23/02/2021
February 22, 1845
On this day in 1845, after Manuel Micheltorena was ousted as governor during the bloodless Battle of Providencia (one horse was killed and one mule was injured though) at Cahuenga Pass, Pío de Jesús Pico became the 26th Governor of Alta California and the last governor of California under Mexican rule.
Born May 5, 1801, Pío Pico was of mixed Spanish, African, and Native American descent. He grew up in San Diego and in 1826 Pico became a member of the Alta California territorial assembly. After Governor Manuel Victoria was ousted in 1832, Pico served as an interim governor for 20 days. Pío Pico was active in Alta California politics throughout the 1830s and 1840s. The ousting of Micheltorena in February 1845 was a direct response of Pico and Jose Castro leading a rebellion to seek more control of Alta California by local officials instead of those sent from Mexico City like Micheltorena. During Pico’s time as the last governor, he did struggle for control of California with Castro.
When U.S. troops occupied Los Angeles and San Diego during the Mexican-American War in 1846, Pico fled to Mexico and advocated for the more troops to fight in California. After the war, Pico, reluctantly, accepted the transfer of authority to United States rule and moved back to his home in Los Angeles. He was elected in 1853 to the Los Angeles Common Council but never assumed office. He lived at his Rancho de Bartolo until 1891 when he moved to live with his daughter. Pico passed away at the age of 93 in September 1894. Pío Pico State Historic Park, part of his former Rancho de Bartolo, in Whittier, CA interprets the life of Pío Pico and was the final home of the former governor.
Photograph of Pío Pico ca. 1880 from the California Historical Society Collection, courtesy of the University of Southern California Library.
