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A very short and simple history of the San Pasqual Battle and the area around the site.

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San Pasqual Valley is the northernmost community of the city of San Diego. It is named for the Kumeyaay village of San Pasqual that was once located there. It is bordered on the north by the city of Escondido, on the east and west by unincorporated land within San Diego County, and on the south by the city of Poway and the community of Rancho Bernardo. San Pasqual Valley is home to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

State Highway 78 runs through the valley between Escondido and Ramona. The valley is part of the Santa Ysabel Creek watershed, which drains into the San Dieguito River.

The wagon road from Warner's Ranch to San Diego passed through San Pasqual Valley on its way between Santa Ysabel Asistencia and Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos. In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, this road led to the Battle of San Pasqual being fought in the valley near the site of the Kumeyaay village of San Pasqual. On December 6 and December 7, 1846, the Californios, led by General Don Andrés Pico, fought Stephen W. Kearny's column of 140 U.S. Army troops as they descended from the Santa Maria Valley into the valley near San Pasqual on their way from Warner's Ranch to San Diego. Subsequently, it was the road into San Diego County from the Southern Emigrant Trail.

From 1857 to 1860 this same wagon road was part of the 125-mile stagecoach road for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line between Carrizo Creek Station and San Diego. San Pasqual village was a way station on that road 28 miles from Santa Ysabel and 16 miles from Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos.

Places of interest

Much of the valley is part of the San Pasqual Valley Agricultural Preserve, and home to citrus, avocado, and dairy farms. It includes the San Pasqual Valley AVA, an area designated an American Viticultural Area by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The valley experiences very hot days and ocean-cooled nights.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, formerly named the San Diego Wild Animal Park, occupies 1,800 acres (7 km ²) in the valley.

The San Pasqual and Clevenger Canyon Open Space Park is located at the eastern end of the valley.

The residential area located in the mountains that border the valley, near the agricultural preserve is officially named as Rancho San Pasqual. Locals often refer to it as "Eagle Crest", the name of the 18-hole golf course that surrounds the neighborhood.

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San Pasqual Valley, San Diego Facts for Kids

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San Pasqual Valley is the northernmost community of the city of San Diego. It is named for the Kumeyaay village of San Pasqual that was once located there. It is bordered on the north by the city of Escondido, on the east and west by unincorporated land within San Diego County, and on the south by the city of Poway and the community of Rancho Bernardo.

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Online quiz on donkeys & mules.

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Playing quizzes is free! We send trivia questions and personality tests every week to your inbox. By clicking "Sign Up" you are agreeing to our privacy policy and confirming that you are 13 years old or over.

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Playing quizzes is free! We send trivia questions and personality tests every week to your inbox. By clicking "Sign Up" you are agreeing to our privacy policy and confirming that you are 13 years old or over.

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Learn Kumeyaay numbers.

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Learn Kumeyaay colors.

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Basic Kumeyaay greeting, introduction and goodbye.

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Indigenous Plants of Southern California

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Indigenous Plants of Southern California

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This site has terrific information on native plants of Southern California. It has descriptions of different plants, plant communities, the different natives who lived in Southern California and what plants they used for medicinal purposes.

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Southern California ethnobotany: traditional use of native plants

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author: Kevin Curran updated: 2-7-2020 Southern California is home to a diverse collection of native plants. These plants have successfully adapted to the mostly dry and warm climate of the region. Certain southern California native plants

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A short video about the Mexican-American War. Why it began, the offer of purchase and what the U.S. gained in territory.

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The Mexican-American War | PBS LearningMedia

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In this clip from Latino Americans, students will learn about the Mexican-American War. Until the mid 1800s, the region that is now the western United States was part of Mexico. Meanwhile, inspired by the notion of Manifest Destiny, U.S. leaders tried to buy and later went to war over this expanse of land.

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This video shows pictures and paintings of the battle of Mule Hill that occurred after the Battle of San Pasqual. It has an original song that talks about the day called “Mule Hill” by John Malcom Penn

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Images of the Californios.

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Battle Day Event at San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park

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Battle Day Event at San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park

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Short 6 minute video of the battle of San Pasqual. Primarily the American side. It shows instruments, food, cannon shooting demonstration and a history of how California got its name.

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A narrative of Lt. Gillespie and his beginnings in the Mexican-American War.

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Part 1 of 2
There was a Great Game afoot in the American West in the 1840s.

The young United States of America was stretching out and feeling the stirrings of the great strength that would, a century on, make it the most dominant military and economic power the world has ever known. But the USA was not yet the preeminent world power. That designation belonged to Great Britain, the Empire upon which the sun never set. The British, through the mighty Hudson's Bay Company, had a strong foothold in the Pacific Northwest, and were casting a covetous eye on the coast of California.

And California was restive. Neglected stepchildren of a far-off Mexican government roiled in turmoil since winning independence from Spain in 1821, there was every likelihood that the Californios would declare themselves independent of Mexico and go it alone. that might play right into the hands of the Americans...

