GOLDEN GATE National Recreation Area - California
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Historic Resource Study El Presidio de San Francisco A History under Spain and Mexico, 1776-1846 August 1992 John Phillip Langelier Daniel Bernard Rosen Presidio of San Francisco GOLDEN GATE National Recreation Area - California United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service - Denver Service Center CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS - 3 PROLOGUE - 5 CHAPTER 1, CERTAIN SIGN OF DEFENSE, 1769-1790 - 8 CHAPTER 2, THE APPEARANCE OF DURABILITY, 1791-1800 - 30 CHAPTER 3, WEAK AS THE SPANISH DEFENSES ARE, 1801-1822 - 60 CHAPTER 4, A SICKLY COLUMN OF SMOKE RISING FROM SOME DILAPIDATED WALLS: THE MEXICAN REGIME, 1899-1846 - 86 EPILOGUE - 101 CONCLUSIONS - 107 APPENDIX A, COMMANDERS AND ACTING COMMANDERS OF THE PRESIDIO, 1776-1846 - 109 APPENDIX B, INHABITANTS OF THE PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO DECEMBER 31,1776 - 110 APPENDIX C, COMPARATIVE INFORMATION FOR TYPICAL TROOP STRENGTHS AND ROSTERS UNDER SPAIN, 1787-1819 - 113 APPENDIX D, NATIVE PLANT SPECIES IDENTIFIED AT THE PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO DURING THE SPANISH AND MEXICAN PERIODS OF OCCUPATION - 118 GLOSSARY - 120 BIBLIOGRAPHY - 123 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study represents the culmination of research that began over 30 years ago. The resulting manuscript, however, only became possible because of considerable support and resources made available by many individuals and institutions. First of all, the Spanish and Mexican officials, who labored to make multiple copies of reports and correspondence to their respective home governments and did so without adequate assistance due to widespread illiteracy during the era, provided the basic data on which this project was based. Given the many drawbacks of living at the far end of the realm which they served, their writings did not always provide in-depth information. Nevertheless, the remaining records offer a tantalizing picture of the precarious existence of a frontier outpost. In many cases, the documents these officials produced are all that present-day researchers have to draw upon because inspectors and other visiting government agents from the central seats of power rarely saw fit to venture to Alta California in general and the Bay Area in particular. Fortunately, visitors from Russia, France, Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere occasionally landed, leaving behind mixed descriptions of what they saw. All too often, these outsiders made only brief statements about the physical conditions at the Presidio of San Francisco, dwelling instead on the lack of defenses for the great harbor of St. Francis, thereby implying the relative ease with which their own nations could seize the prize. Moreover, ethnocentricity regularly slanted their perceptions, to the point that some may have felt it unimportant to detail the "mean surroundings" they found in the Bay Area. All this aside, a body of information survived to provide glimpses of the Presidio of San Francisco as it evolved during its first half century. Much of the material that exists can be found in the fine collections of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. There numerous original documents, illustrations, and manuscripts, along with published firsthand accounts and copies of original materials lost in the 1906 earthquake and fire can be found, making it the single most important facility in ten-ns of this study. In addition, microfilm from archives in Spain and Mexico rounds out the holdings, all of which were made available over the years by a highly professional and considerate staff. Likewise, the California Historical Society's Library and the Society of California Pioneers' Library, both in San Francisco, provided some key items that were not held by the Bancroft. At the California State Library in Sacramento Gary Kurutz showed his usual dedication and enthusiasm, as did Kevin Mulroy and the staff of the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Los Angeles. Finally, the capable personnel of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, extended every courtesy, and the University of Texas Library at Austin offered reference services. Likewise, individuals who provided various support should be mentioned. For example, the former consul general of Spain in San Francisco, José Urbina, contacted institutions in his country so that copies of important materials might be made. While completing her doctorate in Albuquerque, Dr. Salomé Hemández took time out of her busy schedule to translate a lengthy, important document on the Castillo de San Joaquin and read microfilm materials from Spain that were in the University of New Mexico Library. Dr. Eric Beennan found some hitherto unknown references and a diagram of