Chumash Revolt of 1824

In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain and took control of California. Under the Plan de Iguala, Mexico abolished caste distinctions among Europeans, Africans, and natives, promising equal citizenship (Haas 118). However, the harsh treatment of the neophytes at Santa Inés still persisted. So, in 1824, the neophytes at Santa Inés, Santa Barbara, and Santa La Purísima planned to uprise against the soldiers and missionaries. They armed themselves with weapons, set fire to Mission Santa Inés, occupied Mission La Purísima, and held several soldiers and their families hostage. Meanwhile, women, children, and some men fled the missions and ran into the surrounding hills. Yokut villages around Buena Vista Lake offered refuge, sheltering hundreds of displaced Chumash people. (Haas 120-121).

The story of this revolt is briefly acknowledged at Mission Santa Inés, but it is filtered through a moralizing perspective. A small narrative on a post focuses on Pasquala, a young Tulare girl said to have warned Father Uría of a planned attack by a band of Tulare men. Her loyalty, according to the story, prevented further destruction and bloodshed, and she is remembered with a marked grave on the mission's burial grounds. However, according to missionary accounts, Father Urìa never documented the causes or details of the revolt (Haas 133). Labeled as a legend, the story of Pasquala raises questions about historical accuracy and narrative intent. 

Perhaps, in order to prove that the missionaries were not partly at fault for the uprising, the story of a native girl loyal to Catholicism reinforces a benevolent image of the missionaries. Additionally, her portrayal suggests that not all Indigenous people resisted mission life, therefore making them gente de razón, or "people of reason" (Haas 164). 

*Photo on the right taken by me

Citations

Haas, Lisbeth. "'All of the Horses Are in the Possession of the Indians': The Chumash War." Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2014, pp. 118, 120-121, 133. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt5hjhhx.9.

Haas, Lisbeth. "Indigenous Landowners and Native Ingenuity on the Borderlands of Northern Mexico." Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2014, pp. 164. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt5hjhhx.11.

Jordan, Elaine. "The Legend of Pasquala." Tradition in Action. 7 Nov. 2009. Photo. www.traditioninaction.org/History/B_011_Pasquala.html.