California Military History

Spanish and Mexican California

 

Soldado de Cuera (Leather Coated Soldier) circa 1790

Image courtesy of the Army Art Collection, US Army Center of Military History

 

• Soldiers during the Spanish and Mexican Periods
  • Pedro de Alberni: Commander of Arms of California 1796-1801
  • Governor Juan D. Alvarado: Life in California under Three Flags
  • A Biographical Note on Isidro de Antondo y Antillón: Admiral of the Californias
  • José Dario Arguello: Presidio Comandante and Governor of Alta California, 1814-1815
  • Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursúa: Viceroy of New Spain, 1771-1779
  • Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo: Portuguese Discoverer Of California, 1542
  • Miguel Costansó
    • Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder
  • José Antonio Castro Commandante-General and Acting Governor of Alta California
  • Alférez Pablo Antonio Cota, Santa Barbra Presidio 1788
  • Teodoro de Croix: Captain General on the Interior Provinces, 1776-1783
  • Juan Bautista de Anza: Colonizer of San Francisco, 1776
  • Pedro Fages: Military Governor of Alta California, 1770-1774 and 1782-1791
  • José de Gálvez: Visitor General of New Spain, 1765-1772
  • Felipe de Goicoechea: Comandante, Santa Bárbara 1784-1802
  • José de la Guerra y Noriega: Military Commander of Santa Barbara
  • Ignacio Martinez: Cadet, Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara 1799-1805
  • Manuel Micheltorena: Commandante-General and Governor of Alta California
  • Joseph de Moraga Commissioned Lieutenant
  • Phelipe de Neve: First Governor of the Californias, 1777-1782
    • Phelipe de Neve and Los Angeles
    • Governor Don Felipe de Neve: A chronological note of Felipe de Neve and his Governorship of the Californias
    • Four Reports by Neve, 1777-1779
  • José Francisco Ortega: First Comandante Of the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, 1782-1784
    • Two Letters from Sergeant Jose Francisco Ortega to Governor Felipe de Neve, September 4th and 5th 1781
  • Jose Antonio Romualdo Pacheco
  • Gaspar de Portolá: Disenchanted Conquistador of Spanish Upper California
  • Capitan Fernando de Rivera y Moncada: Military Governor of Alta California
  • José Velásquez: Alferéz, Presidio de San Diego
  • The Vallejo Family: A Military History of Early California
    • Salvador Vallejo
    • Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and Sonoma: A Biography and a History (1937)
  • Josef de Zuniga: Comandante Of the Royal Presidio of San Diego, 1781-1792
  • The Founders of Santa Barbara: Who They Were and Whence They Came
  • Soldados de Cuera
    • Soldados de Cuera California Missions Studies Association
    • The Soldado de Cuera: Stalwart of the Spanish Borderland
  • The Families of the Presidio de San Diego
• Castillos, Presidios and Fuertes
  • San Francisco
    • The Founding of the Presidio and Mission of Our Father Saint Francis (1934)
    • Presidio of San Francisco
    • Presidio Real de San Francisco
    • Presidio Real de San Francisco, 1776
    • El Presidio de San Francisco: At the Edge of Empire
    • Bateria San Jose/Bateria Yerba Buena
    • Castillo de San Joaquin
      • San Francisco's Ancient Cannon an Inquiry into Their History and Origin Together with Some Notes on the Castillo de San Joaquin (1936)
  • Monterey
    • A Description of California's Principal Presidio, Monterey, in 1773
    • Regulations and Instructions: For the Garrisons of the Peninsula of Californias, erection of new Missions, and fostering of the colonization and extension of the Settlements of Monterey
    • Presidio Real de San Carlos de Monterey
    • Fort Point of Pines
    • Presidio Real de San Carlos de Monterey, 1770
    • Castillo de Monterey/Fort Point of Pines
    • El Castillo de Monterey: Frontline of Defense (1984)
    • La Misión del Glorios Precursor de Jesu Cristo, Nuestro Señor San Juan Bautista
  • Santa Barbara
    • Presidio Real de Santa Barbara, 1782
    • Castillo de Santa Barbara
    • La Misión de la Purísima Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María
  • San Diego
    • Presidio Real de San Diego
    • Presidio and Mission of San Diego
    • Presidio Real de San Diego, 1769
    • Posts at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia
    • Military Personnel at the Presidio of San Diego and Fort Guijarros
    • Castillo de Guijarros
      • Archaeology Field Report on the Search for Fort Guijarros
      • Lost Cannons of Fort Guijarros
      • San Diego State University archaeological papers on Fort Guijarros
      • Searching for Fort Guijarros
      • A Translation of Chapter VI of Don Pedro de Lucuze's 1772 Principios de Fortificacion as it Relates to the Design of the Fort at Punta de Guijarros, San Diego, California
      • The Servants of Punta de Guijarros
  • Other Presidios, Forts and Camps
    • Anza Expedition Camp
    • Fuerte de Laguna Chapala/Fort Romualdo Pacheco
    • El Cuartel de Sonoma/Presidio de Sonoma
  • Additional Histories
    • Alta California's Four Fortresses
    • The Presidios of Alta California
    • Fuerte de Laguna Chapala
    • Presidios of the Line
    • Arms and Armament of the Presidios of California
    • Costansó's 1791 Report on Strengthening New California's Presidios
    • The Presidio: Fortress or Farce
    • The Presidio and the Borderlands: A Case Study
