document_title: Californio

question_text: who led a mission to california in 1846

question_tokens: who led a mission to california in 1846

text: Californio

text: Society and customs[edit]

text: Government[edit]

text: Alta California ("Upper California") was nominally controlled by a national-government appointed governor.[4] The governors of California were at first appointed by the Viceroy (nominally under the control of the Spanish kings), and after 1821 by the approximate 40 Mexican Presidents from 1821 to 1846. The costs of the minimum Alta California government were mainly paid by means of a roughly 40–100% import tariff collected at the entry port of Monterey.

text: The other center of Spanish power in Alta California was the Franciscan friars who, as heads of the 21 missions, often resisted the powers of the governors.[5] None of the Franciscan friars were Californios, however, and their influence rapidly waned after the secularization of the missions in the 1830s.

text: The instability of the Mexican government (especially in its early years), Alta California's geographic isolation, the growing ability of the Alta California's inhabitants to generally make a success of immigrating and an increase in the Californio population created a schism with the national government. As Spanish and Mexican period immigrants were succeeded in number by those that increasing lost an affinity with the national government, an environment developed that did not suppress disagreement with the central government. Governors had little material support from far-away Mexico to deal with Alta Californians, who were left to resolve situations themselves. Mexico-born governor Manuel Victoria was forced to flee in 1831, after losing a fight against a local uprising at the Battle of Cahuenga Pass.

text: As Californios matured to adulthood and increasingly assumed positions of power in the Alta California government (including that of governor), rivalries emerged between northern and southern regions. Several times, Californio leaders attempted to break away from Mexico, most notably Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1836. Southern regional leaders, led by Pio Pico, made several attempts to relocate the capital from Monterey to the more populated Los Angeles.[6]

text: Foreigners[edit]

text: The independence-minded Californios were also influenced by the increasing numbers of immigrant foreigners (mostly English and French, Americans were grouped with the "English"), who integrated with the Californios, becoming Mexican citizens and gaining land either independently granted to them or through marriage to Californio women; involvement in local politics was inevitable.[7]

text: For example, the American Abel Stearns was an ally of the Californio José Antonio Carrillo in the 1831 Victoria incident, yet sided with the southern Californians against the Californio would-be governor Alvarado in 1836. Alvarado recruited a company of Tennessean riflemen, many of them former trappers who had settled in the Monterey Bay area. The company was led by another American, Isaac Graham; the Americans refused to fight against fellow Americans. Alvarado was forced to negotiate a settlement.

text: Ethnic variety[edit]

text: Californios included the descendants of agricultural settlers and retired escort soldiers deployed from what is modern-day Mexico. Most were of mixed ethnicities, usually Mestizo (Spanish and Native American) or mixed African-American and Indian backgrounds. Despite the depictions of the popular shows like Zorro, few Californios were of "pure" Spanish (Peninsular or Criollo) ancestry.[8] Most with unmixed Spanish ancestry were Franciscan priests, along with career government officials and military officers who did not remain in California.[9]

text: According to mission records (marriage, baptisms, and burials) as well as Presidio roster listings, several "leather-jacket" soldiers (soldados de cuero) operating as escorts, mission guards, and other military duty personnel were described as europeo (i.e., born in Europe), while most of the civilian settlers were of mixed origins (coyote, mulatto, etc.). The term "mestizo" was rarely if ever used in mission records, the more common terms being "indio", "europeo", "mulatto", "coyote", "castizo" and other caste terms. An example of the number of European-born soldiers is the twenty-five from Lieutenant Pedro Fages detachment of Catalan Volunteers. Most of the soldiers on the Portola-Serra expedition of 1769 and the de Anza expeditions of 1774 and 1775 were recruited from the Spanish Army infantry regiments then stationed in Mexico. Many of them were assigned to garrison the presidios, then retired at the end of their ten-year enlistments, and remaining in California. Because there were many more men than women among the Spanish soldiers and settlers, some men who stayed in California married native Californian women who had converted to Christianity at the missions.

text: Family and education[edit]

text: The family was characteristically patriarchal, with the son regardless of age, deferring to his father's wishes.[7] Women had full rights of property ownership and control unless she was married or had a father—the males had almost complete control of all family members.[5] A formal education system in California had yet to be created so it fell to the individual families to educate their children among them, traditionally done by the priests or hired private tutors; few early immigrants knew how to read or write, so only a few hundred inhabitants could.[2]

text: Women in Californio Society[edit]

text: Women in Californio society are often heavily romanticized as the young Spanish women that are so commonly seen in extravagant dresses in movies and television. They are commonly characterized by their beauty and fun loving nature, while also being very sheltered and protected.[10] While some women at the pinnacle of Californio social standing did manage to live this kind of life it was very rare among indigenous peoples, most of whose women worked to help their families both inside and outside the home. See the top gallery for an 1867 photograph of Josepha Bandini de Carrillo, the Californio daughter of Juan Bandini and wife of Pedro C. Carrillo.

text: The social life of Californio society was extremely important in both politics and business, and women played an important but overlooked part in these interactions. They helped facilitate these interactions for their husbands, and therefore themselves, to move up in the social and power rankings of Californio society. This ability to shape social situations was a sought after trait when looking for a spouse, as prominent men knew the power their new wife would have in their future dealings[11]

text: As women played a key role in the development of Alta California and its social interactions they continued this role into its transition from a Mexican territory to an American possession. As foreign non-Spanish speaking men moved into California, who wished to insert themselves into the upper echelons of already established social hierarchy, they began to use marriage with the women of established Californio families as a way to join this hierarchy.[11] Intermarriages between Californios and foreigners was common during the time of Mexican rule and quickly became even more common after the American annexation and Gold Rush in California. These intermarriages worked to combine the cultures of American settlers and merchants with that of the declining Californio society. These marriages though were not enough to prevent the descent into irrelevance of Californio power in California or the racism and attacks on the people of Mexican heritage later.

text: Repopulation[edit]

text: The Spanish colonial government, and later, Mexican officials encouraged through recruitment civilians from the northern and western provinces of Mexico such as Sonora. This was not well received by Californios, and was one of the factors leading to revolt against Mexican rule. Sonorans came to California despite the area's isolation and the lack of central government support. Many of the soldier's wives considered California to be a cultural wasteland and a hardship assignment. An incentive for the soldiers that remained in California after service was the opportunity to receive a land grant that probably was not possible elsewhere. This made most of California's early settlers military retirees with a few civilian settlers from Mexico. Since it was a frontier society, the initial rancho housing was characterized as rude and crude—little more than mud huts with thatched roofs. As the rancho owners prospered these residences could be upgraded to more substantial adobe structures with tiled roofs. Some buildings took advantage of local tar pits (La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles) in an attempt to waterproof roofs. Restoration of these Today, often suffer from a perception that results in a grander representation than if they had been constructed during the Californio period.[12]

text: The concession of land[edit]

text: Before Mexican independence in 1821, 20 "Spanish" land grants had been issued (at little or no cost) in all of Alta California;[7] many to "a few friends and family of the Alta California governors". The 1824 Mexican General Colonization Law established rules for petitioning for land grants in California; and by 1828, the rules for establishing land grants were codified in the Mexican Reglamento (Regulation). The Acts sought to break the monopoly of the Catholic Franciscan missions and possibly entice increased Mexican settlement. When the missions were secularized in 1834–1836 mission property and livestock were supposed to be mostly allocated to the Mission Indians.[12] Historical research shows that the majority of rancho grants were given to retired non-commissioned soldiers. The largest grants to Nieto, Sepulveda, Dominguez, Yorba, Avila, Grijalva, and other founding families were examples of this practice.[7]

text: Many of the foreign residents also became rancho grantees. Some were "Californios by marriage" like Stearns (who was naturalized in Mexico before moving north) and the Englishman William Hartnell. Others married Californios but never became Mexican citizens. Rancho ownership was possible for these men because, under Spanish/Mexican law, married women could independently hold title to property. In the Santa Cruz area, three Californio daughters of the inválido José Joaquín Castro (1768–1838) married foreigners yet still received grants to Rancho Soquel, Rancho San Agustin and Rancho Refugio.

