CHAPTER 15: Spanish and Mexican Possession

Copyright 1998 by Tad Beckman, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711

This was the Franciscan mission dedicated to the Arcángel Gabriel, the San Gabriel Mission, founded on September 8, 1771. Along with the other twenty Franciscan missions of Alta California, it was secularized in 1834; its grounds, cultivated fields and vineyards, machinery, cattle, and stores were sold off or given away as political favors. It remained outside of Church hands for at least nine years and may even have been used as a cavalry barracks and stable, at one time. However, from 1843 onward, its use as a parish church was allowed and, in 1862, the United States returned it to the Catholic Church. In 1908 it became the property of the Claretian Missionary Fathers and they have proudly restored and maintained it.

In a garden atmosphere along the north wall of the church, you will find the cemetery which was established in 1778, the oldest cemetery in Los Angeles County. There are, perhaps, a hundred gravestones or wooden monuments, mostly illegible with age; these pay tribute to the lives of various missionaries who died during their service in this frontier. But in the very middle you will find a very large wooden cross which was dedicated to the 6000 people of the Tongva tribe who are also buried there in otherwise unmarked graves. In typical mission style, these people were called "Gabrielinos," meaning the children of the Mission San Gabriel. What 6000 deaths represents is more than one hundred Tongva deaths per year of the mission's existence, or almost one death every three and one half days of regular mission life. It is probably equal to the entire aboriginal Tongva population prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

In the guidebook, it says that "missions were a good way to turn Indians into Christian, hard-working people." And it goes on to say that "it took a great deal of time for some Indian tribes to understand the new way of life a mission offered, even though the Native Americans always had food and shelter when they became mission Indians. . . This way of life was an enormous change from the less organized Indian life before the missionaries arrived." One may ask, and should, whether the Tongva were ever in need of food and shelter and whether they had sought to become more organized. And, also, was Christianity a necessary replacement to Tongva spiritualism and ritual, which itself was of greater antiquity.

Sitting in the mission's patios, enjoying the fragrant wisteria and the cool breeze trailing characteristic odors of aged wood beams and adobe walls, you are absorbed by this monumental stage of tragi-comedy. The institution and the physical evidence have survived, but neither the Franciscan missionaries nor the Tongva people did. Like ships passing in heavy fog, they never really saw each other. It was here, and in this way, that the destiny of California's indigenous people began.

Maps of the West Coast varied considerably throughout the Sixteenth Century. It was not even clear to Europeans, early in the period, whether Alta California was simply the northern extension of a very long island, starting in Baja California, or whether it was the western coast of the North American Continent. The earliest map that showed Alta California as part of mainland North America was printed in Spain, in 1542, by Juan Vespucci and evidently was informed by an expedition up the "Vermillion Sea" (now called the Gulf of California) by Ulloa in 1539-40. In this expedition, the mouth of the Colorado River was discovered; and Baja California was established as a peninsula rather than an island. However, what is not clear is how commonly known this information was throughout the remainder of the century, especially to the residents of New Spain itself.

Early Spanish expeditions into New Mexico laid title to everything westward to the ocean, even though expeditions along the ocean's coast were sketchy, at best, and the land between had not been traversed at all. The Spanish claims were made by the "Right of Discovery" and were executed by an "Act of Possession" though neither project, discovery nor possession, had been completed. Throughout this period, as I have already observed, Spain dominated the oceans and there was little need to move quickly in exploring or settling Alta California. The picture had changed radically, however, by 1769. The English colonies along the Atlantic Coast had achieved considerable size and power; the French explorers and traders had laid claim to the entire Mississippi and St. Lawrence drainages; England and Russia were both exploring resources available along the northwestern coastline of North America. To make matters worse, Spain had lost its dominance in the oceans of the world.

In order to establish authority over Alta California and to secure the coast from foreign intervention, Visitor-General Jose de Gálvez formulated a plan for the consolidation of Spanish power in all of the northern provinces of New Spain. A crucial part of this plan was the expedition of 1769 into Alta Caifornia that would lead, ultimately, to missionization of the entire coastline north to Sonoma. The expeditionary force was two-fold; it included soldiers under the command of Gaspar de Portolá and Franciscan missionaries under the leadership of Father Junipero Serra. The project, as it was then conceived, was to establish a foothold in San Diego from which a further expedition could reach and establish itself at Monterey Bay. Monterey was chosen because the value of its harbor had been considerably extolled, though in fact exaggerated, by the reports of Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602, returning from the last of the sea expeditions. While the expedition suffered great losses and hardships, both by sea and by way of its land approach, through Baja California, it arrived in the area of San Diego now called Mission Valley in July 1769. From here, Portola and some soldiers continued northward to Monterrey, while Serra remained behind to found the first mission.