President James K. Polk was a player in this Great Game - in fact, it was almost his entire motivation for running for president. Texas awaited statehood and California and Oregon beckoned to men who ardently believed in the destiny of the young Republic to become a continental power sweeping from sea to shining sea. Polk was perfectly willing to purchase the lands he sought - but if he couldn't cut a deal with either Mexico or Great Britain, he was also willing to fight.

There was an important chess piece on the board: Captain John C. Fremont, embarked on his third exploratory mission across the wilds of the West. Polk desired to communicate a classified message to the man the public were calling The Pathfinder. And, because war was looming over Texas and points West, he sought intel on the military readiness of the Republic of Mexico.

So the Secretary of the Navy summoned 33-year-old First Lieutenant Archibald H. Gillespie, United States Marine Corps, lately serving aboard the 44-gun frigate Brandywine on a two-year cruise in the Orient. Gillespie was, as usual, in ill health. He wanted an easy berth on shore. What he got instead was orders that sent him on an epic trek through Mexico, across the ocean to Hawaii and back to the Pacific shore, where he would rendezvous with destiny in the form of John C. Fremont on the shores of Klamath Lake.

Gillespie, whose primary qualifications were strong facility with the Spanish language and a Marine's dedication to accomplishing his mission despite obstacles of time, distance and poor health, traveled under cover as a merchant of Scotch whisky. President Polk himself met with his secret agent and noted in his diary:

I held a confidential conversation with Lt Gillespie of the Marine Corps, about 8:00 o'clock p.m. on the subject of a secret mission on which he was about to go to California. His secret instructions and the letter to Mr. Larkin, U.S. Consul at Monterey, in the Department of State, will explain the object of his mission.

To this day, the exact content of Gillespie's secret instructions and the precise object of his mission remain unknown. They can, however, be inferred from the actions they sparked, as the U.S. wrested California from Mexico, snatching the rich province from under the noses of the British.

*****

Gillespie arrived in Vera Cruz on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, and traveled cross country to Mexico City, all the while taking the pulse of the ever-tempestuous state. He reckoned that it would be politically impossible for President Jose Joaquin Herrera to sell California to the United States. And, if it came to war, Gillespie's had a pretty good sense of the Mexican military's state of readiness: It was pathetic.

The Marine spy traveled to Guadalajara on Mexico's Pacific coast, where he outfitted himself in fine, swashbuckling style, with sombrero, serape and sash. He scouted the countryside for several days' ride around, before reporting to Commodore John D. Sloat, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron. Commodore Sloat got him aboard a whaling ship that took him to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) before doubling back to Monterey, California, on an American man-o'-war.

There he met with Consul Thomas Larkin, and apparently relayed instructions to agitate for California's secession from Mexico, with an eye toward annexation by the United States. Then, he headed north with a small party of men to find Fremont, who had disappeared into the vast forests of Oregon.

****

John C. Fremont had trekked north to Klamath Lake in the Oregon country, after nearly touching off a war on his own in California. He went back to his ostensible role as an explorer, guided as usual by the mountain man Kit Carson. The Pathfinder was waiting for something to happen. And something did. Two men dispatched by Gillespie to located Fremont made contact, and Fremont and Carson immediately rode out to link up with the Marine.

That night, Fremont and Gillespie sat by a flickering campfire and Gillespie communicated whatever it was that he had been sent to convey. As Tom Dunlay notes in his magisterial Kit Carson & the Indians,

Fremont would take the instructions he received as his warrant to seize California.

That night in May 1846, Lt. Gillespie found himself in the midst of the nastiest kind of Frontier Partisan warfare. Apparently caught up in their momentous scheming, the Americans hit their bedrolls without posting a guard. in the dead of night, they were awakened by the sickening thunk of an ax splitting the skull of mountain man Basil Lajeneuesse. A Delaware scout named Crane jumped to his feet and was turned into a pincushion by arrows. The camp was under attack by Klamath Indians. Another Delaware named Denny was smitten to the ground by an ax.

A Klamath chief, the warrior who had slain the sleeping Lajeneuesse, was shot down.

The Americans beat the attackers off. Carson examined the body of the Klamath chief. Picking up his ax, he recognized it as a trade ax from the British Hudson's Bay Company. Though he recognized that the chieftain "was the bravest Indian I ever saw (and) if his men were as brave and himself, we surely all would have been killed," his vengeful Frontier Partisan blood was up. Three of his compadres had been slain. Carson hefted the ax and began smiting the Klamath chieftain's corpse. He hacked into the skull over and over agin, until, as Fremont recalled, "he knocked his head apart."

Over the next couple of days, Fremont and Carson led their men in bloody revenge attacks upon the Klamaths. Then they turned south and headed back to California, with Lt. Gillespie in train. Fremont would recall that...

