Father Junípero Serra and the Sacred Expedition

Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, California – July 13, 2013

Presented by

RUBEN G. MENDOZA, PhD, RPA, Project Archaeologist

Past is Prologue

Cahokia

Olmec

Tenochtitlan

La Reconquista – The Surrender of the Moors at Granada, 1492

The New World

Mesoamerica

Cahokia

Olmec

Amazonas

Tikal

Tenochtitlan

Inca Moche

Huari Chimor

Mexica origins and the rise of Mexico-Tenochtitlan

I have fought beside these Indians and I have seen their loyalty and the great service that they have done for Your Majesty…they have fought and suffered along beside us,

and many a Spanish Soldier owes them his life…I can say in all honesty that without them we would never have conquered this land.

Francisco de Bracamonte, 1576

Indian militias and the battle for Mexico-Tenochtitlan ala Diego Rivera

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro (1485 –1547 )

Spanish Exploration and Conquest

As with the Calfiornias, the founding of the missions and presidios of La Florida was a sacred venture.

Spanish fortifications and Missions of La Florida. Photo by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2011.

The frontier fortifications of Florida and California were seldom more than earth and pole stockades.

Spanish fortifications in La Florida, such as those at San Marcos and Fort Matanzas, remain emblematic of the might of the Spanish in the early years of the empire. Photo by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2011.

The fortress of San Marcos in San Agustin, Florida, incorporates many of those defensive characteristics sought in later Spanish fortifications and presidio ramparts. Photo by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2011.

Fort Matanzas successfully fended off a British attack with its heavy guns.

Fort Mose, an Afro-Hispano or Afro-Mestizo settlement of Florida staved off British slaving in Spanish La Florida. Photo by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2008.

Fort Mose essentially consisted of a stockade with battlements and towers in a plan recalling that at the Presidio of Monterey. Photo by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2011.

The presidio de San Agustin de Tucson incorporated many of those elements seen in the Cardero drawings from the Presidio of Monterey. Photo by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2011.

The Presidio de San Agustin de Tucson consisted of an adobe rampart, church, and barracks buildings, like that of Monterey. Photo by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2008.

Las Californias and the Sacred Expedition

Las Californias in the 16th century

Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo or Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, ~1450 – 1504 Amadis of Gaul, Las sergas de Esplandián or The Exploits of Esplandian

Queen Califia

We found on our journey, as well as in the place where we stopped, that they treated us with as much confidence and good -will as if they had known us

all their lives.

We have seen Indians in immense numbers, and all those on this coast of the Pacific contrive to make a good subsistence on various seeds, and by fishing..

Fr. Junípero Serra , OFM.

Fray Junípero Serra and Gaspar de Portolà Route of the Sacred Expedition, 1769

"Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monterey for God and the King of Spain.”

(Order of King Charles III to Visitador General José de Gálvez, 1769)

Burgundy Flag 1542-1785

The Sacred Expedition of 1769

Fray Junipero Serra (1713 –1784 )

Anza’s 1st Expedition

Departs Tubac Presidio for Alta California January 8, 1774, with 3 padres, 20 soldiers, 11 servants, 35 mules, 65 cattle, and 140 horses.

Reached Mission San Gabriel Arcángel on March 22, 1774.

Arrives at Real Presidio de San Carlos de Monterey, Alta California's capital, on April 19, 1774.

Returns to Tubac in May 1774.

Anza’s 2nd Expedition

Departs for Alta California in October 1775.

Arrives at Mission San Gabriel in January 1776, and proceeds to San Carlos de Monterey.

Identifies the port of San Francisco on March 28, 1776 – future sites of both a presidio and mission.

Juan Bautista de Anza, Expeditions of 1774-76

Jose Cardero sketch depicting thatched-roof 2nd Chapel of 1771-72, with scaffolding of 3rd Chapel and Padre’s Quarters in background. Note sacristy lean-to structure to the right of the cross standing at the northwest corner of 2nd Chapel. View south/southwest, circa 1791. Courtesy RPC Archives.

Fray Junipero Serra (1713 –1784 )

Fray Junipero Miguel Joseph Serra y Abram receives the last sacrament at San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo prior to his death on 28 August 1784. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2005.

Mission San Diego de Alcalá - 1769Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo - 1770Mission San Antonio de Padua - 1771Mission San Gabriel - 1771Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa - 1772Mission San Francisco de Asís - 1776Mission San Juan Capistrano - 1776Mission Santa Clara de Asís - 1777Mission San Buenaventura - 1782

Mission Santa Barbara - 1786Mission La Purísima Concepción - 1787Mission Santa Cruz - 1791Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad - 1791Mission San José - 1797Mission San Juan Bautista - 1797Mission San Miguel Arcángel - 1797Mission San Fernando Rey de España - 1797Mission San Luis Rey de Francia - 1798Mission Santa Inés - 1804Mission San Rafael Arcángel - 1817 Mission San Francisco Solano - 1823

Fray Serra’s Legacy

Asistencia de San Pedro y San Pablo - 1786 Pacifica

Asistencia de Santa Margarita de Cortona - 1787 - Santa Margarita

Asistencia de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles - 1784 - Los Angeles

Asistencia de San Antonio de Pala - 1816 Eastern San Diego County

Asistencia de Santa Ysabel - 1818Santa Ysabel

Estancia de San Bernardino de Sena – 1819, Redlands

Estancia de Santa Ana Estancia -1817, Costa Mesa

Las Flores Estancia - 1823,Camp Pendleton

The carved stone façade of the Royal Presidio Chapel or San Carlos Cathedral has been designated a registered National Historic Landmark.

Recent archaeological investigations at the Royal Presidio Chapel serve to confirm that Jose Cardero’s 1791 illustration was accurate and well proportioned. This and related facts lend credence to the likelihood that Cardero employed a Camera Lucida to produce his images. Image courtesy of the Archives of the Diocese of Monterey.

Wall mural depicting the Plaza de Armas and Presidio guard of the recently reconstructed Presidio San Agustín de Tucson, Arizona. Note cuartel or barracks building in background.

Gaspar de Portolà’s Legacy

El Presidio Real de San Diego - July 16, 1769 - First Military District - San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel

El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara - April 12, 1782 – Second Military District- San Fernando, San Buenaventura, Santa Bárbara, Santa Inés, La Purísima, and El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula [Los Ángeles])

El Presidio Real de San Carlos de Monterey (El Castillo) - June 3, 1770 – Third Military District- San Luis Obispo, San Miguel, San Antonio, Soledad, San Carlos, and San Juan Bautista, and the Villa Branciforte [Santa Cruz])

El Presidio Real de San Francisco - December 17, 1776 – Fourth Military District- Santa Cruz, San José, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Rafael, Solano, and El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe [San José]

During the course of archaeological monitoring, a host of secondary discoveries were made in situ. Among such findings, the re-discovery of the 1905 marble commemorative marker that once marked the location of the “Junipero Oak” was paramount.

Fin