History of California, Volume III, Part 13

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 824

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39 Arch. Arzob., MS., v. pt i. 35; Dept. Rec., MS., v. 54; Ley. Rec., MS., i. 79-80.

4º Oet. 7th, Echeandia's bando in Olvera, Doc., MS., 1. Names of mission ranchos in the south. Proc. St. Pap., Presid., MS., i. 97-S. Bandini, in a

105

THE GOVERNOR'S ACTS.

The order brought out, however, from the padres of San Juan Capistrano, a defence of the Indian title to the lands in California running back to the time when, according to Ezra the prophet, the Jews wan- dered across Bering Strait to people America.41

In a communication of 1833 Echeandía, after al- luding to his instructions, by which, as we have seen, much was left to his own judgment, explained his acts in these years as follows: "Intrusted with the task of arranging the system of both Californias, supplying as best I could in indispensable cases the lack of ad- ministration of justice, busied in regulating the treas- ury branches since the comisario abused his trust, lacking the necessary supplies for the troops, at the end of my resources for other expenses, struggling to put in good order the necessarily tolerated traffic with foreign vessels, anxious to establish regular and secure communication with Sonora via the Colorado, combat- ing the general addiction to the Spanish government and the despotic system, encountering the abuses in- troduced in all branches by the revolution and enor- mously propagated by the total neglect of the viceregal government during the war of independence-occupied, I say, with so many cares, without aid in the civil or military administration, and finally having no Mexican priests to take the place of the malecontent Spaniards in divine worship, if they should abandon it as hap- pened at Santa Bárbara and San Buenaventura, or should be expelled as insufferable royalists, as some of them are, and as was he of San Luis Obispo, who favored the Solis revolt for Spain-which, though I had the good fortune to suppress it, interfered with the progress of good government-some of the mis- sionaries mismanaging the property of their subjects, and others refusing to remain under the federal gov-

letter to Barron, 1828, says the missions have seized upon nearly all the land in the territory, so as to exclude private persons. Bandini, Doc., MS., S.

" Zalvidea and Barona, Peticion al Geje Politico a favor de los Indios, 1727, MS.

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ECHEANDÍA AND THE PADRES.

ernment if the missions were reformed; compromised thus in different ways, seeing that in the missions there remained almost illusory my repeated orders and pro- visions that the converts should be relieved from the cruel and infamous punishments which were arbi- trarily applied to them, and enjoy a little their per- sonal liberty and the fruit of their toil, and receive in their schools the elements of a Christian and civil ed- ucation; when by my own observations and intercourse with missionaries and neophytes-in spite of the flat- teries and obstacles urged that I might not remove the yoke from those miserable conquistados-I had formed a definite conception of my duty, I completed a plan reglamentario to take from the missionaries the temporal administration, which I sent to the govern- ment secretly, if I remember aright, in 1829, explain- ing the necessity of proper persons to make surveys, and to establish in due form the new settlements." 42

At the session of July 20, 1830, Echeandía brought his secularization plan before the diputacion, by which body, after much discussion and some slight modifica- tions, it was approved in the sessions from July 29th to August 3d. This plan provided for the gradual transformation of the missions into pueblos, begin- ning with those nearest the presidios and pueblos, of which one or two were to be secularized within a year, and the rest as rapidly as experience might show to be practicable. Each neophyte was to have a share of the mission lands and other property. The friars might remain as curates, or establish a new line of missions on the gentile frontier as they should choose. The details of the twenty-one articles constituting the document, chiefly devoted to the distribution of prop- erty and the local management of the new towns, it seems best to notice, so far as any notice may be re- quired, in a subsequent chapter, in connection with

42 March 19, 1833, E. to Figueroa in St. Pap., Miss. and Col., MS., ii. 42-4. Strange as it may seem, E. makes a full stop in his sentence as above. HIe then goes on to explain his policy in 1831, of which I shall speak later.