    • Mission, Presidio and Pueblo: Notes on California Local Institutions during the Spanish and Mexican Periods (1922)
    • The Presidios and Forts of Spanish Alta California (2005)
    • Spanish Period Castillos
    • The Instructions of Viceroy Bucareli to Ensign Juan Perez
    • The Free Company of Catalonian Volunteers
    • History of Ballast Point and the Battle of San Diego Bay
• Spanish California
  • California Under the Rule of Spain and Mexico
  • Colonial Life in Spanish California During the North American Revolution americanrevolution.org
  • Hippolyte de Bouchard and His Attacks on the California Missions
  • Old San Juan Capistrano : Last Stronghold of Spanish California
  • The Battle of San Diego, 1803
  • Symbolic Acts of Sovereignty in Spanish California
  • The Iturbide Revolution in the Californias
  • The Spanish Navy in California
    • The Spanish Navy in the Californias during the Revolutionary War Era
    • The Naval Department of San Blas: Spain's Supply and Shipbuilding Center for Alta California and the Pacific Northwest, 1770-1810
    • California, Training Ground for Spanish Naval Heroes
    • Harbor Entry and Recognition Signals in Early California
    • Memorial of Pedro Calderón y Henríquez: Recommending Monterey as a Port for the Philippine Galleons with a View to Preventing Russian Encroachment in California
    • The Spanish Anchorage in San Francisco Bay
    • Baja California Indians in the Spanish Maritime Service, 1720-1821
  • Indian Wars during the Spanish Period
    • The Yuma Revolt, July 17, 1781
    • The Rebellion Against the Mission of the Saintly Prince the Archangel, San Gabriel of the Temblors, 1785 KCET
    • Between Crucifix and Lance: Indian-White Relations in California, 1769-1848
  • The Military Exploration and Settlement of California
    • Instructions Concerning the Occupation of California, 1769
    • Spreading the News of the California Conquest, 1769-1770
    • Regulations and Instructions: For the Garrisons of the Peninsula of Californias, erection of new Missions, and fostering of the colonization and extension of the Settlements of Monterey
    • San Blas: The Source of Exploration
    • Explorations and Conquest of California
    • San Diego and the Begining of the Spanish Period
    • Founding of the City of the Angels
    • Timeline of the Settlement of the Central Coast
    • An Era of Expeditions
    • The Quest for Governorship of Spanish California
    • San Gorgonio Pass: Forgotten Route of the Californios?
    • The Portolá Expedition of 1769-1770
    • Spanish Plans for a Chain of Inland Missions in California
    • Lesson Plan: Life in Presidial California
  • The Founding of Los Angeles
    • Bancraft Library Transcripts of Documents Pertaining to the Founding of Los Angeles
    • Founding of the City of the Angels
    • Soldiers and Settlers of the Expedition of 1781
    • Instructions for the Recruital of Soldiers and Settlers for California-Expeditionof 1781: Teodoro de Croix to Captain Fernando de Rivera y Moncada
    • Two Letters from Sergeant Jose Francisco Ortega to Governor Felipe de Neve, September 4th and 5th 1781
• Mexican California
  • California Under the Rule of Spain and Mexico
  • Mexican Governors of California
  • Proposals for the Colonization of California by England: In Connection with the Mexican Debt to British Bondholders 1837-1846
  • California Becomes a Province of the Mexican Empire
  • The Iturbide Revolution in the Californias
  • John Sutter and His Fort
  • American, British and Russian Military in Mexican California
    • Commodore Edmund B. Kennedy, U. S. N., versus Governor Nicolas Gutierrez: An Incident of 1836
    • Where Did Fremont Cross the Tehachapi Mountains in 1844?
    • The Views of Lieutenant George Peard, R.N., on Alta California, 1826 and 1827
    • Visit of the Russian Warship "Apollo" to California in 1822-1823
  • American Capture of Monterey, 1842
    • The War That Wasn't: Thomas ap Catesby Jones's Seizure of Monterey
    • Commodore Jones' War (1948)
    • The Capture of Monterey, 19 October 1842
    • The Commodore's Decision
    • Thomas ap Catesby Jones and the First Implementation of the Monroe Doctrine
    • A Visit to Los Angeles in 1843: Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones' Narrative of his Visit to Governor Micheltorena
  • California Civil Wars
    • War and the Making of History: The Case of Mexican California, 1821 - 1846
    • On Comic Opera Revolutions: Maneuver Theory and the Art of War in Mexican California, 1821-45
    • Battle of Cahuenga Pass
    • Battle of La Providencia: Second Battle of Cahuenga Pass
    • The California Revolution of 1831: A Notable Manifesto (1904)
    • Captain Andrés Castillero, Diplomat: An Account from Unpublished Sources of His Services to Mexico in the Alvarado Revolution of 1836-1838 (1935)
    • The Surrender of Monterey by Governor Nicolas Gutierrez November 5, 1836: An Account from Unpublished Correspondence (1936)
  • Indian Wars during the Mexican Period
    • Between Crucifix and Lance: Indian-White Relations in California, 1769-1848
    • Levantamiento!: The 1824 Chumash Uprising Reconsidered
    • Estanislao Rebelion (1827) Wikipedia
    • Miwok-Yokut Raids into Mexican California, 1830-1840
    • Temecula Massacre
    • Pauma Massacre
      • The Pauma Massacre (1906)

 

 

 

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Updated 21 December 2020