USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 26
USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 26
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There were left at San Diego, Vila with a mate and five sailors on the San Carlos, Sergeant Ortega and eight soldiers de cuera as a guard, Parron and Gomez as regular ministers in charge of the mission, and ten Lower Californians as laborers. The San Carlos had orders to receive a crew from the San José when that most uncertain craft should arrive, and then proceed to Monterey. Simultaneously with the departure of the northern expedition two natives had been sent south with letters which reached Velicatá in nine days, and Loreto late in May. All went quietly with the little company left to struggle spiritually with the southern gentilidad. Let it be hoped that before the end of 1770 the missionaries succeeded in making a few converts, as they probably did, but there is no positive record of a single baptism. Rivera with his
168
OCCUPATION OF MONTEREY.
nineteen or twenty soldiers, over eighty mules laden with supplies, and one hundred and sixty-four head of cattle, having left Velicatá in May,3 arrived in July. About the same time messengers came down by land announcing the successful occupation of Monterey, and the intention of Portolá to come down by sea and take the San Carlos for San Blas. Vila, accordingly, made ready for departure, obtaining a soldier and two mule- teers to reënforce his crew; but as the San Antonio did not appear, and his own vessel was being injured by her long stay, in August the worthy captain shook out his idle sails and made for San Blas. He died a little later, and his pioneer paquebot had to return to California under a new commander.4
Let us turn again toward the north with the expe- ditions sent out by land and sea to renew the search for Monterey. The San Antonio sailed from San Diego April 16th, having on board besides Perez and crew- Miguel del Pino being second officer- Junípero Serra, Miguel Costansó, Pedro Prat,5 and a cargo of stores for a new mission. Next day Portolá set out by land, his company consisting of Fages with twelve Cata- lan volunteers and seven soldados de cuera, Padre Crespí, two muleteers, and five natives. They followed the same route as before, recovered in the Sierra de Santa Lucía an Indian who had deserted on the former trip, and finally encamped on the 24th of May near the spot where they had left the second cross the winter before on the bay shore. They found the cross still standing, but curiously surrounded and adorned with arrows, sticks, feathers, fish, meat, and clams evidently deposited there by the savages as offerings to the strangers' fetich. And later when the natives
April 14th, according to Monterey, Estracto de Noticias.
4 On San Diego events of 1770 see Palou, Not., i. 423-6, 432-9, 460-1; Id., Vida, 88-104.
5 By computation there should also have been on board 2 mechanics, 5 servants, 3 muleteers, and 6 Lower Californians; but it is doubtful if these figures are correct, especially in the items of Indians and muleteers, not a very useful class of persons on board a ship.
169
OFFERINGS TO THE CROSS.
had learned to make themselves understood, to speak as best should please their teachers, some strange tales they told, how the cross had been illuminated at night and had grown in stature till it seemed to reach the heavens, moving the gentiles to propitiate by their offerings this Christian symbol that it might do them no harm. As Portolá, Crespí, and Fages walked along the beach that afternoon returning from a visit to the
cross, they looked out over the placid bay, ruffled only by the movements of seals and whales, and they said, all being of one accord, "This is the port of Monterey which we seek, just as Vizcaino and Cabrera Bueno describe it"-and so it was, the only wonder being that they had not known it before. Soon for lack of fresh water camp was moved across to Carmelo Bay.
A week later, on the last day of May, the San Antonio hove in sight off Point Pinos; fires were lighted on shore for her guidance; and she entered the harbor by Cabrera's sailing directions. She had at first been driven south to latitude 30°, and then north to the Ensenada de los Farallones, where she might have explored the port of San Francisco and the newly discovered inland bay had not Perez' orders required him to steer direct for Monterey. June 1st the governor, friar, and lieutenant crossed over from Carmelo to welcome the new arrival, and the order was given to transfer the camp back to the port of Monterey, about whose identity there was no longer any doubt; for close search along the shore revealed the little ravine with its pools of fresh water, the trees, and even the wide-spreading oak whose branches touched the water at high tide and under which mass had been said by Ascension in 1602,6 all as in olden time except the crowds of friendly natives.