"The information through Gillespie had absolved me from my duty as an explorer and I was left to my duty as an officer of the American Army with the future authoritative knowledge that ... to obtain possession of California was the chief object of the President."

One of the great geopolitical coups of the 19th century was underway.

*****
* The Secret Mission of Lt. Archibald Gillespie, Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, Marine Corps Association, 1968 * Kit Carson & the Indians, Tom Dunlay, 2000 * Blood and thunder, Hampton Sides, 2006 (Thanks to Issac VanPatten for scouting out Lt. Gillespie's story).

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Messenger Of Destiny, Father Of Recon - Lt. Archibald Gillespie, USMC - Part 1 - Frontier Partisans

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Part 1 of 2 There was a Great Game afoot in the American West in the 1840s. The young United States of America was stretching out and feeling the stirrings of the great strength that would, a century on, make it the most dominant military and economic power the world has ever known.

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Meet the men and women that helped define the American West in the 1800s.

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National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

September 25, 2009 - January 24, 2010

The American West was dramatically remade in the eight decades between the beginning of the Mexican War and the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924. This exhibition tells the story of those changes through the photographs of the men and women who helped define this era. Although the history of the trans-Mississippian West is many centuries old, the period beginning with the annexation of Texas in 1845 and the outbreak of war with Mexico in 1846 saw ever-increasing encounters between people of different cultural traditions and circumstances. These individuals played a significant role in the exploration, settlement, and representation of this vast territory.

At the same time, the new visual technology of photography, first introduced in 1839, reshaped the way Americans and others came to understand the West. More than any literary or artistic medium, photography made visible the region's great natural and human diversity. Although photography often reinforced popular notions, it also presented new ideas about the West-and in the process about America itself.

Four general themes emerge as most significant in understanding the West's history during this period: land, exploration, discord, and possibilities. From 1845 to 1924 the West was a dynamic crossroads where people of diverse backgrounds and varied intentions encountered each other. Through their words and deeds, they contributed to the wholesale transformation of this region and its identity.

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National Portrait Gallery | Faces of the Frontier

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In the American West it was believed that one could reinvent oneself, and often this dream was realized. Yet the arrival of so many people also caused new frictions that led to dissension, intolerance, and sometimes violence. The individuals featured in this exhibition played important roles in transforming the identity of the American West.

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Hardtack. The Ancient Romans had them. Nelson's troops kept barrels of them in their naval vessels. And these cracker-like squares were a staple ration for American soldiers on both sides of the Civil War.

Though they're called different things in different cultures, this basic recipe has been a staple for militaries around the world for centuries. Made of flour and water, and sometimes a bit of salt or sugar, they are sturdy, filling and will last a long time if kept dry. Indeed, some soldiers kept a few as souvenirs after the war, and they are commonly on display in Civil War museums over 150 years later.

A naval blockade kept wheat imports from reaching Confederate states, and so much of the hardtack rationed to soldiers earlier in the war was leftover from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Meanwhile, government bakeries in the north were supplying hardtacks to Union troops, who were rationed nine to ten each, per day.

Eating one will make it difficult to imagine how any human being could consume that many hardtacks each day. The dryness sucks out any moisture from your mouth. The heavy wafer in your hand feels just as heavy in the stomach. They are so dense, soldiers used to use them as small plates. And, of course, the flavor is incredibly uninteresting - you're basically just eating flour. And that, of course, is the point of making them. Where other food blogs often just post old recipes, I've always insisted on making whatever I post - firmly believing that much about what you can learn about the history of the food comes from the actual making and eating of it.

Thanks to John Billings' memoir of his life as a Union soldier, Hardtack and Coffee (1887), we have a very accurate description of what Civil War hardtack rations were like:

What was hardtack? It was a plain flour-and-water biscuit. Two which I have in my possession as mementos measure three and one-eighth by two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly half an inch thick. Although these biscuits were furnished to organizations by weight, they were dealt out to the men by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments, and ten in others; but there were usually enough for those who wanted more, as some men would not draw them. While hardtack was nutritious, yet a hungry man could eat his ten in a short time and still be hungry. When they were poor and fit objects for the soldiers' wrath, it was due to one of three conditions: first, they may have been so hard that they could not be bitten; it then required a very strong blow of the fist to break them; the second condition was when they were moldy or wet, as sometimes happened, and should not have been given to the soldiers: the third condition was when from storage they had become infested with maggots.

When the bread was moldy or moist, it was thrown away and made good at the next drawing, so that the men were not the losers; but in the case of its being infested with the weevils, they had to stand it as a rule ; but hardtack was not so bad an article of food, even when traversed by insects, as may be supposed. Eaten in the dark, no one could tell the difference between it and hardtack that was untenanted. It was no uncommon occurrence for a man to find the surface of his pot of coffee swimming with weevils, after breaking up hardtack in it, which had come out of the fragments only to drown; but they were easily skimmed off, and left no distinctive flavor behind.

