California

The Mexican Army, a force of three hundred men under General Micheltorena (Nestor Paiva), marches north to Monterey.

The object is to stop the territory from joining the Union.

And from there it’s a fight between a half-Irish don of Los Angeles (Jock Mahoney) and his uncle Don Francisco (Michael Pate), who murdered his own Unionist father to become Governor.

The structure is outlined in a cantina proprietress (Faith Domergue) and a ranchera (Susan Seaforth) allied to Don Francisco for love and gain, respectively. The first he offers as a whore to General Micheltorena, the second is loved by Don Mike, as he is called.

“It happened here,” says the opening narration. Rodolfo Hoyos plays Padre Soler of the Mission at whose gates Don Francisco and his poisoned father both come to die, and where Don Mike’s mother was buried without a marker for defiling the Hernandez name by marrying an Irish sea captain.

It resembles Christy Cabanne’s Martyrs of the Alamo somewhat, also Duccio Tessari’s Zorro without the Scarlet Pimpernel touches.

Micheltorena and his lowlifes wreak historical destruction on their march, uselessly, he is called back to Mexico City by Santa Anna.