Escondido

Dedication ceremonies will be held at 10 a.m. today for the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park, on California 78 east of Escondido, commemorating the 140th anniversary of the bloodiest skirmish fought in California during the Mexican-American War.

The 50-acre park, which cost $1.2 million to develop, features a 2,700-square-foot visitors’ interpretive center with display rooms containing artifacts of the era, audio-visual displays explaining the events leading up to the Dec. 6, 1846, battle, and an outdoor amphitheater.

The 30-minute skirmish 140 years ago left 18 Americans and one Mexican soldier dead and dealt a serious setback in the U.S. campaign to bring California within its national boundaries. The surviving Americans, led by scout Kit Carson and Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny, fled to a nearby hilltop where they camped for four days--ultimately being forced to kill and eat their mules to survive--before Carson and two other Americans sneaked off the mountain and returned with 200 Marines and sailors to the rescue.

After the dedication of the park, which has been in the planning for 12 years, two local and appropriately dressed historical groups will restage the battle in the valley below the museum.