Having gone so far, I know the reader will be interested to learn of the styles in which this particular article was served up by the soldiers. Of course, many of them were eaten just as they were received - hardtack plain; then I have already spoken of their being crumbed in coffee, giving the "hardtack and coffee."

Probably more were eaten in this way than in any other, for they thus frequently furnished the soldier his breakfast and supper. But there were other and more appetizing ways of preparing them. Many of the soldiers, partly through a slight taste for the business but more from force of circumstances, became in their way and opinion experts in the art of cooking the greatest variety of dishes with the smallest amount of capital.

Some of these crumbed them in soups for want of other thickening. For this purpose they served very well. Some crumbed them in cold water, then fried the crumbs in the juice and fat of meat. A dish akin to this one which was said to make the hair curl, and certainly was indigestible enough to satisfy the cravings of the most ambitious dyspeptic, was prepared by soaking hardtack in cold water, then frying them brown in pork fat, salting to taste. Another name for this dish was skillygalee. Some liked them toasted, either to crumb in coffee, or if a sutler was at hand whom they could patronize, to butter. The toasting generally took place from the end of a split stick.

Then they worked into milk-toast made of condensed milk at seventy-five cents a can; but only a recruit with a big bounty, or an old vet, the child of wealthy parents, or a reenlisted man did much in that way. A few who succeeded by hook or by crook in saving up a portion of their sugar ration spread it upon hardtack. And so in various ways the ingenuity of the men was taxed to make this plainest and commonest, yet most serviceable of army food, to do duty in every conceivable combination.
TIPS AND TRICKS
The holes in crackers are made by a process called "docking." These help the cracker to bake evenly and prevent them from rising like a bread. Historically, this was accomplished using ominous looking hand-held tools, but by the Civil War, there were mechanical tools that accomplished the task. I used a plastic chopstick, but you could also use a pen cap. Dig around your kitchen drawers and see what you've got.

The entire premise of hardtack is that you add a bit of water to flour so that you can create a dough just pliable enough to shape, and then bake as much of the moisture out as possible. So be conservative when you're adding water - stop just when the dough comes together. It should be the consistency of a slightly dry play dough. If you had too much water by accident, just add a bit more flour until it comes back together.

You don't want the hardtack to darken much by baking, and you certainly don't want it to burn. It benefits from a long baking in a low-temp oven. If it isn't too humid where you're at, you can also leave them out after baking to further dry out on the cooling rack.

The recipe below makes roughly fifteen 3×3 hardtacks. They will last quite a long time if you keep them in a dry, sealed area where they can't be reached by insects.
THE TAKE-AWAY
This recipe certainly sheds light on the monotonous palate afforded to soldiers in the Civil War. When properly baked, they are quite tough, which explains why soldiers would often soak them in coffee or soup prior to eating. Another option at the time was to fry salt pork, soak the hardtack in cold water, and then fry the softened hardtack in the pork grease.

Hardtack reminds me of a bread described in a novel I was recently reading. Bakers made a particular kind of bread for survival, but it was completely inedible and contained rocks and sticks. You didn't eat the bread. The idea was that if you stared at the bread long enough, you could think of dozens of other things you could eat besides that and you'd never go hungry.

But such were the conditions - particularly for the blockaded South - that hardtack could be seen as a treat. Today, there is still an original supplier of the Union army that makes and sells hardtack, mostly to Civil War re-enactors.** Outside this market and the gastronomically-inclined historian, a kind of hardtack can be found on supermarket shelves in Hawaii and modern-day doomsdayers are rediscovering it as the perfect survivalist food.

Whatever your reason for making them, do watch your teeth.

** Update (March 19, 2017): G. H. Bent & Co. has operated in Milton, MA since 1801. A gas explosion in 2006 damaged the building significantly, but re-opened later that year. The company was sold in 2013 and, as of writing, the bakery has re-opened with a new website but the online shop is still closed.

2 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon salt (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Combine flour with salt in a mixing bowl. Add water and mix with hands until the dough comes together. Roll out on a table to about 1/3 inch thickness. Use a knife to cut 3×3 squares from the dough. Place on baking sheet, and use a dowel (see note above) to make 16 evenly-spaced holes in each square. Bake for at least four hours, turning over once half-way through baking. Cool on a rack in a dry room.

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Hardtack. The Ancient Romans had them. Nelson's troops kept barrels of them in their naval vessels. And these cracker-like squares were a staple ration for American soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. Though they're called different things in different cultures, this basic recipe has been a staple for militaries around the world for centuries.

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This teaching guide includes discussion questions, classroom activities and primary source analysis tools.