text: Ranchos[edit]

text: In practice nearly all mission property and livestock became about 455 large Ranchos of California granted by the Californio authorities. The Californio rancho owners claimed about 8,600,000 acres (35,000 km2) averaging about 18,900 acres (76 km2) each. This land was nearly all originally mission land within about 30 miles (48 km) of the coast. The Mexican-era land grants by law were provisional for five years in order for the terms of the law could reasonably be fulfilled. The boundaries of these ranchos were not established as they came to be in later times predominately based on what could be understood as figurative boundaries. They were based on just where another granted owner considered the end of their land, lands or vegetation landmarks.[13] Conflict was bound to occur when these land grants were reviewed under United States control. Title to some grants under United States control were rejected[14] based on questionable documents especially when with predated documents, that could have been created post-United States occupancy in January 1847.[12][15]

text: Rancho culture[edit]

text: After agriculture, cattle, sheep and horses were established by the Missions, Friars, soldiers and Mission Indians the Rancho owners dismissed the Friars and the soldiers and took over the Mission land and livestock starting in 1834—the Mission Indians were left to survive however they could. The rancho owners tried to live in a grand style they perceived of the wealthy hidalgos in Spain. They expected the non-rancho owning population to support this lifestyle.[7] Nearly all males rode to where ever they were going at nearly all times making them excellent riders. They indulged in many fiestas, fandangos, rodeos and roundups as the rancho owners often went from rancho to rancho on a large horse bound party circuit. Weddings, christenings, and funerals were all "celebrated" with large gatherings.[12]

text: Taxes[edit]

text: Since the government depended on import tariffs (also called Custom duties and ad-valorem taxes) for its income there was virtually no property tax. Under Spanish/Mexican rule, all landowners were expected to the Diezmo, a compulsory tithe to the Catholic Church of one tenth of the fruits of agriculture and animal husbandry, business profits or salaries. Priest salaries and mission expenses were paid out of this money and/or collected goods.[12]

text: The mandatory Diezmo ended with the secularization of the missions, greatly reducing rancho taxes until the U.S. takeover. Today's state property tax system makes large self-supporting cattle ranches uneconomical in most cases.

text: Frequency of use of horses[edit]

text: Horses were plentiful and often left, after being broken in, to wander around with a rope around their neck for easy capture. It was not unusual for a rider to use one horse until it was exhausted, before switching its bridle to another horse—letting the first horse free to wander. Horse ownership for all except a few exceptional animals were almost community property. Horses were so common and of so little use that they were often destroyed to keep them from eating the grass needed by the cattle. California Indians later developed a taste for horse flesh as food and helped keep the number of horses under control.[12] An unusual use for horses was found in shucking wheat or barley. The wheat and its stems were cut from the gain fields by Indians bearing sickles. The grain with its stems still attached was transported to the harvesting area by solid wheeled ox-cart[16] (about the only wheeled transport in California) and put into a circular packed earth corral. A herd of horses were then driven into the same corral or "threshing field". By keeping the horses moving around the corral their hoofs would, in time, separate the wheat or barley from the chaff. Later the horses would be allowed to escape and the wheat and chaff were collected and then separated by tossing it into the air on a windy day so as to let the wind carry the chaff away. Presumably the wheat was washed before use to remove some of the dirt.[17]

text: The Indian work force[edit]

text: For these very few rancho owners and their families, this was the Californio's Golden Age, although for all the others much different.[7] Much of the agriculture, vineyards and orchards established by the Missions were allowed to deteriorate as the rapidly declining mission Indian population went from over 80,000 in 1800 to only a few thousand by 1846. Fewer Indians meant less food was required and the Franciscan Friars and soldiers supporting the missions disappeared after 1834 when the missions were abolished (secularized). After the Friars and soldiers disappeared, many of the Indians deserted the missions and returned to their tribes or found work elsewhere. The new ranchos often gave work to some of the former mission Indians. The "Savage tribes" worked for room, board and clothing (and no pay).[18] The former mission Indians performed the majority of the work herding cattle, planting and harvesting the ranchos' crops. The slowly increasing ranchos and Pueblos at Los Angeles, San Diego, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Jose and Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) mostly only grew enough food to eat and to trade. The exceptions were the cattle and horses growing wild on unfenced range land. Originally owned by the missions they were killed for their hides and tallow.[19]

text: Leather and food[edit]

text: Leather, one of the most common materials available, was used for many products, including saddles, chaps, whips, window and door coverings, riatas (leather braided rope), trousers, hats, stools, chairs, bed frames, etc. Leather was even used for leather armor where soldiers' jackets were made from several layers of hardened leather sewn together. This stiff leather jacket was sufficient to stop most Indian arrows and worked well when fighting the Indians. Beef was a common constituent of most Californio meals and since it couldn't be kept long in the days before refrigeration, beef was often slaughtered to get a few steaks or cuts of meat. The property and yards around the ranchos were marked by the large number of dead cow heads, horns or other animal parts. Cow hides were kept later for trading purposes with Yankee or British traders who started showing up once or twice a year after 1825.[20] Beef, wheat bread products, corn (maize), several types of beans, peas and several types of squash were common meal items with wine and olive oil used when they could be found. The mestizo population probably subsisted mostly on what they were used to: corn or maize, beans, and squash with some beef donated by the rancho owners. What the average Native Americans ate is unknown since they were in transition from a hunter gatherer society to agriculturalists. Formerly, many lived at least part of the year on ground acorns, fish, seeds, wild game, etc. It is known that many of the ranchers complained about Indians stealing their cattle and horses to eat.[19]

text: Trade[edit]

text: From about 1769 to 1824 California averaged about 2.5 ships per year with 13 years showing no ships coming to California. These ships brought a few new settlers and supplies for the pueblos and Missions. Under the Spanish colonial government rules, trade was actively discouraged with non-Spanish ships. The few non-Indian people living in California had almost nothing to trade—the missions and pueblos were subsidized by the Spanish government. The occasional Spanish ships that did show up were usually requested by Californios and had Royal permission to go to California—bureaucracy in action. Prior to 1824, when the newly independent Mexico liberalized the trade rules[7] and allowed trade with non-Mexican ships, the occasional trading ship or U.S. whaler that put into a California port to trade, get fresh water, replenish their firewood and obtain fresh meat and vegetables became more common. The average number of ships from 1825 to 1845 jumped to twenty-five ships per year versus the 2.5 ships per year common for the prior fifty years.[19]

text: The rancho society had few resources except large herds of Longhorn cattle which grew well in California. The ranchos produced the largest cowhide (called California Greenbacks) and tallow business in North America by killing and skinning their cattle and cutting off the fat. The cowhides were staked out to dry and the tallow was put in large cowhide bags. The rest of the animal was left to rot or feed the California grizzly bears that were common in California. With something to trade, and needing everything from nails, needles and almost anything made of metal to fancy thread and cloth that could be sewn into fancy cloaks or ladies' dresses, etc., they started trading with merchant ships from Boston, Massachusetts, Britain and other trading ports in Europe and the East Coast of the United States. The trip from Boston, New York City or Liverpool England averaged over 200 days one way. Trading ships and the occasional whaler put into San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Pedro, San Buenaventura (Ventura), Monterey and Yerba Buena (San Francisco) after stopping and paying the import tariff of 50–100% at the entry port of Monterey, California. These tariffs or custom fees paid for the Alta California government. The classic book Two Years Before the Mast (originally published 1840) by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. gives a good first-hand account of a two-year sailing ship sea trading voyage to Alta California which he took in 1834-5. Dana mentions that they also took back a large shipment of California longhorn horns. Horns were used to make a large number of items during this period. (The eBook of Two Years Before the Mast is available at Gutenberg project[21] and at other sites.)

text: California was not alone in using the import duty to pay for its government as the U.S. import tariffs at this time were also the way the United States paid for most of its Federal Government. A U.S. average tariff (also called custom duties and ad valorem taxes) of about 25% raised about 89% of all Federal income in 1850.[22]

text: History[edit]

text: Early colonization[edit]

text: In 1769, Gaspar de Portolà and less than two hundred men, on expedition founded the Presidio of San Diego (military post). On July 16, Franciscan friars Junípero Serra, Juan Viscaino and Fernando Parron raised and 'blessed a cross', establishing the first mission in upper Las Californias, Mission San Diego de Alcalá.[23] Colonists began arriving in 1774.

text: Monterey, California was established in 1770 by Father Junípero Serra and Gaspar de Portolà (first governor of Las Californias province (1767–1770), explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey). Monterey was settled with two friars and about 40 men and served as the capital of California from 1777 to 1849. The nearby Carmel Mission, in Carmel, California was moved there after a year in Monterey to keep the mission and its Mission Indians away from the Monterey Presidio soldiers. It was the headquarters of the original Alta California province missions headed by Father-President Junípero Serra from 1770 until his death in 1784—he is buried there. Monterey was originally the only port of entry for all taxable goods in California. All ships were supposed to clear through Monterey and pay the roughly 42% tariff (customs duties on imported goods before trading anywhere else in Alta California. The oldest governmental building in the state is the Monterey Custom House and California's Historic Landmark Number One.[24] The Californian, California's oldest newspaper, was first published in Monterey on August 15, 1846, after the city's occupation by the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron on July 7, 1846.[25]

text: Late in 1775, Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza led an overland expedition over the Gila River trail he had discovered in 1774 to bring colonists from Sonora New Spain (Mexico) to California to settle two missions, one presidio, and one pueblo (town). Anza led 240 friars, soldiers and colonists with their families. They started out with 695 horses and mules and 385 Texas Longhorn bulls and cows—starting the cattle and horse industry in California. About 600 horses and mules and 300 cattle survived the trip. In 1776 about 200 leather-jacketed soldiers, Friars, and colonists with their families moved to what was called Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) to start building a mission and a presidio there. The leather jackets the soldiers wore consisted of several layers of hardened leather and were strong enough body armor to usually stop an Indian arrow. In California the cattle and horses had few enemies and plentiful grass in all but drought years and essentially grew and multiplied as feral animals—doubling roughly every two years. They partially displaced the Tule Elk and pronghorn antelope who had lived there in large herds previously.

