The Famous Missions of California

The Famous Missions of
California

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by William Henry Hudson (#2 in our series by William Henry Hudson)
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Title: The Famous Missions of California
Author: William Henry Hudson

Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5211] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 6, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE
FAMOUS MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA ***

This eBook was produced by David Schwan
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The Famous Missions of California

by

William Henry Hudson Lately Professor of English Literature at
Stanford University,

To
Bonnie Burckhalter Fletcher
With Affectionate Recollections of California Days

London, England, 1901

Contents.

I. Of Junipero Serra, and the proposed settlement of Alta California. II.
How Father Junipero came to San Diego. III. Of the founding of the
Mission at San Diego. IV. Of Portola's quest for the harbour of
Monterey, and the founding of the Mission of San Carlos. V. How
Father Junipero established the Missions of San Antonio de Padua, San
Gabriel, and San Louis Obispo. VI. Of the tragedy at San Diego, and
the founding of the Missions of San Juan Capistrano, San Francisco,
and Santa Clara. VII. Of the establishment of the Mission of San
Buenaventura, and of the death and character of Father Junipero. VIII.
How the Missions of Santa Barbara, La Purisima Concepcion, Santa
Cruz, Soledad, San Jose, San Juan Bautista, San Miguel, San Fernando,
San Luis Rey, and Santa lnez, were added to the list. IX. Of the
founding of the Missions of San Rafael and San Francisco Solano. X.
Of the downfall of the Missions of California. XI. Of the old Missions,
and life in them. XII. Of the Mission system in California, and its
results.

The Famous Missions of California.

I.

On the 1st of July, 1769 - a day forever memorable in the annals of
California - a small party of men, worn out by the fatigues and
hardships of their long and perilous journey from San Fernandez de
Villicatà, came in sight of the beautiful Bay of San Diego. They formed
the last division of a tripartite expedition which had for its object the
political and spiritual conquest of the great Northwest coast of the
Pacific; and among their number were Gaspar de Portolà, the colonial
governor and military commander of the enterprise; and Father

Junipero Serra, with whose name and achievements the early history of
California is indissolubly bound up.
This expedition was the outcome of a determination on the part of
Spain to occupy and settle the upper of its California provinces, or Alta
California, as it was then called, and thus effectively prevent the more
than possible encroachments of the Russians and the English. Fully
alive to the necessity of immediate and decisive action, Carlos III. had
sent Jose de Galvez out to New Spain, giving him at once large powers
as visitador general of the provinces, and special instructions to
establish military posts at San Diego and Monterey. Galvez was a man
of remarkable zeal, energy, and organizing ability, and after the manner
of his age and church he regarded his undertaking as equally important
from the religious and from the political side. The twofold purpose of
his expedition was, as he himself stated it, "to establish the Catholic
faith among a numerous heathen people, submerged in the obscure
darkness of paganism, and to extend the dominion of the King, our
Lord, and protect this peninsula from the ambitious views of foreign
nations." From the first it was his intention that the Cross and the flag
of Spain should be carried side by side in the task of dominating and
colonizing the new country. Having, therefore, gathered his forces
together at Santa Ana, near La Paz, he sent thence to Loreto, inviting
Junipero Serra, the