Talk:Battle of Santa Clara (1847)

James Reed
I've replaced much of this...
 * In an odd coincidence, James Reed, acting lieutenant of the San Jose volunteer contingent, had just learned that the rest of his family was trapped in the high Sierras, members of the ill-fated Donner Party, more accurately known as the Donner-Reed emigrant train. He had been separated from the train in Nevada and arrived in California by another route. He came to the bay region to muster rescuers and materiel to attempt an initial rescue of those who buried in the snow near Truckee Lake (now Donner Lake). Because of the war with Mexico, however, rescuers were difficult to find, and so after making his plea in the south part of the bay, he headed north to Yerba Buena, where he found citizens more willing to respond. On February 27, 1848, he was reunited with his wife in the California foothills. Two days later, he arrived at Truckee Lake. In Santa Clara, Armistice Oak is located less than a mile south of Reed Avenue.

...with a wikilink to James F. Reed. It's not clear that "Reed Street" is named after Reed specifically, as opposed to the family. In the former case, it might honour his War service, but since other Donner Party families name streets in the area, it could be unrelated to the battle.

"Coincidence" is WP:EDITORIAL, even without "odd". Personally, I didn't think "coincidence" is the right word for a person happening to be connected to two well-known events, each involving a large number of people (unless the events are in some way similar, e.g. Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Robert Todd Lincoln). Those who take another view can mentally note the putative coincidence without reading the word in the text. jnestorius(talk) 18:11, 11 June 2010 (UTC)