107

PLAN APPROVED BY THE DIPUTACION.

the decree by which it was attempted to carry the plan into effect.43 It was not intended to enforce this measure without the approval of the supreme govern- ment, to which the plan was forwarded the 7th of September.44 There were also sent at the same time six supplementary articles, approved by the diputacion August 13th, providing for the establishment of two Franciscan convents at Santa Clara and San Gabriel, for which twenty or more friars were to be sent from Mexico at the expense of the pious fund, and to which the Spanish padres allowed to remain might also at- tach themselves. These convents were intended to supply in the future missionaries, curates, and chap- lains. 45

Thus it is seen that the governor in his policy toward the padres, down to the end of 1830, was by no means arbitrary, unjust, or even hasty;46 neither was there so bitter a controversy between him and the friars as would be inferred from the general tone of what has been written on the subject.47 In these last years of the decade we have from the padres no spe-

43 Echeandia, Plan para convertir en pueblos las misiones de la Alta California, 1829-30, MS. Vallejo, Ilist. Cal., MS., ii. 105-9, and Alvarado, Ilist. C'al., MS., ii. 159-60, mention the action of the diputacion, and give the substance of an introductory message or argument presented by Echeandia on the ad- vantages of secularization.

#4 Sept. 7, 1830, E. to min. of rel. Dept. Rec., MS., viii. 79.

45 Leg. Rec., MS., i. 163-6; Guerra, Doc., MS., i. 13-17; Dept. Rec., MIS., viii. 79.

46 Duhaut-Cilly, Viaggio, i. 283-5, notes that E. used gentle measures, as he was obliged to do, while the padres were less careful about the prosperity of the missions than they had formerly been. Shea, Catholic Missions, 109-12, represents E.'s rule as a succession of arbitrary and oppressive acts against the friars. Fernandez, Cosas de Cal., MS., 45, says that E. had few seruples and aimed only to enrich himself by despoiling the missions. Spence, according to Taylor's Discov. and Founders, ii. 24, says that E. had taken some rash steps toward the padres, and they retaliated by subjecting him to every in- convenience. Dr Marsh, Letter to Com. Jones, MS., 2, tells us that E. 're- leased some of the Indians from the missions that his own particular friends might appropriate their services to their own use.'

17 Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 53-4, and Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 89 90, tell us that about 1825 the padres not only refused to furnish any more supplies for the troops, but had a large part of the mission cattle slaughtered for their hides and tallow, with a view to run away with as much as possible of the mission wealth. I think, however, that these writers, like others, exaggerate the quarrel, and that there was no such slaughter of cattle until several years later.

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ECHEANDÍA AND THE PADRES.

cial protest against the plan of secularization that was being prepared. This was partly because they be- lieved that protests and arguments addressed to the territorial authorities would be without effect, partly because they still thought that secularization could not be effected for want of curates; but largely also, I suppose, because they had hopes of benefits to be de- rived from the struggle going on in Mexico. Busta- mante's revolution against Guerrero was understood to be in the interest of a more conservative church and mission policy. There is no proof that the Cal- ifornia padres were at the beginning in direct under- standing with the promoters of the movement, but such is not unlikely to have been the case ;43 and there certainly was such an understanding directly after Bustamante's accession. At any rate, their hopes of aid from the new executive proved to be well founded, as we shall see. Meanwhile the national authorities were even more dilatory and inactive than those of the territory. Nothing whatever was done in the mat- ter. The famous junta de fomento seems to have made some kind of a report on secularization before it ceased to exist. Congress took it up in 1830, but decided to leave the missions alone at least until the