6 ' Hizose la Iglesia á la sombra de una grande Encina, que con algunas de sus ramas llegaba á la Mar, y cerca de ella, en una Barranquilla, á veinte pas- sos, havia unos pozos en que havia agua muy buena.' Venegas, Not. Cal., iii. 101-2, quoted from Torquemada. According to Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., i. 54, the tree under which Ascension said mass in 1602, and Serra in 1770. is still standing, being that under which a new cross was set up on the 100th anniversary June 3, 1870; but as the latter tree is at some distance from the
170
OCCUPATION OF MONTEREY.
On the 3d of June all were assembled on the beach, where an enramada, or shelter of branches, had been erected and a cross made ready near the old oak. Water was blessed, the bells were hung, and the fiesta began by loud and oft-repeated peals. Then Father Junípero donned his alb and stole, and all on bended knee chanted the venite creator spiritus, after which the cross was planted and blessed, and the good friar sprinkled beach and fields with holy water, thus " put- ting to rout all infernal foes." An image of the holy virgin presented by Archbishop Lorenzana of Mexico having been set up on the altar, mass was said by Serra amidst the thunder of cannon and the crack of musketry, followed by a salve to the image and a te deum laudamus. The church ceremonies ended, Portolá proceeded to take formal possession in the name of Carlos III. by hoisting and saluting the royal flag of Spain, and going through the usual forms of pulling grass, throwing stones, and recording all in the prescribed acta. Finally the officers and friars ate together under the shade of trees near the shore, while the soldiers and others enjoyed their feast a little apart.
Thus were formally founded on June 3, 1770, the mission and presidio of San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey.7 The mission was founded in the name of
tide-water the identity may be questioned. David Spence, an old and well known citizen of Monterey, said that Junipero's tree was shown him in 1824 by Mariano Estrada, and that it fell in 1837 or 1838, the water having washed away the earth from its roots. Spence thought there was no doubt of its identity. Taylor's Discov. and Founders, ii., No. 24, 5.
7 St Charles Borromeo was born at Arona near Milan, Italy, in 1538. He was son of the Count of Arona, nephew of Pope Pius IV., archbishop of Milan, and cardinal. Dying in 1584, he was canonized in 1610. A word is necessary to remove certain difficulties into which modern writers and modern usage have fallen respecting the name of this mission. This name was always San Carlos; San Carlos de Monterey was simply San Carlos at Mon- terey, that port having been named long before. When the mission was moved to Carmelo bay and river it was naturally spoken of as San Carlos del C'armelo, or San Carlos at Carmelo, a port also named long before. But Mon- terey being a prominent place the mission continued to be often called San Carlos at Monterey, or San Carlos at Carmelo near Monterey, as the Spanish preposition de may best be translated. But again the full name of the bay and river Carmelo was Nuestra Señora del Monte Carmelo, or Nra. Sra. del Cármen, and hence a new source of confusion arose, all of which, however,
171
MISSION OF SAN CARLOS.
the college of San Fernando; Saint Josepli was named as patron; and Crespí was appointed as associate min- ister with Serra. A few humble huts were at once erected on a site surveyed by Costansó, a gunshot from the beach and three times as far from the port, on an inlet which communicated with the bay at high water. These buildings constituted both presidio and mission, as at San Diego, being enclosed by a palisade. One of the huts was completed and blessed as a tem- porary church on the 14th of June, when a grand pro- cession took place; bells were rung, and guns were fired; but thus far no natives appeared, being fright- ened it is said by the noise of cannon and musketry.
A soldier and a young sailor volunteered to carry despatches with news of success to San Diego and to the peninsula. They started June 14th, met Rivera just below San Diego, were reënforced by five of his men, and finally carried their glad tidings to Gov- ernor Armona, who had just succeeded Portolá, and to Padre Palou at Todos Santos, on the 2d of August. Salutes and thanksgiving masses celebrated the occa- sion at Loreto, Todos Santos, and Santa Ana, while Armona despatched a vessel to carry the news to the main.
In accordance with previous orders from Galvez, Portolá, as soon as a beginning was fairly made at Monterey, turned the government of the new estab- lishments over to Fages as military commandant, and sailed away in the San Antonio on the 9th of July. He took with him the engineer Costansó; and Perez
may be removed by bearing in mind that the mission was always San Carlos, and that other words were used solely to express its locality. Taylor, in C'al. Farmer, April 20, 1860, gives the following native names of localities at Mon- terey; site of modern town Achiesta or Achasta; beach, Sukilta; Fort hill, Hunnukul; site of post-office, Shirista. About the date of foundation on June 3d, there is no possible error. Palou, Serra, the mission books of San Carlos, and scores of official reports in later years confirm this. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., i. 66-8, and Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., i. 23-4, are very positive that the mission was not founded till later; but these writers confound the found- ing with the subsequent transfer. See S. Carlos, Lib. Mision, MS., Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 109-10. Arch. Arzobispado, MS., v. pt. ii. 33.
