were hardly an imposing, unstoppable military force. They were untrained, poorly armed and scattered across a rugged, wild landscape. Faidherbe had no doubt that, in favorable conditions, his troops were more than a match for the miners. Even more important the Argonauts had one great Achilles heel, which even Faidherbe sought to utilize. The goldfields were a vast sink for resources, particularly food which needed to be brought from San Francisco's stores and wharves. If that lifeline could be cut, or even hampered, the rebellion could be snuffed out with much greater ease.
In the longest run however, there was one ultimate danger that must be avoided at all costs. If the rebellion dragged on, it was possible America itself might become involved. Distance helped him here, as even the news of the fighting would take months to reach Washington but if the American government decided to act…..it could spell not only defeat for French forces, but the end of French sovereignty over all of Californie. Still, before Fairherbe could begin his plans, his first job was to stem the rising Argonaut tide.This he did deftly, judging that the natural move of the miners would be to counter attack along Testard’s old line of advance, to threaten Nueva Helvetia. Stutter’s ranchlands was a natural French outpost, and losing it would be a heavy blow to their cause. Even more tempting, it was a great storehouse of food, weapons and other supplies usually only lightly guarded by a few hired farm hands.
A typical part of Sutter's vast land holdings.
Fairherbe moved quickly, personally leading the bulk of his troops to the Swiss ranchers holdings, taking over most of the buildings as impromptu barracks. This move was barely in time, even as the major was settling into his new headquarters, Argonaut raiders began probing the outer defenses of Nueva Helvetia, taking goods at gunpoint. They were quickly dismayed however to find French marines contesting them for eggs and barrels of bacon grease. Skirmishing in the outlying farms lasted for the rest of the week, with little loss of life but a great deal of spirited firing. When they finally withdrew, the French had won their first draw. Much remained to be done.
Even as the fighting sputtered out around Nueva Helvetia, Faidherbe was already putting in his first offensive. Knowing that a frontal assault was impossible, he began the wide movement northward, along the main miner’s road. It would be a long and tedious march, much of it seemingly in the wrong direction but it was the only way the rugged landscape allowed. The French were nothing if not methodical, slowly pushing north and firmly taking every every small boom town or dig sites. Some, like Gopher Hill and Dry Diggings were captured without a shot, the local gold miners barely noticing the French as they kept panning for gold nuggets. Others however, such as Spanish Flat or Chilli’s Bar, put up dogged resistance, turning mineworks into fortifications, and battling for every streambed. Unwilling to sacrifice his troops for insiganagant towns, Faidherbe made flanking attacks, slowly circling each town, until the nearly surrounded Argonauts were forced to retreat. Then the process started all over again, as weeks turned to months.
Meanwhile, Burnett and his leadership were far from idle. Quite apart from trying to arm and organize his unruly masses of miners, the Argonauts were keen to spread their area of control. This was done early, even as the skirmishing around Nueva Helvetia occupied the French fighters. Knowing that the coast could not send anything besides a scratch force, Connor Love and his rangers went northwest, raising the gold miners (and silencing those who refused to participate). Their goal and eventual prize was the bustling city of Auburn, ten miles away. Home to over a thousand people, it was surrounded by rich goldfields dug deep into plunging ravines. The California Rangers captured the city in early September, driving out a few French officials and clerks, as well as any miners whose sentiments did not align with the Argonauts. Soon the gold nugget flag flew over the town, and mass miner rallies filled the streets.
While Burnett stayed in Pilot Hill, Victor Prosper Considerant moved his base of operations to Auburn, attracted to the more cosmopolitan atmosphere of the bigger town. Uncomfortable with the growing American domination of the miner’s movement, the Frenchman began arguing for a more moderate set of goals. Outright victory over Faidherbe and Morenhout was impossible, Conisderant stated, the French were too strong and too proud. Instead the miners should be using this chance to bargain for concessions, to organize long-term advantages and to seize as much self governance as possible. While a few listened to this rather rational argument, hope was still burning too bright for it to take hold yet.
Bustling, diverse Auburn.