text: Anza selected the sites of the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asís in what is now San Francisco; on his way back to Monterey, he sited Mission Santa Clara de Asís and the pueblo San Jose in the Santa Clara Valley but did not initially leave settlers to settle them. Mission San Francisco de Asís (or Mission Dolores), the sixth Spanish mission, was founded on June 29, 1776, by Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga and Father Francisco Palóu (a companion of Junípero Serra).

text: On November 29, 1777, El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (The Town of Saint Joseph of Guadalupe now called simply San Jose) was founded by José Joaquín Moraga on the first pueblo-town not associated with a mission or a military post (presidio) in Alta California. The original San Jose settlers were part of the original group of 200 settlers and soldiers that had originally settled in Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Mission Santa Clara, founded in 1777, was the eighth mission founded and closest mission to San Jose. Mission Santa Clara was 3 miles (5 km) from the original San Jose pueblo site in neighboring Santa Clara. Mission San José was not founded until 1797, about 20 miles (30 km) north of San Jose in what is now Fremont.

text: The Los Angeles Pobladores ("villagers") is the name given to the 44 original Sonorans—22 adults and 22 children—who settled the Pueblo of Los Angeles in 1781. The pobladores were agricultural families from Sonora, Mexico. They were the last settlers to use the Anza trail as the Quechans (Yumas) closed the trail for the next 40 years shortly after they had passed over it. Almost none of the settlers were españoles (Spanish); the rest had casta (caste) designations such as mestizo, indio, and negro. Some classifications were changed in the California Census of 1790, as often happened in colonial Spanish America.[26]

text: The settlers and escort soldiers who founded the towns of San José de Guadalupe, Yerba Buena (San Francisco), Monterey, San Diego and La Reina de Los Ángeles were primarily mestizo and of mixed Negro and Indian ancestry from the province of Sonora y Sinaloa in Mexico. Recruiters in Mexico of the Fernando Rivera y Moncada expedition and other expeditions later, who were charged with founding an agricultural community in Alta California, had a difficult time persuading people to emigrate to such an isolated outpost with no agriculture, no towns, no stores or developments of almost any kind. The majority of settlers were recruited from the northwestern parts of Mexico. The only tentative link with Mexico was via ship after the Quechans (Yumas) closed the Colorado River's Yuma Crossing in 1781. For the next 40 years, an average of only 2.5 ships per year visited California with 13 years showing no recorded ships arriving.

text: In Californio society, casta (caste) designations carried more weight than they did in older communities of central Mexico. One similar concept was the gente de razón, a term literally meaning "people of reason". It designated peoples who were culturally Hispanic (that is, they were not living in traditional Indian communities) and had adopted Christianity. This served to distinguish the Mexican Indio settlers and converted Californian Indios from the barbaro (barbarian) Californian Indians, who had not converted or become part of the Hispanic towns.[27] California's Governor Pío Pico was criticized for his alleged descent from mestizo and mulato (mulatto) settlers.

text: The end of Mexican rule[edit]

text: In the 1830s the newly formed Mexican government was experiencing difficulties having gone through several revolts, wars, and internal conflicts and a seemingly never ending string of Mexican Presidents. One of the problems in Mexico was the large amount of land controlled by the Catholic Church (estimated then at about one-third of all settled property) who were continually granted property by many land owners when they died or controlled property supposedly held in trust for the Indians. This land, as it gradually accumulated, was seldom sold as it cost nothing to keep, but could be rented out to gain additional income for the Catholic Church to pay its priests, Friars, Bishops etc. and other expenses. The Catholic Church was the largest and richest land owner in Mexico and its provinces. In California the situation was even more pronounced as the Franciscan Friars held over 90% of all settled property supposedly in trust for the Mission Indians.

text: In 1834 secularization laws [28] were enacted that voided the mission control of lands in the northern settlements under Mexican rule. The missions controlled over 90% of the settled land in California as well as directing thousands of Indians in herding livestock, growing crops and orchards, weaving cloth, etc. for the missions and the presidios and pueblo (town) dwellers. The mission lands and herds formerly controlled by the missions were usually distributed to the settlers around each mission. Since most had almost no money the land was distributed or granted free or at very little cost to friends and families (or those who paid the highest bribes) of the government officials.

text: The Californio Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, for example, was reputed to be the richest man in California before the California Gold Rush. Vallejo oversaw the secularization of Mission San Francisco Solano and the distributions of its roughly 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2). He founded the towns of Sonoma, California and Petaluma, California, owned Mare Island and the future town site of Benicia, California and was granted the 66,622-acre (269.61 km2) Rancho Petaluma, the 84,000-acre (340 km2) Rancho Suscol and other properties by Governor José Figueroa in 1834 and later. Vallejo's younger brother, Jose Manuel Salvador Vallejo (1813–1876), was granted the 22,718-acre (91.94 km2) Rancho Napa and other additional grants known as Salvador's Ranch.[29] Over the hills of Mariano Vallejo's princely estate of Petaluma roamed ten thousand cattle, four to six thousand horses, and many thousands of sheep. He occupied a baronial castle on the plaza at Sonoma, where he entertained all who came with most royal hospitality and few travelers of note came to California without visiting him. At Petaluma he had a great ranch house called La Hacienda and on his home farm called Lachryma Montis (Tear of the Mountain), he built, about 1849, a modern frame house where he spent the later years of his life.

text: Vallejo tried to get the California State Capital moved permanently to Benicia, California on land he sold to the state government in December 1851. It was named Benicia for the General's wife, Francisca Benicia Carillo de Vallejo. The General intended that the prospective city be named "Francisca" after his wife, but this name was dropped when the former city of "Yerba Buena" changed its name to "San Francisco" on January 30, 1847. Benicia was the third site selected to serve as the California state capital, and its newly constructed city hall was California's capitol from February 11, 1853 to February 25, 1854. Vallejo gave the 84,000-acre (340 km2) Rancho Suscol to his oldest daughter, Epifania Guadalupe Vallejo, April 3, 1851, as a wedding present, when she married U.S. Army General John H. Frisbie. It is unknown what he gave as a wedding present when his two daughters Natalia and Jovita married the brothers Attila Haraszthy and Agoston Haraszthy on the same day—June 1, 1863.

text: In some cases particular mission land and livestock were split into parcels and then distributed by drawing lots. In nearly all cases the Indians got very little of the mission land or livestock. Whether any of the proceeds of these sales made its way back to Mexico City is unknown. These lands had been worked by settlers and the much larger settlements of local Native American Kumeyaay peoples on the missions for in some cases several generations. When the missions were secularized or dismantled and the Indians did not have to live under continued Friar and military control they were left essentially to survive on their own. Many of the Native Americans reverted to their former tribal existence and left the missions while others found they could get room and board and some clothing by working for the large ranches that took over the former mission lands and livestock. Many natives who had learned to ride horses and had a smattering of Spanish were recruited to be become vaqueros (cowboys or cattle herders) that worked the cattle and horses on the large ranchos and did other work. Some of these rancho owners and their hired hands would make up the bulk of the few hundred Californios fighting in the brief Mexican–American War conflicts in California. Some of the Californios and California Indians would fight on the side of the U.S. settlers during the conflict with some even joining the California Battalion.

text: Mexican Governors of California[edit]

text: The Californios had a succession of Mexican appointed governors who nearly all either died in office or were driven from office. Many of governors appointed by Mexico proved to be mediocre, autocratic and indifferent to Californio concerns or needs and were driven from office. The native Californio governors were usually self-appointed and acted as governor pro tempore till Mexico heard about the previous Governor's death or ouster and they could appoint a new governor or approve the existing governor—often a slow process. The Californios had such poor luck with Mexican troops (often unpaid convicts) and Mexican appointed governors that many resented Mexican interference in what they considered their internal affairs.

