Darwin French

Doctor Erasmus Darwin French was an American man of adventure. He was born in 1822 in New York State, trained as a doctor and then enlisted in the army, later becoming a silver prospector. He married Miss Cornelia S. Cowles, daughter of Judge Cowles of San Diego in 1858. They had two sons Alfred and Addison.

Early years

Dr French was born in the State of New York on January 20, 1822. He was the son of Harvey and Amanda Hazelton French. His father was a veteran of the War of 1812. He attended local schools before moving to Michigan where he attended Albion Seminary. While in Hillsdale County he studied medicine and practiced as a doctor for some years. In 1843 he went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he enlisted in the US Army at the start of the Mexican American War and entered the service as a private even though he was a practicing physician in civilian life.

Middle years

Dr French’s goal was to make his fortune in the world and he set out to do just that in December 1845. His plans were interrupted by the war. After he was discharged in early 1847, he resumed his quest for adventure, he purchased a large ranch northeast of Los Angeles in the late 1840s, assisted some lost settlers who had mistakenly wandered through California’s Death Valley, and opened a mining town in south central California. The residents of that town named the village after Dr. French—they called it Darwin, California. The town is still in existence as of 2005. Dr French had heard that there was a possible silver lode if the midst of Death Valley. Despite the fact that this inferno had never been explored, Dr French led an expedition into the Valley in 1850 but found no silver. Again in 1860, Darwin led another party into Death Valley in a second attempt to find silver, again without success. Nonetheless, the route he took is laid out for tourists to observe in the Death Valley National Park. Two other landmarks are named after him, Darwin Falls and Darwin Wash.

The journey of General Kearny and his Army of the West (a small band of warriors) across the wilderness of southwestern United States has been the subject of many books and articles. Dr French shared in that journey and demonstrates his ability to capture a vivid account of the battle in which he fought. He also has given us a chance to share in the emotion of the event in his stirring poem about the battle of San Pasqual.

The Battle of San Pasqual, Dec. 6, 1846

Dictation from Poway, California by Dr. E.D. French, July 7, 1887

Poem

The Battle of San Pasgual by Dr. E. D. French, circa 1847.

Twenty new graves must be made today;
Twenty cold bodies to be laid away.
Or bury them down in one single bed;
In one single tomb let them rest with the dead.
At the lone midnight hour they were carried along,
No salute could be fired—no funeral song;
For our battle had been in the land of the foe,
And now in dark silence to the tomb they must go:
We kindred were there to embalm with a tear,
The last dying moments to friendship so dear;
Nor even to weep on that desolate night;
As their loved ones were buried forever from sight.
Long had we marched through the heat and the rain;
Crossed the great rivers that swept through the plain;
Encountered the mountains that stood in our way,
And passed through the forest without fear or delay.
We came to the border—the Mexican land;
To mountains of granite, and rivers of sand,
Marched through deep passes and narrow defiles,
‘Till we came to the valley of sun light and smiles,—
Here our flag we raised high for the breezes were free,
As we came to the city of Santa Fe.
Now echo of cannon pealed loud through the air,,
The American troops in full conquest were there:
And we marched through the streets of that time honored place,
And seized the domain of the Mexican race.
Nor yet was our halting, for onward we pressed;
To reach the Pacific; the shore of the west:—
The great rocky mountains we passed in our glee,
Intent to embrace the white waves of the Sea.
California was reached, and her vales of renown,
Were spread in their beauty like gems in a crown.
The journey to us was like a parade
Or some pleasure seeking, holiday made.
But here just at dawn when all nature was still,
The foe we attacked at the base of the hill,
And e’re in our triumph the conquest could gain;
In the tide of the fight our companions were slain.
So down in the willows beneath the dark cloud,
Which rolled in the sky like a burial shroud;
We laid the brave men that so suddenly died;
E’re they marched o’er the land they had barely espied.
Then peaceful their sleep in the lone grave shall be,
They shall feel no more wounds—no more battle shall see.
No foe with their chargers and lances draw nigh—
No grief e’re their zephyr’ soft sigh.
Farewell; we have left thee; companions in arms;
Our lives may be joyful, or filled with alarms—
Whatever our joy or sorrow may be,
We’ll remember the graves by the one willow tree.

Sources

This account was written in Dr French's hometown of Poway, California, a small town located north of San Diego. In 1887, Dr French was asked to provide his own eye witness account of the final decisive battle for the future state of California in the Mexican–American War of 1846. Dr French was a participant in that battle, the battle of San Pasqual.

This account is a typewritten copy of a microfilm of the original dictation on file in the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley. The original dictation was done by hand but there is no way to determine whether or not it was written by Dr French or written by a clerk to whom he delivered the dictation. The typewritten copy is as near as possible an exact representation of the original manuscript including the original spelling and punctuation.