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Contributions
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© 1996-97 all rights reserved
Fernando
Javier Rivera y Monacda
By
Michael R. Hardwick,hardwic2@juno.com
1742 Fernando de Rivera began military service when he is but
17. Rivera came from Compostela. His father, Don Cristobal de Rivera y
Mendoza, held office in Compostela, first as public and royal notary and
then as alcalde ordinario, or municipal magistrate. When Fernando
was about 9, his father died. This changed the family financial status.
The estate was divided among eleven children. The family need for money
probably influenced his military enlistment at an early age. pp 335
Crosby, Harry W. Antigua California, Mission and Colony on the Peninsular
Frontier, 1697-1768, Univ. Of New Mexico Press, 1994.
Common
Soldier: Beginning in 1742 at age 18, Rivera served for six years under
Teniente Pedro
de la Riva in the escuadra del Sur, the southern detachment of the
presidio Loreto. He
was assigned as a soldier-escort at Todos Santos on an off-and -on basis.
At Todos Santos
he came to know Joseph Harris, an Englishman and fellow soldier, and his
young son, Ignacio.
Rivera's friendship with the son continued for nearly 40 years. pp 338
Crosby
Dark
horse: In early 1751, Rivera had no other rating than soldier. His
fellow soldiers, who had
rubbed shoulders with him for years, must have been astonished by his elevation
to captaincy
of Loreto...there is no indication that this nomination had been made public
before the
vicregal appointment reached California.
Captaincy:
With the help of the Jesuits, viceroy, the Conde de Revillagigedo
made the following
appointment:
“The command and administration
of the presidial company require firmness, courage, prudence
and other endowments for their best fulfillment conducted in the interests
of both majesties.
The father visitor, the rectors, and all the missionaries agree in proposing
to me that Don
Fernando de Rivera y Moncada be appointed to the vacancy. He is qualified
in all the desired
ways, principally for Christian conduct, temperance, knowledge of the land
and of the habits
of the Indians. He has traveled every part, from the south to the latest
conquest in the north,
attending to his duties as sergeant. He took part in the subjugation of
the Uchiti nation which
had rebelled and in that expedition confirmed and added to the many proofs
of his good
conduct.
As your
reverence wishes, and in consideration of his merits, I agree to name him
as captain, believing
that this will best serve their majesties and the advancement of Christianity
in these Islands
of California.” pp 331 Crosby
Ocio-Jesuit
conflict: Manuel de Ocio was a self-made entrepreneur and rival to
the missionaries
for the peninsula's useful land. As captain at Loreto, Rivera's de facto
role was to
implement Jesuit plans to expand their mission system, as well as to maintain
the status quo at
older establishments. With the captaincy, however, Rivera also acquired
the traditional auxiliary
roles of governor and judge over the civilian population. Rivera's double
role was suspect
in the eyes of Ocio..as Rivera was hand picked by the Jesuits.
Between
1750 and the Jesuit expulsion in 1768, California affairs were dominated
by the actions
and rivalry of Ocio and Rivera. pp 333 Crosby
Installation
as Captain of Loreto: In July 1751, a few months before his 27th birthday,
Rivera was
installed as captain of the presidio of Loreto. During the ceremony Rivera
was presented
with a baston, or staff with a silver handle, as a symbol of his
authority. In March 1753,
Rivera received royal confirmation of his appointment. pp 333 Crosby
The following
accouterments were ordered by him for his new position:
A well-made
musket with good quality sheath
A pair of
flared-barrel pistolsA dress rapier, not too broad, with handguard and
other usual parts
inlaid with silver
A cutlass decorated
in silver
A riding coat
of crimson velvet well provided with eyelets
Two and a half yards
of blue velvet
A pleated coat in
the military style
Four widths
of fine Brittany linen
- Six dozen heavy silver buttons pp 339 Crosby
- Character: More than a dozen documents survive that Rivera wrote
during his first two or three years as captain. He is a man with a reasonably
good education. His penmanship was firm and distinguished. His ideas were
expressed economically and with conviction in a terse and businesslike
style. He seems to addressed himself to matters at hand with economy and
directness. pp 339-340 Crosby
- He was not the equal, in ability and force, of such men as Fages and
Neve, but he was popular and left among the old California soldiers a better
reputation probably than any of his contemporaries. He was killed by Indians
at Yuma July 17, 1781. Alvarado, Hist. Cal. MS ii. 106-7 says that his
memory was long honored by anniversary funeral masses at San Diego, and
that Gov. Echeandia in 1825 proposed a monument in his honor.