text:
List of Governors
1822–1825: Luis Antonio Argüello (born in San Francisco, he was the first native–born Californio to govern Alta California)
1825–1831: José María de Echeandía Mexico appointed; first of two terms
1831–1832: Manuel Victoria Mexico appointed; forced from office after one year
1832: Pío Pico native-born Californio, native of San Diego and favored British acquisition of California, moved capital from Monterey to Los Angeles
1832–1833: Agustín V. Zamorano a secretary to Manuel Victoria and was governor pro tempore of northern California and José María de Echeandía Echeandía reappointed governor pro tempore but could only gain control of southern California. Both were only temporary appointments
1833–1835: José Figueroa Mexico appointed; started secularization of Missions; died in office
1835: José Castro Californio; governor pro tempore
1836: Nicolás Gutiérrez Mexico appointed; governor pro tempore
1836: Mariano Chico Mexican governor expelled from office after three months and exiled to Mexico
1836: Nicolás Gutiérrez Mexico appointed; governor pro tempore reassumed office
1836–1837: Juan Bautista Alvarado Californio; ousted Gutierrez
1837–1838: Carlos Antonio Carrillo Californio governor pro tempore
1838–1842: Juan Bautista Alvarado Californio, reassumed office
1842–1845: Manuel Micheltorena Mexico appointed governor came in with 300 troops and served from December 30, 1842, until his ouster in 1845 when he and his troops (most unpaid convicts) were driven back to Mexico.
1845–1846: Pío Pico Californio, reassumed office
1846–1847: José María Flores Mexican Army officer, secretary to Micheltorena; fled California when Mexican American War started
1847: Andrés Pico Californio, commanded Californio lancers against General Kearny; provisional governor of rebellion; signed Treaty of Cahuenga January 12, 1847 ceasing strife in California.

text: The Mexican–American War[edit]

text: Prior to the Mexican–American War the Californios forced the Mexican appointed governor, Manuel Micheltorena, to flee back to Mexico with most of his troops. Pío Pico, a Californio, was the governor of California during the conflict.

text: The Pacific Squadron, the United States Naval force stationed in the Pacific was instrumental in the capture of Alta California in the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848 after war was declared on April 24, 1846. The American navy with its force of 350–400 U.S. Marines and "bluejacket" sailors on board several U.S. Naval ships near California were essentially the only significant United States military force on the Pacific Coast in the early months of the Mexican–American War. The British navy Pacific Station ships in the Pacific had more men and were more heavily armed than the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron, but did not have orders to help or hinder the occupation of California. New orders would have taken almost two years to get back to the British ships. The Marines were stationed aboard each ship to assist in ship-to-ship combat, as snipers in the rigging, and to defend against boarders. They could also be detached for use as armed infantry. In addition, there were some "bluejacket" sailors on each ship that could be detached for shore duty as artillery crews and infantry, leaving the ship functional though short handed. The artillery used were often small naval cannon converted to land use. The Pacific Squadron had orders, in the event of war with Mexico, to seize the ports in Mexican California and elsewhere along the Pacific Coast.

text: The only other United States military force in California at the time was a small exploratory expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont, made up of 30 topographical, surveying, etc. army troops and about 25 men hired as guides and hunters. The Frémont expedition had been dispatched to California, in 1845, from the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers.

text: Rumors that the Californio government in California was planning to arrest and deport many of the new residents as they had in 1844 led to a degree of uncertainty. On June 14, 1846, thirty-three settlers in Sonoma Valley took preemptive action and captured the small Californio garrison of Sonoma, California without firing a shot and raised a homemade flag with a bear and star (the "Bear Flag") to symbolize their taking control. The words "California Republic" appeared on the flag but were never officially adopted by the insurgents. The present Flag of California is based on the original "Bear Flag".

text: Their capture of the small garrison in Sonoma was later called the "Bear Flag Revolt".[30] The Republic's only commander-in-chief was William B. Ide,[31] whose command lasted twenty-five days. On June 23, 1846, Frémont arrived from the future state of Oregon's border with about 30 soldiers and 30 scouts and hunters and took command of the "Republic" in the name of the United States. Frémont began to recruit a militia from among the new settlers living around Sutters Fort to join with his forces. Many of these settlers had just arrived over the California Trail and many more would continue to arrive after July 1846 when they got to California. The Donner Party were the last travelers on the trail in late 1846 when they were caught by early snow while they were trying to get across the Sierras.

text: Under orders from John D. Sloat, Commodore of the Pacific Squadron, the U.S. Marines and some of the bluejacket sailors from the U.S. Navy sailing ships USS Savannah with the Cyane and Levant captured the Alta California capital city of Monterey, California on July 7, 1846. The only shots fired were salutes by the U.S. Navy ships in the harbor to the U.S. flag now flying over Monterey. Two days later on July 9, USS Portsmouth, under Captain John S. Montgomery, landed 70 Marines and bluejacket sailors at Clark's Point in San Francisco Bay and captured Yerba Buena (now named San Francisco) without firing a shot.

text: On July 11 the British Royal Navy sloop HMS Juno entered San Francisco Bay, causing Montgomery to man his defenses. The large British ship, 2,600 tons with a crew of 600, man-of-war HMS Collingwood, flagship under Sir George S. Seymour, also arrived at about this time outside Monterey Harbor. Both British ships observed, but did not enter the conflict.[32]

text: Shortly after July 9, when it became clear the US Navy was taking action, the short-lived Bear Flag Republic was converted into a United States military occupation and the Bear Flag was replaced by the U.S. flag. Commodore Robert F. Stockton took over as the senior U.S. military commander in California in late July 1846 and asked Frémont's force of California militia and his 60 men to form the California Battalion with U.S. Army pay and ranks with Fremont in command. The California "Republic" disbanded and William Ide enlisted in the California Battalion, when it was established in late July 1846, as a private.

text: The first job given to the California Battalion and was to assist in the capture of San Diego and Pueblo de Los Angeles. On July 26, 1846, Lt. Col. J. C. Frémont's California Battalion of about 160 boarded the sloop USS Cyane, under the command of Captain Samuel Francis Du Pont, and sailed for San Diego. They landed July 29, 1846, and a detachment of Marines and blue-jackets, followed shortly by Frémont's California Battalion from Cyane, landed and took possession of the town without firing a shot. Leaving about 40 men to garrison San Diego, Fremont continued on to Los Angeles where on August 13, with the Navy band playing and colors flying, the combined forces of Stockton and Frémont entered Pueblo de Los Angeles, without a man killed nor shot fired. U.S. Marine Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie, Frémont's second in command, was appointed military commander of Los Angeles with an inadequate force from 30 to 50 California Battalion troops stationed there to keep the peace.

text: In Pueblo de Los Angeles, the largest city in California with about 3,000 residents, things might have remained peaceful, except that Major Gillespie placed the town under martial law, greatly angering some of the Californios. On September 23, 1846, about 200 Californios under Californio Gen. José María Flores staged a revolt, the Siege of Los Angeles, and exchanged shots with the Americans in their quarters at the Government House. Gillespie and his men withdrew from their headquarters in town to Fort Hill which, unfortunately, had no water. Gillespie was caught in a trap, badly outnumbered by the besiegers. John Brown, an American, called by the Californios Juan Flaco,[33] meaning "Lean John", succeeded in breaking through the Californio lines and riding by horseback to San Francisco Bay (a distance of almost 400 miles (640 km)) in an amazing 52 hours where he delivered to Stockton a dispatch from Gillespie notifying him of the situation. Gillespie, on September 30, finally accepted the Californio terms and departed for San Pedro with his forces, weapons, flags and two cannon (the others were spiked and left behind). Gillespie's men were accompanied by the exchanged American prisoners and several non-Californio residents.[34]

text: It would take about four months of intermittent sparing before Gillespie could again raise the same American flag originally flown over Los Angeles. Los Angeles was retaken without a fight on January 10, 1847.[35] Following their defeat at the Battle of La Mesa, the Californio government signed the Treaty of Cahuenga, which ended the war in California on January 13, 1847. The main Californio military force, known as the Californio lancers, was disbanded. On January 16, 1847, Commodore Stockton appointed Frémont military governor of U.S. territorial California.

text: Some Californios fought on both sides of the conflict (U.S. and Mexico). The battlefield memorials attest to the heroic fight and loss on both sides.

text: Californio battles[edit]

text: Most towns in California surrendered without a shot being fired on either side. What little fighting that did occur usually involved small groups of disaffected Californios and small groups of soldiers, marines or militia.

text:
1846

Battle of Dominguez Rancho, October 9, 1846. José Antonio Carrillo, near Los Angeles, leads Californio forces against 350 marines and sailors who retreated.

Battle of San Pascual, a rousing Californio victory led by Don Andrés Pico against a superior force led by Gen. Stephen W. Kearny. Kearny had underestimated Californio anger toward John C. Fremont, and his troops were tired after crossing the desert from New Mexico.