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Belief in the God-ordained right of European-Americans to settle and colonize the continental United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast is known as manifest destiny. Coined by newspaper editor John O'Sullivan in 1845, the phrase "manifest destiny" reached its zenith during the US takeover of the Oregon territory, the Mexican-American War, and the California gold rush. Arising from heightened patriotism after the War of 1812, the religious passion of the Second Great Awakening, and the economic drive for more land and profits, this nationalist expansion of "American" people and culture was synonymous with white imperialist, racially supremacist, and religiously intolerant thoughts and actions against Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, and other people of color. This primary source set includes visual, audial, and written documents that reflect the era's projected ideals and harsh realities. From twentieth-century posters, monuments, and letters to nineteenth-century maps, biographies, and paintings, this set allows students to gain a greater understanding of how perceptions of manifest destiny have changed over time.

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Belief in the God-ordained right of European-Americans to settle and colonize the continental United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast is known as manifest destiny. Coined by newspaper editor John O'Sullivan in 1845, the phrase "manifest destiny" reached its zenith during the US takeover of the Oregon territory, the Mexican-American War, and the California gold rush.

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What did San Diego look like prior to European colonization?

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Many articles about Kumeyaay history such as religion, language, and life pre/post European settlers.

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Kumeyaay History
Kumeyaay.com has compiled the most comprehensive study of the Kumeyaay people, their history and culture to date - and this is only the beginning.
Timeline - Follow the Kumeyaay history, from creation to present day.

Articles - Read Kumeyaay articles and editorials to learn more about the Kumeyaay way of life. You are encouraged to participate by adding stories, articles, and editorials to the Kumeyaay.com site.
This way, the Kumeyaay have the chance to tell their story in their own words.

Linguistics - A study of the Kumeyaay language by Margaret Langdon, a respected expert on native languages.

- the Kumeyaay know how to play. Read how the game of Peone is played!

Religion & Legends - From Creation to "Stories of Why" - a collection of our stories, as told by Kumeyaay elders.

Virtual Museum - See the art and artifacts left behind by our Ancestors, available on virtual display, courtesy of the Barona Museum. [coming soon]

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Kumeyaay.com has compiled the most comprehensive study of the Kumeyaay people, their history and culture to date - and this is only the beginning. Timeline - Follow the Kumeyaay history, from creation to present day. Articles - Read Kumeyaay articles and editorials to learn more about the Kumeyaay

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Baking bread in an adobe horno (oven).

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A short biography about the leader of the Mexican Army in San Pasqual.

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Andrés Pico

c. 1810
Spanish Las Californias Province of New Spain

February 14, 1876
Los Angeles, California

Mexican

Andrés Pico (1810 - February 14, 1876) was, as the political administration changed, a mixed-race Californio youth; a successful rancher and commander; and an influential American politician; in 19th century California.

Andrés Pico was born at San Diego in the Spanish Las Californias Province of New Spain in 1810. He was the son of José María Pico and María Eustaquia López. Andrés Pico was the brother of Pío Pico, both later Governors of the Mexican Alta California Province.

In 1845, Andrés and Juan Manso were granted by Governor Pío Pico a nine-year lease for the Mission San Fernando Rey de España lands which encompassed nearly the entire San Fernando Valley. Andrés Pico, at that time a 35-year old rancher, lived in Pueblo de Los Angeles. He ran cattle on the ranch and made the Mission complex his rancho-base, with the 'Pico Adobe' his rancho residence. In 1846 to raise funds for the Mexican-American War, the Pío Pico government sold those secularized lands from the Mission San Fernando, except the Mission compound and its immediate surroundings, to Eulogio de Celis who established Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando.

During the Mexican-American War, Andrés Pico commanded the Mexican forces, the 'California Lancers', in Alta California. In 1846 Pico led an attack on forces commanded by U.S. General Stephen Watts Kearny at the Battle of San Pasqual where Kearny's command was dealt a hard blow. In 1847, Andrés Pico briefly became the Governor of Mexican Alta California, in opposition to the U.S. provisional government established in 1846. On January 13, 1847, concerned General Kearny might execute him, Andrés Pico signed the Treaty of Cahuenga with the American commander Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Frémont. It was an informal agreement between rival military forces which ended the Mexican-American War battles in California. Andrés' brother, Pío Pico was the last Mexican Governor, who in 1848 signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally ceding all of Mexico's Alta California territory to the United States.

After California became an American state in 1850, Andrés Pico became an American citizen with full legal and voting rights. He remained in the new State of California. In 1853, Pico acquired a half interest in Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando from Eulogio de Celis, splitting it in half along present day Roscoe Boulevard, with Pico's land being the southern half of the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains. He served as a California State Assemblyman from Los Angeles in 1851. As a Breckenridge Democrat, he was a Southern Confederate sympathizer. Pico authored a bill, known as the Pico Bill, in February, 1859, to divide California. The bill proposed to create the "Territory of Colorado" from the Southern counties of the state. The bill passed both houses of the state legislature and was signed by the Governor John B. Weller on April 18, 1859. However, the split was never put into effect because the U.S. Congress did not act on the bill. Pico received the title of Brigadier General in the California Militia in 1858. He served as a California State Senator from Los Angeles in 1860. In debt, Andrés Pico had sold his half-interest in the Rancho ex-Mission San Fernando to his brother Pío Pico in 1862. He retired as a 'Californio ranchero' in Los Angeles.