- pp 363-64, Bancroft, Vol XVIII
- 1750-1767: In 1750, at the death of Captain Bernardo Rodriguez
Lorenzo, Rivera was named his successor as captain of the presidio of Loreto.
He took an active part in Ferdinand Consag's famous expeditions of 1751
and 1753. He also accompanied Wenceslaus Linck's lengthy expedition of
1765 and supplied escort for Linc's 1766 exploration of the San Felipe
area. During the Jesuit expulsion of 1767 acting under orders of Portola,
he helped assemble the Jesuits for their journey to Europe and took an
active part in the transfer of Jesuit properties to the Franciscans. pp
211, Jose Velasquez, Saga of a Borderland Soldier, Ronald
Ives, Tuscon, 1984.
Jesuit campaigns: Rivera accompanied Ferdinand Consag on his
epoch-making expeditions and served with Wenceslaus Linck, the last great
Jesuit explorer of the Baja peninsula. Rivera also helped to establish
the last three and northern-most mission enters: Santa Gertrudis in 1752,
San Borja in 1762, and Santa Maria in 1767. pp 683, Ernest J. Burrus,
Rivera Y Moncada and Military Commander of Both Californias, in the Light
of His Diary and Other Contemporary Documents.
1769 Fernando de Rivera appointed to command the party that
would scout out a land route to San Diego. Rivera's troop was made up of
25 of his own soldiers from the presidio Loreto. His troop was supported
by over 40 neophytes recruited from northerly missions of Santa Maria and
San Borja. Rivera established a northern base at Velicata...the site that
the captain and Padre Linck had discovered three years before. In late
March 1769, Rivera's group headed northwest to break trail, establish camp
sites, herd livestock, and generally prepare the way for Portola's party,
which was to follow in 3 weeks. Food was short, and the neophytes were
expected to forage for most of what they needed. Many neophytes died along
the way...more deserted. pp 391 Crosby
Rivera left Santa Ana in September . on his way northward he visited
each mission a accumulated livestock and the needed supplies. Rivera accumulated
some 140 head of horses, 46 mules, and 200 head of cattle. Supplies included
54 aparejos (pack saddles), 28 leather bags, 1 case of bottles, 28 arrobas
of figs, 1 bale and 4 arrobas of sugar, 340 arrobas tasajo (dried meat)...flour,
pinole, wheat, raisins, biscuits, lard, jugs and bottles of wine...Galvez
sent implements and seeds. Rivera reached Velicata before Dec. 20. This
was to be his base camp. pp 121, Bancroft
Rivera and 25 soldados de cuera or cuirassiers from the presidio
of Loreto, priest Juan Crespi, the masters mate, Jose Carizares, three
mulateers, and a band of Christianized natives left Velicata in March.
This land division was termed the first division. They traveled for some
51 days and covered 121 leagues to San Diego. pp 133, Bancroft
Rivera set out from Velicata on March 24, 1769. Indians were equipped
with pick, shovel, ax, and crowbar, to open roads through the mountains
and across gullies. Father Juan Crespi was principal historian of the expedition.
Rivera's men were declared to be `the best horsemen in the world, and among
those soldiers who best earn their bread from the august monarch whom they
serve'... For the first eight days the trail was that followed by the Jesuit
Father Linck, three years before. Thereafter, a distance of three hundred
miles, the route was now explored by white men for the first time...On
the 15th of May [1769], the day after Rivera and Crespi reached San Diego,
Portola and Serra set out from Velicata. pp 684,. Burrus.
