USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego > History of San Diego, 1542-1908 : an account of the rise and progress of the pioneer settlement on the Pacific coast of the United States, Volume I > Part 7
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1772. May. Crespi came from the north and Dumetz returned with Father Tomás de la Peña to take Cambon's place. Sept. 27th, Crespí and Dumetz left for San Carlos and two friars, Usson and Figuer, came from Mexico.
1773. August 30. Father Francisco Palon arrived overland from Mex- ico, with Fathers Pedro Benito Cambon, Gregorio Amurrio, Fer- min Francisco Lasnen, Juan Prestamero, Vicente Fuster, José Antonio Murguía, and Miguel de la Campa y Cos, assigned to different missions.
September 5. Paterna, Lasuen and Prestamero departed. October 26. Palon, Murguía, and de la Peña departed.
This left at San Diego Luis Jaume, Vicente Fuster, and Gregorio AAmurrio as supernumerary.
1771. March 3. Serra eame by sea from Mexico. With him came Father Pablo Mugartegui, who remained for a time, but later went north.
April 6. Father Serra departed for Monterey, by land.
1775. November 5. Destruction of the Mission, Fathers Luis Jaume and Vicente Fuster in charge; the former killed, as related. At the Presidio, Fathers Lasuen and Amurrio.
1776. July 11. Serra arrived by sea from Monterey to arrange for re- building the mission.
October 17. Three friars, Fuster, Lasnen, and probably Santa María, occupied the new mission.
December. Serra departed the last days of the year, for the north, with Amurrio, and never returned.
1777. Juan Figuer came and served to December 18, 1784, when he died and was buried in the church.
1755. For about a year after Figuer's death, Lasuen served alone. In November, 1785, he went to San Carlos and his place at San Die- go was taken by Juan Mariner (arrived 1785). With him was associated Juan Antonio García Riboo (arrived 1783), till Octo- der. 1786, then Hilario Torrens (arrived 1786). Mariner and Tor- rens served fill the last years of the century. Torrens left Cal- ifornia at the end of 1798, and died in 1799; Mariner died at the Mission, January 29, 1800.
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LIST OF PRIESTS
1800. Their successors were José Panella (arrived June, 1797), and José Barona (arrived May, 1798). Pedro de San José Estévan was supernumerary, April, 1796, to July, 1797. Panella was accused of cruelty to the neophytes and was reprimanded by President Lasuen. He left the country in 1803. Barona remained as minister throughout the decade (1800-1810). Panella was replaced for about a year after 1803 by Mariano Payeras, and then José Bernardo Sanchez took the place in 1804. Pedro de la Cueva, from Mission San José, was here for a short time in 1806, and José Pedro Panto came in September, 1810.
1810. Father Sanchez continued to serve until the spring of 1820, when he was succeeded by Vicente Pascual Oliva. Panto died in 1812, and Fernando Martin took his place.
"Panto," says Bancroft, "was a rigorous disciplinarian and severe in his punishments. One evening in November, 1811, his soup was poisoned, causing vomiting. His cook, Nazario, was arrested and admitted having put the 'yerba,' powdered cuchasguclaai, in the soup with a view to escape the Father's in- tolerable floggings, having received in suecession fifty, twenty- five, twenty-four, and twenty-five lashes in the twenty-four hours preceding his attempted revenge. There is much reason to sup- pose that the friar's death on June 30th of the next year was attributable to the poisoning."
The new Mission Church was dedicated November 12, 1813 (this is the building whose ruins yet remain). The blessing was pronounced by José Barona, of San Juan. The first sermon was by Geronimo Boscana, of San Imuis, the second by the Dominican Tomás Ahumada, of San Miguel, and Lieutenant Ruiz acted as sponsor.
1820. Father Martinez served for a time in 1827.
1830. Fathers Oliva and Martin continued in charge. Martin died Oc- tober 19, 1838. He was a native of Robledillo, Spain, born May 26, 1770. He was a Francisean, and arrived at San Diego July 6, 1811. He was regarded as an exemplary frey. He was one of the few missionaries who took the oath of allegiance to Mexico.