Battle of San Pasqual, 6 December 1846. US Cavalry General Stephen Kearny's dragoons, after a grueling journey across New Mexico and the Mojave Desert, cross into California with about 100 men and are joined by Kit Carson's 20 scouts and about 40 men under Gillespie north of San Diego. In a poorly thought out and uncoordinated attack with wet powder and worn out mules Kearny loses about 19 of his men in a fight with about 150 Californio lancers led by Andrés Pico—brother of Pio Pico. Californio casualties are unknown. By the time reinforcements came from U.S. forces in San Diego, the Californio forces were already gone.[35]
Temecula Massacre, December 1846. Californios and Cahuilla Indians combine to wipe out a party of Pauma Band Luiseño Indians responsible for a massacre of eleven Californios, near Temecula.[36]

1847

January 5, 1847. Frémont near the San Buenaventura Mission, with about 400 men and six field pieces, disperses a force of 60–70 Californio Lancers.[35]
Battle of Rio San Gabriel, January 8, 1847. Stephen Kearny and Stockton's combined force of about 600 men (about a battalion equivalent) defeat the roughly 160-man Californio Lancer force near Los Angeles. Casualties are about one man on each side.
Battle of La Mesa, January 9, 1847. Kearny and Robert F. Stockton's combined US forces defeat the Californios in the final battle in California, at present day Montebello, east of Los Angeles. Casualties are about one man on each side.

text: In late December, 1846, while Fremont was in Santa Barbara, Bernarda Ruíz de Rodriguez, a wealthy educated woman of influence and town matriarch, asked to speak with him. She advised him that a generous peace would be to his political advantage. Fremont later wrote of this 2-hour meeting, "I found that her object was to use her influence to put an end to the war, and to do so upon such just and friendly terms of compromise as would make the peace acceptable and enduring".[37][38] The next day, Bernarda accompanied Fremont south.

text: On January 11, 1847, General Jose Maria Flores turned over his command to Andrés Pico and fled. On January 12, Bernarda went alone to Pico's camp and told him of the peace agreement she and Fremont had forged. Fremont and two of Pico's officers agreed to the terms for a surrender, and Jose Antonio Carrillo penned Articles of Capitulation in both English and Spanish.[39] The first seven articles were nearly the verbatim suggestions of Bernarda.

text: On January 13, at a deserted rancho at the north end of Cahuenga Pass (modern-day North Hollywood), John Fremont, Andres Pico and six others signed the Articles of Capitulation, which became known as the Treaty of Cahuenga. Fighting ceased, thus ending the war in California.[40][41]

text: Californios after U.S. annexation[edit]

text: This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: In 1848, Congress set up a Board of Land Commissioners to determine the validity of Mexican land grants in California. California Senator William M. Gwin presented a bill that, when approved by the Senate and the House, became the Act of March 3, 1851.[42] It stated that unless grantees presented evidence supporting their title within two years, the property would automatically pass back into the public domain.[43]

text: Rancho owners cited the articles VIII and X of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, wherein it guaranteed full protection of all property rights for Mexican citizens—with an unspecified time limit.[44][45]

text: Many ranch owners with their thousands of acres and large herds of cattle, sheep and horses went on to live prosperous lives under U.S. rule. Former commander of the California Lancers Andrés Pico became a U.S. citizen after his return to California and acquired the Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando ranch which makes up large part of what is present day Los Angeles. He went on to become a California State Assemblyman and later a California State Senator. His brother former governor of Alta California (under Mexican rule) Pío Pico also became a U.S. citizen and a prominent ranch owner/businessman in California after the war. Many others were not so fortunate as droughts decimated their herds in the early 1860s and they could not pay back the high cost mortgages (poorly understood by the mostly illiterate ranchers) they had taken out to improve their lifestyle and subsequently lost much or all of their property when they could not be repaid.

text: Californios did not disappear. Some people in the area still have strong identities as Californios. Thousands of people who are descended from the Californios have well-documented genealogies of their families.

text: The history of Californios has fueled the politically volatile issues of the mid-twentieth century, such as La Raza and other organized Chicano activists, who depict Mexicans or Hispanics as the state's original people. They discount the claims to this status by the approximate 50,000 to 80,000 indigenous peoples, such as Coast Miwok, Ohlone, Wintun, Yokuts and other Native American ancestors. Many of these tribes' ancestors inhabited the California region for thousands of years before European contact.

text: Other Mexican activists claim there was an integrated society of Mexicans, Indians, Mestizos and American immigrants, which had evolved over 77 years beginning with the founding of Misión San Diego in the Alta California territory in 1769.

text: The developing agricultural economy of California allowed many Californios to continue living in pueblos alongside Native peoples and Mexicanos well into the 20th century. These settlements grew into modern California cities, including Santa Ana, San Diego, San Fernando, San Jose, Monterey, Los Alamitos, San Juan Capistrano, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Arvin, Mariposa, Hemet and Indio.

text: From the 1850s until the 1960s, the Hispanics (of Spanish, Mexican and regional Native American origins) lived in relative autonomy. They practiced a degree of social racial segregation by custom, while maintaining Spanish-language newspapers, entertainment, schools, bars, and clubs. Cultural practices were often tied to local churches and mutual aid societies. At some point in the early 20th century, the official recordkeepers (census takers, city records, etc.) began grouping together all Californios, Mexicanos, and Native (Indio) peoples with Spanish surnames under the terms "Spanish", "Mexican", and sometimes, "colored"; some Californios even intermarried with Mexican Americans (those whose ancestors were refugees escaping the Mexican Revolution in 1910).

text: Alexander V. King has estimated that there were between 300,000 and 500,000 descendants of Californios in 2004.[1]

text: Californios in the California Gold Rush[edit]

text: In 1848, gold is discovered at Sutter’s Mill, near Coloma, California.[46] This discovery was made only nine days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which turned over California to the United States as a result of the Mexican–American War.[47]

text: A group of Californio prospectors led by Antonio F. Coronel set out from Los Angeles to prospect for gold in Campo Seco.[46] After a change of plans, the group spent a few months in campo de Estanilo mining alongside mostly Californios. After this, they left to head north into Sonoma, where one of the group members is ambushed and violently attacked, left for dead with only Colonel to tend to him.[46] This ambush and lack of response by any authorities or other White Americans shows how Californios were tragically the victims of Euro-American vigilante violence and often forced to leave their native land.

text: Large Influx of Foreigners Diluting Californio Population[edit]

text: From the end of 1849 to the end of 1852, the population in California increased from 107,000 to 264,000 due to the California Gold Rush. In early 1849, approximately 6,000 Mexicans, many of whom were Californios who remained after the United States had annexed the territory, were prospecting for gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.[48] Although the territory they were in had up until recently been Mexican land, Californios and other Mexicans very quickly became the minorities and were seen as the foreigners. Once the Gold Rush had truly started in 1849, the campsites were segregated by nationality, further establishing the fact that "Americans" had taken the title as the majority ethnicity in Northern California.[46] Because the Californio "foreigners" so quickly became a minority, their claims to land protected under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo when miners overran their land and squatted.[49] Any protests by Californios were quickly put down by hastily formed Euro-American militias, so any legal protection provided by the new California legislature was ineffective when the threat of violence and lynchings loomed.[49] Even if Californios were able to win their land back in court, often lawyer's fees cost large sums of land that left them with a fraction of their former wealth.

text: Working Conditions[edit]

text: Many Latino miners were experienced due to learning a "dry-digging" technique in the Mexican mining state of Sonora.[50] Their early success due praise and respect from Euro-American miners, they eventually became jealous and used threats and violence to force Mexican workers out of their plots and into less lucrative ones.[50] In addition to these informal forms of discrimination, Anglo miners also worked to establish Jim Crow-like laws to prevent Latinos from mining altogether.[50] In 1851, mob violence as well as the Foreign Miners' Tax discussed below forced between five thousand and fifteen thousand foreigners out of work in just a few months.[46]

text: According to Antonio F. Coronel's accounts, there was systematic race-influenced violence conducted by Americans to force out Californios and other Latinos. One account tells of a Frenchman and "un español" being lynched for supposed theft in 1848. Despite offers by Californios to replace the reported amount of gold stolen, they were still hanged.[46] In addition, later in the Gold Rush, Coronel and his group found a rich vein of gold on the American River. When Euro-Americans caught wind of this, the invaded the claim armed and insisted it was their plot, forcing out Colonel and ending his mining career.[46] Accounts like these show the harsh and violent living and working conditions that Californios were faced with during the Gold Rush. Discriminatory and racist treatment and laws as well as being so vastly outnumbered forced them out of their native lands despite assurances by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that they could remain.

text: Foreign Miners' Tax[edit]

text: In response to the Mexican resistance to the American population, white miners called for something to be done about the "Sonoran" miner "problem". In response, in 1850, the Californian government introduced a tax on foreign miners who were working plots, called the Foreign Miners' Tax Law. The claimed purpose of the tax was to fund the government's efforts to protect the foreign workers. There are conflicting reports on the amount of the tax ranging from $20 to $30 per month.[46] This extremely high tax forced all but the most successful Latinos to stop mining as they were unable to obtain enough gold to make mining profitable. This left only the most successful of the Mexican prospectors, who ironically were the ones who drew the most ire from the Euro-American miners initially. By 1851, when the tax law was repealed, approximately two-thirds of the Latinos and Californios that had been living and working in mining areas had been driven out by the tax.[51][unreliable source?] After repealing the $20 or $30 per month tax, the California legislature instituted a much more reasonable $3 per month tax in 1852.[50] However, at this point, many of the Californios had already been driven out of their homes and mining plots, making it somewhat of a moot point. These taxes were for the most part only enforced against Latinos, including Californios, and the Chinese, but not any other foreign, but white Europeans, showing systematic racism on the part of the newly formed California Legislature.

