Half Moon Bay Archives

Family and friends knows that I have an affinity for horses. My earliest memories revolve around them. As a toddler, I was fascinated by my rocking horse. At the age of four, I had my first ride on a real horse. I was hooked. My mother took me to a nearby park, and I was placed on a Shetland pony that seemed to have its own mind as it trotted off to its friends in the pasture. I was saddened when a few years later, my mother told me the stable burned down, and some of the horses had perished. Others, she said, survived because they were blindfolded by rescuers and led past the flames to safety. I wondered if the pony I rode was a among the survivors. A few years later as a ten-year-old, I happily took note that the origin of my family’s surname means “lover of horses.” And shortly thereafter I looked forward to watching on TV the annual spring races of thoroughbred colts with their riders contending for the Triple Crown. The energy, focus and synergy of beauty motion continues to reminds of what I love about horses. That’s why I’m writing about Sherman and his horses now.

Sherman begins his first chapter of “Memoirs” with his earliest memory as a seven-year-old. He describes how he and his older brothers would wait for their father’s return from his trips as a circuit judge in rural Ohio. The passage, typical of Sherman’s humor and irony, is too delightful to omit and so I include it here:

My memory goes back to about 1827, Sherman writes. “I recall [my father] returning on horseback, when all the boys used to run and contend for the privilege of riding his horse from the front door to the back stable. On one occasion, I was the first and being mounted rode to the stable; but “Old Dick” was impatient because the stable-door was not opened promptly, so he started for the barn of our neighbor; there also, no one was in waiting to open the gate, and, after a reasonable time “Dick” stared back for home somewhat in a a hurry and threw me among a pile of stones in front of preacher Wright’s house where I was picked up apparently a dead boy; but my time was not yet, and I recovered, though the scars remain to this day. Memoirs of Gen. W.T. Sherman Vol I From 1820 to the Mexican War

Several years later, Sherman, as a young army officer, arrived in Monterey, Alta California, in 1847. He was immediately captivated by the equestrian skills of the Spanish and Mexican horsemen, vaqueros and caballeros who displayed their horses and talents in the plazas of Monterey and Mission Juan Bautista.

During a visit to Mission Juan Bautista, Sherman was astounded by the low prices for good horses. Since Sherman’s own horse had become lame it became necessary to buy another. There was a fine black stallion that attracted my notice, and after trying him myself, I concluded a purchase. He paid $10, equivalent to $350 today. Memoirs Vol I Early Recollections of California

Sherman notes that horses could be bought at any price, ranging from four dollars to sixteen. In contrast, coffee and sugar were rare and expensive. It seems that Sherman invested in a couple of horses, keeping them in a nearby valley known for its excellent grazing grounds and surrounding hills to protect them from colder weather. To the reader this may seem exorbitant, a luxury of sorts but recall that at that time horses, or their cousin donkeys were the only means of land travel other than walking. An army officer required by his duties to make long trips on horseback would need to have more than one available for travel.

Rereading Sherman’s accounts of his years in northern California always sparks my curiosity and imagination. I sometimes drive, and currently pay upward of $6 per gallon to do so, through the same places where Sherman rode his $10 black stallion nearly two centuries ago. I work in a coast side town north of Monterey, where I occasionally see some horsemen trotting down Main Street or training their Friesian horses for dance competitions along the bluff overlooking the Pacific. I can’t help but smile, imagining Sherman would have been equally delighted by the sight.

Horse Images from Wikimedia Commons

A few weeks ago, after a few days in Carmel I made my return trip by way of Highway One from Salinas to Half Moon Bay a drive of 100 miles and much of that on the proverbial ‘ribbon of highway’ with open fields on the east and the Pacific on the west. It was a beautiful spring day and some fields were speckled with California poppies now in bloom. In less than two hours even despite the traffic congestion in Santa Cruz I arrived to my destination. Having read Sherman’s memories of his days in Monterey, it was easy for me to imagine what it was like for him to travel along the coast in a small sailing vessel to San Francisco or Bolinas or by horseback on the inland route across Salinas valley to get to the neighboring mission towns of San Juan Bautista and further north San Jose and Santa Clara. While driving the coastal route past Año Nuevo and Pigeon Point, I eventually arrived to Half Moon Bay, a small farming, fishing and tourist town. In Sherman’s time the area, was known as Rancho San Benito and it was little more than a collection of farms and ranches on or near the former settlement sites of the Ohlone. The afternoon commute, enabled me to imagine the youthful enthusiasm of Sherman as he first landed on the western coast of the northern continent.

While still en-voyage to his destination, Sherman was delighted with his one-week stay in Rio de Janeiro as the ship Lexington collected supplies and new cargo to begin the last stretch of their voyage to Monterey, California. He enjoyed the cuisine, the topography and learning how water was delivered to the city from the surrounding majestic mountains:

“Mr. Wise enlarged on the fact that Rio was supplied from the “dews of heaven,” for in the dry season the water comes from the mists and fogs which hand around the Corcovado, drips from the leaves of the trees, and is conducted to the Madre fountain by miles of tile gutters.”
W. T. Sherman Memoirs-Volume I

He arrived in Monterey the end of January after close to five months at sea. The last stretch of the voyage which resumed after a brief stay in Brazil and later Chile included passing through the waters of Cape Horn and then northward in the Pacific waters.

The ship resumed its voyage around Cape Horn an island, which according to Sherman resembled an oven hence its name in Spanish Ornos/oven. “Rounding the Horn” was the expression to describe the difficult and often perilous task of navigating the ever swelling seas and converging currents of the Atlantic and the Pacific. It took them another sixty days to navigate the waters and make way for Valparaiso, a coastal town of Chile. While the name denotes “Valley of Paradise”, Sherman thought it unimpressive, “nothing more –he writes– than a few tiled cottages along a beach”. Located south of the equator, the season of spring was just beginning and while Sherman didn’t consider the landscape to be anything worth noting, he enjoyed the pleasant climate and the fresh strawberries then in season.

“All the necessary supplies being renewed in Valparaiso, the voyage was resumed. For nearly forty days we had uninterrupted favorable winds being in the “trades” and having settled down to sailor habits, time passed without notice. ”
W.T. Sherman Memoirs – Volume I

Along the way they encountered other ships and learned of news of their destination of California. Mexico recently ceded their territories and the U.S. navy had already taken possession of the ports. John C. Fremont and his exploration party were scouting the area and General Kearney was en route by overland. The news coupled by avid reading of books stoking everyone’s imagination of what they would find in this new land, made Sherman and his colleagues ever more eager to press on to their military or peace keeping assignments (they didn’t know which) in Monterey.

Sherman reports that they arrived to the coast of California by the end of January. But while both the Spanish and English maps concurred on the currents alongside the coast they did not agree on the longitude. This coupled with a fierce storm, typical in January caused them to overshoot the Monterey port and they weren’t able to make a correction southward for several days. Once the storm subsided Sherman writes;

“Slowly the land came out of the water, the high mountains about Santa Cruz, the low beach of the Salinas, and the strongly-marked ridge terminating in the sea in a point of dark pine trees, marking out the Monterey Bay.”
W. T. Sherman Memoirs-Volume I