 USMC Captain Archibald H. Gillespie, (Frémont's second in command of the California Battalion), with an inadequate force of 40 to 50 men, were left to occupy and keep order in the largest town (about 3,500) in Alta California—Los Angeles.The Californio government officials had already fled Alta California.In September 1846 the Californios José María Flores, José Antonio Carrillo and Andrés Pico, organized and led a campaign of resistance against the American incursion into Los Angeles of the prior month.