One of Siskiyou County’s early pioneers was James L. Freaner, who came West after serving as a soldier and reporter during the Mexican-American War of 1846-48.
Simultaneously fighting and recording the events of the war under the pseudonym “Mustang”, Freaner was the first to write the phrase “The halls of Montezuma” while reporting on the Battle of Chapultepec in Mexico City.
After the war, Freaner moved north to the gold fields, where he was involved in developing roads, primarily a route for wagons through the Sacramento Valley north to what was then called the “Shasta Plains.” He also led a group of volunteers who aided Oregonians fighting Rogue Indians in 1851.
In February 1852 Mustang traveled to Sacramento where he promoted wagon-road legislation that passed on April 14. He was riding his mule, Goose Leg, and examining a route for the proposed road when he was killed by members of the Pit River Tribe.
The attack details were not known until three years later when a leader of the Cow Creek Tribe said a party of Pit River Indians attacked Freaner and four companions as they crossed the Pit River.
Source: Maloney, Alice B. "Mustang of the Mountain." The Siskiyou Pioneer and Yearbook 3.No 7 (1964): 25-27. Print.
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