Pico never married, but adopted several children. 'Don' Andrés Pico died in Los Angeles in 1876.

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Andrés Pico c. 1810Spanish Las Californias Province of New Spain February 14, 1876Los Angeles, California Mexican Andrés Pico (1810 - February 14, 1876) was, as the political administration changed, a mixed-race Californio youth; a successful rancher and commander; and an influential American politician; in 19th century California.

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Learn about Officer Stephen Watts Kearny.

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Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

(1794-1848). United States Army officer Stephen Watts Kearny seized New Mexico and helped capture California from Mexico. He was born in Newark, N.J., on Aug. 30, 1794. During service in the War of 1812 he was promoted to captain and thereafter made the Army his career.

He spent most of the next 30 years on frontier duty, and in 1846 he was made commander of the Army of the West and promoted to the rank of brigadier general. At the outbreak of the Mexican War in May 1846, he was ordered to conquer New Mexico and California. He and his 2,700 men entered Santa Fe unopposed on August 18, and he established a new civil government for the territory.

On September 25 Kearny left for California to help Robert F. Stockton and John C. Frémont deal with the territory, which they had already conquered ( see Frémont). Kearny was then ordered to Mexico to become military commander of Veracruz. While there he contracted yellow fever. He returned to the United States in 1848 as a major general, but poor health led to his death on Oct. 31, 1848, in St. Louis, Mo.

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(1794-1848). United States Army officer Stephen Watts Kearny seized New Mexico and helped capture California from Mexico. He was born in Newark, N.J., on Aug. 30, 1794. During service in the War of 1812 he was promoted to captain and thereafter made the Army his career.

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A quick biography on Kit Carson

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Kit Carson

(1809-1868)

Enshrined in popular mythology even in his own lifetime, Kit Carson was a trapper, scout, Indian agent, soldier and authentic legend of the West.

Born on Christmas eve in 1809, Carson spent most of his early childhood in Boone's Lick, Missouri. His father died when he was only nine years old, and the need to work prevented Kit from ever receiving an education. He was apprenticed to a saddle-maker when he turned fourteen, but left home for the Santa Fe, New Mexico area in 1826.

From about 1828 to 1831, Carson used Taos, New Mexico, as a base camp for repeated fur-trapping expeditions that often took him as far West as California. Later in the 1830's his trapping took him up the Rocky Mountains and throughout the West. For a time in the early 1840's, he was employed by William Bent as a hunter at Bent's Fort.

As was the case with many white trappers, Carson became somewhat integrated into the Indian world; he travelled and lived extensively among Indians, and his first two wives were Arapahoe and Cheyenne women. Carson was evidently unusual among trappers, however, for his self-restraint and temperate lifestyle. "Clean as a hound's tooth," according to one acquaintance, and a man whose "word was as sure as the sun comin' up," he was noted for an unassuming manner and implacable courage.

In 1842, while returning to Missouri to visit his family, Carson happened to meet John C. Fremont, who soon hired him as a guide. Over the next several years, Carson helped guide Fremont to Oregon and California, and through much of the Central Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin. His service with Fremont, celebrated in Fremont's widely-read reports of his expeditions, quickly made Kit Carson a national hero, presented in popular fiction as a rugged mountain man capable of superhuman feats.

Carson's notoriety grew as his name became associated with several key events in the United States' westward expansion. He was still serving as Fremont's guide when Fremont joined California's short-lived Bear-Flag rebellion just before the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846, and it was Carson who led the forces of U.S. General Stephen Kearney from New Mexico into California when a Californio band led by Andrés Pico mounted a challenge to American occupation of Los Angeles later that year.

At the end of the war, Carson returned to New Mexico and took up ranching. By 1853, he and his partner were able to drive a large flock of sheep to California, where gold rush prices paid them a handsome profit. This same year Carson was appointed federal Indian agent for Northern New Mexico, a post he held until the Civil War imposed new duties on him in 1861.

Carson played a prominent and memorable role in the Civil War in New Mexico. He helped organize the New Mexico volunteer infantry, which saw action at Valverde in 1862. Most of his military actions, however, were directed against the Navajo Indians, many of whom had refused to be confined upon a distant reservation set up by the government. Beginning in 1863 Carson waged a brutal economic war against the Navajo, marching through the heart of their territory to destroy their crops, orchards and livestock. When Utes, Pueblos, Hopis and Zunis, who for centuries had been prey to Navajo raiders, took advantage of their traditional enemy's weakness by following the Americans onto the warpath, the Navajo were unable to defend themselves. In 1864 most surrendered to Carson, who forced nearly 8,000 Navajo men, women and children to take what came to be called the "Long Walk" of 300 miles from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where they remained in disease-ridden confinement until 1868.