Mission San Diego de Alcala (named for a Franciscan, Diego of Alcala, sainted in 1588) was ceremonially established by the erection of a cross and celebration of mass on a great hillside overlooking the ocean. The party attempted to attract the attention of local Indians by hanging bells in trees and putting out token gifts. The Indians remained unimpressed, however, and attacked the settlement within its first month. In 1774, the mission itself was moved across and up the valley somewhat to a better location, and the Presidio remained on the commanding hillside. Relations with local Indians remained poor. Not a single Indian was baptized during the mission's first year; and only sixty were baptized when the new mission church was constructed in 1774. In the following year, the church was burned to the ground in an attack that also led to the death of Father Luis Jayme, California's first martyr. Tension remained high for at least two years, when finally a new church was built. Indians surrendered to superior Spanish firepower.

The mode of Spanish settlement was simple and followed the same essential lines in each location. A cross was erected; mass was celebrated; and attempts were made to contact the local Indians. As labor and resources were organized, permanent buildings were constructed. These always included a fortress, or presidio, and a mission complex, including a church, residencies, and work areas. Eventually, these were joined by a small civil complex, or colony. Indians were invited to create a village next to the mission complex, though unmarried Indian women and children were usually forced to live inside the mission in chaste seclusion.

While the first military post, Presidio de San Diego, and the first mission, San Diego de Alcala, were being founded in 1769, Portola was hunting desperately for the magnificent bay of Monterey. Having planted a cross and temporary fortification next to the only bay to be discovered, which he thought could not possibly be the one praised by Vizcaino, he continued his search northward. Alas, Portola finally recognized the mistake, and Fr. Serra moved the location of the mission complex five miles south of Portola's presidio, naming it after San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, founding what became the community of Carmel. The first building at Carmel was not finished until 1797. The last of the missions, San Francisco Solano de Sonoma, was founded in 1823, just two years after Mexico had declared its independence from Spain. In all, twenty one missions were established along the entire length of coast from San Diego to Sonoma.

The Spanish attitude toward indigeous people was to recognize them as human beings living in a natural relationship with their environs, rather like the animals of the forests. From a cultural point of view, generally speaking, they recognized no tendency toward civilization among these people and, instead, viewed them as entirely uncivilized. They were, indeed, the bottom rung in the Great Chain of Being. The Spanish responded by viewing themselves as "bringing the gifts of civilization" to these people, though later analysts have questioned whether such gifts were needed. From a theological standpoint, indigenous people were pagans who were desperately in need of conversion to Christianity for the salvation of their souls. This conversion was a high priority and was implemented through baptism, instruction in Catholic rituals, moral education, incorporation into the mission community, and enforcement of strict discipline. "Enforcement" included incarceration, public humiliation, flogging, and even capital punishment.

From an economic and political standpoint, indigenous people represented the lowest possible class of people in Spanish society and were easily folded into the Spanish feudal system which the missionaries carried with them into Alta California. Under this system, only the highest classes of Spanish society actually owned land, had rights, and made decisions. It was expected that all others would sort themselves out into subordinate classes which, if they exercised power or autonomy, possessed importance only relative to each other. Of these classes, those who found themselves at the lowest levels were destined to work hardest and were expected to give up most of the product of their labors for the enrichment of the system as a whole. It was inherent to the Spanish view of life and society, in other words, that the Indian, once brought within the "gifts" of Spanish civilization, would occupy the lowest rung of social order and, thereupon, would perform the necessary labors of brick making, timber cutting, building construction, farm maintenance, and domestic service. Later rationalizations of this era would look back upon it fondly as a period of "education" for the Indians, bringing them agriculture and modern trades as well as the gift of Catholic salvation.