1840. Oliva remained alone, and was the last missionary to occupy the mission, till August, 1846. Upon the seeularization of the mis- sions in 1835, José Joaquin Ortega was placed in charge as major- domo or administrator, and 1840 he was replaced by Juan M. Osuna. Others served at different times. Some Indians lingered at the place, and in 1848 Philip Crosthwaite leased the Mission. Oliva went first to San Luis Rey, then to San Juan Capistrano, where he died in January, 1848.
PART SECOND When Old Town was San Diego
CHAPTER I.
LIFE ON PRESIDIO HILL UNDER THE SPANISH FLAG.
OR MORE than a hundred years Old Town F was San Diego. It began with the founding of the fort and mission in July, 1769; it ended, as a place of real consequence, with the fire of April, 1872, which destroyed most of the business part of the town and turned the seale decisively in favor of the new set- tlement which had sprung up at Horton's Addition, or South San Diego, as it was then called. It is rare that two historical eras are so clearly marked on the face of the earth as in this case. The site of Old San Diego is a thing apart from the location of the present city, just as the life of the older time is separated from that of the present by a space of years. And vet, it was in the soil of Old San Diego that the seed of the present city was planted and took root, and it was in that mother settlement that civilization began on the Pacific Coast of the United States.
From 1769 to about 1830-a period of over sixty years- San Diego lived within the adobe walls of its garrison on Presidio ITill and became a famous dot on the map of the world. Nothing now remains on Presidio Hill to show the casual observer that it was ever anything but a vacant plot of ground. Weeds cover the earth, wild flowers bloom in their season, and always the ice-plant hangs in matted festoons from the scattered mounds of earth. A closer examination of these mounds, however, shows them to be arranged in something like a hollow square. The soil, too, is found to be full of frag- ments of red tile and to show the unmistakable signs of long trampling by human feet. Looking more closely at the mounds, beneath their covering of weeds and earth, one finds the foundations of old walls built of thin red tile and adobe bricks. These remains are all that is left of the Spanish Pre- sidio of San Diego.
Standing on this historic spot, one is moved to wonder how the manifold activities of the ecclesiastical and military affairs of the Southern District, and of the political and social een- ter of one of the four important towns in Upper California. were ever carried on for so many years upon this little space.
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
The commandant's residence was the principal building. It was situated in the center of the presidial enelosure and over- looked the garrison. the Indian village, the bay and surround- ing country. On the east side of the square were the chapel, cemetery, and storehouses; the guard-house was near the gate on the south, and the officers' quarters were ranged around the sides of the square. The whole was enelosed, at first with a wooden stockade, and later with a high adobe wall.
It would seem that half a century of life should mean a great deal to any community. even to a frontier outpost on the edge of the world; but to San Diego, in the period with which this chapter deals, it meant very little. Of the mission activities the men and women at the Presidio were mere spee- tators. while only far echoes of events in the outside world came to their ears. They had enough respect for the Indians to keep well within the shelter of the garrison for all those years. Even when they went down into the valley to eulti- vate a little patch of soil. they took care to keep well within range of the guns. They led a lazy, dreamy life, not without some social diversions, vet mostly spent in attending to mil- itary and religious routine. As the years wore on and the nineteenth century dawned. the visits of foreign ships beeame more frequent. These visits must have seemed very grateful to the inhabitants, especially those few which were attended with sufficient excitement to break the monotony and lend a momentary zest to the stagnant life of the community.
The Spanish soldiers were usually men of good eharaeter. Among them were many cadets and young men of good fam- ilies who had adopted a military career, whose birth and edu- cation entitled them to certain exemptions and privileges. and who afterward became distinguished in civil life. Officers could not marry without the king's consent, and to seeure this, those beneath the rank of captain had to show that they had an income outside their pay. The chief officer was the commandant. Discipline was severe. The old Spanish Arti- cles of War prescribed the death penalty for so many trivial offences that. as another writer has remarked. it was really astonishing that any soldier conld eseape execution. There is no record of any military executions at San Diego, however. except of Indians.
The principal duties of the soldiers were to garrison the forts. to stand guard at the missions, to care for the horses and eat- tle, and to carry dispatches. Both officers and men had usually a little time at their disposal, which they were allowed to employ in providing for their families. Some were shoemakers. others, tailors or woodentters: but after the first few years most of them seem to have given their leisure hours to agri-
83
PLAN OF PRESIDIO HILL
culture. The pay was small and subject to many vexatious deductions. Supplies were brought by ship from Mexico and the cost was deducted from the men's pay.
