seizing "two cannons, sixteen muskets, 150 lances, six machetes, and an incalculable number of bows and arrows." The Mexicans had only suffered one death and two wounded in the battle. Second Stage of the Conflict The mission had been retaken, but most of the Native Americans were still living in exile in the hills, supported by alliances made mostly among the Yokuts people through gifting them supplies and goods taken from the missions. Back in control of the developed areas, the Mexicans reacted judicially to the rebellion through military tribunals of some of the captured Native peoples and having a general travel to five missions in the area and give speeches to the Native Americans there, threatening them all with death if the revolt did not end. The first Mexican military expedition against the rebels began on 11 April and marched five days to reach Yokuts territory. While en route, the column killed four Native American people, suffering three wounded soldiers. The expedition ended, turning back to the presidio, when faced with a severe wind and dust storm and the leader, Don Narciso Fabregat, decided that they must turn back. Food became a problem both in the missions and in the refugee-filled hills. The missions had very few Native Americans present to perform the manual labor necessary to produce food, while the Yokuts villages had many more mouths to feed than they were accustomed to supporting. In May 1824, Friar Ripoll of Mission Santa Barbara wrote an appeal to the governor of California that defended and explained the actions of the Chumash with the hope that the governor would pardon the rebels. The angle Ripoll's letter took was that the Native Americans were still minors who needed to be taken care of, in the old Franciscan style of viewing themselves as fathers to the "Indians" who were all children. He ignored completely the Mexican empire's policy of equality for all persons in the state's territory. The explanation was accepted by the governor, who issued a general pardon to all who had participated in the revolt, other than those already convicted at military tribunals, and the pardon was announced on May 16, 1824. Reconciliation Three separate military expeditions were sent to inform the Chumash that they had been pardoned, and they could come back to the missions in peace. The main expedition of 130 troops left Mission Santa Barbara on June