48 In the famous Fitch trial, Fitch, Causa Criminal, MS., etc., 339-40, President Sanchez, urged to arrest Echeandía for trial before an ecclesiastical court, declined to do so on account of the tumult it would cause, the prospect of an carly change of governors, and the recommendations of Bustamante in his 'most estecmed private letter of April 11th,' which is quoted as follows: 'Your zeal should not rest a moment in a matter of so great interest; you will understand at once the rectitude of my intentions. Therefore I promise my- self that you will not only aid by your influence and by every means in your power the success of my plans, but also take the greatest pains to reestablish public tranquillity, which to my great sorrow is disturbed, and to bring about perfect peace and harmony among the people. This is my business, which I recommend very particularly to the prudence of your paternity, on whose aid I count for the accomplishment of my desires.' The president also uses, re- specting the new governor, the following play upon words: 'Habiendo logrado ya esta desgraciada provincia su Victoria, seguramente se debe esperar que esta jurisdiccion eclesiástica usurpada, y oprimida, tambien conseguirá su victoria.' Vallejo, Ilist. Cal., MS., ii. 109-10, says that the padres learned of Bustamante's pronunciamiento just after the action of the diputacion, and that they immediately signed a petition to the govt against Echeandía, though pretending to the latter at the same time to be anxious to give up tho mission temporalities.

109

INDIAN AFFAIRS.

arrival of the deputy from California; and finally the minister of relations approved Echeandia's plan and recommended it with the report of the junta to con- gress at the beginning of 1831.49

There are a few items of Indian affairs in the annals of these years that may as well be recorded here as elsewhere, none of them requiring more than a brief notice. In April 1826 Alférez Ibarra had apparently two fights at or near Santa Isabel, in the San Diego district, perhaps with Indians who came from the Colorado region. In one case eighteen, and in the other twenty, pairs of ears taken from the slain-a new kind of trophy for California warfare- were sent to the comandante general. Three soldiers of the Mazatlan squadron had been murdered just before, which deed was probably the provocation for the slaughter, but the records are unsatisfactory.50

Another event of the same year was an expedition under Alférez Sanchez, in November, against the Co- semenes, or Cosumnes, across the San Joaquin Valley. These Indians had either attacked or been attacked by a party of neophytes from Mission San José, who were making a holiday trip with their alcalde, and twenty or thirty of whom were killed, or at least never returned. Sanchez was absent a week, and though he had to retreat and leave the gentiles mas- ters of the field, he had destroyed a rancheria, killed about forty Indians, and brought in as many captives.51

49 Mexico, Mem. Relaciones, 1831, p. 33. Carlos Carrillo, writing from Tepie, April 2, 183], referred to information obtained from Navarro, the member from Lower California, that most of the congressmen had opposed any change in the status of the missions. Guerra, Doc., MS., iv. 200. Va- llejo, Ilist. Cal., MS., ii. 259, says a report was presented to congress on April 6, 1825, by J. J. Espinosa de los Rios, C. M. Bustamante, P. V. Sola, Tomás Suría, Tomás Salgado, Mariano Dominguez, J. M. Almanza, Manuel Gonza- lez de Ibarra, J. J. Ormachca, and F. de P. Tamariz (the report of the junta alluded to by the minister?), in favor of including the mission lands in the colonization law of 1824. Jan. 15, 1831, Alaman to governor. The plan of founding two convents has been referred to the minister of justice. Sup. Gort St. Pap., MS., vii. 1.

bu Dept. St. Pap. MS., i. 136-7; Id. Ben., Pref. y Juzg., iii. 81-3; S. Diego, Lib. Mision, MS., 96.

51 Sanchez, Journal of the enterprise against the Coscmenes, 1820. 'Written

110

ECHEANDÍA AND THE PADRES.