RIVER AND VALLEY
Bastien
Quarters
Northouly
Commandant Hou
Church
Fort O
Cemetery
Guard House" C
Barion
Gate
INDIAN VILLAGE
ROUGH PLAN OF PRESIDIO HILL (Drawn from descriptions)
The military establishment on Presidio Hill was always the
weakest in the department. The rude earthworks thrown up in July. 1769, grew but slowly. In August there seem to have been but four soldiers able to assist in repelling the first Indian attack. But when Perez returned, in the following March, good
84
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
nse was made of the time. The temporary stockade was com- pleted and two bronze cannon mounted, one pointing toward the harbor, the other toward the Indian village. Houses of wood, rushes, tule, and adobe were constructed. Three years later four thousand adobe bricks had been made and some stones collected for use in foundations. A foundation had also been laid for a church ninety feet long, but work upon this building had been suspended because of delay in the arrival of the supply ship.
When the mission establishment was removed up the river, all buildings at the Presidio, except two rooms reserved for the use of visiting friars and for the storage of mission sup- plies, were given up to the military. In September of this year there was some trouble with troops which had been sent up from Sinaloa. The following year, at the time of the destruc- tion of the mission, related in a previous chapter, the force at the Presidio consisted of a corporal and ten men. In the panic caused by this tragedy, all the stores and families at the Presidio were hastily removed to the old friars' house, the roof of that building was covered with earth to prevent its being set on fire. and the time of waiting for the arrival of reinforcements was spent in fear and trembling.
The work of collecting stones to be used in laying the foun- dations for the new adobe wall to replace the wooden stock- ade was begun in 1778 and the construction of the wall soon followed. The population of the Presidio was then about one hundred and twenty-five. Small parties of soldiers arrived and departed, and some effort was expended in attempts to find improved rontes of travel through the country. In 1782, the old church within the presidial enclosure was burned. Two years later, the regulations required the presidial force to con- sist of five corporals and forty-six soldiers, six men being always on guard at the Mission.
The visit of the famous English navigator, George Vancou- ver, in the Discovery in 1793, was the most important event breaking the monotony of these early years. His was the first foreign vessel that ever entered San Diego harbor. He arrived on the 27th day of November and remained twelve days. His presence disturbed and alarmed the Spanish officials. who did not relish the sight of the British flag in Californian waters. The San Diego commandant, however, treated him with cour- lesy and relaxed the rigid port regulations in his favor, so far as lay within his power. Vancouver gave Father Lasuen, of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, a barrel-organ for his church, made some nautical observations, and corrected his charts. But the most valuable results of his visit, so far as
85
WEAKNESS OF THE PRESIDIO
this history is concerned, are his shrewd observations upon the Presidio of San Diego and the whole Spanish military estab- lishment in Upper California. He says the soldiers "are totally incapable of making any resistance against a foreign invasion, an event which is by no means improbable." The Spanish officials knew this; the relations between England and Spain, too, were strained and war broke out not long after. It is no wonder that Vancouver was regarded with dread and suspicion. He goes on :
The Spanish Monarchy retains this extent of country under its authority by a force that, had we not been eye- witnesses of its insignificance in many instances, we should hardly have given credit to the possibility of so small a body of men keeping in awe and under subjection the natives of this country, without resorting to harsh or unjustifiable measures.
And again :
The Presidio of San Diego seemed to be the least of the Spanish establishments. It is irregularly built, on very un- even ground, which makes it liable to some inconveniences, without the obvions appearance of any object for selecting such a spot. With little difficulty it might be rendered a place of considerable strength, by establishing a small force at the entrance of the port; where at this time there were neither works, guns, houses, or other habitations nearer than the Presidio, five miles from the port, and where they have only three small pieces of brass cannon.
The "three small pieces of brass cannon" at the Presidio were somewhat like the toy cannon now used on yachts for firing salutes. One of the original San Diego Presidio cannon is now in the Coronel collection at Los Angeles, and a eut of it appears herein. These cannon were far less effective than a modern rifle, but, mounted in the bastions of the old Presidio, they served their purpose of making a loud noise and awing the Indians, who called them "creators of thunder."