172
OCCUPATION OF MONTEREY.
intended to touch at San Diego to divide his crew with the San Carlos if the San José had not yet ap- peared, but, as we have seen, was not able to do so, and arrived at San Blas the 1st of August. Costansó and Perez went to Mexico as bearers of the news, arriving on the 10th, at which date the name of the former disappears from the annals of California for twenty years or more, at the end of which time we shall find him giving some sensible advice on Califor- nian affairs; while of Portolá nothing is known after his landing at San Blas, except that he was governor of Puebla in 1779. He was first in the list of Cali- fornia rulers. His term of office may be regarded as having extended from April 1769 to July 9, 1770, and he is spoken of in the record both as governor and comandante; but, though there is some confusion respecting his exact title, it appears that that of military commandant is used with more propriety than the other.8
Leaving the four friars under the protection of Fages and his nineteen men in the north and of Rivera with his twenty-two men in the south,9 busy in ear-
$ Portolá came to Lower California in 1768 as governor, the first the penin- sula had ever had; but when he volunteered to take command in person of the northern expedition, it seems that Armona was appointed to succeed him in the governorship. I do not know the exact date of Armona's appointment, but he arrived at Loreto in June 1769, and went back to the mainland two weeks later without having taken possession of his office. In the mean time Gonzalez ruled as a kind of lieutenant-governor or military commandant until relieved in October 1769 by Toledo, who governed in the same capacity until Armona, who had failed to get his resignation accepted, returned in June 1770 to rule until November, Moreno ruling, in much the same capacity apparently as Gonzalez and Toledo, until the arrival of Gov. Barri in March 1771. Now while Gonzalez, Toledo, and Moreno cannot be properly credited with any authority in Upper California, their terms as interinos render it difficult to define those of the proprietary governors. Thus, though Portolá was in a sense governor of the Californias down to June 1770, since no regu- lar successor had taken possession of the office, I have named him in my list of rulers of Alta California as commandant from the first settlement down to July 9, 1770. In Monterey, Estracto de Noticias, he is called comandante en gefe.
9 Rivera and his men were expected to march to Monterey on their return from the peninsula, but for some unexplained reason, possibly dissatisfaction at Fages' appointment to the chief command, Rivera remained at San Diego. According to Monterey, Estracto de Noticias, Fages had a force of over 30 inen besides Rivera's force, which is an error.
173
THE NEWS IN MEXICO.
nest if not very successful efforts to attract and convert the gentiles of Monterey and San Diego, let us glance briefly at what was being done in Mexico to advance Spanish interests in the far north. We have seen that the news of success at Monterey had arrived by land at Loreto and by sea at San Blas early in August. Therefore, the despatches sent by Portolá from San Blas reached Mexico in advance of the others on the 10th. The news was received with great manifesta- tions of joy; the cathedral bells rang out their glad peals, those of the churches responding. A solemn thanksgiving mass was said at which all government dignitaries were present; and there followed a grand reception at which Galvez and Croix received con- gratulations in the royal name for this last extension of the Spanish domain. Immediate and liberal pro- vision was made for the new establishments. So favorable were the reports on both country and inhab- itants that it was resolved at once to forward all needed aid and to found five new missions above San Diego. The guardian of San Fernando was asked to furnish ten friars for these missions, besides twenty more for old and new missions in the peninsula. For- tunately a large number of Franciscans had lately arrived from Spain, and after some deliberation and discussion resulting in a determination to secularize the Sierra Gorda missions, the required missionaries were furnished.10
These arrangements were all made within six days after the news arrived, and under the date of August 16th the viceroy caused to be printed in the govern- ment printing-office for general circulation a résumé in pamphlet form of all that had been accomplished by the northern expeditions, the present condition of the new presidios and missions, and of what had
10 The 10 were Antonio Paterna, president en route, Antonio Cruzado, Buenaventura Sitjar, Domingo Juncosa, Francisco Dumetz, José Caballer, Angel Somera, Luis Jaume, Miguel Pieras, and Pedro Benito Cambon. They were to receive each a stipend of $275 a year, and $400 travelling expenses. Each new mission received $1,000 and the necessary vestments, including a specially fine ornamento, or sct of vestments, for Monterey.