In 1829 took place the somewhat famous campaigns against the native chieftain Estanislao, who has given his name to the Stanislaus river and county. Estan- islao was a neophyte of more than ordinary ability, educated at Mission San José, of which establishment he was at one time alcalde. He ran away probably in 1827 or early in 1828, took refuge with a band of ex-neophytes and gentiles in the San Joaquin Valley, and with his chief associate, Cipriano, soon made hin- self famous by his daring. In November 1828 he was believed by the padres of San José and Santa Clara to be instigating a general rising among the neophytes, and Comandante Martinez was induced to send a force of twenty men against him.52 The expe- dition was not ready to start till May 1829, Estanis- lao in the mean time continuing his onslaughts and insulting challenges to the soldiers.53

with gunpowder on the field of battle !' in Beechey's Voyage, ii. 24-31. The expedition lasted from Nov. 19th to Nov. 27th. The mission of S. José had defrayed the expenses, the padre deeming it necessary to avenge the outrage on his neophytes; but he thought the 40 new converts too dearly bought, feared a new attack from the Cosemenes, and begged Capt. Beechey for some fireworks with which to frighten the foe in case of necessity. In the diary the Cosemenes, the original forin of the later Cosumnes, lived on or near the Rio San Francisco. . On the way thither the army passed Las Positas, Rio San Joaquin, and Rio Yachicumé. One soldier, José Maria Gomez, was killed by the bursting of his own musket. Duhaut-Cilly, Viaggio, ii. 85-6, says Sanchez could not get at the Indian warriors, but killed 30 women and children, and with this shameful glory returned, bringing 2 children and an old woman captives. He says the neophyte victims belonged to San Francisco Solano. Elliot gives the substance of Sanchez's diary in Overland Monthly, iv. 341-2. Huish, Narrative, 427-30, takes the account from Beechey. Bojorges, Recuerdos, MS., 4-7, describes the campaign with some embellish- ments from his fancy. Nov. 3d, Bernal to Martinez. Says that 21 Christian Indians have been killed, and calls for aid. The people are much excited. Dept. St. Pap., MS., i. 135. May 20, 1826, Capt. Argüello leaves S. Francisco on a 34 days' tour of inspection eastward. St. Pap., Sac., MS., xi. 5. Jan. 22d, corporal of S. Juan Capistrano announces rising of the Indians, who have insulted him and want to put the padre in the stocks. Dept. St. Pap., MS., i. 134-5. April 1827, complaints of robberies at the same mission. Id., ii. 12. Feb. 1827, trouble at S. Luis Rey, where a neophyte used some very violent and vile language against the Mexican govt and its Cal. representatives. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lviii. 2; Beechey's Voyage, ii. 36. Nov. 1827, allusion to troubles with gentiles at Sta Clara. Dept. Rec., MS., v. 115. Oct. 23, 1828, Indian children from the Tulares, that had been given to residents of Monte- rey, ordered to be restored to their parents. St. Pap., Miss. and Col., MS., ii. 6. Dec., two men killed by Indians near S. José. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Pref. y Juzg., MS., i. 20.

52 Nov. 9, 1828, PP. Duran and Viader to Martinez. Nov. 20th, Mar- tinez to Echeandía. Arch. Arzob., MS., v. pt i. 68-70.

:3 Possibly, however, the force of 20 men was sent out in 1828 as planned,

111

EXPEDITION AGAINST ESTANISLAO.

On May 5th Alférez Sanchez left San Francisco with about forty men and a swivel-gun. On the morning of the 7th, his force having been increased at San José by the addition of vecinos and Indian aux- iliaries, he reached the spot where the foe was posted in a thick wood on the river of the Laquisimes. The fight, opened by the enemy, raged all day, muskets being used on one side and arrows with a few muskets on the other. The swivel-gun proved to be damaged and ineffective, while the muskets of the foe were loaded with powder only. No advantage was gained, and at sunset Sanchez withdrew his men to a short distance. Next morning he divided his force into six parties of six men each. He stationed one to guard the horses and ammunition, and two others to protect the flanks and prevent the escape of the foe, while with the other three, under corporals Piña, Berreyesa, and Soto, he marched up to the edge of the wood. As before, the fight lasted all day, and as before, noth- ing was effected; though two of Piña's men, who were so rash as to enter the wood, were killed. Ammuni- tion being exhausted, the men tired out, and the weather excessively hot, the siege was abandoned, and Estanislao left unconquered. Two soldiers had been killed and eight wounded, while eleven of the Indian allies were also wounded, one of them mortally. About the losses of the foe nothing was known.54

