Phelipe de Neve

Desde San Gabriel Hasta Santa Bárbara
From San Gabriel to Santa Bárbara

Jim Elwell Martinez

On the morning of March 25, 1782, Lieutenant Colonel don Pedro Fages with his combined troop of Catalán Volunteers and Soldados de Cuera broke camp at Agua Caliente (Beaumont –Gilman Hot Springs). After riding seven leagues (18 miles) to the west they crossed the Río de Jesus de los Temblores (Santa Ana River) and then rested for a short while. Picking up the march, they kept to the west and made four leagues (10 miles) where they bivouacked for the night on the Arroyo de San Antonio (Riverside – Chino area). The colonel was ten leagues (26 miles) from Mission San Gabriel.

Meanwhile, that night at Mission San Gabriel, the soldiers were busy with their last minute duties that would launch the expedition to found the Santa Bárbara Channel. That very next morning. Governor don Phelipe de Neve, who would lead the expedition, was unaware that colonel Fages was camped twenty-six miles to the southeast of the mission, and Fages did not know that Neve would depart at dawn the next morning for the proposed establishments of Alta California.

On Holy Tuesday, the 26th of March, both parties broke camp at dawn. The governor was bound for the future settlements of San Buenaventura and Santa Bárbara, and Pedro Fages traveled to San Gabriel with royal dispatches for the governor. Fages continued his line of march for eight leagues (20 miles) to the San Gabriel River where he halted to rest his troop. Governor Neve traveled about the same distance to the west-northwest, which put them in the vicinity of today’s city of Encino where he set up camp for the night.

Knowing that he was very close to the mission, Fages made haste; and after arriving there around nightfall, he was told by the padre that Neve had left at dawn that very morning. Fages was carrying important dispatches with him from the comandante general, don Teodoro de Croix, and he immediately dispatched a courier with an official letter to overtake the governor.

It was somewhere close to midnight when the rider rode into the governor’s camp. After reading the dispatches, Neve started back to San Gabriel with the courier and soldiers that he had brought as a guard in May of 1781 from the Presidio of Monterey. He left explicit orders with his aide de camp, Lieutenant Ortega, and the Father President of the Missions, Junipero Serra, to proceed on to the Santa Bárbara Channel to found the Mission, San Buenaventura, which was done on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1782. Neve further instructed the party to wait there for his return from San Gabriel.

In the junta de guerra between Neve and Fages, as outlined in the dispatches carried from the comandante general, it was decided to proceed with the founding of the Santa Bárbara Channel and that a previously planned campaign against the Quechan (Yuman Indian Nation) at the Colorado River should be postponed until September. Fages was ordered to return to the Colorado with orders for captain don Pedro Tueros. Tueros was instructed to return to the Presidio Gertrudis de Altar in Sonora and there await further orders for the upcoming campaign in September. On April 11, 1782, Phelipe de Neve started again from San Gabriel and rejoined the expedition at San Buenaventura where he found everything in order.

It was the middle of April that the explorers departed for Santa Bárbara leaving behind padre Benito Cambon at Mission San Buenaventura to minister to sergeant Pablo Antonio Cota and the fifteen soldados that were to guard the newly founded mission. It is my belief (the author) that if governor Neve started out from San Gabriel and dawn on the 26th, then he probably would have started out at about the same time from San Buenaventura, the reason being – that he had to march 10 leagues (26 miles) to found the Presidio of Santa Bárbara at “El Laguna de la Concepción”.

Following the El Camino Real (The Kings Road) to the northwest, they crossed the San Buenaventura River just as Portolá had done in August of 1769. They passed through the Chumash village, Santa Conefundis (named by padre Juan Crespí). Later the name became Pitos Point for the whistles that were used by the Indians there. On the march the village was 2 leagues (5 miles) from San Buenaventura.

Continuing the march, they reached the village of Santa Clara de Monte Falco. In 1769 the soldiers called the village, “El Bailarín”, because of its dancing chief. Today it is known as Rincon Point. On the march the village was 4 leagues (10 miles) from San Buenaventura.