After arriving in San Diego, Rivera a day after his arrival selected
a new site for a permanent settlement. The site was at the foot of a hill
on which are still to be seen the old presidio. A camp was pitched and
fortified, a corral was built for the animals, and a few rude huts were
built. On May the 17th sick were transported to the new camp with their
tents. For 6 weeks all were occupied attending to the wants of the sick
and in unloading the San Antonio. pp 134, Bancroft.
Jul. 1769: Before the new arrivals at San Diego had recovered
from their saddle sores and scurvy, Rivera became a member of a military
party that set forth northward, July 14, 1769, to discover the port of
Monterey. Missing the seaport, the expedition traveled beyond it to the
San Francisco area, and finally returned to San Diego on Jan. 24, 1770.
Here, supplies being scarce, Rivera was sent south with 40 men to get supplies
from the Baja missions. pp 211, Ives.
1770 Early in 1770 it became clear that certain ambiguities
in Galvez instructions to Rivera y Moncada and to Lt. Pedro Fages (commander
of the Catalan Volunteers that had replaced the proposed militia) would
require Fages to remain as commander at Monterey; the Captain would obviously
have to reside somewhere else, and was left with no official reason for
taking part or credit in the new foundation. Rivera the sole American among
officers of the expedition, was the only one to be passed over in the resulting
promotions. He had always been popular with his men, but he was now forced
to leave many of them under the command of Fages, who worked them unmercifully
and openly despised and mistrusted them. pp 326-27, Alan K. Brown, Rivera
at San Francisco, Calif Historical Society Quarterly, Dec 1962.
On Feb. 12, 1770, Rivera was sent with forty men to Lower California
so that he could obtain supplies from the missions there. During his absence
the San Antonio put into port; San Diego was saved; and some of the pioneers
proceeded northward to found Monterey. pp 685, Burrus.
From Lower California, on March 2, 1770, Rivera wrote the Viceroy asking
permission to retire on grounds of pains and bad health brought on either
by his advancing years, the frigid northern climates to which he had been
recently exposed, or the toil of 28 years service. A year later he referred
to himself as being still sick and as thin as a string. As it happened,
however, a short period of retirement to his native district on the mainland
of New Spain landed him in debt, and the government, being informed of
the fact and in need of and officer to succeed Fages in the distant Monterey
establishments, offered to reinstate Rivera in the service if he would
take the job. pp 326-27, Brown.
1771: After Rivera left for lower California in Feb. of 1770,
it took him several months to gather and bring the needed supplies, cattle,
and soldiers for the Upper California enterprise. After this he made at
least one more such expedition from Lower California to the “new establishments”
for on July 18, 1771, five days after Fages landed in San Diego from Monterey,
60 mules, 20 soldiers, and 5 cowboys arrived there, brought up from Lower
California by Captain Rivera on Fages' orders. pp 685, Burrus.
Shortly afterwards Rivera returned to the mainland and bought a small
farm near Guadalajara, where he intended to spend the rest of his life
with his family. His wife, Dona Maria Teresa Davalos y Patron had
four children; daughter Isabel, who died very young, and three sons;
Juan Bautista, Jose Nicolas Maria, and Luis Gonzaga Franciso
Javier Maria. Juan Bautista, the oldest boy, became parish priest
of the church in the town of La Magdalena, near Guadalajara.
Rivera and his family remained together until the latter part of 1773
when Don Fernando was appointed military governor of upper California.
Serra had become dissatisfied with Fages as the military governor, finding
him and obstacle to the progress of the missions and to the moral conduct
of the soldiers. Serra pressed Bucareli to replace Fages with Sergeant
Jose Francisco Ortega. The viceroy agreed to remove Fages, but objected
to Ortega because of his low rank and named Rivera y Moncada to that position
instead. pp 686, Burrus.
1773: After a conference between Viceroy Bucareli and Father
Serra, Rivera was appointed military governor of California to replace
Fages with whom Serra found much fault. Late in 1773 Rivera left for his
new post, traveling via Guadalajara, Tepic, and Sinaloa, to recruit some
fifty or so settlers in route. Sailing across the Gulf of California from
the mouth of the Yaqui, he arrived in Loreto in March, 1774. Thence he
rode horseback the entire distance from Loreto to Monterey, more than 1200
miles by the then-extant trails, where he arrived on March 23, 1774. From
that date until he was relieved on Feb. 3, 1777, Rivera occupied an “impossible”
position with multiple unsolvable problems - too few soldiers, bad morale,
rebellious Indians, inadequate supplies, not enough animals for transportation,
no pay, ill-defined authority and responsibility and many stubborn missionaries,
who had no authority and ill-defined responsibility. During this period,
planned extension of the mission system was slowed by lack of soldiers
and supplies. pp 212, Ives.