accomplishing nothing. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 126-30, describes such an ex- pedition under Sergt Soto, during which there was a fight; while Bojorges, Recuerdos, MS., 14-17, says it was under Corp. Pacheco and returned with- out a fight, as did the second expedition according to Osio. In any case, it is evident that both writers confound this entrada more or less with later ones. March 1, 1829, P. Duran to Martinez, complaining of a new attack by Es- tanislao on the mission Indians. Arch. Arzob., MS., v. pti. 53-4. April 26th, Martinez to alcalde of S. José, asking for supplies and men for an expedition to start next Sunday. The conduct of the Indians is shameful, especially the challenges of Estanislao. S. José, Arch., MS., vi. 16. May 6th (probably an error in date), gov. orders Martinez to send Alf. Sanchez with as many sol- diers as possible, the S. José militia, and a swivel-gun on a raid against the Indians. Dept. Ree., MS., vii. 149.

bs Sanchez, Compaña contra Estanislao y sus Indios sublevados, 1820, MS. Dated at S. José on May 10th. Great praise was awarded to the troops for gallantry, and especially to Corp. Soto and privates Manuel Peña and Lorenzo Pacheco. May 5th, departure of Sanchez from S. Francisco. Dept. Rec.,

112

ECHEANDÍA AND THE PADRES.

A new expedition was prepared, for which the troops of San Francisco under Sanchez were joined to those of Monterey under Alférez Mariano G. Vallejo, who was also, by virtue of his superior rank, comman- der in chief of the army, now numbering one hundred and seven armed men. Vallejo had not yethad much ex- perience as an Indian-fighter, but he had just returned from a campaign in the Tulares, in which with thirty- five men he had slain forty-eight Indians and suffered no casualties.55 Having crossed the San Joaquin River by means of rafts on May 29th, the army ar- rived next day at the scene of the former battle, where it was met as before by a cloud of arrows. The wood was found to be absolutely impenetrable, and Vallejo at once caused it to be set on fire, stationing his troops and his three-pounder on the opposite bank of the river. The fire brought the Indians to the edge of the thicket, where some of them were killed. At 5 P. M. Sanchez was sent with twenty-five men to attack the foe, and fought over two hours in the burning wood, retiring at dusk with three men wounded.

Next morning at 9 o'clock Vallejo with thirty-seven men again entered the wood. He found a series of pits and ditches arranged with considerable skill, and protected by barricades of trees and brush. Evidently the Indians could never have been dislodged from such a stronghold except by the agency that had been em- ployed. Traces of blood were found everywhere, and there were also discovered the bodies of the two sol- diers killed in the previous battle. The enemy, how-

MS., vii. 20. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 129-30, gives some particulars about the loss of the two men, and says that Soto died of his wounds a little later at S. José. Alvarado, Ilist. Cal., MS., ii. 57-60, gives an absurdly exaggerated ac- count of the battle and of the enemy's fortifications. Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 22-4, has a quite accurate narrative from memory, recalling even the name of the Rio Laquisimes, which may have been that now called the Stanislaus, though it is not certain.

55 Dept. Rec., MS., vii. 20. According to a document in Vallejo, Doc., MS., xx. 280, Vallejo had been in two acciones de guerra as commander, one in the Sierra Nevada from S. Miguel, and the other in the Tulares, where he had one man killed and 15 wounded. May 16, 1829, Martinez orders Vallejo to march with Sanchez to chastise the rebels of Sta Clara and S. José as- sembled at Los Rios. Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 174.