Vancouver's visit, with its annoying revelation of the weak state of the country's defenses, led to the strengthening of the military arm. In the same year, upon the Governor's urgent request. the Viceroy ordered the Presidio to be repaired. A fort was also projected on what is now known as Ballast Point, then called Point Guijarros (cobblestones), the same spot which Vancouver's quick eye had noted as the strategic defensive point. Plans were drawn in 1795 for installing there a battery of ten guns, but the work proceeded slowly and was not completed for five years or more.
PRESIDIO HILL OF TODAY-This is the "Plymouth Rock" of the Pacific, scene of the first settlement by Europeans and original location of the first mission in California. It should be preserved as one of the foremost historical shrines in America
87
THE FIRST AMERICANS
In November, 1796, the priests were called upon to perform the ceremony of blessing the esplanade, powder magazine. and flag at the Presidio, and a salute was fired in honor of the event. There were neither flags, nor materials for making them. in Upper California, and they were therefore sent from Mexico This marks the beginning of the fortifications proper on Presidio Hill. on the point of the hill below the Presidio walls. This fort was maintained, in a small way, during the Spanish administration, and to a certain extent afterward. Nothing whatever of the site now remains, the earth forming the point of the hill having been hauled away and used by the government engineers in making the embankment for turn- ing the San Diego River, in 1877. Some of this earth was also used for grading the county road across the valley from then end of the Old Town bridge, in later years. These excavations also took large quantities of earth from the north side of the hill, the extent being measured by the widening of the road from a narrow track to its present width. During the year in which the fort on the hill was built, twenty-five soldiers and six artil- lerymen were added to the garrison, making the total force nearly ninety men.
The end of the eighteenth century was now close at hand and it brought a few events of unusual interest to the quiet community. In 1798 the soil of San Diego was first trod- den by Americans. Four sailors had been left by an American ship in Lower California. whether by accident or design is unknown. They tramped to San Diego and applied at the Pre- sidio for food and shelter, as well as for a chance to take the first opportunity to sail in the direction of home. They were not very hospitably welcomed by the Spaniards, who regarded them with some suspicion. but there was nothing to do except to care for them until a ship sailed for Mexico. In the mean- time. they were given a chance to earn their bed and board by working on the fortifications. Later. they were sent to San Blas. The Americans bore the names of William Katt. Barnaby Jan. and John Stephens, and were natives of Boston. They were accompanied by Gabriel Boisse. a Frenchman, who had been left behind, like themselves, from the American ship Gallant,-a treatment hardly in keeping with the name.
The next year the English sloop-of-war Mercedes paid a brief visit to San Diego, but sailed away without any hostile demon- stration. The last year of the old century found the Presidio with a population of one hundred and sixty-seven souls, mostly soldiers and their families, according to official report made to the Viceroy. During that year a number of foundling chil- dren were sent from Lower California. and eight of them were assigned to San Diego. As one of them inelegantly re-
88
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
marked, long afterward, they were distributed "like puppies among the families." There is no reason to suppose, how- ever. that they were not well cared for.
With the year 1800 the Yankee trader began to cast his shadow before him. It was the palmy day of Boston's cap- tains of commerce, when they used to load their ships with the products of New England ingenuity and send them forth npon the seas bound for nowhere in particular, but looking for good bargains in exchange for their cargoes. About all that California had to offer at that time was the trade in furs, ehiefly those of the sea otter which, as we have seen in previ- ous pages, was a considerable source of profit to the Mission Fathers. These skins were in great demand and the govern- ment tried in vain to monopolize the business. The command- ants at all the ports did what they could to prevent foreign ships from getting any of the furs, but the Yankee skippers were enterprising and found many a weak spot in the Span- ish lines.
