General Andrés Pico, commander of Mexican forces that were outnumbered and militarily overpowered, agreed to put down arms and signed a truce with Lt. Col. John C. Frémont, a commander of American land forces. The Articles of Capitulation guaranteed Californios full rights under the U.S. Constitution. A year later, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, México gave up California, Arizona, New Mexico, and other territory that became the American Southwest. Andrés Pico, a wealthy landowner and patriot, had led Mexican troops who were largely volunteers from the ranchos, and he later served in the new state government as a senator from 1860 to 1861. John Frémont, who first led exploratory expeditions to the West, went on to a distinguished career after the war as a U.S. senator from California and as a candidate for president of the U.S. in 1856. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 greatly expanded U.S. boundaries at a cost of 15 million dollars.