In reality, neither Serra nor Rivera was to blame for the tragedies
which befell California during Rivera's governorship; instead these were
the work of higher officials, beginning with the king of Spain and the
viceroy in Mexico, who sent insufficient military protection and financial
assistance. To guard a vast region, Rivera had fewer than 60 soldiers,
poorly armed and provisioned and often unpaid. Rivera, himself was deprived
of his salary during the last seven years of his life. When he was sent
to Monterey in 1773, Rivera's brother Ambrosio generously shouldered the
maintenance of the entire family, sending Isabel to the Colegio de San
Diego in Guadaljara, and the oldest boy, Juan Bautista, to the diocesan
seminary in the same city, and probably educating the other two boys also,
at least privately. Don Ambrosio was never repaid, for neither Rivera nor
any of his relatives received any part of his salary, which on paper amounted
to 3,000 pesos a year. pp 687-8, Burrus.
1774: On Nov. 23, 1774, six months after reaching Upper California,
Rivera set out from Monterey with Father Francisco Palou with soldiers
to explore the area and select appropriate sites for presidio, town, and
two missions. They returned to Monterey, Dec. 13, 1774. Although their
expedition was successful, nearly 2 years elapsed before either the presidio
or the mission of San Francisco could be established.
Rivera was convinced that he could not spare enough soldiers for founding
and holding the new post. The same was true of San Buenaventura to be established
near the Santa Barbara Channel. With some difficulty Serra and Rivera compromised
by founding San Juan Capistrano, between San Diego to the south and San
Gabriel to the north. pp 688, Burrus.
Nov. 5, 1775: An Indian uprising at San Diego Mission resulted
in the death of Father Luis Jaime, and two other workers. This happensed
while Lieutenant Ortega and a group of soldiers of the San Diego presidio
were away helping found the mission of San Juan Capistrano. When news of
the disaster reached Rivera, he had just written to viceroy Bucareli, telling
him that all was peaceful in Upper California.
Hitherto Rivera had always tried to study only one problem at a time
and at great leisure. In the present circumstances he was faced with complex
tasks too great to cope with: to find the culprits of the San Diego attack,
to pacify the natives of the area, and to effect the establishment of the
presidio and missions of San Francisco. By his conduct he alienated Anza,
the one man who could have helped him in all three tasks. Both military
leaders wrote numerous reports to the viceroy, each blaming the other;
and both received severe rebukes for delaying the founding of San Francisco.
To understand Rivera's strange treatment of Anza, it must be remembered
that Rivera was physically ill at the time, angry and deeply offended because
Anza had belittled his merits. Above all Rivera was much disturbed because
Father Vincent Fuster had declared him excommunicated on the ground that
he had violated ecclesiastical asylum by removing the chief culprit of
the San Diego disaster, Carlos, from the mission warehouse serving temporarily
as a church (see Geiger, Serra II, 88-98) pp 689, Burrus.
Nov. 1775: Serra and Rivera quarreled over the policy to be
followed after the Indian uprising at San Diego on Nov. 5, 1775. Serra
felt that mildness in punishing potential neophytes was simple common sense;
only through mildness could missionaries hope to get at the Indians and
transform them into a Christian and therefore presumably more peaceful
folk. Governor Rivera's military instinct and sense of responsibility for
the security of the land, on the other hand, urged him to cow the savages
with reprisals so frightful they would not soon forget them. He was overruled.
pp 46-47, Felipe de Neve, First Governor of California, Edwin A. Beilharz,
1971.
As a result of Rivera's efforts to recapture an Indian miscreant, who
had sought ecclesiastical asylum in the church at San Diego de Alcala ?