The first American ship to enter San Diego Bay bore the good old English name of Betsy. She arrived on the 25th of August, 1800. in command of Captain Charles Winship. She carried nineteen men and ten guns, remained ten days, secured wood and water, and then departed for San Blas. In June, 1801. Captain Ezekiel Hubbell eame in the Enterprise, of New York, with ten guns and twenty-one men. All he asked was wood and water, with which he set sail after a stay of a few days. If either of these earliest American captains succeeded in doing any illicit trade at San Diego, they kept the secret snecessfully, leaving not so mueh as a rumor of scandal behind them. Such was not the case with those who came shortly after.
Captain John Brown arrived on February 26, 1803, in the Alexander, of Boston. He was bent on getting otter skins. though he failed to mention the fact to the Spanish command- ant. On the contrary, he told a touching tale of sailors down with the seurvy, on the strength of which he was permitted to land, though required to keep away from the fort. He was supplied with fresh provisions and, in view of the condition of his erew, granted permission to stay eight days. In the meantime, the wily captain was buying all the skins offered by Indians and soldiers. On the fifth evening of his stay, the commandant sent a party on board the Alexander to search for contraband. The search was rewarded. 491 skins eoming to light. The Yankee was invited to leave San Diego without ceremony : also without the otter skins. There was nothing to do but to comply, unless it was also to grumble, which the eap- tain did. Ile complained that his ship had been visited by a rabble before any demand was made for the surrender of
89
AFFAIR OF THE LELIA BYRD
the furs. He also complained that the soldiers relieved him of other goods to which they had no rightful claim. The evi- dence seems clear, however, that Captain John Brown, of Boston, abused the Spanish hospitality by perpetrating the first Yankee trick in the history of San Diego.
The Lelia Byrd dropped anchor in the Bay on March 17th, having sailed by the fort on Ballast Point without arousing any protest. But promptly the next day the commandant of the Presidio appeared on board with an escort of twelve sol- diers. He made himself acquainted with the Captain, William Shaler, and with Richard J. Cleveland, mate and part-owner of the ship, a character who gains much additional interest from the fact that he was a relative of Daniel Cleveland, a prominent citizen of San Diego. Captain Cleveland left a good account of the exciting events precipitated by the pres- ence of his ship. Among other things, he described the com- mandant as an offensively vain and pompous man, but it is possible that the captain's unsatisfied desire for otter skins may have prejudiced his opinion in the matter. The com- mandant agreed to furnish needed supplies, but informed the visitors that when these were delivered they must promptly depart. They were expressly forbidden to attempt any trad- ing and five men were left as a guard to see that this injune- tion was enforced. Three days later, the commandant again visited the ship. received his pay for the supplies, and wished his visitors a prosperous voyage.
The Yankee crew. in the meantime, had been ashore, visited the fort at Ballast Point, and made the acquaintance of the corporal in charge of the battery, José Velasquez. Thus they learned that the commandant had on hand something like a thousand confiscated otter skins-which he would not sell. The corporal hinted, however, that he might be able to deliver some of the forbidden goods, obtained from other sources. Captain Cleveland was ready for the trade and sent a boat ashore that night for the skins. The first trip was successful, but a second boat failed to return. When morning came, the Yankee cap- tain decided on vigorous action. He disarmed the Spanish guards who had been left on his ship, sent them below, and went ashore with four armed men. It was found that the crew of the second boat, which had failed to return the previous night, had been captured by a party of mounted soldiers, headed by the commandant himself. They had been bound hand and foot and compelled to lie on the shore, where they were cap- tured, all night under guard.
In his account of the affair Captain Cleveland says: "On landing, we ran up to the guard. and, presenting our pistols.
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
ordered them instantly to release our men from their ligatures. This order was readily complied with by the three soldiers who had been guarding them ; and, to prevent mischief, we took away their arms, dipped them in water, and left them on the beach."
It was now necessary for the Americans to make their eseape as quickly as possible. The men were full of fight, but their situation seemed desperate. There were only fifteen men, all told, in the crew, and the armament consisted of six three- pounders. Their inspection of Fort Guijarros had shown that it contained a battery of six nine-pounders, with an abundant supply of powder and ball. The foree was probably sufficient to work the guns, although Cleveland is doubtless mistaken in thinking the ship opposed by at least a hundred men. He remarks that while the preparations for flight were making on board ship, all was bustle and animation on shore, and that both horse and foot were floeking to the fort: and it is a fair inference that most of this crowd were mere spectators.
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