Spring was in the air and the hillsides were in full bloom as the explorers neared the village of Mishopshnow, which Crespí had named San Roque. The soldiers called it “La Carpintería” after watching the local natives construct their tomols (canoes) out of wood planks and pitch. On the march the explorers were 5 leagues (13 miles) from San Buenaventura.

Following a long rest, the expedition with a bearing to the northwest took to the kings road. In the vanguard went the governor, Chief Yanonalit of the Chumash, and the Father President, Junipero Serra. Making the Ortega Ridge, the excitement amongst the soldiers must have been extremely high for they were nearing, “El Laguna de Concepción” and the future site of his majesty’s Royal Presidio of Santa Bárbara.

Arriving late in the afternoon of April 15, 1782, governor Neve ordered the soldiers to set up camp on the chosen site. According to padre Francisco Palóu in his own words: “It is about 10 leagues (26 miles) from the Mission of San Buenaventura, not very far from the beach and in north latitude 35 degrees and a few minutes, the presidio was founded on the edge of a grove of live oaks apart from the beach and the Indian village, and not very far from the lagoon”.

Under the direction of the father president and Lieutenant Ortega, soldiers and natives spent the next few days constructing rough dwellings and an arbor with an altar and a cross. At noon on the 21st of April, 1782, a founding ceremony began at the site of the Royal Presidio of Santa Bárbara. Junipero Serra opened with a prayer. After blessing holy water, he sprinkled it on the cross. The soldiers then set it upright in the ground. After blessing the Plaza de Armas of the garrison, Serra proceeded to chant the mass and sing the alabado.

On that day of so long ago in April of 1782, the crown of Spain planted the cross and royal standard of her last military garrison in Alta California. El Real Presidio de Santa Bárbara forty years later on April 13, 1822, would cede the crown of Spain to the new Republic of Mexico.

desde el presidio de Santa Bárbara 21 de Abril de 2006
Teniente José Francisco de Ortega