(this may have been at the San Diego Presidio), Rivera was excommunicated,
on somewhat shaky grounds, by Father Vicente Fuster, O.F.M. pp 212,
Ives.
- 1775: The governorship of the Californias was granted to Filepe
de Neve. Viceroy Bucareli formally notified Neve of this on December 20,
1775.. Neve had been in Loreto, the capital of the Californias, for nearly
ten months by this time. Letters announcing Neve's appointment were sent
to Father Vicente Mora, O.P., president of the Dominicans, to Father Junipero
Serra, O.F.M., president of the Franciscans in Upper California, and to
Captain Fernando de Rivera y Moncada who had been sub-governor
under Felipe Barri (Neve's predecessor as governor). Barri had not maintained
good relations with the Dominicans who had taken over the Jesuit missions
in Lower California. The relationship between Governor Neve and Rivera
was spelled out in the instructions prepared by Viceroy Bucareli and sent
to Neve along with his letter of appointment. Rivera was to be subordinate
to Neve only to the extent that he was required to send Neve full reports;
in every real sense, he was to be directly under the viceroy's command
as much as was Neve himself. pp14, Beilharz.
- Dec 1775: On Dec. 16, Rivera set out from Monterey for San Diego.
En route he met Anza who returned to San Diego with him. Rivera insisted
on punishing with exemplary severity the Indians who had attacked the mission.
Burrus pp689
- Jan 1776: It appears as if Rivera was at the Presidio of San
Diego for the period Jan. 11 through Oct. 11, 1776 (about 10 months). The
refuge incident occured in Feb. 1776. Engelhardt (1929: 72-73) also makes
it clear that this building was located at the Presidio's permanent home,
and not at the other sitre. Quoting Lasuen in this matter, he noted the
following claim about the structure (P.74): “I have always averred and
repeat it now, that this is the church of the presidio...” Jack Williams
from internet post 12/28/95
- May 1776: Rivera's somewhat irrational behavior in his conferences
and correspondence with Anza (late April and early May, 1776) can be better
understood when it is realized that he was not only profoundly upset by
his possibly unjust excommunication, but also that he was suffering from
fever, dizziness, and a pain in his thigh. This physical condition probably
was the result of an earlier, poorly-set leg fracture by which, incidentally,
his bones were identified in late 1781 after his death at the hands of
the Yumas. Despite Rivera's opposition, on rather good military grounds,
the San Francisco colony was established in late summer and fall of 1776
with Lieutenant Jose Joaquin Moraga in active command. pp 212, Ives.
- Sept. 1776: San Francisco was finally founded in the fall of
1776- the presidio on Sept. 17 and the mission on Oct. 9. Jose Joaquin
Moraga was the actual founder, Serra, Rivera, and Anza were absent. On
Nov. 20, 1776, Rivera set out from Monterey for his third and last expedition
to San Francisco. He approved the sites chosen for the presidio and mission,
and then with Moraga, he explored the entire area around San Francisco,
choosing the site for the second mission. He directed the founding of Santa
Clara on Jan. 12, 1777. No doubt he would have remained even longer if
messengers had not arrived to inform him that hostile Indians had attacked
the mission of San Luis Obispo. Fearful of another San Diego tragedy, he
hastened to San Luis. There he found that the Indians had burned the mission
church and 2 other buildings. Meanwhile Moraga had reported to Rivera that
the presidio and mission of San Francisco had also suffered Indian attacks.
In light of these events, is it any wonder that Rivera should have felt
his policy of prudent expansion justified!
- pp 690, Burrus.
- Feb. 1777: Rivera turned over the governorship of California
to Neve. On March 3, 1777, Rivera set off for the south, escorted by six
soldiers who were to accompany him as far as San Diego. Neve was the fourth
Spanish administrator to hold office at Monterey. Portola (1769-1770);
Fages (1770-1774); Rivera (1774-1776). The capital of California
had been in Loreto and it was there in the old peninsula that the true
governor of the Californias resided. Neve was the first man with the full
title of Governor of the Californias to be directly charged with the administration
of the new northern area. pp19, Beilharz.