What a strange shock it must have been for the Native Californians who lived along the coast, from San Diego to San Francisco Bay, to experience these revelations of European civilization and charity. Having lived, perhaps, 12,000 years without interference, Native Californians found themselves intruded upon by numbers of strangely clothed people who brought with them remarkably powerful weapons as well as domesticated animals, never before seen --- horses, oxen, cows, pigs, etc. These newcomers behaved as though the land was theirs and asserted their right to dictate events. They urged Native people to adopt their gods and rituals; and they encouraged them to adopt European agriculture and animal husbandry. If an Indian accepted what the Fathers called "baptism," he or she was forced to leave the family village and kinship relations and to live within the mission complex. The Indian experiencing "missionization" was commanded in many ways, not just to work, but also to foresake all elements of the Indian's natural culture, from diet to dress to behavior. The Spanish were neither understanding nor forgiving of "infractions" against their rules and laws; the Indian who carried natural behavior into the Spanish world quickly learned how violent a disciplinarian the Spanish could be.

In consequence of all this, the attrition from mission back to village was high. Baptismal records themselves tend to demonstrate that the largest number of Indians who availed themselves of baptism were either infants, too young to know what was happening, or aged, too old to run away to the village. After a relatively short period of seeking voluntary submission, the Spanish missionaries began using the soldiers to bring in healthy Indian "recruits" for salvation from increasingly distant villages. Equally well, the soldiers were used to enforce discipline by bringing back Indian neophytes who had attempted to return to their villages, and this process was facilitated by branding the missionized Indians with crosses or other signs.

By far the greatest cause of attrition, however, was disease. The Spanish brought European diseases for which Native Americans had no established immunity; these included common venereal and respiratory diseases as well as pneumonia, tuberculosis, small pox, and measles. Careful research has demonstrated that, in most mission areas, the Indian death rate rose to a point more than double the declining birth rate. It is estimated that, during the mission period, from 1769 until 1832, the population of indigenous people affected by the Spanish had declined by at least 50%. It is also estimated that one half of this decline was the direct result of imported diseases. The greatest effect was experienced by women, whose populations declined so swiftly that the proportion of men to women rose from 1.1, at the beginning of the period, to 1.45 or above.

Beyond disease itself is the matter of diet. California Indians were accustomed to a rich and varied diet of natural grains, vegetables, fish, and animal meat. The "gift" of European agriculture and animal husbandry brought them milk, which made them sick because they lacked the enzymes for digesting it, and a monotonous ration of atole, a starchy cereal soup. The Spanish knew little of acorn nutrition and thrived on corn; however, as much as they tried to teach California Indians the cultivation of corn, they failed because the varieties of corn available to them from the Southwest did not grow well along the California coast. Ironically, there is some evidence to show that California Indians were well informed about corn cultivation from their eastern neighbors but already knew that corn did poorly in their climate. Combined with the European taste for crowded housing, in which sanitation and fresh air were problems, Indian health was constantly placed at risk. Sadly, however, there is ample written evidence to indicate that, from the Spanish Catholic point of view, the only important matter was achieving a satisfactory conversion to Catholicism prior to inevitable death.

California's indigenous people were by no means passive about what was happening within their midst. The mission period is dotted with attacks against the Spanish and revolts from within. The first attack, indeed, was against the mission in San Diego, which was destroyed on November 4, 1775. Nine Ipai-Tipai villages, including approximately 800 men, were organized into a striking force which succeeded in killing three Hispanos as well as destroying the mission. While Spanish firepower was always ultimately successful in regaining control and security of Spanish strongholds, the level of organization and cooperation to which the Indians were drawn by their complaints is highly indicative of Spanish treatment and its impact on them. Records show other revolts in the San Francisco Bay area, at Mission San Gabriel, La Purísima, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, and San Juan Bautista. But the largest rebellion of missionized Indians was in 1824 at Mission La Purísima and Mission Santa Barbara. This involved almost 2000 Indians.

The incident began in Santa Ynez at a flogging of an Indian from La Purísima and spread quickly. In the initial riot, much of the mission at Santa Ynez was destroyed. When the Indians at Santa Barbara heard, they revolted, battled soldiers until their withdrawal, sacked the mission, and fled into the countryside. The Mission La Purísima was attacked and occupied; Indians quickly made preparations for siege by the Spanish soldiers; they were joined by sympathetic neophytes from Santa Ynez and San Fernando as well. In all, the occupation of Mission La Purísima lasted only a little more than a month; but the whole incident, including attempts to retrieve and punish the Santa Barbara Indians, as well as prosecution and punishment of the leaders of the La Purísima rebellion, extended into the middle of summer.

