Should We Give California or Texas Back?

On October 20, 1842, Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, commander of the U.S. Pacific Squadron, ordered 150 U.S. troops ashore at Mexican-held Monterey, Calif. They seized a fort without resistance, and the Stars and Stripes went up over the Monterey customhouse.

Jones mistakenly thought that hostilities had commenced between Mexico and the United States. Yes, the commodore had begun the conquest of California . . . by accident.