After the Civil War, Carson moved to Colorado in the hope of expanding his ranching business. He died there in 1868, and the following year his remains were moved to a small cemetery near his old home in Taos.

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Enshrined in popular mythology even in his own lifetime, Kit Carson was a trapper, scout, Indian agent, soldier and authentic legend of the West. Born on Christmas eve in 1809, Carson spent most of his early childhood in Boone's Lick, Missouri.

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What was life like for a Californio before and after the Mexican/American War.

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By the time the Gold Rush began, hundreds of people like Vicente Peralta had already established successful businesses in California. Peralta owned Rancho San Antonio, some 19,000 acres of land on the coast of northern California. He prospered in the cattle trade.

Vicente Peralta and his family were part of a group of people known as Californios--Spanish-speaking people who had come from Mexico or Spain to settle in California. Californios had lived on California soil since 1769. That's when Spanish priests began building missions, or Catholic churches, along the coast, in hopes of converting Native Americans to Christianity.

The mission settlements included large land areas, on which mission settlers and Native American laborers grew crops such as wheat and corn and raised livestock. Settlers also lived outside the mission, in small towns called pueblos. In forts known as presidios, Spanish soldiers helped guarantee Spain's hold on the land.

For decades, the Spanish priests were the most powerful group in California. But when Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, Californios began to break free of this religious control. In 1834, the Mexican government took possession of the land owned by the missions. After applying to the government, Californios received grants for large areas of land--from 10,000 to over 100,000 acres.

Soon the Californios established sprawling ranchos, or cattle ranches, along the coast. Most of the ranchers sold cattle hides and tallow, animal fat used to make candles and soap. Some made wine and grew citrus fruits, which were exported. By 1850, some 200 Californio families like the Peraltas owned about 14 million acres of land.

Life for the Californios changed after the Mexican War (1846-1848), fought between the United States and Mexico. At the war's end, California belonged to the United States. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made Californios U.S. citizens and guaranteed them the rights to their lands. But these rights would soon be weakened.

The same year the war ended, the first cry of "Gold!" rang out. By 1852, about 250,000 miners from around the world had arrived in California. Now the Californios were a minority. It didn't matter that they had lived on their lands for generations. In the eyes many the new commers, the Californios were "foreigners."

As competition for gold increased, resentment toward Californios and miners from Mexico, Chile, and other Latin American countries grew. In 1850, the Foreign Miners Tax Law was introduced. It meant that "foreign" miners, including Californios, had to pay $20 a month if they wanted to mine.

Some of the forty-niners who failed at mining wanted something to show for their trouble. So they took land--some of which belonged to the Californios. Some miners squatted, or lived on the ranchos without the permission of the landowners. Many squatters seized land violently, killing cattle, burning crops, and chasing Californios out of their homes. Others used the courts to make unfair claims on the Californios' property.

That's how the Peralta family lost Rancho San Antonio. After gaining Vicente Peralta's trust, a lawyer named Horace Carpentier encouraged Peralta to sign a document that would protect his land. But Carpentier had lied. The document actually required Peralta to pay rent on his land--or lose it. Peralta refused to pay the rent, and the government seized his land. Carpentier then bought the land for himself.

The Land Law of 1851 made matters worse for the Californios. It set up a group of people to review the Californios' land rights. When a new settler claimed the rights to a Californio's land, the two parties would battle it out in court.

Some Californios fought for their land all the way to the Supreme Court. But often, after years of spending money on legal fees, they were forced to give up. With no money left to defend themselves, they sold their lands or surrendered their property rights.

A few Californios managed to hang on to their property. Juana Briones, a widow who lived in what is today Palo Alto, kept control of her 4,400 acre rancho. But by the 1870's, the Californios' empire was gone.

Still, the Californio legacy lives on in California today. The citrus and wine trades are now among California's largest industries. The names of many California cities--San Francisco, San Jose, Monterey, Los Angeles, and San Diego--reflect the Spanish-speaking people who first settled them. And Californio influence can be seen in all aspects of California culture, from its architecture and music to its food and art.

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The American Experience | WayBack: Gold Rush | The Californios

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By the time the Gold Rush began, hundreds of people like Vicente Peralta had already established successful businesses in California. Peralta owned Rancho San Antonio, some 19,000 acres of land on the coast of northern California. He prospered in the cattle trade.

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The life of a Dragoon Soldier was strict. Find out about their lives in the military.

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Bunks in the Squad Room. Soldiers slept two to a bunk.

Imagine yourself a dragoon at Fort Scott in the 1840s. Your mission is to keep Indians and white settlers off of each other's territory and to keep peace between the various Indian tribes. For your services, you get to sleep in a crowded barracks, eat Army food, and earn eight dollars a month.

This section contains information on recruiting of soldiers, training, command structure, the life of a soldier, and the missions that they participated in during the 1840s. Was it an exciting life? You decide.