By the end of the mission era, the Spanish had clearly established missions, military strongholds, and small civilian colonies. They had exercised a substantial influence over all indigenous people from San Diego to north of the San Francisco Bay and from the coast inland even into the Central Valley. Those Indians who had been baptised and who had lived within the mission world for any significant period had acquired knowledge of European agriculture, animal husbandry, and construction techniques. They had been molded into a primitive but significant labor force. These same people had been thoroughly instructed in Christian life and ritual, and every attempt had been made to force their conformity to Christian moral practices. They had been given Spanish names and Spanish clothing; substantial attempts had been made to destroy their indigenous cultures, break their family and village ties, and especially end the spiritual connection with tribal shamans. In most of this the Spanish had been successful, though at incredible cost of lives. Indians learned well and adopted attractive aspects of Spanish material culture, as it was practical to do so. Religious and behavioral conformity were much slower in coming, however, and many Indians simply performed Spanish ritual in passive reservation of their own spiritual faith. There is some evidence, indeed, of Indian spiritual revivals within the mission period, especially late in the period and in Southern California.

The Mexican Era.

By the early years of the 19th Century, Mexican society had become a complex mixture of European whites, Indians, and mestizos (mixed bloods); within this mixture, the whites were further divided into those of Spanish birth, the gaphupines, and those of American birth, the creoles. Land, wealth, and power were held by the Spanish whites; and through them the territory's wealth was sapped by Spain. However, the revolutions against the English rule in America and against the ancient regime in France produced new ideas of independence in Mexico. When Spain was occupied by Napoleon in 1808, the road to revolution in Mexico was opened; a series of revolts and battles were fought from 1810 through 1815. In 1820, a liberal government was returned to Spain, and the older regime of Mexico sought to preserve itself through independence. In 1821, conservatives and revolutionaries agreed to the Plan of Iguala, which established a monarchy independent of Spain in which the Catholic Church would retain its power and gaphupines and creoles would become equals. This same plan granted Indians citizenship and guaranteed protection of their property and persons. In September 1821, Spain peacefully accepted Mexican independence.

The new Mexican monarchy was far from secure, however; and by 1823 the Republic of Mexico had been formed, with Guadalupe Victoria its first president. Mexico inherited all of New Spain's social inequities and economic problems as well as Spain's ambitious empire in the American Southwest and Alta California. From 1823 through 1848, presidencies rose and fell at the hands of diverse groups and coalitions; corruption was rampant.

In 1835, Texas revolted against the Republic of Mexico and ultimately declared its independence. While there was strong support for annexation into the United States, this was delayed by the growing antagonism between slave and non-slave states. Annexation came, however, in December 1845; and, after unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate purchase of California and New Mexico, in 1846, the United States declared war. While controversial at home, the war was hard fought, even though Mexico was troubled by lack of unity and political instability throughout. By September 1847, United States troops entered Mexico City and occupied it until a peace was settled. This was achieved in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on February 2, 1848. Mexico ceded all of its territories in the Southwest, including Alta California. In fact, however, the United States military had already seized control of Alta California in 1846 and had established its base of operations in Monterey. After Mexico's cession of territories, Anglo-Europeans and Americans moved quickly to promote California statehood, which was officially granted by 1850. California entered the Union as a non-slave state but, as we will see, only Black Africans were considered relevant to the Union's slavery issue.

While Mexico had granted citizenship and protection to Indians under the Plan of Iguala, Mexico continued the Spanish tradition of viewing indigenous people as the lowest possible class of people without the right to hold property. In the remote territory of Alta California, life proceeded without great change throughout the 1820s; the economy of California continued to revolve around the missions. Little by little, Mexican colonists moved into Alta California and occupied land granted to them by the remote Mexican government, gradually establishing a secular society that was independent, and jealous, of the mission society. Finally, between 1834 and 1836, under increasing pressures from secular interests throughout Mexico, the government moved to secularize the missions and seize all their properties. With this sanction from the central government, secularization proceeded swiftly, in Alta California, at the hands of local colonists and secular authorities. Rather than dividing mission properties into equal shares for the clerical authorities and mission Indians, however, the Mexican colonists sacked the missions and divided the properties among themselves. For the mission Indians, who had actually made the transition to Spanish Catholic culture and who had lost connections with tribal villages and indigenous ways, it was disasterous; return to a natural indigenous lifeway was rarely successful. There was little left but to become feudal laborers in colonial villages and on Mexican ranchos. It is estimated that 15,000 of the 53,600 baptized Indians remained alive and in this precarious condition in 1836.

