Santa Clara, Battle of, Calif., 1847

The Battle of Santa Clara, nicknamed the "Battle of the Mustard Stalks", was a skirmish during the Mexican–American War, fought on January 2, 1847, 2+1⁄2 miles west of Mission Santa Clara de Asís in California. In late December, the former Californio military commander of Yerba Buena and a rancher from the San Mateo peninsula, Francisco Sanchez, imprisoned the American Mayor of Yerba Buena, Washington Bartlett, and five of his men, who were all engaged in a foraging raid on the peninsula. After receiving the news of the abduction on December 29, Commodore Montgomery in San Francisco ordered Marine Captain Ward Marston to rescue Bartlett and his men. It was the only engagement of its type in Northern California during the war.