text: Notable people[edit]

text:
Lists of Americans

By U.S. state

By ethnicity or nationality

Afghan
African American

African-American Jews

Albanian
Amish
Angolan
Antiguan and Barbudan
Arab
Argentine
Armenian
Asian
Australian
Austrian
Azerbaijani

Bahamian
Baloch
Bangladeshi
Barbadian
Belarusian
Belgian
Belizean
Beninese
Bermudian
Bolivian
Bosnian
Brazilian
Bulgarian
Burmese

Cajun
Cambodian
Cameroonian
Canadian
Chilean
Chinese

Fuzhounese
Hakka
Hong Kong
Hokkien/Hoklo/Minnan
Tibetan

Colombian
Coptic
Cossack
Costa Rican
Croatian
Cuban
Cypriot
Czech

Danish
Dominican Americans (Dominica)
Dominican Americans (Dominican Republic)
Dutch

Ecuadorian
Egyptian
Emirati
English
Estonian
Ethiopian

Fijian
Filipino
Finnish
French

Gambian
Georgian
German
Ghanaian
Greek
Guatemalan
Guinean
Guyanese

Haitian
Hispanic and Latino
Hmong
Honduran
Hungarian

Icelandic
Indian

Indo-Caribbean

Indonesian
Iranian
Iraqi
Irish
Israeli
Italian
Ivorian

Jamaican
Japanese
Jews

Kazakh
Kenyan
Korean
Kuwaiti

Laotian
Latvian
Lebanese
Liberian
Lithuanian
Louisiana Creole
Luxembourg

Macedonian
Malawian
Malian
Māori
Mexican
Monegasque
Montenegrin
Moroccan

Native American
Native Hawaiian
Nepalese
New Zealand
Nicaraguan
Nigerian
Norwegian

Pakistani
Palauan
Palestinian
Panamanian
Paraguayan
Peruvian
Polish
Portuguese
Puerto Ricans

Stateside

Romani
Romanian
Russian
Rusyn

Salvadoran
Scotch-Irish
Scottish
Senegalese
Serbian
Sicilian
Singaporean
Slovak
Slovene
Somali
South African
Spanish

Hispanos

Sri Lankan
Sudanese
Surinamese
Swedish
Swiss
Syrian

Taiwanese
Tajikistani
Tanzanian
Thai
Tongan
Trinidadian and Tobagonian
Turkish

Ugandan
Ukrainian
Uruguayan
Uzbek

Venezuelan
Vietnamese

Welsh

v
t
e

text:
Rosario E. Aguilar
José Antonio Aguirre (early Californian)
Pedro de Alberni
Juan Bautista Alvarado, governor
José María Alviso, grantee of Rancho Milpitas, Alcalde of San José
Concepción Argüello
Santiago Arguello
Santiago E. Arguello
Avila family of California
Arcadia Bandini, businesswoman and co-founder of Santa Monica, California
Juan Bandini
Berreyesa family, various early settlers holding land grants (between them, José de los Reyes Berreyesa)
Diego de Borica
Dionisio Botiller
José Raimundo Carrillo
José Antonio Carrillo
José Castro, general of the Mexican army in Alta California
Víctor Castro
Eulogio F. de Celis
Joseph Chiles
Antonio F. Coronel
Ygnacio Coronel
Leonardo Cota
Pancho Daniel, bandit leader of "las Manillas"
Manuel Dominguez
Narciso Durán
José María de Echeandía
José Antonio Estudillo
José Joaquín Estudillo
José María Estudillo
José Figueroa
José María Flores
Juan Flores, bandit, member of "las Manillas"
Myrtle Gonzalez, silent-era movie actress, descendant of Californios
José de la Guerra y Noriega
Antonio Maria de la Guerra
Francisco Guerrero (politician)
Nicolás Gutiérrez
Francisco de Haro
William Edward Petty Hartnell, also known as Don Guillermo Arnel
José Joaquin Jimeno
Fermín Lasuén
Robert Livermore, namesake of Livermore, California
José del Carmen Lugo
Eulalia Perez de Guillén Mariné
Juan María Marrón
Juan Prado Mesa
Manuel Micheltorena
Juana Briones de Miranda
Esteban Munras – (1798–1850) was a 19th-century Spanish artist, probably best known for the vibrantly-colored frescoes that adorn the chapel interior at Mission San Miguel Arcángel in California.
Joaquin Murrieta
Manuel Nieto
Romualdo Pacheco, 12th Governor of California
Luís María Peralta, Peralta Adobe in San Jose, recipient of the Rancho San Antonio (Peralta) land grant in the San Francisco East Bay
Ignacio Peralta
Andrés Pico
José Maria Pico
Pío Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, namesake of Pico Rivera, California
Salomon Pico, ranchero, soldier, bandit leader during the early years of the California Gold Rush.
Luis Manuel Quintero
Manuel Requena
Juan Francisco Reyes (soldier)
Louis Robidoux, namesake of Mount Rubidoux, held Rancho Jurupa and Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio
José Antonio Roméu
José González Rubio – (1804–1875) Roman Catholic friar prominent in the early history of California.
Francisco María Ruiz
José de la Cruz Sánchez – (1799–1878) was the eleventh Alcalde of San Francisco in 1845.
Francisco Sanchez (politician)
Tomas Avila Sanchez
Vicente de Santa Maria
Vicente Francisco de Sarría
José Francisco de Paula Señan
Francisco Xavier Sepulveda
Juan Jose Sepulveda
Francisco Sepulveda
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the namesake of Vallejo, California
Tiburcio Vasquez, bandit
Jose Maria Verdugo, recipient of Rancho San Rafael land grant
Manuel Victoria
Bernardo Yorba, major land grant recipient, namesake of Yorba Linda, California
Jose Antonio Yorba, major land grant recipient

text: Other notable people in Alta California[edit]

text:
José Romo de Vivar (settler in Arizona)
José Joaquín Moraga (born in Arizona)
José Francisco Ortega (founder of large Californio family)
José de Urrea (born in Arizona)

text: Californios in literature[edit]

text:
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., recounted aspects of Californio culture which he saw during his 1834 visit as a sailor in Two Years Before the Mast.
Joseph Chapman, a land realtor noted as the first Yankee to reside in the old Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1831, described Southern California as a paradise yet to be developed. He mentions a civilization of Spanish-speaking colonists, "Californios", who thrived in the pueblos, the missions, and ranchos.[citation needed]
Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, The Squatter and the Don, a novel set in 1880s California, depicts a very wealthy Californio family's legal struggles with immigrant squatters on their land.[52] The novel was based on the legal struggles of General Mariano G. Vallejo, a friend of the author. The novel depicts the legal process by which Californios were often "relieved" of their land. This process was long (most Californios spent up to 15 years defending their grants before the courts), and the legal fees were enough to make many Californios landless. Californios resented having to pay land taxes to United States officials, because the principle of paying taxes for land ownership did not exist in Mexican law. In some cases Californios had little available capital, because their economy had operated on a barter system; they often lost land because of the inability to pay the taxes.[53] They could not compete economically with the European and Anglo-American immigrants who arrived in the region with large amounts of cash.

text: A portrayal of Californio culture is depicted in the novel Ramona (1884), written by Helen Hunt Jackson.

text: The fictional character of Zorro has become the most identifiable Californio due to short stories, motion pictures and the 1950s television series. The historical facts of the era are sometimes lost in the story-telling.


document_title: Point Break

question_text: what was the name of the gang johnny utah infiltrated in point break

root

text: Point Break

text: Plot[edit]

text: Former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback and rookie FBI Agent Johnny Utah is assigned to assist experienced agent and veteran Angelo Pappas in investigating a string of bank robberies by the "Ex-Presidents", a gang of robbers who wear face-masks depicting former US presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter to disguise their true identities. They raid only the cash drawers in the banks that they rob—never going for the vault—and are out within 90 seconds.

tag: p

text: Pursuing Pappas's theory that the criminals are surfers, Utah goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community. He fabricates a personal family tragedy in order to persuade orphaned surfer Tyler Endicott to teach him to surf, after she had saved him from drowning during his first attempt at surfing. Through her, he meets Bodhi, the charismatic leader of a gang of surfers consisting of Roach, Grommet, and Nathaniel. The group are initially wary of Utah, but accept him when Bodhi recognizes him as the former college football star. As he masters the art of surfing, Utah finds himself increasingly drawn to the surfers' adrenaline-charged lifestyle, Bodhi's philosophies, and Tyler. Following a clue retrieved by analyzing toxins found in the hair of one of the bank robbers, Utah and Pappas lead an FBI raid on another gang of surfers, resulting in the deaths of two of them. Despite their criminal records, these surfers turn out to not be the Ex-Presidents and the raid inadvertently ruins a DEA undercover operation.