174
OCCUPATION OF MONTEREY.
been decided upon respecting aid for further exten- sion.11 The San Antonio was to sail from San Blas in October with the ten friars and a full cargo of supplies. The priests set out from the college in that month, but were obliged to wait at Tepic until January 20, 1771, before the vessel could be made ready for sea.12 The viceroy in his letter to Fages states that Rivera is ordered to put his men at the commandant's disposal, and the captain of the company at Guaymas has orders to send twelve men to supply the places of those who had died on the voyage.13 In 1771 the only thing to be noticed is the memorial presented in December to the viceroy by the guardian of San Fernando, at the suggestion of Palou. Twelve of the eighteen articles of this document were suggestions for the welfare of the new establishments,14 some of them founded on minor dis- agreements which already began to manifest them- selves between the military and missionary authorities.
At Monterey after Portolá's departure little was accomplished during the year 1770. For want of
11 Monterey, Estracto de Noticias del Puerto de Monterey, de la Mision, y Presido que se han establecido en él con la denominacion de San Carlos, y del sucesso de las dos Expediciones de Mar, y Tierra que á este fin se despacharon en el año proximo anterior de 1769. Mexico 16 de Agosto de 1770. Con licencia y orden del Exmo Señor Virrey. En la Imprenta del Superior Govi- erno. Fol., 3 unnumbered leaves. This rare tract is in my collection, and it is reprinted also in Palou's Noticias. When this notice was printed the despatches from Loreto had not yet arrived.
12 Palou, Vida, 113-16, says she sailed Jan. 2d.
13 Letter dated Nov. 12th, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 69-71.
14 Ist. That the commandants at San Diego and Monterey he made to obey more closely the instructions of Galvez. (There had been some disagreement with the friars in connection with the desertion of an arriero.) 2d. That somc families of Christian natives be sent up from Baja California to serve as laborers. 3d. That a guard or presidio be established at San Buenaventura. 4th. That these natives be kindly treated. 5th. That the train of mules be increased for service from Sonora and the peninsula. 6th. That presidios and missions be supplied for 18 months by the service of two snows. 7th. That San Francisco be explored, Monterey being as some say no harbor. 9th. That mission temporalities should be wholly under control of the friars, with the power of removing servants and officials. 14th. Vessels for Monterey should sail in February or April. 15th. A proper limosna, or allowance, should be granted to friars going or coming. 16th. San Diego, Monterey, and San Buenaventura should have the $1,000 allowed to new missions. 18th. Sol- diers should be supplied with rations so as to be able to do escort duty. Palou, Not., i. 120-3.
175
CONVERSIONS AT SAN CÁRLOS.
priests and of soldiers15 nothing was done towards the founding of San Buenaventura, although the necessary supplies were lying in readiness at San Cárlos. Meanwhile Serra and Crespí worked among the Eslenes, who under the influence of gifts and kindness were fast losing their timidity. A Baja Californian neophyte who had learned the native dialect rendered great assistance; preaching soon began; and on December 26th the first baptism was administered.16
The San Antonio anchored at Monterey May 21, 1771, having on board the ten priests already named, except that Gomez from San Diego was in place. of Dumetz, with all the necessary appurtenances for the establishing of five new missions. The father presi- dent's heart was filled with joy, and he was enabled to celebrate the festival of corpus Christi on the 30th with a community of twelve friars. The five new missions proposed, in addition to San Buenaventura, were San Gabriel, San Luis Obispo, San Antonio,
15 Palou, Vida, 104-6, says it was for want of soldiers, because Rivera did not come up as expected; but he says nothing of the fact that there were no padres available.
