Crabb made several mistakes which cost him and his men their lives. He inadvertently made a bad selection in General Cosby, who never recruited the promised 900 men. Overly confident, Crabb felt that Mexicans presented no great threat. He even left his main ammunition supplies in slower wagons miles behind the main party when he marched toward Caborca. Most important of all, he had not counted on the firm resistance of Mexicans who were tired of Americans trying to “free” their lands.
Near Caborca, on April 1, Crabb’s party of some seventy men were attacked by several Mexicans who immediately fled when Crabb opened fire and killed their commander. Failing to follow his initial advantage, Crabb retreated to an adobe house opposite the town’s church where the Mexicans were taking refuge. The Mexicans quickly rallied when reinforcements arrived and soon surrounded the adobe building. A six day seige followed, culminating with Crabb’s surrender on April 6. The Mexicans, who had sustained numerous deaths in the seige, felt they did not owe these surrendering American invaders any prisoners’ rights. After all, had not the Americans entered Mexican land after they had been warned to stay out? Had not their intentions been to steal more Mexican land? Besides, with Crabb and his men dead, Pesqueira would not have to worry about rumors of “deals” made with Americans. The next morning, April 7, Crabb and his fellow survivors were executed. Only sixteen-year-old Charles Edward Evans was spared.
The first published report of the tragic outcome of Crabb’s expedition appeared in the San Diego Herald on May 2, 1857. A week later, on May 9, the Herald confirmed the story, providing its readers with intimate details. Copies of the Herald, carried aboard the steamer Senator, were delivered to Los Angeles and San Francisco in the following week. On May 14, the San Francisco Alta California and the Sacramento Daily Union published in full the Herald‘s May 9 account.
Crabb’s hometown newspaper, the Alta California, never questioned the accuracy of the Herald‘s account and only reflected indignation at the “ignominous death” of the distinguished and honorable gentleman “at the hands of the savage Mexicans.” The Sacramento Daily Union, on the other hand, at first doubted the “correctness” of the report printed by the Herald because of its gruesome details, which was thought merely to reflect the indignation felt by that border community. Two days later, on May 16, the Sacramento paper compared the Herald accounts of May 2 and 9 and found the former to be “more reasonable” in its reporting. In retrospect the Sacramento editor appears to have been correct.