text: Watching Bodhi's group surfing, Utah begins to suspect that they are the "Ex-Presidents," noting how close a group they are and the way one of them moons everyone in the same manner one of the robbers does when leaving a bank. Utah and Pappas stake out a bank and the Ex-Presidents appear. While wearing a Reagan mask, the gang leader (implied to be Bodhi) leads Utah on a foot chase through the neighborhood, which ends when Utah causes an old knee injury to flare up again after jumping into an aqueduct. Despite having a clear shot, Utah does not shoot and the leader escapes.

text: At a campfire that night, it is confirmed that Bodhi and his gang are the Ex-Presidents. Tyler discovers Utah's FBI badge and angrily terminates their relationship. Shortly afterwards, Bodhi aggressively recruits Utah into going skydiving with the group and he accepts. After the jump, Bodhi reveals that he knows Utah is an FBI agent and has arranged for his friend Rosie, a non-surfing thug, to hold Tyler hostage. Utah is thus blackmailed into participating in the Ex-Presidents last bank robbery of the summer. As a result, Grommet, along with an off-duty police officer and a bank guard—who both attempt to foil the robbery—are killed. Outraged by Grommet's death, Bodhi knocks Utah out and leaves the scene.

text: Defying their senior officer who arrests Utah for armed robbery, Pappas and Utah head to the airport where Bodhi, Roach, and Nathaniel are about to leave for Mexico. During a shootout, Pappas and Nathaniel are killed, whereas Roach is seriously wounded. With Roach aboard, Bodhi forces Utah onto the plane at gunpoint. Once airborne and over their intended drop zone, Bodhi and Roach put on their parachutes and jump from the plane, leaving Utah to take the blame again. With no other parachutes available, Utah jumps from the plane with Bodhi's gun and intercepts him. After landing safely, Utah's knee gives out again, allowing Bodhi to escape Utah's grasp. Bodhi meets with Rosie and releases Tyler, who reunites with Utah. Roach dies of his wounds, and Bodhi and Rosie leave with the money.

text: Nine months later, Utah tracks Bodhi at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, where a record storm is producing lethal waves. This is an event Bodhi had talked about experiencing, calling it the "50-Year Storm." Utah attempts to bring Bodhi into custody, but Bodhi refuses. During a brawl in the surf, Utah manages to handcuff himself to Bodhi, who begs Utah to release him so he can ride the once-in-a-lifetime wave. Knowing Bodhi will not come back alive, Utah releases him, bids him farewell, and sees him step towards the wave. While the authorities watch Bodhi surf to his death, Utah walks away, throwing his FBI badge into the ocean.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Keanu Reeves as FBI Agent Johnny Utah
Patrick Swayze as Bodhi
Gary Busey as FBI Agent Angelo Pappas
Lori Petty as Tyler Endicott
John C. McGinley as FBI Director Ben Harp
James LeGros as Roach
John Philbin as Nathaniel
Lee Tergesen as Rosie
Bojesse Christopher as Grommet
Julian Reyes as FBI Agent Alvarez
Daniel Beer as FBI Agent Babbit
Vincent Klyn as Warchild
Chris Pedersen as Bunker Weiss
Dave Olson as Archbold
Anthony Kiedis as Tone
Christopher Pettiet as 15
Sydney Walsh as Miss Deer
Peter Phelps as Australian surfer
Galyn Gorg as Margarita
Tom Sizemore as DEA Agent Deets (uncredited)

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Originally, Matthew Broderick, Johnny Depp, Val Kilmer and Charlie Sheen were all considered to star in Point Break playing the character Johnny Utah with Ridley Scott directing.[7][8]

text: After acquiring the screenplay, the producers of Point Break began looking for a director. At the time, executive producer James Cameron was married to director Kathryn Bigelow, who had just completed Blue Steel and was looking for her next project.[7]

text: Point Break was originally called Johnny Utah when Keanu Reeves was cast in the title role.[7] The studio felt that this title said very little about surfing and by the time Patrick Swayze was cast, the film had been renamed Riders on the Storm after the famous rock song by The Doors. However, Jim Morrison's lyrics had nothing to do with the film and so that title was also rejected. It was not until halfway through filming that Point Break became the film's title because of its relevance to surfing.[7] Reeves and Swayze had appeared together once before, in the 1986 film Youngblood.

text: Reeves liked the name of his character, as it reminded him of star athletes like Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana.[9] He described his character as a "total control freak and the ocean beats him up and challenges him. After a while everything becomes a game...He becomes as amoral as any criminal. He loses the difference between right and wrong."[7] Swayze felt that Bodhi was a lot like him and that they both shared "that wild-man edge."[7]

text: Two months before filming, Lori Petty, Reeves and Swayze trained with former world-class professional surfer Dennis Jarvis on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.[7] Jarvis remembers, "Patrick said he'd been on a board a couple of times, Keanu definitely had not surfed before, and Lori had never been in the ocean in her life."[10] Shooting the surfing sequences proved to be challenging for both actors, with Swayze cracking four of his ribs. For many of the surfing scenes, he refused to use a stunt double as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases. He also did the skydiving scenes himself and the film's aerial jump instructor Jim Wallace found that the actor was a natural and took to it right away.[7] The actor ended up making 55 jumps for the film.[11] Swayze actually based aspects of his character after one of his stunt doubles, Darrick Doerner, a top big wave surfer.[12] After learning to surf for the film, Reeves took a liking to it and took it up as a hobby.[13]

text: Parts of the film were shot at Lake Powell in Utah as well as Ecola State Park and Wheeler, Oregon, and Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Venice, and Fox Hills Mall in California.[14] Although the final scene of the film is set at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia, the scene was not filmed there. Bells Beach is a straight stretch and the beach in the film is a cove with spruce trees atop a hill. The actual location of the film was a beach called Indian Beach, in Ecola State Park, located in Cannon Beach, Oregon, USA.[citation needed]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Ratt – "Nobody Rides for Free"
Concrete Blonde – "I Want You"
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – "If 6 Was 9"
School of Fish – "Rose Colored Glasses"
Public Image Ltd. – "Criminal"
Shark Island – "My City"
Love – "7 and 7 Is"
Loudhouse – "Smoke on the Water"
Westworld – "So Long Cowboy"
Little Caesar – "Down to the Wire"
L.A. Guns – "Over the Edge"
Liquid Jesus– "7 and 7 Is"
Wire Train – "I Will Not Fall"
Ice-T – "Original Gangster"
Mark Isham – "Foot Chase"
Sheryl Crow – "Hundreds of Tears"

text: On February 7, 2008, a score release for Point Break was released by La-La Land Records, featuring composer Mark Isham's score. This edition was limited to 2,000 units and features 65 minutes of score with liner notes by Dan Goldwasser that incorporate comments from both Bigelow and Isham. It is now out of print.[15]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Point Break was released on July 12, 1991 in 1,615 theaters, grossing $8.5 million on its opening weekend, behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day's (directed by Bigelow's then husband, James Cameron) second weekend and the openings of the re-issue of 101 Dalmatians and Boyz n the Hood. With a budget of $24 million, the film went on to make $43.2 million in North America and $40.3 million internationally for a worldwide total of $83.5 million.[4]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 68% rating based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10.[16] Metacritic reports a 58 out of 100 rating based on 20 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[18]

text: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote "Bigelow is an interesting director for this material. She is interested in the ways her characters live dangerously for philosophical reasons. They aren't men of action, but men of thought who choose action as a way of expressing their beliefs."[19] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin praised Reeves' performance: "A lot of the snap comes, surprisingly, from Mr. Reeves, who displays considerable discipline and range. He moves easily between the buttoned-down demeanor that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles."[20] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote "Point Break makes those of us who don't spend our lives searching for the ultimate physical rush feel like second-class citizens. The film turns reckless athletic valor into a new form of aristocracy."[21]

text: In his review for The Washington Post, Hal Hinson wrote "A lot of what Bigelow puts up on the screen bypasses the brain altogether, plugging directly into our viscera, our gut. The surfing scenes in particular are majestically powerful, even awe-inspiring. Bigelow's picture is a feast for the eyes, but we watch movies with more than our eyes. She seduces us, then asks us to be bimbos."[22] Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "Bigelow can't keep the film from drowning in a sea of surf-speak. But without her, Point Break would be no more than an excuse to ogle pretty boys in wet suits."[23]

text: USA Today gave the film two out of four stars and Mike Clark wrote "Its purely visceral material (surf sounds, skydiving stunt work, a tough indoor shootout midway through) are first-rate. As for the tangibles that matter even more (script, acting, directorial control, credible relationships between characters), Break defies belief. Dramatically, it rivals the lowest surf yet this year."[24] Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, "So how do you rate a stunningly made film whose plot buys so blithely into macho mysticism that it threatens to turn into an endless bummer? Looks 10, Brains 3."[25]

text: In 2006, a special edition was released on DVD (In DVD was released in May 22, 2001). Entertainment Weekly gave it a "B" rating and wrote, "The making-of docs (at their best discussing Swayze's extracurricular skydiving—that really is him doing the Adios, amigo fall) will leave you hanging."[26] It was first released on Blu-ray as a special "Pure Adrenaline Edition" on July 1, 2008, but that was later discontinued. Point Break was re-released on Blu-ray by Warner Home Video on June 14, 2011.

text: Accolades[edit]

text: At the 1992 MTV Movie Awards, Point Break was nominated for three awards including "Most Desirable Male" (Keanu Reeves), "Most Desirable Male" (Patrick Swayze), and "Best Action Sequence" for the second jump from the plane. In it, Utah jumps out of a plane without a parachute to catch Bodhi and rescue Tyler. Utah catches up with Bodhi and holds a gun to his head. However, Bodhi refuses to pull the rip cord and Utah must decide between dropping his gun (so he can hold on and pull the rip cord) or letting the two fall to the ground. The film ultimately won "Most Desirable Male" for Keanu Reeves.