16 Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., i. 22, mentions some writings of the soldier J. B. Valdés to the effect that the Baja Californians conversed readily with the Eslenes, and he is disposed to believe after mnuch inquiry that the language was to some extent understood. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., i. 55-6, names the interpreter Maximiano, and states that the Eslen chief lived near the spring called Agua Zarca on what was later the rancho of Guadalupe Avila. Un- fortunately the first book of baptisms for San Carlos has been lost, and the exact number of converts for the early years is not known. The first burial was on the day of founding June 3d, when Alejo Niño one of the San Antonio's crew was buried at the foot of the cross. According to Palou, Not., i. 451, he was a calker; the mission record makes him a cadete. The first interment in the cemetery was that of Ignacio Ramirez, a mulatto slave from the San Antonio, who had money ready to purchase his freedom. There were four more deaths during the year, three of sailors and one of a Baja Californian. The first marriage did not take place till Nov. 16, 1772. San Carlos, Lib. de Mision, MS., 84; Taylor's Odds and Ends, 4. A writer in the Revista Científica, i. 328, tells us that the mission of Carmen or Monte Carmelo was founded June 3d on the gulf of Carmelo, but never progressed much. A newspaper item extensively circulated speaks of an Indian woman still living in 1869 who was the mother of two children when the mission church was built. Shea, Cath. Miss., 94, calls the mission Monte Carmel. Tuthill, Hist. Cal., 80-1, says that Portolá retired by water and Rivera by land, leaving Junipero with 5 friars and Fages with 30 soldiers.
176
OCCUPATION OF MONTEREY.
Santa Clara, and San Francisco. There were sent only missionaries sufficient for five of the six, and as Parron and Gomez, unfitted for duty by the scurvy, had to be granted leave of absence, still another mis- sion must wait, San Francisco and Santa Clara being selected for that purpose. The president immediately announced the distribution of priests to their respec- tive missions,17 and on the 7th of June the six intended for the south sailed in the San Antonio for San Diego, Fages accompanying them.
Only one of the northern missions could be founded until Fages should bring or send north some of Rive- ra's soldiers, but Serra set out early in July with ar escort of eight soldiers, three sailors, and a few Indian workmen for the Hoya de la Sierra de Santa Lucía, named by the first land expedition, where he proposed to establish the first mission under Pieras and Sitjar who accompanied him. His route was probably up the Salinas River and the Arroyo Seco, and the site selected was an oak-studded glen named Cañada de los Robles18 on a fine stream. Here the bells were hung on a tree and loudly tolled, while Fray Junípero shouted like a madman: "Come gentiles, come to the holy church, come and receive the faith of Jesus Christ!" until Father Pieras reminded the enthusiast that there was not a gentile within hearing and that it would be well to stop the noise and go to work 19 Then a cross was erected, the president said mass under a shelter of branches, and thus was founded on July 14, 1771, the mission of San Antonio de Pádua.20
17 The distribution was as follows: San Diego, Luis Jaume and Francisco Dumetz; San Buenaventura, Antonio Paterna and Antonio Cruzado; San Luis Obispo, Domingo Juncosa and José Cavaller; San Gabriel, Angel Somera and Pedro Benito Cambon; San Antonio, Miguel Pieras and Buenaventura Sitjar; San Carlos, Junipero Serra and Juan Crespí.
18 The native name of the site was Texhaya according to Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxxxi. 49, or Sextapay according to Taylor, note on the fly- leaf of Cuesta, Vocabulario, MS.
19 Palou, Vida, 122.
20 S. Antonio, Lib. de Mision. MS., 1; Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 112-15; Palou, Not., ii. 24-5, tells us of an old woman who applied for baptism, and who when a girl had heard her father speak of a padre dressed like these, who came ta
177
FOUNDING OF SAN ANTONIO.
Only one native witnessed the ceremonies, but he soon brought in his companions in large numbers, who brought pine-nuts and seeds, all they had to give, and aided in the work of building a church, barracks, and house for the missionaries, all of which were on a humble scale and protected as usual by a palisade. The natives seemed more tractable than at either San Diego or Monterey, and the ministers had hopes of a great spiritual conquest, the first baptism taking place the 14th of August.21 Leaving the harvest to the reapers and their guard of six soldiers, I return with Serra to Monterey at the end of July.
Soon after the establishing of San Carlos Padre Junípero had determined to transfer the mission to Carmelo Valley. His avowed reason was lack of water and fertile soil at Monterey; but it is likely that he also desired to remove his little band of neo- phytes, and the larger flock he hoped to gather, from immediate contact with the presidio soldiers, always regarded by missionaries with more or less dread as necessary evils tending to corrupt native innocence. The necessary permission for the transfer came up by the San Antonio on her third trip,22 and two days after her departure, before going to found San Antonio, the president crossed over to select the new site. There he left three sailors and four Indians from the peninsula at work cutting timber, and making prepa- rations under the watchful eyes of five soldiers who were charitably supposed to lend occasional assist-
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