May 14, 2016
When you visit Campo de Cahuenga at the base of Universal hill and the 101 (which has changed drastically from the historic drawing), you meet all the characters who were involved in the U.S. takeover of California from Mexico. The names Pico and Fremont are familiar to us, if for nothing else than towns and streets are named after them. But forgotten to most was the woman who brokered the peaceful settlement after months of fighting. Dona Bernarda could see that her side was going to be crushed by the invading U.S. army. She had an inspiration of how things could be worked out to end the war. Bernarda was bold enough to take her plan directly to Lt. Colonel John C. Fremont. He agreed with her. So Bernarda met with her compatriots at the Verdugo house. After much discussion, the leader of the Californios, General Andres Pico (an original SFV boy), agreed to surrender to Fremont at this ranch house on the far edge of the Verdugo rancho. And thus the U.S. achieved Manifest Destiny in this small adobe in the San Fernando Valley!