- Dec. 1779: At Gov. Neve's request, Rivera left presidio Loreto
with orders from Croix to recruit 24 settlers and 59 soldiers for founding
of Los Angeles. He proceeded to Guaymas and then to Arispe, Sonora where
he conferred with Croix on his orders. “Rivera y Moncada Rl Presidio
de Loreto”, Jim Martinez
Croix sent long and detailed instructions to Rivera as to how he was
to go about the task of recruitment. Rivera was authorized to offer prospective
colonists daily rations valued at two reales, and a monthly salary of 10
pesos - these to be a free gift, and to continue for three years. Military
recruits who enjoyed a better income and were on a different footing, would,
however, be expected to repay in full whatever was expended on them. This
would be done by “prudent discounts” of their pay. Instructions made it
clear that rations would be paid in money wherever the colonists had a
chance to buy provisions on their own. During the passage through the deserts
where money would be of no use to them, however, rations would be supplied
in kind. pp105-106, Beilharz.
- Feb. 1780: Rivera marched to Horcasitas from Arispe and signed
on 25 recruits for California (3 Sgts; 2 Cpls; 20 Soldados). He was ordered
to recruit from the provinces of Ostimuri, Sinaloa, and to go beyond the
Provincias Internas, as far as Guadalajara if he had to. “Rivera y Moncada
Rl Presidio de Loreto”, Jim Martinez
- Feb. 5, 1780: Leaving Horcasitas he marched to the rich mining
town of Los Alamos. Here merchants came forward to sell horses, mules,
cattle, and other supplies. Here Rivera commissioned Alferez Manuel Garcia
Ruiz to distribute supplies and rations to the new soldiers of the Crown.
Marching out of Los Alamos, Rivera went to Villa del Fuerte where he signed
on more recruits. “Rivera y Moncada Rl Presidio de Loreto”, Jim Martinez
- May 29, 1780: Rivera arrived La Villa de Sinaloa. Here he signed
on the first poblador for Los Angeles, May 30, 1780. Then he went on to
Culican where more people were signed on. By Aug. 1, Rivera had 45 soldiers
and 7 settlers. The final stop was Rosario where he had just about completed
the number of colonists needed for Alta Calif. “Rivera y Mocada Rl Presidio
de Loreto”, Jim Martinez
- Nov. 1780: Rivera turned back to Los Alamos. At Los Alamos Rivera
organized the expedition to go north. He got his 59 soldiers, but was only
able to sign up 14 settlers. Orders from Croix specified that the Captain
would separate the party into two divisions at Alamos and then proceed
as follows.
Zuniga was to take 17 soldiers and (46?) settlers from Alamos west past
Navajoa down to the mouth of the Mayo River to the Bay of Santa Barbara.
Here they would board launches to cross the Sea of Cortez to Loreto. Zuniga's
party proceeded up the coast to la Bahia de San Luis de Gonzaga, then to
mission Sta. Maria, up to mission Velicata, then on to San Diego. It took
Zuniga some 6 months travel before he arrived in San Diego. Seven of his
soldier recruits were given up to the San Diego Presidio to replace 7 more
who were to be assigned to the new Santa Barbara Presidio. Zuniga got to
San Gabriel in August with his party. Rivera's party arrived there earlier
in July under Lt. Gonzales and Alferez Arguello.
Rivera took 42 soldados de cuera (30 of them with families) and left
Los Alamos in April. He stopped at Pitic and Horcasitas...then he followed
Anza's trail to Tubac. From there he went to the mission San Xavier del
Bac. (here he wrote dispatches to Croix, dated April 18 and 20)...then
he went on to Tuscon and to the Gila River (last dispatch to Croix dated
Apr. 29)...following the Gila on to the Colorado. “Rivera y Moncada
Rl Presidio de Loreto”, Jim Martinez
In late 1780 and early 1781, Rivera now on the mainland and in compliance
with his orders, had recruited many soldiers and settlers needed for the
new settlements in Alta California. The settlers were sent by sea to Loreto-
one group went north by sea under command of Alferez Ramon Lasso del la
Vega, to Bahia San Luis Gonzaga; the second group followed overland under
command of Lt. Jose Zuniga. From the San Luis Bay both groups rode overland
through San Diego; all arrived safely at mission San Gabriel by August
18, 1781. Meanwhile, Captain Rivera on the mainland, accompanied by 42
soldiers and 961 horses and mules, rode north toward the Colorado crossing.