		Desde San Gabriel Hasta Santa Bárbara From San Gabriel to Santa Bárbara Jim Elwell Martinez On the morning of March 25, 1782, Lieutenant Colonel don Pedro Fages with his combined troop of Catalán Volunteers and Soldados de Cuera broke camp at Agua Caliente (Beaumont –Gilman Hot Springs). After riding seven leagues (18 miles) to the west they crossed the Río de Jesus de los Temblores (Santa Ana River) and then rested for a short while. Picking up the march, they kept to the west and made four leagues (10 miles) where they bivouacked for the night on the Arroyo de San Antonio (Riverside – Chino area). The colonel was ten leagues (26 miles) from Mission San Gabriel. Meanwhile, that night at Mission San Gabriel, the soldiers were busy with their last minute duties that would launch the expedition to found the Santa Bárbara Channel. That very next morning. Governor don Phelipe de Neve, who would lead the expedition, was unaware that colonel Fages was camped twenty-six miles to the southeast of the mission, and Fages did not know that Neve would depart at dawn the next morning for the proposed establishments of Alta California. On Holy Tuesday, the 26th of March, both parties broke camp at dawn. The governor was bound for the future settlements of San Buenaventura and Santa Bárbara, and Pedro Fages traveled to San Gabriel with royal dispatches for the governor. Fages continued his line of march for eight leagues (20 miles) to the San Gabriel River where he halted to rest his troop. Governor Neve traveled about the same distance to the west-northwest, which put them in the vicinity of today’s city of Encino where he set up camp for the night. Knowing that he was very close to the mission, Fages made haste; and after arriving there around nightfall, he was told by the padre that Neve had left at dawn that very morning. Fages was carrying important dispatches with him from the comandante general, don Teodoro de Croix, and he immediately dispatched a courier with an official letter to overtake the governor. It was somewhere close to midnight when the rider rode into the governor’s camp. After reading the dispatches, Neve started back to San Gabriel with the courier and soldiers that he had brought as a guard in May of 1781 from the Presidio of Monterey. He left explicit orders with his aide de camp, Lieutenant Ortega, and the Father President of the Missions, Junipero Serra, to proceed on to the Santa Bárbara Channel to found the Mission, San Buenaventura, which was done on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1782. Neve further instructed the party to wait there for his return from San Gabriel. In the junta de guerra between Neve and Fages, as outlined in the dispatches carried from the comandante general, it was decided to proceed with the founding of the Santa Bárbara Channel and that a previously planned campaign against the Quechan (Yuman Indian Nation) at the Colorado River should be postponed until September. Fages was ordered to return to the Colorado with orders for captain don Pedro Tueros. Tueros was instructed to return to the Presidio Gertrudis de Altar in Sonora and there await further orders for the upcoming campaign in September. On April 11, 1782, Phelipe de Neve started again from San Gabriel and rejoined the expedition at San Buenaventura where he found everything in order. It was the middle of April that the explorers departed for Santa Bárbara leaving behind padre Benito Cambon at Mission San Buenaventura to minister to sergeant Pablo Antonio Cota and the fifteen soldados that were to guard the newly founded mission. It is my belief (the author) that if governor Neve started out from San Gabriel and dawn on the 26th, then he probably would have started out at about the same time from San Buenaventura, the reason being – that he had to march 10 leagues (26 miles) to found the Presidio of Santa Bárbara at “El Laguna de la Concepción”. Following the El Camino Real (The Kings Road) to the northwest, they crossed the San Buenaventura River just as Portolá had done in August of 1769. They passed through the Chumash village, Santa Conefundis (named by padre Juan Crespí). Later the name became Pitos Point for the whistles that were used by the Indians there. On the march the village was 2 leagues (5 miles) from San Buenaventura. Continuing the march, they reached the village of Santa Clara de Monte Falco. In 1769 the soldiers called the village, “El Bailarín”, because of its dancing chief. Today it is known as Rincon Point. On the march the village was 4 leagues (10 miles) from San Buenaventura. Spring was in the air and the hillsides were in full bloom as the explorers neared the village of Mishopshnow, which Crespí had named San Roque. The soldiers called it “La Carpintería” after watching the local natives construct their tomols (canoes) out of wood planks and pitch. On the march the explorers were 5 leagues (13 miles) from San Buenaventura. Following a long rest, the expedition with a bearing to the northwest took to the kings road. In the vanguard went the governor, Chief Yanonalit of the Chumash, and the Father President, Junipero Serra. Making the Ortega Ridge, the excitement amongst the soldiers must have been extremely high for they were nearing, “El Laguna de Concepción” and the future site of his majesty’s Royal Presidio of Santa Bárbara. Arriving late in the afternoon of April 15, 1782, governor Neve ordered the soldiers to set up camp on the chosen site. According to padre Francisco Palóu in his own words: “It is about 10 leagues (26 miles) from the Mission of San Buenaventura, not very far from the beach and in north latitude 35 degrees and a few minutes, the presidio was founded on the edge of a grove of live oaks apart from the beach and the Indian village, and not very far from the lagoon”. Under the direction of the father president and Lieutenant Ortega, soldiers and natives spent the next few days constructing rough dwellings and an arbor with an altar and a cross. At noon on the 21st of April, 1782, a founding ceremony began at the site of the Royal Presidio of Santa Bárbara. Junipero Serra opened with a prayer. After blessing holy water, he sprinkled it on the cross. The soldiers then set it upright in the ground. After blessing the Plaza de Armas of the garrison, Serra proceeded to chant the mass and sing the alabado. On that day of so long ago in April of 1782, the crown of Spain planted the cross and royal standard of her last military garrison in Alta California. El Real Presidio de Santa Bárbara forty years later on April 13, 1822, would cede the crown of Spain to the new Republic of Mexico. desde el presidio de Santa Bárbara 21 de Abril de 2006 Teniente José Francisco de Ortega Jim Elwell Martinez
Sources:		Beilharz, Edwin A. Felipe de Neve, First Governor of California”, California Historical Society, 1971.
		Engelbert, Omer The Last of the Conquistadores, Junipero Serra,1956.
		Engelhardt, Zephyrin A. Missions and Missionaries, Vol II, Upper California, James H. Barry Company, San Francisco, 1912.
		Palóu, Fray Francisco; Bolton Herbert Eugene, Ed. Historical Memoir of New California, 4 Vols. University of Calif. Press, Berkeley, 1926. (Reprinted 1971).