VII. MINOR RAIDS AND FORAYS, 1810-1820
Apart from the records of major expeditions given in the previous chapters a few scattered items from the Bancroft Library documents are worth presenting. The first six below refer to various informal forays and raids and give an idea of the character of these in the period near 1820. The last two are excerpts from recollections of early Spanish and Mexican pioneers as recounted to Hubert Howe Bancroft’s assistants in 1877 or 1878. The historical accuracy of these last is low, since they refer to events which occurred sixty-five years before the telling. Nevertheless, the personal flavor is worth preserving, including the unabashed boastfulness. No detailed comment is required.
Fr. Juan Cabot to Captain de la Guerra
San Miguel, May 23, 1818
(De la Guerra Docs., VII: 88-89)
In the village of Tulame
there are at present thirty-three Christians from several missions; as a rule, this is the place of refuge ... from the direction of Santa Barbara there is no access because everything is surrounded by water, but by way of Bubal there is access.
Before getting to Telame there are five villages, among them Quiuamine, where they killed the Christian of San Buenaventura. The Santa Barbara soldiers could stop them from escaping by water. In Yulumne there are some [fugitives] also.
If the other villages are treated in a friendly manner, without our giving any indication of our intentions, and the first blow is struck, I doubt if there will be any more trouble.
Regarding Telame, he says that he was there twice in different years. The first year he did not see the people “because they were almost entirely dispersed and debilitated from starvation.” The second time the people were there. The village is situated opposite the mission, a league from the Sierra Nevada, in an immense oak forest—many Indians, docile and friendly, who do not admit fugitives to their village. A little farther toward Santa Barbara is Choimoc, of the same type and character, but not as large. “None of these villages has a fixed position, but the variation is less than half a league.”
[Governor] to Captain Luís Argüello
Rancho de Real Hacienda, September 14, 1819
(Cal. Arch., St. Pap., Sacramento, II: 241-242)
He says that the time has come to make the expedition at San José. The primary object is to recover the fugitives from that mission and chastise the heathen Indians who are sheltering them, as well as to take away from them the horses which, according to what Father Narciso Duran has told him, are in their possession. He considers that Sergeant José Sanchez is competent to lead the expedition, but only because he [Argüello] feels himself indisposed. For this purpose he is sending forty men who have arrived from San Blas. He [Argüello] will instruct them day and night in the operation of their weapons.