Travels with Auntie M: Battle of the Old Woman’s Gun

Joe was in another Re-enactment this week-end at Rancho Dominguez Adobe Museum where the Aviation Day Centennial was held in June, 2010. Link to Aviation Day

The battle is scheduled for Sunday, today there was an artillery demonstration and a talk with the Dominguez sisters.

On October 8-9, 1946 there was a military engagement of the Mexican-American War in which 50 Californio Lancer troops out-smarted 200 United State Marines with trickery.

By tying tree branches to horses and running them across the dusty Dominguez hills and moving around their one cannon, they convinced the Americans they had encountered a large enemy force.

The battle name comes from the cannon, which had been buried by an old woman who was keeping it safe from confiscation when Fremont and Stockton invaded in August. Check out my brothers’ website for more details about the battle. Link to: San Pedro Stories

Todd put together a display of his website.

It seemed that 98% of the people were re-enactment participants, which means it was not crowded and there were lots of opportunities to get shots of people in period cloths if you could catch then when they weren’t taking pictures of each other.

We finally got to take a tour of the museum; during the Aviation Centennial the lines were too long. This is a free museum that should not be missed. Link to Dominguez Rancho

The Dominguez Adobe is California’s State Historic Landmark Number 152 and in 1976 was placed on the National Register of Historic places.

The tour started in the kitchen.

The walls are made of adobe brick and the floor was originally packed dirt. Manuel was an important businessman and political leader and was often away from home traveling to Monterey and San Francisco. He wanted his wife and daughters to be safe in his absence so he built bars on the inside of the windows.

Everything had to be handmade or brought in by sailing ship. Above are reproductions of the tiles the family eventually installed.

The Dining Room

On the wall are portraits of Don Manuel Dominguez and his wife, Dona Engracia de Cota. Of their 10 children, only 6 daughters lived to survive their parents.