In spite of the fact that Mexicanization of California had proceeded slowly, it was a very damaging period to California Indians. The rapid decline of Indian populations along the coast led the missionaries to seek neophytes from increasingly distant regions of the interior. Recruitments came closer to military campaigns than ever before; and the usefulness of Indians as a cheap labor supply became thoroughly confused with the mission of Catholic conversion. The mission economy of Alta California simply required Indian labor.

After secularization, the economy of California was entirely based on the Mexican ranchos, which employed a system of peonage imported from Mexico. It was a particularly harsh form of feudalism, without the veneer of a riteous mission and bordering on slavery. "Those who remained near the White settlements could find subsistence only as domestics and were ruthlessly exploited by their employers. In fact many who employed Indians would pay them only with alcohol, thus maintaining their social impotence and further contributing to their physical destruction. Life in the settlements led to an almost immediate breakdown of tribal organization and loss of cultural identity for the individual." (Castillo, HNAI, 8; 105)

Throughout the last decade of Mexican rule, an ever wider population of California's indigenous people were being incorporated into this sphere, while coastal people, who had suffered under the missions for decades, were beginning to disappear entirely. The distribution of land into ranchos was pressing eastward from El Camino Real across the coastal mountains and into the Central Valley. Settlements were being established in the Delta region as far northeast as Sacramento. This meant that military expeditions to acquire neophytes and, later, military expeditions to acquire laborers were penetrating increasingly into the tribal territories of not only the Central Valley but also those of the western Sierra foothills. The Indians were not just affected by the kidnapping and abuse of their people; but were rapidly being deprived of their natural food supply, as Hispanos and Europeans crowded into the area threatening game animals. Indians retaliated periodically for the abuses. But they were forced to shift their own food seeking activities also and this had an even more major impact on their relations with Whites. As Indians sought food by raiding cattle from the ranchos, small bands of Mexican military and volunteers raided Indian villages with savage vengeance. Without any doubt, cause and effect became entirely lost in this situation, and everyone had a "riteous claim" for doing violence against the others.

It is estimated that about 6% of the population decline during this period stemmed from military encounters; but much more stemmed from the continuing influx of European diseases. Smallpox first appeared in 1833 and produced major epidemics among the Pomo, Wappo, and Wintun in 1838, the Miwok in 1844, and the Pomos again in 1850. An unknown disease among the Wintun, Maidu, Miwok, and Yokuts in 1833 wiped out 4500 people, 10% of their populations. In all, diseases are estimated as causing 60% of the population decline to the end of the Mexican period, and California's indigenous population had fallen to a total of only 100,000 people, at most.

During this last period of Mexican occupation, California Indians, like the Indians of the eastern United States, were slowly drawn into military involvement with Mexicans and Americans. They had even acquired horses and European weapons so that their own military exploits were no longer quite so out-of-balance with those of the Whites. The inevitable, tragic product of this military involvement, however, was conflict between different Indian tribes. As Americans and Mexicans began fighting squirmishes of the Mexican War, in California, both recruited Indians into military battalions for their own causes. The most spectacular example was a pitched battle between Luiseños and Cahuillas, both connected with different Mexican military units; the battle was fought at a Luiseño rancheria in Temecula, in 1847, and as many as 100 Luiseño were killed. The battle was the most costly one of the war to be fought on California soil, making it ironic in the extreme that its victims were all Indians.

Carrico, Richard L. Strangers in a Stolen Land: American Indians in San Diego, 1850-1880 (San Diego: San Diego State University, 1986)

Cook, Sherburne F. The Conflict between the California Indians and White Civilization (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976)

Costo, Rupert and Jeannette Henry Costo. The Missions of California: A Legacy of Genocide (San Francisco: The Indian History Press, 1987)

Heizer, Robert F. "Treaties" in HNAI, 8

Heizer, Robert F. The Destruction of California Indians (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993)

Phillips, George Harwood. Chiefs and Challengers: Indian Resistance and Cooperation in Southern California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975)

Shipek, Florence C. "History of Southern California Mission Indians" in HNAI, 8

Young, Stanley; Melba Levick (photos). The Missions of California (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988)