At Tuscon he acquired and additional temporary military guard, commanded
by Lt. Andres Arias Caballero. At the Yuma crossing, Rivera was met
by some soldiers from California, commanded by Sgt. Juan Jose Robles. The
Tuscon contingent was sent back. Most of the others in the party were sent
on to San Gabriel under command of Lt. Diego Gonzalez and Alferez Cayetano
Limon and Jose Dario Arguello. This group consisting of 35 soldiers, 30
families, and some members of the Sonoran escort, arrived at San Gabriel
on July 14, 1781. Rivera with his small remaining troop and nearly 1000
horses and mules, went into camp on the Arizona side of the crossing. pp
212, Ives.
- May 1781: In late May of 1781 Rivera advanced across
the desert with a vast herd of horses, donkeys, and mules, nearly a thousand
head. Over a fourth of them were too weak to ford the swollen Colorado.
He decided to send on to the coast the Santa Barbara recruits and their
families who had come with him, together with that part of the herd he
had managed to drive across the river. He would stay on the far bank with
the rest of the animals till they had recuperated. Ungraciously, he did
not try to placate his unwilling hosts with gifts. Two of his officers,
Lieutenant Arias Caballero and Sub-lieutenant Jose Dario Arguello, had
a thieving Indian whipped after giving his accomplice a beating themselves.
The starving animals ate the mesquite on which the Indians depended to
eke out their harvests. The Yumas decided they had had enough. pp123,
Beilharz.
- 1781: Late in June Rivera arrived from Sonora with his company
of about forty recruits and their families bound for Los Angeles and the
Santa Barbara channel. From the Colorado he sent back most of his Sonoran
escort, and after a short delay for rest, dispatched the main company to
San Garbriel under escort of Alferez Limon and 9 men. Having seen the company
started on its way, Rivera recrossed the Colorado and with 11 or 12 men,
including Sgt Robles and 5 or 6 men sent to meet him from the California
presidios, encamped near the eastern bank opposite Concepcion, where he
proposed to remain for some weeks to restore his horses and cattle to a
proper condition for the trip to San Gabriel. Rivera's coming contributed
nothing to the pacification of the natives, but had rather the contrary
effect, for his large herd of live-stock destroyed the mesquite plants,
and he was by no means liberal in the distribution of gifts. On Tuesday,
July 17th, the storm burst. Early in the morning the lower village of San
Pedro y San Pablo was attacked..... Prov. Rec., MS., ii 76-8 says that
the savages attacked the two villages and Rivera's camp simultaneously
and by 8 o'clock had completed their work at the former; that they found
Rivera's men scattered and at first entered the encampment as friends,
attacking before the soldiers could be gathered, and killing the last man
at night after fighting all day. pp. 363-4, Bancroft.
According to Mark Santiago, the last stand took place south of what
is now Prison Hill. There were a series of finger ridges along the river.
The only existing hill to the immediate south of Prison Hill is the old
reservoir (beneath which the Pilot Knob Hotel sat). The hills in between
are graded away and by Mark's estimation the Rivera last stand would be
about where the treatment plant sits. In a John Russell Bartlett painting
from his personal narrative, the series of hills are visible on the near
side of the river. The far left is reservoir hill, the closer two are supposed
to be the last stand hills. From a post on the internet from Rick Collins
12/26/95 (rcollinns@biocom.arizona.edu)
Alferez Limon after escorting the California colony to San Gabriel started
back to Sonora by the old route with his 9 men. Drawing near the Colorado
he was informed by the natives that there had been a massacre; but doubting
the report, he left 2 men in charge of his animals and went forward to
reconnoiter. The blackened ruins at Concepcion and the dead bodies lying
in the plaza told all. His own party was attacked on the 21st of August
and driven back by the Yumas, one of whom wore the uniform of the dead
Rivera. Limon and his son were wounded, the two men left behind had been
killed, and the survivors hastened back to San Gabriel with news of the
disaster. pp364-5, Bancroft.