that same coastal battery, El Castillo, in Spain and graciously shared the fruits of his discovery. Similarly, Dr. Joseph Sanchez, the director of the National Park Service's Spanish Colonial Research Center in Santa Fe, copied the 1776 plan of the Presidio. Numerous other National Park Service members added comments and suggestions that improved the present version of this document. First of all, Gordon Chappell, the Western Regional historian, carefully reviewed this manuscript and saw to it that the comments of many of his colleagues were gathered to assist in the revision. In many respects, he served as the "godfather" for the study. Dr. Roger Kelly, Western Regional archeologist, and Diane Nicholson, former Western Regional curator and present Golden Gate National Recreation Area curator, raised issues of import. Stephen Haller, Golden Gate National Recreation Area curator of historic documents, clarified questions about the ship San Carlos. Leo Barker, historical archeologist for the National Park Service Western Regional Interagency Archeological Division, provided much encouragement. Thanks are also due to the National Park Service Presidio Planning Team, including Roger Brown, Carey Ferirabend, and Frank Williss. Throughout the process, C. Craig Frazier of the Denver Service Center facilitated the work in many ways. At the Presidio itself, Colonel Milton B. Halsey, Jr. of the Fort Point and Army Museum Association, along with Presidio Army Museum director, Herbert Garcia, and staff member, J. Edward Green, did everything possible to assist this undertaking. In particular, Mr. Garcia s careful reading ensured the accuracy of the manuscript's citations. Likewise, Roger Rhems, a member of "Los Californianos," extended many kindnesses. Last, colleagues from the Architectural Resource Group, most notably Stephen Fameth and Cathleen Malmstrom, were kind enough to invite us to work with their fine interdisciplinary organization. We appreciate this opportunity and hope that all those who participated in this project will be satisfied with the product. John Phillip Langellier and Daniel Bernard Rosen June 26, 1991 PROLOGUE At least some 1,500 years ago humans began to inhabit the area surrounding San Francisco Bay. One of the region's earliest inhabitants, the Ohlone, for whom considerable ethnographic information exists, formed at least eight major subdivisions. Each of the groups had "separate languages, as different from one another as Spanish and English."1 Evidently, they had no common name for themselves, but "the label Costanoan had its roots in Spanish history [the term being taken from Costaños or coast people] and has long since established itself as a recognized language family."2 More recently, "Ohlone" has been applied to the Costanoan. Descendants of this group tend to prefer the newer reference. In those earlier times, however, when the people had no commonly accepted single name, language, custom, and outer appearance nonetheless reflected their ties. In the last mentioned category, men and boys commonly went about naked while a grass or tule apron, which covered the front and back below the waist, constituted the clothing for women. When the weather dictated, capes or cloaks fashioned from water fowl feathers or from deer, rabbit, or sea-mammal skins provided protection.3 Even mud occasionally served "as insulation from the cold.....4 The Ohlone regularly walked barefoot and without head coverings, except on ceremonial occasions. Paint and tattoos provided decoration and clan affiliation, the former applied in patterns that made it appear as if the people wore striped tights as can be seen in the early 19th-century paintings by Louis Choris. Pierced ears could be adorned with beads, feathers, flowers, or grass while pierced nasal septums might hold a small bone, although the custom was not universal and seemed to apply only to men. Both sexes often added necklaces of beads, feathers, and shells (abalone and olivella) to their wardrobe. For shelter, poles bent into a conical shape and covered in brush or tule sufficed. Occasionally, split redwood or redwood bark constituted the basic construction material. The building of balsas was another use for tule. Double-blade paddles moved these fight craft through the water. These people produced other items as well. Baskets, frequently embellished with beads, feathers, and mother-of-pearl were typical. Wild onion or soap-plant root brushes, mollusk shell spoons, 1 Kathryn M. Lang, "Golden Gate National Recreation Area: The Indian and Hispanic Heritage of a Modem Urban Park" (typescript, National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, 1979), 3. 2 Ibid., 7. 3 An early Franciscan missionary noted many of the Costanoan men were bald and bearded and made "a habit of pulling out the hair of their eyebrows by the roots...... The same source also mentioned observing