For his part Burnett was still hoping for wider uprisings in the southern diggings and even in San Francisco itself, with miners, dockworkers and sailors uniting together to drive the French into the sea. Failing that grand revolt however, his final hopes rested in the American government sailing to the rescue. Surely, upon hearing of his brave uprising, Washington would send troops and weapons over the mountains and over the seas to him, to help guide his newfound Argonauts to victory (and statehood). In the meantime though, as he waited for these dreams to ripen, Burnett mostly spent his days bickering with fellow miners. The American had a strong xenophobic and anti-Catholic streak which put him at odds with many of the miners, who came from every nation in the world. Even as the French slowly moved northwards, Burnett spent his days tearing down rivals and building up American influence in the miner’s movement.
His other great goal in this period was the systematic genocide of the Native American peoples in the area. His reasons were twofold. First, and most basically, the American Argonaut leader viewed them as irrelevant barbarian vestiges, fit only to be swept aside by more active White men. Secondly though, Burnett viewed them as a natural French ally, backward savages to be armed and turned loose on upright gold miners. The natives were dangerous enough on their own, given European weapons and leadership was too horrible to contemplate. So even as the Rebellion seemed to hang in the balance, vast efforts were spent killing or driving off Native Americans.
Gangs of roving men, flying columns, were soon sweeping the landscape around the Argonaut held parts of the goldfields and sometimes far beyond. Often led by Connor Love, these rangings deliberately sought out isolated or previously untouched areas, climbing into deep ravines or into remote upland meadows. While these columns only rarely encountered natives, when they did happen upon a village or cluster of huts, the result could be horrific. Dozens of men, women and children brutally murdered by gunfire or by knife, with the rest driven into the wild without food or supplies. In even worse cases the survivors were rounded up and brought back as virtual slaves for the labor hungry gold mines. The fate of these Natives were so bad that even many Argonauts found the practice appalling, comparing it to the slavery of Blacks in the American South. More than a few even suggested it was worse than that ‘peculiar institution’.
The casual and awful violence of the Argonaut flying columns.
Ironically, these wide ranging depredations actually increased the number of Native Americans near gold mining encampments. The shattered remains of families, bands and entire villages were unable to sustain themselves, and were forced to latch onto white settlements for survival via begging or odd jobs. Obviously unable to live among Argonaut areas, they frequently turned to French controlled regions. Soon dozens, hundreds and eventually thousands of Maidu, Wintun and Patwin drifted into French areas, particularly around the French army itself.
Sometimes their reception was little better than their treatment at the hands of the Argonauts had been. In one tragic case near Hog Canyon a band of bedraggled and starving Wintun people were shot down before even having a chance to raise their hands. Fairherbe however, saw these people as a possible tool in his battle against the Argonauts. The French Major quickly began a sustained campaign to recruit Native peoples as guides, porters and, when the number of weapons permitted, as armed infantry. While few had the willingness to fight as hard as his own marines, these auxiliaries proved key to moving through the rough, often unmapped terrain.
By late October of 1851, the morale of the Argonauts, so high only a few months ago, was beginning to sag. The foul weather had finally done when the Argonauts could not, stopping Fairherbe’s relentlessly northward advance but the French forces had already reached Long Valley ,which lay only a few miles from Cool, the town that linked Pilot Hill to the northward road toward Auburn and eventually San Francisco. Worse, only a few miles past Cool would bring the French to the banks of the North Fork of the American River, truly sealing Pilot HiIll off.
Quite apart from these reverses, hopes also faded as only the vaguest hints of other, sympathetic uprisings reached them. This was expected as communications were poor but Burnett had promised (and expected) large scale risings through Californie and that, obviously, had not occurred. With discontent growing, and Conisderant’s moderate argument gaining more adherents by the day, Burnett decided on a bold gamble to change miner’s fortunes.
If San Francisco would not rise on its own, perhaps Burnett could assist. He began planning a large mobile thrust southward, something like his anti-native flying columns but on a much larger scale. Hundreds of armed riders pushing southward from Auburn, extending the Rebellion the hundred miles or so to San Francisco. Not only would this greatly expand their area of control, but also bring them much needed reserves of food, supplies and manpower. The little towns of Roseville, Sacramento and Vacaville would help feed the Rebellion, if only he had the nerve to reach out and take them.