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Point Break was listed in the VH1 series I Love the 90s on the episode "1991". Many celebrities, including Dominic Monaghan, Mo Rocca, Michael Ian Black, Hal Sparks, and Chris Pontius commented about the film and why it deserved to be included in the episode. Entertainment Weekly ranked Point Break as having one of the "10 Best Surfing Scenes" in cinema.[27]

text: The film inspired a piece of cult theater, Point Break Live!, in which the role of Johnny Utah is played by an audience member chosen by popular acclamation after a brief audition. The new "Keanu" reads all of his (or her) lines from cue-cards for the duration of the show, "to capture the rawness of a Keanu Reeves performance even from those who generally think themselves incapable of acting."[28]

text: Point Break was referenced in Hot Fuzz, where the scene of Utah emptying his magazine into the sky in frustration is watched by the lead characters and later re-enacted by Nick Frost's character.[29][30]

text: The scene in which Utah jumps after Bodhi without a parachute was ranked seventh in Empire magazine's Top 10 Crazy Action Sequences. The scene was also tested by the Discovery Channel series MythBusters. It was determined that Utah and Bodhi would not have been able to free-fall for 90 seconds (as in the film), nor would they have been able to hold a conversation in mid-air. However, it was determined that, by streamlining his body, Utah could have conceivably caught up with Bodhi after jumping from the plane.[31]

text: Point Break has been referenced in Marvel Cinematic Universe films twice, in The Avengers and Thor: Ragnarok, by Tony Stark calling Thor "Point Break" in reference to his long, blond hairstyle, similar to Swayze's character's.

text: Point Break is referenced on the CBS television program Numb3rs, at the end of the episode entitled "Charlie Don't Surf" (05.7). In a discussion on the benefits of surfing and the connection of surfers to the universe, the character Dr. Larry Fleinhardt quotes Timothy Leary. In response, the character Colby Granger retorts: "It's dancing with the universe." Confused, Fleinhardt asks who said that, to which Granger replies: "Bodhi...Patrick Swayze?...from Point Break...?"

text: Remake[edit]

text: Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. released a remake of the film in 2015 entitled Point Break, which received mostly negative reviews.


document_title: South Lawn (White House)

question_text: what kind of grass does the white house have

text: South Lawn (White House)

text: Description and use[edit]

text: The South Lawn presents a long north-south vista from the house. Open to the public until the Second World War, it is now a closed part of the White House grounds that provides a setting for official events like the State Arrival Ceremony as well as informal gatherings including the annual White House Egg Rolling Contest and staff barbecues. Marine One, the presidential helicopter, departs from and lands on the South Lawn.

text: Design and horticulture[edit]

text: When the White House was first occupied in 1800 the site of the South Lawn was an open meadow gradually descending to a large marsh, the Tiber Creek, and Potomac River beyond.[1] Thomas Jefferson completed grading of the South Lawn, building up mounds on either side of a central lawn. Jefferson, working with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe located a triumphal arch as a main entry point to the grounds, just southeast of the White House.[2] Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's 1793 plan of the city of Washington, indicates a setting of terraced formal gardens descending to Tiber Creek. Later in 1850, landscape designer Andrew Jackson Davis attempted to soften the geometry of the L'Enfant plan, incorporating a semicircular southern boundary and meandering paths.[3] Andrew Jackson Davis's changes included enlarging the South Lawn, creating a large circular lawn he termed the "Parade or President's Park" and bordered by densely planted shrubs and trees.[4] During the administration of Ulysses S. Grant the marsh to the south was drained, and the South Lawn received additional grading and 8 to 10 feet of fill to make the descent to the Potomac more gradual.[5]

text: During the administrations of Rutherford B. Hayes and (the first of) Grover Cleveland the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were engaged to reconfigure the South Lawn, reducing the size of Downing's circular parade, and creating the current boundaries much as they presently are.[6] Theodore Roosevelt who had engaged the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White to reconfigure and rebuild parts of the White House in 1902, was influenced to remove the complex of Victorian era glass houses built up the West Colonnade and the site of the present West Wing. In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt engaged Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to evaluate the grounds and recommend changes. Olmsted understood the need to offer presidents and their families a modicum of privacy balancing with the requirement for public views of the White House.[5] The Olmsted plan presented the landscape largely as seen today: retaining or planting large specimen trees and shrubs on the perimeter to create boundaries for visual privacy, but punctuated with generous sight lines of the house from north and south.[7] The lawn is planted with a grass variety called tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea). [8]

text: Specimen trees[edit]

text: Trees on the South Lawn include the earliest remaining trees on the grounds to have been planted by a United States president – President Andrew Jackson's southern magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora) on either side of the South portico, Japanese threadleaf maple (Acer palmatum dissectum), American elm (Ulmus americana), white oak (Quercus alba), white saucer magnolia (Magnolia × soulangeana), Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and northern red oak (Quercus rubra).[9]

text: Seasonal plantings[edit]

text: The South Lawn pool and fountain is planted seasonally with borders of tulips edged by grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) for spring, red geranium (Pelargonium) and Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria) in summer, and chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium) in fall.[10]

text: Amenities[edit]

text: Ceremonial gardens[edit]

text: The two ceremonial gardens of the White House (the Rose Garden and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden) face the South Lawn. The Rose Garden (sometimes referred to as "The Presidents Garden") is located south-west of the main residence along the west colonnade, just outside the Oval Office. The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is located south-east of the main residence along the east colonnade. The garden was dedicated by Lady Bird Johnson as the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on April 22, 1965, although it has been called the "First Lady's Garden" by some later administrations.

text: Tennis court/basketball court[edit]

text: A tennis court was first installed during the Theodore Roosevelt administration on the south lawn. Since then, the court has been moved several times, eventually landing in its current position in the south-west area. President Obama had basketball court lines and removable baskets installed so he could play full court basketball. Located just west of the tennis/basketball court is a half-court basketball area that also housed a horseshoe pit.

text: Swimming pool[edit]

text: The pool was installed in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. It is located directly south of the West Wing. The original pool at The White House was indoors, located in between the main residence and the West Wing, however President Nixon turned it into an area for the press.

text: Putting green[edit]

text: The putting green was first installed in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower who was an avid golfer. It was removed by President Nixon[11] and later reinstalled by President George H. W. Bush in 1991.[12] However President Clinton moved it to its current location just south of the Rose Garden, a short walk from the Oval Office.[13]

text: Children's garden[edit]

text: The children's garden is located between the tennis court and basketball court to the south-west area of the property. The garden was a gift to the White House in 1968 from President Johnson and his wife. The garden supplies a secluded location for children to play in private. The garden features a goldfish pond in the sitting area. Footprints and handprints of various President's children and grandchildren are embedded in various stones making up the walkway.

text: Helicopter landing area[edit]

text: The south lawn provides space for the Presidents helicopter, Marine One, to land directly on the White House grounds. The helicopter will take off and land in the grassy area directly south of the main residence. For aesthetic reasons, the lawn does not contain a full helipad, but rather three removable aluminum discs which accommodate the helicopter's individual landing gear.

text: 1974 White House helicopter incident[edit]

text: The climax of the 1974 White House helicopter incident occurred on the South Lawn.[14]

text: Running track[edit]

text: President Clinton had a quarter-mile long jogging track installed during his presidency in 1993. An avid runner, Clinton would regularly want to go on runs, but his doing so greatly disrupted Washington traffic; thus the track was built.

text: Playground[edit]

text: A playground was installed in 2009 under President Obama for his two children Sasha and Malia Obama. The playground is located just south of the Oval Office.

text: Vegetable garden[edit]

text: Michelle Obama installed a vegetable garden during her husband's Presidency on the far south area of the property. The vegetables grown are used at the White House for meals as well as donated to area shelters. The Obamas also installed a beehive on the south lawn.