- Postscript: New California gradually came to be called Alta
California. While serving there, Fernando de Rivera y Moncada took on higher
office with higher levels of responsibility, but reached emotional depths
in concurrent disagreements and rejections. Twice he served as governor
of the new region, but he was never able to please Serra and his followers.
In an acrimonious conflict over the precedence of authority, military vs.
religious, Rivera was excommunicated by a Franciscan missionary -- a bitter
blow for the sincerely devout captain.
Rivera was 57 when he was slain * He had been a California soldier for
40 years. His widow was left destitute; she was never able to collect any
part of Rivera's last five years of pay, held up as it was by disputes
with missionaries and higher civil authorities. pp 392, Crosby
Dona Teresa, the governor's widow, could not even collect a single
peso of the insurance (Montepio) theoretically received by the survivors
of deceased soldiers in the Spanish dominions. She and 3 of her children,
Isabel, Jose Nicolas, and Luis Gonzaga, all died paupers, dependent on
the charity of Fernando's brother, Ambrosio. From 1774, one year after
his appointment as governor, until his death in 1781, Rivera made repeated
efforts to collect the salary due him. For more the 15 years thereafter
his relatives tried in vain to obtain at least some part of his salary,
though officials in Mexico City admitted that 11,877 pesos, 7 reales, and
5 7/8 granos were due Don Fernando at his death. pp 688, Burrus.
Rivera exhibited a number of merits in addition to those which have
appeared in this account. His generosity to the underpaid soldiers finds
few parallels in Spanish colonial history. In his diary we find long lists
of loans ranging from 3 to 44 pesos each. Most of them were never repaid,
as the treasurer in Mexico City who studied the accounts recorded. This
generosity becomes all the more remarkable when it is recalled that Rivera
received no part of his salary and , therefore, had to make loans out of
the sums of money sent to him by his brother Ambrosio.
Rivera showed the most scrupulous honesty in administering the presidio
accounts. He was the only one of the pioneer governors of Upper California
to handle all the mission mail free of charge. He insisted on regular attendance
at religious services, exempting only the sentinel on actual duty. His
diary reveals that during his first year at Monterey, he regularly attended
Mass not only in the presidio chapel but also every solemn and Sunday Mass
in the nearby mission church. After requesting in vain a chaplain for the
presidio of Monterey, he still attended Mass in the presidio chapel. He,
however, refused to attend the celebrations at Carmel in protest at the
failure to provide the garrison and the nearby Indian families with a chaplain--in
his opinion a grave and unjustifiable dereliction of duty.
Rivera made every effort to improve the material conditions of the presidio
of Monterey. He did not even have a mason to construct needed buildings
or repair old ones. He pleaded for more animals - more cows for milk and
meat, more horses and mules to haul supplies from the ships to the warehouse,
to distribute them among the missions, and to patrol the vast territory.
Tragically or comically, the soldiers spent much of their time hunting
for bears to replenish the meat supply or exchanging trinkets with the
natives for fish corn, or other foods. Rivera pleaded over and over again
for medicines. He repeatedly tried to secure better weapons. He worked
out a signal system so that he could distinguish Spanish ships from hostile
intruders. pp 692, Burrus.
* Several references mention that Rivera was 70 at his death. This
seems inconsistent when dates are reconciled with when he became Captain
in charge of Loreto (27th birthday in 1751). Yet official correspondence
mentions the age of 70:
Croix to Galvez: The qualities of Captain Don Fernando de
Rivera are constant. No one could have been better fitted for the discharge
of commissions that I entrusted to him by proposal of his governor, D.
Felipe Neve. The fatigues of Rivera, made at the age of seventy with
its own difficulties, justly merit that I recommend them to your Excellency
so that the king may deign to dispense to him who is interested the graces
and honors that may be his royal pleasure, as well as the retirement which
he solicits and which he will pray for as soon as he concludes his command
and renders the accounts of those interested, which have come into his
possession. pp 238, Croix's Report of 1781, Province of California.
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