You will be doing your program in the squad room of the dragoon barracks. The dragoon barracks was constructed in 1843 and was occupied in May of 1844 by 1st Dragoons, Company A. The barracks contained a company office, kitchen, mess hall, laundress quarters and quarters for married noncommissioned officers on the first floor. On the second floor were the squad rooms or sleeping quarters for the privates and corporals as well as a room for the sergeants.

The dragoon soldier started and ended his day in the squad room. The squad rooom served as the sleeping quarters as well as a recreation room for the soldiers. The squad room was crowded and uncomfortable. Soldiers were issued no pillows, so they slept on rolled up-overcoats. Soldiers slept two to a bed, sleeping head to toe. Regulations required that soldiers bathe once a week and wash their feet twice a week.

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Dragoon Soldier-Overview - Fort Scott National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)

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Imagine yourself a dragoon at Fort Scott in the 1840s. Your mission is to keep Indians and white settlers off of each other's territory and to keep peace between the various Indian tribes. For your services, you get to sleep in a crowded barracks, eat Army food, and earn eight dollars a month.

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A Teacher’s Guide to Historical and Contemporary Kumeyaay Culture: A Supplemental Resource for Third and Fourth Grade Teachers 

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A Teacher’s Guide to Historical and Contemporary Kumeyaay Culture: A Supplemental Resource for Third and Fourth Grade Teachers 

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by Geralyn Marie Hoffman and Lynn H. Gamble, Ph.D.

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Making Butter in a Jar - Hands on History at Home

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Making Butter in a Jar - Hands on History at Home

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Making Butter in a Jar - Hands on History at Home

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Urban Wildlife: Living on the Urban Edge

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Colorado Desert District California State Parks

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Did you know that you can participate in the Junior Ranger program at any California state park by using the Junior Ranger Adventure Guide? Just print the guide before you come and then go through the activities when you get to the park (or even after you get home). It's easy and fun!

En Español:
Guía de Aventuras del Guardabosque Juvenil

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California State Parks, State of California

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Did you know that you can participate in the Junior Ranger program at any California state park by using the Junior Ranger Adventure Guide? Just print the guide before you come and then go through the activities when you get to the park (or even after you get home).

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Book Creator is a simple tool for creating awesome digital books. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins.

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Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park

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Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park

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Desert Animal Adaptations in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

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Desert Animal Adaptations in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

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Desert Animal Adaptations in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

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Learn about the Desert at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

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Learn about the Desert at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

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Learn about the Desert at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

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Within the hills above Santa Barbara, along the narrow, winding road of Highway 154, rises a cliff of sandstone. Nestled inside the fine sandstone almost hidden from view is a small room-sized cave. Following a short path, visitors will come to an iron cross-hatched gate. Peering in, their eyes will quickly adjust to the darkened cave to view one of the best preserved rock art sites in California and of the Chumash people. The Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park is one of the smallest State Parks in California, at little more than seven acres, and was designated as a State Park in 1976 to preserve these paintings. Although the meaning of these circular and anthropomorphic figures have been lost, there is some speculation of their association to astrology and Chumash cosmology. Depictions of what look like sun bursts made of red ochre and black and white striped figures stretched across the ceiling immediately feed the imagination. The dates of the rock art are equally unknown. Potentially as old as thousands of years to as recent as a few hundred years, images overlap each other in an unknown relationship and configuration, reflecting repeated use of the site over time. The unique quality and fragility of the cave paintings has been acknowledged for over 100 years. In the early 1900s, an iron gate was installed to protect the cave from further vandalism that had already been accumulating. Today, CyArk and the California State Parks are using non-invasive 3D capturing technologies to document the current conditions of the cave while offering a platform for the public to see the details of the paintings.

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Within the hills above Santa Barbara, along the narrow, winding road of Highway 154, rises a cliff of sandstone. Nestled inside the fine sandstone almost hidden from view is a small room-sized cave. Following a short path, visitors will come to an iron cross-hatched gate.

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The Native Americans who lived in this area prior to the establishment of Fort Tejon are generally referred to as the Emigdiano. They were an inland group of the Chumash people. Unlike their coasta...

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The Antelope Valley Indian Museum has been a public museum since 1932, but it has also been a homestead, a theater, a dude ranch, a Hollywood set, and an attraction. It is situated on 147 acres of ...

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Female Illustrators in Natural History Coloring Book

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Female Illustrators in Natural History Coloring Book

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by California Museum

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Explore California's state symbols in this free, downloadable coloring book. This activity is appropriate for students in Kindergarten through 2nd grades and aligns Common Core.

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State Symbols Coloring Book - California Museum

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Explore California's state symbols in this free, downloadable coloring book. This activity is appropriate for students in Kindergarten through 2nd grades and aligns Common Core.

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Home Learning Programs

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PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students)® Program is a FREE distance learning program with California State Parks. PORTS uses the power of videoconferencing to support K-12 educators in designing deep and meaningful learning experiences for their students. Reaching digitally into