113

VALLEJO'S CAMPAIGN.

ever, had taken advantage of the darkness of night and had fled. Vallejo started in pursuit. He en- camped that night on the Rio Laquisimes, and next morning surrounded a part of the fugitives in another thicket near their rancheria on the Arroyo Seco. Here there were some negotiations, but the Indians declared they would die rather than surrender, and late in the afternoon the attack was begun. A road was cut through the chaparral with axes, along which the field-piece and muskets were pressed forward and continually discharged. The foe retired slowly to their ditches and embankments in the centre, wound- ing eight of the advancing soldiers. When the can- non was close to the trenches the ammunition gave out, which fact, and the heat of the burning thicket, forced the men to retreat. During the night the be- sieged Indians tried to escape one by one, some suc- ceeding, but many being killed. Next morning nothing was found but dead bodies and three living women. That day, June 1st, at noon, provisions being exhausted, Vallejo started for San José, where he arrived on the fourth. 56

56 Vallejo, Campaña contra Estanislao y sus Indios sublevados, 1829, MS. This is the commander's official report dated at S. Jose June 4th. Pina, Diario de la Expedicion al Valle de San José, 1829. This is a diary kept by Corp. Lázaro Piña of the artillery, who accompanied the expedition. It extends from May 19th, the date of departure from Monterey, to June 13th, when they returned to Monterey. The details, beyond the limits of the actual campaign as given in my text, are unimportant. The original MS. was given me by Gen. Vallejo. June 5th, Martinez congratulates Vallejo on his defeat of the rebels at Los Rios. Regrets that he could not follow up the advantage gained. Orders him to S. Francisco to plan further operations. Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 175. Dec. 31st, Martinez states in the hojas de servicios of Vallejo and Sanchez that no decisive results were obtained, though 4 men were killed (?) and 11 wounded. Id., i. 204; xx. 142. Oct. 7th, Echeandia pardons neophytes who had been in rebellion. Dept. Rec., MS., vii. 230. Ai- varado's narrative of this campaign, Ilist. Cal., MS., ii. 57-68, drawn cvi- dently from his imagination, is so wonderfully inaccurate that no condensation can do it justice, and I have no space to reproduce it in full. Osio, Ilist. Cal., MS., 133-S, gives an account considerably more accurate than that of Alvarado, which is not saying much in its favor. He speaks of but one bat- tle, in which the barricades of timber were broken down by the artillery, the order of .no quarter' was given by Vallejo, the infuriated auxiliaries wrought a terrible carnage among the foc, and the pits dug for defences were utilized as graves. Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 22-6, names two sokliers, Espinosa and Soto, as fatally wounded, and says that Estanislao was captured. Bojorges, Recuerdos, MS., 14-22, who confounds the three expeditions, names Peña HIST. CAL., VOL. III. 8

114

ECHEANDÍA AND THE PADRES.

One phase of this campaign demands further notice. One of the contemporary narratives, the diary of Piña, represents that at least six of the captives, including three or four women found alive in the second thicket, were put to death, most of them by the order or with the consent of the commander. Osio in his history tells us that some captured leaders were shot or hanged to trees, and Padre Duran made a complaint, to which no attention was paid. Vallejo in his official report says nothing respecting the death of the cap- tives. At the time, however, Vallejo was accused by Padre Duran, but claimed to be innocent.57 Echean- dia ordered an investigation of the charge that three men and three women, not taken in battle, had been shot and then hanged;53 and the investigation was made. From the testimony the fiscal decided that only one man and one woman had been killed, the latter unjustifiably by the soldier Joaquin Alvarado, whose punishment was recommended.59 There is no doubt that in those, as in later times, to the Spaniards, as to other so-called civilized races, the life of an Indian was a slight affair, and in nearly all the expeditions outrages were committed; but it would require strong- er evidence than exists in this case to justify any spe- cial blame to a particular officer.60

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History of California, Volume III, Part 13

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885-1890 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 824

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 824